A/N: My longest chapter yet ladies and gents! Over 7,000 words! Haha I really like this chapter, and I'm hoping you will all like it to. This is my second update tonight, but now I've got to get back to writing. I had written three chapters when I originally published this story, so now that I'm all caught up, I better get cracka lackin! :D
Umm...I haven't got much else to say. There's something that I feel like I need to say, but I can't remember what...haha...don't you hate when that happens? Anyway...BOOM! Lets go! :D
Chapter Four: A Difference
As seven o'clock approached, Hermione felt her anticipation rising, and she could tell Harry felt the same. She hadn't dueled for weeks, and that fact made her feel a little rusty, but as she, Harry, and Ron practiced in the Room of Requirement, she felt her nerves seep away to be replaced by excitement.
Hermione walked down to the Great Hall with Harry and Ron, and wasn't all that surprsied when she saw all the tables and benches had disappeared to be replaced by a long platform that took up most of the hall. Harry and Ron waved to her as she went to go stand by the Ravenclaws.
"So how do they pick who goes first?" she whispered to Lionel, noting how quiet the hall was. Everyone seemed jumpy.
"Usually Slughorn or Dumbledore will pick a pair, but sometimes students can just go up if they want. Usually, no one's too willing to go first. I've gone up first a couple times though, and it's not so bad."
"Are you any good?" Hermione asked him, and Lionel could see a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Good enough to handle you, I suppose. I've dueled a lot of people in here. I've only lost twice."
"Cocky, aren't we?" Hermione mocked, using his own words against him. He chuckled, looking back up at the platform, where Dumbledore was now standing in the center of, wand raised to his temple.
"Touche, Macmillan."
"Welcome to the first dueling club of the year!" Boomed Dumbledore, his voice bouncing off the walls. "Do I have a volunteer to go first?"
Lionel looked around, and after seeing no one raising their hand, he stepped forward, smirking at Dumbledore. "I'll have a go, professor." Dumbledore smiled proudly at him, and Hermione saw that Lionel was one of Dumbledore's favorites.
"Very well, Mr. Kirkland. Pick your opponent."
Lionel smirked and looked around the room, his eyes focusing on each individual. He glanced at Hermione, and his smirk widened into a grin as he winked at her, but then turned to a boy a few meters away from her.
"You." He said, extending a long finger. Hermione realized he was pointed at the redhead boy who had shouted 'go falcons!' at Slughorn's last club meeting. The boy-Jack Weasley-laughed heartily as he climbed onto the platform, and Hermione realized that though he may be related to Ron, he was nothing like him. He walked with a sort of swagger, and his muscles were intimitdatingly big. He was very broad and not expressly tall. Hermione realized he must be a beater. Her thoughts were confirmed as Lionel said next, "This is for Gryffindors hardly fair win last year against Ravenclaw for the cup." Several of the Gryffindors cat-called or jeered, and Hermione realized what this was about; Quidditch.
The two boys bowed to each other, neither one taking their eyes off the other, both their faces serious, but Hermione saw the amusement in their eyes and realized that they must be friends.
It was Jack that fired first. A bolt of red light shot out of his wand towards Lionel, who easily side-stepped it, quirking a blonde brow. "That the best you got, Weasley?"
Jack growled, his eyebrows furrowing, and he continued to fire spell after spell, all of which Lionel dodged or blocked. Finally, sighing heavily, Lionel flicked is wand towards Jack, and yellow spell hurtled towards Jack, and he barely raised a shield in time.
To her right, Hermione saw the Gryffindors cheering raucously, Ron among the pack, between a very tall, tan muscley boy and a very pretty blonde witch. She saw Harry's grandfather on the blonde witches left, and realized that he, much like Jack, didn't look much like Harry. He, too, was much broader, and had very light blue eyes.
Hermione's eyes snapped back to the platform as she heard a loud thud. Jack had landed on his back, and his wand was in Lionel's hand. Applause broke out from all the houses, even the Gryffindors, though they looked reluctant, and Lionel strode over and held out a hand for Jack. Jack pretended to glare at him, but when he stood, he shook his hand.
"That's payback, bro," Lionel said.
"Yeah, well, payback's a bitch." Lionel chuckled and climbed off the platform. Dumbledore returned to his spot and magnified his voice again.
"Spectacular duel Mr. Weasley, Mr. Kirkland! Now, whose next?"
"Me," said a voice, and Hermione was surprised when she saw Harry step up onto the platform. Dumbledore nodded, clapping a hand on his shoulder, and then strode down the steps, moving to stand with the rest of the teachers. Hermione had a bad feeling in her gut-
Harry strode across the platform, stopping just in front of where she stood. She looked up at his smirking face, and he raised his eyebrows. "Hermione. If you can handle it."
Hermione grinned and moved toward the platform as Lionel whispered, "Good luck." She nodded, smiling at him softly and then climbing onto the platform, her eyes on Harry, who was standing at his end of the platform, twirling his wand. She walked closer to him and they bowed.
