ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Serpentine, ch. 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Harmony was exhausted by the time she stumbled through the front doors of Riddle mansion.

"Lumos!" she breathed softly after she pulled her wand free of her left boot, and she used its luminosity to find the staircase that led up to her room.

As she went down the hall to use the bathroom she noticed the fire in Voldemort's room was still lit. In fact, it was blazing as if someone had just put a new log on the fire. When she finished doing her business, she used his bathroom door to go into his room. She expected to find someone there, but it was empty. She guessed he had cast a charm on the hearth to keep the fire lit. It did its job to keep the room nice and warm in his absence.

Harmony knew she should return to her own room, but the warmth was too welcoming to ignore. She curled up on the couch beside his chair. The heat from the fire enveloped her like a warm embrace. She yawned as she grabbed one of the couch pillows and laid down her head.

He won't be home until tomorrow, she told herself. I'll just rest my eyes for a few minutes. The snake charm slithered down onto her belly and curled up as well. Soon she fell fast asleep.

It only seemed like seconds later when she opened her eyes again. But now the room was cold and dark, and Harmony shivered. She rolled over, but instead of rolling into more soft sheets and pillows she dropped right onto the frozen wood floor with a thud.

Harmony realized, as she massaged her aching head, that she must have spent the entire night on Master's couch. The fire was now banked and cooled as if it had never been lit, and she could see dim gray light peeked in between the cracks of the curtains. It's almost morning already, she thought. The Dark Lord must have come home from the celebration by now.

As if on cue, she heard a long sigh come from the four-poster bed. Her heart jumped up to her throat as she quickly and quietly got to her feet. She tiptoed toward the bedroom door, which was now closed.

She hadn't meant to sleep in Lord Voldemort's bedroom! How senseless could she be?

Harmony wondered if he had been annoyed when he'd found her on his couch. Looking over at his bed, she saw his shadowy figure lying there on top of the covers, as if he had been too tired to trouble himself with pulling them down and climbing beneath them.

She reached out a hand and grasped the large brass doorknob. She twisted it as slowly as she could so it wouldn't make any noise. She nearly had it cracked open when-

"It's not the first time I've found a woman sleeping on my couch, you know," Voldemort said, amused

Harmony nearly jumped right out of her skin at the sudden sound of his voice. It wasn't a voice one would usually be keen to hear in a dark room all alone. She spun around to look back at the bed. The morning light that came through the window allowed her to see his face, but just barely.

"W-what?" she replied, even though she'd heard him well enough. She had no idea what else to say.

"Women. My couch. Not the first time," he explained as he propped himself up on one elbow. "I've caught Lestrange lying there from time to time. Such a nuisance."

Harmony took in his disheveled hair and the dark bags under his blue eyes-he looked thoroughly exhausted.

"It has actually been a while since I've slept in a bed," Master told her thoughtfully. He stroked his hand lightly over the green velvet coverlet, and Harmony's mouth went dry. "I don't sleep much anyway, but when I do I don't want to have to deal with laundering the sheets, so I just take the couch."