Chapter Seven: Thank you?
Hermione got up as quickly as she could, trying her best to avoid Riddle and rushed to her room. Slamming the door really hard behind her, she spun around and sent a spell that would keep it magically locked. And just as she thought, Riddle was right behind her and he began pounding on the door.
"You're digging yourself a hole Bellevue!" He kept on yelling things like that and Hermione kept a steady flow of spells aimed at the door, making sure it was layered in them. Believing that it was well protected, she crawled into her huge comfy bed that screamed her name, more so than Riddle did.
The yelling outside her door kept waking her up, so she sent a muffliato at the doorway and the silence became deafening. With that, she drifted on into her normally wonderful dream land, that hadn't been too wonderful as of late.
XXX Tuesday Morning XXX
The sunlight tore through her surprisingly great dream, though she couldn't remember exactly what it was about. Over the past few nights of being here, she has had reoccurring dreams that she felt like she should know. Although, tonight must have changed something because it wasn't the same dream. How she knew that was just as strange, because she just felt it. Like the whole world had tilted the other way and no one else had felt the shift.
Shaking off those weird thoughts she did her normal routine and snuck out of the Head Dorm. Another confrontation with Riddle didn't seem like the best idea for her morning.
Her robes flowed behind her as she walked briskly away from her room and towards the Great Hall where all the taunting smells came from. They floated down the halls and came at her in a wave of air, which she inhaled deeply before sighing. Hermione's stomach grumbled so she went faster around the corner than she should have.
Ever since she had been caught distracted last night, her reactions were more in tuned than before, not wanting the same thing to happen once again. So, when someone else came rushing around the corner she was able to stop them in time from falling.
Hermione was still holding onto the guy's robes when she looked up into the face that looked so much like Harry's. She gasped as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she was suddenly whisked away and into another vision just as she had been the night before.
He held her in his arms as they twirled gracefully on the dance floor. The lights were dimmed and candles were floating in the sky, he looked down at her and smiled. "I want you to know that you're the only girl for me."
"And you, for me Jason," the words were ended with a sigh of adoration and Jason scooped her up into a twist. Blue eyes looked deep into her own and he smiled so slightly she couldn't tell if it was really there or not.
They danced until their feet were sore, each had gone into their own world staring into each others eyes. Jason stopped her at the edge of the dance floor and took her to one of the tables sitting around the edges of the Room of Requirements.
Behind the table on the walls were mirrors that covered the entire room. When she looked into the mirrors she saw green eyes staring back. Her wavy brown hair was situated on the top of her head and a few stragglers hung out. Jason stood behind her and grinned, "I love you Faran Rochelle Twix." As she was about to say those same words back the ground shook beneath her heels.
The image cracked and faded as the mirrors tumbled down around her and she screamed…
Hermione's eyes blinked and rolled back into place to see Jason peering down at her. The images of him and Faran were so vivid they almost felt like real life. In fact, Hermione believed them to be real, if that was even possible. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense, even Dumbledore had talked to her about those ancient powers that witches and wizards had once possessed. Could she really be one of those witches?
But when did this happen? She had never before had the Sight when she was in the other dimension. "Are you alright madam?"
Golden eyes met bright blue ones and she frowned again, the resemblance between him and Harry were incredible, all except the eyes that is. He must be a relative of Harry's, possibly his great grandfather? "Ah, yes I was just…" she trailed off as she had no idea what went on when she was 'dreaming'.
"You just ran into me so quick and then you fell down. I had no clue what to do, thankfully you were only out for a few seconds or I would have panicked. Then your eyes rolled back and stuff, but you didn't scream like earlier in Defense Against the Dark Arts. And no, I'm not in your class just everyone heard about it. Does this happen often?" Jason looked at her worriedly.
Smiling bashfully at him she shrugged, "not really sure anymore. My name's Hermione Bellevue, but somehow I think you already know that." He laughed and nodded as an answer. Sheesh, his laugh even sounded like Harry's, it was actually pretty creepy. She thought she'd enjoy meeting a relative of his but now that she did it just made her want to curl up and cry.
