Author's Note: This is not the last chapter. There's an epilogue after this. Sorry if it seems a bit rushed, but this was originally supposed to be a oneshot before it ballooned to this monster. I also had a time limit too, so I couldn't expand as much as I wanted to.
Thanks to all who read, reviewed, subscribed and favoritied. It's appreciated.
Thanks to ozzymandius for beta'ing.
Insurgence of Obscurity
For doorstepofdoom
Chapter 4
"Tom!" Hermione flew into the room. She thought that she must have looked quite the sight, her hair sticking up all over the place and her face sweaty from running.
Tom sat on the bed, reading one of his books. She had found out that he had brought many of them, though she had frowned upon them since all of them were dark. She was against restricting knowledge, but she believed that there were better books to be read during free time. He, of course, disagreed.
Tom glanced over at her when she stormed into the room, barely looking at her before going back to his book. Hermione huffed at him, feeling terribly impatient, but he resumed his reading and did not look at her.
She felt angry at him. Of course, it was not his fault. However, Hermione felt as though she was being brushed aside without being given a second look again. The officials had done that with her. They had simply disqualified both her and Tom once they had found out. They hadn't even given her a chance to prove herself.
"Come with me," she growled, nearly yanking him off the bed. He glared at her as he managed to regain his balance, though his book wasn't so lucky. It flew across the room and hit the wall, snapping shut as it fell to the floor. "Never mind that. Bring your wand."
Tom raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Don't ask questions," Hermione snapped. Tom looked at her quizzically, and Hermione could almost see the sudden flash of anger that would appear if she told him about their disqualification. Suddenly, not able to look at him any longer, she spun around and headed to the door. "I'll be outside. Don't keep me waiting."
Hermione paced around outside. There had to be another way; they couldn't just disqualify Tom for something that someone else had said. She needed to clear her mind. She was too angry to think, and she needed to find somewhere to redirect anger. It wouldn't do to think with such a clouded, emotional mind. She would end up making a rash decision that she would come to regret later.
Tom stepped out into the hallway, looking at her warily. Hermione was pleased to see, however, that he held his wand in his hand. He looked around, as if he expected fireworks to erupt out of nowhere.
"Was there something you wanted?" Tom asked as he shut the door behind him.
As soon as the door was closed, Hermione whipped out her wand and screamed, "Expelliarmus!"
A jet of red light flew out of the tip of her wand and rushed toward Tom. There was a slight look of shock on his face, but he waved his wand easily and the spell collided with a shield. She felt rather disappointed that it hadn't hit him, though she hadn't really expected a simple disarming spell to take him down.
"Hermione, are you all right?" Tom commented dryly, looking at her as though she had sprouted horns. "Did something happen in the official's office?"
"Don't call me by my name!" she shrieked at him, determined to steer the conversation away from what had happened in the office. "Petrificus totalus!"
Tom lazily waved the spell away. "As you wish, Weasley," he said, though he now looked at her suspiciously. Hermione could almost see the gears turning in his head, and she sent him another spell to keep his mind from thinking. She knew he was smart, and she had no doubt that he would be able to figure it out if she gave him proper time to think.
Well, it was too bad for him that she wasn't going to do so.
"Avis!" she said, waving her wand as several birds appeared in front of her. She had always found this spell fascinating, though she had no idea why. She was practically sending birds to their doom, but she liked the spell too much to care. Besides, she reasoned with herself, they were conjured birds. Non-living.
Tom raised an eyebrow when he saw the animals. "Are you going to peck me to death?" he asked, looking very amused. It suddenly occurred to Hermione that he had not attacked her at all and seemed to take enjoyment at the slow pace of the duel.
"Oppugno!" she yelled, and the birds flew toward him. Hermione sighed in frustration as Tom waved his wand again, and the birds caught on fire and turned to ashes. She then growled at Tom—an actual, bearlike growl—and bared her teeth at him menacingly. Tom narrowed his eyes at her. "Attack me!" she demanded.
"Are you drunk?"
"I most certainly am not!" Hermione said. Perhaps drunk on anger, but I've never been drunk my whole life! "Attack me, Tom, or are you too scared to hurt a girl? Don't worry, Tom. Your spell won't hit me anyway."
She was taunting him, trying to rile him up to get him to duel her properly. She was aware that it wasn't the best idea, though it felt right. Tom's eyes darkened, but he seemed to contain his magic and told her, "It's called being a gentleman, Weasley. Not that you know anything about that."
"Prove it," Hermione said. "You have to prove it to me if you want me to believe it. You need evidence. Stupid, freaking evidence." She thought of the person who had delivered the vials of Polyjuice Potion to the officials, and felt a renewed sense of anger in her. If she ever found out who had done it, she would murder them and then bring them back so she could kill them again. But perhaps that was too mean. She didn't kill, after all. But she could seriously maim.
Tom looked at her. "Why would I need to prove it to you?" he asked slowly. He always seemed to jump to using magic, and now he was clearly holding back against her. Was it because she was a girl? Did he think that she would not be able to handle it? She had thought him to be different, but he was just as sexist as the rest of them!
"You need to prove it to me. I'm your partner." The words sounded sour on her tongue. In a few hours, she would no longer be his partner. They would be packing bags and going in separate directions, never seeing each other again. "Prove it, Tom. Please, attack me." She was aware that she was begging now. When he still gave no indication of casting a spell, she screamed at him. "ATTACK ME, YOU COWARD!"
If Tom was surprised by her outburst, he didn't show it. Instead, he mockingly bowed at her and said, "Whatever the lady wishes."
The next thing she knew, a flash of light was speeding her way. Finally! She needed to get her mind off of the office. She needed to forget her disqualification.
