Sonata Exposition continued

The next morning when Hermione jolted herself awake, she was in the state much like the previous morning; sweaty and unpleasantly sticky. Rolling out of bed, she absentmindedly gazed at the clock, and chuckled to herself softly when she saw it was 3:59. Shaking her head, she stumbled over to the dresser.

Trying to blink out the sleep that was closing her eyes, Hermione wobbled for a second while grabbing a random dress. Blearily looking around, she headed unsteadily for the door. Opening it somewhat sloppily, she opened the door to the bathroom and closed it behind her.

'Shower' she mentally toward herself, heading for one the stalls. The bath would be warm and relaxing, but that might aid her in falling back asleep. She needed something hot and unrelenting to fully wake her up.

Grabbing a towel from the shelf, Hermione dropped it and the dress outside of the stall. Shedding her pajamas off, closing the shower stall door, and turning the hot water on, she stepped back out of the water's reach due to reflexes, but quickly stepped back in. Sighing through the steam, Hermione's mind drifted.

"Hmmm" she hummed to herself, closing her eyes and covering her hair in shampoo. Washing herself quickly, Hermione softly sang a random tune. Smiling slightly, and feeling much more awake, she turned off the water.

Still hearing the sound of falling water, however, Hermione stood puzzled. Looking up at the slightly dripping shower head inquisitively, she saw a burst of steam rising from the stall next to hers. Stepping back instinctively, Hermione narrowed her eyes, and a single thought appeared in her head. 'Tom…'

Shaking her head aggressively, she recalled their discussion yesterday morning that entailed them taking turns. This, she thought to herself with annoyance, is not taking turns. Finding anger much easier to handle than embarrassment, Hermione huffed to herself while considering her situation.

She very much wanted to stay in the stall until she was sure Tom had left, but her pride chided her out of that. She was in here first, and she refused to be frightened out of leaving. Crossing her arms over her chest, Hermione played with the end of the strands of dripping hair dangling from her head while she gathered strength.

Nervously opening the door, she quickly grabbed her towel and closed the door tightly. Draping the towel around herself, she couldn't help but feel bubbles of anxiety rising in her stomach. It wasn't like she was afraid that Tom would take advantage of her, Hermione thought to herself. Her anxiety was simply with the fact that she was uncomfortable with being naked and wandless in close proximity to Tom Marvolo Riddle. Even if she had interacted with him in the last couple of days, she didn't trust him.

It might also have something to do with her lack of confidence in her self-image, but she wasn't unlikely to be admitting that to anyone, much less herself. Happy in denial, and reminding herself that she didn't care, Hermione remained fast with the conclusion that, with any male, this situation would be uncomfortable.

Considering that, and swallowing her anxiety with distaste, Hermione put aside her anger and embarrassment for a second to think.

She had been in here first, and Tom was not by any means stupid. He probably was well aware that she would finish her shower first. He either didn't care, or he was taking amusement in her nervous breakdown.

Instantly assuming the latter, Hermione's eyes narrowed as her anger bounded back two-fold. Well, she thought to herself slightly maliciously, we can't let Tom have all of the fun. Smirking, she leaned back against the stall while considering her options. 'How should I make him squirm?' she thought.

Coming across an idea that Hermione considered especially delicious, her smirk widened. Drawing herself up to her full height, she almost smiled at the lack of nervousness in her system. 'Plans and revenge does wonders' she concluded to herself, before turning towards the door.

Opening it easily, Hermione stepped out as someone with confidence, someone who felt that they had every right to be where they were. Picking up her dress and undergarments, Hermione walked with a slow stride to the other side of the room. Coming to a stop a few feet in front of the door, Hermione heard the showers turn off. 'Perfect' Hermione thought, before dropping her towel and bending to pick up her undergarments. Softly, Hermione began to sing to herself the same tune she had in the shower.

Through her anticipation Hermione heard a door open. Loosing nerve, Hermione was prepared to dash for her towel, before realizing that the sound of the door opening was closer to her than she thought should be right. Dropping her clothes and jumping back within closer reach to her towel, Hermione saw the door to the bathroom from the outside hall open and someone pass through.