"Yes, well I'm Jason Thaddeus Potter. Are you friends with Perrin Zerxim by any chance? I couldn't help but notice you talking to him earlier." Surprisingly, Jason wasn't that tall, being only a inch or so shorter than her. Although he wasn't the tallest guy, he definitely didn't lack in any other areas. Soft looking dark brown hair was brushed to the side of his face revealing smooth, unblemished white skin. Blue eyes set off from the contrast between his red shirt, and broad shoulders with muscles all throughout his arms and chest.
It was like every guy in the 1940's was a gorgeous gentleman with explicable manners, well, excluding Riddle and his followers that is. So how come almost every guy in her time had to be a conniving pig-faced loser with a personality problem? Seems like all the guys died out when women started being independent, how lame.
"Yeah, I met him after breakfast yesterday. Ran into him actually." She laughed, "ironic right? So is he a friend of yours?"
"He lived next to me before Hogwarts, we were best friends." He took her arm and started walking to the Great Hall, looking distinctly uncomfortable. They were best friends?
"Were?"
"He went to Ravenclaw and I got into Gryffindor, they aren't exactly friendly to one another. So, we went our separate ways. I just stopped talking to him once we got into our second year. Shame, really." Jason looked down for a bit but smiled a sad smile at her and patted her hand. "It's alright though. Life goes on, and I have new friends."
Hermione stopped walking and turned to him with a frown. "That's no way to talk! How can you say that? If he was your friend then talk to him, I'm sure he'll understand. What if you were always meant to be best friends and now, because you wont talk to him, you never become that? Life is uncertain, that's why you need to take risks and have fun before it all goes away…" her voice had slowly gotten quieter and more shaky as she went on until it faded.
Potter looked surprised at that outburst so she just went on talking, "you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to reunite you two. It'll be great, you'll see Jason." She pulled him by the wrist after her and dragged him into the Great Hall. People started whispering as she walked to the Slytherin table with a Gryffindor trailing after her.
Hermione ignored them and stopped next to Perrin who turned to face all the commotion. His eyebrows raised as he saw who Hermione had behind her. Potter was trying to get his bearings when she sat by Perrin and pulled Jason next to her. Slytherins at the other end of the table, near Riddle and his group, glared at them. Guess they didn't like someone challenging them.
"Guys, this is Jason Thaddeus Potter and I'd like you all to be nice to him. Not because he's a Gryffindor but because he's my friend. Perrin, I believe you can vouch for me that Jason is a good person." They all sat there with their mouths open before Perrin broke the silence with a laugh.
"Of course he is, he was my best friend after all." Now it was their turn to look shocked, apparently they didn't know about his life before Hogwarts. She wondered if they even talked about life before Hogwarts. It was like Hogwarts was a way of living for everyone here. "Nice to see you again Jason, thought I wouldn't see you again when you stopped talking to me."
Jason nodded, "yeah, sorry. I thought you wouldn't want to be friends with me since you got into Ravenclaw and I didn't." He blushed a little, ashamed at his actions. Perrin just shook it off and said he forgave him, with that settled they began once again the process of becoming best friends.
Hermione, Eileen, Daendra, and Faran sat there and watched as they chatted. Al and Kahlan were talking and Aldwen was in the library again. "What a beautiful thing you've done Hermione. Given a man back his best friend." Daendra sniffled jokingly and Hermione snorted while elbowing her in the side as to not ruin the moment.
"Ha ha very funny guys." They all laughed except Faran and they looked to see why that was, only to find her practically drooling at the sight of Jason Potter. It was a good thing he was absorbed in the conversation with Perrin or it would have been obvious. Laughing once again they started poking Faran, she snapped out of it and blushed redder than the Weasley's hair.
"It wasn't what it looked like," Faran kept trying to deny it but they just giggled whenever she did. Finally, not long before breakfast was over, she gave in and admitted she was crushing hard on Potter. When everyone else left except them four they burst out in questions.
"Didn't you just meet him?" "How can you tell?" "Is it like love at first sight?"
