Jagged

Turn Your Back On Mother Nature

For the rest of the day the war wages on in her head. Her mind filled with conflicting emotions, Hermione cannot decide whether she should tell him she knows the truth or not.

Hours go by, and she still doesn't know what to do. She leaves her lunch untouched in front of her as her brain whirs, eyes following Riddle anywhere he goes, searching for the proof that she's wrong.

She wishes there is something to convince her otherwise, but the evidence continues to stack up until the pile is so high it threatens to topple over and take her down.

Trying to organize her thoughts, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Having her heartbeat finally under control, she feels like all the pieces of the puzzle start to fit. With this new revelation, the way he had been acting since she arrived lines up suddenly. During her free period she hurries to the library and looks up the moon cycles for the year.

She discovers there had been a full moon on September first, the day she landed by the black lake. She'd never gotten to see even a second of the original version of Riddle, the one that kept his cards closely guarded and started several wars over blood purity.

She has this sinking feeling that he'd disappeared the moment she arrived, replaced by a version that is, ironically, much more human than previously.

He's emotional. Tired. Struggling to repress urges.

The wolf in him brings his human side out. Hermione wonders how hard he must have been working to minimize the damage. To constantly monitor his anger, to keep the urges at bay that threaten to turn him into the beast that now resides with him.

The more Hermione thinks about Riddle, the more she recognizes Remus in him.

She remembers his story so well. He is bit when he is a child when he is hardly old enough to walk. Life after that point is never kind to him. Years passes by and he still has difficulty maintaining the act at school. Soon after he starts, people notices a pattern. They put together the pieces of how he is looking and acting and keep track of the days he misses classes. Fortunately for him, those people are only the most observant ones that cared about him deeply, but it still proves he was not an expert at hiding his flaws.

Even years down the line, as an adult he would still be prone to outbursts and fits of rage. They would be few and far between, normally followed by a particularly harsh full moon, but still, they would be there. He would not always be able to repress it, to control it, even with years of experience.

With Remus still on her mind, she watches Riddle through her lashes.

He could never stand a chance at blending in. Not even with his extreme control, lack of emotions or Occlumency mastery. The wolf inside of him will always be stronger. He might try to tame it, to hide it, he might even have days where he pretends it doesn't exist. All of these may happen at once, and if he's lucky, he'll continue to convince others that nothing has changed.

But Hermione knows. And now that she is able to control her panic, she feels like she has a new level of power.

By the end of the day, as she drags a spoon through her lukewarm soup and tears mindlessly at a piece of bread, she accepts that telling Riddle she knows is a death sentence.

Magically, she's more capable than Riddle. Magic flows through her veins and back, begging to be used, lingering just beneath the surface. She possesses the control and finesse to do it without a second thought. Occlumency is a specialty of hers. She is sure there aren't very many witches or wizards in the forties that are as prepared as her.

There is only one thing that concerns her now:

There is a fundamental change in the game. Riddle is no longer just a wizard.