The smell of food cooking caused her to stir and she lifted her head with a slight groan, a flash of pain bolting through her neck as she moved; how long had she been in the chair?
As she slowly unfolded herself and sat up, making sure to not put anymore stress on her neck, she carefully looked into the kitchen where she could just barely see the sky from the large window in the dining room. It was grey and cloudy, but somewhat darker than she remembered it had been before.
She carefully stood up, massaging the back of her neck as she walked into the kitchen. He was standing at the stove, stirring something as he read from a book that she couldn't discern from the doorway.
He looked up as she walked into the kitchen, giving her a small smile. "Did you sleep okay?"
"I'm not sure," She answered, looking around. "How long was I asleep?"
"Nearly all day," He said, looking back at the pot he was stirring. "You fell asleep about an hour I think after you sat in the chair."
She groaned, rubbing the back of her neck again. He noticed this and gave her a concerned look. "Are you alright?"
"I slept on my neck wrong," She muttered, leaning against the counter and slowly rolling her head around in a circle to stretch her muscles. "I'll be alright, it just hurts a bit."
"I can get you some painkillers if you need them," He offered, watching her as she stretched her neck. "Actually, I'm just going to get them; considering how long you were asleep and the fact that you hardly moved, I can't imagine how badly your neck is hurting."
She gave him a surprised look, blinking as he left the kitchen and went down the hall towards her bathroom. Looking back towards the stove, she walked towards it and picked up the wooden spoon he had set down, stirring the contents of what looked to be some sort of stew. Whatever it was smelled wonderful, and when she looked over at the book she paused before realizing that it was in French.
The muffled sound of footsteps grew louder and she looked up, wincing as the pain shot through her neck and sucking in a deep breath.
"That made me hurt just watching," He said with a pained laugh and holding out a hand. "Here, these should help."
She held up her hand and he dropped three small pills into it, stepping aside as she headed towards the sink.
"I didn't know you could speak French," She said, reaching into the cabinet for a glass.
She saw him pause out of the corner of her eye before he replied, "How did you figure that out?"
"The recipe's in French," She said simply as she filled the glass with water.
He didn't say anything for a little bit as she took the pills and followed them with a large swig of water, cringing slightly at the taste while setting the glass down. He continued stirring, looking up at her a few times before saying, "I read it better than I hear it. The pronunciation is so wildly different though from how it reads."
"It really is," She agreed.
"Do you speak French?" He asked, giving her a curious look.
With a small shrug, she said, "Only a little; I haven't used it in so long. My parents took me to France for holiday after second year, and shortly after that I developed an interest. But with everything that was going on then, I just didn't have time to pursue learning the language."
He nodded in understanding and looked back towards the recipe book. "The same thing sort of happened with me. Malfoys are always taught different languages growing up; Mother happened to favor French and I grew up learning it. She didn't really speak it well either, which is probably why I read it better than I hear it."
"Makes sense." She leaned against the counter and watched him quietly, crossing her arms against her chest.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the scraping of the wooden spoon he was using to stir against the bottom of the pot here and there. She began stretching her neck again, groaning quietly as the pain grew with certain movements.
"The painkillers will take a bit to kick in."
She raised an eyebrow at the back of his head. "I know. I'm just trying to stretch the muscles."
Instead of replying to that, he looked towards the large wooden hutch near the window and asked, "Could you do me a favor?"
"What's that?"
"Could you grab a bottle of dry white wine?" He asked. "There should be a sauvignon blanc in there that'll do."
She walked towards the hutch and opened it, looking through the many bottles that were. It didn't take long for her to find the bottle that he was asking for, and she pulled it out from the back and brought it back to him.
"Thank you," He said quietly, reaching for the bottle.
His fingertips brushed gently against hers and she was again surprised by how warm his skin was. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised by it; it's not like it was unnatural for hands and fingers to be warm.
He clearly didn't notice her surprise as he searched through the drawer next to him for a bottle opener, but he did say, "I only need about a quarter-cup of this so if you'd like, you could get a couple glasses and we can split the rest."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm okay, but I can get you a glass if you'd like."
"Suit yourself," He shrugged, measuring out the wine. "This one happens to be really good. I would like a glass though if you're offering to get one."
Turning back towards the hutch, she grabbed one glass and eyed a second one, taking in a deep breath and sighing it back out. Truthfully, she was starting to give up hope on being able to escape, and the fact that he knew that she was trying to actually took some of the pressure of trying to hide it off her shoulders. And he had still been nothing but nice to her...
Her eyes lingered on the second glass but she decided against it, closing the doors and ignoring the small frown that he had on his face when she went back to lean against the small island behind him.
"I take it that you're still going to try to leave?" He asked then, reaching into the cabinet for a measuring cup.
"What do you mean, try?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm going to leave."
"If there was a way out for you, you would have found it already."
She stared at the back of his head, frustration bubbling up inside of her. "For your information, I could break that window at any time."
Jutting her thumb over her shoulder for emphasis, she watched as he simply chuckled, shaking his head.
"Go ahead," He said, nodding towards the window. "Try it."
Now she stared at him. "You don't think I could?"
"Do you really think I wouldn't have thought of that?" He asked, pouring the small bit of wine into the pot before reaching for the wine glass she had set down for him.
She gaped at him before looking back and forth between him and the window. There was no way...
Without thinking she grabbed a nearby empty pan and walked towards the window, gripping the pan's handle tightly. After stepping around the table, she paused in front of the window and adjusted the pan's grip before lifting and reeling it backwards.