"yes, I have no idea it just happened, and still not sure," she answered them all smoothly and walked away, embarrassed. "See you guys in class." Hermione just shook her head with amusement.
After Twix left Hermione turned to Eileen and Daendra, "I want to go give this book to Aldwen. Save me a seat." They nodded and went off towards Potions in the Dungeons.
XXX Potions XXX
The door slammed shut behind her and she trudged into Potions in dismay. Riddle would be in this class with her and she didn't want to face him after yesterday. If he was really dedicated to finding out her secrets she knew she couldn't stop him. Hopefully she'd find out his before he does the same, or else she would be toast.
Right in between Faran and Daendra was an open seat, on the other side of Daendra sat Eileen who was quietly doodling. Hermione claimed the seat just as Professor Slughorn stalked into the room.
Each of her friends nodded at her as if saying hello and she smiled in return. Then she glanced around the room, not really looking but somehow unconsciously searching. Ice blue eyes flashed to hers and she froze, the room got colder. This day wasn't going to be good, she thought while turning away and began to take notes.
XXX DADA XXX
Professor Grynz looked at the class with a smile on his face. "Today, I'm assigning your partners. I stayed up half the night to decide, so you better be happy with what you get." On his red wood desk was a list of names, he started reading them out after telling them to get up and stand by their partners when called.
Faran got partnered with Bradley Hawk, and went happily to his side. Behind his back she gave Hermione a wink and a sly smile. Daendra chuckled and elbowed Eileen who just rolled her eyes in response to their immaturity.
Daendra and Alphonse got called and Daendra stared in horror, they didn't get along too well. Much to her dismay she walked slowly to him and huffed. Hermione and Eileen giggled at her melodramatic personality. Perrin was named off after Alphonse, his dueling partner turned out to be Eileen Prince. Eileen blushed slightly as she shuffled over there, he smiled when she came over and she couldn't help blushing harder.
Hermione smirked at the sight, now she knew why Eileen had asked her about Perrin the other day. The girl clearly had a thing for Perrin Zerxim. "Hermione Bellevue, and…" The suspense had her going crazy, she absolutely hated surprises. Hopefully it wouldn't be…
"Tom Riddle." Her mouth dropped open. Hermione could have sworn that she'd just been thinking that. The gods' were surely laughing at her right now, how could they be so cruel?
She shot out of her chair, "but sir-," he cut her off before she got another word out.
"There will be no changes in dueling partners for you two, I'm sorry. Even if I needed to change your partners I can't, I looked through all the names and not one other person matched your two power levels. I've never seen any two students so adept at dueling as you two in all my years. It's like your born for fighting." She snorted, he didn't even know the half of it.
"Thank you Professor Grynz, but I must press on you my extreme distaste for my to be partner. If there is not another person here I can duel with, please, let me not participate in the dueling sessions." A frown had crept onto her face throughout her whole speech. Hermione already knew the answer but still hoped that he would excuse her from dueling. If Riddle was to be her partner, she didn't want any part in it. Being his dueling competitor wasn't her idea of fun, she'd surely be sent home in a coffin by the end of it.
"I'm sorry Bellevue, but the Headmaster has required that all students are to have dueling practice. There's nothing I can do." She scowled and grumbled the whole way over to Riddle's side. A smirk was plastered on the bastard's face and she huffed worse than Daendra.
"Shut up Riddle," she mumbled to him as the Professor called the next names, Cygnus Black and Haelen Ley. Hermione didn't listen to Riddle's response as she realized who the girl partnered with Black was, and he glared at her when she didn't answer. The Barbie-doll faced girl glared over to Hermione and flashed a seductive smile towards Riddle, though he didn't even notice seeing as he was focusing his death stare at her. She glanced between the two and started laughing, so that's what yesterday was about?
The Professor stopped and looked pointedly at her, "something you find funny?" Hermione cleared her throat and shook her head no. He continued reading them off and finished with Padney Parkinson and Dariella Goyle. Who'd have figured that Goyle and Parkinson would have the same amount of power, Hermione giggled to herself. Riddle shot her a look and she couldn't help but roll her eyes, he knew exactly how to get under her skin.
