Hospital Wing

Hermione opened her eyes.

A white ceiling greeted her, she was content to stay in the warm bed for a while before she became more aware of her location.

A medical smell permeated the air and she was surrounded by whiteness. She tried to sit up, but her body felt heavy and battered. It felt like she got ran over by a truck.

Her head was throbbing dully, a muted pain. She touched her hand to the her forehead and groaned when she saw her hand.

Her arms were bandaged and she couldn't quite see where else she was hurt as her neck was too sore to allow her to turn her head. Tentatively, Hermione flexed different muscles and felt them relax and stiffen under the sheet. Her back still hurt quite a bit when she tried to tense the muscles there.

It's going to be hard to sit up, Hermione thought to herself. She tried to command her body to move, but she only managed to lift herself by a few inches before she fell back to the bed, her breath knocked out of her.

"I would advise against straining yourself." A voice said calmly to her side.

Hermione turned her head toward the source of voice, but grimaced at the pain such a simple action caused her. Her neck protested and she couldn't turn fully. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him, propped up against a few pillows, a heavy book lay open on the white sheet in his lap.

For some unknown reason, the sight of him reading annoyed her. Did he have to spend every minute of his life preparing himself for world domination? Also, his comment earlier irked her. What does he thinks she is? A weakling?

Hermione struggled to sit up again, but fell back with a huff as her muscles refused to obey her brain. It was clear to Hermione that her body wanted to stay down and relax, but lying down in the bed while the future Dark Lord was sitting up in his bed made her feel strangely vulnerable.

She gathered the air in her lungs and held it, it gave her a bolt of strength to propel her body up and remain in a sitting position.

The sudden movement made a wave of dizziness rush to her head. Hermione wobbled a bit before she managed to pull herself backward. The sheet winkled under her as she positioned herself to lean against the window ledge.

There was still a crick in her neck, however, sitting up made her feel a lot better. Hermione could feel the cold metal bars of the bed pressed against her lower back, but that was the least of her concerns.

"And of course she's too stubborn to follow the advises given by the Head Boy." Tom Riddle muttered to himself.

"You seem well." She drawled sarcastically.

Quite the contrary, Tom was heavily bandaged. Blotches of blood seeped through here and there. He looked ridiculous with his head wrapped up like a mummy, yet at the same time, stripped away from his immaculate clothing and his perfect act, it made him seem almost... human.

"I'm not doing too bad." He shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring her tone for once.

Truthfully, she was very much relieved to see Tom Riddle alive and well again, yet at the same time, her inner demons tore at her, reminding her that the one before her was no other than the future Dark Lord.

"Are you in pain?" Hermione was surprised that Tom Riddle cared enough to ask.

She shook her head wordlessly.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Too different. Tom Riddle was too different from what she imagined him to be.

The other didn't say anything after. There was a bitter taste in Hermione's mouth as she surveyed his injury.

Though she didn't directly caused his injury, and he probably deserved it for causing the two of them to be taken to the Forbidden Forest in the first place, Hermione was grateful that instead of abandoning her to run away, he stayed and tried to protect her. But then again, if he hasn't taken her wand away... The thought of her wand still missing made Hermione's heart skip a beat.

Despite the pain in her neck, Hermione looked around and was relieved to find her wand lying on the table amongst various bottles. She could recognize numbing potion in one of the bottles.

Hermione wrinkled her nose as she smelled the pungent odor given off by the potions. Tom saw her looking at the bottles and grimaced, but chose to remain silent as he went back to his book.

Hermione snatched back her wand and traced its body idly. It made her feel safe to know that her wand was in proximity. Back to her earlier thoughts. Hermione didn't know whether she should begin by thanking Tom Riddle for protecting her, or continue to treat him like her enemy. After that night, Hermione became unsure of a lot of things.

To hear about Tom Riddle's childhood from Harry or Dumbledore was one thing, but to hear himself talking about it was another. She could understand where he was coming from when he said he hated muggles, but was there really a need to take such extreme measures?

There was s soft flutter as Tom turned another page in his book. Hermione couldn't help but wish she could find something to talk to him about. She wondered if him talking about his childhood could be taken as a gesture of trust. Perhaps... They could really become more than enemies?

"That promise you made last night..." Hermione was startled out of her thoughts by Tom's hesitant voice.

"Promise?" She echoed.

"The one about you will stay loyal to me."

"I only promised to not become your enemy." Hermione said cautiously. To others, it might have been the same thing, but not for Tom Riddle. If she's not careful, things could turn in his favor quickly.

"Yes." Tom nodded, but he did not elaborate.

"You wanted an Unbreakable Vow." She offered. The other nodded again.

"I only trust magic." The smirk on Tom's face was forced as he said those words.

Then it dawned on Hermione. After his childhood experience, anyone would have difficulties trusting other people.

"I'm ready whenever you are." She just felt tired. Hermione had came to the past, determined to kill Tom Riddle, but how did it come to this?

"You are very cooperative today, aren't you?" He suddenly commented uncharacteristically.

"Only because you are hurt."

"What, did you fall in love with me for protecting you?" She shot him a withering look.

"It's a mystery to me how you and your ego managed to fit into here. And I still haven't forgiven you, you know... for getting us into this mess in the first place." Hermione added lamely.

"I thought you forgave me when you came to, what was it? Save my sorry ass." Tom closed his book and set it on a table.

His smirk widened when Hermione felt her cheeks burning. Before she could retort, a voice came from the entrance.

"Ah, Mr Riddle and Miss Fossil, I'm glad to see you both awake." Armando Dippet strode into the room. Professor Slughorn and Professor Dumbledore followed in behind.

The Headmaster's expression warmed up upon seeing Tom Riddle, but the same could not be said of Hermione.