His eyes were closed for the moment, but when he opened them he stared at her with wide eyes in shock for a moment before loudly whispering, "Holy Mother of Merlin..."

"Abraxas Malfoy" Hermione pronounced spitefully. Standing as regally as she could, her back straight and her chin up, she said carefully and dangerously through narrow eyes, "You are going to die, you realize."

"What…" Abraxas started to say, before he was cut off with the sound of a door swinging open. Tom walked out of the shower stall, a towel wrapped tightly around his waist. Upon seeing Hermione's state of dress, Tom abruptly stopped and blinked. As Abraxas turned towards Tom with his mouth hanging open, Tom gave him a perturbed look. "What…" Tom started to ask, before he was cut off by Hermione.

"Accio wand" Hermione commanded softly, still clearly seething, and appearing to be too anger to care about her appearance. One hand on her hip, Hermione didn't spare Tom a glance, but gazed at Abraxas with a passionate, unadulterated hatred burning in her eyes. Tom turned to stare at her with an unfathomable expression on his face.

As her wand zoomed into her hand, both males gave her an impressed look. 'Wandless magic' Tom thought to himself with astonishment. He had of course succeeded with that particular piece of witchery, but he could appreciate how difficult it was to accomplish successfully. Abraxas just stood there with shook and seemed unable to grasp the circumstances.

"What, are you just going to stand there? I challenged you to a duel" Hermione announced to Abraxas mockingly, taking a dueling stance with ease.

"What" Abraxas started to say, before he seemed to cut himself off, a puzzled expression marking his mouth and his head tilted slightly to the side.

"Yes?" Hermione asked impatiently, her blooming anger feeling as if something very hot was boiling on her surface. The tension was building inside of her, masking her shame beautifully, and through it Hermione did not even bother to ask herself why Abraxas was there, or how he got to be there. She didn't even bother to ask herself why she was using the Malfoy like a scrape-goat. All she knew was that he was there now, and was going to suffer for it.

"You're…" he tried to say, before his cheeks began to turn pink with embarrassment. He made no effort to move from where he was standing.

"Naked?" Hermione suggested with twisted pleasure, smiling grimly. Glaring at him she continued, "Hence the reason for your death."

"But" Abraxas struggled to say, "Why?" He winced and shrunk back as Hermione toke a few steps towards him menacingly.

"Why am I naked, or why am I dueling you? You need to be specific" Hermione chided Abraxas angrily.

Abraxas shrunk away even more, if it was possible, and stated mumbling, "The first one". Taking another step forward, Hermione smiled dangerously.

"I'm dripping wet. Do you really need to ask yourself that?" Hermione responded sarcastically, before raising her wand.

"We don't really need to duel…" Abraxas started to say putting his hands in the air in front of him and stepping back as Hermione toke another step forward.

"Oh I think we do" Hermione stated, another lethally crooked smile dominating her features. The hand holding her wand twitched.

"You are afraid of a naked woman Abraxas? Really, how pathetic" Tom egged Abraxas, wearing a smirk of his own, but still giving Hermione a bemused glance on the side.

At Tom's words, Abraxas seemed to puff up like a pigeon, his chest sticking out in front of him and his chin almost cartoonishly high. Fumbling for his wand from his back pocket, he clumsily mirrored Hermione's stance. "Alright" he said, before sneering unpleasantly, "Don't go crying to your Mudblood parents when you lose."

"Oh, I thought I made that clear" Hermione stated, smiling crazily. "This is to the death. If you think I am going to let you walk out of this bathroom alive, you are sadly mistaken".

At this Abraxas' eyes once again grew wide, and he swiftly looked towards Tom for reassurance. Tom ignored him, gazing at Hermione. Abraxas looked back at the half-sane female with little confidence.

After a moments pause, before anything had yet to start, Tom sighed dramatically. "Hermione" he stated, looking directly into her eyes, "Killing him might not be a good idea. We are at school, and I am pretty sure that is illegal" Hermione sent him a glare that made him twitch involuntarily.