"Don't worry, Harry," she said in a carrying voice. "I'll go easy on you."
"Oooh!" She heard from the Slytherins, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors, and Harry's eyebrows shot up as she turned away, walking back to her side and facing him again. Abraxas's face was wrought with glee, and Hermione had a feeling he and Niles had places bets on who would win.
"C'mon, Hermione!" She heard Cassie call.
"Let's go, Harry!" she heard Abraxas shout.
She took her stance and he did to, ready for her to make the move. Hermione kept her eyes locked with his.
The movement was so sudden that she saw Harry nearly stumble. She flicked her wand, almost unnoticeably, and a bright white light was racing toward him. However, he deflected it quickly, and quite suddenly, they were dueling. They were sending curse after curse, hex after hex, exchanging spells so fast that it seemed blurry. The rest of the hall seemed not able to take their eyes off the sight; they have never seen thiskind of duel before.
Hermione sent out a stream of nonverbal spells; Diffindo; Expelliarmus; Stupefy; Vinisco!
That threw Harry off. He stumbled back, dodging curse after curse, diving out of the way of the last one. They were both breathing heavily as the exertion from the duel was starting to wear them down. Hermione took a deep breath; time to step it up a notch.
As if he had the same thought, Harry flicked his wand. Incendio!
Hermione watched as the flame whirled toward her, and smirking, she raised her hands, the flame followed the movement. She breathed deeply in, controlling all her energy, and then muttered, "Engorcendio!" It seemed as if her magic was actually feeding the fire, and it built up taller and taller until there was an actual wall of fire behind her. Hermione pushed her hands forward, using all of her strength, and the wall charged toward Harry.
Harry's eyes widened for a split second, before he remembered to keep his cool. Balance, he thought. He bent down, curling himself into a standing ball, focusing all his energy on balancing out the fire. He completely encased himself in a protective shield of water. The fire stuttered and flickered out as it passed his shield. Harry pushed the water outwards until it was surrounding him completely, like Hermione's wall of fire, and urged it towards her. With a wave of her hands, it dissolved into nothing, dropping onto the ground with a splash.
Harry glared at Hermione, and she smirked back, but her eyes were narrowed with frustration. Harry watched Hermione closely, and for a flicker of a second she glanced down at his wand. Nonverbally, he muttered the spell, and suddenly, giant vines were protuding from his hands, his skin. They shot out towards her, creeping sneakily, and even as she fired spells at them, it did nothing. As they wrapped around her, Hermione recognized the putrid scent of Venomous Tentacula.
Hermione breathed in deeply. She had never used this spell before, but she was pretty sure she could do it if she focused. Breathing evenly, she focused all her energy and thoughts onto warming her skin. She was trembling slightly from the focus, and suddenly, great flames burst from her body, and her skin was on fire, but she didn't feel any pain.
Harry, however, withdrew the vines with a yelp, and Hermione realized that anything they felt, he felt. They sucked back into his skin, and with an upper hand as Harry was still wincing, Hermione sent six spells in a row. He dodged the first four, but the fifth caught him off guard and he fell to the ground with a grunt. Hermione summoned his wand to her hand, and quite suddenly it was over.
The great hall was quieter than she had ever heard it, and as she looked around, she realized people faces were awed. Finally, they broke into applause, everyone, even the Slytherins, whose housemate had just been defeated, and the Ravenclaws, who were absolutely wild with shock and pride. Hermione helped Harry up, and he grinned weakly at her before she turned to walk back to the group of Ravenclaws, who were looking at her in shock.
Dumbledore strode onto the platform, and even his wrinkled face was openly shocked. "Well, that was certainly an...interesting duel. I think that will be all for this evening, so...until next Friday."
The students started to drift back to there common rooms, and as they moved to the Ravnclaw tower, Cindy turned to her, hazel eyes nearly popping out of her head. "Hermione...where did you learn to duel like that?"
"I..." Hermione glanced at all of them, who were looking at her. "Well, our parents were aurors, and they taught us a lot, and when we turned fifteen and they decided we were good enough, they started taking us on missions with them. We've...fought wars."
Cassie cover her mouth a little squeak came from it. "Blimey, Hermione! Wars! You've been helping fight the war and you're only...what, seventeen?"
Hermione nodded, blushing. Lionel was staring at her with his piercing grey eyes, an eyebrow arched as he looked at her. She blushed deeper and looked away from him, walking ahead.
Later that evening, Hermione crept down to the common room after many failed attempts at going to sleep. She realized only just too late that Lionel was sitting on the couch, staring into the fire. He turned and saw her, and with a simple jerk of his head, summoned her over.
She sat down tentatively next to him, looking at her hands in her lap. "Hermione, were you really in a war?"
Hermione hesitated. It was indeed difficult, she understood, for him to believe that she had been in a war. "Okay, well, this is going to sound difficult to believe," she said slowly, picking over her words carefully. "But it was kind of a different war, with a different dictator, not Grindelwald, a different man, with different battles in different places. Don't ask me why it isn't publisized, don't ask me questions, because I can't tell you, and my reasons are legitimate."
