Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no profit is being made, this is just for fun
AN: Yay next chapter! I want to give a shout out to all of you who took the time to review the last chapter: EsperanzaHebras, deriz, beestung2025, Skyrosediamond, LK-Hogwartheadgirl, Guest, Vixen with a Vendetta, and Gullb3rg; THANK YOU!
The next morning at breakfast, Hermione did her best to keep her eyes from straying to the Slytherin table, and focused on her porridge, as the owls began to swoop into the hall with the mail.
Harry was deep in conversation with Ron and Seamus when the owl swooped down towards Hermione and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet along with a note. Hermione it up and examined it, seeing nothing on the front that would tell her who it was from. Just to be safe, she scanned it with her wand and didn't detect any dark magic. She opened it, and inside was just a simple sentence:
You shall begin your lessons tonight
~A.
She looked around, and quickly stuffed the letter into her bag, with the intent to burn it later. Her eyes landed on Tom and he returned her gaze before his focus turned back towards Malfoy and his cronies.
The first few classes passed by uneventfully, until she found herself partnered with Tom in the Potions Master level class. Unsurprisingly, there were only a handful of students taking this class, since very few ever went on to get their mastery in the subject. Potions was one of the few classes that she found herself challenged by, since a large part of mastering potions was creative instinct. Following precise directions, she could do, and do well, however, when creative license was required, it was a bit more of a struggle for her. Hermione never gave up on a challenge, so that is how she found herself taking this class, and now partnered with the bane of her existence.
"You're cutting that all wrong, Granger. The leeches need to be cut along the length, not the width."
"The book clearly says-" she began to argue before Tom plucked the knife from her hand and interrupted her
"I don't care what the book says. The whole point of this step is to extract as much blood as possible from the leach. Slicing along the length will extract more of the blood that the leech has consumed than cutting it sideways." He said as he sliced into the leech showing her how the blood welled up much more efficiently than how she had been cutting it. He smirked at her as he collected the blood and dropped it into the cauldron, watching it turn the exact shade of turquoise it was supposed to be.
Hermione grimaced. Not only was he attractive, he was annoyingly good at every single subject. She had yet to see him break a sweat in a single class that they shared, and it drove her up the wall. While she practically killed herself studying, he would sit and read for pleasure, throwing the occasional smirk in her direction. It simply wasn't fair.
"Must you be so smug? It's really not an attractive quality." Hermione muttered under her breath, just loudly enough for him to hear her.
He chuckled, "Smug? I'm simply trying to help you, Hermione." He said innocently, and chuckled again when he saw her small fists ball up at her sides.
"Besides, I'm the one who should be offended." He said off handedly as he continued to cut up the ingredients on his side of the desk.
Her mouth dropped open as his pronouncement, "Excuse me? What have I done to offend you?" she asked incredulously.
"Whenever I stand even remotely close to you, you blush and get all flustered. Clearly, you must be repulsed by my presence." he said smirking as her cheeks reddened.
"You are rather repulsive" she whispered quietly as she pointedly tried to ignore him.
His lips twitched as he watched how hard she was trying to ignore him, and so he made it a point to move closer to her, and occasionally whisper in her ear when he needed something. She glared at him, and he had to bite back a smirk when he saw how she stiffened and blushed to the roots of her hair when his hand landed on the small of her back as he leaned towards her to pluck the stirring rod from her side of the desk.
She was just about to turn and berate him when Professor Slughorn made his way over and gushed over their perfectly brewed potion.
"I say, I haven't seen work this precise since…well…" Slughorn said as he suddenly became flustered and changed the subject.
"Tom, you would make a fine addition to my rather prestigious club! Hermione's already a member of course, the students call it the 'Slug club', you see. Only Hogwart's best and brightest! We're having a little gathering, informal, nothing fancy mind you, next week. I'd be honored to have both our Head Girl and Boy attend!"
"Oh, well you see, Professor-" Hermione begun to stammer an excuse until Tom interrupted her in his smooth baritone.
"We'd be delighted, Professor."
Hermione shot him a look and turned to give her Professor a tight smile. She had to suffer through those 'suck up' parties as she called them through most of her previous year, and she wasn't especially looking forward to attending any this year, however Tom just ensured her continued attendance. As soon as the Professor walked away, she elbowed Tom hard in the ribs.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he asked chuckling as he rubbed his side
"You could have asked me first, I have no desire to go to those insipid parties and now I have to because of you." She said through gritted teeth.
"Oh relax, Hermione, say what you want about Slughorn, but he knows a lot of people in powerful positions. He can get you into almost any position you wish after you graduate. Besides, everyone knows that it's all about who you know." he said evenly.