"He will die" she told him sharply, her smile lost to narrow eyes and a deep frown.

"You want to go to Azkaban?" Tom asked her with a slight raise of his brow as he crossed his arms in front of him.

"None of that matters" Hermione seethed, crossing her arms as well and taking a step towards Tom.

"Why, because he saw you naked? Are you going to kill me too?" Tom asked, mirroring Hermione and taking a step towards the Gryffindor. She's slightly shivering, he noticed to himself, but she doesn't seem to have noticed. Tom set that information aside for later.

"Would I be able to?" Hermione asked Tom wistfully, turning her head slightly.

"Probably not" Tom answered with a smile. "Apologies, but I can not afford to die at the moment for the sake of your chastity" he continued to say, before stepping around Hermione and reaching down for her towel. Grabbing it, he turned towards the girl who still stood tall, despite the fact that she was by now very obviously shaking. Taking another step towards her, he draped the large towel around Hermione. Taking a step back he looked in her eyes and said, "Abraxas?"

Hermione stood slightly surprised as Tom draped the towel around her, but as soon as he mentioned Malfoy's name her body went stiff and she hissed loudly. Glaring at the blond from over Tom's shoulder, Hermione growled, "We will put him away for questioning until later."

"Are you planning on torturing him?" Tom asked, another eyebrow raised, but with a look of amusement clearly present on his face.

"Perhaps" Hermione said thoughtfully. Turning towards Tom, she said, "Thank you" while bowing slightly. Stepping around him she picked up her fallen clothes. Giving Abraxas one last glare, Hermione gathered herself up as high as she could before attempting to sweep from the room. She did a reasonably impressive job of it draped in a towel.

As soon as the door closed, Tom turned to glare at Abraxas. "I should have let her kill you" he stated through pursed lips.

"My lord, some of the members wished to have a word with you. They sent me to inform and bring you immediately" Abraxas said, his entire face turned towards the ground in an act of complete cowardice.

"So you entered my bathroom when it was obvious my bedroom was unoccupied?" Tom asked with a raised brow and an unpleasant frown.

"They said immediately" Abraxas repeated feebly, "And I heard singing…"

"Right, because I am the type to sing in the shower" Tom stated sarcastically, before giving Abraxas a critical eye. "In the mean time…" he continued, leaving the rest off suggestively.

"You are not seriously going to obey the wench?" Abraxas suggested, raising his head to look at Tom in disbelief while taking an involuntary step backwards.

"I obey no one" Tom stated imperiously through narrow eyes. Pausing slightly, he smiled maliciously he said, "You will pay for calling her a wench, though".

"But, lord, she is muggle-born!" Abraxas objected loudly.

Tom smiled, and refuted, "Even muggle-born she was able to challenge you to a duel naked. You do realize that you could have died had I not stepped in. I think you owe me your life."

The color drained from the Malfoy's face as he kneeled down in front of Tom. "Of course, my lord. Thank you my lord" he said, his voice shaking. Tom looked down at him in disgust.

"Besides, who I take interest in, muggle-born or not, is not any of your concern" Tom announced, holding his hands behind his back and standing up straighter.

"Of course my lord" Abraxas repeated, his throbbing voice hardly above a whisper with fear. Tom simply stared down at Malfoy's blond head with extreme distaste for a few moments, deciding what to do.

He had gotten into the shower a little after Hermione with the hope of obtaining amusement from her reaction, and with curiosity towards what she would do. He had certainly gotten that in full, he thought to himself, inwardly smirking. Mentally sighing, Tom decided to continue to test her and observe what she would do next.

"You are to go to the Head's common room to sit on the couch until I am finished getting dressed. After that, I assure you, I will make my way to these members" Tom proclaimed, staring down at his fellow Slytherin regally.

"Oh, thank you my lord!" Abraxas cried out gratefully, before jumping up and rushing out of the room. Tom stared after him disgruntled before heading towards his room to get dressed.

While he pulled on his garments and ran a comb through his hair, Tom replayed what had happened in the bathroom until everything was memorized, in case of any future need of it. Recalling the naked Hermione, Tom licked his lips and smirked widely. "Lovely" he proclaimed to himself softly, remembering soft skin and gentle curves. "Ah" he sighed, closing his eyes and imagining his arms wrapped around her lovely waist, the feeling of her skin against his.

