Chapter Fourteen - An Apology

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

The next day began with ancient Runes. Tom and Hermione showed Professor LeRue their mirror. She was very impressed with their progress, so impressed that she decided that they didn't need any extra class time for the rest of the year to finish it.

"Today, we will be talking about a new invention from the Ministry and the use of runes in its creation," she said to the class as Tom and Hermione sat down. "It is called a Time-Turner."

Tom glanced at Hermione. She had a slight smirk on her face. He gripped his quill tightly for a moment before relaxing. It would explain everything, her sudden appearance, DNA, hangover potions. It also made him wonder about her concern for his future, trying to convince him to work in the Ministry. Deciding that he had better pretend to pay attention, he refocused on the professor.

"The Time-Turner has a limit of about one week. It is useful because it allows a witch or wizard to be in two places at once, thereby accomplishing twice as much. Theoretically, a student could use a time turner to take two classes at the same time, though that is far in the future."

Tom decided that she definitely already knew about the Time-Turner. Otherwise, she would probably be asking for one so she could spend more time in the library. Professor LeRue spent the rest of the class time drawing out many uncommon and complicated rune patterns on the board, most of which Tom and Hermione had included in their mirror plans. They had all been Hermione's contribution, unsurprisingly.

Tom had a free period between runes and lunch. He went up to his room to think over everything he had learned. There was no way that she had used a Time-Turner, he decided. She was from at least a few years in the future, if not decades. He would have to discover how she had time

-traveled and why if he was to discover how she came by her knowledge of him. Still, even if she was from the future, she should not know about his secrets. If anything, she should know less about them. "Maybe she knew me in the future," he thought. "But why would she immediately hate me?" He could not think of a reason.

Soon it was time for lunch. Tom was back to sitting with his own house. He smiled at Hermione. She returned his smile, before refocusing on her conversation with Minerva. "This is going to be fun," he thought with a smirk.

In potions that afternoon, Slughorn was in an extremely jovial mood. He was having them make Effervescent Elixir, guaranteed to make even the gloomiest soul want to jump up and down and sing the national anthem, or a drinking song. It depended on the personality, Slughorn informed them. Tom successfully avoided testing the finished product and slipped out immediately when class ended. Hermione ended up trying their potion. Of course, it worked splendidly. She began talking about everything she did over break and had just told about the gift that Tom gave her and vice versa when Slughorn gave her the antidote.

"So, Tom gave you that ring? It's a very impressive piece," Slughorn commented. "Reminds me somewhat of my great-grandmother's wedding ring, though it had an emerald instead of moonstone," he added with a wink.

"It's just a ring," Hermione said, blushing. "It doesn't mean anything."

"I'm sure that Tom would be disappointed to hear that, Miss Granger," he said with a chuckle before walking into his office.

That evening, Hermione enchanted her coin to say seven o'clock. She wanted to work on their runes project. Tom got to their work room before her, but had not gotten any of the equipment out. Hermione started setting up, but Tom stopped her.

"Could I please talk to you, Hermione? We don't need to work on the mirror tonight."

"All right, I guess," Hermione agreed, wondering what he had to talk to her about.

"This is difficult to say. I…Merlin, I hate doing this," he mumbled. "I wanted to apologize."

"What for?" asked Hermione, slightly suspicious.

"That's rather hard to explain," he sighed. "I used Louisa to make you feel sorry for me. I'm not used to anyone being my equal, so I thought that if I could manipulate you into being my friend, I could control you. Then I heard Crabbe and Goyle planning to attack you. They said that they were going to Obliviate each other afterward. My stupid house loyalty kept me from saying anything until now. I regretted my decision immediately when I saw what they had done to you, but I still kept silent. After winter break, I decided that I couldn't do it anymore."

"Why not?" Hermione asked, now surprised.

"I think that we have become friends," he said slowly. "I trust you more than I have anyone else in my life. I've told you things about me that no one else knows. I care about you too much to let our entire relationship be built upon deception," Tom concluded.

