Rush

Fiction Rated: T

Pairing: Tom/Hermione

Warnings: AU after OoTP. I'll do my best to follow the memories that Dumbledore showed Harry in HPB.

Slight OOCness possible although I will try to keep Tom in character. But this is my version of Tom, its how I thought of him while reading JK Rowling's books, so it may differ from your idea of him. I totally refuse to believe that anyone can just be born totally evil so if you're looking for a mega-dark Voldemort style Tom Riddle, press the back button right now. On the other hand, he will definitely not be a pitiful moron either, that much I can guarantee.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used in this story except any OCs that may appear in the later chapters. Harry Potter and all related franchise are owned by JK Rowling and I can't claim them because of that pesky little thing called copyright, ever heard of it?

This disclaimer applies to all the chapters

A strong gust of wind blew into the hospital wing, making its only inhabitant shiver. Madam Pomfrey made a little clucking noise and went to shut the window. Before she could reach there however, another sharp burst of wind entered the room and knocking the numbers off some of the cupboards, as well as upsetting several potions. She looked faintly irritated and shut the window with a flick of her wand. With another wave she made the potions slide back into their vials, the cupboard doors shut and the numbers hang themselves up again. She stowed her wand back in her pocket and thought no more about the incident.

"Madam Pomfrey?" called Hermione.

"Coming. Just wait a minute," replied the nurse from within her office.

She glanced at her watch. 10 minutes to reach the station before the Hogwarts Express left. Hermione was in the hospital wing to take her last dose of the antidote to the curse that one of the Death Eaters had hit her with during their recent battle in the Ministry of Magic. She checked her watch again. 9 minutes.

"Madam Pomfrey? If you could just tell me which cupboard it's in, I can take the potion myself."

"Cupboard #6, fourth shelf from the bottom, the silver potion."

The cupboards in the hospital wing had huge gold numbers hanging in front of them. Cupboard #6 was second from the window, its large gold six swaying a little in the mild breeze.

It was the smallest of all the cupboards, made of beautiful dark wood. She tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. "Alohomora," she said with a light flick of her wand. The cupboard still didn't open. She bit her lip. On one hand, she was getting late; on the other, she hated the thought of asking Madam Pomfrey to help her after she had assured her that she was capable of taking her potion by herself. She forced herself to concentrate.

Blackwood. The cupboard was made of blackwood, which meant that the charm that would probably open it would be...

"Cresscia Mora."

Hermione tried the door again and this time it opened. Pleased, she looked at the fourth shelf for her potion. She didn't find it. Glancing at the door of Madam Pomfrey's office, which was still tightly shut, she checked again. There! Hidden behind a violet solution was a small flask with a silvery gray liquid.

She picked it up. As she attempted to uncork it, Hermione noticed a message written on the bottle in flowing writing. It appeared to have been etched on the bottle in pure silver.

"Ssorca miws ot naeco na si ti, hguorht dehsur eb ot revir a ton si emit."

Hermione shrugged. She didn't recognize the language but it was probably an old one that was no longer used. Hogwarts probably had a lot of such ancient potions. After all most potions did not spoil with keeping and ones such as dark magic antidotes were hardly used a lot, even in these troubled times. She tugged the cork a little harder.

Ah! It was finally open.

The smell which reached her was totally unexpected. It smelt of apple and mint, an unusual combination but one that Hermione immediately liked anyway. It was definitely unique and oddly pleasant.

Without further ado, she gulped it down.

"There, that's done," she thought with satisfaction. "Now the effects of that curse have been completely eradicated."

She glanced at her watch again and gave a small shriek. 4 minutes!

Hermione was positively fuming as she sat down in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express next to Lee Jordan, the twins' best friend at Hogwarts, who was planning to join them in their joke shop enterprise soon.

"That moron!"

Jordan looked up from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes list that he had been trying to complete before they Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"Who?"

"Malfoy and his musclemen! Why can't those apes just leave Harry alone? I went over to talk to Ernie and saw them try to hex Harry when he was on his way back from the bathroom!"

"Which animal?"

"What?"

"I assume that you wouldn't have left them alone either after you saw that little scene. So which animals do they resemble now? Porcupines?"

She grinned mischievously and said "Slugs!"

Lee looked out of the window to his left and remarked "We're almost at the station"

"Well, I better get changed then" said Hermione getting up.

"Goodbye! See you at Wheezes!" said Lee, stashing the list away in his trunk.

Hermione nodded and walked over to the prefect's compartment. Although any of the prefects could use it, most of them preferred to sit with their friends before everyone got separated for the summer. It was far easier to change in here than in the girl's washroom, where idiots like Lavender Brown often practically knocked her over in their desperation to achieve perfectly blended lip color.

As she took off her prefect's badge and pulled the Gryffindor colors off her robes with a simple incantation, Hermione felt a little dizzy. Thinking that it was probably some mild motion sickness, she sat down, breathing deeply.

Less than 5 seconds later, she was half sprawled over the seat, praying that someone would quickly find her. Her breath came in short, painful gasps. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. As she stared at the wall next to her through a haze of pain, Hermione noticed something. Her hair, it was…shrinking?

She quickly ran through Common Magical Maladies in her head and couldn't find a single disease with shrinking hair among the symptoms.

She moaned as another shot of pain spread through her body.

Madam Pomfrey finally emerged from her office and gave a small shriek of horror. That ridiculous window was open again and the powerful wind had sent all the potions flying around the room. She waved her wand in a series of complicated flicks and things re-arranged themselves. She noticed a small gold number lying on the floor next to her and bent to pick it up. She placed it in front of the second cupboard from the window and firmly shut the window, mentally swearing to have the infuriating window shifted somewhere else by Albus or Filius.

The number 9 swung gently in front of the blackwood cupboard where Madam Pomfrey had placed it.

Hermione screamed as unimaginable pain shot through her, starting from her scalp. Her whole body felt like it was being ripped apart. Then, slowly, unexpectedly, the pain receded. For a second, she felt incredibly happy, as if she was being joined together by some unseen force. Her breathing settled and she tried to sit up using her elbows.

"May I help you?"

AN: Hello!

I'm incredibly sorry about the number of page breaks in this chapter but I needed them to make the story clearer.

Please review! I'm still uncertain about whether or not to go through with this fanfiction and need feedback to help me decide.