Stopping himself sternly, Tom glared into the mirror. We can put that away until later, he promised himself. Now, we need to worry about those pesky members.

Brow furrowed in concentration, Tom sat on his bed fully clothed and groomed, considering. If they felt they had the power to call on him whenever they wanted and according to their convenience, they certainly needed reminded who was in charge and why that was. Pursing his lips, Tom deliberated for a moment how he was going to demonstrate his power. Selecting a favored scenario from his head, Tom thought about what he was going to do about Abraxas and Hermione.

They would both obviously want to go with him. Hermione probably expected it, but he objected to her involvement for obviously reasons. Abraxas might be necessary, but listening to his attempts at schmoozing the entire way there would probably be extremely annoying. He needed to find a way to keep them both here, together if possible, so they could keep an eye on each other.

Selecting another plan, Tom pushed himself off of his bed by pushing off from his knees with his hands. Raking his hand through his hair, Tom opened the door while mentally preparing himself. Walking into the common room he had to stop himself from staring.

Hermione was gorgeous. Dressed in a tight green dress that tied as a halter top around the neck and flowed out past the waist to below the knees, she was climbed half way on the couch busy promising threats to a pinned Malfoy, her wand posed at the blond much like a butcher knife might. Abraxas gazed at her wand more than a little nervously, and didn't seem to notice Tom's arrival.

Taking silent steps backwards towards the door, Tom stopped only when he heard Hermione mutter, "Tom, stop." Stopping, Tom turned to look at Hermione with a pointed glance. Hermione gave Abraxas one last evil gaze, before jumping off the couch and taking a few steps toward Tom. "Are we going to meet my teachers today?" she asked with her arms crossed.

"Later" Tom reassured her, mentally adding that as a tab in his list of things to do.

"Now?" Hermione asked suggestively through a singular raised brow.

"Well, you seemed to have wrapped yourself around Abraxas for the moment. I was going to pick up breakfast for all of us from the kitchens" Tom answered with a sincere look.

"Ah" Hermione stated, sounding unconvinced. Shaking her head to herself, she looked imploringly at Tom. "I suppose you want me to remain here with the prisoner?" she guessed with a flat face.

"If you would" Tom said, before smirking slightly from the way she said 'prisoner' and stating, "He might get away otherwise. And then where would we be?"

"Oh, it wouldn't take me too long to find him again" Hermione assured Tom, a malicious smile that Tom was starting to get very fond of gracing her lips.

"I am sure it wouldn't" Tom said with a small smile, staring at her with an amused patience much like that an adult might entertain a toddler with.

A bright smile suddenly capturing her face, Hermione beamed at Tom while saying, "We could test it out for fun."

While admitting to himself that watching that would be amusing, he knew he had to leave soon. Patting Hermione's head lightly, he told her with a mockingly stern voice, "Maybe another time. You said you wanted to interrogate him, right? Now is your chance. Now what do you want for breakfast?"

Hermione pouted for a moment before saying, "French Toast". Giving Tom a small smile, she turned around and slid down in the chair opposite the couch which housed the Malfoy. "Tom?" the said Malfoy pleaded.

"You will stay here with her" he told Abraxas with the same mock-stern voice he had used with Hermione. "I will be right back" he announced, before giving a short wave and heading towards the portrait.

"Bye" Hermione called before smiling widely at Abraxas, who was waving feebly at Tom as he left them.

"Now where were we?" she leaning forward and pointing her wand menacingly at the shaking Slytherin.

"Please don't hurt me" the blond whimpered, and Hermione sat back in disgust.

"I wasn't going to" she stated, pausing slightly before continuing, "You seriously need to develop a back bone" her face twisted unpleasantly.

"What?" Abraxas sat up in surprise, eyes widened.

"You need some self-confidence. I can't tell you where to find it, but find it" Hermione ordered, curling up in the chair with her feet tucked in underneath her and her back leaning comfortably against the chair. Abraxas just stared at her.

