The next day, Hermione eagerly followed her classmates toward the dungeons, shivering as it is colder there than in the main castle. A small part of Hermione felt an ounce of excitement, for it was the last lesson of the day and Care for the Magical Creatures had been exhausting. Kettleburn – the Professor- had made the students feed Flobberworms, a ten-inch, toothless brown worm which eats vegetation, especially lettuce and cabbage. She noticed Cepheus Crux approaching her and quickened her steps - now she knew how Harry had felt with Colin Creevey.
She reached the Potion's classroom and entered, taking her usual seat with Penelope. Professor Slughorn stood by a small gold-coloured caldron, which was emitting steam in characteristic spirals. "Amortentia," he said, "better known as love potion. Amortentia doesn't create actual love, of course. That's impossible. But it does cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. For that reason, it is probably the most dangerous potion in this room." Hermione's eyes widened slightly as she remembered Harry telling her that Tom had been conceived by a love potion. Her eyes travelled to the dark haired boy at the front – who was as stiff as a rock.
"Can anyone tell me the characteristics of this potion?" Her hand rose slowly in the air and Slughorn frowned faintly when he noticed his best student, Tom Riddle, wasn't participating for the first time. "Yes, Miss Lockhart. "
"Amortentia is considered to be a powerful and highly dangerous potion, sir. As stated it's dangerous to underestimate a powerful infatuation. It has a different aroma for everyone who smells it, reminding each person of the things that they find most attractive, even if the person doesn't acknowledge or is unaware of their fondness for the object of their affection themselves."
"Excellent, Miss Lockhart. 10 points to Ravenclaw." Slughorn shot a small look of disappointment and confusion toward Tom with a small glint of fear decorating his gooseberry irises. "Perhaps, you'd like to give it a try, Miss?" The Professor moved the caldron to her table, and she found that she was breathing very slowly and deeply and that the potion's fumes seemed to be filling her up like a drink. It smelled exactly like it did when she last tried.
"I smell freshly mown grass, new parchment and... spearmint toothpaste", she sighed. Him, it smelled of Ronald. Hermione forced back the tears as she restrained herself from crying. How she missed Ron and Harry dearly.
♡
After supper, Hermione stamped up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was particularly dark; the torches had been extinguished by a strong, icy draft that was blowing through a loose windowpane - it was time to figure out if Tom had opened the chamber yet, or if he was planning on attacking anytime soon. She heard muffled footsteps and peered over her left shoulder to come in contact with those big green haunting eyes.
"Cepheus ", she yelped, losing her balance and falling to the floor with a loud thud.
His face wore an expression of shock identical to Hermione's. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She got to her feet, her breathing fast and shallow, her heart doing a kind of drumroll against her ribs. As they stood there, glancing at each other, a door right next to Cepheus opened with an extremely loud bang. Peeves, the Slytherin Poltergeist, came shooting out.
"Why, it's way past curfew!" cackled Peeves, floating above their heads "What're you Ravenclaws up to? Why're you lurking around the castle —" Peeves stopped, halfway through the sentence, cracking an evil grin.
He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Hermione or Cepheus could stop him, he screamed, "STUDENTS! STUDENTS OUT OF BED! LURKING IN THE CASTLE." The poltergeist then, flew back through the wooden door, cackling madly. Hermione and Cepheus shared a look of desperation, hurrying their steps in synchrony.
"Why are you here? Were you following me around?" she inquired.
"I saw you leaving the Great Hall in a hurry, I went after you because I wanted to walk you back to the Common Room, but noticed you weren't heading toward the Ravenclaw Tower."
The sound of loud footsteps caused the both to stop, slightly panicking. "What if it's Headmaster Dippet? " Cepheus mumbled, his eyes widening at the mere thought of their old Headmaster, raging at them for being out of bed after curfew.
"You're not quite close, but I can report you both to him. ", a cold voice echoed the castle walls. Both turned to face a dark figure, dressed in Slytherin robes. The corridor was fairly dark, but the gleaming of his Prefect badge wouldn't go unnoticed. Tom walked closer to the culprits and smirked. "Off to bed, both of you."
Cepheus tensed visibly causing Hermione to throw him a side glance. "And who do you think you are? You too are out of bed after curfew."
