"Harry, it's not a good idea to be using that book.....it could be dangerous!" she said as all three of the Golden Trio took a jaunt about the lake. It was there free period just after lunch, and the two boys wished not to study, when they would have to endure another History of Magic class in half an hour time.
"Look....Hermione, I know you're concerned, but remember that broom Sirius sent me and you thought it was dangerous...it wasn't. And Tom Riddles diary was dangerous, but we used it anyway." he shrugged.
"Harry!"
"He has a point 'mione. What harm could the book do anyway?, other than boost his ego." Ron chimed in, receiving a glare from Hermione.
"Honestly!...Why do you two have to be so thick?!....Even if it isn't dangerous....it's still wrong." she huffed.
The memory swirled, in replace of the outdoor atmosphere was a dark lit dungeon. Hermione snapped her head to look at the person behind her. It was Harry holding the Prince's book.
"Hermione....." His voice echoed coldly. "You used the book.....you used it after you said yourself it was evil.....evil....evil...." he said in an scornful tone. The voice was chilling, and she wasn't even sure it was Harry's. "You're a hypocrite.....jealous....you always have been."
"No!....Harry. It wasn't like that-" she cried.
"Remember Hermione....we must not tell lies...."
"Don't listen to him." Another figure called, smirking from the corner of the room. As if he thrived on the two's tension. "Why should he....the chosen one....why can he use it but not you?......what is he compared to you?......Why is he the famous one?.....What has he done?.....your better than him Hermione...."
"You're a hypocrite!.....I can't believe you would do this!.....I thought we were on the same page Hermione......friends....but not anymore." He paused staring at her with pity. "You're the one.....you kissed the enemy!" He yelled.
"Harry!....you don't mean this....this isn't real!"
"Don't apologize.....you did the right thing Granger....think of what you could be....think of what you could become. What we....could accomplish. For the greater good.....the greater good.....the greater good............"
This isn't real....
It isn't real.....
It isn't real.........
Hermione inhaled a sharp breathe, her eyes flying open. It was just a dream. She laid in her four poster bed, wrapping her head around everything. Why she had dreamed this.....was obviously because even her unconscious self was guilty for kissing Tom Riddle....again.
She lay still in her empty dormitory, before realizing that sitting idle and doing nothing all day would only make it worse. Make the gnawing feeling in her stomach unbearable. groaning, she got herself out of bed, catching her reflection in the mirror.
Oh Merlin she looked beautiful. If beautiful meant dark circles under her eyes, smudged mascara, ruly bushy hair, and skin color paler than a ghost.
"Hey....Granger wait up..." Abraxas called, catching up to her in the corridor a quarter of an hour later. "Granger....you look awful....are you alright?"
"Of course I'm alright." she said defiantly.
"It's just....you don't seem well."
"I couldn't sleep is all."
"Hey!" he stopped walking motioning for her to move to the side of the corridor.
"What?" she asked....really not in the mood for small talk right now.
"where did you go last night?"
"You didn't return....so I went to bed."
He looked at her questionably.
"What?" she asked.
"Tom didn't come back until 2 in the morning.....is there anything going on between you two?"
"No! Of course not! If Tom was out...why should I know what he was doing? I can't believe you would suggest such a thing!" Hermione stepped to the right of him, walking a little further entering the courtyard.
"Well good. Anyways Granger. Care to join some Slyrherins for a swim?"
"A swim?!" Hermione asked slightly alarmed.
"Yeah....Tom said to meet him by the lake to take a dive....explore a bit. It's odd really.....since he doesn't like water that much." He chuckled lightly. "There must be a treasure or something.....he always has a reason for things."
"A treasure....like what?" She asked, solely thinking about the time turner that rested somewhere in the depths of the murky water.
"I don't know. Anyways are you in?"
Was she in? She didn't wish to go swimming with a bunch of Slytherins, but she could not let Tom get her only way back home. "Yeah....sure.....when?"
"Well....now."
He dragged her through the corridors until they were on the front grounds, leading to the black lake. At the edge stood a group of slightly familiar Slytherins and Tom.
"You are late Malfoy!" Tom scorned as they reached the group.
"I was recruiting a member." He motioned to Hermione
Tom frowned towards Abraxas. "I told you to come alone."
Hermione spoke up, causing his gaze to shift to her. "It wasn't his fault. I decided to come. I heard you were looking for something?....." she asked innocently, which made him give her a foreboding glare.
She knew very well he was looking for the time turner, and she also knew he hadn't wished her to know he was looking for it.
The gaze he held, confirmed the frustration he developed, under the realization that She knew what he was up to. Once again she was filled with a small surge of pride, due to his annoyance.