Surprisingly, he nodded understandingly. "Harry's not your brother, is he?"
Hermione jumped, looking at him with wide eyes. How had he known? She knew that she and Harry didn't look much alike, but lots of siblings didn't, so she wondered why he would have been suspicious.
"Erm...no." What? That hadn't been what was supposed to come out of her mouth? How come she couldn't lie to him? His grey eyes were sparkling with slight amusement as she struggled for words.
"That's alright. But...if you don't mind...why did you tell everyone you were?"
Hermione shrugged. "It was all part of the plan." Stop talking! "How did you know?"
Lionel glanced at her, a smallest of smiles on his lips. Smiling at her like that, the firelight washing over him, making his hair glisten and his eyes appear brighter, Hermione realized he was handsome. "I'm sure he's like your brother, the way you two act around each other, but you can tell by the way that he doesn't jump down every guys throat that talks to you, how he didn't go easy on you in that duel, how he isn't totallyoverprotective. I can tell you're just very good friends."
Hermione sighed, leaning back against the couch, staring into the flickering flames. "Harry's always been the brother I never had and always wanted. It was just most logical to tell everyone he was my brother because it was so easy to act like it. There was no pretending involved." She looked at him pleadingly, her eyes desperate. "Please don't tell anyone, I'd rather just have everyone think we are, and I can't-"
He put a finger to her lips, silencing. "Don't worry, Hermione. I won't say a word. You can trust me."
His words actually reassured Hermione. She didn't know why she had talked so much, said so much, but she didn't feel as worried as she felt she should have. She realized if there was anyone who she could trust, it was probably Lionel.
Over the weeks, Hermione was glad to find that the excitement over the duel had died down relatively quickly, although she had had to endure interrogation from most of the Slytherins she had met, all her housemates, Ron's Gryffindor friends, not to mention Slughorn, who had been verypleased with her performance, of course.
It had been two months since first arriving at 1944 Hogwarts, and Hermione was disturbed to hear from Harry that since the duel, Riddle had been paying very close attention to Harry. As he told her this, Hermione noticed that Riddle would watch her in classes, and when she passed him in the hall, his dark eyes would probe her's.
Also, Hermione found herself spending more and more time with Lionel, who seemed a loyal confidant, though she hadn't told him any of the big stuff, but he was so understanding and such a good listener that Hermione found she was more comfortable with him than she had been in a longtime with anyone besides Harry and Ron.
Of course, she didn't realize just how close they were until Harry, one day, while they were in the library, began teasing her.
"Okay, I'm going to go to dinner," Hermione said after hours of studying, gathering her books up and carefully putting them in her bag.
"Aw, going to see your little boyfriend?" Harry said slyly, giving her a strangely knowing look. Ron snickered into his hand, looking between Harry and Hermione with anticipation of the upcoming argument.
Hermione turned the darkest shade of red that Harry had ever seen her sport. "I-I...what are you talking about?" But Harry had a feeling that she knew exactly what and whom he was referring to.
"You know...Lionel." He said his name mockingly, and Hermione, is possible, turned redder. The book she was holding slipped out of her hand and onto the ground with a thud.
"Oh, Li, you're so sweet!" Ron said in his attempt at her higher voice, grinning cheekily, she threw one of her books at him.
"Oh, Li you're so handsome!" Harry egged her on, ducking as he, too, was victim to her rage.
"You...you two are just...horrid! Lionel and I are both aware that we are nothing more than close friends and that you two would imply anythingelse is just...just...barbaric! Ugh!" She threw her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the library towards the great hall. She collapsed into her seat, huffing heavily, and her fury peaked just a little bit more when the boy they had only just been speaking of sat down beside her, rather closer than Jasper or Bruno would have sat, and he looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Something wrong?" He asked her, reaching across her to grab a steak, and Hermione shivered as his arms brushed hers, instantaneously blaming it on the cold draft that had just drifted through the room as the doors of the great hall opened. Harry strode in, waving to Ron as he moved to the Slytherin table, and Hermione's eyes followed him, narrowed.
"Oh, just my dear brother, being absolutely wretched," she spat scathingly, and Lionel followed her line of sight.
"Ah," he said, turning back to his plate to cut his steak. "And, pray tell, what did he do?"
Hermione suddenly turned bright pink and she looked at him, and then looked quickly away. He looked inquiringly at her.
"Why are you blushing?"
Hermione found herself answering him, and once again cursed her disability to say no to him. "He...implied...his...interest in the amout of time that...we spend together."
Hermione watched out of the corner of her eye as Lionel began to smirk, and then it broadened into a full-fledged mocking, taunting, absolutelyinfuriating grin. Hermione suddenly felt the violent urge to slap that look right off his face. "It isn't funny!" She snapped, burying her face in her arms, feeling it heat up again. He chuckled heartily, and Hermione suddenly felt his hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles there, and she froze.
