Hello Lovely Readers!
Ok, I'm gonna level with you here...I really don't like this chapter all that much. It's definitely not my best work, but you need to read it anyway so that you can lead up to certain other things that are going to happen in the future so please just stick with me here and endure the really really bad writing.
Thanks guys!
Chapter Thirteen: Another complication
They landed just outside the school gates, almost frozen in the winter air, their gloves and robes having lost their warmth on the way. Hermione detached herself from him as soon as she could without causing alarm and breathed deeply. She hoped that if she breathed deeply enough that she might escape the dragonflies that were making dive bombs in the pit of her stomach. She hoped that if she breathed deeply enough, the wand in her hand would disappear and be replaced with her old one, unbroken and whole. She hoped that if she breathed deeply enough that she would be able to look Tom in the eye again. So much had happened in that one moment and yet there was so little time to dissect it, to catch it before it drifted away into a distant memory.
"We should move back to the castle," Tom told her quietly.
What was with this new tone he was treating her with? It was almost kind in its own way and yet it still put fear in her heart. The edge that she had become accustomed to hearing had suddenly withered away and in its place came this new air of calm. It was more frightening than his greatest scream.
She gave him a stiff nod and they started walking down the path once Tom had opened the gates. She glanced sideways at him every now and then, not really knowing if she wanted to catch his eye or not. Something in their relationship had shifted during that apparation, something had twisted and distorted her view of him into something unknown, completely unpredictable and unique and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not just yet. It was new, uncharted waters from here on.
"What is Malone's purpose here?" He asked her softly, suddenly. She looked at him, highly confused. The tone was so undemanding of her. It was highly frightening that he would treat her with such severity at one point and then with such docility the next.
"I'm sorry, I-I don't know what you mean," she answered feebly.
"If he is not here with the intention of either courting you or marrying you, why is he here?" He asked, that same civil tone coming through once more, "Or is this one of those questions you will not answer?"
Was it? Merlin, she really did need lessons from him, so that she could find out how he made everyone so unsure of themselves. In the beginning she had been adamant that she wouldn't tell him anything of her past and yet now she wished to spill her guts. She was sure that it was the stress getting to her. The pressure of trying to kill him was an enormous hindrance. It hung off her shoulders with dead weight that never shifted into a comfortable position. Every now and then great hills like Malfoy and Ollivander would come along and disturb her straightforward path to her goal, doing their best to give her the steepest incline, the rockiest roads on the way to her task's completion.
"He's here to protect me," she told him simply.
"From what?" He asked back, his curiosity suddenly peaking again.
"He doesn't believe that I'm safe here, that Grindlewald will come and take me away again," she elaborated falsely. She knew that he would see through her, know that she was lying, but it was the only explanation she could give him.
"Yet where he is trying to help, he is only getting in the way," Tom finished for her.
She nodded mutely.
"Do you really want him gone?" He asked.
"I don't want you to kill him."
"That's not what I asked."
"Then what are you asking?"
"Do you wish for him to leave? Alive and unharmed that is."
"Are you offering?"
"It would cause him great distress," he told her lightly, "A lot of emotional guilt."
She snorted.
"He's had enough guilt to last him a lifetime. Anymore and I think he'll explode."
"Would that necessarily be a bad thing?"
She glared at him and he smirked. He was having more fun with this than what he should. They continued up the path and into the grounds in silence, Hermione contemplating what he may be thinking and what he was planning to do at her command. Such an odd thing for him to offer, after all, he was the dark lord incarnate. He knew nothing but torture and death and yet he was willing to send someone from her sight without using either. What could he possibly be thinking?
"We have defence last," he suddenly told her. She turned her head in his direction.
"What?" She asked, having not listened at all.
"We've come back in time for defence," he told her again, "Shall we go or would you like to go and see your fiancé?"
"Fiancé," she told him immediately, "I don't want to go anywhere near class work until tomorrow morning."
"You do realise that you'll have to use the wand," he said idly. When she looked at him questioningly he elaborated, "You seem frightened of it."
"No," she shook her head when they reached the castle doors, "Not of the wand."
"Then what?" He asked, that same soft tone coming through. Was it wrong of her to want to hex it out of him? As they reached the castle doors she turned back to him swiftly.
"That is something I definitely will not tell you," she said sternly though a slight quiver could be heard in her voice.
He smirked at her.
"Don't sound so certain," he said, before opening one of the doors and allowing her to walk inside. He held it open just wide enough for her to squeeze through, causing her body to brush against his as she went past. Once inside, the warmth of the air flooded over their skin and they felt it necessary to shed their outer robes. The halls were quiet, as they often were when it was the middle of the afternoon. Not a student was in sight and the silence was almost peaceful. She began to walk up the stairs on her own but soon felt Riddle take her arm.
