A week passed and Hermione contemplated going back to the Room in an attempt to find Riddle. Perhaps he'd be more cautious and the indifferent time wouldn't exist. He had told her he needed to be more precise with the commands to the room. She nearly ran into McLaggen on the sixth floor before she ran up to the Room of Requirement again. She gave the same command and shut the door behind her before McLaggen could see.

"You didn't have to slam the damn thing," a familiar voice chided.

There were more warm lights around the room this time around. She looked over to one of the piles of books and saw Riddle skimming over one.

"Had to escape," she panted.

"And so you chose to join me, again. Lovely," he said, his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Hermione rolled her eyes and went over to a pile of books. There were a few muggle titles in between. She flicked her wand and pulled out a copy of Victor Hugo from the bottom. The book had been extremely worn to the point of fragile.

"Really? Hunchback of Notre Dame?" He asked.

"I've been meaning to pick it up again," Hermione said.

"Brightest witch of her age reading muggle, surprised you didn't pick some Merlin biography or something."

"Sometimes you need a light read in-between the Merlin biography's."

He gave a small laugh. She was prepared to kill him. The moment didn't arise again, but the laugh of the Dark Lord was disturbing. It didn't come from sadistic torturing. He took a handful of books and strode over to the couch. Cautiously, she approached the couch.

"Just sit next to me, it's not like I'm going to murder you or anything," he smirked, not looking up at her.

She sat on the other side of the couch from him. Then she noticed the blanket that was on the arm rest. It hadn't been there before…

"I made sure the Room provided a blanket on the off chance I did see you again," he commented.

"Thank you?" Hermione responded.

"Besides, Phantom of the Opera is better than that."

"Who knew Tom Riddle liked the Phantom of the Opera."

"I like it, I just don't agree with it. And just call me Tom."

She went back into reading her own book. They sat like that for a while before her stomach growled.

"What the hell was that?" Tom questioned.

"I guess I should've eaten beforehand," she said.

He tossed her a bag of sweets from his sidebag.

"Just… just stop the growling," he said.

"You don't have to," she said.

"You're right. It's that or leave for your own timeline."

Her nose twitched before she opened the bag and put it in the middle of the couch for them. When he didn't think she was looking, he took a few for himself. Hermione left first this time, and she was confused as to how… normal Riddle— Tom, seemed. It had to be an act, the diary that Ginny had with him had also seemed innocent and welcoming.


When she got out of the room, only an hour had passed this time. Although the sweets had temporarily satisfied her hunger, she went down to what was now dinner in the Great Hall. She regretted the decision as soon as Lavender noticed her and moved down the bench closer to her.

"I hear Cormac McLaggen fancies you. You know, I wouldn't mind setting you two up to go on a double date with me and Won-Won. It's unfortunate that you two are fighting right now," Lavender smiled.

"You'd be doing more harm than good, so please mind your own business Lavender," Hermione said coldly.

"I don't know why you wouldn't like Cormac. He's quite attractive and you did keep looking at him at Quidditch try-outs."

"Let me make myself clear, fuck off."

The other girls eyes went wide and Hermione left her plate as she stormed out of the Hall. She heard a set of footsteps following her and she turned around, prepared to curse off Lavender again. Only it ended up being Ginny.

"What was that all about?" Ginny asked, concerned.

"It's nothing. Just Lavender being nosy as hell," Hermione said.

"I'm sorry about that but she's been that way since we've known her."

Hermione gave a shrug. There wasn't much she could do against Lavender. She found Harry and dragged him into the library with her in an attempt to keep McLaggen at bay. He had mentioned to Ron how he needed to work on the Transfiguration homework as an excuse. They sat at a table in silence, however the presence of McLaggen had Hermione on edge.

"Why do you not like McLaggen again?" Harry asked.

"I don't not like him. Its… merely an attempt to prevent another Krum situation from happening, although McLaggen talks. And Krum would've been more favorable right now," Hermione responded.

"I thought you were over Krum."

"I am. Besides, you're still reading that Half-Blood Prince book that I told you to turn in."

"It's helping me, Hermione."

"You wouldn't need it if you'd just paid attention to Snape."

"Snapes an arsehole."

"I can't completely argue that."