All of the anger and frustration she had been holding back suddenly came forth and she swung the pan into the glass as hard as she could, freezing when the glass held unmoving beneath the metal.
She blinked a few times and reared back again, this time letting out a frustrated yell as her arms swung towards the window. As the glass refused to budge again, she stared at it and then looked back at him. The slightly amused expression on his face drove her mad.
"What did you do?" She demanded.
"I didn't want anyone to break in, and I like looking at the ocean," He shrugged. "The windows have an unbreakable charm on them so that no one can come in that way."
"Or get out," She added, gripping the pan tightly.
"Well I'll admit that is an added benefit since you apparently have a death wish." He turned away to tend to the pot on the stove again. "But no, the main intention was to prevent anyone from getting in should they decide to come looking for me. Or you."
Her brow furrowed in confusion then until she realized that he was talking about other Death Eaters coming to find him. "You said though that no one knew about this place other than you."
"That's right, however I never knew truly if anyone had followed me during the times I'd come here," He explained. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. And if anything happened..."
He didn't continue and she watched him silently for a few moments. The weight of the pan was suddenly very noticeable and she set it on the table gently, looking back at the window. There were no marks from either of her attempts at breaking the glass, and while part of her was frustrated at this because it hindered her ability to escape, she also felt somewhat relieved knowing that no one could break in either though she would never admit that out loud.
She sat down in the chair and hardly moved as he continued cooking, silence filling the air between them. She couldn't look at him in that moment so instead she looked out of the window at the waves as they rolled onto the beach. It was peaceful, and somewhat calmed her down.
The sound of something being set down in front of her caught her attention and she looked, scowling at the glass of wine that he had brought her.
"Dinner's almost ready," He said quietly, going to the hutch and pulling out a second glass for himself.
She didn't say anything in response, instead looking back out at the beach. At least she had a beautiful view...
Looking back down at the glass of wine, she sighed before reaching out and taking the glass in hand, taking a long drink and hating the fact that she liked the wine. As she lowered the glass back onto the table, the feeling suddenly hit her: she was most likely going to be stuck there in that cottage until someone either came and rescued her, or until he let her go.
This realization hit her hard and she sat there, unmoving as it washed over her that she may very well spend the rest of her life in that cottage. She didn't realize that she had been crying until a bowl had been set in front of her along with a cloth napkin being held out to her.
She ignored it and instead wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, causing him to sigh as he walked away and returned shortly after, sitting across from her with his own bowl and glass of wine.
They sat in silence for a few moments before he took in a breath and said quietly, "I understand that this isn't an ideal situation for you, but I'm going to do my best to make sure that you are happy here."
She refused to look up at him, to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she was listening. He waited for her to say something and when she didn't, he sighed heavily.
"Why are you so hellbent on wanting to go out there to possibly die?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and watching her.
Her eyes finally lifted to glare at him. "Because it's better than doing nothing to help defeat him."
"And what if you die in the process of defeating him only for him to win?" He demanded suddenly, frustration lacing his voice. "What then? What was the point of it all if you die?"
She gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing angrily. "Maybe I can help a future generation defeat him."
He put his hands up in frustration and looked away, taking in a deep breath before taking a long drink. "I think it's stupid to let yourself die so willingly for a cause you don't know for certain can win."
"I know we can win," She argued. "We know the basic plan; it's only a matter of figuring out every detail."
"Oh, that's good," He replied sarcastically. "You don't even know all of the details yet but you're willing to die."
"If we win in the end, I would think it's a good sacrifice," She answered, her resolve slowly fading as the words came out of her mouth. "One many people would make."
"It's a foolish sacrifice if you don't know for certain you'd win," He said. "And what about the people who care about you?"
"Harry and Ron would understand in the end," She said quietly, looking away. "They would most likely have the same thoughts on it."
He scoffed, pausing for a moment before adding, "What about your parents? Surely they wouldn't let you sacrifice yourself."
The mention of them cut through her like a knife and her anger returned. "My parents wouldn't even know their daughter died, because they don't remember that they have one."
He stared at her now in shock and confusion. "What?"
She blinked back tears as she said, "I wiped their memories before I left so that they'd have no connection to me to keep them safe."
The hurt at the memory of her last day with her parents slowly built up and she looked away again, taking another long drink to try and distract herself. She could see him continue to stare at her out of the corner of her eye, though her vision was now muddled through her tears. She quickly wiped them away, chastising herself for telling him that information considering that he was connected to the very people she had been trying to protect her parents from.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds being the muffled waves washing up onto the beach outside of the window.
"I'm so sorry," He said quietly, breaking the silence. "I can't imagine how hard it was having to do that."
She didn't say anything in response, instead finishing her glass of wine and staring out at the waves, wiping the last few remnants of her tears.
"I did what I had to do," She said finally in a voice much quieter than she had intended.
"That doesn't make it any easier," He answered just as quietly.
She glanced up at him before looking back down at her untouched bowl of soup. "No, it doesn't."
There was silence for a moment or two, until he said, "You're very brave, you know that, Hermione?"
Looking up at him, she blinked and then shook her head. "I'm not; I just do what I think is right."
He chuckled at this before saying, "That's somewhat tied into the definite of 'brave', especially with you Gryffindors."
She managed to choke out a strained laugh at this, shaking her head again. Instead of answering, she reached for the spoon that was resting in the bowl of soup, ignoring the fact that he was watching her quietly.
A/N: I am so so so SO sorry for the delay with this chapter; life has been a little hectic lately and I haven't been able to work on my writing as much as I'd like but I should be able to start updating regularly again soon hopefully! Thank you all so much for your patience and I hope you all enjoy!