"But, Mione, it is funny. You're just blushing about it because you're in denial."
Hermione looked up at him incredulously, her brown, doe eyes very wide, her lips slightly parted in wonder as she stared at the boy with furrowed brows. "Wha-what?"
Lionel raised his eyebrows. "You'll figure it out, little lassie," he said softly, and she stared at him, but he didn't look back at her the entire meal, though that smug little smirk was still on his lips, even when she left to go back to the library. As she roamed the aisles, a little absentmindedly, she suddenly rammed into a much taller figure and let out a small yelp. She started to fall backwards, and winced, ready for the impact of the ground, but it never came. She realized that there was a strong arm around her waist, and as she looked up, she realized that she was looking at the most handsome face she had ever seen.
He was fairly pale, like he had never even heard of the outdoors, but there was something seemingly graceful about his colorless appearance. His dark hair fell smoothly into his eyes, his dark, incredibly dark, eyes, Hermione had never seen eyes that dark...
"Are you alright, miss? I'm awfully sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." He had an angels voice!
Hermione tried to steady herself as he pulled her upright, trying very hard to remind herself that this was Tom Riddle, evil psychotic lunatic. But she had never actually looked at him before, never actual seen him until now; she was only ever staring into his eyes.
"Erm...yeah, sorry. I wasn't paying attention, either." Her breathing started to even out as he removed his arms from his waist, and she swallowed thickly.
"You're erm...you're Hermione Macmillan, aren't you?" he asked conversationally, leaning against the bookshelf, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ravenclaw? You're Harry's sister."
Ok, Hermione, keep your cool. You don't know that he's insane, he's just a normal guy. "Erm...yeah, yeah I am. Your...Tom Riddle. Headboy? Slughorn's pet." Hermione realized that he probably wouldn't like being referred to as 'pet', and she mentally prepared to be tortured into insanity, but was utterly stunned when he actually chuckled.
"That's right. I think he's taken too much of a liking to me. More than he should." Hermione sensed the dark undertone in his voice, and she resisted the urge to step away from him, but instead she hastily brushed her hair out of her eyes, glancing every-so-often out of the corner of her eyes at his wand arm. "That was quite the duel at the beginning of the year, Miss Macmillan. I've been wondering where you learned all of that. Did you come from Durmstrang?"
Hermione noticed that he managed to execute at least three points in each sentence, but still did it smoothly, and Hermione felt a twinge of admiration. "Erm...no...we were homeschooled. Are parents are...were...aurors, so dueling's kind of a specialty."
He nodded, gazing at her, his head cocked ever so slightly to the right, reminding Hermione, quite suddenly, of the future dark lord, and she barely retained a shudder.
"If you don't mind me asking, Miss Macmillan...how did your parents die?" How did he do that? How did he manage to say everything with theperfect amount of sincerity, the perfect expression, the perfect everything. It drove her crazy.
"Combat," she said curtly, looking away from him, her brows furrowing and staring down at the floor.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, his voice low, and Hermione looked sharply at him again as he set his elbow on the table and leaned closer to her. "My parents are dead too."
Like you had nothing to do with that. Like you're actually sad about it. "I'm sorry," she forced from her lips, even though really she wasn't sorry at all. She didn't feel people like him deserved anything that normally people had.
"Well, I'm sure your parents would be proud, seeing you duel like that," Tom said, blowing a piece of hair that had fallen into his eyes. "With power that intense, I think you would've done well in Slytherin."
"I'm not...so...so sure about that," Hermione said slowly, frowning and for once looking him directly in the eyes. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, silently observing the girl and waiting for her to continue. "Well...ambition, self-preservation, cunning," she sneered slightly. "Ambition, I suppose, is driven by a selfish sort of self-importance-"
"You want to get somewhere, don't you, Miss Macmillan? Do something with your life?" Tom asked calmly, and Hermione nodded, thinking, Yes, but I highly doubt that what I want to do with my life is anywhere near what you want to do with yours. "Ambition is merely pursuing goals."
"But sometimes ambitious people push away the people in their lives that matter the most because of their own goals," Hermione said, thinking of Percy, how he had pushed away his own family, all because he wanted to advance in the ministry. Tom arched a dark brow at her.
"What are people when you could have greatness? Power beyond all imagination?" Hermione saw the determined glint in his eyes, one that she recognized from Harry, the look in his eyes when he wanted something, to make a certain point or get something across. When he wanted toachieve somthing.
"But that's why I don't belong in Slytherin, power, self-preservation, putting yourself first. I could never do that. I'd die for Harry or Ron," she said softly. Tom cocked his head again and observed her, his dark eyes straying over her face, and Hermione suddenly felt very naked.
"You're very strange, Macmillan. You're almost as mushy as those Gryffindors. Perhaps it's there that you belong."
Hermione smirked. You have no idea how much I belong there.