For the couple of minutes that they exchanged spells, her mind would be taken off of what would soon happen. She would focus entirely on the duel and on Tom, because Merlin knew how much she just wanted to forget.
"Protego!" She set up a shield for herself, though it was easily demolished. Hermione dove out of the way of another colorless spell, and it hit the wall with a loud "crack," burning a hole straight through it. However, Tom gave her no time to stop and admire it. He sent the next spell toward her, and she dragged her mind back to the duel.
He excelled at the art of dueling, she could see that. His movements were fluent and elegant, almost as if he were dancing. There was no visible strain as he shot spell after spell toward her. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he watched Hermione scrambling all over the floor. The duel was nothing more than a walk in the park for him.
Hermione had never stopped to admire his spell casting skills, and now she really wished that she had done so earlier. It was almost…beautiful to watch, though she would never tell him that. The way he cast spell after spell easily made Hermione think that this was what he was made for. She had thought him to be more of the studious kind, though she was clearly mistaken; Tom would be much more suited for the battlefield.
"Serpernsortia!" she cast when she had a chance. A large snake fell in front of Tom, hissing. However, rather than looking even remotely scared, he instead looked quite amused. To her surprise, he walked toward it, seeming to have no intention of just incinerating it as he had done to her birds.
Hermione watched in astonishment as Tom looked down at the snake and started hissing at it. Immediately, the snake curled up, seeming to deem Tom no longer a threat, and hissed back. The two of them exchanged a couple of words before Tom smirked, and with a wave of his wand, the snake disappeared.
"You…" Hermione trailed off, aware that her mouth was wide open. "You're a Parselmouth?"
"Of course I am," Tom said, as if it would be a crime if he wasn't. He sighed. "Just another area where I am more advanced than you. How many is that now? A hundred? Perhaps even two."
Hermione scowled at him and said, "Rictusempra!" The spell zoomed toward him, but she was especially disappointed when it didn't hit. She wanted to see what Tom would look like if he was being tickled. Surely, no one could still look attractive when they were rolling on the floor, laughing.
But then again, Tom had proved her wrong multiple times already.
Tom smirked, and then the spells he sent became increasingly darker. Hermione's eyes widened and she threw herself out of the way, but Tom didn't seem fazed by it at all. She even caught one or two Unforgivables coming out of his wand and she glared at him when she wasn't busy dodging, but he didn't seem bothered by them.
"Hold on," Hermione gasped during a brief moment when Tom stopped. She held her hands up in the "T" shape. "Time out. You can't use dark curses, and you most certainly cannot use Unforgivables. They're unforgivable for a reason."
"Why not?" Tom asked silkily. His eyes were darker, and his magic seemed to crack around him. Hermione shuddered slightly, and based on the smirk that he sent her, he had seen the action. "You cannot tell your enemy not to use certain curses on you. You have to be prepared for everything."
Hermione stood up shakily to her feet. "You are not my enemy, Tom."
Tom looked very amused. "Everyone is your enemy, Hermione." Her name rolled so nicely off his tongue that she forgot that she had told him not to call her by her name. "Some are just better at hiding it than others."
Hermione blinked and then pointed her wand at him. "Be prepared, then," she called. "This is war."
"Yes, yes," Tom commented dryly, not looking particularly concerned. "I have never seen such a one sided war. I must say, you are rather proficient in the art of diving. I have not seen you do anything else since I have started dueling."
Hermione puffed up her cheeks. "I was being considerate and not attacking you back!" she yelled. "You should take a few lessons from me."
Tom raised his eyebrow. "Now why would I need to be considerate? I was under the impression that the goal was to seriously hurt the opponent. I do not see how being considerate would help me in the slightest way."
Hermione frowned. "This is my first duel, okay? Take it easy on me. I'm still learning how to use this thing," she held up her wand, "I had never touched a wand before I got here, so I'm still learning the proper wand movements."
"You were a slave?" Tom sounded surprised.
"Yes, why do you sound so surprised?" Hermione rolled her eyes, slowly making her way over to him. "I am certainly not old enough to be married to some old creep. Girls under the age of twenty-one are forced into slavery. It is a rule that they have to stay in their master's manor."
"You are doing a marvelous job with that." Tom smirked.
He was so close to her now. She grinned at him. Before he could do anything but look at her suspiciously, she blasted him in the face with her wand. He flew backward, and Hermione giggled when she saw his front teeth enlarging. Rookwood had used that one on her back at the manor, and she had been mortified for months until Rookwood had decided that he'd had enough fun and shrunk them again.
"Granger…" Tom growled, looking down at his mouth. He could now see his own teeth. Hermione giggled. Based on the fact that he hadn't removed it, she could say that he didn't know how to do so. It wasn't a common every day spell, that was for sure. Very few books mentioned it, and the few that did were mostly prank books.
"Remove it," Tom ordered, casting spell after spell at his enlarged front teeth. They did him very little good. The only thing he succeeded in doing was making them blue. He tried to blast them off, and Hermione winced from just watching him do so. However, Tom barely flinched as he very nearly pulled out his two front teeth by force.
"Remove what?" Hermione asked, giggling slightly. This was the only time she would be able to best Tom, so she was going to enjoy it while it lasted. As soon as the teeth were shrunk back to their normal size, she would never be able to land another attack on him. "They look the same to me."
Tom scowled at her and sent a spell her way. She avoided it fairly easily since the teeth were hindering him more than she thought they would, as his actions were slower. "Langlock!" she cried, flicking her wand.
Tom dispatched it rather easily and raised his eyebrow at her. "Your obsession with my mouth is becoming rather unhealthy," he told her. Hermione's eyes trailed down to his mouth, which had been perfect, along with the rest of his features. However, with the two buckteeth sticking out of his mouth, she found that it was anything but attractive.