"Everyone to the side of the room please." All the students complied and with a wave of his wand the four seat tables turned into two seat tables. "You and your partner will sit in your assigned seats everyday, I will not tolerate any switching of seats. A detention will be given if I find any of that." Professor Grynz continued talking and giving instructions on the proper dueling positions after he gave them their seats.
Riddle's long, elegant fingers slid a piece of paper over to her, it read 'You can't run forever, Bellevue.' Smirking she grabbed her quill and ink bottle from the side of her desk, it was exactly the kind of hand writing she'd imagined from Riddle. Graceful and elegant, like his fingers. Hermione frowned, she'd imagined his hand writing? Shaking that off she wrote back, 'You can't hide forever, Riddle.' The paper slid smoothly over to him and she crossed her arms as he scribbled his next message. Professor Grynz just kept talking, his speech felt like it'd never end, and she'd never get out of here. Though, a little part of her like talking to Riddle, he was after all a brilliant wizard. Albeit for all the wrong reasons, he did remain woefully ignorant in other areas of magic.
'I will find out what you're hiding, it's only a matter of time. You would have already been dealt with if not for my disliking of wasting such raw talent. Join me, and you will have whatever you desire.' Hermione chuckled, first it was intimidation, then bribes. What could be next? But wasn't it her idea to work from the inside anyways? As she pondered as what to say she tapped the quill on the desk. Just because she was now Slytherin didn't mean she'd give in to simple bribery like that.
'If you were actually any closer to finding out what I'm supposedly hiding then you would have not bothered asking me. I'll clue you in on a secret Riddle, and I know that you have no trouble keeping secrets.' She paused, then pushed it over to him. Hermione didn't know what caused her to say that, she just felt that being mean to him didn't seem to be working. Perhaps it wasn't the best approach. It killed her to even think it but she needed to start being serious here, it couldn't hurt her to be nice… right?
'It will be our little secret. I promise.' The smugness behind his eyes showed that he thought she was falling for his bribe. In all reality, she wasn't, Hermione just wanted to see the look on his face.
'What I desire is to walk in my home and feel that I'm not alone anymore. I want to laugh without a care in the world and be able to smile without fearing someone can see through my façade. The things I want are things you can't possibly give me Riddle, because you can't see people for anything other than a way to get what you want. Don't think I'm one of your followers and will gladly throw away my humanity for power and wealth. The power of love is all I need.' As he read the note his face got considerably darker, he crumpled it up and it burst into flame.
The class went by without a response from Riddle, or even a look her way. It bugged her that he just kept acting like nothing ever happened. She guessed it was his way of saying fuck off, but what annoyed her the most was she wondered what he was thinking about. Hermione had never before met someone as difficult as him, or as complicated and mysterious.
XXX Lunch XXX
Lunch had just started and Hermione had just bitten into some of Hogwarts delicious ham sandwiches when Jason came to the Slytherin table with two other guys and a girl that gave her a feeling of déjà vu. They looked around at the other Slytherins nervously at first then gathered their Gryffindor courage and went up to Hermione and the rest of them.
"Hey Hermione, Perrin. These are my friends I'd like you to meet." Jason pointed to a tall blond haired kid with dark blue eyes, "this is Horace Hunter and Liam Blade, we usually just call him Blade." Liam was shorter than Jason with light chocolate brown hair and green eyes. "And one of my close friends Minerva McGonagall." Hermione coughed and slowly regained her posture.
How didn't she realize who it was the first moment she saw her? Minerva smiled at her, dark brown ringlets framed her face and made her rather fetching. She still had the glasses even now, and the same sharp blue eyes that caught everything.
"Oh, hi. I'm Hermione and these are my friends Al, Perrin, Faran, Daendra, Eileen, and I believe Aldwen is in the library. So you'll just have to meet her at dinner. You're all welcome to sit here, make room guys." They all shuffled around so everyone was able to squeeze in.
