AN: I've given you all that I've pre-written, so the updates will slow a bit. I will try to post twice a week starting now, but I won't tie myself to a specific date…anyway, here is the next bit, hope you enjoy!
Hermione threw herself into her new obsession whole heartedly. In fact it took several weeks for her to realize that Tom was feeling left out by her short, intense discussions with Dumbledore and the way she went back into her books immediately afterward.
She looked up one evening while she was sipping the awful stew at dinner, about to make a comment…and he wasn't there.
She rushed around the orphanage, around the grounds, checked the shed…
She finally found him up in a tree with a snake twined around his fingers.
"Tom!" He looked down coldly until he noticed her pink cheeks and wild hair.
"Are you hurt?" There was that note of command in his voice…the one he'd used in the pensive memory Dumbledore had given Harry in her original timeline. She frowned. "I was just worried. I looked up and you weren't there. I thought we were studying together."
He snorted as the little snake danced around his fingers. "You don't study with people Hermione. You're in your own little world with just you and the books and whatever thoughts are hiding in that wild hair." The venom in his voice brought tears to her eyes.
She whispered, "You don't want to find the philosopher's stone?" An errant tear tried to trickle down her cheek but she pushed it away.
"I just don't see any reason to follow you around like your faithful hound."
The phrase wasn't his own…it must have been the group of boys…the ones that teased all the children.
"You are my friend. While we're here at the orphanage, I just want you close so I know you are safe."
He spat, "I'm the better duelist of the two of us."
She sighed. "I think you really are. But that doesn't mean anything to the part of my mind that tries to panic when I look up and don't know where you are."
He whispered something to the snake and it crawled out of his hand and back into the tree where he'd presumably found it. Then he jumped down. "You can't ignore me all day and then panic when you look up and figure out I've found better things to do. And you have ink on your nose." He walked away, head high.
She sat down at the roots of the tree as the sun set.
The little snake hissed at her as it came down the trunk and Hermione gave it a wide berth. She didn't think it was poisonous, but you never knew…Tom would attract whichever snake was most dangerous in an area.
She finally dusted herself off as the stars began to twinkle. Mrs. Cole caught her as she returned and chivvied her toward her 'chores'…apparently she'd forgotten them for days. How long had it been?
She was weary when she finished for the night. Tom was reading on his bed as she passed, but she didn't speak and neither did he.
He joined her after breakfast the next day in the shed as they waited to leave. Dumbledore noticed the chill between them. He didn't mention it though. She suspected he was at an important point in his research, but he didn't make a habit of discussing groundbreaking research with children. Pity.
She picked up the next book in the stack, but didn't open it. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
Tom looked up unwillingly. He did notice that she had a brand new book in her lap that she wasn't opening…a feat of self-restraint was unusual in and of itself.
"I didn't mean to ignore you. I don't even know how many days I did it. I forget to do everything that's not automatic when I'm wrapped up in a project. I just haven't been like this…for a long while."
"Being my friend isn't automatic?"
She grimaced. "Not the talking part. Except when I have a good idea. Then I won't shut up…"
Tom laughed…a startled, uninhibited sound that she'd never heard from him.
He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. She felt slightly better…he was her only real friend after all.
She put her hand on his cheek and leaned over to kiss it. "Don't let me get distracted from what's important again."
His eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
She rolled her eyes as she opened the book. "I mean, finding the philosopher's stone wouldn't be worth much if I lost you in the process."
"Eternal life and all the gold you could want wouldn't be worth much?"
She shook her head. "Nope." She made the popping 'p' sound because it always made him smile when she did it.
His cheeks went red as he opened his book. "Stop lollygagging then. We have an impossible task to overcome and it's nearly time for our walk."
HGHGHGHGHG
The summer flew by, but Hermione barely noticed. Malfoy kept sending his owl with invitations to his home for 'little get togethers'. Hermione always answered them with the excuse that they weren't allowed to leave the orphanage unaccompanied by an adult from the school. After the third time she wrote him, he seemed to get the idea and wrote one last note.
"Very well, if you are certain you cannot attend this summer, I insist that you and young Tom come to my home for the Christmas Holiday. My mother will arrange the visit with Dippet. I know this will be acceptable because Professor Slughorn will also be in attendance."
Hermione said a word that would have horrified her mother, but Tom echoed it.
"He doesn't give up."
She sighed. "I know. And we'll surely need dress robes and gifts if we go to that party." She folded the invitation neatly. "But we don't have a choice now that he's involved the adults."
Tom was clearly unhappy. "Oh well, I suppose we'll just have to transfigure our everyday robes into something like wizard's dress robes. How hard could it be?"
