Chapter Text
Tom angled his face sharply to the left, letting the cold steel of the razor caress his jaw as he dragged it along his skin. One sharp, practised move and his left jaw was shaved clean.
He let the razor rinse clean under the running water, the only sound in his bathroom.
His routine was concluded.
Languidly, Tom walked out of the bathroom. Drops of water travelled his body along with his hard muscles; one drop in particular rolled smoothly over the V-shaped muscle on his lower body, disappearing beneath his low-hanging towel.
He efficiently dried and dressed himself in the set of work clothes he had put out the night before. He was a man of principle and discipline after all. But still indulge in a little bit of fun from time to time.
He was buttoning the last of his shirt cuffs in front of his body-length mirror when the doorbell rang.
Tom raised his brows and eyed the grandfather to his left as he straightened his suit vest.
It was 6:45 AM, too soon for the crew to arrive.
His gut told him who had arrived, and he was 99% sure that he was 100% right.
Tom walked downstairs and pulled the door open.
“Oh! Good morning, Mr Riddle.” Her eyes travelled down his body from top to bottom, and she looked a little disappointed.
“Bellatrix. You are too early.” He said it in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Yes! I’m sorry, Sir. I have to come early– you see, my–”
Tom turned around and left her babbling her bullshit of an excuse by the door.
“Did I disturb your routine, Sir?” she asked with a honey-coated voice. Her black jet curly hair was bouncing around her face.
Tom had an urge to roll his eyes, but it was too childish to do so, so he gave her a side-eye instead. She arrived too early one time, caught him in his towel and now, every week, she would purposely come too early. It was nauseating.
Tom didn’t bother to reply to her and crossed the threshold into the nearest crew lounge.
Bellatrix closed the door behind her and looked at him with lust-filled eyes. Her chest bouncing up and down as her breathing increased.
He cocked his head to the side, raised his brows slightly.
With his silent permission, she stepped closer to him, too close– he practically could smell her sickly sweet vanilla perfume.
She immediately sank to her knees, ridding him of her strong scent.
Bellatrix pressed her face to his clothed cock, and took a deep breath. “Oh, my lord.”
Tom took a sharp breath in from the sensation. Even when he loathed the woman, she proved herself useful for his needs from time to time. At least her mouth was.
She pressed the warmth of her palm onto his half-hard cock, kissed the length of him. When he was ready, she unbuckled his belt and took his cock out with ease.
Bellatrix looked at his cock with hunger, like she hadn’t had her husband’s cock for years.
Tom licked his drying lips, a surge of dark emotion swirling inside his chest. Having his married employee on her knees, eager to suck his cock, to please him, just did it for him; he felt powerful– she felt like a whore, a tool for him. He placed his hand behind her head and wrapped her hair tightly.
She saw the gesture as an equal excitement and lust. She made intense eye contact as she took the head of his cock into her mouth and pressed her tongue on him.
He grunted in response, not quite a moan. He felt a little silly about the sound.
Bellatrix bobbed her head, taking his lengthy member into her mouth. She was an expert, he could tell by how easily she took him. He was not small or average at all.
The moment his cock hit the back of her throat, she produced a moan, vibrating from her throat, sending Tom a delicious shiver. But it wasn’t enough. This, wasn’t enough.
Tom tightened his hold on her hair; he tugged it to stop her bobbing movement.
When Bellatrix was no longer able to move her head, he rolled his hips forward, sending his cock deeper into her throat.
He glanced down at her; her lips practically touched the base of his pubes. Yet, she let no teeth touch him. He smirked down at her.
Such an obedient little slut.
He let her breathe for a second before pulling most of his length from her throat and slamming them harshly back in.
Tom fucked her mouth and throat ruthlessly while he kept her head from moving with a punishing grip; she was choking and moaning.
He angled her head as he wished, letting his cock travel deeper and deeper with each thrust. He wanted to use and abuse her, do her like a lifeless sex doll.
Bellatrix clawed at his trousers, gripping the fabric like it was her lifeline. Tom let her. He let her hold onto him just this time.
Tom looked down on her and gritted his teeth when her expression wasn’t what he was expecting, not a pained one.
This bitch loved it, fuck. It’s no fun, then.
With that, he chased his own release– no longer interested in his own desire to prolong this.
He closed his eyes and let the familiar feeling of orgasm wash through him, and Tom emptied himself on the base of her throat. She gulped it down greedily.