After the introductions were over they all started their own conversations and got to know each other better. Hermione looked over all her new friends and smiled, they'd certainly gathered a lot of people and it was only the second day here. Daendra and Horace were getting along, Blade and the rest of the guys were currently talking about the Quidditch tryouts coming up this Friday. She noticed Alphonse was giving Horace a glare for some reason and Hermione's eye brow shot up.
XXX Ancient Runes XXX
The bell rang for the end of History of Magic and Hermione got up gratefully. It was a long day and she's dreadfully tired. She grabbed her satchel and was on her way to Ancient Runes. It was one of her favorite classes so she didn't mind as much. While yawning she took a wrong step and slipped, her bag flew out of her hand and into a statue as she fell to the hard marble floor.
Hermione groaned and turned onto her back, stupid clumsiness, she thought. Her bag had spilled all its contents onto the ground and she went to clean them up but stopped short when she saw the book she'd summoned earlier. It seemed Hermione was forgetting a lot of things these days. After promising herself she'd read it later she shoved it to the bottom then piled the rest of her things in and went down the hall. The bell rang once again and she sighed, she'd be late for Ancient Runes.
Hermione pushed the door and walked in the class head held high, only to notice that Riddle's table was the only one open. Her friends mouthed 'sorry' to her and she just trudged over to the seat and sat down. Riddle turned to her finally and gave her a glare fiercer than earlier.
"Open your books and turn to page 409. We will be talking about the…" she scribbled notes hurriedly as the teacher Jane Wick went on about the history of runes. It was already things she'd learned so she zoned out for the class.
Thankfully it went by pretty quickly and she was spared her torture of being next to Riddle when the bell rang. Something dropped out of his pocket as he left his seat and practically ran for the door. Hermione tried to call after him, but by that time he'd already left.
A quill sat by his chair and she bent to pick it up. She'd just have to give it to him at the Prefects meeting.
When she got into the Head Dorm she fell upon the couch near the fire and sighed. So many things had occurred in the last few days she has been in the past and it was giving her a lot of stress not to mention a humongous headache. She set down a bowl of puppy chowder for Draco and water next to it. Then Hermione placed her bag near her and opened it to grab the book named Advanced Magic and Theories on Time Travel.
It was a huge book that covered her entire lap, she flipped it open to the first page and started reading. The text wasn't that hard of a read but it was over an hour of reading before she found anything useful on her situation.
Time is a very unstable thing, it will do many unpredictable things unless careful. Any time someone uses a time-turner to go to the future or past they are sent into a 'different' dimension. In this dimension they go back, so when ever someone changes time they create a new dimension parallel to the one they were first in. It is a very complicated hypothesis that I will only touch on.
Some believe that once locked in a time where there's no way to change back to the first dimension then there is no possible way back. Contrary to that belief I have findings that prove one might be able to open a portal to a different time using core magic. Only with core magic is someone able to open a door, but it is still very rare considering there are a limited amount of people with the necessary natural power level.
The steps to this procedure is stated in the back with the other spells and conjurations listed. A door is hard to make because the whole time it's opened someone is using their own core to keep it that way. It's not only that one has to use power to open it, but also to keep it open. This is the tricky part, it's why this process would better be used with two people than one.
Hermione pondered on those few informational paragraphs while scratching Draco's fur. Suddenly, the door to the Head Room opened and revealed a pleased looking Riddle. She slammed the book shut and shoved it into her bag before he read the title.
Though, her efforts were for not when he purposely ignored her and marched into his room. Hermione entertained the thought of knocking on his door and giving him his quill before shaking her headroom. He probably wouldn't even answer the door, after the meeting will just have to do.
A part of her didn't know why she wanted to give it back, but her Gryffindor part of her scoffed at her Slytherin thoughts. After all, Riddle was poor, as she recalled Harry telling her. It wasn't like he was made of money, maybe that's why he's so meticulous and clean.
Riddle had to make up for his lack of money by making everyone do as he commanded so he could show them it wasn't all about money or blood. It was really depressing once someone thought about it, anybody could become like Riddle if they went through the things he did.