Hermione was silent for a few moments. "Is he serious or is this just a new scheme?" she wondered. He had told her everything of which she had suspected him, even though he hadn't needed to. She decided to forgive him. After all, she wouldn't be able to find out anything from him if they weren't friends.

"It's all right, Tom. You just proved that we have become friends. You trusted me to forgive you, and I trust your sincerity. Let's forget about it now, okay?"

Tom was impressed with her acting abilities. They rivaled his own. He was blind to the fact that she was actually being honest.

"Thank you, Hermione," he said, gazing into her eyes. "Let's do this tomorrow. We are ahead of schedule on it anyway. Want to go grab a butterbeer from the kitchen?"

"Sure," said Hermione, extremely happy from the turn of events. Tom started down the hallway. "Wait," she said. "I know a better way to get there." She led him the opposite direction toward the Hufflepuff Common Room. Two paintings down was a portrait of a 16th century cook holding a large knife. "Open sesame," she said, pointing her wand at the painting.

"Apparently, Helga Hufflepuff wanted a quick way to get to the kitchen," she said to an astonished Tom, shrugging slightly before stepping through the doorway. They walked down several flights of stairs and down a few hallways before stepping through into the kitchen. The house-elves quickly accommodated them with drinks and doughnuts.

"To friendship," Tom said, clinking their bottles together. After their butterbeer and pastries were gone, Tom walked Hermione back to her common room. He didn't kiss her, only called a happy good night down the hallway over his shoulder. Strangely enough, Hermione felt slightly disappointed.

That night, Tom pondered the last few weeks as he sat in his customary place before the fire. Rationally, he knew his emotions had gotten the best of him, blinding him to Hermione's manipulation and he was determined not to let it happen again, despite the clenching feeling in his chest. He didn't even consider that she might have been lying to Minerva. No one had ever cared for him before, why would Hermione be the first?

Hermione was conflicted. She was too much a Gryffindor to feel completely at ease about using Tom's affection to get information. Before, she had justified her actions by the fact that Tom had started it. Now, she had no excuse. Hermione came to this conclusion at ten o'clock at night about a week after Tom's apology. Her conscience had begun to prick her. With every moment that passed, her guilt increased logarithmically. By eleven o'clock, Hermione felt that she had no choice other than going to tell Tom immediately. She had tried everything, telling herself that she would get a detention if she was caught, that she needed to set a good example for the younger students, and that she had no business going into the Heads' room at night, even though Minerva had given her the password and told her to come up anytime. Nothing worked. So Hermione climbed out of bed silently, went to her trunk, grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and started to sneaked out of the room.

"This is probably the stupidest thing that you have done the entire year," Hermione's practical side said. She ignored it, a very rare occurrence.

She reached the Heads' room without incident, but when she peaked into Tom's room, she started. There was no one there. The bed was still made. Hermione went back into the common room. After a moment, her paranoia and curiosity got the best of her. She pulled the cloak over her head and left the room.

Half an hour later, Hermione had prowled through many of the hallways. The dungeons were the only place left to check. Everything was silent until she reached a heavy wooden door near the Slytherin common room.

The door was closed tightly and only a slight murmur was audible to Hermione. Not willing to let her escapade go to waste, she silently cast a hearing charm, enabling her to make out their words.

"…done well. From now on, you are not to harass or follow the Mudblood unless I specifically order you to. Do not worry about our relationship; there is none, regardless of what the idiots of this school might think."

"Yes, my lord," the group intoned.

"Lord Voldemort, why do you bother with her?" a whiny voice asked.

"Do not question me, Avery" Tom ordered angrily, "lest I decide to make an example of you. My reasons are my own. If you need to know, I will tell you."

"Yes, my lord," Francis Avery replied, cowardice evident in his nasal voice.

"That is all for tonight, Death Eaters. Each of you should leave alone a few minutes apart to avoid being caught."