"Remove it, Granger." Tom scowled at her. His voice sounded rather muffled behind his teeth. "If you do not do so, I will force you to do so."
She looked at him. He was obviously trying to be menacing, but every time her eyes strayed from his dark, furious eyes to his teeth, she couldn't help but laugh. "Are you going to stab me with your teeth?" she suggested.
They exchanged a couple more spells, though Hermione was too busy laughing to take the duel seriously anymore. Without knowing it, Tom had lifted the anger off of her, and she was filled with nothing but good spirits. Of course, judging by the dark look Tom was giving her, he did not appreciate her gift to him as much as she did.
"I thought," Tom said icily, "that you were being considerate."
"I am," Hermione replied cheerfully. "I must say those teeth look quite good on you." She smiled, knowing fairly well that she was in trouble as soon as the teeth were back to normal. However, she was already in trouble, so she figured she couldn't make it much worse.
Tom lunged at her and she quickly dove out of the way. He sent the Imperius Curse at her, no doubt to get her to remove it while she was under his command. She quickly dove to avoid it and sent a string of fire, which he easily extinguished with a jet of water.
They battled on. Hermione, who had become more used to using her wand, gained more confidence as the duel progressed. She learned to anticipate spells better, learned which spells to dodge and which spells to produce a shield against, and managed to almost hit Tom a couple of times. Of course, his teeth were hindering him quite a bit, but she took a bit of pride knowing that her spells had almost scraped him.
"Ronald and Tom, how nice to see you."
Hermione froze in her tracks. It was Dumbledore, the official who had been missing at the meeting, though it was obvious from the look on his face that he knew exactly what had happened. Dumbledore turned his eyes toward Tom, who was glaring at him. He had never liked Dumbledore, but she could tell he was mortified that the man had found him with his two front teeth enlarged.
Dumbledore waved his hand gently, and the teeth shrunk back to their normal size. However, Tom didn't seem the least bit thankful and just resolved to glare at the wall. Dumbledore chuckled slightly, before turning back to Hermione.
Before he could say anything, though, Hermione spoke up. "I am very sorry, sir," she apologized. "I don't usually duel in the hallway. I don't know what came over me. I promise that I won't do it again." She glanced over at Tom. "Sorry. We. But this is not Tom's fault. I dragged him out here. Please don't punish him."
Tom looked surprised that she was defending him, though Dumbledore only smiled. "I'm afraid you have mistaken my intentions, Ronald. I have come here to applaud your wand work. It is truly phenomenal."
Hermione blinked. She had not been expecting a compliment, of all things. "Thank you, sir," she said. Hermione noticed that Dumbledore hadn't praised Tom, who was obviously better at dueling than she was. Her partner didn't look too pleased about it either.
"I have heard about your predicament in the office," Dumbledore said gently, and Hermione's heart fell. She had forgotten about it, but it all flooded back into her. However, she seemed to have expended all her anger and now all that was left was regret and guilt. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tom looking at her, but she ignored him.
"Yes, sir." Hermione cast her eyes downward. Was he here to tell her that it was time for her to leave? She couldn't read the man's face. He wore a smile but so did Umbridge and Karkaroff, and they meant nothing but bad news.
"However," Dumbledore said, "I believe that you have proved yourself enough to continue in this competition. There are not many people who can hold a duel with Tom for that long. I will go talk to the other officials to remove your disqualification."
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. Dumbledore was on her side! Dumbledore believed that she deserved a chance to stay. "I—I can't thank you enough, sir. Thank you so much."
"It is my pleasure," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. The two of them just stared at each other, smiling their ridiculous smiles. Tom, who looked irritated at being left out of the conversation, cleared his throat noisily.
"Oh right! And please tell them to revoke Tom's disqualification as well," Hermione said. Dumbledore looked like he wanted to say something, but instead merely nodded and headed down the hall toward the officials' office. She didn't know what kind of problem had occurred between the two of them, but it didn't take a genius to recognize that they hated each other beyond words.
There was a silence, where Hermione quietly brushed herself off, trying not to scream with joy. She wasn't going home! She was going to stay, and she was going to compete in the last task of the competition. She had thought it all to be over, but it looked like things were going to be okay.
Then, Tom said, his voice eerily quiet, "Since when was I disqualified?"
The officials held a feast on the day before the last task, trying to relieve them of the pressure, no doubt. Everybody resisted at first, but eventually, the sight of food won them over and they all relented.
It was the first time that Hermione Granger had ever tried firewhiskey. It was also the very first time she had ever got drunk. An hour after the feast had begun, she found herself drooling all over Tom's plate as she struggled to keep her head up. Her vision was fuzzy, and she giggled when Tom's head split into two.
"I think that's enough for you," Tom said dryly as he plucked the bottle out of her hand. Hermione made a sobbing noise and made to get it back, but Tom tossed it away out of her grasp.
"This is all your fault. You were the person who forced three shots of firewhiskey into my mouth," Hermione hiccupped. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to get me drunk."
Tom was silent, though his lips curled up.
Hermione's eyes wandered around the room until they found the person of her nightmares. "Why is he here?" she asked, glaring at him. The man in question, Richard Skeeter, seemed to be able to sense someone watching him as he turned around. Hermione groaned and hid behind Tom, who looked more amused than anything. "Hide me!" she hissed at him. "Can he still see me?" Of course he could. Tom was lean, barely able to conceal anything but a twig behind him. "Why aren't you fatter?"
Tom snorted. "That's enough for you. It's past your bedtime." Before Hermione could protest, Tom picked her up easily and started to carry her back to their room.