"What about all of those threats?" he asked, still very obviously confused.

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione mentally sighed in frustration. I have under-appreciated Tom's intelligence before this, she decided to herself. "What do you think Tom expected to see? Us chatting like pleasant friends over cups of tea?" Hermione suggested with an ironic tone, raising her brow at the blond.

"You were so angry" Abraxas admitted shyly.

"Oh, I wasn't angry at you. I was angry at Tom. And a little frustrated things ended the way they did. He ruined all of my plans!" Hermione stated robustly, before continuing, "But he is the one I have to live with. Besides tormenting you can be rather fun". Hermione grinned. Inwardly she was reminded of her behavior. While the circumstances weren't as planned, she had hoped that she would get some sort of reaction out of Tom, but there was nothing. She had hid her disappoint in him and the results of her attempted plot of revenge in anger. It was the easiest way to get rid of it.

"I… don't understand" Abraxas admitted reluctantly, "Why are you acting like that in front of him then?

Hermione chuckled darkly. "Make no doubt, I am a vindictive person, and if I was truly angry at you, it would be much worse" she said.

"I meant him. Why are you acting so childish in front of him?" Abraxas asked, slightly nervous just in case he let the pronoun lord slip, but also genuinely curious as to what Hermione had to say. Just what did she think her relationship with his lord was?

"Oh" Hermione stated, blinking. "I was just embarrassed. Slightly peeved, maybe, but mostly embarrassed".

Abraxas gave her a sidelong glance, as if to suggest she explain herself.

"We live together, like I already said, and although you boys don't seem to think anything of it, for girls being naked is a big deal. I was embarrassed, and that clouded my judgment. I didn't realize I was acting that childish though…" Hermione said, drifting into silence as she pondered deeply. "I guess" she continued after a moment of thought, "I thought that if I acted as childish as possible, I would be subtly reminding him that the incident was entirely innocent. A self-defense mechanism, if you will."

Abraxas just stared at her. "I doubt Tom Riddle's mind will ever contrive innocence" he said slowly, before adding nervously, just in case she caught onto anything, "He is a teenage boy."

Hermione blinked in surprise and backed as if slapped. Now that she thought about it, besides for glancing at his comeliness a few times, she never really considered Tom a teenager. He acted so mature, if was difficult to think of him as a child. That, and the fact that her subconscious still beared a grudge against him for his future deeds. She couldn't help it.

Still, Hermione realized Malfoy was right. Tom would never take anything innocently. Seeing her acting so childish probably amused him a great deal because he thought she was running away.

"Not anymore!" she proclaimed to herself loudly, clenching a fist in front of her with a determined expression and ignoring Abraxas completely.

"Pardon?" Abraxas asked, puzzled and confused again.

Hermione beamed at him in thanks for his unintentional bit of enlightenment. "Nothing" she assured him, smiling. Now, she thought to herself, I will be able to act normally around Tom. She mentally sighed in relief.

Relaxing for the first time that day since right before the end of her shower, Hermione glowed as the anxiety rolled off of her, the space being quickly replaced with plans. With those troubles shed for her mind, she was able to think strategically.

'Let's see how far along Tom really is to being the Dark Lord' she thought to herself decisively, before turning towards Abraxas purposely. "So…" she drawled out for a second before saying, "How long have you been friends with Tom?"

Abraxas could tell something was afoot simply by the way she looked at him. It was a look common among plotting Slytherins, and he was surprised he could recognize it for what it was. Nervously he knew he had to say something, but he didn't know what. Still thinking about Slytherins, Abraxas conceived an idea. "You are really clueless when it comes to the way of a Slytherin, aren't you?" he asked, a polite mask lighting his features, "Slytherins don't make friends".

Hermione narrowed his eyes. "Why, because you are all paranoid that they will stab you in the back?" she asked ironically, crossing her legs in front of her on the chair.

"Something like that" a voice said from in front of portrait. Turning to look, Hermione could see Tom struggling to carry several platters. Jumping up, she hurried to him and grabbed one.

