The Grandmaster Gambit

Tomione AU for the BB'14 challenge

Rating: M

Warnings: Violence, Mentions of Death, Language, Sexual Content, Gaslighting, Kinks: student-teacher relationship, power imbalance

Just as a reference for everyone: Hermione is born 9/19/79. Tom is born 12/31/76

PART 1:

(BEFORE: 1986)

Hermione was wandering along the rocks of the beach where her family was on vacation when she heard a cry. Without thinking, she darted towards the noise. Hermione ran into a cave and saw three children a few years older than her. Two boys, one dark haired and one blonde, and a little red headed girl were huddled by the cave wall.

"Tom, I don't like this," the girl cried.

"It's just a little bit further, Amy, don't be a baby." Something about dark-haired boy's (Tom?) voice threw her off. It sounded sinister and menacing. Hermione didn't know where he was leading the other two children, but she didn't like it. Hermione's hands began to shake, as they always did when the odd things happened. Suddenly, the rock wall next to her began to splinter and crack, and Hermione shrieked.

"Help! Somebody help me!" Rock began to fall down on her, and she shielded herself with her arms.

"Amy, let's get out of here!" the blonde boy stammered before grabbing Amy's hand and sprinting out of the cave. The other boy, Tom, tackled Hermione, moving her away from all of the rocks. Or was it that he had stopped the rocks from moving altogether? She wasn't sure. Hermione began to cry; this was all so scary. Tom scooped her up and carried her out of the cave, heading in the same direction she had entered.

"Sshh. Ssshhh. It's ok; you're alright now," he cooed in a much warmer voice. It's suits him, she thought to herself. "You're bleeding," he gasped, nearly dropping her. He laid her down on the beach and kneeled beside her. "It' really deep – I don't know if I can fix it," he said in a panic.

"My mum and dad will know what to do. They're doctors."

"No!" He backed away from her, now just as frightened as she felt. "No doctors!"

"They're dentists actually," she informed him.

"Oh," he sighed before crawling back over to her. "If you promise not to tell, I'll heal you."

"I promise," she said as she held out her pinky. He locked pinkies with her before untangling himself and holding his hands over her forehead. It stayed quiet like that for a long time, with him cradling her head and her try to stay conscious. Slowly, her forehead felt much better, and when the cut was completely mended, he collapsed next to her.

"Are you ok?"

He shook his head. "I've never done that before."

"Are you hurt too?" He shook his head again.

"Just tired."

"I'll help you walk back," she sprung to her feet and offered out her hand. He cautiously took hold and pulled himself up. Despite their height difference, she still walked with her hand on his back, trying to support his much taller frame.

"Thank you for healing me." He shrugged it off as if it was not a big deal, but both knew it was. "I'm Hermione Granger. What's your name?"

". . . I don't like my name."

"Well, make a new name for yourself. You can be anything you want to be."

"Hmmm . . ." he mused. "I think I want to change my name to Lord Voldemort."

"That's silly," Hermione giggled.

"It's not silly at all," he huffed. "It's going to be an anagram of my real name." They had now reached the small little wooden boardwalk bridge that connected the beach to the grassy fields where the cars parked. A square object fell out of his pocket, and Hermione caught it. She'd never seen anything like it; it was a black square covered in smaller, colored squares.

"What is it?"

"It's a Rubik cube."

"Is it like a puzzle?"

"Sort of. You see, you have to match all the little squares of the same color. You can try it, if you want." He leaned against the wooden railing and watched her struggle with it for the next few minutes.

"I can't get it," she grumbled.

"Here," he said, placing his hands over hers, "I'll show you." With lightning speed, he twisted and turned the squares until they all matched.

"How'd you do that?"

"It just takes practice. You have to learn how it works before you figure out how to solve."

"That's neat."

"You can keep it, if you want." He handed the cube back to her.

"But isn't it yours?" That made Tom freeze; the truth was that he had stolen it from an older boy at the orphanage. She didn't need to know that, though, so he shrugged it off. "Thanks." She cupped the cube in one hand while she fished something out of her back pocket. "I've got something for you too."

"Oh, I don't need anything-" But she cut him off and pressed whatever it was into his hands.

"Please take it." She rested her hands on top of his, and he closed his palm around it. In the distance, he could hear a man and woman calling out for her. "I've got to leave now. Thank you for all of your help today!" Hermione stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek before darting off, leaving Tom alone on the bridge.

Still in a bit of shock, Tom numbly stood there, rubbing his cheek with his spare hand. Blinking out of his daze, he stared down at his occupied hand and opened it. In his now red palms, there was a small black chess piece. He stuffed it in his jean pockets before walking the other way and pretending there weren't tears in his eyes; it was the first gift given to Tom out of kindness.

(BEFORE: 1991-1992)

Hermione was scouting around the train for people to help her find the toad. She wanted to head down to the private compartments, but there were a group of boys in dark billowing robes blocking the main aisle way.

"Excuse me." None of the boys noticed. "Excuse me," she clipped in a much louder voice, tapping the boy in front of her on the shoulder. The boy, a tall, gaunt figure with dark hair, turned around, and Hermione had to swallow her gasp. It was the boy from the cliffs, all those years ago. But he didn't seem to recognize her, tilting his head to one side and squinting with eyes void of any emotion.

"May I move past you?" She tried to say calmly, but it came out as more of a nervous squeak. He nodded his head, somehow commanding all of the boys to point to aisle way so she could move through. "Thank you," she mumbled, walking in long strides before whipping back around. "Oh, have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." The blonde boy next to Tom snorted, but a quick glare from the dark-haired boy stopped him. She noticed how all of them were wearing robes and ties trimmed in green. They're Slytherin, she noted, they value ambition and cunning . . . can I trust them?

"No, we haven't." His voice was cold and crisp, the same as how it first was in the caves. He smiled with all of his teeth and the corners of his mouth were upturned, but the smile sent chills up her spine. Tom was smiling like a cat would when it had just gobbled up a bird.

"Alright, well, thank you." Hermione turned around and walked away as quickly as her legs would let her.

Tom watched her walk away before resuming his planning with the Knights. The weight of the chess piece suddenly felt heavier in his pant pocket than it had before, and he palmed it with anticipation. He couldn't help but smile, even after she was gone. It's good to see you again, Hermione Granger.

X*X*X

During the open ceremonies, Tom was disappointed to find that Hermione was put in Gryffindor. He barely saw her because 4th years and 1st years never interacted. The only time he did see her was in the library, where she would ferociously dive into a stack of books.

No one knew for certain what had happened with the Philosopher's stone at the end of the year, other than that horrible professor Quirrell has mysteriously disappeared and that three first years were involved. And Hermione was one of them.

But Tom didn't give it much thought; he was too busy trying to figure out the labyrinth of tunnels in the school. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the end of the year that he discovered the secret passage way to the Chamber hidden in a sink in a bathroom (Tom disregarded that it was a girl's bathroom; Salazar was obviously just be conscientious that the heir to unlock the Chamber could have been a girl). He hadn't yet dared to awaken the Basilisk – there was still so much to plan before he unleashed it on the school.