ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Serpentine, ch. 37

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Harmony wasn't sure how long she'd slept for. She just remembered waking up from a dreamless sleep to listen to the ebb and flow of the waves that crashed against the cliff face outside. At times, the roaring of the waves matched the sound of Voldemort's breathing beside her. While she slept, he had rolled off her to his own side of the bed. She looked over to find him still with his eyes closed.

The blanket came up to his waist, revealing his bare chest. She took the chance to observe him without being noticed. Never before had she seen a completely naked man before, and she had no objection to what she saw. His muscles were well-toned but not burly, and there was only just a little hair on his chest.

When she turned over on her side to face him, she felt that he had a hand on her beneath the covers. At her stirring, his eyes opened a sliver and he took a deep, shaky breath, the skin on his chest going taut as he stretched. When he exhaled, he stared blankly up at the ceiling above him and put his hands under his head while Harmony watched. For that moment they lay beside each other like they always had. She closed her eyes and listened to the steady interval of his breaths.

It's funny, she thought, now that I'm used to the sound of another presence in bed beside me, I think it would be difficult to sleep without it.

At this thought, he spoke, breaking the early morning silence.

"Harmony," he said in a thoughtful voice.

After a second she replied quietly, "Yes?"

Master cleared his throat before he said anything more. "Do you remember that room you found deep within the mansion? The one that shows you a  glimpse of your future?"

"Mm-hmm," she answered, wondering why he would bring it up now.

Master paused before he said, "I, too, went to that room."

"Why did you do that?" she asked curiously. The only way she came upon that room was by becoming painfully lost. It was dangerous to even try finding it.

"When you told me you'd found a lost woman there, I thought it would be a good idea to make sure one of the followers hadn't wandered down there," he said. "But when I found the room, there was no one there. All I found in the place was a piece of my own future instead."

"Yes?" Harmony asked, her curiosity building now.

Master took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I saw a graveyard. Fog spilled out over my heels and an old willow tree swayed slightly in the wind not too far ahead of me. And right before me was a grave. It wasn't my own." He frowned deeply, his eyes glazing over as he visualized the scene. "It was the grave of Lucius Malfoy."

Harmony frowned at him.

He continued, "I walked closer to the gravestone, which was carved from marble and had an etching of a snake wrapped around a blooming rose. But it was what was written on the stone that I can't get out of my mind. Beneath Lucius' name was etched the words, 'Here lies a man wives dream to have and sons dream to be.'"

Harmony smiled at this. Despite Lucius Malfoy's hostile behavior toward her personally, the words told her that he still had a family who cared about him. It was the one thing in his life that the man had actually done right.

"But I don't understand," Voldemort told her with a baffled voice. "The grave said nothing about his Wizarding abilities, or about his Pureblood name, or about him having been one of my most loyal followers." His confused expression darkened. "And do you know what? For some reason—a reason which I don't completely understand myself—I envied him."