"That one is yours" he told her, handing a platter to Abraxas and sitting down directly opposite of the chair which Hermione had been sitting in. Sitting back into the said chair, Hermione looked down at her plate. French toast covered in powdered sugar and syrup was sided with a bit of buttered toast.

"Thank you" Hermione said gratefully, smiling at Tom, before starting to dig in. The group ate in silence for a few moments, before Hermione turned towards Abraxas and said, "What, no thanks to your Head for fetching you breakfast? What a rude guest".

Abraxas seemed to mentally slap himself, before he turned to Tom with a slightly bowed head and mumbled, "Thank you". Tom just gave him a look of distaste before slightly nodding for Hermione's benefit.

A few more minutes of silence passed, before Hermione put down her fork. "So, Tom, how long were you standing outside of the door?" she asked, a mask of pure innocence radiated off of her.

Tom swallowed and looked up at Hermione. "Now who is the paranoid one?" he asked smirking, before picking up another forkful of eggs.

Hermione felt her mask fall and smirked as well. A good response, she applauded Tom in her head. Only releasing what you knew I heard. Looking towards Abraxas she said, "You see what hanging out with Slytherins all the time has done to me? In a matter of no time at all I will be a turncoat, trusting only my self, bullying those less powerful, and marrying for money." Appearing to think about it for a second, Hermione's face twisted. "I would end up being treated like some sort of whore…" she thought to herself aloud, grimacing.

Still looking at Abraxas, she asked the boy, "Do you know if sex is still pleasant for whores? Or does the job aspect of it take all of the pleasure away?"

"I wouldn't know" he asked, slightly indignant that she would suggest that he would know what it felt like to be a whore, but afraid of Tom who was sitting right next to him quietly eating.

Nodding slightly, Hermione appeared thoughtful. "Marrying someone for money would be close enough to being a whore. I wonder what sex would be like without love…" she asked herself wistfully.

Twitching slightly, Tom glared at Hermione. "You certainly sound informed. Had the experience?" he asked her with a frown.

Hermione grinned and said, "Oh no, I'm a virgin." Appearing to think about something, Hermione frowned and narrowed her eyes, chewing the inside of her cheek. Putting her plate down on the coffee table located to her direct left with force, she huffed, "Stupid bastard…" to herself and walked into her bedroom.

Tom smirked to himself, polishing off his plate, getting up, and setting it underneath Hermione's. Sitting back down, Tom leaned back with the look of absolute comfort. Abraxas did the same, only much more nervously. As soon as he sat back down, Hermione's bedroom burst open. Still muttering, Hermione sat back down with a hair brush in her hand.

Hermione started to brush her hair with fervor as Tom asked her, still smirking, "Unpleasant relationship?"

"Quite possibly" Hermione responded sharply, quickly getting frustrated with a particular knot. Tom beckoned her to the floor underneath him and held his hand open. Hermione stared at him for a moment, before handing him the brush and sitting down on her knees in front of him, facing away from him.

As Tom started to knead her hair with his hands he asked, "Would you like to talk about it?"

"I suppose" Hermione said reluctantly, closing her eyes. "Would you like me to start with a beginning?" she asked him somewhat rhetorically.

"That would be nice" Tom responded sardonically, pulling her knots apart gently with his fingers.

"I was so young" Hermione sighed dramatically, before continuing, "The first guy was Victor Krum. He was an international celebrity because he belonged to a professional Quiddich team. He was from Dumstrang" Hermione felt a slight tug on her hair, "and he was visiting Hogwarts to participate in the Triwizard Tournament."

Hermione shook her head, remembering how crazy all of the girls were about him. "He followed me around in the library, always at a distance. It toke him forever to ask me to the Yule Ball" Hermione felt another tug.

"And?" Tom asked her impatiently.

"Well, after the tournament he left. He wanted to take me with him, but I had more pressing matters" Hermione said, ignoring Tom's sigh of frustration before thinking aloud to herself by saying, "I guess I never really liked him. I was just flattered by all the attention. It was nice. You know, before Hogwarts everyone hated me."