"Did the others never tell you how dangerous it is to walk the corridors alone?" He asked her, "I was sure I told Cygnus to tell you."
"He did," she conceded, "But the Gryffindors do not frighten me."
"Of course they don't," he mused as they continued, "So what does?"
"Why are you all of a sudden so interested?" She asked him, trying to avoid the question as much as possible.
"You are going to be learning from me and I from you am I not?" He asked her, "I need to know what makes you tick."
"You know nothing about Callus and yet you learn from him just fine."
"I know many things about Callus," he frowned, "One of which is that he wants you out of the castle as soon as possible. You need to watch your back."
"So now I have to be frightened of teachers too?" She asked him mockingly, "What is this world coming to?"
"I'm serious Hermione," he said quietly, stopping them just as they reached the top, "Callus is not a fan of independence nor of anyone who values it and regardless of your battle experience he has ways of destroying you that you could never fight off."
She looked at him intently. He looked deathly serious and anything that could make Tom Riddle serious had to be something…well, serious. His face seemed almost set in stone as she gazed at him with concern. She had never seen him like this before, so intent upon warning her. What had she gotten herself into? He turned his head slightly in that moment and began to walk her off again, snapping her once more out of her little day dream.
"Do you know where the Room of Requirement is?" He asked her quietly.
She mentally froze but kept walking.
"Yes," she managed to get out without stuttering, "A house elf told me about it once."
"I think we'll have our lessons there," he told her, "Away from prying eyes and ambitious minds."
"What time?" She asked him quietly, even though she was mentally screaming.
"I'll meet you there after dinner. We'll go on until we feel tired and then we'll head back at the same time so that it doesn't look suspicious."
"How would that not look suspicious?" She asked sceptically.
"Head boy," he stated as he rolled his eyes. She rolled her eyes also but for different reasons. Did he really think that title would let him get away with everything?
But she stopped thinking of Riddle's over inflated ego at once and concentrated on his newest plans. He wanted to go to the Room of Requirement. Severus was in the Room of Requirement. She couldn't go to the Room of Requirement and tell him to leave without telling him why…and telling him why he was leaving the Room of Requirement also meant telling Draco why he was leaving the Room of Requirement, which also meant that Draco couldn't go back to the Room of Requirement which meant that she was stuck with him here…Damn the Room of Requirement! Damn Draco and Severus! And Merlin, damn Riddle too for good measure! Why did they all have to make life so bloody complicated?!
Riddle suddenly stopped walking and as she ventured out of her reverie she found that they had come to a halt outside her door.
"Well," she said, "This is obviously my stop. Where are you headed to now?"
"I'll be headed to Dippet's office to let him know we've returned," he told her, "That way we won't have every wizard and his niffler looking for us. He really is a dolt."
"For once I find myself agreeing with you," she found herself smiling at him, "He really can be an idiot when he-"
"HERMIONE!"
She suddenly felt herself being enveloped by strong arms in what felt like a death grip. She couldn't see who was doing it so her first instinct was to panic. She completely ignored the wand in her pocket and reached for her blades, pointing them at his gut as a warning. He instantly dropped her and stepped back and when she stood and turned around to see who was there she could have sworn that fate was out to kill her. All these surprises and twists and turns were going to give her a heart attack one day.
Standing there in immaculate blue robes with a considerably smaller nose and, believe it or not, bright blond hair, was Severus Snape.
She scrutinized him for a moment, caught between laughing her head off and stabbing him just for the hell of it. Well, if he was here for the same reason as Draco, at least she wouldn't have to worry about the Room of Requirement now.
"Uncle?" She asked, looking confused. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to him. After all, in the stories that she had told Riddle, she hadn't seen him since she was six and she hadn't even sussed out a reason for that just yet. She was so ill prepared for this and really wanted to strangle the formerly hook nosed man for putting her on the spot like this. Was it supposed to be a happy reunion? Was she meant to slap him? There were just too many options and none of them were good!
"Uncle?" Riddle asked, just as confused as he looked at her.
"That's right," Severus smiled, "Your Uncle Leopold."
Trust him to choose a name like that.
She stared at him up and down for a few moments. He was here, he was blond, and there wasn't a scrap of black on his body. He had this hopeful look in his eye that portrayed that of a man who had lost everything and was hoping to find his redemption in the girl before him. Well, if he was going to play it like that, she would make him suffer. She had now decided that she liked the fact that she had left the story open for renovations. If she could do it all over again, she would say that Draco was a cheating, gambling, alcoholic bastard, just to get him out of her hair, but if she couldn't do it to him, Severus was the next best thing…Probably better if she managed to get a temper tantrum out of him. She raised her swords to him again.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked him coldly. No translation needed for that one.
