Chapter Ten - Hermione's Saviour

Disclaimer: Hermione, Tom, Dumbledore, etc. do not belong to me. They are owned by J.K. Rowling.

Hermione purposefully ignored Tom the rest of the weekend. She never looked at him in the Great Hall and refused to even acknowledge his presence when with Minerva in the Heads' Common Room. Though it irked Tom greatly, he decided that it would be best for him to let her cool off. She ought to be back to normal by Monday, or at least as normal as she had ever been. However, he had not counted on Hermione's remarkable resistance to charm and handsome features. She had barely spoken to him all week. By Wednesday, he realized that her pride would not allow her to forgive him unless he took drastic measures.

These drastic measures were nearly unpalatable to Tom. They began with Tom sitting by her in every class telling her how sorry he was and begging for her to forgive him. This earned him a wandless silencing spell. The next class, he tried writing her notes. He soon found his quill exploding in a ball of flames, which Dumbledore conveniently ignored, much to Tom's disgust. On Thursday, Tom gave her flowers outside of the Great Hall after breakfast. She looked at them for a moment, then threw them at him. He soon discovered that they had been transfigured into poison ivy and nettles, eliciting an angry expletive. Tom was beginning to run out of ideas.

The antics of the couple had been observed with great interest by the rest of the school. Slughorn looked at them knowingly in potions, winking at them at least once every class. Lower form girls immediately began whispering any time Tom or Hermione entered the library or Great Hall. But Hermione still remained oblivious to the conclusion that had been drawn by most of the school until Minerva took it upon herself to inform her Thursday night.

They were sitting on Minerva's bed, talking about the newest issue of The Alchemist's Magazine. Hermione had placed a silencing charm on the walls immediately upon entering, so Minerva was not afraid that Tom would overhear what she had to say. She waited for the right moment to present itself; Hermione had a gaze that a medusa would envy which manifested itself whenever Tom was mentioned in the conversation, and though it did not scare Minerva, it did make her distinctly uncomfortable. Finally, Minerva decided that it would be best to just jump in headfirst.

"Hermione, have you heard what people have been saying about you and Tom?" she asked matter-of-factly.

"What, that he's a self-centered prick and I finally got tired of listening to him nursing his wounds?" Hermione replied sarcastically.

"No, that you had a 'lover's spat,' at least, that's what Slughorn said to Professor LeRue at the teacher's table at dinner yesterday," Minerva lied, knowing that Hermione would never dare ask Slughorn about it.

"What?" Hermione shrieked. Minerva winced at her shrill tone. "That's ridiculous!"

"Well, you are acting like it," Minerva said. "They figure that if you didn't like him, you wouldn't care so much about whatever it was that he said. Just like you ignore people who insult you about being Muggleborn." "Maybe now she'll tell me exactly what he said that made her so angry," she thought.

"That is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard," Hermione yelled. "I listened to him for days about how much he missed Louisa, even though I don't like him, only to be accused of never having a boyfriend or even caring about someone!"

"They don't know that," Minerva said, pointing in the general direction of the Great Hall. "What are you going to do about this mess?"

"The only thing I can do is treat him normally again," Hermione decided after thinking for a moment.

"I hope that doesn't mean following him around all day and spying on him like we were before," Minerva said edgily.

"There isn't really any reason to," Hermione admitted. "He hasn't done anything that Voldemort would. I've barely even seen him talk to the other Slytherins, let alone order them around. Myrtle said that he was nice to her. He almost seems like the antithesis of a dark wizard. If he is one, then there is no way for us to prove it and we are probably more likely to find out by not posing a threat. If he isn't, then the rest of our final school year will be much less stressful."

Minerva was relieved. "That sounds like a good idea. So are you going to quit giving people the evil eye when they mention Tom now?"

"I suppose I ought to," said Hermione, laughing. "I wouldn't want to scare everyone too badly."

Tom knew very well what the school believed his relationship with Hermione to be and it couldn't have pleased him more. Unfortunately, every day that Hermione refused to speak to him was another day of lost information. Not knowing that Hermione had determined to forgive him, he called the first Death Eater meeting since he had started dating Louisa.

They were all present in the far end of the dungeons by one o'clock. They were very curious about what Tom had to tell them. There had been murmurs of discontent about how he had abandoned the group in the last few months. They would not be disappointed by his instructions.

"My loyal friends," Tom began. "You have done well these past few months. The Mudblood has not suspected us at all. Now you have a new task. Tomorrow, several of you will accost her as she walks to potions. You must take her by surprise, since she is more than capable of defeating any of you if she is allowed time to get to her wand. You must silence her and pull her into the storage room two doors down from the laboratory. Be on your guard, as she is skilled in wandless magic. Blindfold her as a precaution; it will make it more difficult for her to aim her spells. Do not harm her beyond a few bruises and scrapes. I would recommend not using spells at all, since they could easily be recovered using Priori Incantatum should you be questioned," he finished.

"My lord," said Lestrange nervously, "who will do this?"

