Disclaimer: these characters are not mine – they belong to JK Rowling

AN: Hi all! Thanks again for the lovely reviews! Trigger warning for this chapter, there is an attempted rape scene (I know, heavy stuff for this kind of fic, but it was necessary to drive the plot...and don't worry, it's not Tom!), also, please follow me on Instagram to view my fanfic artwork! Sharkdiver1980. I don't have artwork for this fic yet, but there are 3 images for Forbidden, and 1 GIF for Besotted, and a few others for Fics I am working on but have not yet published.

Chapter 6 – Terrible Liar

Hermione's eyes opened to the early morning light filtering in through the hospital wing's large windows. The sound of the door swinging open caused her to turn her head and see if it was someone coming to visit her, or if another student was in need of medical attention. She was happy to see it was Harry striding towards her cot, although the troubled look on his face was concerning.

"Harry, is something wrong?" she asked as he reached her side.

"I should be asking how you're doing, you're the one in the hospital wing." He said tilting his lips up in a half smile.

"What's wrong, Harry? I've known you far too long and I know when something is bothering you." She demanded in her usual bossy tone

"Some things never change at least." Harry snorted before his face became serious once again. He took a moment to look around, and he cast a muffliato around her cot

"Last night, I was watching Riddle…well, until I fell asleep that is…but late last night, after I woke up, they were having a meeting, Hermione, in the common room." Harry told her.

"You mean a Death Eater meeting?" Hermione practically squeeked, her hand flying up to cover her mouth in shock. She hadn't realized that Tom had started doing that while he was still a student at Hogwart's.

"Well, not exactly; he was calling them his 'Knights', but I have a feeling, this is just a precursor to the Death Eaters. At some point, he will change the name, but I think their mission is the same." Harry explained.

"Did they see you? What did they say?" Hermione interrogated him

"No, no they didn't see me…I was under a strong disillusionment spell, they thought I was asleep in the dormitory. They were talking about us, and Riddle said that he didn't believe our story and that he thought we were hiding something." Harry continued

"You think?!" Hermione said sarcastically, but encouraged Harry to continue.

"Malfoy asked if Riddle wanted him to…persuade you…", and at this Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust, imagining what forms of persuasion Malfoy had in mind before he continued, "to tell them what you know."

"Ew." Hermione said simply.

"Yeah. Well, anyways, the strange thing was, that Riddle seemed to get upset about that, and he forbid them to touch you. He said, and I quote, 'I'll deal with her myself'" Harry told her.

A shiver went down her spine at that, and the thought wasn't entirely unpleasant. She couldn't tell Harry that though.

"I see…and what about you?" she asked, having a feeling she knew where this conversation was headed.

"Riddle basically told his minions that no one would be the wiser if I had an 'unfortunate accident' during quidditch tryouts this afternoon. One of them, or maybe a few, will most definitely try something." Harry said grimly.

"Right, well, we can't let them suspect that we have any idea what they are planning. You have to go and try out for the team, as if nothing was amiss. I'll be there of course, in the stands watching your back." Hermione said with a contemplative look on her face.

"Hermione, what good could you possibly do in the stands when we are flying around all over the pitch?" Harry asked her in exasperation.

"Do you remember when Ron tried out for Keeper?" she asked him suddenly.

"Of course I do, what does that have to do with anything?" he asked

"Well, didn't you ever find it…odd…that Cormac McLaggen, who had been having an excellent audition up to one point suddenly start missing saves left and right?" Hermione asked biting her lip in a knowing smile.

"Well yes, but I just thought….wait…that was you? You did that? Hermione! That was cheating!" Harry said laughing at her admission.

"I simply cast a confundus or two, but still, Ron played well, and he made the team all on his own merit. That's beside the point though…what I mean is, I'll be watching and if someone tries anything when you aren't looking, well…I'll make sure they don't." Hermione said smiling at him.

He hugged her then, in a vice-like grip, "What would I do without you, Hermione?" He said before he pulled back and looked deep into her eyes. Once again, an awkwardness passed between them until she could no longer stand it and changed the subject.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you…Riddle paid me a visit last night." She told him

"What?! What happened? Why didn't you tell me?" he asked incredulously.

"Harry, calm down; I hadn't gotten a chance with what you came here to tell me about, and besides, nothing happened…not really." Hermione explained.

"What does 'not really' mean?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow knowing she was definitely leaving something out.

"Well, he just came by to see how I was, and I guess, in his own way apologize…although lets be honest, Tom Riddle has never apologized for anything in his life…"she rambled

"Hermione, get to the point." Harry said pinching the bridge of his nose

"Well, once we got all that out of the way, he sort of…askedmetobehisdatefortheSlugClubdinner" she finished in a rush.

