AN- I know you want love to blossom quickly like it does in most stories. You know that doesn't happen in real life. They will make progress chapter by chapter until they eventually admit it. You will just have to stay on for the ride. (And thank you to those who understand this)

Oh, last chapter, if you were wondering. Nothing happened with Pardie and Naomi. He may like a sixteen year old when he's 20-ish, but he is a gentleman.

I love this quote from the Hole:

"Have you ever loved anyone so much you didn't care what happened to yourself? You just had to be with them. If they look at you, your heart stops. If you feel their breath on your skin, you just ache. Have you ever craved anyone so much you didn't exist any more?"

Chapter Eleven

There was a test in Divination that day. 'A student dies not too long ago, and Pardie gives us a test… You'd think they'd give us a few days off, but they don't. You'd think there would be no tests for at least a few more weeks. Apparently not.' The test was on astronomy primarily. It should have been easy enough but Hermione was nervous all the same seeing as Divination was a horrible subject. Tom reassured her that she would do fine. He helped her study for this test for hours upon hours and days upon days. She had the intention to tell him that he was full of crap (words inspired by Ron), because Hermione seriously doubted that she would be fine. At the moment, she could not remember one thing about the subject. The look on Tom face made her not tell him her theory. He looked so sure of it all. He truly was very charming and handsome, especially when he was certain. Truth be told, she could not ignore it. And, these days, she was spending more time with Tom than with Rebecca or Naomi. In fact, during the test he insisted to sit next to her.

"I'm going to fail." She said. Before most tests, she was certain she would fail no matter how long she studied or how hard. Ron and Harry would always just roll their eyes and tell her that she never failed anything in her life. They were right, but Hermione always had that feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her that she would fail.

"No. You aren't. Stop lying to yourself. We've been through this." Tom told her.

Hermione sighed. It was true, they had been through this. Just about every ten minutes or less Hermione told Tom that she was going to fail the test. He would tell her the same thing every time.

As Professor Pardie handed out the test parchment, Hermione's heart pounded within her chest. 'Breathe. In through your nose, and out through your mouth… Or is it in with your mouth and out through your nose?'

"Are you quite alright, Miss Rowley?" Professor Pardie asked her in a whisper so he did not embarrass her.

"She is just nervous, Professor." Tom answered for her. Hermione nodded to confirm Tom's answer. Professor Pardie gave her a sympathetic look and continued passing out the tests.

"You may begin." Pardie told the class.

Thankfully, she knew the answer to the first question. As well as the second, third, fourth, and so on. It was a fairly easy test. Hermione was thankful for that. When it was all over, she smiled.

"I think I passed." Hermione told Tom with confidence ringing in the sound of her voice.

"I knew you would." He told her with a smirk. "I am a wonderful teacher, after all."

"Of course, it was all you. Don't feel the need to credit how smart I may be." Hermione joked.

"You would have failed that test if I didn't offer to tutor you." He pointed out.

Hermione laughed this off, even though she thought it could be true. "Thank you, Tom." She said in a sing-song voice and gave him an unexpected hug. She felt Tom's shoulders straighten and his arms stiffen. He brought his hand up to pat her on the back.

Suddenly he did something Hermione never expected to hear from Tom Riddle. He sneezed… right into her hair.

Hermione had to do a double take. It was kind of like hearing God say, "I'm hungry. Let's eat." You never really expected it to happen, especially when it was in your hair. Hermione did not really mind. She did have a water beetle in her hair before, which turned out to be Rita Skeeter. "Bless you." She said with a raised eyebrow and pulled away from the hug to examine her hair. No snot sightings… good.

He nodded and sneezed again. "I'm so—" Sneeze. "Sorry."

"It's alright. Are you sick?" Hermione asked. 'Do Dark Lords get sick?' she wondered.

"Just a cold." He managed to say before another sneeze.

'Ah, yes. Hanging out in the Chamber of Secrets might do that to people.'

…………………………………………………..

Hermione felt something hit her forehead at lunch that day. They were sitting with the Slytherins again. Hermione sat across from Tom. She looked up in confusion and saw Tom holding grapes and just looking at her. Slowly, he picked one off of its vine and prepared to throw one her way.

"Tom…" she said.

He arched his wrist more with a small smirk on his face.

"Tom… don't you dare."

Then he threw it at her and it hit her right on her forehead. Her eyes closed immediately as a sort of reflex. She opened her eyes to glare at him.

"I have things to throw too." She threatened as she scooped a small portion of mashed potatoes from her plate with a spoon.

"Jane… please don't throw—" Sneeze. He sniffed a few times and pulled out a tissue from his book bag.

"I wouldn't throw mashed potatoes at you. That's just cruel." She put down her spoon and examined the food on her plate. "It's also cruel to throw apple sauce and pumpkin juice… I have nothing to throw." Her eyes darted to his grapes. "Accio grapes!" she said with a quick flick of her wand, which was resting on the table next to her silverware. When the grapes arrived in her hand, he looked defeated. "It's time for pay back, Mister Riddle." Hermione threw a grape, which did not hit him at all. He laughed loudly at her. She threw another one and it hit him in the shoulder.

