All the Time in the World

Chapter Twenty Six

The next few weeks went by in a blur. They shared classes and meal tables with Riddle, but though he was polite and friendly, they could see that his eyes were cold, hard and calculating. His voice might hold warmth and his lips might smile, he even had a trick of making his face light up, but for anyone who looked closely, it was evident he was completely insincere. They were only beginning to appreciate what a tough task they had set for themselves. Tom Riddle did not hang out, not with them, not with anyone. What he did was accept their company to meals, to classes and to the library. He allowed them to be near him in the common room. In short, whatever they tried, they felt as if they were making no progress. It was like trying to make a dent on a stone wall with their bare hands.

"I'm beginning to think this is a fool's errand," muttered Harry. It was a Sunday. And they were near the lake. Harry had suggested they spend the day away from Riddle.

"I agree," said Ron. "He's like a machine. What are we supposed to do?"

"I am out of ideas," said Hermione. "It's a pity he turned dark. He's really intelligent." She sounded grudging.

Ron chuckled. "It bothers you, doesn't it, that you are no longer the best in the class?"

"You could not be more wrong, Ron," said Hermione with dignity.

Ron, with a tact rare to him, refrained from pushing.

But Hermione did have a point, thought Harry. He'd never thought he'd meet someone smarter than Hermione. But that was before he met Tom Riddle. And unlike Hermione, Riddle did not seem to be regurgitating the text books verbatim. Though she might deny it, Harry knew it was a sore point with Hermione. Though Harry was certain Hermione could do the same, she had a fixation on doing things the correct way, and in her books, it meant following the text books verbatim.

Potions were not so easy for Harry since most of the potions they had in this time were different from the ones in the Half-Blood Prince's book. Many of the potions in the Prince's book were there, but some of them were recent inventions and were not part of their curriculum yet.  Harry did well whenever a Prince potion as Ron called them came up, but was fairly average in the other classes. But even then, he was better than he was in their own time since Slughorn did not browbeat his students like Snape.

"We have to find a way," muttered Harry. "Otherwise we might as well pack up and go home."

"He's coming here," said Hermione, frowning. "Do you think he suspects something? He never lets us out of his sight."

"How could he?" But Ron sounded scared.

"I'm sure he doesn't," said Harry. "You're thinking too much Hermione. If he's suspicious it's because I mentioned Dumbledore was my trustee in the train."

Ron looked relieved. "That must be it, then."