"I saw your picture in the paper," he said as he raised his hands in surrender, "I knew you were still alive."
"Regardless of whether I'm alive or not, it does not give you right to be here!"
"I know I haven't been there," Severus pleaded with her, "But the Army contacted me the moment you went missing. Told me Severus and Lily were dead. I couldn't leave you to look after yourself."
"Well if you saw my picture in the paper you would know that I've been doing just fine without you!" She screeched at him, pushing him aside and walking to her door before turning back to Tom.
"I'll see you once I've sorted this out," she told him.
Surprisingly enough he didn't argue. He gave a stiff nod and walked off to his own rooms. She found Draco lounging on the sofa reading some book and looking supremely unconcerned at the present sight. Hermione just about strangled him.
"You idiots," she hissed at them, "You complete and utter fools!"
"Miss Granger-"
"Don't you Miss Granger me!" She yelled at him, "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Severus asked her quietly.
"What?" She asked.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" He repeated.
"At the moment I'm trying not to kill you for your idiocy," she yelled as she recovered.
"No," he said simply, "You're yelling at me with the door open."
She whipped around to stare at the gaping hole in her rooms, stood shocked at herself for a few moments, recovered, slammed the door shut and then turned on them again with a feral growl.
"Continue," he smirked at her. She restrained herself as much as she could; after all, it wasn't his fault that Draco couldn't control her. But even they had to admit that this was too much.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She hissed at him.
"Draco said he needed help protecting you," he told her simply, "I offered my services."
"No," she said simply.
"No?" The two of them repeated.
"No,' she said again, "Draco couldn't get me to do what he wanted so he ran straight to mummy Severus who, let's face it, won't fair any better."
"I resent that," Severus mumbled but said nothing more on the matter. This was obviously between the two of them.
"I'm not one of your house elves that you can command Malfoy!" she screeched at him, "And getting someone else to try and order me around isn't going to change that!"
"This isn't about commanding you!" He roared back, "This is about saving your arse before it gets in too deep."
"My arse is just fine where it is thank you very much!"
There was a small snort from Severus but it was ignored.
"If you won't listen to me then I'll bring someone in who you will listen to," Draco told her.
"And who says that I'll listen to him any more than I'll listen to you?" She asked him snidely, "He may have saved my life but he doesn't control me and neither do you. I want you both to be gone by morning."
"Why?"
She turned to stare at the blond and curious Severus.
"Excuse me?"
"Why do you want us gone so badly?" He asked her, "Why is our presence so intruding here?"
"Because he's promised to kill Draco already if I don't have him out by then end of the week! How long do you think you'll last Severus? By the look on his face when he left I'd say only a few hours."
Severus scrutinized her some more.
"Now why would I get less time than Draco?" He asked, "We are both equal thorns in his side and now yours…"
He stepped towards her and began to circle around her as she folded her arms indignantly, trying to protect herself emotionally from his scrutiny. She couldn't afford for him to know what she was thinking, not now. Draco simply looked on as the battle of wills commenced. He knew that getting Severus in was a good idea. If he couldn't change her mind, at least he could now get inside her head.
"Where did you go today?" He asked her quietly.
"Why do you want to know?" She asked back.
"Why don't you want to tell me?"
"Why are my motives so important?"
"Why do you keep asking questions?"
"I could ask the same of you."
"But you've run out of questions to ask, so now you will answer one."
"Not a chance."
"We aren't the enemy."
She snorted.
"Could have fooled me Severus," she told him, "The way you're tip toeing around information seems to give me the opposite impression. Why are you putting on your old interrogation techniques? Afraid I might lie?"
"Do you have anything to lie about?" He asked her.
"Not a thing."
"Liar," he smirked, "You may be able to fool Tom Riddle, but I know you too well Granger. Now what are you hiding?"
Pity he didn't know her well enough to know that she was hiding several things at once. Pity he didn't know her well enough to know that all she had to do was give a little and he would back off. Pity he didn't know her as well as she knew him.
She sighed and shuddered as she drove her hand inside her pocket and pulled out her new wand, throwing it onto the glass coffee table. They would be too caught up in this to even think about Riddle now. Draco sprang from his place on the couch and stared at the offending piece of wood with wide eyes where as Severus backed away from it completely.
"Impossible," he whispered.
She looked at him, completely irritated.