Hermione scrambled away from the doorway as she heard Tom's footsteps approach. Lacking the time to get farther away without being heard, she flattened herself against the wall across from the door, attempting to breathe silently. The door opened and Tom stepped into the hallway. He began walking toward the Head dormitory, but after a few steps, he paused and drew in a deep breath. He looked behind him for a moment, then continued back to his rooms. Hermione edged away from the door once he was out of sight but didn't have enough time to leave before the first pair of Death Eaters emerged. For the next half hour, Hermione watched silently as Voldemort's followers passed her silently. It was a testament to Tom's control over them, that they didn't even whisper to each other as they waited their turns. Finally, they were gone and the hallway was dark.

It was just after one by the time Hermione arrived back in her dormitory. She crawled into bed, but didn't fall asleep for a long time afterward. She was furious with herself and with Tom. "No, he is Lord Voldemort," she corrected herself. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," she thought bitterly, remembering the rather stupid quote her father had used whenever she had surprised him. She was determined not to let Tom use her anymore. He was just like Dumbledore had described him to Harry. She couldn't even think of a reason to try to act like she was his friend. "Dumbledore was right."

Tom also lay awake in his bedroom. He had thought for an instant that he had caught a familiar scent, freesia perhaps, but he quickly dismissed it. There was no way that Hermione could have found their meeting, let alone been able to hear what had been said. He drifted off to sleep mere minutes after lying down.

The next morning was free for both Tom and Hermione. After breakfast, Tom approached her to propose that they spend the morning working on their mirror.

"Hey Hermione, do you want to work on our runes project now?" he called across the Great Hall. Hermione ignored him and kept walking. Preferring to think that she hadn't heard him over the din in the room, Tom jogged to catch up with her.

"Didn't you hear me?" he asked politely, trying to help her with her overly-full bag.

She jerked it away from him and answered, "I heard you, but I'm busy." With that, she stalked off to Dumbledore's classroom, trying to remember if he had a class this morning.

Tom was shocked. He couldn't think of anything he had done to merit such a brusque response. Though he would never have admitted it, he was somewhat hurt by her sudden change in demeanor. He steeled his emotions and went up to the library, hoping to find something about long-distance time travel now that Slughorn had given him a note for the Restricted Section.

Luckily, Dumbledore was free. She found him sitting in his office behind the Transfiguration classroom reading a handwritten book upside-down. He looked up a moment after she entered and set the text on his desk.

"What can I do for you, Miss Granger?" he asked with a pleased smile. She had been nearly avoiding him for weeks, ever since he had asked her about her newfound friendship with Tom Riddle.

"You were right," she said. "I let my hope blind me to reality."

"What has brought you to this conclusion?" Dumbledore asked, slight surprise evident on his face.

"Tom has been manipulating me from the start," Hermione stated. She went on to tell him everything from Louisa to the Death Eater meeting the previous night, leaving out only their kisses and the Veritaserum in the firewhiskey.

"I was worried about something like this," Dumbledore admitted, "but I didn't think that you wanted to hear my concerns."

"I didn't. I wouldn't have listened anyway."

"I'm am glad that you trust me enough to confide in me. I do not have any suggestions at the moment, other than to try to avoid antagonizing Mr. Riddle. It will do you no good to show him that you don't trust him. Maybe you will be a good influence on him."

"I doubt it," Hermione said pessimistically.

"He might surprise you yet," Dumbledore said optimistically. He then continued. "As you know, I was the first magical person that Tom Riddle met. From the beginning, he was very mistrustful, believing that he could rely on no one except himself. He has carried this trait his whole life, the result of being abandoned to people who didn't understand him or care about him. You will never succeed if he has the slightest trace of mistrust. It is very possible that he has some idea about your own machinations. It is of the utmost importance that you put his fears about your motivations to rest."

