Behind a Mask
Disclaimer - I do not own anything but the storyline and a few things here and there. The rest all belong to J.K. Rowling.
Notes - I got writer's block with The Odd Combination of Fate and Humor, so I decided to write a few other fics while I come up with ideas to make that one more original. That does not mean that I am abandoning it though.
-/-"Parseltongue"-/-
Behind a Mask
Hermione's head dropped into her hands as the last of the students finally left her class. Minerva had decided that her duties as headmistress kept her very busy and so she had asked Hermione to take over the transfiguration module. Everything had gone well up until a week ago when one of the students had asked about her Animagus form.
At first, she had gotten their minds off it by threatening them with extra reading material and then she had given them an essay to complete, but she knew that she couldn't keep their attention off of her for much longer and it was time to face the facts. She was unable to achieve her Animagus form.
She mentally groaned. It's not like she had not been trying, but the books always said that a person will know when it was time to fully take on the form and yet a year later nothing has happened yet. A knock on her door startled her and she looked up to see the very cocky DADA teacher leaning against her door. The sight nearly made her breath catch, but she forced her face into a neutral expression.
"It there something wrong Hermione?" Hermione fought back the urge to grind her teeth. Tom Marvolo Riddle had been getting on her nerves ever since the first year that she attended Hogwarts. They were always competing against each other in order to be the best academically and the only place where she didn't compete against him was during Quidditch. They would have even been head boy and head girl together if they hadn't been finishing school earlier than usual at the time according to the headmaster. It also didn't help much that he was in Slytherin and she was in Gryffindor.
"We may both be teaching here now, but I did not give you permission to call me by my name Riddle." He unfolded his arms and walked towards her before taking a seat on one of the front desks. "Don't you think it's time that we put our little rivalry behind us Granger? We are both adults now and it's not as if we are competing with anything anymore."
Hermione raised one of her eyebrows. "We may not be competing academically anymore Riddle, but your usual cockiness never ceases to amaze me. Is it so hard to come to terms with the fact that not everyone falls at your feet?" She had to admit to herself that it was her jealousy speaking there. She didn't like the way that all the girls seemed to throw themselves at the man. She stood up and started packing away her things. The last class of the week had just finished and so she could look forward to a relaxing weekend where she avoided most people in favor of curling up on one of her favorite chairs and getting lost in a book.
Unfortunately, Riddle didn't get angry and storm off like he usually did and when she looked back at him, she saw that he seemed to be amused instead. His smile grew wider when he saw that he had her attention again. "You know, rumor amongst the students is that you refuse to show them your animagus form. Is it because you are embarrassed or is it because you don't have one? It would be quite strange to have a transfiguration teacher that doesn't have an animagus form after Minerva had the post."
Hermione just barely kept herself from hexing the man while her mind ran through the school rule book. There were no rules against teachers cursing teachers so she decided that she could take advantage of the lack of rules. But Riddle must have seen something on her face because he quickly stood up and made his way to the door. "Well, have a good day Hermione. I will see you at dinner tonight."
Her stinging hex came a second too late as he closed the door behind him and she let out a loud groan. She had to attain her animagus form as soon as possible. She didn't like Riddle showing her up. Hopefully, her animagus form would be something intimidating. She grabbed her bag and made her way to her rooms after locking the class. There was still three hours left before dinner and this would give her a chance to practice.
…some time later…
By dinner time she hadn't achieved anything yet so she decided to skip it. She didn't feel like seeing Riddle's gloating face once he found out about her problem either, so she convinced herself that she would be able to achieve her form with only a few more hours' practice. She stood up to make herself some tea before she sat back down again to meditate. This time she actually started to see a form and she concentrated hard on it even though the book stated that the process shouldn't be rushed.
An hour later she was even more frustrated than she had been before. She had been seeing a vague form in her mind, but every time she tried to grab a hold of it, it disappeared. She looked around her room and spotted some incense that Firenze had given her when she started teaching at Hogwarts. The centaur had said that it would help to clear the mind so she decided to light it before settling back down to meditate and this time her mind barely registered that time was passing as she felt the form taking complete shape.