Tom eyed the dark brown haired boy quizzically. "For a Ravenclaw, you're not blessed with brains are you? ", he snapped "I happen to be the Slytherin Prefect. " he pointed at his badge to emphasize his argument.
"We'll be leaving." said Hermione, as she pushed a very flustered Cepheus along with her.
♡
On her final period of the day, which happened to be charms with Professor Flitwick, Myrtle was teased by Olive Hornby. She had made fun of Myrtle's glasses and, as a result, left Myrtle sobbing. Myrtle ran all the way into one of the bathroom's stalls, on the 1st floor Girl's lavatory taking off her glasses and crying.
"Stupid Olive...", she whimpered silently.
Shortly after Myrtle had entered the bathroom, the door opened, Riddle entered in all his mighty posture, taking long strides toward the sink. 'Open' he hissed as the unknown serpent's language strolled from his tongue so magnificently. Just as before, the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Then, the sink began to move and sank right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed. 'It's time' he hissed once again.
Myrtle, still in one of the stalls, recognised the voice as being from a boy. Opening the stall's door, she planned to yell at whoever it was to go away. On that moment though, the giant serpent rose from the pipe, hissing madly at its surroundings. Myrtle supressed a scream, for all her body could do was to shiver madly, her voice long gone. She was petrified with fear. Tom smirked evilly, raising his both hands in the air, catching the basilisk' attention.
'Attack'. On Riddle's command, the Basilisk stared at Myrtle, and her eyes met with the monster's. Since looking at a Basilisk's eyes was a fatal act, Myrtle's body fell to the bathroom floor.
♡
"What're you reading?" Cepheus asked as he took a seat across from Hermione. She stole a quick glance at him, already annoyed by the fact he had disturbed one of her light readings. "What is it that you want Cepheus? " His eyes lingered for a while on the cover, widening considerably. "Didn't know you were interested in those sort of things!" he said wearily, eyeing Hermione sceptically. "What is it that you're planning? "
Her brown eyes darted to the book at her hands; The big title read 'SECRETS OF THE DARKEST ART' in Capital white letters, the leather was black, and purple patterns adorned it.
"I despise this book and its contents... but there's a reason why I'm reading it" she snapped " A reason that doesn't concern you. And I trust you to keep quiet about this. "
Hermione quickly rose from her seat, putting the book in her bag and heading toward the exit of the Common Room. She inwardly sighed in relief, when noticing Cepheus wasn't going to follow, for that meant no more questions she wasn't allowed to answer. Hermione walked down the fourth floor corridor, the portraits of past caretakers and teachers watching her every move; some smiled, some scoffed, others rambled at her uncaring attitude, not even bothering to say a simple 'good day' to them.
Upon hearing quick footsteps followed by the voice of Lestrange and Avery, she sighed and hid behind a statue. 'Just my luck' she thought, bending down closer to the shadows. "Shut your mouth Lestrange before I silence you the way I'm very skilled at." a cold voice spat. It was Tom.
"I apologise, my lord." Lestrange mumbled, bowing his head in shame. Hermione stared at Tom's figure, his back was facing her; her eyes travelled down from his head to his hands, where he tightly held a small book, like his life depended on its safety. The cover was black, and neat letters were engraved at the bottom, with a golden colour: Tom Marvolo Riddle. It downed on her like a ton of bricks - That was his diary that was his first horcrux.
"Do not adress me by that name inside these walls you fool."
It was lunch time and all students were digging at the delicious Hogwarts dessert-pudding. Chattering and giggling filled the welcoming air of the Great Hall, as the student body took pleasure in an hour without lessons. From the corner of her eye, Hermione spotted the Headmaster, Professor Dippet raise from his podium and walk toward the Ravenclaw long table. He stopped next to Olive Hornby and they began to have an ushered conversation. After a moment, she got up and pushed her long straight and blonde hair behind her shoulders, walking out of the Great Hall with a scowl on her face.
Olive strolled down the corridor toward the first floor Girl's Lavatory. She had a good guess Myrtle would be there, crying about her pathetic little life – like usual. Olive entered the bathroom and began to wander around the sink.
"Are you in here again, sulking Myrtle?" she said, "because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you – " What she saw next was for sure to be engraved in her memory for the many years that had yet to come.
Myrtle Warren's body laid lifeless on the wet, dirty, cold, lavatory's floor.