"He…what now? He asked you out? On a date?" Harry asked, his voice dangerously low, and his face turning an unflattering shade of red.

Hermione knew this would not go well, and she laid a hand on his arm to calm him down.

"Well, after potion's class yesterday, when Slughorn invited me, he sort of pushed Tom into it, and said that we should come together…Tom though, felt it would be rude I guess, to not ask me himself, so he…did. It's just a dinner, and it doesn't mean anything. As much as I would rather be doing anything else but attending those insipid dinner parties, I thought it would be stupid not to go, considering it is at one of these get togethers that Tom will ask Slughorn about horcruxes. It was the only way I could think of to keep an eye on him." Hermione explained trying to diffuse the situation.

"So it's 'Tom' now, is it?" Harry asked with a hint of jealousy lacing his voice

"Harry, honestly. If that was all you got out of what I just said, then that is just…childish." Hermione huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through this messy hair, "You're right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't take this out on you." He said tiredly.

"It's alright. We'll get through this. Today will be a long day, so as Moody would say, 'Constant Vigilance'." Hermione laughed and squeezed his arm in support.

Just then, Harry saw Madame Pomfrey making her way towards them so he swished his wand and whispered finite incantatum to undo the muffliato spell he had cast. Madam Pomfrey bustled over and clicked her tongue in annoyance that Hermione already had visitors this early in the morning.

"Mister Jones, I assure you, your sister is quite alright, in fact, she can go once I give her another check over to make sure her ribs are completely healed. She'll meet you at Breakfast, now run along." She chided and made a motion for Harry to get moving.

Not wanting to argue with the medi-witch, he stood and picked up his satchel and told Hermione that he'd save her a seat in the Great Hall.

The morning classes went by uneventfully, however there was a growing ball of nerves settling in Harry's stomach. It was nerve wracking enough to go through quidditch tryouts without having to worry about your potential teammates trying to kill you in the process.

Harry and Hermione walked down to the quidditch pitch together, and just before he reached it, he turned to her and said, "Why am I bothering with this again? They don't want me on their team obviously, and under the circumstances, I'll hardly be able to enjoy it anyway. What if every practice and every game I'm going to have to worry about being murdered?" Harry asked her in frustration.

"Harry, look at me. You are Harry fucking Potter, All-star quidditch seeker. No matter what they are thinking right now, they haven't seen you fly. Also, they are Slytherins, and once they see what you can do, they would be complete dunderheads to pass on the opportunity to be a winning team if they don't keep you around. I really think this is your chance to throw a wrench into their plans. Besides, you're a Gryffindor, regardless of what the stupid sorting hat said, so act like one. And if that's not enough, I've got your back." She said winking at him.

Harry smiled sheepishly at her and laughed at her bossy tone. She linked her arm through his and walked him down to the pitch before taking her seat up in the stands. It didn't take long for Riddle to notice her, and he flashed her a grin that made her stomach do a little flip flop before calling out for everyone's attention.

"We are here for the Slytherin quidditch team tryouts. The current positions we are looking to fill are Seeker, Beater, and Keeper. If you think you've got what we are looking for, you'll have the opportunity to show us what you can do. As captain, I'll be assessing your performances and will make the decision by tomorrow at lunch. Good luck." Tom said as he stepped back and took his position on his broom, flying up to his starting position as Chaser.

"For this match, Jones and Macmillan will be competing as seekers, Black and Rosier as beaters, and Edmund Lestrange as keeper. The rest of you will be alternating as each scrimmage ends." Abraxas called out from his position on his broom.

Harry took a deep breath and Hermione nodded towards him in encouragement. Harry mounted his broom and zoomed up into the sky. He was reminded suddenly of that day that the Order members had used polyjuice to look like him so that they could get him through the death eaters to the safety of headquarters; only now, he'd have to look for a golden snitch too. He took a moment to get his bearings and see if anyone was looking at him suspiciously until he saw a glint of gold catch his eye, and immediately zoomed after it.