Hermione was still concentrating hard on her animal form when she suddenly realized that it didn't feel like she was sitting with her legs crossed anymore. She tried to move her legs, thinking that they were just numb, but instead her whole body moved at once. She looked down and when she couldn't see her legs, she looked around herself instead. Her mind froze as she realized that she had finally obtained her animagus form, but much to her horror, her animagus form was a snake.
At first, she wanted to thrash around, but then her logical mind caught up with her and she forced herself to calm down. Hermione closed her eyes and willed herself back to her human form so that she could think things through without freaking out about the fact that she was stuck with a snake as her animagus form. At least most of the students would freak out if I showed them my form and then I can say that I didn't want to show them that my form was a snake with me being in Gryffindor and all that.
She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise when she saw that she was still in her animagus form. She stomped down the small tingle of fear that was building inside of her and closed her eyes again before willing herself back into her human form, but nothing happened. She tried three more times but nothing worked and she finally sank down onto her carpet in exhaustion.
She could actually picture the rumors that would come out of her current predicament. She would probably be known as the transfiguration teacher who couldn't even obtain her animagus form properly. She mentally winced and half of her was ready to just crawl into her bed and sleep, but she still had her rounds to do. She decided that she would just have to make sure that she stayed out of sight. She tried to cast a few spells that she knew should return her to her human form, but still, nothing happened.
She sighed as she wandlessly cast a tempus. She was already late for her rounds so she moved towards the door. At least she was still able to do wandless and wordless magic in order to defend herself if she needed to, so she opened her door with a spell and slithered into the hallways. It didn't take long before she came across the first couple of rule breakers and she inwardly smirked as she flattened herself against the corridor wall.
Maybe this was her chance to test out a few things. She cast a projection spell on her voice as well as a spell that would speak what she wanted it to say and she cast another spell that imitated footsteps echoing through the corridor before she spoke. "What are you four doing out of bed at this late hour? I give you five seconds to get back to your dorms before I give you detention with Madam Pince. I heard this morning that she wanted to change the entire west wing of the library and that she is eagerly awaiting students for detention."
She mentally burst out laughing as the four third-years became pale enough to match the shade of the ghosts before they took off running as if there were hellhounds at their heels. This entertained her for quite a while as she made her rounds until a pair of footsteps caught her attention. She was about to chase them away when one of the boys caught sight of her and promptly stunned her.
Hermione cast a wandless 'Finite Incantatum' but by the time she was free of the spell, one of the boys had already picked her up and the two were running off to their dorms. Hermione started struggling and the boy she recognized as Jake Stanley, swore as he tried to keep her head away from him, just in case she tried to bite him.
The other boy, whose name was Mike Peterson, took out his wand in order to try and stun her, but he hit Jake instead. Hermione freed herself as Jake hit the ground and she turned to see what Mike was doing so that she could plan her escape, but he shot a severing charm her way. Hermione was just about to throw up a shield when a red shield appeared before her and Mike was promptly stupified.
Hermione turned to see Tom Riddle walking towards them at a furious pace and the anger on his face seemed even more intense than she had ever seen before. It made the angry looks that he often sent her way during their disagreements, look like vague smiles in comparison. He knelt down and held out his arm to her. -/-"Climb on. Don't worry, I mean you no harm."-/-
Hermione weighed her chances then slithered up to wind around his arm. She ignored the fact that even as a snake, her heart beat faster when he was near because she didn't want to even acknowledge the pain that would come from that particular line of thought. It didn't help much as he stood and Hermione felt the strong muscles in his arm move. She wondered if he was this strong all over before she tried to block out her own mind. She definitely did not have a crush on Tom Marvolo Riddle!
"What in Merlin's name do you think you two are doing? Not only are you out of bed way after curfew, but it seems that you also intended to harm this snake who I am sure did nothing to you. Explain!" He released the two boys and they both swallowed nervously as they looked at him before Mike nudged Jake in the ribs.