"I will notify you tonight. Those who are bitten by the snake will carry out my orders. The rest of you will report to class as usual. Tomorrow night, I will meet you individually to Obliviate your memories of this meeting. Do well tomorrow and I will be pleased. If you fail, you will be punished harshly," he warned in an emotionless voice.

"Yes, my lord," they bowed. Tom swept out of the room and went up to his room, unseen as usual.

The seventh-year N.E.W.T.-level students were scheduled for potions all morning on Friday. Hermione was running late. The strap to her bag had broken in the hallway. She scrambled about on her knees trying to gather all of her notes and books. She checked her watch; only two minutes before class started. She heard someone approach behind her. A voice whispered, "Petrificus Totalus." Hermione couldn't move. A blindfold was placed over her eyes from behind, blocking the view of her assailant. She was dragged into a room along the hallway, she didn't know which one.

"Not so powerful now, are you, little Mudblood?" a sinister voice whispered. "Did you seriously thing that we would accept you in this school?" The owner of the voice slapped her and spit on her face.

"The answer would be 'no'," a second voice said harshly. "Oh look, the Mudblood didn't get to answer first. She's finally learning her place." Someone kicked her in the ribs. She screamed silently in pain.

Hermione felt the petrifying spell begin to wear off. She cautiously felt for her wand among her robes. Luckily, her assailants had forgotten to remove it. "I'll only have one chance," she thought, trying to put together a plan. She heard the door open. Hermione began to get scared. Taking three on would be much more difficult.

"Lumos," the new voice said rather loudly. "That sounds like Tom," Hermione noticed.

"What are you doing in here? Take off those hoods so I can see who you are!" Tom ordered.

They remained silent. Hermione managed to kick one of them in the leg. They had moved to block her from view of the door when Tom walked in.

The first one yelped.

"What are you hiding?" Tom demanded. "Move aside."

The attackers stood still. Tom drew his wand and waved it. They went sprawling across the small room, allowing Tom to see Hermione. Tom appeared shocked for split-second, then ran up to her. Remembering the others in the room, he quickly turned around. He saw the ends of their robes disappear from the doorway and the door slam shut. He sprinted to the door, but they had locked it from the outside. "Alohamora," he tried, but nothing happened.

"Are you all right?" he asked Hermione, sounding genuinely concerned. She pointed to her face, still silenced and blindfolded.

"Oh, right," Tom said as he removed the blindfold. "Finite Incantatum."

Hermione sat up slowly, only to whimper and clutch her side.

"Are you hurt?" Tom asked worriedly.

"They kicked my side. It feels like I have a broken rib or two," she replied.

"I'll help you up to the hospital wing. Slughorn won't mind if I miss class," Tom said.

"'Course not, you're his all-time favorite pupil," she tried to joke, wincing as she laughed.

"I think you might have tied me in that respect," Tom admitted. After a few seconds, he spoke again.

"Do you have any idea who attacked you?" he asked, anger in his voice.

"No, they attacked me from behind and put a blindfold on me before I could see them. They whispered the whole time so I couldn't identify them by their voices."

"What did they whisper about?"

"They called me a Mudblood and said that I needed to learn my place," said Hermione resentfully, wiping at the dried saliva on her face. "Like a house elf, I would imagine," she added bitterly.

"Some people are idiots. They won't accept you unless you force them every step of the way," said Tom intensely, remembering his first year at Hogwarts.

"Could you please get us out of here?" Hermione asked faintly, "I would really like to go to the hospital wing."

"Sorry," Tom said, standing and turning to face the door again. First, he tried Alohamora again, with no more success. Then he began trying other spells. "Exsolvo… Hníga… Agored." None of them worked. Finally, he decided to try the Muggle way. He conjured a lockpick and started work on the lock. Lockpicking was one of the skills he had picked up in the orphanage before attending Hogwarts. Within a minute, the lock was open.

"Impressive," Hermione said.

"Sometimes doing things the Muggle way requires a lot less effort," he replied. Realizing that she was still on the floor, he went over to help her up.

"Do you think that you can walk?" he asked.

"We'll find out in a moment." Hermione began to walk gingerly, then gained more confidence.

"I'll be fine, you can go to potions."

"No, I'll go with you, just in case they try to attack you again. I can carry your bag for you at least," he said.

"Thank you," Hermione said, feeling a little ashamed about how she had treated him in the past week. Tom apparently was thinking about the same thing.

"Does this mean that you are going to start speaking to me again?" he asked hopefully as they walked.

"I suppose I could," answered Hermione, a small smile gracing her features.

"That's good," he said, relief in his voice. "We really need to get working on our runes project. It was kind of hard to get much done this week."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said ashamedly. "You just made me so angry, then I was upset thinking about everyone from home who had been killed, so I wasn't acting very logically. I guess that I was being at least a self-pitying as you were, maybe more."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Tom asked rhetorically with a smile.

"Friends with Lord Voldemort. Just think what Harry and Ron would say about it. They went crazy when I was friends with Viktor," she reminisced, letting out a short laugh, before remembering the state of her ribs.

"What's so funny?" Tom asked curiously.

"I was just thinking about my friends and what they would have said," she replied.

