Hermione

Hermione

An idea I incorporated into Glade Hall, my haunted mansion book.

About 2,220 words, containing some sex and strong horror.

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Hermione Wood had been to two previous long weekends at Glade Hall, but she’d been younger then, less sure of what she wanted. She was just two weeks away from her eighteenth birthday and now knew what she wanted. Hermione ached for the touch of William James Maynard, young heir to the Maynard family fortune and likely to be one of the richest men in England, one day. Soon all the young people would go to see the famous Grotto. Everyone knew what went on there during the five minutes of darkness after the candles went out. Nothing to ruin a young woman’s reputation, but kisses and touching, as long as it was consensual.

“He was looking at you right through dinner.” Said Cecilia.

Hermione felt herself blush and her heart began to race.

“You really think so ?” She asked.

“Oh yes. William only has eyes for you.”

Hermione was almost eighteen and she hadn’t even kissed a boy properly. Her father was rather over protective and she never seemed to meet anyone nice. There had been a sort of fumble with a boy in the Grotto when she was sixteen, but that had been truly awful. Last year she’d set her herself to win over Teddy Sherrington, but he’d ignored her and kissed some awful shop girl.

One of the servants was hitting a gong.

“Please collect your outdoor clothing, it’s still wet out. The tour of the famous Maynard Grotto, will commence in ten minutes.”

She was wearing the latest trend in light casual clothing. It was now eighteen twenty, gone were the long heavy dresses and in were light diaphanous evening gowns. Hermione had hitched the side of her dress up slightly, to emphasise the shape of her legs. Yes, she was overdoing it a little, but she desperately wanted to feel a man’s touch on her skin, his lips on hers. Her best friend Cecilia was still hovering around with a smirk on her face.

“Keep still in the dark and let him come to you.”

“I just hope I don’t faint !”

It was alright for Cecilia, she was experienced in such matters and had actually let a boy pull her knickers down to her knees. Hermione had laughed when her friend had told her about her sexual exploits, but she was quite jealous and a little scared. She put on her light evening jacket and followed the other young people outside. William actually winked at her, as he walked through the French windows and out onto the lawn. Hermione tried desperately not to blush, as she smiled back at him. She was going to do it, be his, to do with as he pleased for that wonderful five minutes of darkness.

“The Grotto is about half a mile from the main house.” Said the servant. “Please keep close to those carrying lamps.”

It had been raining for most of the afternoon and the grass felt wet against her legs. They were all going to return with muddy shoes, but that was part of the adventure. She now ignored the smirking Cecilia and kept close to William, letting her hand touch his as they walked. She had to be careful, her father was Conservative MP George Wood, who represented a constituency in Surrey. Any scandal involving his daughter could well blight his political career. She needed William though, the way a rose needs the rain to grow and flourish. She was too old to have never been kissed.

“Mind the puddles miss.” Said a servant.

“Oh yes, thank you.”

Daydreaming had caused her to soak her feet, but she still kept next to William, following him into the Grotto entrance. The lamps were exchanged for candles, to see the crystals to their best effect. That was the official reason, but candles are fragile light, that can conveniently go out. There were about a dozen of them, all sons and daughters of the great and the good. Most kept to the upper caves, but William headed for the lower caves, Hermione following him. It would be more private down there, little chance of a wandering hand being noticed by someone indiscrete. Hermione even began to wonder what a boy’s erect penis might feel like.

William had stopped at the end of the yellow crystal cave. He was about four paces from her and they were alone. He leant towards the candle and pursed his lips to blow, then he stopped.

“May I blow out the candle Hermione ?”

“Yes, that would be nice.”

That would be nice ! What a stupid thing to say. She stopped beating herself up as William blew out the candle and moved towards her. He was holding her neck and kissing her, his right hand moving over her arm and towards her left breast. Hermione felt herself tense as his hand gently went down the top of her dress. He stopped moving, so she pushed herself towards him and kissed him with some passion. It wasn’t going to happen again ! When she was sixteen, she’d become like a statue, a block of frigid ice. That had been awful, awful, awful ! Not again.

“Touch me !” She whispered in his ear.

His hand went down her dress, finding her nipple and she actually gasped with the release of pent up passion. It was such a small thing he was doing, yet it felt so wonderful. She pulled the straps off her shoulders and let her dress fall off her breasts. It was wanton and shameful and wonderful ! William leant down and began to use his tongue on her nipples. They were hard, her breasts were hard, it was all unexpected, but so pleasurable.

“Oh William !”

She liked the way he moved slowly, giving her time to move away or stop his hands from exploring her body. She was eager though and enjoyed the feel of his hand lifting her dress and caressing her thigh. He kissed her quite hard, as his hand went under the edge of her knickers and felt her most intimate area. She wasn’t just moist, she was wet ! It was like a tap being turned on, she could feel it running down her thigh. That seemed to excite William and his fingers felt her, pushing in deep enough to make her moan. It felt so good ! If he’d wanted to, he could have taken her, there and then. She’d have given no resistance at all, to losing her virginity in the Maynard Grotto.

“Did I hurt you ?” He asked.