The more she kept thinking about it the more it made her think that maybe Riddle did have a heart, but just kept it hidden for fear of getting hurt? Truthfully it sounded a bit cliché, but perhaps it was part of the reason he started this domination plan.
Hermione went back to reading and hoped she'd find more clues to fix her situation after that epiphany.
XXX Dinner XXX
Plates of food appeared on the four different tables as she sat down on the hard benches. Hermione was starving after reading for two hours and scooped food onto her plate as the Great Hall filled in.
She nodded to each of her new friends as they came in and sat down around her, including the Gryffindor friends of Jason. Aldwen came in last with her head stuck in a book. Hermione smiled at the resemblance between the future (or past) Hermione and Aldwen Verticius.
"Hey Alddy, we have a few people we'd like you to meet if you'd get your face out of your latest book," Al chuckled at her with his normal, goofy smile. When she sat down and put away her book Alphonse continued, "this is Liam Blade, aka 'Blade'. Horace Hunter and Minerva McGonagall." He pointed at each person as he named them and Aldwen smiled and nodded at each in return.
They all ate in silence tonight, for everyone felt a bit worn after the long day. It seemed there was a lot of homework this night, and it was only the second day out of a few hundred. Hermione grabbed her bag, "I'll see you guys later. Perrin, Horace, Eileen, I'll see you in the Head Room for our Prefects meeting in thirty." They nodded, seeing as their mouths were full of the scrumptious food.
XXX Prefect Meeting XXX
Hermione waited patiently, hands folded on her lap while the Prefects filed into the room. Riddle waited in the other chair identical to hers to the left of her, as they faced the expanded room. They had worked silently before the Prefects had arrived to expand the room and made more seats for the twenty four Prefects.
Two Prefects, one male the other female, were picked from 7th, 6th, and 5th year to become the 'elite' students of Hogwarts. Including the Head Girl and Head Boy and that totals up to twenty four students. She smiled at her friends as they entered together. Once everyone was there and seated they began, or Riddle did at least.
"I have made a chart of who, when, and where people will be patrolling the corridors. Your partners will not be switched during that month, but they do vary from month to month. If you're not happy with the person, deal with it." No one even grumbled a word as he spoke, they were all contentedly listening to him. If it was out of fear or reverence Hermione didn't know.
As he continued his speech Hermione noticed that one of the Weasley twins' was a sixth year prefect. Also not far from Riddle, go figure, was Haelen Ley who now had bandages covering her shoulder. The girl was giving her a stare that could kill, so she looked elsewhere. Next to the Weasley girl was a boy in fifth year, a Ravenclaw, that had long bleach blond hair and black eyes that seemed glazed over. To Hermione he looked like a Lovegood, but she couldn't be sure.
Hermione let Riddle handle all the speaking because he didn't even go over any of this with her, even if he was supposed to. "The teachers have been speaking about having a ball for this upcoming Halloween. Raise your hand if you concur with this idea." Every person except Riddle and three other boys raised their hand.
The meeting went faster than she anticipated, people were leaving and she just hung back until it cleared out. When the last person finally trailed out she turned to Riddle, just a little pissed. "So, when were you going to tell me you went ahead and did the schedule without consulting me? I'm Head Girl too if you haven't noticed! The whole point of it is to help each other do these duties, not you just do them behind my back!"
"Well, you looked a little busy fraternizing with your friends. I reckoned that you didn't have time to do any of it," Riddle replied coolly. He just appeared to have an answer for everything now didn't he? God dammit, when she got pissed she didn't want him talking her down with plain logic, that was her line!
"Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "Next time, talk to me before you reckon anything!" Hermione breathed in and out before speaking again slowly, "in Ancient Runes you dropped this and I thought you'd like it back." After handing the quill to him she went to leave only to be halted by a hand on her arm.
She braced herself for another insult or something but was taken by surprise, "My thanks, Bellevue." Hermione looked into his eyes and saw that he at least partly meant it before acknowledging him with a shake of the head, even if he did look disgusted to say it. Then she went in her room Draco trailing behind her. Things were sure getting weird around here, evil lords saying thank you, who knew?