"Hurry, he's coming," Hermione urged, though her head lolled back uselessly and it only served to further slow him down. "Run, Tom, run." She suddenly felt happy, and giggles erupted from her mouth. "Run Forrest run!" She patted his head. "Your name is now Sir Gump. Okay?" When she received no response, she cupped her mouth with her hands. "OKAY?!"
"I am very tempted to curse you, Granger."
"You won't curse me," Hermione reassured him, patting his cheek fondly. "You love me too much to do such a thing. You love me so much, don't you? You love me very, very much."
His lips quirked up. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."
They finally reached the room, much to Tom's relief. He quickly unlocked the door and entered, dumping Hermione onto the bed. He sighed and turned on the light, watching as Hermione scrambled off the bed to retrieve her suitcase.
"I take my Polyjuice Potion in two minutes," she said, yawning. "Or else you'll have to see me. You don't want to see me. I am very scary. Rawr. I'm a dinosaur." She reached into her luggage, but her hand suddenly froze. She stopped mid-yawn, her eyes open wide.
She quickly dropped to her knees and pulled everything out of her suitcase. "Where did it go?" she said, feeling panic wash over her. The compartment where she kept her vials was empty. "Tom," she said, feeling slightly desperate. "Tom, have you seen them?"
He blinked innocently at her. "Who? Me? Of course not."
"Tom, give them back."
"I don't think so." He sat down leisurely on the bed, watching in amusement as she struggled very hard not to curse him. It would not end well. She was drunk, so her aim most likely would have been extremely off. She would end up hitting Skeeter downstairs first before her spell every touched Tom. However, cursing Skeeter didn't seem as such a terrible idea either.
"Tooom," she whined, slobbering over him. Tom looked at her in disgust as she rubbed her hand across his face. "Give them to me. My poor babies." She crooned, looking very sad. "My babies have been kidnapped."
"I should have got you drunk earlier." Tom chuckled. He glanced back toward her, his lips curling up. "Your two minutes are up, Hermione Granger."
Indeed, they were. She felt her features starting to adjust accordingly. It had been so long since she had been in her own body. She had made sure that she took her potion earlier every time so she wouldn't have to transform back into Hermione Granger. She felt her hair fall, scraping against her neck in a way that Ron's never did.
The transformation was quicker than she thought it would be. She glanced down at her hands and saw that they were smaller, but still very much callused from scrubbing the floors. She scowled at her hands, as if they offended her.
"Hello, Hermione Granger," Tom said, looking much too amused by the whole thing. "We meet again. Under much more pleasurable circumstances, I must say."
"You're a big meanie," Hermione said, ignoring Tom. "You stole my precious babies. You are a meanie poo. I don't like you." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned away from him.
She instantly found her back pressed against the mattress with Tom looming over her. She scowled at him and tried to push him off of her, but he didn't budge. "I take it back," she said. "You are very fat and heavy. As heavy as…an elephant. A big, fat elephant. The fattest elephant of all. You are heavier than the fattest of the fattest of the fattest of—"
"That's enough, Granger."
"Don't you want to hear about it?" Hermione asked him. "I'm sure you do. You want to hear about just how fat you are." She held up her arms and did a rough estimation. "You are this fat," she said, pulling her hands far enough to leave a huge gap in between. "Yes. You are very fat."
Tom scowled at her, and Hermione thought that he was going to curse her. However, he ended up kissing her, probably more to shut her up than anything. It was rough, and he thrust his tongue into her mouth. It took her by so much surprise that she almost bit down, though she supposed he wouldn't appreciate that too much.
It continued for a couple of minutes, and Tom did not show any signs of stopping. Hermione, who had never been kissed before, was very inexperienced in the technique. After a while, she felt the shortage of air when she couldn't seem to get enough into her lungs. She was reminded of the second task, when she had been stuck under water and she hadn't been able to breathe. Tom suddenly resembled the merpeople, their green hair swirling around them as they laughed at her as she struggled to get to the surface to breathe.
She flailed around, trying to get the weight off of her so she could breathe again. Her arm connected with something solid, and the thing let out a sharp curse. Instantly, the pressure on her disappeared and she found that she could breathe easily again. She greedily gulped down as much air as she could.
Tom was glaring at her, rubbing his cheek. Feeling rather foolish for lashing out at him—it wasn't his fault, after all—she said the first thing that popped into her head. "Did you know that elephants can weigh up to eight tons?" she asked. "They're very, very big."
"You and your elephants," Tom muttered darkly, moving away from on top of her to sit on the edge of the bed. "Go to sleep. You are rather disturbing when you are drunk. I believe I much prefer it when you are sober."
"Don't want to sleep."
"You don't have a choice, Granger." His eyes glinted as he turned off the light. "You will go to sleep or I will make you sleep."
"I wanna play with you."
Tom snickered softly. She could no longer see him in the dark, but she could feel his presence next to her. "I'm afraid you won't be getting any sleep if we play."
"I want my teddy bear then." Hermione pouted. "Mommy always gets me a teddy bear to fight against any monsters. There are creepy monsters, you know. They hide in the closets and come out to eat me when Mommy leaves. I've been eaten multiple times." She nodded. "Eaten, I have."
Tom rolled his eyes. "No one will touch you," he said, his voice sounding oddly possessive. However, Hermione merely smiled and reached over to where she could see his outline, curling up against his side.
"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" She yawned, absentmindedly noting that his fingers were running through her hair.
"I am not a babysitter," Tom said, though he didn't move from his spot. Hermione yawned again and felt her eyes drifting shut.
"Good night, Mister Elephant."
"I thought I was Sir Gump."
"Right." Hermione mumbled sleepily. "You can be both of them. Mister Elephant Gump Sir." She wanted to say something else, but the feeling of his fingers soothingly running through her hair and the temptation of sleep proved too much for her. Her eyes closed, and instantly, darkness enveloped her.
