The Sorcery Trials

Chapter Thirteen: The Pain Behind Her Eyes

—chapter thirteen: the pain behind her eyes

     Valentines Day was around the corner. While going to the bathroom together, Hermione and Alba walked in on a group of fifth-years spiking chocolates with love potions. After being threatened by the group if they told any staff, the pair awkwardly turned around and tried finding a different bathroom. They bumped into Draco while scrambling for relief and begged him to take them to the Slytherin common room.

     "Is that even allowed?" Draco said, frowning.

     "You going to help us or what?" Alba argued impatiently.

     Draco flinched. "All right, all right. Come with me, it's right this way," he claimed, taking the lead.

     He led the pair to a blank wall in the dungeons, which Hermione already knew was the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Alba, however, wasn't aware of this. Just before Alba could strangle Draco for leading them to nowhere, a large stone basilisk rose from the ground. The basilisk arched its back and revealed a doorway. Alba ran inside and grabbed the first girl she could see, demanding she show her where the bathroom was.

     Apparently, house rivalry wasn't as prominent in the fourties as it was in the nineties because not a single Slytherin seemed to care about Hermione or Alba. Still, Hermione stayed close to Draco and asked him to show her where to go.

     "Hermione McLaggen and Draco Black," Jasper greeted, appearing in front of them. "Sneaking off to go snog in the dormitories, are you?"

"In your bed, too," Hermione taunted, speed-walking past him to the bathroom.

Draco pulled an impressed face, while any other Slytherin who overheard started snickering at Jasper's expense. Tom was within range of this exchange and even he was mildly amused. At least Hermione knew how to stand her ground.

Discreetly, Tom had been watching Hermione and Draco's relationship improve. He was waiting for them to reach an all-time high, just so he could drag them both down to an all-time low. He was bored and enjoyed toying with others because he saw the rest of the world as puppets. If he could tear them apart, it would take little effort to recruit Draco in a vulnerable state. Draco would see himself as needing to owe Tom some form of debt, and that's when Tom would control him completely. Or maybe not.

Tom shook his head. He let his mind roam to pointless places sometimes and that was dangerous. His mind was his greatest weapon, it couldn't be polluted with wasteful thoughts of Draco Black or Hermione McLaggen. Then again, how wasteful would it be to see a member of the Black family forced to kneel before people like Armando Dippet and Albus Dumbledore, when he could be kneeling before Tom Riddle.

"Thanks, Draco," Hermione sighed, relieved.

"Thank you, Hermione's boyfriend," Alba said, bowing.

"Not my boyfriend," she corrected, irked.

"Sorry! Thank you, Hermione's ex-boyfriend."

Hermione's face flushed in embarrassment and she bid Draco goodbye, pushing Alba out of the room. Draco shook his head at them before joining Demetrius near the fireplace, whom he had developed a fine friendship with. Demetrius was intelligent and collected, which was more than Draco could say about his friends in his time period. Their greatest common interest, while neither of them were aware of it, was that they had both suffered under Tom's dark influence.