He was infuriated that she had shown up and ruined his plans, but before he could give a defying sentence, he hesitated, taking note of her swirling brown eyes. She was taking joy of this. She felt she had already won, that just by showing up his plan was halted.
No. He was even more determined now to search the lake weather Granger was here or not. "Mind your own business Granger." He warned, consciously noting that soon his servants would be confused on what this was all about.
The last thing he needed was his peers doubting him. He was already publicly humiliated when Granger punched him, and his authority could waver no more.
"I am minding my business Riddle....only as much as you are."
She goaded loudly.
He stepped forward, so that his words were only to be heard by her, staring down at her dominantly, though she didn't cower. "What are you trying to pull Granger?" He asked sharply.
He was close enough that she took in the aroma of his faded cologne from the previous night. It reminded her of their shared kiss, and her eyes flickered to his lips. How strange to have been kissing in the dead of night, and now arguing like they were enemies.
"I know you are trying to find what I'm supposedly looking for, but you never will Riddle, so don't waste your time sending your servants on a scavenger hunt." She spoke harshly under her breath.
A smirk spread on his face, as if he perspicaciously came up with an idea. "I'm not looking for anything Granger. I just want to go for a swim. Isn't that why you are here? Wanna swim Granger?"
And with that look on his face, she understood why he lurched forward towards her. She put her hands out as a shielding method. "No...Tom! Wait!....you don't have to throw me in-" She squealed as he lifted her over his shoulder, despite her weak arm barrier.
She felt him shaking from his laughter, and really didn't wish for him to do anything more. She searched for a way to escape from plunging into the even more frigid water as it was now November. The September liquid would seem like a hot bath compared to the lake's current state.
Like an instinct, she met eyes with the blonde in view, pleading with that one shared look. "Malfoy!....help me!....please!" she begged, hoping he would have some say in the matter.
"Sorry Granger....you are out of luck this time." Tom stated through his grin.
"No!...Tom!...I'm warning you-" She laughed nervously, feeling the slight shift in weight signifying her soon to be plunge. As soon as he threw her, she reached out grabbing the front of his button shirt, in either instinct, or realization he would fall in too. No matter why, she could feel the force of him suspended in the water next to her.
They both broke the surface of the cold water, inhaling air into their lungs. A smirk was still plastered on Tom's face, and Hermione was shivering cause of the cold. She saw him glance to the group on the shore, all with confounded faces. Did they just see Lord Voldemort smile?
In one quick movement he pulled himself out of the water, running a hand through his wet hair. Hermione didn't move, and ignored her hypothermia, as she stared at the way his wet button down was now see through....the fabric sticking to his skin. Damn his attractiveness.
"Riddle?" Abraxas asked confused at his hastiness.
"You are dismissed" he mumbled to the group, not even giving Hermione a glance before making his way up the grassy slope to the castle.
That's it? After throwing her into the water prior to an unresolved argument, he just walks away? The group all slowly began to shift up the slope as well, leaving Abraxas staring at Hermione with question.
"What was that?" Malfoy asked, offering her a hand, pulling her out of the lake in one swift movement.
"What?....your lord's mean act of throwing me into a frozen sea?...." she drawled as if she detested the action, but her mind was only swarming with the image of her lips on Tom's.
He spoke some reply, which sounded like a string of hums as her brain was clouded by the memory. "Granger!"
"What?" She asked, him finally catching her eye. She swallowed nervously, realizing she hadn't heard a word he had said.
"Never mind....I'll see you around Granger." He chuckled lightly as all Slytherins did, before leaving her standing with flushed cheeks. It bothered her she didn't hear what he said. The way he found her amusing meant he knew she was daydreaming.
She must have stood there for a minute straight, before a thought clicked in the back of her normally functioning brain. She had classes tomorrow, and hadn't even begun her essay on Rowena Ravenclaw's lost Diadem. She sighed aimlessly before heading towards the castle.
---------------
Control yourself! He scorned hastily speeding towards the library. The kiss Granger and him shared less than 12 hours prior could easily be refuted as necessary, and not at all based on want.
But now he had acted completely on impulse. How could he be so foolish as to lay suspicion that he remotely was with Granger. Sure there were rumors laid so deeply in the student body's minds of him pursuing Granger. But never was it confirmed. He would deny it outright.
You threw her in a lake Tom! You dimwit! He scolded himself mentally
He subsided to the Inhalation of old parchment, but more deeply the presence of unlimited knowledge, stirring beneath the bindings of whichever book he chose.
He needed to focus on his studies. How else would he become anything? And not the stupid arts of transfiguration or some dull history of magic class, but rather his own self teachings. His own studies that meant something.