Harry went back to reading the potions book before noticing it was time for him to go to Quidditch practice. He walked with Hermione to the main set of stairs that went up to the common room before going down to the field. She looked over her shoulder, finding herself appreciating Harry's friendship, and thinking, maybe he was better than Ron. Only there was Ginny who he did have feelings for, and her bitterness about Ron overwhelmed her again. When Hermione got up to the common room, she saw Lavender throwing herself over Ron who didn't seem to mind. They were practically dating at this point. She had been on her way up to the dorm already when Ron started eating Lavenders face off and she held back the bile in her mouth as she ran up the stairs.

She'd finished her homework already and had laid on her bed and stared up at the canopy. Her mind wandered before she found herself asleep. She normally didn't dream. There were fragmented shadows of her parents, the cabin they'd rent out, and then she had ended up in the potions classroom and told that there was an exam. She hadn't studied. Why hadn't she studied? If she would've gotten up earlier to avoid Lavender and Ron she would've been able to cram a bit. Then she scene shifted and everyone was out of the classroom. Only Tom Riddle stood in front of the desk.

He was smug as he had his arms crossed. His words came out as if somebody had distorted them, or played his words backwards. She had ended up in front of him and he sat on the desk, pulling her closer. The backwards talking continued closer to her ear. Then he kissed her, and she felt his hands wander closer to the end of her skirt. She felt herself shiver from his touch. Then she had woken up to her dismay. Only then she remembered the dream had vaguely been about the young Dark Lord and she ran over to the bathroom and splashed her face with water. The dream had left her, but the disturbed feeling remained. When she looked at the clock it was 3 am.

She casted a muffling charm around her as she changed into her pajama's after falling asleep in her clothes. Secretly she hoped that the Room of Requirement wouldn't let Tom in the next time she went as to avoid whatever lingering fragments of the dream remained. When she fell asleep again, there weren't any dreams.

Lavender and Parvarti were jumping on her bed when she woke up. Hermione shooed them off, although she resembled a broken puppet rather than a force to be reckoned with. They pulled her out and begged her to let them do another make over on her. It was after all, Saturday. Irritated, Hermione told them only fractional changes, nothing drastic. They begged her to let them use blue eyeshadow, only they had been stopped after the under eye concealer and eyeliner. Then they picked out a tight fitting sweater for her and their friendliness made more sense once they got downstairs. McLaggen looked up at them and attempted to walk over, before Hermione bolted out of the common room and ran to the kitchens.

Although she hated how little SPEW had progressed, the house elves were rather polite to her. Although most of them somewhat resented her SPEW efforts they assisted as they liked. They had given her a breakfast sandwich and bacon in wrappings before she thanked them and left. She hid behind a suit of armor when she saw McLaggen with Lavender and an annoyed Ron. Lavender was confused to Hermione's reaction although McLaggen laughed about how he liked a challenge. Ron told him to bugger off, which made a faint smile appear on her lips. She went up to the Room of Requirement and slipped through the door.


The stacks of books had been shifted, only slightly. When she got to the couch, she found Tom sleeping across it. She sat in a niche of books close to the fire as she ate the sandwich over the copy of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. She'd balled up the wrapping and heard Tom yawn loudly. He'd kill her. This is when he would kill her. Because she woke him from his beauty sleep. Instead he looked over at her, gave a shrug and picked up the book under his legs.

"You know, judging by the muggle clothes, I'd guess you're half-blood," Tom said. He gave her another look. "Did you do something to your face?"

"What, oh no. I mean, my friends did. Nothing major thankfully," she sputtered out.

"Well, you look nice."

Why the hell was he complimenting her? This was, extremely strange, and she contemplated using an Unforgivable. He'd probably think it was over the compliment and not you're the reason why my friends have lost members of their family.

"Are you going to keep sitting on the floor, or do you want the other half of the couch?" He chastised.

Anxiously, she walked over to the couch where she saw him eying her before she opened her book up again on the couch.

"What's the future like?" He asked.

"Not much to say," Hermione shrugged; she shoved her thoughts back down, remembering him to be a legilimence.

"I'd much like to hear about it."

"I'd like to know my future as well, but we can't all have what we want."

He had somehow ended up closer to her and closed the book. It was easy to think of him with green eyes, have the resemblance with Harry be closer. But they were that, deep shade of brown that made a person think of a black hole. If he wasn't a psychotic dark lord, maybe chocolate, but he was a psychotic dark lord.