"I…we…well Professor, we were on our way to the common room when we saw this snake in the corridor. Mike stunned it and we wanted to bring it to you because we thought that it could bite one of the students, but it somehow got loose and I tried to keep its head away from me because I didn't want to get bitten and Mike accidentally stunned me instead of the snake. We thought it was going to attack so Mike was trying to defend himself."
Tom Riddle looked even more thunderous and Hermione had to admit to herself that she admired his self-restraint as he sent the two Gryffindor students back to their dorms with only a loss of 30 points each. She was sure that the sight of him being angry would be more than enough to deter the two Gryffindors in the future. He then looked at her. -/-"Is there somewhere that I can take you? Or do you want to come with me?"-/-
The logical part of Hermione's mind urged her to ask Tom for help, but the other side of her that was swimming in denial regarding her feelings for him simply refused to receive any help from him at all. Hermione also imagined that he would only laugh at her predicament and leave her to sort it out on her own once he found out about it.
She tried to hiss to him that she was more than capable of looking after herself, but the sounds were jumbled and strange. Hermione inwardly frowned at this before she tried again, but she was met with the same results. She looked towards Tom's face only to see that he was frowning as well and that he had stopped walking. He then let out a wry laugh before speaking.
-/-"I take it that you are someone that just tried to complete their animagus form and now you are stuck. Don't worry it has happened a few times with people who receives the snake as their animagus form for some reason. Most people think that it is because of the curse that was placed on the Salazar family. They think that it affected other witches and wizards who find themselves with a connection to snakes because the caster of the curse didn't want to risk other Slytherins being born without being affected. The caster, who was a religious muggleborn, apparently wanted to humiliate the family and mock them for their love of snakes because it meant nothing good in the caster's religion, but little did they know that it would become a gift instead, in most cases at least."-/-
Hermione knew that she could use the same spells that she did earlier to speak English, but she was afraid that he would immediately recognize her voice. She looked at Tom as he explained and she realized that it looked like they were walking to his classroom. Tom evidently saw her panic as he glanced down at her because he started to reassure her.
-/-"Well I can't change you back in the corridor and since I do not know who you are, I also can't take you into my private quarters because that would seem weird, so my class will do just fine. The reason why you can understand me when I speak Parseltongue, is because of the magic that comes with achieving your animagus form, but you would need to learn Parseltongue on your own if you want to speak it yourself. Since your animagus form is a snake, it would actually be possible to teach you the language, but it would take you many years to understand because you weren't born with the gift."-/-
Hermione allowed her head to turn as if she was asking a question and Tom seemed to understand her inquiry yet again. -/-"You are probably wondering about how I would be able to change you back. Well, the thing is that it requires a parseltongue spell to revert a stuck snake animagus to his or her original form. As you can imagine, I am luckily not the only parseltongue speaker left in the magical world, but the descendants of Slytherin have made it their duty to help those that are stuck in their snake forms since it is kind of our ancestors' fault that witches and wizards actually get stuck like this even though they weren't directly responsible. We just don't make it public knowledge because only those related to snakes and Slytherin are supposed to know about parselmagic and there is a sealing spell on the language to ensure that no outsiders are able to learn about it. Since your animagus form is a snake, you don't count as an outsider anymore."-/-
Hermione nodded and waited until they finally reached his class. She was a little apprehensive about what Tom would think after he actually managed to change her back. She was fully expecting him to either tease or ridicule her, but if what he said was true then she had no one else to turn to unless she wanted to slither throughout the world in order to find another Parseltongue speaker to release her.
Tom seemed to be looking at her intently as he materialized a cushion on the floor and laid her down on it. He didn't comment on it so Hermione refused to acknowledge it at the moment. She knew that she had a crush on the man ever since her fourth year, but due to their rivalry she knew that it wasn't meant to be. Riddle might not be unfair to the people that weren't in his old house, but it would only give her false hope to think that he cast the small act of kindness just for her, when he seemed to be actually expecting a student.