Therefore, concluding on learning a useful spell or curse he headed into the restricted section scanning the titles in a hope of a useful read.
However he was pulled out of his focus by a disturbance in the atmosphere. There was no longer the silent hum of an empty library with only the movement of the librarian across the vast room as it was a second ago.
His head snapped to the light footed steps hitting the floor....closer....and closer....
But they ceased and instead was replaced by the sound of rustling parchment. He closed his eyes in annoyance. He couldn't work with another occupant in the room, and decided to go be hostile until they decided to leave.
He shoved his book back into the bookcase before rounding the corner in search of the noise. Finally he found the person, stuffed at a table absently scanning a smooth piece of parchment.
Her brows were furrowed in concentration, and with recognition of whom it was, he felt intrigued to speak, but took a moment silently observing the oblivious witch.
"Need help?" He asked, his eyes remaining on her.
She looked up sharply with a jump, but when meeting his eyes, the shock slightly disappeared from her features. "I'm just fine thank you." She stated with a noticeable quiver, looking back to her parchment.
He moved closer to her, taking a seat at the table, lounging carelessly. He still kept his gaze on her. She was not looking at him, by her eyes stopped scrolling along the neat handwriting in front of her.
"It's useless Granger." He stated simply.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow automatically.
"Ignoring me."
She looked up at him, her lips parting, about to produce whatever witty comeback she would conjure. He waited, dying for more than a five syllable sentence to entertain him. "I'm not ignoring you. May I remind you, we recently argued with each other only a moment ago at the lake. Are you so thick that you forgot?!" She hurriedly spoke.
He smiled satisfied that he could build off that comment. "I have not forgotten Granger.....I do not forget anything." He said, causing her to blush. It was the specific avoidance of eye contact and flush cheeks, that told him she had not forgotten about their passionate lip lock.
"Would you leave me be Riddle?....the last two times you approached me I was forced to leave the library, and this time...I wish to accomplish something." She pleaded flipping through the pages of a book.
"May I ask what you are accomplishing?"
She looked up sighing, actually keen to express her stress in this particular research. "I have to write an essay on one of the houses past objects for history of magic. We picked pieces of parchment in class and I got Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem."
"Why is that a bad thing?...Surely writing essays is easy for you." It was a compliment laced with enough relevance maybe she would hardly notice. But he couldn't help but admit her perfection with words. Only a week ago he stole her parchment for a quick judgement on her skill level, and to put it bluntly he was impressed.
"That's the thing....there is nothing more in these books than two sentences on it. It apparently was lost, and there is no whereabouts of it's current location." Her forehead was creased in distress. Surely this was the first time Granger couldn't find evidence.
Tom paused to think, actually comprehending what she was saying instead of just listening. The Diadem sounded familiar, and suddenly he recalled what he once read in some book or another. The book was written by Salazar Slytherin himself, and never deemed true, however it sounded legitimate, he just never put more thought into it. "You do know Granger that it had supposedly gone missing when Helena, Rowena's daughter ran away. It's not clarified, but it's obvious she took it." He stated simply, just connecting the thought.
"So you are saying Helena had the Diadem? But that doesn't do any good. I read about Helena, and she was murdered by the Baron, so it couldn't have been her!" Hermione exclaimed the mystery of where the Diadem was swirling in her mind.
"Where did you read that she was murdered?" Tom asked, confused on this new information.
Hermione parted her lips to reply, but then bit her tongue. She read about it in History of Hogwarts, but that wasn't published yet. "As if I would remember!....I've read thousands of books, the point is I know she was murdered."
He discarded his doubt, more anxious to know himself where the Diadem was. It was considered very powerful, and what he would give to just...."Why does it matter if she is dead? What if you were hiding an object from me? If someone happened to kill you, that doesn't mean the object no longer exists."
Hermione scolded herself for not making this connection. "So you are saying-"
"Helena knows where the diadem is." He finished, as a burst of achievement ran through him in finally concluding this.
"What an essay that makes....." she drawled sarcastically. "An outstanding for stating that a Diadem was stolen by someone, and that someone knows where they had the Diadem. And then that person died. It still doesn't answer the mystery of where the object is!"
Tom pondered this, thinking of a way to answer where. "We could find where the Diadem is."
"And how the bloody hell are we to manage that!" She scolded crossing her arms and slinking against the back of her chair. "It could be anywhere..."
"Helena knows.."
"And She's dead!....much help that will do!...This essay is due tomorrow!"
"You could ask for an extension on the assignment."
Hermione sighed, accepting the harsh reality that she would just have to make do with what she had written. It was good enough, yet she hated just completing what was good. "No....I'm sure it isn't required, I'll just turn in what I have." She looked discontent, and began to shove her materials into her bag until the table was spotless.