She woke up with her head pounding so loudly that she thought that the whole world could hear.
"Rise and shine, Granger." Tom was annoyingly chirpy, smirking as she struggled to sit up. She groaned and put her hand to her head, as if that could help with the pain.
"Don't you start with me, Tom. I'm not in the mood," she said darkly. "I didn't think you would stoop so low as to get me drunk." She glared at him before shifting through her trunk, finding all the vials of Polyjuice Potion that had mysteriously reappeared. "Lucky me. I didn't bring Hangover Potion."
"Tsk tsk, coming unprepared? How very unlike you." Tom drawled. "You better make yourself presentable, Hermione, because the last task is in three hours. Of course," he smirked, "I could make you drunk again if you would like. I'm sure that it'll…appall the obstacles enough for me to kill them."
Hermione groaned, his voice doing nothing to help the pain in her head. "Disregard everything I said yesterday." She groaned again. "My family has been known to have a very low alcohol tolerance." She glared at him as he smirked at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'll stuff three shots of firewhiskey down your throat. See how you like that."
"There's no need to get angry." Tom looked way too amused for his own good. "You were very entertaining."
"Right." Hermione decided to ignore her head pain momentarily and stood up, almost falling back down. She, however, managed to catch herself and regain her balance with the little amount of dignity she had left. "Did anyone come to talk to you about the third task?"
"Yes, McGonagall came not too long ago." Tom started pacing around the room, something Hermione found that he liked to do often. "It's a maze. There is a trophy at the very heart of it, and the first person—not partnership—to touch it is declared the victor." He glanced at her. "It would be advantageous if we split up."
Hermione stared at him. "You want us to split up?" she asked, her eyes wide open. She wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly.
"Yes. Or do I need be to be right next to you and lead you step by step?" Tom raised an eyebrow.
Hermione shook her head. "No, but you want us to split up. Don't you see how historical this moment is? You do realize that if one partner dies, the other one is immediately disqualified, right?" She suddenly let out a huge whoop, ignoring the pain in her head as it intensified. "Tom Riddle trusts me enough to let me go on my own." She grinned at him. "Do you remember the first task when you told me to hide behind a rock? Good old days."
"Do not make me regret my decision, Granger." There was no malice, however, in his voice. Rather, there was a smirk on his face as he regarded her with amusement.
She suddenly felt very emotional. She took a step closer to him. "To repay you for yesterday," she said. Tom raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything. "When I smacked you across the face."
She leaned closer to him and kissed him, and he seemed to be expecting it. He spun her around and pressed her against the wall. The kiss started off gently, but nothing was ever gentle with him. The kiss grew vigorous, faster and more passionate, but Hermione was more than willing to keep up.
She moaned softly, and moments later she felt his tongue slip into her mouth. Her own tongue skirted out to meet his, and they battled for dominance, much like the battle that she and Tom had been fighting since the first day. Both of them were unwilling to give up, so their tongues twirled together in an elegant dance, neither one backing down. It was a symbol of equality, Hermione realized, but it seemed like Tom was too busy focusing on other things to mind that.
She wound her arms around his neck to pull him closer, and in response, he bit down on her lip. Hermione wrinkled her nose when the taste of blood flooded her mouth, but Tom didn't give her time to dwell on it. He increased the intensity of the kiss, thrusting his tongue vigorously into her mouth. She sighed pleasurably, enjoying the feeling of their tongues rubbing against each other.
There was a sharp rap on the door.
"Mister Weasley and Mister Riddle." It was McGonagall. Hermione quickly covered her face, but then realized that he hadn't bothered to come inside the room. "You have twenty minutes to make yourself presentable. There are many preparations that have to be made before the third task, so we request that the contestants arrive early." Without waiting for them to respond, he turned around and left.
Tom sighed. "I suppose we'll have to get ready." He looked at her and smirked. "I never realized how short you were." He gestured toward her feet. She had elevated herself by standing on her toes so that she and Tom could be of the same height.
"Ron's taller," Hermione said absentmindedly, walking back to her luggage where the vials of Polyjuice were. She unscrewed one of the corks and wrinkled her nose; she hated the potion's disgusting smell.
"I would never touch Weasley." Tom scowled darkly, watching as Hermione's hair grew shorter once again and turned orange. Her legs grew longer, her hands bigger, and her mouth wider. After the transformation was complete, she stretched, noting that it did not feel particularly weird anymore. Perhaps she was growing used to Ron's body.
"Yeah, well who knew you would snog the girl from the bookstore? People change, Tom." She placed her wand inside her pocket, quickly checking herself in the mirror to make sure that everything was in order. Ron's face stared back at her, his red hair and blue eyes all present. She was ready.
"I don't change," Tom said smugly, as if that was somehow an accomplishment to be proud of.
"Perhaps you already have," Hermione said. She grinned mockingly at him. "After all, you love me now, don't you?" She giggled as a look of pure horror crossed his face. "You couldn't have loved me before in the bookstore, so therefore you've changed."
"You and your delusional ideas," Tom muttered darkly.
"Since there will undoubtedly be stories about us, we might as well have fun with it," she quoted him.
"One more word, Granger, and I may have to hurt you."
"Promises, promises."
The maze was huge.
Hermione vaguely remembered the horn sounding, and the sound of the crowd cheering as the door to the maze opened and the six contestants rushed inside. She absentmindedly noticed Tom pushing her to the left as he went toward the right. However, it was all a blur in Hermione's mind. After Tom had taken off in the separate direction, she had stumbled around aimlessly.
After five minutes of walking around trying to find the fastest way to get to the middle, she passed by Pollux. He was by himself without his brother. He stopped her from just walking past him like she wanted to do.