When she reached to grab another one, Tom interrupted. "You're wasting my food. I'd like to eat those grapes, thank you."

Hermione's mouth dropped open in disbelief. 'You started it!'

"And now you're going to catch flies." He pointed out and gestured toward her mouth with a frustrated face.

She closed her mouth and tossed his grapes across the table to him. Rebecca nudged her in the side lightly. "We should get going. Class will be starting soon."

"Really? What time is it?" Hermione asked her. Lunch seemed like it was flying by very fast…

Rebecca shrugged. "I'm not sure. Most of the Gryffindors are gone, though." Rebecca pointed and smiled, "Look. Maybe they're trying to tell us something. It has to mean something…" she joked.

"Maybe they're using some secret code to tell us that class will be starting soon." Naomi suggested with a nod of her blonde head.

"That has to be it!" Rebecca laughed. "We should go."

Everyone who was sitting with their backs facing the Gryffindor table turned to see it for themselves. Indeed, most of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws had gone. All the Slytherins, however, were all at their table enjoying their meals without so much of a care in the world. With smiles on their faces, they did not care if they were late for class. Hermione came to the conclusion that they were making fun of people, or plotting some cruel event to take place. It was the Slytherin way, after all. If the topic of conversation was a kind thing, Hermione would be terribly surprised.

"Let us go, then." Tom said. He got up first, and everyone else followed after. Hermione sat and watched them all follow him. It reminded her how baby ducks followed their mother around all day. He shot her a confused look. "Are you coming, Jane?"

"Jane!" a voice interrupted. Hermione looked up to see who was calling her.

"What does he want?" Thorvald complained rather loudly. Naomi glared at him and he looked confused.

"Miss Rowley, wait!" Professor Pardie jogged to the Slytherin table. "Hello, Miss Lucas." He waved at Naomi, who smiled at him.

"Yes, Professor?" asked Hermione.

"I just wanted to tell you that you passed my test this morning. You were so nervous; I just wanted you to have that load taken off of your shoulders." He told her politely.

Hermione smiled brightly at her professor. 'I know.' "Oh, thank you, Professor. That's a relief."

"I told you that you would pass." Tom said from across the table.

Hermione smiled at him and nodded. "I told you that I passed it."

"Say…" Professor Pardie pondered. "Is this not the Slytherin table?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, it is." Tom answered.

"Enlighten me then," he said with a laugh hiding in his voice, "what are all of these Ravenclaws doing at the Slytherin table?"

…………………………………………………..

"You know," Hermione began as her and Tom walked down a crowded corridor, "you should probably go to the Hospital Wing."

Hermione noticed how people looked at her when she was with Tom. They looked confused, in a way. Slughorn seemed to like her more, now that she hung out with Tom more, and some of the students seemed to notice her more. They all seemed to admire him, but fear him in a sense. Even at Hogwarts he was considered different, Hermione guessed. She also noticed some direct glares from a few younger girls. Perhaps they were jealous of her. But they did not know anything about Tom. Years from now, they would be happy that they never got the chance to befriend—or more-- Tom Riddle.

"What? Why?" he asked. He had sneezed all day. From the morning to the evening; it was nonstop sneezing.

"If you don't, your cold will only get worse." Hermione warned.

"No it wont." He said, defiantly shaking his head.

"Fine. You will see. In a few days time you'll get a cough. Then stomach pains. Then you will get really sick. You might even die." She joked. "You don't want to die, do you? Of course you don't. Let's go to the Hospital Wing instead of tutoring."

"I don't need medicine." He told her firmly without looking at her.

"I think you're wrong."

"You will come to find that I'm hardly ever wrong."

Hermione scowled. 'Well you're wrong about this…' Suddenly she felt just like Molly Weasley. Then she laughed out loud. "I seriously doubt that." He sneezed in response. "That's it." She scolded. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing whether you like it or not."

"That third year got expelled." Tom said at random.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"You know, that Rubeus Hagrid boy. He got expelled for killing that mudblood, Myrtle." He said.

Hermione twitched in aggravation. It took every ounce of her self control to not smack people when they called Muggleborns mudbloods in 1996. However, in 1942 she could not even yell at them without looking suspicious. She did scold them at times when she could no longer bare it. "No!" She gasped in feigned disbelief.

"Yes!" Tom exclaimed. "You see? I am usually right about things."

"How did they prove it, then? How do they know he did it?" Hermione pressed, even though she knew the basics of this answer.

"I informed Headmaster Dippet of his pet Acromantula. Hagrid confessed to having one. Aragog, he called it. He swore that the swine didn't kill anyone." He laughed a bit. "No one believed him."

"Poor boy. I still say he didn't kill anybody."

"I do not understand you, Jane. Why don't you think he did it?"

"He's thirteen!" Hermione cried. 'And, as a matter of fact, I know he didn't do it.'

"He's half giant; he could be very angry." Tom pointed out.