"So I should apologize to him like he did to me?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, and furthermore, do not bother trying to find out more about his covert activities. I will keep an eye on him, though I doubt he would try anything dangerous this close to his graduation. Right now, fighting him is not your burden. Be his friend, show him that he can trust you. "

"All right," Hermione said sarcastically. "I'll be the best friend Tom Riddle has ever dreamed of."

Dumbledore chuckled and waved her out of his office.

Hermione immediately set out for the library, hoping to find Tom there. She needed to apologize for her rudeness earlier. With Tom, one never knew what conclusions he might draw from it. Just as she suspected, he was in the library, perusing a musty book on druidic runes.

Tom had not had much luck with his search, at least, not that he noticed. He had ignored a reference to "stepping through the door and denying fate," having no reason to believe it relevant to Hermione's appearance.

"Hi, Tom," Hermione greeted him, smiling somewhat anxiously.

"Not busy anymore?" he asked snarkily.

"I'm sorry about earlier. Dumbledore wanted to talk to me about the Animagus classes again. I just didn't want to go talk to him, so I took it out on you," she apologized.

"It's all right, I probably would have been irritated too," Tom conceded.

"Umm…I wanted to talk to you about something else," Hermione said cautiously.

"Okay," Tom replied, somewhat confused.

"Could we go somewhere else, please?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, the clock tower?" he suggested.

"That's fine," Hermione said, relieved that he was going along with her request so easily.

They walked in companionable silence up to the tower. When they reached the top, Hermione didn't start speaking for several moments.

"What did you want to talk about?" Tom prodded.

"After you apologized to me for your actions, I felt very guilty," Hermione began, the words flooding out of her like a dam had burst. "I wasn't any better than you, I was maybe even worse. I didn't trust you with Louisa because you were a Slytherin, I did nearly everything that you did. Then on New Year's Eve, I purposely tried to get you drunk to get information and find out if you were being honest with me. It was stupid, I know, but I was afraid that you were manipulating me. I already lost everyone I cared about, I couldn't stand it if you were just using me. Then after you apologized, I felt terrible. You were being honest with me and I was still lying to you!" she finished, out of breath, congratulating herself on not lying at all in her whole speech.

Tom was more shocked than he had ever been, by Hermione at least. He had believed that he had finally figured her out, but then she had to go do something completely unexpected.

Hermione was still standing there motionless, waiting for his reaction. She had no idea what he was thinking. Finally, he began to speak.

Cautiously, as if searching for the right words, Tom said, "I don't see how I could be any less forgiving of your actions than you were of mine. I am a bit surprised; I didn't think a Gryffindor could have it in them." He cracked a slight smile.

"Well, I was almost placed in Slytherin," Hermione replied apologetically.

"I can understand why," Tom answered dryly. Tom was still slightly suspicious of her, though he surmised that her apology had been brought on by rather intense guilt because of his own apology. Nevertheless, he was pleased. His life would be much simpler now that he didn't have to worry about her manipulation.

"Do you want to go back to the library now?" she asked.

"No, I wasn't doing anything important anyway," he shrugged. "Just looking up a few runes."

"In which book?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Druidic Runes of Britain," he replied.

"Oh, that one's interesting," she said, going on to tell him her favorite parts of it before he could even respond.

A few minutes later, the clock began to chime.

"Hermione, it's time for lunch now."

"Oh, I didn't realize how long we'd been up here. Let's go," she said distantly.

They strolled leisurely to the Great Hall, ignoring all the curious stares, Hermione obliviously and Tom purposefully. They went their separate ways to eat, but Hermione went over to Tom after she finished eating. He had often come to the Gryffindor table, but Hermione had never ventured over to his. This was a good a way as any to begin an honest friendship. Tom realized her goal immediately when she stood from her table and surreptitiously cleared his books from the space next to him. Hermione looked relieved as she sat down. Then a momentary look of confusion formed.

"Is there a reason for your interhouse movement?" Tom asked, enjoying her bewilderment.

"Umm…" she said, trying to come up with a reason. After a moment, her face brightened. "I was wondering if you found anything in that book that we could use for our mirror," she replied, quite pleased with herself.