Her mind had barely finished that thought when he hissed out the spell that sounded more like simple words loaded with magical intention. -/-"Bring forth the trapped human form."-/- Hermione immediately felt her body change, but the strain of the forced change didn't allow her to keep conscious for long and so she only saw Tom gasp and yell out another spell as darkness claimed her.
…the next morning…
Hermione felt better when she woke up and for a few minutes, she was disorientated by where she was. At first, she thought she was back in her rooms, but the light from a candle was hitting the bed she was on at a much different angle than she was used to. She sat up with a soft gasp and felt a slight feeling of fear travel down her spine as she looked around and realized that she really didn't know where she was.
The fear disappeared when she remembered that Tom had changed her back into her human form before she had blacked out so it would make sense that he had probably taken her to his rooms. She saw that she was lying on a couch in what seemed to be his living room and the sound of a shower could vaguely be heard in another room.
A popping sound echoed around the room and Hermione grabbed her wand from the coffee table next to her before she saw that it was one of the Hogwarts house elves that had just appeared. The elf stepped closer. "Master Riddle told Jinxy to bring Mistress 'Mione food if she be wakin' up when Master not here." She looked at the tray that the elf was carrying before he placed it on the coffee table next to the couch.
The elf disappeared again and Hermione pulled the tray closer. She would have to talk to Riddle anyway and it would probably be better to hear his scathing remarks if the two of them were alone. She felt a twinge of pain in her heart as she thought about the prospect and she tried to take her mind off it by bringing her attention back to the food. She hadn't really eaten much so she felt really hungry and it seemed to be breakfast time already because her plate had both waffles and eggs and bacon on it. There was also a hot cup of coffee waiting for her. She conveniently ignored the fact that she kind of had a sleepover at her rival's place, even though she had actually just been unconscious. Hermione finished eating and she had just started to enjoy her coffee when she heard the shower turn off.
The panic that she had been trying to ignore ever since she had figured out where she was, suddenly reared up its ugly head again and she found that her courage had suddenly deserted her. She grabbed her wand and summoned a quill and paper knowing that she didn't have much time before Tom probably finished with his morning routine. She wrote a letter that contained a whole lot of honesty because she kind of owed the man something for helping her and with a last glance around the room to make sure that she had everything, she bolted out of the door and up to her own rooms. She just hoped that the contents of the letter would not return to bite her in the arse later that night.
…/…/…/…
Tom stood under the spray of the shower as his mind still tried to comprehend the events of the previous night. He had definitely not expected the Black Mamba to turn out to be Hermione and he had been frozen in shock when he saw her, at least up until the point where her whole form had pitched forward. He had been given just enough time to cast a cushioning spell as she fell forward and when he tried to wake her up, it had been clear that she was out cold.
He knew that a simple enervate would have worked, but having her close to him without her being able to mouth out any insults was a bit too much of a chance to pass up and he had convinced himself that when she woke up then they could actually have a conversation without having it turn into a fight or a verbal sparring match.
He carried her to his rooms and after only a moment's hesitance, he had placed her on his couch instead of on his bed. It wouldn't have been a good idea even though the thought of her in his bed had been extremely tempting. Tom groaned under his breath. The woman was driving him insane.
When he met her in his first year, he had thought she was the most infuriating person on earth and she forced him to work even harder in order to try and prove to her that he was better. This went on for the next two years. It was then in their third year that Tom figured out that his feelings for Hermione had nothing to do with their rivalry, but he didn't think that she would pay attention to him any other way so he continued to work hard. As it turned out it was always one of them that took first place until the teachers relented to tie in their scores.
Neither of them had been happy about it because they viewed a tie as the same as losing and this drove them to actually ask the teachers for extra work. It worked perfectly for a while since one of them always got a house point or so more than the other, but then the teachers banned it because it gave them too much extra work and they couldn't concentrate fully on the rest of the students.