"Thank you for your visit." Tom nodded at all three men respectively, Hermione noticed that he tensed slightly when Dumbledore looked into his eyes.

"We found both you and Pauline in the Forbidden Forest and you were unconscious." Slughorn stated with concern clear on his face, he looked between Tom and Hermione expectantly.

"It was quite a powerful blast." Dumbledore agreed. He paused, almost as an afterthought, he muttered, "one if I recall correctly, was caused by a spell not taught in class."

Annoyance rose in Hermione. How could he? How all that's happened, Dumbledore was more concerned by something so trivia?

Dippet did not seem to share her disapproval. He nodded and asked, "What happened, Tom?"

"It's my fault, I wanted to show our new student the Forbidden Forest. I'm willing to take responsibility for my reckless action." Tom confided, genuine guilt etched onto his face.

Hermione was surprised that Tom didn't blame her, since it seemed that the Head Boy really cared about keeping up a good reputation... At the same time, she didn't want him to take all the blame. After he saved her, she should at least try to pay him back...

"He...Headmaster, I made Tom go with me, I'm so sorry." Hermione dipped her head low, the three adults traded looks with each other and Dippet announced.

"Your head of the house will decide on a proper punishment for the two of you, you may rest for now." With that, he departed from the room.

Dumbledore followed him, but he paused at the door and looked at Tom, then at Hermione. There was a small frown upon his face and his eyes were unfathomable. Just as Hermione decided that she didn't like the expression on Dumbledore's face, she felt something pressed into her palm.

She looked questioningly at Slughorn who smiled and said two words.

"Your punishment," then he walked toward entrance merrily, pushing Dumbledore out as he closed the door quietly behind him.

After the door closed with a click behind the professor, Hermione took out the paper and expanded it, she could sense Tom leaning toward her curiously on his bed.

"See me in the office, I have some work for you." Hermione read out loud. She turned to Tom and saw the latter's body relax from relief subconsciously.

"Why did you take all the blame?" Tom had grabbed the book from the table, Hermione asked before he could start reading again. The question has been bothering her. Didn't he care very much for his reputation?

"I portkeyed us to Forbidden Forest, so it was technically my fault," his eyes were on the book as his finger caressed it. Hermione noticed it was Confronting the Faceless, but she chose to not develop on the subject, she has more important issues to pursue now.

"I don't understand... Why did you not run away last night?" Even though some things were left better unsaid, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"And leave a defenseless house mate to face a Dementor on her own? Mine, Pauline, I cannot fathom what kind of horrible man do you take me to be." Hermione knew she should take the opportunity to leave the subject, but she just couldn't help herself.

"But you wanted to -"

"I don't know what I was thinking. And you would do well not to bring it up again lest I change my mind." There was a threatening edge to his voice, yet Hermione could see genuine confusion on his face before he turned away.

"Plus... I'm the Head Boy, it's my duty to protect the students." After a while, Tom added, his face blank.

"But..." she started. The other fell back onto the bed.

Taking that as a sign that he does not wish to talk about it, Hermione figured she shouldn't push it.

"At least tell me the spell you used to get rid of the Dementors." Hermione changed topic.

"You don't want to know." It seems that Tom suddenly found interest in the ceiling, he focused on examining it and refused to talk further.

Pauline ceased talking after that. Tom closed his eyes, he should be content, now that he had earned more of the girl's trust, and as soon as he obtain her oath, he wouldn't have to worry about her betraying him, but he wasn't. In fact, he was getting that annoying feeling again, and it was giving him an headache.

It was something he has felt a few times before, even though it had been fleeting, but he still remembers it to this day. There was the time when he tortured children in the orphanage that never bothered him, and he murdered that filthy mudblood Myrtle using the basilisk, but the feeling had escaped him so fast he couldn't analyze it.

Tom felt like his lungs couldn't get enough air. His heart wasn't right either, there was a curious strangling sensation to it.

Tom frowned, he couldn't seem to forget the image of the girl's tears out of his mind, was she crying for him? But why should she? Tom was sure he has put up a good act of threatening to kill her.

Must be all the pain potions in my system, clouding my thoughts, Tom concluded. He hated the feeling of not knowing why things happened to him. To distract himself from the disturbing thoughts he just had, he concentrated on reading instead.

Author's Note: I know so far Dumbledore seems awfully impulsive compared to canon universe. Though I'd imagine him to not be as wise as he is in Harry's time when in Tom's time. Otherwise perhaps he would have been able to stop Tom... Ok, to be honest, though I respect the man, but I think he hasn't done enough for Tom. There was an opportunity for him to intervene, I read that Tom, being parentless, was picked on initially in the Slytherin house. He learned he had to fight on his own when no one else helped him. That being said, I don't consider the Slytherins necessarily evil. Just kids, kids bully each other. I was bullied as a child, and I'm sure I bullied others myself without being quite aware of what I was doing at the time as well.

Anyhow, I'm terribly sorry to say this: I was checking my schedule, and it would seem that I have practically no time for fanfiction ever since after Canada Day. In fact, I'll be on the plane in 2 weeks time and those of you that knew me personally have probably already been bombarded by my complaint about how bitter I'm feeling about the trip. Anyhow, before I let my negativity influence all of you... I hate to say this... and it just feels like bad news after bad news, but I'm taking a break from this and I can't promise to come back. I feel so guilty and irresponsible saying this to you lovely people, but I'm just not in the right state of mind to do this. At least wait until I get a therapist after coming back from that blasted trip... Meanwhile, feel free to write spin-off, your own ending, whatever you wish. You have my permission to do so as long as you credit this fic. No need to notify me. Thank you all for reading and reviewing. You made me enjoy writing a lot more than I thought, and I cannot thank you enough for that. I have no other words I could possibly sprout beside sorry. So there, I'm terribly sorry. T_T