Breaking Hermione

Dead From Within

Tom led the way to the Slytherin table as if nothing had happened at all. As he passed the House tables I became painfully aware of heads turning as he walked by. Some people looked fearful, only daring to stare for a few seconds before looking away. Some appeared in awe, looking at him pass in worshipful fascination. Well, everyone except a few girls who I couldnt help but notice were staring at me, chatting amongst each other bitterly and appearing jealous that I was Tom's choice of company.

If only they knew what he was really like. These idiots had no idea at all. What I would give to be in any of their shoes. Safe. Not constantly about to lose my damn life. I lived with so much fear I was forgetting what was normal and what wasn't. My nightmare was blurring into reality a little too fast for my liking, I couldn't keep up with it. I concentrated on my footsteps and on my breathing as I walked, making a somewhat poor attempt to calm myself down. But as I followed Tom I noticed that my friend Isabella Rey on the Ravenclaw table was pointedly looking down at her plate, not giving me her usual smile. I looked away, remembering what Tom had said about how he had told all of my friends to leave me alone. Would they listen to him? What exactly did he threaten them with? I thought of Corbin, another Ravenclaw who had become ensnared in the horror involving Tom and myself. He suffered because of me. He was sitting next to her, now rendered unaware of my existence by Tom. He wasn't the only one who had suffered. Shalini and Jade, two of my Slytherin friends had been driven out of Hogwarts by Tom threatening to kill the pair of them if they stayed.

I was truly alone.

Quietly, I took a seat at the Slytherin House table. Xavier Malfoy appeared to be in a good mood, a lot of the table surrounding him was joking and laughing at his jokes. Well, everyone except Tom, myself and-

Daniel Dolohov. I watched for a moment as he picked up a fork and stabbed a piece of bacon halfheartedly. He was certainly looking pale and not his usual lively self. What had happened? I focused on putting food on my plate, not too much but enough that Tom wouldn't think I was doing something drastic like starving myself.

Slice. Daniel cut into a piece of butter in one clean swipe of his knife.

"Why are you staring at Daniel?" I blinked as a cold voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Tom Riddle had apparently noticed my wandering eyes and was not looking impressed at all.

Daniel snapped to attention, looking up at me with a frown.

"Keep your eyes to yourself."

He said in an uncharacteristically rude tone, casting me a flat glare before making a show of pouring himself a goblet of Pumpkin juice.

"Classes are about to start." Tom told me, the ghost of a smirk on his lips. "So I suggest you stop letting yourself get distracted and begin eating."

I dropped my gaze, mechanically beginning to wolf down my breakfast all the while my mind racing ahead a hundred miles an hour trying to configure the situation. Daniel and Isabella were in a relationship. And both appeared to be distant with me. What the Hell was going on?

There was a distinct moment of silence as none of us spoke. The fear hung over me, my heart racing inside me like a panicked bird in a cage.

"There's another trip to Hogsmeade coming up." Tom said conversationally, taking a flask from within his cloak and adding whatever contents within casually to his morning Pumpkin juice.

"Word is that the Gryffindor Prefects have organised something along the lines of a couples lunch. Considering your current relationship status, who will you be taking now?"

I frowned, listening intently and slicing up a hash brown into tiny, unnecessary segments.

"Not Isabella I take it?" Tom said on a light laugh. I frowned, trying very hard to not look at Daniel and just finish my food so I could get out of there.

"Well, I would've." Daniel said, an unmistakable note of anger in his voice, "If Granger didn't fuck things up between the pair of us."

A piece of food went down the wrong way. Coughing and spluttering, I downed an entire goblet of pumpkin juice emerging with tears streaming out of my eyes.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked, utterly confused. "I didn't do-"

"Oh, but you did." Tom said, in that falsely pleasant tone I was now really starting to hate. "You told me that Isabella was cheating on Daniel. Don't you remember? It was two days ago."

My mind froze, my hammering heartbeat the only sound in my ears. Now, not only had I captured the attention of Daniel but the entire table seemed to have grown very quiet, seeming to hold its breath to eavesdrop on our conversation.

"Daniel." I said quickly. "That's not true. At all. I promise you with my life I would never-"

"Hermione," Tom's jaw clenched. "Don't lie. We've been through this before, haven't we? What did I say would happen if you continued to recklessly cause trouble in this House?"

Daniel looked at me, confusion momentarily visible on his features before his face quickly became a mask of cold indifference. Clearly, he had fallen for Tom's lies about me hook, line and sinker. He had split with Isabella, and believed I was to blame, the idiot. Surely all anyone needed to see through Tom's deception was awareness of my persona, and a sort of diligence to sift through the words he spoke. He believed that I had told Tom that Isabella was cheating, and somehow indirectly affected the pair of them. It wasn't fair at all. This whole situation was dismal. It seemed Daniel didn't know whether or not it really was true, whether his girlfriend was really capable of infidelity. I could tell by the sad look in his eyes, and quickly saw an opportunity flash boldly before me like a beckoning hand.

"Isabella loves you." I said, clenching my hand around my fork until my knuckles whitened. "That's the truth. She was crushed when she found you might not be her date to the Ball the other term."

"Don't believe her." Tom countered at once. "She is a liar. She has lied before, and she will lie again."

"Guys. Are we going to class or what?" Xavier Malfoy interrupted. I looked around and sure enough the entire Great Hall had cleared out. We were the only ones left.

"You two go." Tom dismissed Xavier and Daniel, and they both didn't hesitate to leave at once.

As for me, my limbs seemed to have frozen. I couldn't move. I was paralysed by fear and the sharp spike of adrenaline at defying Tom, at speaking out against him.

Tom stood slowly from his seat, and looked at me. His eyes were hollow, emotionless.

"You have to realise that within this School, I have things you don't. Respect. Loyalty. And this." He tapped his fingers on the Prefect badge on his collar. "Status. You have nothing. It is really too easy to make a right mockery of you before everyone. I don't have to try at all. You see, I know what words would evoke the most damage against you. I can pull the worst out of people. And I  think out of all people here, I know you well enough to not only get under your skin, but to tweak situations you are in so that I am favoured over you every time."

He smiled, a cold taunting look before turning and stalking away up the Hall. I waited for a good few moments before gathering myself together and following at a safe distance behind.
I felt bad. But not that bad realising Daniel seemed to have at least listened to what I was attempting to tell him. I just had to corner him when Tom wasn't around. Would that be possible? I knew Tom was highly aware of anything which involved me. I had to fix this. Soon.