In the end, they both took their OWLs and NEWTs two years early at the request of their teachers and Dumbledore had immediately hired them before he had retired after asking Minerva's advice since she then became headmistress. Tom had planned on going out to spread his views about magic on the world, but the old man had asked whether he would be interested in the DADA position instead.
He had been extremely shocked because he thought that Dumbledore didn't like him at all, but still, he accepted and so far he had been enjoying the challenge of teaching. Hermione had mostly avoided him since they became teachers so he searched her out from time to time in order to be able to just see her. And then the previous night happened.
Tom had actually spent the whole night marking while she slept because he couldn't sleep and when morning finally came, he knew that he somehow had to ask Hermione whether they could actually get to know each other as friends. It would give her the chance to see that he wasn't so bad and hopefully he could then ask her out further along the line.
He suddenly felt a sense of urgency as he got out of the shower and he quickly got dressed. He briskly walked out of his room just as his wards registered that his front door was closing and he cursed. Of course, Hermione would run away at the first chance she got, she always liked to avoid him as much as possible. Tom sat down on the couch with a sigh.
He had never been nice to her because they were in rival houses and he didn't want to seem like a traitor in front of the few friends that he actually had and he didn't want to face her rejection. He knew that the other reason was that a part of him also saw his crush on her as a weakness that could be utilized against him if he furthered his plans at the time, not that it would happen anymore.
He had made peace with the fact that he would now be able to teach the students that dark magic wasn't dark, it just required it's casters to understand the consequences behind the casting of each spell and the performance of each ritual, but now she would probably not even listen to him because she expects him to tease her and so it wouldn't help if he followed her.
He glanced at the coffee table and blinked a few times in confusion when he saw a letter next to the cup of coffee. He slowly picked it up and then eagerly began to read as he recognized Hermione's handwriting.
Morning Tom (Yes, Riddle I know.)
Sorry that I didn't stay until you finished. I know that we are probably overdue for a talk because you were right about this rivalry thing between us, but it is hard to believe that this isn't some joke to get me back for whatever I did to irritate you this time.
Thanks for the help last night; I know you could have just left me there on the floor of your classroom, but you didn't. Truthfully I don't know what else to say, because we have never held a discussion with only the two of us unless it was a debate regarding our work or a fight (When we aren't in meetings regarding our classes), so I would like to ask if you would like to meet up tonight.
A new restaurant just opened up in Diagon Alley as you know and I wanted to try it out. They have private booths so we can meet each other there and talk things out. That way, if there is a fight, then one of us can just leave.
Regards
Granger
PS. I will still be going there at seven because I already made the reservation even if you don't show up so you better not make a big deal out of this.
Tom read the letter over and over again for four times in a row before he could really believe that the woman had asked him out on a date. It's not a date! She just wants to meet up and talk and I would probably end up saying the wrong things, like I normally do, anyway! But that thought didn't stop him from planning out the rest of his day so that he could meet her there.
…at the restaurant…
Tom made a point of arriving twenty minutes early because he didn't want to go through the awkwardness of arriving last but unfortunately the waiter assured him that 'Miss Granger was already waiting for him'. He mentally grimaced as his heartbeat sped up at the thought of seeing her again and Tom reminded himself that it was a regular occurrence ever since he figured out his true feelings and he just hoped that it didn't show in his face.
He rounded the corner behind the waiter and stopped in his tracks as he saw her. Hermione was wearing an emerald green evening dress that perfectly framed her curves from what he could see and her hair was done up with soft curls framing her face. He forced himself to move as the waiter left them alone and he felt the privacy bubble around the booth pass over him as he stepped closer to the table.
Hermione's eyes seemed to widen as she spotted him, but he thought that maybe he had imagined it when he noticed that her mask was up a split second later. He paused next to her and pulled out a rose from behind his back. He knew that it was really cliché but Hermione tended to appreciate the smaller things so he brought her a single black rose instead of a bouquet.