"He's a half-blood. Why would a half-blood have anything against muggleborns?" Hermione asked without really thinking about who she was talking to. Tom, the future Lord Voldemort, was a half-blood himself. Not that he ever told Hermione this personally. She thought that he probably did not want to admit it, not even to himself. Hermione looked at him in a kind of apologetic approach but withdrew it quickly. He did not deserve sympathy… no matter how adorable… or how charming… he may be every single moment of the day. Plus, he would probably question her sympathetic gaze and she had no answer for his question.

"He did it. That is the final conclusion." He told her. "No questions."

Hermione did not talk for a few moments. Then she sighed loudly and muttered, "I still don't believe it." She then swung herself in the opposite direction and grabbed Tom's arm. "Come on."

"Where are we going? The library is that—"

"We're going to the Hospital Wing, remember? Just because you haven't sneezed in a while doesn't mean that I've forgotten about your cold. Don't you remember me saying that I would make you go to the Hospital Wing whether you liked it or not? Now I'm putting it to action."

"Oh, Jane!" Tom whined and stopped dead in his tracks. "It will go away in time; I don't want to go see that horrible woman." He complained.

Hermione began to pull at his wrist because he was not walking with her. "You won't have to be there for long. She will probably just give you a simple potion to make it go away."

Tom did not move. "I won't go. She hates me. I hate her."

"Stop being so childish and come on!" Hermione pulled on his hand now. He began to smile like he was going to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"I was only testing you. You are so persistent. Go on, then. Lead the way to the Hospital Wing. Though, I do not understand how you know where it is. Have you been there before and kept it a secret?" He asked her. "Or are you seeking to be a nurse and taking private lessons with that truly horrible woman?" Tom smiled and laughed and then… Sneeze. "Never mind it. Lets' get going, now. If I sneeze one more time, I'll—" Sneeze.

'He's cute. You know it.

Yeah, I know. We're ignoring this factor.

Why ignore it? He is awfully nice…

And awfully evil…

That only makes him more adorable. You should hug him.

That's stupid.

No it isn't. Just hug him. He's sick. You'll make him feel better.

You may be right… or I'll just catch what he has.

Who cares? It's just a cold. Oh look. He looks confused. Isn't he adorable when he looks that way?

Yeah… he does.

A side hug wouldn't do any harm.

Maybe later.'

…………………………………………..

"What would you like for Christmas, my friend?" Tom asked Hermione. His last two words were very astonishing. They seemed very wrong, as well. She did not come to this time to befriend him, and befriending him certainly seemed like a bad idea. It had already happened though. Within only a few months they have become friends of sorts. People had asked Hermione about their friendship, however she did not know what to say. When she first got there, she longed for a friend. Never did she expect that she would find kindness or friendship in Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"Christmas is not very near…" Hermione pointed out. She scratched her head and tilted it to look at him. Why would he want to know what she wanted for Christmas? He did not strike her as a person who would buy anyone a present.

"I like planning ahead. I can already see my future like a picture before my eyes. Now answer the question." He prodded the table like a judge.

"Books are nice…" she told him. Hermione imagined bringing a gift back with her. Harry and Ron would ask who it was from, and she would not lie. They would be in shock and question her like crazy. It would not be an enjoyable conversation, she could tell that much. If it was just a book, she could make a nice cover up story that no one would question. Hermione was known as a bookworm, after all.

"I don't want to get you a book."

"You don't have to get me anything." She told him honestly. She hoped that he would not. "Do you ever get anyone else presents? You don't seem like that type of person."

"I might get them something. They never tell me what they want, though. Of course, they buy me gifts… Then again, I do not have much money to spread around. My parent's are… deceased. " He added a little smile at the end of his sentence and let Hermione see it.

'I am well aware.' Hermione thought. She did not say a word. Tom looked like he was going to start talking about them.

"It was, I dare say, unfortunate—for my mother. She died in child birth. My father, the filthy muggle, is alive. I have only found this out recently. I am told I look a great deal like him. One day I will find him…"

Hermione did not know that his father was still living… It must have been horrible to find that out. If Tom over analyzed things like Hermione did, then he must have thought that his father obviously did not want him. Hermione would not like that thought... "What would you say to him if you did meet him?"

"I wasn't planning on saying anything, actually. He's a muggle. There's really no use talking to a muggle when all they are is a waste of flesh." He said. Hermione sighed loudly so he would notice. It only made him shrug. "It's true. They are."

"They are not!" Hermione almost screamed at him. Her parents were most definitely not a waste of flesh. "They have every right in the world to live. But why am I telling you this? You'll always think this way anyway! And you'll ki—" She was about to say, 'And you'll kill hundreds and thousands and only think of yourself a great Lord when really you're only a great wad of scum!' Unfortunately, that would be unquestionably suspicious.

"I will what?" Tom asked with his confused face.

"You're a half-blood?" Hermione pretended not to know.

"Unfortunately."

…………………………………………………….

AN- I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I would hate to wait four days. Or was today day five? I don't know.