The bombs lasted most of the day, it seemed, and into the night. After awhile the ringing in my ears was so loud I could not hear anything.
Between the fear and the loud jolts, sleeping did not come easy but with the darkness and the silence hanging between us, eventually my eyes closed and drifted off.
The next morning I woke, my eyes blinking, as reality set it. The bombs. The woman. The magic. Hermione. There was a pressure against my chest. I glanced down and sawa tangle of brown hair. Though I still don't know why, I did not move; instead, I watched her chest move up and down and listened to the soft whistle of her breath squeezing out from between her lips.
She mewed softly then twitched against me. When she looked up and her eyes met mine, Hermione jolted across the room with a cracking gasp.
"I-uh-" she stuttered.
"Good morning."
She ran her hands over her face. "Is it morning.?"
"How should I know?" I snatched my still lit wand from the ground and stood. Hermione struggled to her feet.
"Let's get out of here." Hermione stormed to the bottom of the stairwell.
"Are we sure it's safe?" Once again, I instinctively grabbed her arm. She tore away from me.
"Only one way to find out." With a deep breath, she jogged up the stairs and threw open the door. "Oh no."
I ran up behind her. Dresses were scattered all over the floor, covered in glass. Parts of the ceiling had fallen, providing a view of the flat above us.
Hermione's eyes drifted to a pile of rubble. She crossed her arms but I could see her shaking. That pile of rubble was where we had left the shopkeeper.
"I can't stay here anymore," she said under her breath and stepped through a fresh hole in the wall. I followed.
The shop was nothing compared to the street. Asphalt was torn up in places, whole buildings crumbling and people... there were people, wailing, crying on the sidewalks. It was a screeching, awful noise. I just wanted everyone to shut up.
When we finally made it back to the orphanage, Hermione walked away without a word to me – but I knew something had happened, though being me, it would take years to grasp just what it was. But that ordeal had bound us together, connected us in a way I did not know possible.
The next few weeks passed and I did my best to avoid the coverage of the bombing on the radio. To myself, I said it was because I didn't care but somewhere inside I knew it was more than that. I could have been killed... no magic could have stopped it.
Not even my magic.
I had been faced with my own powerlessness and as I sat in my room in the dark, I thought of every spell, every curse, I could create to protect myself from something like that happening again. I could not allow some crude muggle weapon to destroy Lord Voldemort.
There had to be something I could do – anything to make sure that if my body was attacked, my essence, my soul, would live on. But what?
It was an early cloudy morning. The day I was meant to leave for Hogwarts. I dressed and packed, locking my trunk. Finally the summer was over and I could search at the library for the protection I now knew I needed. Protection from the weakness of my own perishable flesh.
I kept my eyes firmly fixed ahead as I walked through London to King's Cross – but every once and awhile my gaze would slip to the still destroyed buildings, the cracked sidewalks, the burnt alleyways.
In the distance, I spotted King' Cross just as sturdy and grey as always, unflinching under the torrent of the German attacks. Kids being hugged by saddened parents filled the station. They must have been taking more trainloads of children to the country side because of the attack.
Filled with gladness at returning to the only home I'd ever known, I raced through the barrier at Platform 9 ¾. Smoky fog billowed from the train and, much like on the other platforms, parents squeezed their children tight to their chest. A twinge of jealousy sparked through me. That was something I'd never had. My mom had been too weak to live and my father... well he was...
He didn't want me.
"Riddle," a familiar voice called. I turned to see a lithe blonde boy my own age, moving away from his parents, smirking.
"Malfoy." I smiled. Of all the people I knew at the time Abraxas Malfoy was the most... tolerable.
"Torture any muggles during break?" He clapped his hand on my shoulder.
"A few." I thought of Hermione, but really she had been the one to torture me.
Malfoy and I stepped inside the Hogwarts Express, the familiar sound of chattering other students and the candy trolley rolling down the aisles. We were both a little late so every compartment we passed was full until we got to one at the end.
"Finally," said Malfoy as he opened the door.