"I'd much rather attain a position based on merit, thank you very much!" she snapped.
"Well, then you are living in a fantasy world. It doesn't work that way, Hermione, no matter how much you and I both wish it did. In order to win, you must play the game." He said as he grabbed his bag and left her staring after him as the class began to file out.
~~{0}~~
After dinner, she was heading to the library to work on her advanced Transfiguration essay for Professor McGonagall, when she heard a very unwelcome voice behind her.
"Going somewhere, Mudblood?" Draco sneered, flanked on either side by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Get out of my way, Malfoy, or I'll-" she began before he cut her off
"Or you'll what? Have you forgotten? Your precious Dumbledore isn't here to protect you anymore, and I'm quite certain my uncle won't miss you." He said sneering at her in hatred as he pulled his wand.
Hermione was faster, and she knocked all three of them back with a non-verbal stupify as she took off running down the hallway, ducking into the girl's lavatory. She hid in one of the stalls, climbing up onto the toilet seat so that her feet wouldn't be visible should they come looking.
A moment later, she heard the door creak open, and a footsteps echo around the room as they came inside.
"Come out, come out, where ever you are." Draco's voice snarled as he began to kick open the stall doors one at a time.
Her heart was hammering in her chest. She'd never particularly felt threatened by Draco, but now that she knew he was truly a Death Eater, and how much he hated her, so had no doubt in her mind that he would hurt her if he believed he could get away with it.
As she heard the stall just to the left of hers get kicked open, she aimed her wand at the door, and blasted it back off its hinges before he could kick it in, knocking Draco to the ground. She ran out of the stall, only to be grabbed by Goyle, who wasted no time in wrenching her head back by her hair.
"That wasn't smart, Mudblood." Draco hissed as he stood and brushed himself off, before walking slowly over to where she was being restrained.
"I wonder what mudblood actually looks like? Goyle, do you think it's red or brown like the filth that it truly is?" He asked as he ran the tip of his wand over her cheek, making a small cut.
Hermione flinched and gritted her teeth, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing he was hurting her. She could feel the blood welling up on her cheek, and starting to drip down her face.
"Huh, would you look at that? It's red. Color me shocked." Draco said mockingly as he laughed cruelly.
Suddenly, the door to the lavatory burst open, and Tom stepped in pointing his wand straight at Draco.
"Let. Her. Go." Tom said in a deadly voice, his light blue eyes as cold as ice.
"Tom. That's funny, mate. Put your wand away. We were just having a bit of fun with the Mudblood." Draco smirked at him, not making any move to lower his wand.
"I'm not your mate, and I said, Let her go. This is your final warning." Tom whispered dangerously, and Hermione could swear she felt the temperature drop in the room by a few degrees.
After a moment of deliberation, Draco lowered his wand and nodded to Goyle to release Hermione.
"It isn't wise to make an enemy of me, Spencer, you'd do well to remember that." Draco sneered.
Hermione stood still, rooted to the spot, as Crabbe and Goyle backed out of the lavatory. Draco and Tom stared each other down for another few seconds until finally, Draco started to walk towards the door. As he passed by Tom, Draco said in a low voice that was just loud enough for Hermione to hear,
"I hope the pussy was worth it, Traitor."
Hermione squeaked in surprise when Tom's hand shot out and caught Draco by the throat, shoving him into the wall, his face twisted into a snarl.
"Apologize." Tom said in a deadly voice, his face inches from Draco's as he gripped his throat tightly. Draco's face was turning purple as he gasped for breath.
"Tom…" Hermione pleaded, not knowing quite what to do.
"Draco's eyes were wide in fear, and he managed to make a strangled sound that sounded like, "I'm sorry"
A moment later, Tom released his grip and Draco slumped to the ground gasping for breath.
"Now, get out of my sight." Tom snapped, and Draco scrambled to his feet and took off running out of the lavatory.
Hermione was still standing as still as a statue, her heart still hammering in her chest, and her mouth gaping open in surprise as Tom's eyes slowly slid to hers.
"Are you alright?" He asked quietly and stepped towards her. When he reached his hand to her face, she flinched and took a step back away from him.
"You're bleeding. Do you want to go to Madame Pomfrey, then?" he asked raising an eyebrow at her.
She took a deep breath and shook her head that no, she most certainly didn't.
"I can heal it." He said looking into her eyes for permission, before he raised his wand, and said "Episkey".
Hermione gritted her teeth as she felt the sting of her skin knitting itself back together. Tom pulled a cloth out of his pocket and wet it at one of the sinks before handing it to her so that she could wipe the dried blood from her face.