"What would they have said?" he asked with a smile.

"Well, probably something like this," Hermione joked, pulling an outraged face. "'Hermione, have you gone bonkers? Are you Imperio-ed? He's a bloody Slytherin!'" she shouted quietly, mimicking Ron.

Tom laughed as they arrived at the infirmary. The nurse immediately put Hermione to bed and gave her a Bone-Mending potion. Tom came over by her bed.

"I hope that you don't think that I'm just 'a bloody Slytherin,'" Tom said seriously. "It seems like you did at the beginning of the year."

"Yes, I did, but a bloody Slytherin would have just left me back in that room, not rescued me," she replied sleepily. "You better go to potions and tell Slughorn where we were. I'll see you tomorrow. We should meet in the library to work on our mirror."

"What time?" Tom asked.

"Could you get me my bag?"

Tom grabbed it and set it on the edge of her bed. Riffling through it, she came up with two silver sickles. She quickly cast the Protean Charm on them.

"I'll put the time on it tomorrow," she said, handing one of them to him. "Now go to class, or I'll have to deduct points," she added in her best prefect's voice.

"Yes, ma'am," Tom said mock respectfully, leaving the infirmary. He went back to potions, a smirk on his face. He stopped at the door, schooling his face into an upset expression.

Most of the class was too focused on their potions to notice his entrance. He walked up to Professor Slughorn, who was sitting at his desk munching on candied pineapple.

"Tom, my boy, where have you been?" Slughorn questioned.

"I had to help Hermione up to the infirmary," Tom replied.

"What happened?" Slughorn asked loudly, garnering the attention of the whole room.

"She was attacked in the hallway on her way to class. If I hadn't come along, I don't know what would have happened to her."

"Did you apprehend the culprits?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't. When I entered the room, they ran out and locked the door from the outside. I was more concerned about Hermione than about catching them," Tom explained.

"It sounds like you're practically a hero. I will take it upon myself to explain the situation to Headmaster Dippet. We can't have students attacking each other in the hallway," Slughorn said solemnly.

"What potion did you cover today, sir?" Tom asked.

"Oh, nothing too difficult, just Gregory's Unctuous Unction. You can come down with Hermione sometime to make it, since you won't have enough time to finish today."

Thank you, professor," Tom said gratefully.

Tom went to see Hermione after Transfiguration that afternoon. The second he entered, Hermione began talking.

"What did I miss in Potions and Transfiguration?" she asked anxiously.

"Not much, Gregory's Unctuous Unction and the beginning of our unit on Animagus. Slughorn said that we should just come in sometime and make it. He isn't concerned about it at all. On Monday, we'll be testing our potential for becoming an Animagus, so our only assignment is to read the chapter on it in our textbook," Tom reassured her.

"Oh, good. I didn't want to get behind," said Hermione, relieved.

"Slughorn was going to tell Dippet about your attack this morning. Hopefully, they'll be able to find out who did it."

"I hope that I find them first," Hermione said angrily. "I have a lot of good spells for people like that, attacking me from behind my back."

"I'll try to think of who it might have been," Tom promised. "I at least saw their height, even though they had hoods that prevented me from seeing their faces."

"Fine, but tell me before you tell Dippet," said Hermione, rather bloodthirstily.

They talked a little about their classes before Tom excused himself, saying that he wanted to look up some techniques for making their mirror.

Instead, he went up to the clock tower. Armand Crabbe and Douglas Goyle were waiting for him. Hermione had seen them around school, but had never bothered to introduce herself, making them perfect for Tom's scheme.

"You did very well this morning," Tom congratulated them.

"Thank you, my lord," Crabbe replied stupidly.

"You are very lucky that you remembered to blindfold her. If she had seen the family crest on your ring, you would have been caught for sure," Tom continued, glaring at them dangerously.

The two thugs began to look nervous.

"If I was not in a particularly forgiving mood, you would be right to be nervous," Tom said.

"However, there was no harm done this time. See that you are more cautious next time. Obliviate! There, do you remember what you did this morning?" he asked.

"No, my lord," Goyle answered, looking somewhat confused. "I think we just went to breakfast, then went back to the dormitory. That's what we usually do."

"Very good, go back to the common room now," Tom ordered.

The two Slytherins trudged out of the tower, tripping down the stairs. Tom snorted in disgust. "Why do I even bother with these idiots?" he wondered.

He stood there several minutes, watching the gears in the clock. Seeing them always calmed him and reminded him to be patient in his plans. "If the gears are built correctly, nothing is left to chance," he thought.

Tom went through the events of the day in his mind. They had occurred exactly as he had planned. The strap on Hermione's bag had broken after a sly Diffindo spell that cut partway through it. Crabbe and Goyle had successfully attacked her. After making them practice the petrifying and silencing spells most of the night, he had had no doubts as to their capabilities. Most importantly, he had rescued her, appearing nearly Gryffindoric in his actions. It was only a matter of time before Hermione trusted him. She had already began to tell him about her past and admitted that he was not as bad as she had thought. "I will have her by Christmas at the latest," Tom gloated. "She will never again be a threat to me."