"Don't talk to me," she sniped. "You're a coward, you know that, right?" She had been afraid that he would attack her, but instead he just bowed his head. "You left me alone with your brother last time."
"I love my brother more than anything," Pollux told her truthfully. "However, it doesn't mean that I always agree with what he's doing. You are a stranger to me, Ronald Weasley. I will not put you ahead of my brother. That is foolish."
"I understand," Hermione said, even though she truly didn't. But then again, she had always been the type of person who liked to jump in and save everyone. She didn't care who it was. If there was someone in danger, she would help them. Much like she had helped Phineas get out of the lake during the second task. Which, as she recalled, he hadn't been grateful for at all.
"That being said," Pollux continued. "I cannot deny that my brother has changed greatly from what I knew him to be. I am awfully sorry he was not grateful that you rescued him even though it would have been to your advantage to leave him at the bottom of the lake." Hermione nodded. "He has changed, and not for the better, I must say. Ever since he has found out about the Triwizard tournament and set his mind to it, he has not been the same. He wants to win it very desperately." Pollux looked her in the eye. "That is why I am pleading that you do everything possible to win this tournament."
"Me?" Hermione blinked, a bit perplexed. "You want me to crush his dreams?"
"Yes," Pollux said softly. "Sometimes dreams can be too poisonous. I entered this tournament to keep my brother alive, and you can tell that I'm doing a terrible job at that. I do not have his stubborn pride, though, and I know when to ask for help. So that is exactly what I'm doing now."
"You didn't need to ask," Hermione said, feeling quite like Tom. "I was planning on winning anyway."
"Good." He shot her a small smile, the first one she had seen from him. "Then you should know that when you come across an intersection, take the blue road. Everything else just takes you to more obstacles and leads you back to where you started. The blue path saves you a lot of time."
"And how do you know this?" Hermione asked, looking at him suspiciously. Was he admitting to cheating? That some of the officials were telling him how to pass the task before it even started?
"Myrtle, of course."
"Myrtle?" Hermione repeated, the image of the ghost girl from the lake floating into her mind. "What does Myrtle have to do with this?"
"Each partnership gets a clue from Myrtle for one of the stages," Pollux explained. "Dumbledore came up with it, I'm sure. Those who are not tolerant enough toward women do not get to hear the clue. My brother didn't hesitate to toss a textbook through her head. I, however, sought her out afterwards and calmed her down enough to tell me."
"That's not particularly fair, is it?" Hermione frowned. "After all, the first task was definitely not as difficult as this one, and this one is the most important."
Pollux merely shrugged. "Life is never fair, Ronald Weasley." It unnerved Hermione how he always called her by her full name, but she didn't think now was the place or time to correct him. "I have told my brother to go down the green path, so you will not see him." He nodded politely. "I'm rooting for you."
"Why me?" Hermione asked. "If you want to prevent Phineas from winning, there are three other people you can talk to. Why did you come and ask me?"
Pollux smiled mysteriously. "It's about time a girl won," he said softly. Hermione gaped at him, but before she could say anything, he disappeared around the corner.
He knows. Pollux knows.
First Tom, then Phineas, then the officials, and then Pollux. Was there anyone in the tournament left who did not know about her true gender? She had felt like she was doing a great job at concealing it, though she realized that she had just been deluding herself the whole time.
Was he the one that sent in the vials of Polyjuice Potion? It could have been either him, or his brother. It might have been Tom, or even Charlie. But she supposed, now, it didn't matter. She had been allowed to continue in the competition and that was all that mattered. It would do her no good if she kept clinging to the past.
"Why are you still here?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow and turned to face her partner, who was standing a couple of feet from her. "I could ask you the same thing."
"I have been running." Tom sighed. "You have been standing here the whole time. This is what happens when I take my eyes off of you. You cannot do anything if I am not there to instruct you."
"Running?" Hermione snorted, ignoring his second statement. "As if you could run. Knowing you, you were pleasantly strolling through the maze, enjoying the lovely weather this afternoon."
Tom ignored her and grabbed her arm, dragging her after him. "Come along. They're not going to give you special treatment just because you are a girl."
"On the contrary, it is the complete opposite," Hermione muttered as she allowed herself to get dragged away. "So, what's your plan, Captain? Going to knock down any walls? Kill any monsters?"
"The only monster I have had the misfortune of running into so far is you."
"Ouch." Hermione made a face and then made a motion to stop him. "Wait. Here it is." She had not understood it very clearly when Pollux had explained it to her, but she could now clearly see two different paths. One was slightly tinted blue while the other was green.
Hermione stepped onto the blue one, gesturing to Tom to follow her. "Over here," she said.
Tom, however, looked at her and glanced back toward his wand. He had performed the four-point spell, and his wand clearly indicated toward the green path. "I believe the middle is through here," he said smoothly.
"No." Hermione shook her head. "Pollux told me that it's always the blue path. Never follow any of the other colors, because in there are tricks and gimmicks that you don't want to face."
"Pollux Black?" Tom narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "And what business do you have talking to him?"
"He was just thanking me for looking after his brother. No need to get jealous." Hermione rolled her eyes when Tom scowled at her. "He was just grateful that I rescued his brother from the lake. That's all."
"You'll realize, Granger, that we men are incapable of being grateful."
"Just because you are doesn't mean the rest of the population is," Hermione sighed as he glowered at her. "Fine. If you wish, you can go that way and I will go this way, and we'll see who gets there first."
"Very well." Tom's lips quirked up. "I'm afraid this is one challenge that you will not win." With an infuriating smirk, he disappeared around the green walls.