Tom eyed the clock once more; it was 7:05 AM, ten minutes before the crew was supposed to arrive. He tucked himself back into his trousers and was about to walk out of the room when he heard, “My lord?” She licked her lips.
“What?”
Bellatrix bit her bottom lip, as if she was expecting something back from him. He scoffed.
“Just start preparing for the meeting. I will come down once everyone’s here,” he said coldly.
He left her, still kneeling on the floor, her hair rumpled by his hands, and he climbed his way up the stairs, further away from her, to the safe zone of his own office.
Tom shut the door and exhaled irritably. He shook his head as he fished his cigarette steel-box out of his pocket and lit one.
“Slut.”
Her phone kept buzzing annoyingly. Hermione closed her newest obsession– Birthday Girl by Penelope Doughlass novel. She was wondering how it would feel to get handled by a much, much older guy; her obsession with it made her dig herself so deep into that kind of rabbit hole.
What number is her limit? How much is too much? Does uncle count as–?
She sighed and opened her phone.
*Ginevra W added Blaise Z, Harry P, Pansy P, Draco M, Theodore N, Ronald W, and you to a group chat*
Ginevra W: Guys! Let’s do this on Halloween!
Ginevra W: link attached
Harry P: What’s this?
Ronald W: Sounds kinky, sis.
Ginevra W: *eye rolling emoji* That’s why you two are hardly getting laid. Too vanilla.
Harry P: Hey! What did I do? Damnit. Let’s do it, then.
Ronald W: Ew. Fine, whatever. I don’t have anything to do, anyway.
Ronald W: Wait, will there be any spiders?
Ginevra W: Who else? Hermione? Blaise? Theo? Draco? Pansy?
Blaise Z: Sure, sure, love.
Theodore N: LETS GOOOOO, I’m INNN, BABYYY. WALKING AROUND A HAUNTED HOUSE BLIND FOLDED? YASSSS.
Ronald W: Spiders..?
Pansy P: Oh, no. The fuck no. I’m out.
Ginevra W: YASSSS, THAT’S THE SPIRIT!!! YOU’RE THE BEST, THEO!
Ginevra W: Pansy Pussy.
Pansy P: Shut the fuck up, bitch. I hate that house, I cried the last time I went there.
Draco M: Theo….
Draco M: Oh! You almost peed yourself because you felt someone caressing your back thighs, right, Pans? That’s too much, too freaky. Groped by a ghost?
Pansy P: YES! Thank you, Draco!
Theodore N: YESSS DRAKEY-BABY?
Ginevra W: That shit sounds really freaky, yes. But it’s fun!!! You Slytherins are a bunch of pussies.
Blaise Z: Hey! I said yes!
Ginevra W: Not you, hot chocolate. <3
Blaise Z: <3
Pansy P: EWWW, the fuck. I prefer to suck Ron’s cock to going back there.
Ronald W: Make it a date, and we’re outta the damn Riddle House, Pans.
Pansy P: Fine. PM me, gingerale. *wink*
*Ginevra W has removed Pansy P and Ronald W from the group*
Ginevra W: Anyway, Hermione? Draco? What about you two?
Draco M: Sorry, Gin. Theo and I can’t do.
Ginevra W: What are you talking about? Theo said yes.
Draco M: It’s because Theo is a little koi fish that kept forgetting that we are supposed to meet my family over dinner on Halloween to discuss some private matters.
Theodore N: OH!!!!
Theodore N: BABYYYY, I’M SOOOWWWRYYYYYYY
Theodore N: IT SLIPPED MY MINDDDD, LIKE HOW YOUR COCK SLIPPED–
*Ginevra W has removed Draco M and Theodore N from the group*
Harry P: Shit, Gin. A strict program here. Fast fingers, too.
Ginevra W: Yep. Hermione?
Ginevra W: Hermione.
Ginevra W: Hermione.
Ginevra W: Hermione.
Ginevra W: Hermione.
Ginevra W: Hermione.
You: Shoot! I’m sorry. I was doing a light reading, lol.
You: Wait. Let me see the attachment.
You: Sure! Let’s do it! Sounds fun!
Harry P: Are you sure it was light?
Ginevra W: LETS GOOOO.
“Alright, let’s start the meeting, shall we?”
Tom gave him a curt nod, asking him to proceed. He leaned toward, elbows on the cool surface of his glass table.