She stood up, and began to walk away from the table, but in need for her not to leave yet Tom sprang up blocking her path.
"What now?" she said with a groan, annoyance evident in her disappointment.
"Where are you going?"
"It's none of your concern."
"Can I come with you?"
"And why would you want to do that?" Hermione's chest was beating faster again, her lips dry as she once again remembered their kiss. All he would have to do is give her a reason to spend time with him and she would. Just ask Riddle! She screamed in her head.
"Because you make interesting company Granger."
"And by interesting you mean you want to know what I'm hiding?" She asked defensively, but with a small grin.
She stared at him waiting for a reply. "well I would like to know what your hiding....."
Hermione's hopes sank, realizing once more he was only showing interest in her to find the time turner. She was a little disappointed....but what did she expect from Tom Riddle? And why did she want to expect anything?
"I see..." she said sidestepping to move past him, but he shifted in front of her again. "Tom let me-"
"I'm not finished....." he spoke, and Hermione was now eager on what he would say. She shifted to her weight to accommodate his proximity.
"Well go ahead Riddle.....what was it you have to say?"
"I would like to spend time with you even if you don't tell me what your hiding."
She inhaled a sharp breath, taking in the aroma of parchment paper mixed with his alluring scent. But somewhere in the back of her mind a realization hit that sent her into panic. This was not logical. What Tom Riddle was admitting to was not logical. And even if it was true, she had to put distance. She was still in the past, and couldn't risk change. "Well....I don't want to spend time with you." She choked, feeling awful for saying it.
There was a look of hurt on his face, which he quickly masked with a scorn. "What are you saying Granger?"
"I'm saying I'm trying to leave, and you are blocking my path!" she said with a little more ferocity.
"Why don't you want to spend time with me?....wasn't are conversation intellectually satisfactory?"
Yes... Hermione thought.
"I don't wish to spend time with a person who finds throwing people in lakes amusing!" she was now filling with rage, switched to the mode she thrived in best. Arguing.
"That's a pathetic excuse!"
"And you are a pathetic excuse for a person!" Her mind began swirling with the death of James and Lily Potter, Cedric Digory....and in a few years, possibly Harry and her would be added to that list. "You have murdered people just for the fun of it!"
Silence. His face hardened, and all the blood drained from her face turning it a ghostly white. No no no! There was no way this one was going to slip by. She said he murdered people. As in past tense.
"What did you just say Granger?!" he asked quietly. It was a serious question, and Hermione swallowed nervously, gulping on the fact that she might be added to that murder list faster than she thought.
"I said you would murder people just for the fun of it." she said unblinkingly.
"No...you said I murdered people." darkness was growing in his eyes. "I have never murdered more than a fly on the wall!"
"I...I-" Hermione was speechless and wished desperately for him to forget this, but it was irreversible.
He Advanced on her quickly, and she backed up until she hit the cold window pane wedged between the heavy bookcases. He pinned her, resting his arm over collarbone. "I'll ask you once...and I expect an answer!" He seethed, so close that his breathe mixed with hers. "What makes you think I have murdered people?!"
"I....I misspoke." which was entirely true. It's not what she wished to say.
"Bollocks!...You intended every accusing word you have ever spoke out of the little mouth of yours!"
'Don't be weak....' she reprimanded herself, before gaining courage for her next statement.
"You are exactly right Tom Marvolo Riddle!....I say exactly what I mean....and from the moment I laid eyes on you, your arrogance and selfish need to disdain have proved not that you can murder, but you will. And only based on blood superiority it is set in stone that you would jump at the first chance to dispose of my kind!.....Now admit it or deny it Riddle, but don't doubt that my better lack of judgement will prove to be true!"
"What to be true?" he yelled, ignoring how she knew his middle name, but rather screaming inside at the want of her opinion of him.
"That you were born to be a murderer!"
"Don't you dare-"
"I will dare....and I apologize if I'm the first to see you for what you really are, but I will not sit idly by and die at your hand!...not now...not ever!" She was breathing heavily, finally relieving the fear she had been bottling in for the past sixteen years of her life. The fear she would be killed by Voldemort. But now she stared him in the eye, knowing that was never going to happen, she wouldn't allow it. She had let her emotions get the better of her, but it didn't matter at this point.
The air was so thick that you could slice a knife through it, as it was still containing the echoes of harsh laments exchanged withing the course of only three minutes. A conversation escalating from simple annoyance to utter loathing.
She couldn't stand the environment any longer and slipped out of his restraint, darting from the library which no longer acted as a sanctuary, but as a prison. She was a prisoner in this world with Voldemort, and there was no hope of escape.