Tom knew that she had been trying to get her hands on a black rose for quite a while because it was her favorite flower and he also knew that she hadn't succeeded yet because they were so rare so his gesture would be appreciated. He looked at her to see her reaction and her eyes widened as her mouth parted slightly in shock.
She slowly took the rose as if it would crumble in her hands and smelled it before she changed a napkin into a glass and magically filled it with water before reverently placing the flower inside of it. She looked at him and Tom had to hide a grin as she gave him an awkward smile while her cheeks gained color. He pushed down his reaction to her as much as he could as he took the seat opposite her.
Neither of them spoke and the silence became very awkward until Tom couldn't take it anymore. "You look beautiful tonight." Hermione glanced up sharply as if she hadn't expected him to compliment her on her appearance and he mentally winced as he realized that she probably really hadn't. She retreated a bit as if she was waiting for the 'but' and Tom sighed. "I know that you will doubt my words even if they are sincere so why don't we make this easy on ourselves. Let's make a vow to tell nothing but the truth while we are here. That way we can both receive answers and get to the bottom of things."
Hermione thought for a bit before she nodded and they exchanged the vows. Tom was the one who spoke first. "Look, I know that we haven't been able to get along ever since we met each other, but that doesn't mean that I really hated you, you know. You just made it really hard for me when I thought that I could just step into the school and be counted as a genius that should be revered." Hermione's eyes narrowed at this and Tom held his hands up in mock surrender as he realized that he kind of owed her the full truth. So he took a deep breath.
"To be honest, I just wanted to prove to people that I was more than just a helpless half-blood orphan. I wanted to show them that I wasn't weak and that they wouldn't be able to step all over me if they felt like it. It was my chance to create a whole new version of myself where no one knew my past and when you came along I found that I had to work much harder than I had anticipated in order to fulfill my goals. Even when I found out that I was Slytherin's heir, it still didn't matter because you were just as good as me in school and people didn't care as much as they would have if I had been the best in the entire school."
…/…/…/…
Hermione took a deep breath as she looked at him. She had imagined that it would be something like that regarding his circumstances, but she had made herself believe that he was actually just some idiot that thought that the world owed him something and that she was just making excuses for the man. Now it seemed like she had actually been right, just not to the full extent. She hung her head slightly.
"I thought it was something like that, but I made myself believe otherwise. I am a muggleborn so a lot of people in the wizarding world look down on me. When you seemed to do it too, I decided that I would do the best that I can in order to prove that I wasn't as weak as everyone thought I was just because of my blood. You ended up being the most studious so I decided that the only way I can show the wizarding world that muggleborns were just as strong as purebloods and half-bloods, would be to beat your scores in school. We both know how that ended though."
Tom nodded with a slight smile. "I think that between the two of us, we made a lot of teachers gain a few extra gray hairs." Hermione couldn't help but return his smile as their waiter returned. They both placed their order and a bottle of wine was brought out two minutes later. Tom stood and poured a glass for them both before he sat back down. Hermione discreetly sipped her glass immediately to calm her nerves when Tom turned to place the bottle in a bucket of ice that had been provided.
They spoke about their views of things that happened at school until their food arrived and even while they ate Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the hilarious situations that the Slytherins tended to get into because of their sneakiness. In turn, she told Tom about the situations that the Gryffindors got into and he almost didn't believe her when she told him that a group of Gryffindors had even dared to camp out in the forbidden forest for an entire weekend.
Dumbledore had, of course, found out about it and Hermione had been happy that she had declined their dare even though they had called her a scaredy-cat because of it. The students were suspended for three weeks and the event was swept under the rug in order to avoid similar occurrences due to house rivalries.
The atmosphere suddenly turned somber between them and they both fell silent as the waiter cleared the table. Tom stood and poured each of them another glass of wine. He knew that they had spoken about most of the important things that they had wanted to say, but the vow was now trying to force him to tell Hermione how he felt about her.
It was easy to ignore, but he knew that he would regret not saying anything if they left things like they were. It's not every day that you have the benefit of a vow of truth after all. So he took a deep breath and sat back down before he looked directly at Hermione.