But as he continued to simply watch her, Hermione felt the smirk slide off her face and she looked quickly away before meekly turning back to look up at him. His eyes, his whole face, was completely unreadable. There was not even the slightest flicker of emotion, and it scared her.
"Erm...I've got to go." She said quickly, and he did not stop her as she picked up her bag and hurried out of the room, just barely managing not to run.
She had never even spoken to Tom Riddle until now, and suddenly he was having long, philosophical conversations with her? They competedfiercely in classes, and though they never addressed each other, she often caught him gazing at her with what looked like frustration.
She found Harry down the second floor corridor. "Hey, I just had a bit of a run in with Riddle."
Harry's gaze immediately locked on hers and he cast muffliato around them, and then addressed her in a low voice. "Did he try to hurt you?" he asked frantically. Hermione shook her head quickly.
"No, no. He was really polite, it just kind of shook me, that's all. I might have stumbled a couple times." She added meekly, and Harry groaned. He ran a hand through his hair frustratedly, and then looked at her with level eyes.
"Mione, you've got to keep your cool. Remember at Sluggie's first meeting, when you were taunting him, before you ever actually had to face him, because you knew he couldn't and wouldn't hurt you in front of all those people? Well you've got to pretend like he can't hurt you now, like he's a perfectly normal guy who isn't going to kill us in our sleep."
Hermione nodded slowly, her breathing slowing down. "Yeah...hey, I don't really want to go back up to the Ravenclaw tower." With Lionel. He would, she knew, immediately know that something was wrong, and he'd question her, and she wouldn't be able to lie to him.
"C'mon," Harry said, smiling gently and holding out his hand for her to take. She took it tentatively and he led her down the corridor and out onto the grand staircase. The met Ron in the entrance hall and Harry led them both downwards to the Dungeons. Only when Hermione realized where they were going did she start to resist.
"Harry!" she said in a shout-whisper. "I'm not going down there with all those little pompous evil gits!"
"You said you liked Abraxas, Niles and Edward!" Harry exclaimed in exasperation.
"Yeah, but I just told you that being around you-know-who throws me off, so you take me to his lair?"
Harry chuckled at her frantic actions as simply started to pull her again, Ron following. "Relax, Mi. He won't even pay attention to you."
Hermione felt slightly affronted at the bluntness of his proclamation, but then she realized that she didn't want him to pay attention to her, no; not with those dark, dark eyes, and that soft-looking hair, and that, smooth, charming voice that just made you want to let down your guard-
"Aqua Snake." Harry said toward the portrait guarding the entrance to the Slytherin common room, and Hermione snickered.
"Not very creative with their passwords, are they?" Harry smirked and pulled her inside. Abraxas was lounging on the couch, twirling his wand between his fingers, looking very bored, and Hermione was stunned at how incredibly much he looked like his grandson at that moment. He glanced up and saw Harry, and then saw her, and his face broke into a clumsy grin.
"Hermione! What a pleasure to see you down here in our cozy abode!" He bid them over, but not before casting the redhead, clad in Gryffindor colors, a suspicious glance, alerting the other boys of their presence.
Hermione shivered as she sat down in an armchair next to a stack of books. "Cozy isn't exactly the word I would use."
Niles, sitting in the armchair beside her's, chuckled. "You'll get used to it. The cold air starts to not phase you-"
"Yes, yes, and then you adopt an arrogant smirk and start to swagger around instead of walking and soon you don't even feel bad hexing Gryffindors." Hermione raptured, flashing the boy a toothy grin when he blinked in surprise.
"She knows the ropes!" cackled a voice from Abraxas's couch, and Hermione looked over to see one of the Slytherin girls beaming at her. "Walburga Black, nice to meetcha!" Her voice was bright and warm, and Hermione was stunned with the difference between she and her future self.
"Hermione Macmillan, it's a pleasure," she said softly. She saw Harry flash the girl a grin before pulling her down onto another couch. Ron tentatively sat down beside them, looking very out of place with his fiery hair, conspicious freckles and red and gold robes.
"So, Quidditch tryouts next week," Abraxas said loudly, grinning and gesturing toward the announcent board, where a bulletin was posted. "You fly, Harry?" Harry nodded, grinning widely and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Seeker," Harry told him.
"Best damn seeker there ever was," Ron grinned, patting him on the back, and Abraxas chuckled.
"You play too, Hurst?"
"Yeah, keeper though." Abraxas nodded.
"And you, Hermione?" He addressed her, and both of the boys on either side of her snorted unbecomingly, and elbowed them in the ribs on either side.
"No, no I prefer to stay on the ground, thank youvery much." Hermione said curtly, remembering the only time she had ever been on a broomstick, which was quite unenjoyable. Abraxas snickered and her expense, and she resisted the urge to glare at him, remembering that shewas on his turf.
"So lemme get this straight," Abraxas leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, and arched an eyebrow, his grey eyes twinkling with what Hermione suspiciously thought was a mocking glint. "You get perfect grades, you spend all of your time studying, and you takes vigorousnotes for not only yourself but your friends as well. What do you do for fun?"
