the devil's redemption [tom r.]

25|| Gloomy Village.

TOM AND ROSALIND VENTURED the roads of Yorkshire, willing to find an inn or at least a motel, to stay in for the next couple of days. They'd already departed from the diner, after the waitress had openly flirted with Tom, the latter surprisingly showing no sign of annoyance towards her.

That certainly irritated Rosalind, for reasons she couldn't quite figure out. Perhaps she thought it to be disrespectful of both parties –Tom and the waitress– to act in such a way in her presence. But was she that oblivious of the other reasons of her irritation?

Rosalind and Tom had finally reached their initial destination. Nestled between two steep hills, its church and graveyard clearly visible, was undoubtedly Little Hangleton. Across the valley on the hillside, was a handsome manor surrounded by a wide expanse of velvety green lawn, barely distinguishable in the darkness.

They entered the village together, and as she now walked a few inches away from Tom, their physical contact having been broken, Rosalind could feel the tension radiating off of him. Though she couldn't blame him, for this was supposedly Tom's hometown, his very origin. And he knew nothing of it.

Despite the village being quite small, it did contain a few inns, bars and diners. It was obvious though, that the most prominent place in the whole village was the manor she'd espied earlier.

After entering two inns in hopes of finding a suitable shelter– yet failing, the brilliant pair were about to give up until they came across a moderate-looking inn right in the centre of the village.

The sign hung above the entrance said The Hanged Man's Inn.

The bells jingled as they pushed open the wooden door, embedded with tall glass windows to show the inside of the entrance. Rosalind looked around, finding a man in his mid-forties seated at the reception. His hair was graying, having caught her attention with a pen balanced behind his left ear. He was clearly busy.

"Good evening, sir. I thought we could find a room for two to stay in for the next couple of days? We're quite desperate," Tom lured charmingly, mustering every word with utter perfection, yet the landlord still wasn't satisfied.

"Ah, welcome, kids. I'm afraid there's hardly any place here, especially during the holidays. Christmas is only one day away, might I add." The owner was quite polite in dismissing them, but as Rosalind looked deep into his eyes, using her Occlumency skills, she figured out that in fact, the man wasn't even certain that all of the rooms were occupied.

So she decided to interfere, "Excuse me, sir, but my fiancé and I desperately need a place to stay in, can you please check again?" Rosalind entangled her arm in Tom's as she spoke, equally as charming as the mentioned boy.

The inn's owner seemed to tense up, aware that in fact, he might have a free room.

But he still succumbed to their persuasion, flipping through his reservation book as he looked for a room. "Fine, but I'm warning you prior to any complaints, the room isn't in the best of conditions. That would be 20£ for two nights."

"Excuse me, that surpasses the price of a car!" She protested, already aware that the man was attempting to waddle his way out with a good amount of money. She was certainly exaggerating, but so was the landlord with his settled prices.

"This is all I have to offer."

Tom sighed, looking pointedly at Rosalind before handing the owner the sum of money required. For a split second, Rosalind wondered how Tom had managed to gather such amount of money being the orphan that he was. She was sure that the orphanage that sheltered him wasn't that luxurious, to offer their children a good amount of currency.