Dolohov cleared his throat. “Okay, so. Tomorrow, it’s Halloween. Our most profitable weekend since the first time we introduced Riddle House to the public–,”
Tom tuned him out of his mind; he was half-listening while his mind travelled to the time when he suddenly got the inspiration to open up his dead-good-for-nothing father’s house as a haunted house.
It was three years ago. On his forty-seventh birthday, which he didn’t celebrate in any way, he never did. That day, he was sitting alone at a pub, nursing his whisky, and he had been thinking about opening a new business soon. It was when a group of girls came in and started speaking loudly about a haunted house named the Winchester Mystery House in America. It struck him that everything else was fitting for him to open something similar. The folks already hold his home as a haunted house anyway.
Money was not a problem for Tom, at least for the last decade. He was rich, no– filthy rich, but he had no wife, no family. Just Tom and the fortune his dead father left him.
Marriage never appealed to him, and as time went on, he tried several things in life. Tom even started from the bottom, the supposed orphaned boy, without parents, working in a low-paying job as a cleaner in dubious places. Then, when he got the hang of it and started to gain trust and money, his father and his family suddenly died, leaving him a large sum of money.
Then, opened up some businesses and sold them or put them under his proteges’ hands. He owned buildings, skyscrapers. He sold buildings, houses, lands, and even two islands when he was in real estate one time. He travelled the world three times. He noted that he enjoyed his time in Southeast Asia countries more than others. Some people said that it’s exotic. He didn’t get what was exotic from the countries; he just enjoyed it, and he noted it. That’s all.
Then, he got sick for a while and was kept in a hospital for eleven months. The last month of his stay, a revelation came down. He conquered things in this world, but the only piece of dirt that he didn’t manage to conquer was his father’s estate. No matter how hard he tried to sell it, a curse was probably stuck in its foundation. Refused to be handed to others’ hands except for a Riddle. Or probably because the people in his city talked. Oh, boy, they talked all right.
They loathe his father’s house, knowing that four people were murdered sadistically inside of it. They made a rumour that his house was haunted, that his father and relatives were floating, existing for no damn reason.
One time, a YouTuber broke inside and left shrieking bloody murder, telling a tale that he stumbled upon a scatter of bones on a satanic altar in his reading room. The fool even involved the police, they grant a search warrant and just turned the place upside down, trying to find these bones or the altar.
Naturally, they found nothing.
Tom was informed the next morning, when he was away, sucking shots of vodka from an Indonesian girl’s belly button.
So, when the revelation told him to turn the damn house into profit, of course, the great opportunist that he was, he took the idea and ran with it.
Slowly, he handpicked his crews and opened Riddle House as an infamous haunted house, and it worked. He opened his house several times a month to let people from all over the place come to his hometown and pay him money to enter his house. Do some silly things like games, and leave without anything, except experience. The easiest money he ever made. And he didn’t even need the money.
“Rodolphus! Ain’t you listening, you dumb fuck? You're supposed to put the blinds on all windows! Not just the first floor. We need all four floors for the game! We need the gloomy vibes!”
Tom blinked, and he eyed Bellatrix sharply. The woman clamped her mouth shut and grimaced.
Her face was flushed with rage, she was shitting her own husband, for Tom’s rejection.
“Jeez, Bella. Calm down. The boys and I will do it today.” He sneered back at his wife.
Bellatrix rolled her eyes; she huffed irritably.
“We are so sorry, Boss. But I will make sure everything’s done before tomorrow.” He said to Tom apologetically.
Tom nodded, “Alright, Lestrange. Just make sure everything’s perfect for tomorrow.”
All of his crews answered affirmatively. Tom started to get up when he spoke again, “Oh, and from now on, no one can come here before 7:15 in the morning. I won’t open the front gate before then.”
He rose and walked out of the room without waiting for an answer.
Hermione was uncomfortable; she kept tugging her low V-neckline to cover her chest a little bit more, looking at her reflection in the mirror before her.
“Stop tugging it!” Ginny snapped at her from behind.
“Sorry, it’s too low! I’m not comfortable,” She murmured sheepishly.
Ginny rolled her eyes, “I told you to pick your own costume, and you got the nerve to show up at my house without one. So now, you get to wear my last year’s costume.” Her arms akimbo.
Hermione laughed drily, “Yeah, yeah, alright.”
She purposely forgot her costume in the hope that Ginny would let this time slide, but apparently not. Now, she was stuck with a sexy nurse costume; she hated this. The costume was a one-piece dress with double-breasted buttons at the top and a flared, pleated miniskirt at the bottom. The costume hugged her curvy body perfectly, even when she felt like it was a size too small for her, at least in the chest and hip department. Her legs were wrapped with a white tight-high stocking with a cute bow at the centre of her thighs and a matching pair of red flat shoes. Ginny told her that there was supposed to be a matching nurse hat, but thankfully, she had lost it.