"Hermione, please," he said softly.

"People don't call you as Tom Riddle," she said.

"Thank Merlin."

He pulled away from her and the empty air felt, strange. Then again, he didn't usually do anything like that before. He'd used her to get the answers he wanted— thats why he had minions instead of friends. She found a mint in her pocket and popped it into her mouth after feeling like her mouth still reeked of bacon.

"What was that?" Tom asked. Observant little shit.

"Um… drugs?" Hermione said, although it sounded more like a question.

"You seem too uptight to be doing drugs."

"I AM NOT UPTIGHT!"

His eyes widened at her before he looked back down at his own book with a strange look on his face. She went back to her own book. Only she had reached the notes at the end and went around to look for another book. There was one about Merlin that she picked up. A few paces closer to the fireplace and she changed it out with a book about the Founders.

"I haven't seen that one in here yet," Tom said, looking up.

"All the time in the world and you hadn't bothered to look," she teased.

"Mind if I read it?"

"When I'm done, maybe."

Then he had inched closer to her before he was essentially over her.

"Hermione dear, can I please read the book?" He asked, it sounded more like a demand.

Of course he knew he was attractive. Of course he would try to use his looks on women who knew he was attractive. It had to work back in his own timeline. Her hand gave a slight wave before Tom found himself pushed back onto his own side of the couch.

"How did you do that?" He demanded.

"Magic," Hermione stated bluntly.

"Of course I know that. But that's impressive for what? A fifth year?"

"Sixth."

"You really are the brightest witch of your age."

"You still can't read the book yet."

He gave an irritated huff. She decided to put the book away and return to her own time. One without a bloody good looking soon to be, no was, a dark lord. Only she felt his hand brush her own as she got up. When she looked down she saw that Tom had wrapped his hand in hers.

"Do you know when you leave, the colors outside that door look more saturated?" He asked.

"I hadn't thought about it," Hermione admitted.

"And you will come back?"

"Maybe on my own time. Maybe you won't be in the room."

A red light seemed to flicker in his eyes. It was an illusion of the fireplace. And he pulled her down to him before he kissed her. This was wrong. Wrong on so many levels. Only she had found herself reciprocating the motions and had her legs wrapped around his. The book had fallen onto the floor. His mouth wandered to her neck and she shuttered. He had to have done this before. She had to leave. Had to—

He had pushed her onto the couch as they continued to kiss. His hand had gone under her shirt and she ran a hand through his hair. The sensation was overwhelming. He had pulled off the black sweater he had, leaving him in a white button down, and she had lost her own sweater at some point as well. Her leg pulled him closer to her as they started grinding.

"I wish I could take you to my own timeline," he panted before he kissed her neck.

"It'd be wrong," she smiled.

"You'd be the most brilliant witch."

One of his hands had latched a finger into a belt loop of her jeans. Could she really leave her friends, her life, in an attempt to reform Tom Riddle? It wasn't likely. The feeling of wanting to strip further down latched into her mind. He was of course, much taller than her, and this was one of those moments that made her notice. It felt… right. Strangely enough. She could let this continue. Her friends wouldn't notice her absence. Her own time.

Remembering her own time had hit her like a bag of concrete bricks. She pushed Tom off of her while she tried to find her sweater.

"That was fun," he smirked, there were slight droplets of sweat on his forehead.

"I need to get back," Hermione said.

He looked at her confused as she put her sweater back on and found the book that had been discarded. It was the right book. Something was off about him, of course it was, he was Voldemort, and she knew she had to take it with her out the door. Hermione tucked it under her arm and ran out of the room. Why? Why did it have to be the Dark Lord? It couldn't have been someone normal? At some point she had nearly bumped into McLaggen, who looked at her oddly before continuing on his way. Was there something off about her? She went into one of the girls bathrooms and readjusted her sweater, which ended up being backwards, and saw the marks Tom had left on her.

Before she could cast a disillusionment charm, some Ravenclaw girls walked in and gawked at the marks. She covered it with her hair and ran to the Gryffindor common room. Why? Why? WHY? There wasn't anyone in the common room besides Ginny and Dean— only the peaceful conversation had turned into a rather nasty argument. She went up to her dorms and waited until the fighting calmed to try to talk to the younger girl. Ginny had instead come up and closed the door behind her. She ranted about the argument she had with Dean, which she found whatever they were arguing about, ridiculous on account of Dean. As they talked, Hermione put a piece of hair behind her ear. Forgetting it was the side that she was hiding the marks.