"There is something that I have wanted to tell you for a while now, but I hid it since I didn't know how you would react." She looked at him closely and nodded for him to continue, but instead of indifference like he expected, her gaze held hope instead.
This gave him the courage to continue. "I have liked you ever since third-year. I just wasn't brave enough to tell you and there were a few other circumstances that were also interfering at the time. I was happy when we became teachers together, but you ignored and avoided me so I made some opportunities to be able to see you."
He paused, but Hermione's shocked expression urged him to explain a little further. "I knew that you wouldn't feel the same way, but you look cute when you're so angry so I focused only on that in order to at least be able to spend some time with you. I was happy when I found that the snake animagus turned out to be you since it meant that we had a bit more in common than I thought, but you left before I could speak with you. I was excited when you wanted to meet tonight and I want to be able to get to know you without the rival personas that we tend to fall into around each other."
She still seemed to be staring at him in frozen shock and Tom fought the urge to lean over the table and to either shake or kiss her into action. Her expression turned to one of sadness and Tom felt his entire being freeze as Hermione finally opened her mouth. It was clear that she was going to reject him so it must not have been hope that be had seen in her eyes.
"I like you too Tom and I have for quite a while…" Tom felt hope rise in his chest, but he was confused over why the admission would make Hermione sad. "…but I don't think that we would be able to be together even as just friends."
Tom felt the stab of pain pierce him straight through the chest and he fought hard to not let the anguish show on his face. If Hermione liked him as well then what was the problem? Why would she think that they wouldn't be able to be together?
"I think that we would tear each other apart, Tom. The house rivalries run way too deep and we have been rivals for as long as we have known each other. I doubt that we would be able to be together without fighting over every single little thing that we disagree about. We are both too stubborn to give in even when the other person makes sense. Then there is the fact that our friends would never accept our relationship and in the end, we would have to choose one or the other. I don't want to live a life like that."
She was crying near the end, but Tom was unable to stand up to comfort her. Before he realized what had happened, Hermione laid a few galleons on the table and swept out of the restaurant with a soft sorry and goodbye. It was clear that she was running again.
He still sat frozen for a while until the waiter came with the bill. He paid the man and put the galleons that Hermione had placed on the table, in his pocket. He would return them later. He paused outside the restaurant, but he didn't want to return to Hogwarts and risk walking into Hermione with what just happened.
So he apparated to Malfoy Manor in order to clear his head instead. Abraxas was his oldest and dearest friend and the man usually knew what to do in these situations even though Tom had never told anyone about his feelings for Hermione. He steeled himself for a confrontation as an elf opened the door.
Abraxas was already pouring each of then a Firewhisky when Tom entered the library, but he wasn't surprised. The Malfoy lord always knew just what he needed. They sat down, but Abraxas didn't speak. Tom knew that the man was giving him time to sort out his thoughts, but when he opened his mouth, the speech that he had prepared in his mind, disappeared completely.
"I'm in love with Hermione Granger." The room was silent for a few moments and Tom mentally cursed at himself as he looked down at the glass in his hand. He had actually been trying to ease his old friend into the idea, but that was impossible now with him rushing it out like that.
He chanced a glance up and froze as he realized that Abraxas was looking at him with an amused smile instead of rage. The man slowly took a sip from his glass before he set it down and looked directly at Tom.
"You know that it is about time you told me." Tom looked at him in confusion and Abraxas chuckled.
"The entire Slytherin house knows about your crush on Hermione Granger. Even the first-years had to take only one look before declaring that the two of you are in denial. We were even running bets at a time, but that stopped when it became clear that the two of you wouldn't confess before you completed school. We were surprised when both of you even began teaching at Hogwarts, but we knew that the only way that the two of you would get together, was if something big happened and nobody wanted to interfere because it would only drive the two of you away from each other."
Tom sat there looking at Abraxas with countless emotions slipping over his face, but this stopped when Abraxas stood up and took his glass from his hands. He realized that he had been gripping it very tightly.