Hermione watched with white knuckles as the players were zooming around in the sky. It was hard to focus because in this game there were so many things going on at once, it was hard to see where everyone was all the time. She kept her eyes trained as best she could on Tom, and Malfoy. They seemed to be the obvious aggressors. Though as she watched Harry's broom wind around other players as he raced after the snitch, she saw the threat; Macmillan, who was supposed to be competing against Harry as the seeker, had his wand out as he raced diagonally behind Harry. Hermione swished her wand and muttered an incantation that caused the snitch to zoom towards the ground sharply, and she knew Harry would go after it. Not many quidditch players could execute this move without getting seriously injured, but she knew Harry could, as he had done it before. She would never have known it was a 'thing' until she heard Ron gushing over Harry for being able to do it. A few of the Slytherins actually stopped playing to watch Harry as he dove straight at the ground at rapid speed after the snitch, and she watched as Macmillan nervously attempted to follow, glancing up at Riddle as if he was hoping Riddle would signal him to abort. When he was only a few feet from crashing into the ground, Harry turned his broom up sharply and grabbed the snitch before it could zip away from him. There was an incredible crash behind him as Macmillan hadn't been able to pull his broom up in time and hit the ground moving at a pretty fast speed. Harry turned and touched down so he could run over to check on Macmillan. Tom and Abraxas followed shortly behind. Tom ordered Malfoy to get Macmillan to the hospital wing, and then strolled over to Harry.

"Impressive moves, Jones…was that a Wronski Feint? I've never seen anyone actually do it successfully before" Tom said a hint of awe in his voice.

"Well, Eunice Murray knew a thing or two about quidditch, and she taught me well." Harry said trying not to gloat over his performance.

"Apparently so, based on that performance, I'd say the odds are definitely in your favor for making the team." Tom told him before clapping him on the back and hurrying back to the rest of his team.

Harry looked up at Hermione, and she gave him the thumbs up sign. He'd taken her advice, and it seemed to have paid off. Tom was smart enough not to waste an opportunity to have a winning team.

After the last of the Slytherins finished their tryouts, Tom, slid back into prefect mode, and encouraged everyone to go get cleaned up and head to the hall for dinner. Hermione saw Harry walking with Euphemia Prewett back towards the castle, and decided she should also start heading back so that she could get ready for the slug club dinner date with Tom.

Hermione made her way down the stands and was taking a shortcut behind the pitch when a pair of strong arms grabbed her and shoved her down onto the ground. She hit the ground with a grunt, and rolled over quickly ready to give whoever had shoved her a piece of her mind

"Hey! What the hell…" Hermione began, but her words died in her throat as she saw Dolohov standing over her with his wand drawn, and an evil smirk plastered across his face.

"Now, what's a little mudblood bitch, like you, doing at quidditch tryouts? Hmm? Do you think that if you suck enough cock, that one of these blokes will forget how filthy your blood is and marry you?" He spat

Hermione froze, knowing that he wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she goaded him into it.

"What's that? Nothing to say? Usually you never shut up. I thought for sure I was going to have to shove my cock in your mouth just to shut you up, but maybe you want it somewhere else?" He asked kneeling down over her pinning her to the ground. He grasped her face roughly with his hand and licked the side of her cheek sloppily. She could smell the firewhiskey on his breath. His other hand slid down her chest and grabbed one of her breasts roughly as he attempted to pin her down and force his way between her legs.

Raw fear and panic kicked in then, and Hermione pushed him as hard as she could, though it didn't make much difference because he was so much bigger than she was. She screamed for someone to help her, and her hands clawed at the ground trying to find her wand. Hot tears sprang into her eyes as she heard him opening his belt, knowing full well he had every intention of raping her.

A moment later, Dolohov was kicked off of her roughly with a boot to his face. Hermione struggled to sit up, and watched in shock as Tom knelt over Dolohov, and punched him repeatedly in the face. A few moments later, he finally stilled, breathing heavily, looking down at Dolohov's prone body. he sneered down at him and whispered in a low threatening voice, "If you ever disobey me again, you will wish for death." before he stood up, and kicked him once more in the ribs.

Tom turned around and looked at Hermione then, she was still sitting on the ground, her eyes wide with shock, her face tear-stained and smudged with dirt.

"Did he hurt you?" He asked her in a voice so soft, and gentle, it was hard to imagine he was the same person she just watched beat someone half to death in front of her.

"He didn't…He was going to…oh God!" Hermione sobbed grabbing the front of Tom's shirt and burying her face in his neck as he knelt down in front of her. He froze, letting her cling to him, not sure what he should do with his hands, and finally draped them around her shoulders gently.

"Lets get you back to the castle" he said soothingly as he slipped one of his arms under her bent knees and lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck for support and kept her face nestled into his chest as he carried her.

As they approached the entrance hall, Hermione lifted her head and pleaded, "Not the common room; I'm not ready to talk to anyone…" she asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Then where…" Tom started to ask before she replied quickly, "Seventh floor."