Hermione blinked at him. "F-fun?"
Now all of the boys were chuckling, and Hermione reddenned, glaring at Ron and Harry, who had joined in on their guffawing. "Yes, Macmillan.Fun. A concept that, however foreign to you, should be experienced by all fellow beings." Hermione couldn't help but giggle, partly at Abraxas's words and partly at the non-intentional pompous way that he said them. He frowned, and then suddenly grinned, waggling his eyebrows. "Something you and Riddle have in common I think. Maybe you two could study together sometime."
The boy's broke into another round of chuckles, though both Harry's and Ron's sounded more forced this time, and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, honestly, just because I don't find flying around on an enchanted stick to throw balls through holes fun, doesn't mean that I don't know how to have fun. I just have a different idea of what true entertainment is." Abraxas raised his eyebrows, and she clarified. "Reading."
He stared at her, slightly slack jawed. "That's it!" He said finally, jumping to his feet. "I mean, I know you're a Ravenclaw, but for Salazar's sake,reading?" He reached down and pulled her to her feet, gesturing for the other boys to follow as he led her out of the portrait. "Now we're gonna show you what a real good time is, Macmillan." The broad, almost wild grin that was stretched out on his face slightly scared Hermione. She desperately hoped that their idea of a good time was not torturing innocent Muggle-borns.
She was surprised, however, when Abraxas stopped in front of the portrait to the kitchens. Oh no! She thought. It's worse. They're going to torture the house-elves! Hermione nearly yanked out of his grip when the rational side of her brain registered again, telling her not to raise suspicions. After all, from their perspective, all she knew was that they were innocent students in pursuit of an education. She didn't know that they were all being trained by the most evil man to ever walk the face of the earth to destroy people like her.
Abraxas pulled her inside and the other boys followed, sporting grins. Hermione relaxed when she saw Harry grinning, too, and she realized that whatever they were doing couldn't be that bad if Harry wasn't worried.
"Leeto!" Abraxas called in a sing-song voice, and an elf draped in rags came stumbling around the corner. His large green eyes reminded her a great deal of Dobby, and she felt a wave of homesickness overcome her, but she quickly swallowed back her tears.
"Yes, young Master Malfoy," the elf said in a trembling voice.
"Get us some Tlaythe, will ya?" The elf nodded quickly and scrambled off again, and Abraxas, upon seeing Hermione's confused face, grinned and started to explain. "Tlaythe is a fruit that grows in Southern Africa. Eaten raw it's really good, tastes kinda like peaches, but when you cook it..." Abraxas trailed off, scrunching up his nose, and the other boys had identical looks on their faces. "It emmits the foulest smell ever known to man."
"Then...why would we want it, exactly?" Hermione asked, still confused.
"It's not for us, you silly girl," Abraxas tutted, and Hermione saw a mischievous glint in his eyes. "We take the fruits up to the Gryffindor common room, and throw them in the fireplace. They burn out pretty quickly, so it's not as if the place will go down in blazes," he said reassuringly as he saw Hermione's horrified look. "But the stench won't go away for weeks. We're the only one that has access to them to, because the place that they grow in South Africa is a Malfoy plantation, owned only by the Malfoy's, and therefore, the house-elves will only go get the fruits when I ask them to." Abraxas grinned smugly at her, and Hermione couldn't help but be amused. Hermione wondered why Ron was going along with this when it was his common room they were defouling, but she realized that he probably just slept in the room of requirements for long periods of time.
By the time the elf had returned with the fruits, it had fallen dark. Harry retrieved his invisibility cloak, though Hermione had begged him not to reveal it in front of the Slytherins-she still didn't trust them-and it was fairly easy to sneak in behind one of the Gryffindors as the portrait swung closed. Abraxas stuck a hand out from under the cloak and threw one, two, three, four, five, six, seven fruits into the fire, and then ushered them out. Edward and Niles, who had waited outside because they could not all fit under the cloak, practically tackled them as they climbed out of the portrait hole and pulled off the cloak.
"Did you plant them? Did it work?"
"Of course it worked," Abraxas said haughtily. "When do my plans ever not work?"
They waited by the portrait, silently. By this time, it was after hours, so nearly everyone would be in their common room. Just moments later, Hermione heard a heavy set of footsteps storm down the stairs of the boys dormitory. Another set of footsteps trooped behind him. "What is that god-awful stench?" The second person asked, but the first person drowned him out with his louder voice that Hermione immediately recognized as Jack Weasley roar,
"MALFOY!"
Abraxas started laughing madly and Harry stuffed his invisibility cloak hastily into his pocket as Abraxas shouted, "RUN!" The portrait burst open, and furious Jack Weasley burst out, looking very comical, his face bright red, one large hand pinching his nose and the other clumsily waving a wand after them.
