Chapter Three

Hermione awoke to the sound of muffled whispers. She always was a light sleeper. Groggily, she heaved herself into a sitting position, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She noticed then, a small group of girls about her age all huddled together on the other side of the room eyeing her cautiously.

"Uhm. Excuse me miss, but, well, who are you?" A lean black haired girl asked.

It then dawned on Hermione that she'd slept the eve away and was now randomly inside the Ravenclaw girls dorms, as a complete stranger. 'Smooth Hermione' She thought wearily to herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I meant to introduce myself last night but I was so tired…I'm Hermione…De Coeur. I just transferred here from France." She said waking up a bit more.

They eyed her curiously. The black haired girl moved forward first, extending a hand which Hermione shook absently. Groggy and cranky, she was in no mood for making friends. 'Now now Hermione, you'll be living with them. Just be polite.' She told herself sternly.

"Hello Hermione, it's nice to meet you," She spoke in a distinguished, polite voice. "I'm Angela Delaney."

Hermione smiled warmly at her, at least she'd have someone to talk too when she wasn't sabotaging the future Dark Lord. She looked upon the other girls,

A petite blonde stepped forward. They all seemed so graceful and polite, not like the forward Gryffindors she was used to.

"Hey there, my name's Michaela Hunt…and these are," She moved aside and began introducing the remaining two girls.

"Kim Creedon," She pointed to the girl on the right; a plump brown haired girl with pale features and then to a slender red head with a pointed face.

"And Jessie McCormack." She finished softly.

Hermione nodded to them and smiled thinly. She didn't want to seem rude but it was hard to ignore the consistent stab of grief from being reminded of her old friends.

She wondered what the guys or Ginny would do had they been in her position. Ron probably would have already hexed Tom into Kingdom Come and been expelled if not sent to Azkaban probably with Harry close behind. Ginny, knowing her bubbly red haired friend would be too busy ogling the 1940's boys to care, until Tom said something to annoy her. She grinned to herself., picturing Ginny hexing the hell out of Tom Riddle. Suddenly she wished she hadn't thought of them at all. Her chest gave another pang of grief and she forced herself to think only of the here and now.

Although she felt stronger, knowing she was doing this not only for herself but for her friends as well, doubt still crept in. How exactly was she supposed to stop Tom from becoming what he was destined to become? She could hardly just walk up and say "Oh hey Tom, just by the way lay off the Dark Arts for a bit okay?" Oh god, why hadn't Dumbledore given better instructions then this? She grew frustrated. This would get her nowhere. Maybe she could find out something from her new roommates.

She drifted back into the conversation between the four Ravenclaws.

"So, have you already been shown around the school then?" Michaela enquired brightly.

Hermione nodded, "Yeah the err…Head boy showed me around last night." She stood up and stretched, unaware of the looks the other four had shared.

She turned again to face them, noticing the looks on their faces. "What is it?" She asked, confused.

"Oh it's nothing; just well…he's a bit strange isn't he? Riddle I mean." Angela replied, a slight disdainful curl in her lip.

Hermione wasn't surprised. After all, he was strange. Although, they hadn't said it in the apprehensive or fearful way she'd anticipated. No, they sounded snootier about it, if she were to be perfectly honest.

Hermione decided to find out more, playing innocent. "He seemed rather nice to me." She almost grimaced at the thought of the Dark Lord being nice but stopped herself.

"Humph. He's anything but nice let me tell you." Jessie huffed.

Ah, now here was what Hermione was waiting for. Tom Riddle, the bully, the snide git, the terror, the person she expected him to be.

"Oh really? Why's that?" Hermione feigned puzzlement.

"Ah, don't mind her. She's still in a strop because he turned her down last semester!" Michaela answered while a grin, promptly followed by a pillow to the face, courtesy of Jessie.

Hermione chuckled lightly. 'Not exactly you're cruel act of malice now is it?' She sighed inwardly. Her stomach growled, letting her know it was time for food.

Hermione smiled faintly at the two girls, who were now flinging pillows aimlessly at each other. Everything just reminded her so much of all she had lost. She knew she was moping but she couldn't help it. For all the good it would do to be here there was always the possibility she would fail. And how many people were unknowingly counting on her now? She refused to think of the numbers…

"I'm starving." Hermione stated blandly once again redirecting her thoughts. She never had agreed with blocking out emotions but somehow, it just seemed easier this way.

The girls nodded their agreement.

"Well, we've missed breakfast by now. Come on, we'll take a walk to the lake until lunch." Michaela said, bouncing up from where she was sitting. The other girls followed. Hermione told them she'd meet them in a bit, she had to get changed first. 'Oh and you know, the usual, figure out the best way from stopping the Dark Lord's reign of terror- that sort of thing.' Though (obviously) she didn't mention the latter to them.

Slipping into an outfit from her new 1940's appropriate wardrobe, she shuffled and twitched uncomfortably. "Stupid 1940's women with their unpractical dress sense." She muttered absently to herself.

Grabbing a satchel with a notebook, in case any ideas dawned on her, (She never was one for not taking notes.) she left Ravenclaw tower.

Drifting along the corridor she let her thoughts wander, frequently straying back to the heavy bereavement that hung around her. Angrily pushing those thoughts from her head she paid no attention to where she was going until WHAM! She had knocked right into somebody.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention and I…MALFOY?"

ooOOOoo

A/N: Hello dear readers! Thanks so much to all that reviews! Also, anyone who has any questions, concrit or comments, they are all quite welcome! Hope you enjoyed today's chappie!

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