"I think you just got your wish." He said with a chuckle as she finished wiping her face, and looked at him questioningly.
"What's that?" she asked eyeing him wearily.
"I'm pretty certain my association with Malfoy has just effectively come to an end." He said smirking at her.
Her lips twitched as she tried to bite back a smile, "No loss there, really."
He nodded, picking up his bag and hers where she had dropped it in the doorway.
"Tom?" she asked
"Yes?"
"I…thank you." She said suddenly finding the hem of her jumper very interesting.
"You're welcome." He said giving her a small smile and following her out of the Lavatory and down to the library.
When they reached the library doors, he caught her attention once more before walking away, "Hermione, we start our…project…tonight. Meet me back in the common room in two hours." He said before giving her a small nod and striding away.
Her hands were still trembling from the encounter as she reached the table she usually used in the library. She had been careless, not even thinking about the threat that Draco now posed since he believed Severus Snape to be loyal to Voldemort. From now on she would have to be more on her guard. She finished her Transfiguration essay in record time, and made her way back up to her common room. She knew that Tom would be teaching her Legillimency, and she was quite nervous about him rooting around in her head.
When she reached the common room, Tom was sitting on the sofa, the polyjuice potion already having worn off, and her breath hitched when he looked up at her. She felt the flutter in her stomach again, and immediately blamed it on nerves from her previous encounter with Malfoy, which reminded her of his crude words to Tom, 'I hope the pussy was worth it'. This thought inevitably led to images of Tom ravishing her on the couch.
"Hermione?" He said chuckling, "You seem like you're a million miles away."
She shook herself, blushing fiercely at having been caught, mortified at what she'd just been thinking about.
"I'm sorry, it's been a long day, just distracted is all." She lied smoothly.
He smirked knowingly, and teased, "Well, whatever it was you were thinking about so intently, I'll be able to see when we start."
Hermione's eyes widened in horror, and she pointed a finger at him, "Riddle, I am not, repeat, not giving you permission to root around in my private thoughts. We will focus on specific things, and that is all. I'll respect your privacy if you agree to respect mine." she said acidly
He chuckled again at her riled state, "Relax Hermione, I promise I won't go looking for the fantasies you've been having about me."
Her mouth fell open in shock, "In your dreams, Riddle."
"Maybe, would you like to see?" he said seductively as he took a step towards her smirking. She was blushing again, and placed her hands against his chest to push him away, unable to ignore how toned the lean muscles felt beneath the Oxford shirt he wore.
"I'm quite sure I have no desire to see whatever it is you fantasize about, Riddle."
"Are you? You might enjoy it." He said chuckling at her as he moved back to the couch patting the seat beside him for her to take.
"Can we just get on with it then?" she said in exasperation as she kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her as she sat facing him.
"Fine. Why don't you tell me what you already know, so that we can go from there?" He suggested.
Hermione nodded, "Well, I know that Legillimency is art of accessing someone's mind. It can be used to read thoughts, feelings, as well as to access memories. In order to perform it, one must maintain eye contact with the subject." Hermione stated
"Correct. To expand upon that, you must know that even the most receptive minds have a natural barrier of resistance. It can be persuaded to allow you access, or you may have little choice but to enter by force; however, using force will make it a most unpleasant experience for the subject. If a mind is persuaded gently, there should be no pain. The human mind, in most cases, is complete chaos. If you are looking for something specific, you must visualize what it is you are looking for by either focusing on a thought, feeling, or a memory. This will coax the brain to move those related thoughts, feelings and memories to the forefront of the mind, allowing you to view them." Tom explained, and Hermione found herself completely enraptured by his voice.
"When I say most minds are chaos, I mean that very few are organized in a compartmentalized fashion. Those that are, will have a natural affinity for Occlumency, which I assume you are familiar with?" Tom asked
"Yes, Harry had a few lessons with Snape, although he was never able to keep him out." Hermione said frowning.
"Yes, I imagine with Potter's connection to…well…Lord Voldemort, His mind is most likely more chaotic than most." Tom said, his face impassive.
"I think the best place to begin, is for me to have you focus on something that you want me to see, and I'll attempt to enter your mind. You will be aware of what I'm doing, so pay attention. Most importantly, you must keep eye contact with me. Then, I'll have you try it."
"Alright" she whispered, not looking forward to having him in her mind.
"First, I'll show you the wand movements." He said as he lifted his wand and gave a small counter-clockwise twirl that ended with a flick.
Hermione practiced a few times until she felt like she had it down.
"Good, now…focus on what you want me to see, and then look into my eyes when you're ready."