"Who… left you those?" Ginny asked.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Are you seeing Neville? No, no, he's talking with Hannah Abbott a lot. So who is it?"

"Neville? Gin? Doesn't matter."

"Please tell me you aren't seeing McLaggen."

"God no!"

"Well, I want you to tell me about it when I get back from practice."

A nervous look appeared on Hermione's face as Ginny beamed out the door. Hermione fell back onto her bed. Frustrated. She made sure the book was the correct one once more before she put it in her drawer. There had been the slightest possibility that Tom would've tried to distract her from it for his own usage which would be part of his plans for becoming a dark lord later on.


The next day, a group of girls who Hermione had never really talked to approached her and asked her about who she was seeing. Five sickles were betted on McLaggen. It was not McLaggen. She had thankfully been able to cast the charm before the other girls in her dorm noticed. However, the rumors continued to float around and at one point Ginny glared at her. This being over speculation that it had been Harry; despite the other girls relationship, it was assured to not be Harry. However, Ginny was still irritated Hermione hadn't told her about the mysterious suitor. Eventually the rumors faded.

She found herself visiting the Room of Requirement more than once throughout the week in an effort to see Tom, which worked out a majority of the time. Of course, he thought of her as a half-blood, didn't know her house, and they avoided discussions about world domination. Or at least the magical world. Hermione had attempted to persuade him to take up teaching as a legitimate profession, without hidden agendas. It was a half-hearted success. He tried to pry at her about her own life, it wasn't often but it did come up, and she attempted to redirect the conversation to class work or his life.

They had taken up dueling practice for Tom's Defense NEWT. The times that she did win she felt as if he was merely letting her win. Most of the time the duel would go on for what felt like forever until a draw was tied or Tom was able to disarm her. Surprisingly, he never used an Unforgivable or dark curse in their duels. Of course, this was perhaps to keep up the charade of being a beloved talented student that wasn't planning on mass murder. If it ever came to war and she had to fight Lord Voldemort, she at least would know his strategies and how he fought. Sure she'd probably be dead by that point because he still had sixty something years to go before he'd gain more experience. He'd have the room change into the library area they had met after these duels where he'd attempt to persuade her to go with him to his time and stay and help him "reform the wizarding world". The thoughts teased at her when she was away to when she did she him she considered joining. Maybe make it less violent than the initial outbreak of the First War. It wasn't practical in all reality and she turned him down.

Harry had at one point attempted to get Ron and Hermione to stop quarreling. This went well for about ten minutes before the discussion of Lavender and whoever-Hermione-was-seeing got brought up, and they started arguing. It hadn't gotten any better when Hermione pointed out how she'd be at the Slug Club Friday with Harry for it to be irrelevant for her to try to go on a date. Ron had stormed off.

"Well, that went well about He-Who-Isn't-Named," Harry joked.

"I AM NOT SEEING VOLDEMORT!" Hermione snapped.

"It… it was a joke… Hermione."

"Oh, right. Of course. Merlin he was right about me being uptight."

He gave a nod to appease her. The conversation died down about who Hermione was seeing to her relief. It wasn't like it was even a real relationship. They both knew they belonged to different timelines. And they bantered, and got along, the flirting was neat, and the making-out was swell. And at some point it would end because of who he was. Only he didn't know that quite yet and Hermione had to pull herself out of her delusions that Tom might have legitimate feelings for her. After all, Harry had told her that during Dumbledore's lessons with the pensieve, that Tom's mother had used a love potion on his father (which might have had something to do with his apathy for people) and that he had framed his uncle for the murder of his paternal family. Of course Tom Riddle was a horrible human being. That had on more than one occasion attempted to persuade her to his "cause".

"Are you okay Hermione?" Harry asked, reaching a hand to to hers.

"Fantastic," Hermione lied.

A younger Hufflepuff had spotted the two holding hands across the table, and quickly ran off.


Authors Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews and support on this story! Admittedly this chapter came out longer than I had anticipated. Really hope this is meeting if not surpassing any of your hopes of how this story is going, at least so far. Anyway, please leave a review!