He looked at her and raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow and moved forward towards the stairs, "And may I ask what is on the seventh floor?" he asked quizzically.

"The room of requirement" she said softly, not caring much at the moment about protecting her delicately crafted story after she'd nearly been raped, timeline be damned.

His eyes widened momentarily. He'd heard about the room, of course, but in the six years he had been attending Hogwarts, no one to his knowledge had found it as of yet.

When they reached the seventh floor corridor, he set her down in front of a large expanse of wall, and she paced back and forth in front of it, obviously in deep thought. A moment later, a door materialized in the wall, and she opened it, and pulled him inside with her.

He looked around in awe. The room itself was cozy, with a fire crackling merrily in the hearth, but there was something…odd.

"Hermione, why are we in the Gryffindor common room?" he asked looking around at the maroon and gold tapestries that lined the walls.

"We're not…oh. Oh." She said as her hand flew to her mouth, and she looked at him with a look of panic on her face.

"Clearly, you have some explaining to do." He said chuckling as he sat down next to her on the well worn sofa.

"None of this was supposed to happen. How could I be expected to keep this up after…after…" She trailed off, not needing to say the words. She dropped her head into her hands and her shoulders shook as she cried. A box of tissues materialized on the coffee table just in front of her, and she grabbed a tissue to dab her eyes. After a few moments of just sobbing, she finally seemed to regain enough of her composure to speak.

"Thank you" she whispered finally looking up and meeting his eyes. "If you hadn't been there…"

She didn't need to finish her sentence, and she saw him look away from her then, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed back the rage that was bubbling up inside at the reminder of Dolohov's disobedience.

"You have to promise me, Hermione, that you won't tell anyone about this…ever." He said suddenly.

She stilled her movements, and looked at him questioningly.

"Tom, it wasn't your fault; Dolohov is the one who…" she started to say until he interrupted her

"No. Promise me, Hermione."

"But what if he…" she began to say

"He won't. I can promise you, that he will never hurt you again." He said seriously, and he grasped her small hand in his.

She looked at his hand then, and saw his bloodied knuckles from where he had punched Dolohov.

Before he could pull his hand away, she healed the cuts on his hands and muttered a cleansing spell to get rid of the blood. She seemed to be staring at his hand for longer than necessary until she finally looked up at him and just simply said, "I promise."

He smiled at her then, and said, "You should probably wash your face, someone will think I hurt you." He said clearly meaning Harry.

At his words, a basin, pitcher, and a face cloth appeared on the table, and she picked up the washcloth taking his advice.

"So…I don't suppose you're going to tell me why someone who only transferred here yesterday knows where the room of requirement is?" he asked changing the subject

She winced. He noticed.

"I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I told you that Eunice Murray told me?" she asked still wincing. She had never been a very good liar. At least with their initial backstory, she had time to rehearse it, but now that things were coming apart at the seems, she was struggling to come up with convincing answers.

"And am I to believe that Miss Murrary also told you in painstaking detail what the Gryffindor common room looks like?" He asked once again raising his eyebrow at her in disbelief.

"Yes?" she asked trying to suppress the urge to laugh hysterically knowing how badly she was caught.

"Hermione, Eunice Murrary was a Hufflepuff." He said flatly.

At this Hermione snorted and she doubled over in laughter. She couldn't keep up the lie anymore, she was totally caught and she knew it. She really did want to care about the timeline, and about how much of a monster he would turn out to be in the future, and how disappointed Harry would be when he found out that his arch enemy was about to find out the truth, but after everything she'd just been through, she really didn't have it in her to care anymore.

She could always swear him to secrecy. Maybe an unbreakable vow?

"Is your name even Hermione?" He asked her quickly becoming impatient

"Yes it is. Are you comfortable? I suggest you get comfortable if not, because this is kind of a long story." She told him wringing her hands together nervously.

"Like…how long are we talking?" he asked

"Well, lets just say that if someone wanted to write it all down, it would take at least seven books." She said laughing again nervously.

He looked at her blankly, and then noticed the time.

"As much as I am dying to hear this, and you will tell me, we will be late to Slughorn's dinner party if we don't head back right now and change. But, the moment it's over, you'll tell me everything." He said seriously holding out his hand to help her up.

"I suppose there's no getting out of it now, is there." She said exasperatedly.

"Are you saying you want to back out of our date?" he said imitating being stabbed in the heart.

"No! No…not that, I meant that there was no getting out of telling you everything." She said sheepishly.

He smirked at her then, knowing he had her. "Not a chance."

She took his hand then, and led them back down to the dungeons to get changed.