Hermione sighed and turned around, keeping her wand ahead of her as she walked. There had been no obstacles yet, so at least half of what Pollux had promised was true. There was an occasional small animal where a stunner sufficed, but she had not yet seen something really terrifying.
And then she ran into a boggart.
It took the shape of Rookwood, as she expected it to. He was carrying a whip and he was screaming insults at her, calling her every name in his arsenal. Every time he brought his whip down, Hermione jumped back several feet before reminding herself that it wasn't real.
You are better than him, Hermione reminded herself. You have entered the Triwizard tournament and you have made it so far. Rookwood should no longer be a fear for you.
"Riddikulus!" Hermione cried, and instantly the boggart changed in to Tom in a sundress. Had she not immediately covered her eyes and ran past the boggart, she would have stood in the same place and laughed at it until the tournament had ended.
Hermione though back to Rookwood, feeling further motivated. She had to get through this. She was so close. If she won this, she could help the others get out of the manor. Freedom was in her reach.
With a new determination burning in her, she trudged forwards.
There was a Dementor next. Hermione was surprised to see it in the maze. It was fairly dangerous, and if one could not perform the Patronus charm and received the dementor's kiss, it would be quite unfortunate indeed. However, Hermione was not afraid when the dementor turned its ugly head toward her. She had plenty of happy memories. And, to her surprise, she had many from the tournament as well. She had not expected herself to be happy, but she supposed she had a certain infuriating partner to thank for that.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A bright light, molding in to the shape of an otter, flew out of her wand and hit the dementor, pushing it away. She quickly sprinted down the maze, wand at the ready in case any other obstacles decided to appear out of nowhere. She could almost feel that she was near the end. She would be seeing the Triwizard Cup any moment now…
She turned a corner and skidded to a stop. In front of her was the biggest, most ferocious dragon she had ever seen. It was even scarier than the one she had seen during the first task. Peter Pettigrew, Abraxas Malfoy's partner, was trembling underneath the dragon. She wanted to turn around the corner and leave—after all, there had to be other paths to the cup—but her stupid hero instincts kicked in again and she jumped in to battle.
"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled out, momentarily gaining the dragon's attention. She turned toward Peter, who had now stood up shakily. "I'll get his attention, and you run to his other side. Then, you get his attention from that side, and I'll run past him while he's distracted."
Peter nodded quickly, symbolizing that he had understood her plan. Hermione raised her wand again and yelled, "Stupefy!"
She now had the dragon's full attention, though she wasn't sure whether or not that was good or bad. She motioned Peter along, and the man scuttled away quickly. She had not expected him to have been able to run so fast. He got to the other side of the dragon easily without attracting its attention. Hermione called out to him as she ducked the dragon's breath of fire. "Now distract it so I can go."
Peter looked between her, and then to the dragon. Before she could say anything else, he shook his head and scuttled away around the corner, leaving her to face the massive dragon by herself.
Coward! She wanted to scream. But at the same time, she mentally slapped herself. She had lost track of the amount of times she had let someone else go in front of her, only to have them take advantage and step all over her. She really had to stop doing it. She had almost failed the second task because of that, and now she was left to face a grown dragon by herself.
The dragon roared.
Think, Hermione, think! Hermione looked around for anything that could possibly help her. She noticed that the dragon was being held inside the maze because of the chains that were attached to its wrists. Not knowing what the result would be, Hermione decided to go for the chains rather than for the dragon itself, because she could not deal with the dragon by herself.
The dragon snorted out another breath of fire, and Hermione scrambled to avoid it, only to have her wand dropped several feet away from her. She dove for it, noticing the dragon's eyes zeroing in on the piece of wood, and rolled out of the way seconds before its tail came smashing down on the place where both she and the wand had just been.
Taking advantage of the dragon's momentary lapse, she pointed her wand at the chain and yelled, "Reducto!" She repeated the same spell for its other wrist, and then the chains broke. The dragon had been freed. And the beast itself seemed to know it.
The dragon roared, its attention no longer on Hermione. With what sounded like a triumphant yell, it started to flap its wings and started flying. Motivated by pure stupidity or something else, Hermione did not know, she reached over and grabbed the dragon's tail as tightly as she could. When the dragon rose up and started flying, Hermione latched herself onto its tail as she was thrown around, trying hard not to let go.
She hated flying. She truly did, and this was the second time of the competition that she had to do so. Not to mention, she had a much more pleasant time riding on a broom. At least then she did not constantly have to worry about getting flung off the broom. The dragon, it seemed, enjoyed flinging its tail back and forth while it flew, something that did not help her at all.
That was when she heard a voice.
"Let go!"
It sounded like Tom's voice, though he must have amplified it. She was pretty high up by now, still being tossed around like a bag of potatoes, so his normal voice would not have been able to reach her. She tried to look down to see if it was him, but only managed to smash her head against the dragon's scaly tail multiple times.
"Weasley, if you don't let go, I will curse you myself."
It definitely sounded like him now. It felt weird that he did not call her by her real name, but she supposed that with him amplifying his voice, it would not be a wise idea to be screaming out her name for all to hear.
It was a rather long way down, but she trusted him—something that surprised her immensely. He was still the insufferable bastard who could be cruel and indifferent at a moment's notice, and he was extremely annoying at times, but she still trusted him. Not to mention, she didn't think she could hold on for much longer. One more whip of the tail and she would go sailing into the sky and land on her face someplace unknown.
Hermione let go.
She had never been a very vocal person. Sure, she loved to voice her opinion and debate, but when it came to pain and fear, she never screamed. She didn't cry or scream when Rookwood whipped her to near death.
However, when she fell from the dragon, she screamed her heart out.
One moment, she registered that she was falling. The next, she hit something solid as she landed on the ground. A string of nasty curses filled her ear as Hermione struggled to sit up, feeling pain everywhere.
