Tags: Angst, Drama, TimeTurnerAU

A figure sat down on the bench across the table and Hermione didn't even have to look up to know that it was Tom. Who else would come and talk to her here? Tomwas the only one she really spoke with, and it was no secret that the students of Hogwarts found it singular. Of course Hermione could have been friends with Abraxas, and even with his girlfriend Monica, if only they weren't so shy and quiet when they were in the same room together.

"Don't you have something better to be doing?" Hermione questioned as she looked up from her plate of half-eaten toast and bacon.

Tom got himself a plate of breakfast with a sigh that suggested just how touchy he was this morning.

"Go sit somewhere else," Hermione then said coldly when he didn't answer.

Internally, she wanted him to stay. She enjoyed his presence too much for her own good.

"Manners, Miss Granger," he said slowly, "are something you don't quite possess," he said darkly. He had his head bent down to focus on buttering his toast carefully as he looked up through his long, dark eyelashes and glared at her.

A shiver ran down her spine as she sucked in a breath and tired to focus on returning to her breakfast, but Tom's presence left her feeling uneasy. Her stomach turned over in tight little knots and she had officially lost her appetite. She pushed her plate away with a frown and rubbed at her heavily-lidded honey eyes. She wasn't quite awake yet, nor would she be for some hours.

"Staying up late is no way to-"

"Shut it, Riddle," Hermione quickly snapped angrily and quickly turned around to get up from the bench.

She left in such a random rage that for a moment, she had left Tom sitting there, frozen with shock at the outburst. But that was before his lips formed a thing, angrily line and he hurried after her with his slender fingers curled to make tight fists and his breakfast and empty stomach completely forgotten.

Of course he caught up to her. His tall legs enabled him to weave through the crowded hall of students heading to breakfast without flaw. Before Hermione could even reach the stairs, his hand reached out and wound tightly around her slender wrist, forcing her to stop before she proceeded to take the first step.

"I haven't done a single thing wrong to you to deserve such an attitude," he said between clenched teeth, careful not to draw too much attention from around them.

Most students were too half-asleep to even notice while others saw, but only whispered to their friends about it. Any smart student knew not to spread rumors about Tom Riddle.

Hermione's lips parted in surprise as she looked down at his hand and tried to pry her burning wrist free. Twisting her face up in disgust, she tried once more but failed.

"Do you think one can have such an attitude towards another and not expect it to be mirrored?" Her voice came out in a rush of shakes, showing her nervousness with him so near.

Tom realized he still held her wrist hostage and let go, straightening himself up before he spoke. "That's just how I am. I thought you, of all people, would know that." He was much calmer now, his dark eyebrows forced together in more of confusion than anything else.

Hermione's freehand found the wrist previously captured by Tom's hand and rubbed it soothingly, shrugging. "And that's just how I a-" Hermione's words were cut off from her when Tom took a step closer and looked down at her with such an intensity, he had her trembling.

"Do you presume to think you can pretend like that, Miss Granger?" His voice was slower this time, and the warning in his voice made her tilt her face up towards him with eyebrows knitted together with feral questioning. "Since you've come here, everything has been lies. Your parents, being home-schooled, your relationship with Professor Dumbledore, and now not liking me. I don't buy one bit of it."

"I'm not asking you to," she quickly spat at him.

Tom opened his mouth, about to spit forth unruly words he knew he'd later forget. But they were standing so close, and she was looking so upset, and he had made her that way, that he realized he had just ruined her day (not that he should care). So he shut his mouth, held his tongue, and remained silent as his eyes darkened and abruptly fell lower onto her face for a moment before he slowly closed his eyes, almost as if he were composing himself, exhaled through his nose rather loudly, and turned his back to her.

He walked away from her without a single word as he left Hermione holding her almost-bruised wrist at her chest almost for dear life. She looked after him with with the same expression she wore when he had been so close.

Unbelievable.

Hermione hadn't realized how her heart was beating so thickly in her ears now until she remembered to breathe and looked down at the old tan stone flooring of the Entrance Hall. She eventually let go of her wrist and crossed her arms over her chest securely, shaking her head at the fact that Tom just knew she had feelings for him (He had to find out sooner or later, right?). Turning her body around, she headed up the steps and wondered if he also knew she didn't want to have feelings for him, although it could very well be painfully obvious.

She tried to act as if she hated him, when in reality, she just disliked him, but it had proven harder than expected to blend in and keep at an arm's length.

She didn't dislike him just because of all the terrible things he'll do in the future, but rather for the terrible things he's made her feel for him now.