Tom almost smiled. This was something he could work with. "Now that sounds like a beginning. Why don't you start there?" he suggesting, before catching Abraxas staring at the two of them with disbelief. Annoyance spreading across his face, he asked the Malfoy, "Why don't you take a seat where Hermione was sitting so you don't feel so left out?" Abraxas leapt to the seat. "Go on" he told Hermione, nudging her with his foot.

Looking at his foot warily, Hermione turned so she faced the front again. "At first everyone resented me for being smarter than they were. It was stupid…" Hermione broke off with a grimace.

Tom toke the brush and began combing it through her hair. "What happened?" he asked with polite interest.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "They began bullying me. At first it was just insults, but it quickly grew to be more physical. I tried to get the adults help, but the kids had convinced them that I was a wicked child. They blamed me for cheating off of them, when really it was the other way around. They accused me to hurting them… My parents didn't know what to think, so did nothing."

"The physical assaults grew worst" Hermione continued, wrapping her arms tightly around her knees. "I came home covered in bruises and cuts. Then unexplainable things began to happen. Their hair started to fall out. Their houses grew infested with insects. They started to get into accidents that put them out of school for days, or even weeks."

"The blame was immediately put on me. I was hated even more than usual, this time also by the kid's families. I had older brothers and sisters try to attack me while I was walking home. Angry fathers who argued with my parents, demanding that I was shown punishment. Enraged mothers throwing things at me from their cars while they passed by." Hermione stated, tears welling in her eyes. "The incidences grew worse. Horrible storms passed that flooded the people's basements. Frogs" Hermione barked loudly, "Were everywhere. I was reading about the ten plagues of Egypt, and that particular plague always bothered me. I used to hate frogs."

"My family moved, but the same thing continued to happen. Pretty soon this one boy was angry enough that he brought a weapon to school. He shot me several times. I should have died" Hermione stated quietly. Tom was stroking her hair quietly. Abraxas was just sitting there, still as if waiting for something and letting none of his thoughts show on his face.

"The bullets just came out, and my punctured organs healed themselves. The boy in question…" Hermione paused, "I set him on fire. I still remember him running in circles, burning. The stench … He died in the hospital three days later. After that, my parents gave up, deciding to home school me. The lawyers told me that they had barely been able to keep me out of juvy".

"You killed someone?" Tom asked carefully, but with a great amount of curiosity.

"Unintentionally" Hermione said acidly, glaring at the space in front of her. Her eyes, Abraxas could see, were stemmed with guilt.

"How old were you?" Tom asking, still stroking Hermione's hair in hopes of calming her down enough to talk.

"Nine, almost ten" she replied shortly, laying her head down so that her chin rested on top of her folded arms.

"Have you ever told this to anyone before?" Tom asked.

"No" Hermione said, flinching at the thought of telling Harry or Ron. They wouldn't understand, she thought to herself. Repeating it, but out loud this time, she shook her head and said, "They wouldn't understand."

"And I do?" Tom asked, his movements done almost absentmindedly as he concentrated on Hermione's words.

"Yes" Hermione said quietly, sighing softly.

"Why?" Tom prodded, glancing over at Abraxas. He was still sitting uncomfortably straight, but Tom could tell he was listening intentionally. Hermione toke a few moments to think about her answer.

'I obviously can't say something like, you were bullied in the orphanage, or, you have killed someone as well', Hermione thought to herself, mentally snorting as she heard how ridiculous that sounded, even in her head. She understood that Tom was very overprotective of his past, and if he had any inkling that she knew any of it, much less all of it, the results wouldn't be pleasant. Hermione went with something simple and off tract of the conversation. "It doesn't matter" she said, "I am leaving soon, and you won't ever hear from me again."

Tom's eyes narrowed, and he could see Abraxas lean forward with surprise out of the corner of his eye. She avoided answering my question, he thought to himself, suddenly curious. Interesting. "Why, does your father want to go back to France?" he asked her, subtly reminding her of her lie and the fact that they still had company.

Hermione caught on immediately. "He has been thinking about it, and I do want to remain close to him just in case something happens" she said smoothly, furrowing her eyebrow to emphasis her dilemma.