"I'LL KILL YA, MALFOY! I'LL KILL YA!" Hermione let out a burst of laughter as they continued down the grand staircase. She heard several pairs of footsteps behind them now, and Hermione realized that Jack must have gotten some reinforcements. She started to run harder but found it difficult, giggling uncontrollably as the four Slytherin boys ran beside her. They sprinted down the grand staircase at a frightening speed, leaping gaps and climbing over rails where the staircase had moved against their will.
"Split up!" Niles advised wisely. Abraxas darted into the fourth floor corridor, Niles following him, and Harry and Edward ducked into the third, leaving Hermione high-tailing it into the second floor corridor, breathing heavily as she sprinted down the hall. She glanced behind her, letting out a series of giggles again-
And ran straight into a hard, stiff body. She tumbled backward, but was once again caught in a tangle of strong, pale arms.
The same strong, pale arms.
She jumped back immediately and looked up at Tom Riddle. His eyebrows were raised, but other than that his face was expressionless, his dark eyes staring directly into hers, and Hermione suddenly feared; what if he was using Legilimency?
"You have a habit of not paying attention to where you're going," he said coldly, his mouth hardly moving, and Hermione realized his mood wasquite different now from before. Now he gave off all the signs of authority, the Head Boy badge glistening on his robes as he stared down at her firmly.
"Care to tell me why you're out, after hours, running down a corridor, laughing like a madwoman?" Hermione narrowed her eyes, slightly offended. God, he was even more of a stiff-wad than her. Talk about a fun-spoilers. Her mind immediately went through the many lies that she could tell him, but her mouth didn't seem able to form the words when he was looking at her in that soul-reading way of his.
"Erm...I was on my way to my common room," she invented wildly, than inwardly cursed, realizing her mistake just a second too late.
" You were on your way to your common room?" Riddle repeated, and Hermione suddenly got the feeling that he was enjoying her discomfort.
Of course he enjoys your discomfort, you stupid girl! That bossy, know-it-all voice in her head snapped. He enjoys torturing puppies. Cute ones. With the round eyes and waggily tails and big, fluffy ears.
Hermione suddenly became very sad as a sudden image of a tiny little spotted Jack-Russell Terrier writhing on the ground in pure agony, little wimpers emitting from it's small mouth as a snake-like man held a wand over it, cackling madly, with a sadistic grin on his papery pale face.
Hermione suddenly glared up at him, her eyes glinting with fury and malice, and he looked startled at her sudden change of attitude. Hermione took a deep breath. Calm down...he's not torturing puppies yet.
Dismissing her strange behavior, Riddle continued. "I wasn't aware that the Ravenclaw common room was on the second floor. In fact, I was under the impression that it was on the fifth floor, behind the door that I watched you run past. Laughing. Like a madwoman."
There was that word again. Madwoman. Hermione didn't like being called that. It made her think too much of Bellatrix Lestrange, and then she remembered all the people that the evil woman hurt, and then she remembered that Harry shared a dormitory with this evil woman's father, and it made her want to do something drastic. No. She thought quickly. If you did something to Cygnus, then Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda wouldn't be born, and that means that Tonkswouldn't be born.
There, she thought. Way to be reasonable. Way to not freak out.
She looked back up at Riddle, who was now staring at her with a completely confused look on his face, and Hermione wondered vaguely if she was losing her mind. "Erm...oh. My bad...I'll just go back in that direction." She turned her back to Riddle, but he reached forward and snatched her wrist, spinning her back round to face him.
"Nice try, Macmillan. Have another go."
Hermione chewed her lip. "Erm...it's critical, really. Erm...Harry's bleeding to death, and I was trying to find help."
Tom smirked, and Hermione nearly reached over and wrapped her hands around his pale throat. "And you were laughing about your brother bleeding to death?" Hermione cursed aloud this time, and Riddle's smirk grew. "Come on, Macmillan. One more go, that's all I'm giving you. Try the truth this time."
Hermione barely restrained rolling her eyes as she glared back up at him. She couldn't very well tell him that they were out pranking. Hermione had the impression that he wasn't the type that would find that amusing. ."Abraxas, Edward, Niles, Harry and I were all playing tag, and I gotawfully hungry, so I was going to go down to the kitchens to get something to eat. I missed dinner, you see."
Tom's brows traveled further up his face until they disappeared behind the locks of hair that swept across his forehead...rather soft looking hair...Hermione wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers through...
She froze, blinking. No.
To her surprise, a charming smile appeared on Tom's face. "Oh, well, in that case, let me escort you to the kitchens." Hermione's jaw nearly dropped. He must have had a motive...surely, there was a motive...what was his motive?
"Erm...actually, I'm not really all that hungry anymore, so I think I'll just hit the sack," Hermione said quickly, and was disgruntled when Riddle looked amused.
