Back in Time

Chapter seven

Hermione and Draco made their way back to the dining area. A lot of people were already there and Draco and Hermione were forced to sit at a table with people they didn't know. Well, Hermione didn't know them, Draco had been seated at this table before, he told her quietly, at dinner the day before. Apparently all of the people around the table had found Draco's former behavior quiet funny. A graying man laughed and put a hand on Draco's shoulder.

'Good to see you are doing better.' He turned to Hermione. 'Your husband here gave us quiet the show last night, yelling at everyone in the dining area. Of course, we immediately knew he had to be ill, as he was very red in the face, too.' Hermione grinned at the man, taking a sip from her glass. If only he knew why Draco had been yelling at everyone. She did feel a little uncomfortable, being referred to as Draco's wife, but she would just have to go along with it for now. It had been her idea after all.

As soon as all of the people around the table were immersed in their own conversations, Hermione turned to Malfoy, who was sitting next to her.

He was looking ahead with a sneer on his face, clearly annoyed about the fact that he had made such a fool of himself. Hermione tried not to laugh and whispered, 'do you see Ismay somewhere?' Malfoy shook his head.

They kept an eye on the doors leading to the dining area, but Ismay didn't show up. Hermione started to feel worried again. What if he had spoken to the captain already? After lunch, they decided to make their way to the deck again, but they still didn't find him.

Hermione bit her lip.

'Maybe he's with the captain now,' Hermione said when they had walked around the deck for another couple of hours. Malfoy sighed.

'If he is, we can't do anything about it.'

Hermione nodded and they fell silent again.

'Maybe we should check inside. Maybe he had an appointment with one of the other first class passengers. Maybe we can find him in the hallways with the first class cabins,' Hermione suggested. Draco didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway. They didn't have a lot of options anyway. They walked back inside and took the staircase to the first class cabins. Again, they walked the corridors without success: Ismay was nowhere to be found.

'well, he could be inside one of the cabins...' Hermione trailed off. Malfoy shook his head.

'We both know he is with the captain right now. He's not in first class, because we looked everywhere and I doubt he had an appointment with one of the other passengers anyway. We don't have to check third class, because we know he won't be there.'

Hermione knew he was right, but she didn't want to give up. She would believe it if he told her himself that he had spoken with the captain.

'It's already dinner time,' Hermione said tiredly when she heard the bell ring in the distance. 'Maybe he's at dinner.'

They made their way to the dining area again, and sat an empty table since they were early this time. Slowly, people were starting to arrive, but there was still no sign of Ismay. They ate their dinner in silence, keeping an eye on everyone, hoping he would show up. He didn't. After dinner, they both lingered in their seats.

'After dinner, the men go to the smoking room, while the women stay here or go back to their cabins,' Malfoy said. 'I could go check the smoking room. Maybe he went there after his appointment.'

Hermione agreed and decided to wait for him in the dining area. She took a sip from her glass and looked around. There were indeed only two men still in the dining area, sitting at a table with five women. the rest of the tables were occupied by women as well, so almost all of the men had gone to the smoking room then. When Malfoy entered the dining room again, Hermione looked up with a hopeful look on her face. When he sat down and sighed in defeat, Hermione knew enough and she didn't have to ask him if he found Ismay in the smoking room.

'But this is ridiculous!' Hermione said. 'He wasn't at lunch, and he wasn't at dinner either. Did he not eat the entire day? It's like he just disappeared.'

Malfoy shrugged.

'the captain wasn't there either, so maybe they had dinner together or something.'

Hermione sighed. 'I just don't know where to look anymore. We can't just check the captain's area without a reason.'

After a while, they decided to check the deck one last time. It had gotten colder outside and Hermione shivered. It was dark out now, thousands of stars lighting up the sky. The walked around, but this time they were even faster in their rounds, because there were barely any people outside. Defeated, they went back inside. When they got back inside, the graying man from lunch and his wife were standing by the staircase, talking to another couple. When they saw Malfoy and Hermione, the man smiled.

'Ah, there are the young lovebirds. Out for a romantic evening stroll?'

They were both taken aback by the man's words, but Hermione recovered quickly, smiling at him and telling him that it was a lovely evening for it. Even though she was very uncomfortable with the whole situation, she had a role to play. Malfoy was looking at him with a weird expression on his face.

'We're just going back to our cabin,' the man told them, holding his arm out for his wife, which she took.

'We are as well,' Hermione smiled at the man.

'Ah! We shall walk together then,' the man said. they hadn't expected the man to want to walk together, so when he started to walk up the stairs with his wife, Hermione and Draco hesitated before following the older couple. Hermione had no idea where to go so she just followed the others. After a while, the man stopped.

'I believe this is your cabin, isn't it?' He gestured to a door on his right. Malfoy was frowning, and when he didn't say anything, Hermione elbowed him softly.

'Er, yes,' he said quickly, opening the door.

'Good night then,' the man said, smiling kindly. They both bid the older couple goodnight. Hermione knew she had to follow Malfoy into his cabin, because it would look weird if she didn't go into the same cabin as her 'husband'. So when Malfoy entered his cabin, Hermione bit her lip and followed him.