Disclaimer: these characters are not mine – they belong to JK Rowling
AN: Here's the next installment of Accidents! I hope you enjoy, this chapter was kind of fun to write... :D Please review!
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Hermione slipped into her seat in the Great Hall and felt Tom's hand land on her thigh under the table. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but he appeared to be focused on the article he was reading in the Daily Prophet. She smirked at his constant need to be touching her, and spooned some eggs onto her plate.
"Those incompetent fools…" Tom muttered as he shoved the paper aside and sipped his coffee.
"Who's incompetent today?" Hermione asked smirking at him.
Tom sighed, "Those buffoons down at the Ministry are trying to pass a law to ban the use of underage magic."
Hermione wasn't shocked at this, since that law had been very much in effect in her own time.
"And you have a problem with that?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, as should anyone with even the slightest magical ability. You as well as I know that magic can manifest unintentionally in children when they are over stimulated. It's counter-intuitive to attempt to pass a law restricting something they haven't been effectively taught to control yet. Think about it; how much more beneficial would our magical education be if we didn't need to spend the first two years learning the basics. If those things could be learned before the formal start of education, and students were allowed to practice outside of school, we would have a much more efficient society." Tom explained.
Hermione had to admit, he had a point. She was sure Harry would also agree, since he had almost been expelled from Hogwart's on a few separate occasions due to using magic outside of school, even as a matter of self-defense.
"You have a point." Hermione agreed. She had never been a big fan of the puppets that had always been running the ministry. Just like any governing body, she was convinced it was all corrupt anyway.
Harry sat heavily in his seat across from Hermione and dropped his head onto the table.
"Granny troubles, Jones?" Tom chuckled and Hermione smacked him on the arm.
Harry lifted his head and glared at Tom, "Fuck off, Riddle." Harry spat
Tom just smirked and sipped his coffee, enjoying the fact that he was able to get under his skin so easily.
"Harry, What happened?" Hermione asked more sympathetically.
"Effy happened. I was on my way here and she cornered me." Harry admitted pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes.
"Well, you know what they say, Jones, 'if you can't keep it in your pants, keep it in the family.'" Tom said before Hermione whacked him with her Transfiguration book.
"Ouch, you harpy!" Tom said grabbing the book out of her hands and setting down on the other side of him so she couldn't whack him with it again.
"You deserved that. Be nice." Hermione huffed
Tom just smirked at her and picked up his coffee.
"What did she say, Harry?" Hermione asked once again focused on Harry.
Harry sighed, "She asked me why I've been ignoring her, and if she'd done anything wrong. Of course I couldn't tell her the truth, so I just gave her some lame excuse and told her I had to go. I feel like shit now."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you look like shit too." Tom offered.
"Tom!" Hermione scolded and gave him a dirty look.
"What? I'm just being honest." Tom sniffed.
Harry glared at him, and decided to ignore him.
Hermione placed her hand on Harry's arm to comfort him and she felt Tom squeeze her thigh under the table. He was still jealous apparently.
"You're going to the library to study tonight with Dorea, right?" Hermione asked him
"Yeah, that's the plan." Harry answered.
"Well you have to ask her to go to the ball with you tonight. The sooner you do, the sooner we can move to phase two of operation matchmaker." Hermione assured though Harry was beginning to turn green at the thought of having to ask Dorea out.
Hermione was about to take a sip of her tea when she saw Isadora Selwyn approach Tom. Hermione gritted her teeth as she watched the way Isadora swayed her hips towards him, and twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers like the blonde twit that she was.
"Hi, Tom" Isadora giggled, flicking her eyes towards Hermione and smirking.
Oh, no she didn't.
"Isadora." Tom said politely in greeting.
"I was thinking…" Isadora began
"There's a novel idea." Hermione muttered under her breath sarcastically.
Isadora shot Hermione a look and narrowed her eyes, "I wasn't talking to you, Mudblood."
Hermione shot out of her seat and Harry practically leapt over the table to restrain her.
"Let me go, Harry…" Hermione struggled in his grip.
"I think not." Harry said as he kept a tight grip on Hermione. Finally, she calmed down and Harry released her when he felt like he wasn't going to throw a punch. She was not only pissed at Isadora, but it didn't escape her notice that Tom had not stood up to defend her honor, either, which pissed her off even more. Not that she was surprised.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Isadora continued putting her focus back on Tom who was still looking back and forth between her and Hermione. "The Halloween Ball is coming up, and I was wondering if you were going with anyone?" Isadora asked biting her lip in a way that she apparently thought was sexy.
Hermione snorted. If he even thinks about going to the ball with that bimbo…
"Tom glanced at Hermione and tried to hide his smirk, "I haven't yet decided, Isadora, but should I decide to go, I'll let you know." Tom answered.
Hermione clenched her fork with white knuckles, ready to stab him with it. How dare he insinuate that he would consider going with that cow.
"You do that." Isadora simpered before she walked away out of the great hall.
Tom looked back at Hermione and had to bite back a laugh. She looked like she was ready to spit nails.
"You're not jealous, are you?" he asked knowing perfectly well that she was.
"Hardly." Hermione sniffed, and she turned her gaze toward Harry.
"Harry, forget what I said earlier; I think you should go to the ball with me." Hermione said knowing it would make Tom angry. Lets see how he liked it.
