Manacled by Senlinyu

chapter 74

He shook his head. "I need to apparate. Go inside. You should see the house," his mouth curved into a faint smile. "I think you'll like it. I'll be back in half an hour."

Hermione gave a reluctant nod but didn't let go of him.

"Come on." Draco lead her out of the bracken they'd landed in and over to a stone-set footpath.

They were in a forest. There were towering trees overhead, and the house was a large, sleek, architecturally Asian-style building covered in latticed windows.

They ascended several large stone steps up to the house. There was an unrailed wooden veranda several feet above ground that seemed to wrap around the entire house. As they stepped onto the veranda, Ginny stepped past Draco and Hermione and slid a latticed wooden doorway open. The floor was smooth, polished wood, and they entered into a narrow hall. There was light filtering through the walls.

Hermione stepped inside, but Draco stopped at the doorway and pulled his wand out, inspecting and testing several wards set inside the walls of the building. After several minutes, he flicked his wand and looked up at Hermione and Ginny, who were both watching him in silence.

"Weasley, she's tired. Keep her calm, make sure she rests. I'll be back in half an hour." His eyes locked on Hermione. "You'll be alright with Ginny?"

Hermione gave him a nervous smile and nodded.

He stared at her a moment longer and vanished without a sound.

Hermione studied the empty space for several seconds before hesitantly turning to look at Ginny.

The reunion felt more heavily-tinged with pain than she'd expected. Of course it wouldn't be simple, but somehow she hadn't expected it to be so immediately complicated. She hadn't thought she would feel obliged to legitimise something as intensely personal as her relationship with Draco.

"You shouldn't have hit him."

Ginny stared at her, disappointed resignation written across her face. "You could do so much better than him, Hermione."

Hermione scoffed, her stomach twisting. "I don't really care what you think. He saved your life. I would never have been able to save you on my own."

Hermione could see a dozen objections in Ginny's expression, but she sighed and closed her eyes.

"Right." Ginny slid the door shut. "If that's what you want, I won't say anything else. I just—Hermione—" her voice caught, and then she hesitated for a moment. "Never mind."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

Hermione looked up and down the hallway slowly. "Where are we?"

Ginny looked around with her. "We're at the top of the house. Or—do you mean where is the house?" She shrugged a shoulder and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I don't actually know. Malfoy says we're somewhere in East Asia, but that could be a total lie. We're on an island—somewhere. It takes about half a day to walk across it. I've never left. I'm not even sure how to leave it. The elves go for supplies every few months, but they don't take orders from me."

The light coming through the walls shifted, and Hermione realised she could see the shadows of the trees through the walls. She reached out and touched a latticed wall and found the lattice was set with paper.

"It takes a while to get used to," Ginny said as she watched Hermione. "Most of the walls slide, so you can open the house and rooms up so that it's open, or section them off. Malfoy—he said you didn't like it if it's too open, so I had the elves put all the walls up."