The compartment was empty aside from one girl with long curly hair and her nose deep in a book. My stomach lurched. It couldn't be... but it was.
"You've got be bloody kidding me!" I shouted.
Hermione glanced up from her book, a sneer written across her face. "Good morning, Tom."
"Do you two-" Malfoy started to talk but I cut him off.
"You're a witch?"
She shrugged. "Surprised?"
"Annoyed." I glared and she just smiled back at me like she knew the more at ease she seemed the more it would put me on edge.
"Well. It's nice to meet you," said Malfoy, extending his hand. Always the gentleman.
Scowling, Hermione took it. "Hermione Granger."
Malfoy sat down next to her. "You're obviously not a first year. Where'd you go to school before this?"
The train lurched forward almost throwing me on top of Hermione but I caught myself on the wall then collapsed into a seat. We were on the Hogwarts Express... I could use a curse without the trace now, right?
"The Salem Institute of Magic."
"What about your accent?" I snapped.
"I grew up here. Then my dad got a job in the states."
"Well, welcome," said Malfoy. "Though this isn't the best time to be visiting us."
Hermione stared out the window as the rolling hills passed by. "No I guess it isn't."
Malfoy paused. "We're both in Slytherin. Maybe you'll get sorted with us."
She sighed then looked at me, her eyes narrowed. "Not unless they've decided to start letting muggleborns in."
Of course she had to be the only thing worse than a muggle. A mudblood.
"Probably not then," said Malfoy.
"No," she jeered. "I guess not."
The candy trolley rolled by and Malfoy jumped to his feet. "I'm going to get some, uh, something." He jumped into the hall.
There was a cloud of heavy silence mixing with a toxic anger. I could not stand her and she could not stand me. Yet something – fate or destiny or just plain bad luck – had us twisted and tangled up.
"You could have told me." I huffed.
"You're not supposed to tell people."
"But you knew."
She crossed her arms. "How would I know?"
I pulled my wand out of my coat pocket and lit the tip. Her eyes fell to the small light.
"Oh, right." She breathed.
"So why didn't you say anything?"
"I was pissed."
"You were what?"
Hermione sat forward, her cheeks bright red. "Pissed, angry, mad as hell."
I shook my head, running a hand through my hair. "What did I ever do to you?"
She laughed but it was cold, dead... "What did you ever do to me? You must be out of your freaking mind!" Hermione shouted, startling me.
I shot to my feet. "You crazy-"
"I hate you!"
Malfoy stepped back in the compartment, his eyes wide. We both shut up but our eyes stayed connected.
"Everything alright?"
I was breathing heavily as hatred coursed through me like venom but I had to control myself. This wasn't the time or the place. I'd deal with this mudblood later.
"We're fine," I said but that just made her eyes fill with even more rage.
"Fine! Merlin, Riddle. We not fine. I... I can't do this. This was a mistake." She started shaking her head and shoved past Malfoy into the hall.
I collapsed on the couch, completely exhausted. Something about her just drained me but at the same time, being around her made me feel more than I had in a long time.
In my whole life.
Slowly, Malfoy sat down beside me with brightly colored treats cradled in his arms. "What'd you do? Sleep with her and forget to call?"
I huffed. "Like I'd sleep with a mudblood."
"She is pretty." Malfoy said, opening a chocolate frog.
Pretty...Challenging. Infuriating... Exquisite.
There was a long pause before I spoke. "Abraxas... I am formulating a mission."
"Oh no." He chewed his chocolate frog.
I glared at him. "We're going to make that mudblood's life miserable."
"We are?" Malfoy raised a blonde eyebrow, his fair features screwed up in confusion. "How?"
I folded my long fingers together, thinking of the way she drove me mad – made me feel – made me want. "I'm going to make her fall in love with me and then-" I picked up the chocolate frog box and crushed it in my fist.
I still have that chocolate frog box.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took a little longer. Hope you enjoyed it and are excited about them finally getting to Hogwarts. Let me know what you think. Please read and review. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows I've gotten so far. I appreciate them all!