“Are you ready? Blaise and Harry’s here!” Ginny tugged her elbow, dragging her out of her room.
Her hair bounced angrily as Ginny pulled her out of the door. She blew a breath to let the hair stuck to her forehead off her face, but failed miserably. She would ask Ginny to help her braid her hair into two braids in the car later, so she could lock in for the game later.
Blaise’s costume was definitely Zeus (She asked), and Harry went as a farmer boy. He looked quite cute, too. A red flannel shirt– topped with a denim farmer-style overall (he put only one of the buttons) and a farmer hat. He even chewed on a piece of wheat!
“Looking good, Harry!” She teased.
“Not bad yourself, Mione. Are you a nurse or a nurse?” he bounced his brows playfully.
Hermione laughed but stopped mid-sentence when she (and Harry) noticed how Ginny and Blaise looked at each other meaningfully at their banter.
Hermione rolled her eyes; they always tried to set her up with Harry when she (and Harry) repeatedly told them that their relationship was purely platonic and nothing else.
Harry eyed her with an apologetic look, and she shrugged back at him.
Forty-five minutes later, they finally crossed the front gate of the infamous Riddle House.
Hermione didn’t live there that long; she just moved into this small city for her uni, so the whole Riddle House thing was rather new for her.
Surely, she heard one or two things from her friends, but she held no interest in such a tale, so she didn’t really care.
Playing a game in a supposed haunted house sounds much more fun than a date with Cormac McLaggen, anyway; that bloke kept pushing her for a date.
They were finally able to see the front of the mansion. Yes, mansion. They called it Riddle House, yet it was more like a huge four-story mansion.
No wonder people speculated about this house; it was huge, yet the vibe was… just dark.
“We’re here!” Ginny was jumping up and down from her seat beside Blaise.
“Oooh, neat! But why is there no one here?” Harry asked, looking left and right, trying to find other players.
Hermione just nodded while she inspected the front garden, full of topiary, no flowers or any colourful plants anywhere. Just green. Bushes. In squares.
“That’s how it is. They only accept a certain number of players a day, and the most expensive day is today, Halloween. Each session could last up to two hours, I think? That’s why it’s exclusive. They sell experience,” Blaise supplied.
“This House certainly needs a woman’s touch, don’t ya’ll think?” Ginny chimed, unbuckled her seatbelt.
“True, mi amore. I’ll let you decorate our house, yeah?” Blaise took Ginny’s hand and kissed each of her knuckles. He gazed at her lovingly.
Ginny giggled, “You better!”
And the couple just started to snog each other shamelessly.
“Uhh, guys?”
“Get a room, you two! Harry, come on, let’s go inside and talk to them first.” Hermione pulled on his arm out of the door.
Both of them exhaled heavily when they managed to escape the excessive PDA from the couple.
“I swear, they’ve been together for almost three years and they just–,” Harry started.
“I know, I know. I haven’t known you guys for that long– and don’t get me wrong, I love it for them, but, geez,” She chuckled back. At least they experienced it together.
Harry shook his head and laughed, “Oh! Did you get my present for your 18th birthday last September?”
“Oh! I did! It was amazing, thank you, Harry! A cloth book cover? That’s very thoughtful of you!”
“My pleasure! I saw it on TV one day and thought of you. And how’s Helen?”
“My mother? She’s fine. She met some Australian guy named David, and I urged her to go there, you know? To release some steam. She shouldn’t be stuck in London all her life because of me, right?”
Harry patted her shoulders, “It’s OK. She’s just worried.”
Hermione threw him an apologetic glance, knowing Harry had no parental figure to fuss over him.
They chattered away on a much lighter topic as they waited for the lovebird to come out of the cave, and fifteen minutes later, the four of them were sitting on the plush sofa in the lobby and were greeted by the welcoming staff.
“Welcome to Riddle House! My name is Alecto Carrow, and he’s my brother, Amycus Carrow. Let us simply explain the game.” She gave them each a flyer with instructions.
They were indeed a really good explainer. Hermione thought they must have been a good teacher in another lifetime. Probably a strict, almost over-the-line kind of teacher, but they were good.
But Alecto kept her eyes glancing in Harry’s way a little too long. Looking a little too.. Interested?
