Chapter Text
Hermione was bored. She'd finished her 'leisure' reading yesterday and already read her textbooks for next semester. She would reread them, but not even she was that much of a masochist. The thought of trying to work her way through the minutiae of say the postal acceptance rule, or another 50 pages of waffling from some pompous windbag of a judge as they 'explained' their reasoning using 20 words when one would have sufficed was enough to bring her to tears. She thought studying law was a good idea again why? At least if she had been home in London, she could have popped round to waterstones to wile away a few hours.
Being stuck in rural France during some obscure local holiday was not her idea of a good time. She had no way to get into the nearest town, and everything would be shut anyway. To top an already shitty start to her holiday off, grand'mere Jean had taken a tumble only two days into her stay, and was stuck in the hospital for at least the next week for observation. So much for the nice break she'd hoped to have. She supposed she could go for a walk in the woods but grand'mere had warned her that there had been reports of wolves in the area recently. Just another reason she should have stayed in England. So what if her parents were away. At least in London she didn't have to worry about being eaten if she went for a walk.
Continuing to curse under her breath, she rummaged in the pantry. Surely grand'mere wouldn't begrudge her a little bit of wine? It's not like she had anything better to do. Hell she was an adult! Her classmates certainly showed no embarrassment at hitting the pub before 3. She was totally justified in opening a bottle of wine and day drinking. It's not like there was anyone around to judge her this far out in the middle of nowhere. A shame that. Here she was. Stuck in France on her own and no one to enjoy it with. Snorting at her pity party, Hermione mused that a wolf might even be welcome company at this point. It would certainly make things more interesting.
_________________________
Some time later Hermione was well on her way to being thoroughly pissed. What had started out as just one glass had turned into most of the bottle. She knew she'd regret this come the morning but fuck it. She had been meant to spend her summer with her boyfriend Ron. Make that her ex-boyfriend. Her plans to surprise him after her final exam had gone up in flames when instead she'd found him balls deep in Lavender Brown. The fucker had then tried to blame his actions on her saying he had needs. Arse. Just because she took her grades seriously and devoted the proper amount of time to studying to maintain them, didn't make her boring, frigid or any of the other cruel names he had thrown at her. Bitterly Hermione wondered what about her needs. When had Ron ever bothered to make sure she got off, the self centred bastard. Lavender was welcome to him.
Knock knock. Taking another swig of her wine, it took a few moments for the sound to make sense to Hermione's wine addled mind. Frowning in confusion she dragged herself up and towards the front door. The house was out in the woods, set well back from the single track road. Who the hell would be knocking at the door this time of night?
Turning on the porch light, Hermione opened the door and tried not to stare. She really hoped it wasn't just the wine, cause fuck, if there wasn't the most beautiful man she'd ever seen currently outside. Attempting to pull herself together before she made a complete tit of herself she closed her eyes and counted to ten.
'....Can I help you?'
The man smiled. Her eyes were drawn to his teeth. Being the daughter of dentists had given her the awkward habit of automatically assessing the teeth of everyone she met. And there was something distinctly odd about this guys. Still trying to figure out what was different she almost missed his response.
'I'm terribly sorry to bother you so late, but I'm afraid I'm rather lost. I got turned around hiking in the woods and well...' he trailed off, shrugging sheepishly. When she continued to just stare at him he flushed in embarrassment. 'How rude of me! I haven't even introduced myself.' He stood up straight and flashed her a charming grin. 'I'm Tom.'
'Hermione,' she blurted out without thought, wincing as she realised just how blunt that came out. Fuck. Come on brain, full sentences. 'My name’s Hermione. Sorry. You said you were hiking? On your own?'
‘Yes. There are some lovely trails around this area.’
‘...What about the wolves though?’
The hairs on the back of Hermiones' neck stood on end as a curious smile stole across his face before he could fully conceal it. As if he found something amusing about her question.
‘It’s just a matter of, ah… knowing what to do. Generally they will leave you alone if you prove yourself too difficult a target.’
Ok. Something was definitely off. She was drunk not stupid. He said he was hiking? Then where the hell was his equipment? He was way too smartly dressed, not to mention the distinct lack of mud or other things which she’d expect to see from someone who had been wandering in the woods. And his lack of worry about the wolves. She saw no sign of him carrying any weapon to defend himself. This region was infamous for its historical wolf attacks. No one sane went out alone into the woods, especially without some means of defence. She was painfully aware of how vulnerable she was out here alone. Even if she managed to call for help it would take too long for the police to arrive. And what would she even tell them? Nope. She was going to have to figure this mess out herself.
‘Would you like to come in? You must be thirsty. I can probably find something for you to eat too if you want.’ She carefully studied his face. There. That was definitely a triumphant look.
‘Are you sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.’
‘I’m sure I’ll live. Come on, the kitchens down the hall.’
As she moved aside to let him in, Hermione surreptitiously reached for the shovel grand'mere kept by the porch. She just needed to get him sat down. Following, she hid her makeshift weapon beside the counter as she busied herself digging out a glass from the cupboard.
‘So are you local? I don’t really detect an accent,’ Hermione asked, handing him the glass as he took a seat, making small talk as she waited for her opportunity.
‘I was born around Gévaudan, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been back.’
‘Really? I don’t think the region’s been called that in a very long time.’
There. Another slight slip in his genial mask as his eyes flashed with quickly concealed rage. She could have sworn she saw a flash of red.
‘As I said, it has been some time.’
Hmmming non-committedly, Hermione casually made her way across the room, making sure to keep him in her sights.
‘What brought you back, if you don’t mind me asking?’
She carefully grabbed the handle of the shovel as she silently slipped behind him. As he went to turn to answer she brought the shovel down against his head with an almighty thwack. Seeing he only looked stunned she quickly brought it down again. The fuck. He should be out like a light! The second time seemed to do the trick as he slumped, finally out cold. That was far more difficult than it should have been. She needed to get him securely tied up fast. Who knew how long he would be down for. Finding grand'meres stash of rope, she quickly worked on securing Tom in the chair. Now it was a matter of waiting for him to wake up. Pouring herself a glass of water, she settled herself across from him. She suspected she would not be waiting long.