Abraxas rolled his eyes, before saying, "If I know she is muggle-born, don't you think that I realize that the little lie you made up about wizard parents is a false one?" As Tom glared at him, he instantly regretted saying anything and held his hands up in surrender.

"Abraxas, I think you might have overstayed your visit" Tom said softly, absentmindedly running his fingers through Hermione's hair. Abraxas jumped out of the chair as if a snake had bit him. Tom stopped Hermione as she tried to jump up by pushing his hands firmly down on her shoulders. "He can leave by himself" he told her, "Relax". Hermione frowned.

Instead of brooding, she looked up at Tom and asked, "Where is Rubert?" Tom rolled his eyes. Out of all the names she could have picked, she chose Rubert, Tom thought to himself with exasperation. Tom hissed slightly and a snake darted past Abraxas, who jumped up in surprise, and stopped in front of the smiling Gryffindor. Hermione held out the arm that was still raw and red from her slashing, and the snake slithered around it.

"Hello Rubert" Hermione said quietly and somehow confidentially, lightly petting the snake's head with a soft smile on her face.

"You can leave" Tom reminded Abraxas without looking at him, before leaning over Hermione to pet the snake as well.

Abraxas left with the glance of them like that- Hermione curled up at Tom's feet, a look of adoration on her face as she pet the snake. Tom's head next to hers, his arms on either side of the girl, one hand still gripping her shoulder, the other on top of Hermione's unused arm. What startled him the most, however, was the look on Tom's face- while it wasn't in rapt attention listening to the snake's muttering, it was smiling at the girl at his feet who was now laughing loudly. His lord was actually smiling, and due to a muggle-born, no less. Abraxas was shaken.

Walking down the hallway, Abraxas reviewed what he had seen. He was not stupid or weak- far from it- but he had learned that the idiotic were normally left alive to live the longest. Pretending to be less than intelligent was not hard- asking too many questions, and being comfortably unaware of awkward situations were good starts.

Nodding to himself as he walked, one thing was clear. His lord's relationship with the wench was more than unsettling. She seemed to do more than simply amuse him- he seemed to actually like her. A thousand things pointed to it, from his lord fetching food for her, covering her with a towel, and brushing her hair, to the small things, like obviously enjoying her company with sarcastic remarks, smirks, and small smiles.

Abraxas could understand if he just wanted to sleep with her- it wasn't as if she wasn't unattractive- but his lord seemed to be taking a lot of time and effort to make her like him first. Abraxas just couldn't grasp the attraction- she was muggle-born after all.

Filthy Mudblood. It was obvious she liked him too, and even trusted him to some degree. Why the hell else would she be naked in the bathroom at the same time his lord was taking a shower? Slut. She probably didn't even realize how great his lord was… She obviously cared about his lord's opinion, though, enough to question her own, and around him she was so… smiley! Damn it, Abraxas though to himself.

The worst part was that a part of him liked her too. She was attractive, intelligent, sarcastic… if she had not been a Mudblood, he could have safely said that she was perfect for his lord. As it was, Abraxas determined their relationship unhealthy. His lord was sure to suffer from it in one way or another.

Sighing as he entered the familiar cool of the dungeons, Abraxas felt another wave of frustration. They teased each other so openly, it was disgusting. His lord embarrassed the Mudblood. After she realized that she could use what he saw (with his help, he thought to himself disgustingly) she began bringing up sex and whores, shoving it in his face. His lord, obviously bothered by it, brought up past relationships and used her stress as an excuse to touch her. What started as an effort for his lord to calm her down calmed him down in turn. It was pathetic.

Abraxas snorted. He knew what would happen if he went to the members with this information- they would pounce on his lord like rabid dogs. He could not afford to let that happen- his future power and wealth was held solely in the Dark Lord's hands. Only one option remained- he would have to break them apart.

Abraxas sighed to himself, as he entered his common room. Sliding down a slick, black leather chair, he smiled slightly with closed eyes and began to scheme.

I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. It's a shame. Thank you, my ducks, for your reviews, and I hope this chapter satisfies you.