"Tom?" Hermione blinked down at the figure underneath her. He scowled at her, and she quickly got off of him. "Did you catch me?"
"No," he said shortly. "Your aim is rather unfortunate. You fell on top of me."
Hermione blinked, not believing what he said but feeling too grateful to complain. She glanced over to her left and gasped. The Triwizard Cup, the reward for all her efforts through the tournament, was sitting on a little stand next to her. "You found it," she breathed out.
"Of course." Tom dusted himself off as he stood up. "I believe I won our challenge, seeing how I was about to claim the prize when you dropped out of the sky screaming like a banshee. Very attractive," he commented dryly, and Hermione flushed.
"But you could have gotten it," Hermione pointed out. "If you had got it, the tournament would be over. You didn't need to worry about me. I could be flung who knows where, but since the tournament ended, what your partner does has no effect on you." Hermione looked at him. "Why did you tell me to let go? Merlin knows I hadn't planned to until you told me to."
"Does it matter?" Tom asked softly.
"It does."
"You need a reason for everything, don't you?"
"Well, everything happens for a reason. So, yes." She looked at him expectantly.
Tom sighed. "I suppose I would be rather disconcerted if you happened to die." Hermione's eyes lit up. "Cherish that, because I will never say it again."
"Don't worry about it," Hermione chirped, suddenly very cheerful. "Once is enough for blackmail."
Tom scowled darkly.
Hermione grinned at him, but dropped the topic. Instead, she wandered over to the opposite end of the cup and looked at him. "Let's take it together," she said. "Therefore as partners and as equals."
"Very well," Tom quipped. "We are equal, except I am better."
"All animals are created equal." Hermione said softly. "But some animals are more equal than others."
Tom shot her a quizzical look.
Hermione waved him off. "On the count of three," she said, and Tom nodded to acknowledge that he understood her instructions. "One…two…"
She thought of how much had happened. It seemed like only yesterday she was trapped in the Rookwood manor, hating all men for their superior attitude toward women. But she had ventured outside and found companionship in places she had least expected. The Weasleys had helped her get in to the tournament. Charlie Weasley had offered her information to get her through the second round. Pollux Black had helped her finish. And Tom, her partner, had been with her from the very beginning. And now she would finish the tournament and be declared victor alongside of him.
She decided her life wasn't that bad after all.
"Three."
As you have probably heard, I recently won the Triwizard tournament along with my partner, Tom Riddle. However, I would like to begin by saying that neither him nor Ron Weasley, the person whom I was impersonating, have anything to do with my actions and should not be held responsible for what I have done and what I will do. The statements that I am about to make are from my mouth and my mouth only.
Before we start, I would like to say that it has been brought to my attention that the general population might feel as if I'm mocking everyone. To make things clear, I would like to say that that has not, and will never be my intention. I entered the tournament for the sole purpose of promoting women's rights. This article is not designed to laugh at anyone, but rather to give society a different point of view, through the eyes of someone you deem 'inferior.' I would like to think that by winning and publishing this article, hereby accomplishing my goal, I have played my part in the movement. Though, I suppose, that final judgment is not for me to give.
I was sent away at the age of eleven to become a slave, and even that was lucky for me. Many girls are taken away at birth. They will never know their families, never understand how to love and be loved, and never know anything outside of slavery. Think about it. You make women into slaves, deeming them as inferior, but in all honesty, life cannot function without women. They perform the vital roles of giving birth and taking care of children. Without them, the world would only live to see one generation.
In addition, women can do just the same things that men can, as I have proved by winning the tournament. Sure, Tom was my partner and he undoubtedly carried all the weight, right? Wrong. If you look at any of the videos of the tournament, you'll see that I fared well by myself (though it pains Tom to admit it, it is true.) I did not need him to constantly support me and give me orders. Just because I am female doesn't mean that I do not have a brain. I am going to assume that you have a brain as well, though you correct me if I am jumping to conclusions. What makes mine different from yours?
I ask myself the question every day. Why are women looked down upon? They are certainly not inferior, no matter what everyone thinks. I entered this tournament not for the glory, but to prove that a woman could easily keep up with a group of men. It is not a matter of gender, I think, but rather of talent, determination and goodwill. And that, I believe, is something the world needs to learn.
I am writing this now outside the courtroom, waiting to get called inside for my fate to be decided. I feel the need to clarify this one point: no one revealed the fact that I was a female to the public. I chose to do so because I am not ashamed of being a woman. No female should be ashamed of her gender. And no one, no matter how rich or strong or powerful they are, should make someone else feel inferior.
I might receive a death sentence on multiple charges—mockery, violating the tournament rules, the list goes on and on—but I have completed my mission. You might be able to get rid of me quickly, but you'll never be able to erase the fact that a woman was part of a Triwizard Tournament victory. And what happens to the next woman who takes my place? And the next? We might just be an "army of ants," as you all like to call us, but we certainly aren't brainless. We will keep fighting for our freedom. There will be a point in time where you will need us and regret not noticing us earlier. The idea might sound absurd now, but mark my words, it will happen one day.
I will leave my fate in your capable hands. No matter what you decide, it won't matter. I feel very fortunate to have got a chance to participate in the tournament and show the world that I, nor any other female, am certainly not weak.
That is all.
PS. For the thousands of gossip magazines that I'm sure are waiting right outside the door, I will answer the question that I'm sure you're all dying to ask. Yes, Tom Riddle and I are involved. No, he does not mind that I'm a girl. Honestly, I don't think it would've mattered to him if I was the Whomping Willow.
Sincerely,
Hermione Jean Granger. Victor of the 126th Triwizard Tournament.