"There were a few," Tom answered, "but we would need to research them more before we decide to use them."

"Yes, we do," Hermione said, running out of things to add to their conversation. Tom, though he was enjoying her discomfort, took pity on her.

"So, when do you want to work on it again?" he prodded her.

"Are you free after Transfiguration tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yes, it's not like I have a social life," he joked.

"Compared to me you do," Hermione grumbled.

"You're my only social life, so I don't see how yours could be worse," he pointed out with a smirk, waiting in anticipation for her reaction.

She frowned for a moment as she remembered his social life from the previous night, but quickly covered it and smirked in return. "Well, for you, socializing with me is a step up, but I am forced to lower myself to the level of a Slytherin."

Tom gaped at her, then burst out laughing, garnering the attention of everyone at the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables. "But I didn't see anyone forcing you to sit over here. Maybe you feel a connection to your less valorous peers," he suggested after he stopped laughing.

"I'm very sure that you used the Imperius Curse on me," she retorted snippily with a superior air before cracking a light-hearted smile.

"I don't need to Imperio you," Tom insisted. "You are already under my control; you just don't know it yet."

"Whatever you say, Tom," Hermione responded dismissively. "Lunch is almost over, we had better get to Arithmancy."

"All right," Tom said, grabbing his bag and Hermione's. He was nearly pulled off balance, but quickly charmed her bag to feel weightless, saving his masculine pride.

That evening, Hermione decided to stay in the dormitory and study. The common room was filled with students for no apparent reason, and she had learned years earlier that the results were not worth trying to get them quiet enough for her to concentrate. She was succeeding admirably with her Arithmancy homework until Louisa bounced in.

"Hi Hermione! I was just looking for you!" she squealed.

"Joy," Hermione muttered subaudibly.

"What?" Louisa asked curiously.

"Nothing."

"I wanted to talk to you about Tom," Louisa stated.

"What about him?" Hermione questioned cautiously.

"I just wanted to tell you that other than Jason, you couldn't have picked a better boyfriend."

"He's is not my boyfriend," Hermione said emphatically.

"Really?" she replied, surprised. "You two always sit together at meals and Minerva and I have barely seen you outside of classes for weeks, you're always working on your project together. Though I don't think that anyone could spend as much time on one project as you two seem to," she added with a giggle.

"It is a very difficult and time-consuming project," Hermione said long-sufferingly.

"Oh, I remember what else I was going to tell you now," Louisa interjected. "Today in divination, we worked on advanced chiromancy. I wanted to try on you if it's all right."

"Why not," Hermione sighed.

"Oh good!" Louisa jumped on Hermione's bed and grabbed her hand.

"Hmmm, your heart line is very strong, I would say that you have a very good chance of finding a true love," she began excitedly. "Your head line is also strong, though that's not very surprising. Your life line indicates good health, but you have several shallow spots. You have been in or will be in physical and emotional danger. Wow, your fate line is strange. I don't know how to interpret it, other than that fate has a powerful influence on you. But there is a break right in the middle, I'll need to look that up. What else," she wondered aloud. "Oh, the Girdle of Venus. You are very good at manipulating people, but your conscience sometimes gets in the way."

Hermione had had enough of Louisa's hocus-pocus. She started to pull her hand away.

"Just wait, I'm almost finished," Louisa ordered, grabbing Hermione's hand again. "I just have to look at the union and travel lines. Let's see, you have four union lines, but three of them are very faint, only one is a long-lasting relationship. Your travel lines…that's odd. You have several, but this one is longer than any I've ever seen, even in my diagrams. You have made or will make a very long journey." She paused for a moment then spoke again. "I don't see anything else strange on your hand. Maybe I'll learn more tomorrow. Thanks Hermione, you were a very interesting subject." Louisa bounced back out of the dormitory, probably looking for a new victim, leaving Hermione to think about what Louisa had told her.