"So?" Tom looked at his friend in confusion and Abraxas elaborated. "What happened? I'm sure that you wouldn't be like this if your routine had been the same as always."
Tom winced, but since Abraxas' form was also a snake, it was easy to tell him without the seal coming in to play. "I found two boys trying to hurt a snake during my rounds last night. The snake couldn't speak Parseltongue when I spoke to it, so I knew that it was someone that was stuck in their animagus form. The person turned out to be Hermione and we met at a restaurant in order to talk things out in a neutral place. I confessed and then she confessed as well, but she named a lot of reasons why we wouldn't work out if we were together before she just left."
Abraxas winced a little, but he nodded in understanding. "One of those reasons was probably the house rivalries."
Tom nodded. "She also said that our friends won't accept that we are together. I think she's scared that we would fight a lot because of it."
Abraxas shook his head. "It would make sense that she would think that, but that is not the case. Even the Gryffindors knew about the two of you and yet none of them cursed you or singled you out. They also didn't interfere whenever the two of you were at each other's throats and that's because they knew that you wouldn't actually hurt her."
Tom realized that his friend was speaking the truth. No one interfered when he and Hermione fought. Instead, they usually looked at them with an expression of amusement that Tom had never been able to understand until now. He abruptly stood up and downed his glass before he set it down and looked at his friend.
"So you wouldn't mind if we were together?" Abraxas shook his head and Tom bid him goodbye before he left for Hogwarts in a hurry. He could still clearly hear his friend's amused chuckle as he rushed out of Malfoy Manor. Time had flown by during his visit and he knew that both he and Hermione had rounds scheduled for the night.
His steps echoed through the halls in his hurry and Tom mentally cursed. He needed to be silent otherwise she would hear him coming and probably avoid him. He quickly looked around to see if the coast was clear before he closed his eyes and focused on his animagus form.
He knew that Hermione would get a kick out of seeing that his animagus was a lion, but he didn't care at the moment. He needed to find her and explain things to her. He ran through the halls, but his paws barely made a sound on the ground. His sensitive ears finally caught the sound of someone walking and he paused while listening to the rhythm.
There was only one person that had such a gait while walking and that was Hermione. Even if it was a little slow. It was clear that she was sad by the way that she slightly dragged her feet. He rushed over towards her and only realized a second too late that he was still in his animagus form. She dropped her wand from her sleeve and into her hand but paused midway as she was lifting her wand.
She looked him deep in the eyes. "Tom? Is that you?" He returned to his human form immediately and before Hermione could scold him for scaring her, he dragged her into his arms and kissed her. She felt so good in his arms, but he let her go a minute later.
He placed a finger on her lips when she wanted to speak and he marveled at the blush that colored her cheeks. "I know what you said earlier, but most of those reasons aren't valid anymore. It seems the whole school knew way before we recognized our feelings ourselves and everyone sounds ok with it. I will even face your Gryffindor friends alone if you aren't convinced."
He felt relieved when he saw a light smile on her face and continued. "I know that we will sometimes fight since all couples do, but I promise that I will listen to your side if you listen to mine. If neither of us are happy then we can simply just compromise. I really want to spend the rest of my life with you so please consider it."
Hermione sighed and Tom was relieved when the tension seemed to visibly leave her body. "I would like that Tom. I really would. I also spoke to a friend of mine when I got back and he told me the same thing. I know that I was just looking for excuses in order to keep myself from getting hurt in case you changed you mind about us, but you make me happy and I really want to take a chance on us now that I know that it is possible."
Tom smiled and gathered her into his arms once more. The kiss was soft and sweet since neither of them was planning on moving very fast in their relationship and both of them knew that they had all the time in the world to work everything out. For now, they strolled through the halls of Hogwarts, barely even noticing the few students that were out after curfew and they talked long into the night in order to each discover the person that had been hiding behind a mask. But he did make a point of distracting her every time she tried to bring up his animagus form... he just wasn't ready to give up that story yet.
~ The End ~