The Paths We Take

Chapter 4- Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 4- Forbidden Fruit

Spring of 44 BC

Slamming hard onto a stone surface, the four students gasped in pain as they rolled on the floor in extreme discomfort. Finally managing to get the aching feeling to subside after a minute of them groaning, Ginny struggled to stand up before looking around at the small room they had landed in.

"Now where the hell are we?" she asked while looking around at the multi-colored drapes dangling across the ceiling before her eyes landed on a semi-comfortable looking bed. "Oh, a bed...Finally!" she exclaimed happily while throwing herself backwards onto the full-size straw filled mattress, littered with decorative over used pillows. "I could sleep here for days..." she sighed with a giggle. "Wait...no" she claimed, propping her upper body up on her elbows as she scrunched her nose in disgust. "This thing smells something fierce and I think it has hay in it...I guess my body is more worn than I thought if I find this comfortable right now."

Hermione scanned the room, along with Blaise and Draco, but only she studied the tiny details of chamber the boys overlooked. As Draco picked up a small dirty off-white piece of fabric and Blaise held up a phallic shaped stone, she took note of the wine and oils sitting upon a small table near the wooden door to her right. The odor lingering in the air reeked of soot and sweat as the ventilation in the room was scarce and only two small oil lamps lit up the area.

"Gin...Get off the bed" she ordered while staring hard at the object in Blaise's hand, hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.

"What? Why?" Ginny replied confused. "It may smell a little funky, but I live with a bunch of boys. I'm used to it."

"Ginny, please...get off the bed" she pleaded while walking over to Blaise and smacking the stone out of his hand.

"What the hell?" he inquired with furrow brows as the stone crash to the floor. "What has gotten into you, Granger?"

"This is a high-end brothel!" Hermione replied before looking to Draco still holding the fabric in his hand. Draco's eyes slowly grew wide as his jaw clenched and he dropped the cloth onto the floor. He quickly wiped his hands on his trousers to try and remove the filth from his skin while Blaise stared at his hands appalled.

Ginny immediately jumped off the bed and shuddered as Blaise's face contorted like he was about to be sick. Hermione rushed to the tiny window behind her, which was too high to view out of normally, stepped on a small stool in front of it, and looked out to witness a massive city lit up by a blistering sun.

"Oh, my Merlin..." she expressed with a gasp as she studied the busy people walking around below.

"What? What is it?" Blaise asked while Ginny and Draco scourgified themselves clean.

But before Hermione could answer, the wooden door burst open revealing a middle-aged overweight woman looking down at the silk blanket in her hands. The group froze in fear as the woman slowly lifted her head and cried out in a panic when she saw the four students staring back at her in shock. Hermione slowly stepped off the stool as Ginny backed up to stand next to her.

"POIOS EISAI? TI EINAI EDO?" she began to yell, causing everyone's eyes to widen in confusion as the lady shouted in a language they couldn't understand. "APANTISE MOU! POIOS EISAI?"

"What the bloody hell is she saying?" Ginny questioned as the woman stormed up to Draco, still shouting while pointing a finger at him as if she was scolding a child.

"I have no fucking idea! Someone, get this bloody woman away from me!" Draco yelled with his hands raised up as he tried to back away. The woman cornered him against the wall as she continued to scream, before Ginny raised her wand, and temporarily stunned her with a full body-binding curse.