"Nonsense. Can't have the young lady going hungry, now can we?" He held out his arm for her, and Hermione glanced at it unsurely. "Come, I insist, Miss Macmillan." Hermione, grunting at being ordered around like a lapdog, reluctantly took his arm and allowed him to lead her down to the kitchens. He pulled her through the portrait that guarded it and pulled out a chair for her. When she was seated, he took the seat on the opposite end of the table, staring her down, and Hermione swallowed thickly.
"Leeto?" Hermione called softly, feeling under scrutiny as Tom stared unabashedly at her. The little elf appeared in front of her.
"Mistress Hermione. Master Malfoy is not with you this time? Is he hurted?"
Hermione giggled softly. "No, no, he's fine." But he probably won't be if Jack gets a hold of him. "Erm...could you bring me some ice cream, please, Leeto?"
The little elf nodded his head, which almost seemed too large for his head. "Of course, Mistress Hermione. Leeto will be right back!" Leeto turned to Tom. "Does Master Riddle want anything to eat?" Raising an eyebrow, which Hermione had the impression was cynical, he smirked.
"Just a butterbeer." The lack of kindness in his words made Hermione cringe, and as the elf disappeared again, she turned to him, eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, to find that he was still looking at her. "You know," he said slowly. "I wonder what Mr. Macmillan would say if he saw you down here with me, alone." His emphasis on the last word made Hermione shudder. "After all, he seems strangely protective when it comes to you being around me." He cocked his head, studying her. "I wonder why that is?"
"Well, I guess he just doesn't know you as well as he knows the other boys, so, as a survival instinct, he doesn't trust you." That was notentirely true. At some points Hermione thought Harry exerted a little too much trust in the other boys, especially when he had admitted that several times they had disappeared in the night, no doubt attending Death Eater meetings. But all the same, Harry saw nothing of their hostilities when he was around them, so he tried not to think on it too much, but she wondered how they would treat them if they knew that neither of them were Purebloods.
"But he seemed to attach to Abraxas rather quickly. It seems strange, doesn't it, that after over two months he still doesn't seem to be overly fond of me. It's almost as if...he knows something he shouldn't." He said the last part so softly, but when she caught it, her face visibly paled, and it was all she could do to keep her breathing quiet. The way Riddle was looking at her, with those all-knowing eyes made her suddenly more afraid of him than ever before. Leeto returned with her ice cream and Riddle's butterbeer and just as quickly disappeared. Hermione felt her fear escalate; but what, it wasn't like a house-elf could have saved her from Riddle.
"Listen, Riddle, our parents were aurors. They always taught us constant vigilance." Hermione's eyes dimmed with sadness as she thought of Mad-Eye Moody. "I don't know how much he knows about you, though most likely very little-you seem not to reveal much to anybody-but I can assure you that he's merely gauging your actions and reactions, to see if you're worthy of trust. God knows it took him long enough to trust Ron, seeing as they're very different people."
Tom was still looking at her in that unnerving way, and, disgruntled, Hermione set down her spoon, pushing her ice cream away from her and standing up shakily. "I need to go." In a split second, Riddle was standing in front of her, and if Hermione didn't know any better, she'd think he'd apparated. He stood so close to her, though, his face inches from her, that long, dangerous wand prodding none-too-gently into her chest. "Why are you afraid of me?" He asked in a his soft, poison voice.
"Erm...because you're jabbing a wand at me." Hermione said sharply, and she winced as she dug it further into her skin. She remembered the incident between Scrimgeor and Harry, when he had come to give them the items from Dumbledore's will, and she silently prayed that he wouldn't burn a hole in her shirt. Her slightly sarcastic voice, though, she could tell, made his anger peak just a little bit more as his normally unreadable eyes flashed with anger.
"You know very well what I meant, Macmillan. What's so incredibly intimidating about someone like me?"
God, didn't he have an ounce of niceness in him. For once in his life couldn't he just chill out and drink his butterbeer, maybe have a nice conversation with her about Quidditch, or Charms, or their favorite wizard bands. But no, it always had to be about power, about achievement, about gaining something with him. Why couldn't even ever just relax?
"That's it, Riddle!" Hermione snapped finally, bringing her hand down knocking his wand out of his hand. His eyes flashed in surprise and they only widened as her hands came up to his chest and pushed him firmly away, her eyes narrowed so thin that it was hard to believe she could see out of them. She had now withdrawn her wand and was pointing it between his eyes. "I'm sick of your interrogation, sick of you thinking you can just corner me and threaten me with your little power trips and all your absolute crap. Back off! We were all just trying to have a good time, and then you have to come in and play with the situation, take advantage of it, no! Seriously, Riddle, when are you going to learn that it isn't all about you!" With a final hmph Hermione spun on her heel and marched off, the portrait slamming shut behind her with a resounding thud. As Riddle stared after her, he wondered for the first time if house qualities were overevaluated.
A/N: Um...soo...ya like? Hope ya did :D I do own the fruit Tlaythe (LAY-TH)-i just made that baby up, haha :) I also made up the spell engorcendio and a couple other ones in there that you recognize. Peace out till the next chappie :D
Love you :D xoxoxoxoxo