She had to think for a moment, what did she want him to see? Suddenly, she knew, and her eyes snapped up to meet his.
"Legillimens!" he commanded, completing the wand movement, and suddenly he was there.
He was in a dark room, looking around through Hermione's eyes. He could feel her fear, as she held her wand aloft, lighting up the spaces around her. There were rows upon rows as high as the eye could see of small glass orbs. A noise sounded ahead of them, and a rush of black smoke revealed a cloaked figure in a silver mask. She looked around, her breath coming out in short pants, as her eyes swept over her friends, Harry, Ron, Luna, Ginny, and Neville, all who appeared just as frightened, if not determined as she. They were surrounded. One of the cloaked figured stepped forward, his long blond hair falling neatly over his shoulders, he hadn't bothered with the mask.
"Give me the Prophecy. I can show you how to read it…Haven't you been curious?" he said in a low tone to Harry
Harry studied him, clutching the small orb tightly in his hand
"I've been waiting fourteen years for this." Harry said quietly
The blond man, most likely a Malfoy gave the boy a sympathetic look, "I know."
Harry sneered, "Well then I guess I can wait a little longer! Stupify!" he shouted as the blond man was blasted backwards away from him.
The others, including Hermione, quickly began to fire of spells to disarm, and to stun as they split up and ran through the darkened room, looking for a way to escape.
Suddenly he felt a flash of pain, and knew Hermione had been hit by a curse. She looked down, and her shoulder was bleeding, though she kept moving forward, her teeth gritting in pain as she shot a stunner at the Death Eater who had attacked her. A few moments later, they all met back up in the center of the room, and at the far end, another Death Eater was coming straight towards him. One of her friends, Ginny, raised her wand and fired off a 'Reducto'. They all froze as the orbs began to tumble from the shelves in a giant wave threatening to engulf the entire room. They turned, and ran straight ahead, launching through the door, and falling to the floor in a heap. When he looked up, he could see a strange floating archway with a sinuous transparent veil fluttering within it. He could hear it whispering.
He felt Hermione stand, pain shooting through her injured shoulder, as she raised her wand again looking for signs of trouble. Suddenly, Harry moved forward with his wand raised and shouted, "Get behind me!"
Black smoke engulfed them, swirling around them suddenly making it impossible for him to see. When it cleared, he felt himself, in Hermione's body being restrained with a wand at her throat. He watched through her eyes as the blond main once again approached Harry for the small glass orb.
"Did you actually, or were you truly naïve to think that you stood a chance against us? I'll make this simple for you, Potter; Give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends die."
Harry stood, looking around at where his friends all stood helplessly, when Neville suddenly shouted, "Don't give it to him, Harry!"
He watched as Harry reluctantly handed over the orb, when suddenly, there was a bright flash and another man stood behind the blond. When the blond wizard turned, the man said
"Get away from my God-son" and decked the blond wizard as hard as he could.
The Blond wizard crashed to the ground, the small glass orb shattering as it landed. From that point, chaos erupted. The Aurors had arrived, blinding light chasing swirling darkness . Hermione lowered herself to the ground to avoid being hit, and watched as her best friend stood back to back with his God-father firing off spells in front of the peculiar archway. Time suddenly seemed to slow down as a jet of green light hit the older man in the chest, and he fell back without a sound disappearing through the veil. Harry's screams filled his ears as well as the crazed laughter of the dark haired witch who'd killed his God-father. He watched as Harry stood and ran after the witch, and Hermione scrambled to her feet after him, shouting, "Harry, No! Please!"
He chased after Harry's form in Hermione's body all the way to the Atrium of the Ministry, where he found Harry standing over the dark haired witch, his wand pointed at her. She was looking up at him with fear in her eyes.
Harry seemed to be struggling, on the brink of taking her life.
Then he saw himself…or rather, who he would become in the future. He looked more monster than man, egging Harry on to kill the unarmed witch before him.
He broke eye contact with Hermione suddenly, feeling anger welling up inside of him
"Why did you show me that?" he said through gritted teeth.
"I wanted you to see what you become." She said quietly, her breath coming out in short pants from the exertion.
"I'm not him!" He shouted at her, momentarily stunning her with his outburst, before he turned his face away from her.
"Then prove it." She said quietly, reaching a hand towards him, before letting it fall limply to her side.
He met her gaze, his dark eyes searching hers.
"I don't want to become like him." He admitted, as he held her gaze.
"Then I won't let you." she said, surprising herself with the level of conviction in her voice.
Ahhhh! So what did you guys think of my more sinister Draco? Like it? Hate it? And yeah…Tom is so Hot when he's being all tough *sigh*
Let me know what you think!