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

AN: Thank you all for the continued reviews! This story has been a blast to write, and I am having way too much fun with these characters! Keep the reviews coming! Oh - and in the quidditch scene in chapter 9, I totally had "Holding out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler running through my mind...feel free to youtube it for added fun!

Chapter 9 –Hey Jealousy

The next morning, breakfast in the Great Hall could be described as awkward at best. Somehow, in the span of less than twenty-four hours, she had gone from being carefully suspicious of Tom Riddle to letting him shag her senseless against a bookcase in the chamber of secrets. The worst part though, was that Harry was now sitting next to her, and she couldn't look him in the eye. Especially not while a young dark lord was sitting across from her, sensually eating a piece of fruit in a way that looked borderline obscene.

"Hermione, you look tired, did you even sleep last night?" Harry asked her, a look of concern written on his face.

Hermione's eyes snapped over at Tom unconsciously, and he was smirking at her behind his coffee cup.

"Not much, I was studying and I lost track of time." Hermione lied.

"He's right, Hermione, you must've been studying really hard last night, you look positively exhausted." Tom said innocently, and Hermione shot him a glare.

"What can I say, some subjects really are just so enjoyable that I just can't seem to get enough." Hermione said smirking at him.

"Hermione, that sounds pornographic. Only you could think of books that way." Harry laughed, and Tom spit out his coffee.

"Well, I'm off to divination. I'll see you later." Harry said and squeezed her shoulder before striding out of the hall.

Tom narrowed his eyes as he watched the intimate gesture between them, and a spike of jealousy ran through him. Even though he had shagged Hermione senseless the night before, he couldn't ignore the easy familiarity that still seemed very much apparent between the two. When he had thought they were siblings, it was of no consequence, but now that he knew the truth, he didn't like it one bit.

"We should get to Potions." Tom said falling back into what Hermione liked to think of as his 'authoritative prefect voice'. She furrowed her brow before she brushed it off, and stood to follow him out of the great hall.

As they walked through the corridor, Hermione had to jog to catch up with his long strides.

"Is everything alright? You seem…odd." Hermione asked him

Tom glanced sideways at her and raised an eyebrow at her, "Why should anything be wrong?" he replied, a hint of iciness in his tone.

"Well, I don't know…you just seem rather frosty towards me all of the sudden." She explained, knowing there was something he wasn't telling her.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." He bit out.

Having been used to boys who would rather swallow their own tongue than tell someone what's bothering them, Hermione sighed. She spotted an empty classroom, and before he could stop her, she pulled him inside and warded the door.

"Ok, what is wrong?" She asked pointedly, putting her hands on her hips and looking at him expectantly.

"Hermione, we don't have time for this, potions starts in ten minutes." he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, then you have ten minutes to tell me what happened at breakfast that got your wand in a knot." Hermione said bossily, crossing her arms over her chest.

A dark look passed over Tom's face. How dare she talk to him like that?

"I don't take orders from a mudblood." Tom spat, a look of fury twisting his features.

Hermione shouldn't have been surprised, knowing who he was, but white hot fury still bubbled up in her as she took a step towards him menacingly until they were nose to nose.

"I don't seem to recall you having any problem taking orders from a mudblood last night. If you think for one second, that I'm going to let you talk to me like that, you have another thing coming." She said acidly.

He raised his wand to her, expecting her to become afraid as anyone else would have done, however, his eyes widened when he felt her wand pressing into his stomach.

"Now, I believe you were about to tell me what your problem is." Hermione said with mock sweetness.

Despite his previous anger, Tom couldn't help but laugh. It seemed he had severely underestimated her. Truthfully, it pleased him that she didn't seem threatened by him. It was actually refreshing, considering every other person who knew him was terrified of him.

"Something funny?" Hermione asked, still pressing her wand into his stomach.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Tom said silkily smirking at her, not the least bit intimidated by her.

"I would, actually." Hermione said as she leaned in towards him, his scent enveloping her, making it hard to focus on anything but his mouth.

"You're feisty. I like it." He said leaning towards her, brushing his lips over hers in the lightest of touches.

Hermione inhaled sharply and wanted nothing more than to pull his head down to deepen the kiss.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, the way you were acting earlier, it's almost as if you were jealous." Hermione breathed against his lips.

"And if I was?" he said so quietly against her lips, that she almost missed it.

Hermione felt a small smile form on her lips, "I would tell you there's no reason to be. Though Harry and I are not related, I can't think of him as anything more than a brother." Hermione said finally lowering her wand and pulling his head towards hers in a deep kiss.

Tom groaned and pulled her closer letting his hands roam over her back and down to the curve of her hip.

Finally, Hermione broke the kiss as he continued to trail small kisses over her neck

"We really have to get to potions." Hermione said putting her hands on his chest and pushing him back.

Tom growled in frustration and looked down. He was not about to walk into class with a raging hard on.

Hermione giggled, "Try thinking about something else." Hermione offered unhelpfully.

He just glared at her, and inhaled sharply through his nose, "Like what?" he spat.

"You know, I heard Professor Merrythought was caught by a prefect sneaking out of Headmaster Dippet's private quarters the other night…I wonder what ever could they have been doing?" Hermione snickered as a look of horror crossed Tom's handsome face, and the tent in his pants settled back down.

"Problem solved! Let's get to class." Hermione chuckled and grabbed his hand pulling him along with her.

"Don't think I'm not going to get you back for that." Tom hissed still trying to scrub the image of their ancient defense professor and Headmaster shagging from his brain.

~~{0}~~

At lunch, Tom had posted the list of those who had made the Slytherin quidditch team. Harry had of course made seeker, following his brilliant move during try outs the previous day.