Harry looked at her with the same intensity, but then he licked his lips and looked down at his own pamphlet.
Hermione caught a glimpse of them, eyeing each other in acknowledgement, but she couldn’t decipher what it meant.
Hermione decided to store the information for later; she needed her focus to play the game now. After digging a little deep in her pocket for this game, she would enjoy every single thing in this Riddl-culously expensive House game.
It had begun, Tom’s favourite game from Riddle House. He got the idea from the time he worked as a janitor at a Halloween fair years ago. He chuckled to himself at the memory.
Tom glanced up at his enormous screen filled with CCTV cameras from all over his house. The light was bearable when his room was dimly lit. The next group would be up soon; he was just about done storing the information about the last group’s members. He liked it, assessing the guests at his house, and dug up their information. The last group included one of the daughters of a local millionaire, and he found some interesting activity in her circle.
The next group– a four-person group, the ideal number for the game.
His eyes widened at the sight of one of the girls. She was dressed in a slutty nurse costume, with two very pullable braids. Her love-shaped face, her almond-shaped eyes, and a perfect cupid bow.
Tom involuntarily let out a deep rumble from his throat, and his chest tightened slightly. He couldn’t take his eyes off the girl. His eyes travelled down to the rest of her body, her naughty, very low v-neckline, a very polite mini skirt, very accessible.
She ignited something inside of him.
His cock twitched, agreeing with him, and he wanted her, wanted her now.
When he was done devouring her figure on the screen, he reluctantly grazed over the rest of the team. He began taking notes and searching them in his database.
Tom started his search from the reservation holder, who was Blaise Zabini. The kid, Tom knew. His family was a nouveau riche, probably from blackmailing politicians or murdering his many rich stepfathers. His mother, Alessandra Zabini, was probably the reason behind all of their wealth. A sensual woman that she was, it was probably easy to do what she did.
Tom clicked on Blaise Zabini’s social media profile and scrolled through. He noted his girlfriend– the red-headed girl in a Cleopatra costume, was all over his feeds. He opened another tab and scrolled through the girl’s profile and gathered her humongous family members– too many redheads in one family. He huffed to himself.
In the first five minutes, he managed to find all of their names– the slutty nurse, Hermione Granger, it seemed, was the most private amongst her group. She had only a handful of pictures on her social media.
Tom scrolled to the bottom of her feed and clicked on a photo of her and her only family member on Hermione’s 15th birthday. His eyes grew wide– then darkened.
He reached out for his phone and dialled a number.
“Yes, boss?”
They talked for a bit, then he cut the call. Tom rose from his seat and walked toward his door– he unlocked it.
Then, he sat on his sofa and chuckled darkly.
After the twin staffs were done explaining the game, Hermione glanced down at her pamphlet and read them one more time.
How to Play:
1. After the groups are formed, each group will choose a treasure to hunt while blindfolded. The selection can be random or decided by agreement within the group.
2. The staff will guide each group to their assigned floor and blindfold the participant using a double-layered blindfold.
3. Participants will have one hour to find the treasure hidden somewhere on the floor.
4. If a participant believes they have found the treasure, they should press the call button provided by the staff at the start of the game. A staff member will then verify the item before removing the blindfold.
5. When the hour is up, a bell will sound throughout the house, and all participants must stop searching.
6. Participants who successfully find the correct treasure will receive a reward.
Notes:
1. All locked rooms are strictly off-limits.
2. If a participant accidentally knocks something over or breaks an item, they will not be charged, as this is considered part of the game.
3. The stairwell will be barricaded to prevent participants from falling.
4. There will be “ghosts” who may try to mislead or distract participants in the following ways:
- Tapping their shoulders
- Blowing air on their face
- Touching their knee, elbow, or arms
- Whispering
- Shouting (but not directly into the ears)
5. The ghosts will not cause any physical harm.
6. Participants may respond to the ghosts, provided they do so appropriately.
Alright, it was easy enough to understand. They had an hour to play, and it was abundant to roam the entire floor, even when the house was enormous. Each floor has approximately twelve to fifteen rooms, ranging in type and size. And the staff let them feel up the treasure beforehand.
The four of them finally settled on a randomised treasure, so the staff would decide for them.
“Alright, for the first floor, Miss Weasley – you will get a journal for your treasure. Here’s the duplicate of the journal. Feel free to touch and feel it up now.”
Ginny took the journal and opened it. She flipped through the creamed-paper journal, which was blank. Obviously.