“No, not at all.”

He probed deeper and she felt as though she was going to faint. William was the perfect gentleman though, nothing was hurried, nothing was going to go…. Too far. As he kissed her again, she decided to be brave. Hermione felt the front of his trousers, closing her fingers around the erect penis inside them. Instinct told her to gently rub her fingers up and down, the pure animal instinct we’re all born with. It was Williams’s turn to groan and whisper in her ear.

“Oh my darling.”

Then there was the sound of voices and the glow of lights approaching. She pulled the front of her dress up over her breasts and made herself presentable. William was again prepared, he had matches to relight their candle.

“Are you going on the picnic tomorrow ?” He asked.

“Yes.”

He kissed her on the forehead and smoothed her hair away from her face.

“Good.” He said. “If it gets boring we can always go for a walk on our own.”

“That would be really nice.”

The voices were coming closer, the servants coughing a lot to make sure the couples were decent when they arrived. Hermione checked her dress and it looked fine. Messy hair was an acceptable souvenir of going to the Grotto with a young man, but not an unbuttoned dress or blouse.

“Oh, they’re going the wrong way.” Said William.

He handed her the metal dish which held their candle.

“Hold this. I’ll go and get us a proper lamp…… Won’t be a minute.”

She leant against the wall and felt wonderful, like a proper woman at last. She’d been kissed and touched and not by some pimply youth, but by William Maynard. Her head buzzed a little and her legs buckled, as Hermione fainted. Part of her knew it was going to happen, but could do nothing about it. Her head hit the yellow crystals on the wall and she was unconscious before she hit the ground.

Hermione Wood woke up and her head was throbbing. She felt cold and had the distinct impression that she’d been unconscious for several hours. Why hadn’t they found her ? All her friends and the servants, surely they’d notice they were one person short !? Then there was William, he wouldn’t just leave her in a heap on the floor.

“Ohhhh.”

She felt her arm and it hurt, far worse than the bump on her head. The blood was congealed now, she could feel the long scab in the dark. She must have been left there, all night, in the dark. She became angry, standing up and shouting.

“It’s Hermione ! I need help !”

No answer, not a sound apart from the steady drip of water somewhere. It wasn’t totally dark, there was a definite blueish glow coming from a passage in the caves. Her candle was still there, though it had come out of its holder as she’d fallen. There was no point in picking it up, she had no matches to light it.

“Hello !! Someone, anyone ! Hello !!”

She needed to pee too, though no power on earth was going to make her pee in a public place. She took a step towards the blue glow and heard giggling. Cecilia ? Her friend could play strange jokes, but leaving her injured !?

“Is that you Cecilia ? This isn’t funny !”

More anger now. Her father wasn’t just an MP, he was known to be a high flyer, destined for great things. He’d make sure someone paid for abandoning his beloved daughter. Hermione walked towards the glow and found a cave with a hole in the ceiling. Moonlight was giving her the light to see by and that was picking at her memory for some reason. Yes, she had it. A servant had told her they only did the tours on dark moonless nights. It was strange and frightening !

“I can’t have been here long.” She muttered. “I don’t feel thirsty or hungry.”

She tried to remember the layout of the Grotto, but she’d only been there three or four times, over a period of two or three years. The yellow crystal rooms were lowest, but the moonlight made everything look a dull grey. More giggling.

“Who is it ! You’ll pay. My father has powerful friends.”

Again just the dripping of water to break the silence. She followed the glow again, along a passage and into a room with two large bones on the wall. There was a gap in the ceiling, barely three inches across, but it showed her a full moon.

“It can’t be………… I can’t have been here for two weeks ! I’d have died.”

She moved on, along passage after passage, always following the blue glow, praying that she’d find the way out. The Grotto wasn’t that large, barely twenty rooms, spread over a quarter of an acre at most. It had to be easy to find the way out, she just had to keep moving.

“Oh poor Hermione.”

She spun around, certain the voice was right behind her, but no one was there.

“Who is this ?  This is not funny ! Help me.”

More giggling, which she ignores. She’d find a way out and then she’d show them. Cecilia would go to jail, her father would make sure of that. Follow the glow, the game continued and her bladder was now constantly hurting.

“That’s impossible !”

She was back at the large room with two bones, she recognised it. It wasn’t two different bones, she distinctly remembered the cut marks in one of them. There was even a puddle, with her shoe print at the bottom. Hermione gave up being civilised and squatted on the ground, adding her urine to the contents of the puddle. If she was going insane, she’d do it without the pain of a full bladder.

“I know the directions I walked in………. this is impossible.”

More giggling, she ignores it and pulls up her knickers and stands before turning round. Hermione had expected to see an empty passage again, she was wrong. They were there, the shadows.

“I er……………..”

Five of them, maybe six. They touched her and the pain took not only her voice away, it took her ability to think. Terrible pain that came from every part of her body and only stopped when her heart could take no more………………..

Her father was tipped for the top, might have made Prime Minister if he hadn’t become too fond of drowning his problems in alcohol. No trace was ever found of Hermione Wood.

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                                                    ~ The End ~