Hermione was already seated next to Tom at the Slytherin table when she saw Harry walking into the great hall, arm in arm with none other than Euphemia Prewett. Hermione watched as he led her towards the Gryffindor table, and a blush tinged his cheeks as she kissed him on the cheek before taking her seat. Harry hadn't noticed the glare that Fleamont Potter was shooting him. This wasn't good.

As Harry made his way over to the Slytherin table, he took the empty seat across from Hermione and Tom, still faintly blushing.

"Harry, was that Effy Prewett?" Hermione asked casually wanting to see if Harry had any idea who she was.

"Yeah, she's in a few of my classes." Harry answered shyly, clearly trying to change the subject.

"I see." Was all Hermione said, though it came out much more frosty than intended..

Harry noticed Hermione's reaction, and a thought crossed his mind; Hermione seemed… jealous. This could be exactly what he needed in order to help her realize her true feelings for him. He would play it cool, and continue spending time with Effy in front of her, until she got so jealous that she confronted him, and then he would make his move. It was brilliant; a bit Slytherin, or rather something like what Ron would do, but still brilliant.

"I'm thinking of asking her to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend." Harry said nonchalantly, and Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Tom watched their exchange closely, confused by Hermione's reaction to Harry's obvious flirting with Effy Prewett. Hadn't she just told him that she only thought of Harry like a brother? Either she had been lying, or she didn't want to admit that maybe she did have feelings for Harry after all. Despite Hermione's earlier assurances, he felt his mood darken.

"Jones, I hope you're ready for quidditch practice tonight, we have our first game on Saturday morning against Gryffindor." Tom said a hint of coldness once again seeping into his tone.

Hermione shot a bewildered look at Tom. What was his problem now? If she hadn't been in the middle of the great hall, she would have banged her head on the table. Merlin this man had more emotional baggage than anyone she'd ever met.

"Tom, I'm sure Harry will prove that he more than earned his place on the team." Hermione said in Harry's defense. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small smirk on Harry's face.

"Yes, well, don't make me regret it, Jones." Tom said icily as he stood from the table and strode from the great hall.

"What's got his wand in a knot?" Harry asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

Hermione sighed, rubbing her temples, "who knows. I'm pretty sure if you look up bi-polar in the dictionary, there'll be a picture of Tom Riddle right next to it."

Harry laughed despite himself. He still didn't trust any of the Slytherins, especially Tom Riddle, but since he was stuck here, he wasn't about to let them ruin the one thing he did truly enjoy; quidditch.

~~{0}~~

Hermione climbed up into the stands of the quidditch pitch, despite the fact that she would much rather be spending time in the library. Even though she had told Tom where she and Harry were really from, she still didn't know what his intentions were. He seemed to take in everything that she had told him the previous night, but he hadn't actually told her that he would change any of his plans, and she certainly did not trust any of his cronies. With that thought in mind, she thought it best to keep an eye on Harry during practice to make sure they wouldn't try anything.

Initially, things were pretty uneventful. The quaffle was being tossed back and forth by the chasers as they worked on their passes, while the beaters flanked them keeping the bludgers off. Harry independently zig-zagged through all of it, with the single purpose of catching the snitch. Suddenly, as Abraxas threw a pass to Tom, Harry zipped between them accidentally knocking the quaffle away from Tom. Abraxas dove after the quaffle, but Tom took off after Harry. Hermione watched in confusion, wondering what was happening when she saw Tom pull alongside Harry, and forcefully slam into his side. Harry looked over at him in shock, and an angry look crossed his face before he jerked his broom and slammed into Tom in retaliation. Both the quaffle and the snitch seemed to be forgotten, as Tom chased after Harry and they attempted to knock each other off of their brooms. By now, the rest of the team had stopped, and all sat on their brooms watching the power struggle that was taking place between the two of them. Hermione could hear Harry shouting at Tom, and Tom shouting back at Harry. This wasn't good.

Not knowing what else to do, Hermione stood from her seat in the stands and pulled out her wand, "Immobulis!" she shouted, watching as Harry and Tom's forms froze in place. She marched angrily out of the stands and onto the pitch, noting that the other players had now landed and stood by snickering at the two wizards who were still glaring at each other in midair. Once again she flicked her wand, and shouted "Levicorpus!" at the two frozen figures, using her wand to guide them down, she stood in front of them angrily with her hands on her hips, in her best imitation of Mrs. Weasely.

"What the devil has gotten into you two? In case you haven't noticed, you're on the same damn team! Now, if you can both agree to act like adults, I'll release you. Honestly, you're both acting like children!" Hermione chided and flicking her wand once more saying, "finite".

Harry and Tom still stood facing each other and glaring, until Harry finally broke the silence.

"Do you have some sort of problem with me, Riddle?" Harry spat, wanting to just get it all out in the open.

"Of course not, Jones, whatever would make you think such a thing?" Tom said smoothly, malice dripping from his voice.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact the you just tried to kill me tipped me off a little?" Harry spat sarcastically.

Tom clenched his jaw, "Oh, I assure you Jones, had I wanted to kill you, you surely wouldn't be standing here right now. I simply wanted to gauge how you would handle aggressive competition is all." Tom lied smoothly.

Hermione wasn't buying it, and neither was Harry, though they both knew now was not the time to press the issue.

"Fine. Did my performance meet your expectations, then?" Harry snapped venomously.

"You performed adequately. Don't expect your sister to rescue you on Saturday, however, I can assure you that Fleamont Potter will not go easy on you." Tom said icily before stalking away from both he and Hermione.

"What are you all standing around here for? Did I tell you to stop?" He shouted at the other players before several of them scrambled back onto their brooms and took flight once again.

Hermione sighed and headed back into the stands. It seemed as if Tom was still jealous of Harry, even if he couldn't admit it. Boys.