"Does that look impossible to you?!" She yelled at him, "I've just murdered my best friend and all you have to say is IMPOSSIBLE?!"
"Well look at it Granger!" Malfoy said hysterically, "It's Potter's wand! It's not like we expected to trip over it any time soon!"
"Thank you very much Captain Obvious!" She screeched back.
"Will you two shut it!" Severus roared and the two fell silent. It was hard to believe that even as a blond he could evoke that kind of fear in them, though she had to admit that the robes suited him…just a tad.
"We are fifty years in the past," Severus told them, "About forty years before Potter is even born-"
"Give or take a decade," Hermione mumbled and Severus glared.
"The point is that we have plenty of time to try and fix this," he told her, "We have nearly fifty years to make everything right."
"I thought that the whole point of this was to get in and get out," she mused.
"It was," Severus rolled his eyes, "But you and your new wand along with that stupid brunch Dippet held yesterday have complicated things slightly."
"How?" Draco asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Think about it you idiot," she scorned, "My face is all over the papers with Riddle's. Do you really think that my sudden disappearance would go unnoticed by the rest of the world now? It now means that I have to stick around until I fade out of the spot light."
"And how long will that take?"
"Well with you two now in the picture," she glared, "I would say until graduation at least. The sooner you leave the sooner we can all leave."
"I'm not leaving and neither is Severus," Draco said firmly.
"Yes we are."
Both turned to stare at the teacher incredulously.
"I told you she could handle this from the very beginning Malfoy," he told them both, "I was wrong to go back on my original assumption. She's fine."
"You didn't see her last night," he defended.
"I said that she was doing fine, not that she wouldn't have any weak moments," he sneered.
"All the more reason to be here," Draco told him.
"No," Hermione shot back, "All the more reason for you to stay away. I'm vulnerable enough in my weak moments, just about anyone could probably read my mind which means that I can't afford to have another mind to try and protect. I need you gone!"
"No."
"Severus please just immobilize him and cart him off!"
"And what would you tell your friends about your fiancé in the morning?" He asked.
"That he crept out while I was sleeping to go back to the front," she told him, "That he didn't want to worry me so he just snuck out and left a really long love letter as compensation."
"That would never stick," Draco said weakly.
"She could more than likely sell it Malfoy," Severus told him lightly.
"No way," he shook his head, "It's too far fetched, even for you. Riddle will never believe it."
"He doesn't believe it anyway," she scoffed, "He knows that I'm lying about everything."
The two looked completely dumbfounded. The saying 'clubbed by the blugger' suddenly made all the sense in the world to her as she looked at their faces. Severus recovered first and his face turned into that of cold anger.
"Something you perhaps forgot to mention?" He asked quietly.
"And you're still here?" Draco asked her, still looking horrified, "Unbelievable."
"No, just smart," she corrected him, "I've kept him interested the entire way so he's had no need to try and torture the information out of me or try to kill me for it."
"And how could he possibly learn to trust you if he knows that you're lying to him?" Severus asked, still looking cold.
This was the part she hated. Lying to them was never easy. Sure, half truths she could handle any day, but lying was just plain hard. Severus seemed to have a built in lie detector and Draco was very perceptive. She guessed that it was a Slytherin trait but she had yet to see it within herself.
She took a deep breath and tried to pretend to calm herself down a bit.
"Basically," she said, "He keeps my secrets in exchange for keeping his. I told him what I know about him, you know, just to freak him out a bit because he really pissed me off one night, and he practically flipped out, so I made a deal. In exchange for my privacy he would be able to keep his."
Of course, it hadn't actually come to this yet but it had always been a back up plan if necessary. Yet by the way Severus and Draco were looking at her it seemed as though she was lucky that she hadn't gone this far.
"Are you insane?!" Draco yelled, "Do you have a death wish?! I can not believe you're black mailing the Dark Lord!"
Well, at least they bought it.
"If the Dark Lord does not kill you in this time he will certainly kill you in the next," Severus whispered, "He is not one to forget so easily."
"Well it won't really matter if we manage to stop him here," she said as she rolled her eyes. She really was growing impatient with them. If they weren't going to even try and see it her way, what were they even doing here?
"Look are you leaving or not?" She suddenly asked them.
They looked at each other for a moment.
Draco simply shook his head vehemently.
"After what you have just divulged," Severus told her, "Leaving now would be a mistake."
She closed her eyes out of frustration, pinched the bridge of her nose and huffed. So much for getting rid of them. Maybe she would take Tom up on his original offer and have him murder them, just to remove the constant headache that they were helping to form. She gave another huff, picked up her wand and walked over to the door before the others could stop her.
"Then stay out of my way."