HGHGHG
It was harder than it looked. Hermione was well able to mend a rip or change the color of her robes, but remaking them into beautiful, stylish dress robes wasn't something she could do without lots of research…time she certainly didn't want to spend while she had Dumbledore's lab to play in and with a pen pal like Flamel.
"Any chance we can find some 'classic' robes second hand? "
Tom gave her a look that said she was clearly insane. "Not any from this century."
"I don't have a problem with that to be perfectly honest."
They went to every shop in Diagon Alley (she had to physically restrain Tom from checking out Knockturn when he saw it). "There won't be any robes down there."
He was quite drawn to the place and she sighed. "I've heard it's dodgy. I don't want to go down there and figure out if there are wizards with the same tastes as those Muggles that were taking kids from the orphanage. At least not until I know quite a few more spells and have a better way to hide from the trace."
Tom stopped and looked at her. "You've used that term before."
She realized she'd never explained about the trace exactly. "The Ministry, in its' infantile wisdom, places a monitoring charm on students when we go to Hogwarts. It's supposed to detect the presence of underage magic among Muggles. I'm not certain, but I think that it is automatically rendered ineffective during the school year. I do know for a fact that in places like Hogsmead and Diagon Alley that the number of magic uses confuses the trace to the point where it is rendered totally useless. If a non-wizard used magic at the orphanage, they would probably send one or both of us a warning letter…" She felt her lips quirk. "Say if a house elf used a hover charm or some such thing…"
Tom snorted at the likelihood of a house elf being at the grim orphanage. "I think that the trigger for the trace might very well be at Hogwarts, but I can't be sure. It's very unfair because the Ministry assumes that any magic done at a wizarding residence is caused by an adult. Whereas a Muggleborn automatically gets a letter threatening to expel them. I hate double standards." She said the last bit to herself and Tom nodded.
Tom looked down the dodgy alley once more and sighed. "So you think we're safe enough here in Diagon Alley but you don't know about Knockturn…"
"And there's also a charm to check to see what spells have been used by a wand. We don't want to get caught using anything at all, but especially something we shouldn't."
Tom nodded. Then he gave her a sly look. "You know…for someone who is such a teacher's pet, you know more about rule breaking than anyone I've ever met."
HGHGHGHGHG
Dumbledore finished his experiments the week before term. Hermione asked him if he planned to publish his notes during the school year. The wizard nodded. "I think I've found everything there is to find, finally."
Hermione sighed happily. Another bit of knowledge she wouldn't have to remember to hide. "Is there any chance I could read your papers. I found one you published in…"
Dumbledore held up his hand. "Of course you can. Come to my office once you get settled and both you and your young knight can peruse to your heart's content."
"Thank you!"
Dumbledore laughed. "Well, it's not every year we have such keen students. Professor Slughorn is considering lowering the age of the Slug Club in order to include the two of you sooner, but I argued against it."
Tom frowned. "That…gathering Malfoy is always going on about?"
"Horace is something of a collector of interesting and unusual people. Your young Mr. Malfoy is cut from the same cloth I believe."
Tom glared at the insinuation that Malfoy was Hermione's. Dumbledore saw that as well, but he didn't make a comment. He simply changed the subject.
"Both of you are ready for your next term?" They nodded. Dumbledore seemed to understand that they were not 'normal' children. Still, it surprised Hermione that he hadn't bothered to accompany them on their shopping trip this year. There were dark circles under the older wizard's eyes and he'd been pushing himself this summer…
"Things are getting worse on the continent aren't they?"
Dumbledore's head shot up. Then he seemed to remember her 'past' with a dark wizard. He sighed. "Yes. Grindelwald has just revealed a new prison…one he intends to send enemies of the state to. He's quietly sending out inquiries all over Europe and even here in Great Brittan. He finally feels secure in his home country and now he's doing what I always feared…the Prussian ministry had already allied with him and the French are resisting, but quietly. The Dutch and the Portuguese are against him, but only because he's foreign, not because of what he stands for."
Tom growled. "He wants to rid the world of Muggleborns."
Dumbledore shook his head. "That's not exactly true. He is not completely opposed to Muggleborns, particularly when they are powerful. Some of his most ardent supporters are pure-blood fanatics. He wants to rule over the muggles. He and his ilk think that mastery over them is the natural order."
Hermione huffed. "Might makes right."
Dumbledore nodded.
She patted his hand. "How long has he been watching you?"
The wizard cocked his head in surprise. "How long have you suspected that?"
Hermione shrugged. "Since the orange tuxedo. It was such an odd choice. It was obviously meant to draw attention toward yourself. Like a muggle magician's sleight of hand. You didn't want him to see us."
Dumbledore nodded. "We shall have to hope that Grindelwald's agents are less perceptive than an eleven year old girl then. Otherwise that rather extreme fashion choice was all for naught."
Hermione's lips quirked. "Well, the color did look fabulous with your hair."