"Hermione…" Tom warned.
"Hermione, you know that I would take you in a heartbeat, but since everyone thinks we are brother and sister…well…" Harry said uncomfortably.
"What difference does it make, Jones? You already snogged your grandmother." Tom spat at Harry.
Harry glared at Tom, and Hermione stood looking between them, and strode off angrily out of the Great Hall.
"Now you've done it." Harry said to Tom.
"Shut your mouth, Jones. She's going to the ball with me, whether she wants to or not." Tom stood glaring back at Harry.
Harry stood mirroring his stance across the table, glaring at him, "Are you going to make me, Riddle?" Harry spat
Tom growled and clenched his fist before he grabbed his bag and strode out of the Great Hall after Hermione.
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"Hermione…" Tom called after her as she walked as quickly as she could down to the dungeons, completely ignoring him.
When she refused to turn around, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom and warded the door.
"Let me out, I really don't have any desire to talk to you right now." She said holding her Potion's book tightly to her chest.
"Hermione, you're being unreasonable." Tom sighed blocking her from trying to take down his wards.
"Me? I'm being unreasonable? You have some nerve!" Hermione yelled
"Oh calm down, I didn't tell Isadora I was going to take her to the ball. I said that if I decided to go…with you….I'd let her know." Tom said smirking as he let his words sink in.
"You…wait…" Hermione stuttered.
"I figured you would want to take care of the letting her know part, so I conveniently left that out."
Some of her anger faded when she realized that Tom was only messing with Isadora, but she was still annoyed with him for a few other reasons.
"If you care about me, then why did you let her insult me, Tom?" Hermione asked looking more hurt than angry.
Tom sighed, "Hermione, I didn't do it to hurt you, but you must understand that her father is a high ranking Ministry official. If I make an enemy of Isadora, It would ruin me. Playing politics is a necessary evil, one that you would do well to learn being a member of Slytherin house."
She knew he was right, but it still hurt.
"Also, you were a complete prat to Harry. He didn't deserve that." Hermione scolded.
"Potter is a big boy, he can take care of himself. He did tell me to fuck off, so I'd say we're even." Tom chuckled. He had to admit, Harry at least had a backbone. He could respect that.
Hermione seemed to calm down and he stepped towards her lifting her chin with his fingers so that she would look at him.
"There's only one woman I want, and it's not Isadora Selwyn." Tom said brushing his lips across Hermione's and she moaned into his mouth.
"So will you go to the ball with me then?" He asked pulling her against him
"I'll think about it." Hermione said trying to bite back a smirk when Tom growled in frustration.
"Hermione…" Tom warned
Hermione laughed, "Yes, I'll go with you, Tom."
"Good. Because after the ball, I plan to thoroughly fuck you, and it would be so much easier if you were actually my date." Tom whispered in her ear
Hermione felt her knees go slightly weak at his words, and once again the memory of how he had taken her on the desk on the library flashed through her mind causing her to blush.
"We should get to Potion's class…" Hermione said her voice sounding more husky than she meant it to.
"Yes, we wouldn't want Slughorn to come looking for us." Tom said smirking.
Hermione imagined her Potion's professor walking in on Tom fucking her against the wall, and her mouth suddenly went dry.
She nodded and Tom released the wards on the class room and opened the door for her.
~~{0}~~
"Think carefully about what you say, If the wrong person hears you…" Abraxas said quietly to Edmund as they spoke through one of the stacks in the back of the library.
"He's slipping. Everything we've been working towards is about to go up in flames." Edmund said in an angry whisper back to Abraxas.
"If he finds out you're talking like this, he'll kill you." Abraxas warned.
"He can't kill us all…" Edmund mused
Abraxas rather thought Tom could very easily kill them all if he wanted to, but Edmund had a point; in order to accomplish what he set out to do, Tom needed their support. One or two defectors could be made into an example, but if they all stood against him, he would no longer be the one in control.
"You know I'm right, Abraxas. He's courting mudbloods now. It's a disgrace." Edmund spat.
Abraxas sighed. He agreed with Edmund, and he was quite sure most of the others felt the same way as well but were too afraid of Tom to admit it. He could trace his family back generation after generation, but now he should allow his heritage to be sullied by someone of a lower station because Tom suddenly thinks mudbloods are worthy to study magic? Honestly, Tom was a half blood, and the only reason that Abraxas supported him was because he was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. If he hadn't been descended from one of the founders, Abraxas never would have stood by him. Sure Tom was extremely powerful, but what they lacked in power they made up for in numbers. Surely if they stood together he could be dethroned.
"What do you suggest?" Abraxas asked cautiously, knowing he had just made a pivotal decision.
"He must be killed. Tom is too powerful. The only way to stop him is to silence him for good." Edmund said quickly.
"When?" Abraxas asked, knowing that they would have to get the others on board if their plan is to succeed.
"After the Halloween ball. Everyone will be distracted, and no one will expect it. We can make it look like an accident."
Abraxas nodded, "I'll persuade the others to see things our way." He said and then slid the book back into the stack blocking his view of Lestrange.
He heard footsteps a few moments later and knew Lestrange had walked away. It was time they stood up to Tom and reclaimed what was rightfully theirs; the power belonged in the hands of the Purebloods. With his mind made up, Abraxas picked up his bag and strode out of the library in search of the others.