Alecto nodded toward her. “For the second floor, Miss Granger. Yours will be a cup. Here’s the cup.”
Hermione took it; the cup was quite big and golden. It was going to be easy for her to identify it. She closed her eyes to mimic the feeling of it, so she could memorise the feel of it. She wanted to win– this game was rather expensive, and she wanted to know the prize for winning, too.
In the background, she could hear that Harry got a golden locket and Blaise got a tiara.
All of the treasures were indeed treasures. She was wondering if they were legit or just a prop.
“Well, since I am really excited for you guys! I will be so glad to offer something to add to the excitement of the game. Are you guys interested?”
Ginny– the adventurer that she was- was intrigued right away. “What’s that?” She asked.
“Do we have to pay for it?” Harry chimed in.
Blaise was still rubbing his hands around his tiara, counting the number of jewels on it and memorising the shape of each gem. Hermione so wanted to beat Blaise in this game, time-wise, anyway.
She narrowed her eyes and stared at him hard. He raised his eyeline and met hers. He smirked.
Challenge accepted.
They broke their intense stare when Alecto clapped her hand once, “Great! I will bring it out, and you guys can drink it. You still have ten minutes to feel up the treasure before we start, OK?”
“What are we ordering again?” Hermione asked.
“Well, if you guys didn’t get too immersed in your silent competition on everything, you might have heard. So now, it’s a surprise,” Ginny shrugged– her smile was borderline scary.
“Um, Harry?”
“Nope,” he said with a pop at the end.
Blaise was murmuring to his girl, persuading her to tell him, but Ginny was stone-headed.
So at the end, the four of them were holding their icy drink. It looked like a watery tomato juice, but Alecto assured them it wasn’t alcoholic at all before she left the room. Hermione sniffed the drink, and a scent of peppermint and apple was quite strong. Her saliva started to accumulate.
She looked around her friends, and all of them were gulping the drink merrily.
Harry was done first, and she finally asked him, “How was it?”
“It was quite good, actually. Try it, it’s sweet and refreshing.”
Reluctantly, Hermione sipped her drink– and true, the drink was really refreshing and yummy. No weird aftertaste or something similar. So, she finished it off.
They were still talking and coming up with a plan to work on the game when a loud blaring filled the waiting room.
Alecto and Amycus walked in once more.
“Are you guys ready?” They said in unison.
It sent a shiver down her spine. The way they talked was a little off.
“Yes, we are!” Ginny answered enthusiastically.
“Perfect! Well, if you please, Miss Weasley, you are assigned the first floor. Please kindly follow me,” Alecto gestured politely to Ginny to follow her. She jumped from her seat and turned around to Blaise. Ginny planted a quick kiss on his lips and murmured, “See you soon, hot chocy.”
When she pulled away, Blaise pulled her back in and kissed her deeply.
They produced moaning sounds, Hermione grimaced.
“See you, hot stuff,” Blaise finally said, letting her go.
Ginny winked at him and walked behind Alecto out of the room.
“Mr Blaise, please follow me,” Amycus was leading him out to the fourth floor.
“Harry.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think those two are a little too intense?” Hermione asked.
“Yeah, they are a little gross from time to time. But hey, I love it for them. Kissing noisily in the public–”
“No! I was talking about the twins,” Hermione hurriedly corrected herself.
Harry huffed out a laugh, “Oh! My bad. I thought you were talking about them. Yeah, what about the twin?” He asked, averted his eyes to the side.
Hermione tilted her head slightly, processing Harry’s reaction.
“They are a little bit intense, or is it just me?”
Harry nodded, still not meeting her eyes. “Well, I think they are alright, maybe it’s just you.”
Hermione felt that he was hiding something, but she didn’t want to press him further. She didn’t even know what to think, like a huge missing puzzle was nowhere to be seen. So, she changed the topic instead.
“Do you think you can find the locket? It was rather small, after all.”
Harry turned his head and grinned, “Don’t underestimate me, Hermione. I will beat you and Blaise.”
She smiled back challengingly, “Sure– sure, four-eyed man.”
Harry was about to retort when the twin came back.
“Mr Potter, please follow me to the third floor,” said Amycus, while Alecto said, “Ms Granger, please follow me to the second floor.”
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and got up at the same time. They followed the twins and went on their separate ways up the stairs. “Good luck, Hermione,” Harry waved at her.
“Good luck, Harry.” She waved back before Alecto put on the blindfold and started her timer.