Interlude: Hermione
"Are you okay?" Ginny asked sleepily as Hermione closed the door behind her quietly.
Hermione jumped, just a little, and let out a relieved laugh when she realized it was Ginny. "Yes," she said. She paused, then nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just tired, I think."
And she was, and she wasn't. Physically, yes, she was exhausted. But as she climbed into bed, her mind couldn't stop buzzing with excitement. Her first ritual. She'd been leery, even as the one who'd proposed it, because rituals were meant to be Dark things, weren't they? But it was beautiful. The magic she by now took for granted, entering her fifth year at Hogwarts, had been visible and so very pure. All her senses had picked it up. Even now, she felt a quiet echo of the power. She licked her lips, tasting the remaining sparks of Riddle's magic there.
It both was and wasn't Harry's magic. Even though she'd never felt Harry's magic quite like this, she knew that his would have been different, but not as different as she might have expected.
The connection, on the other hand, felt nothing like she'd expected.
There was a sense of pain and loss and fear and coldness. She hadn't expected to be able to feel him quite so strongly, and she hadn't expected him to feel like this. In all honesty, she'd quite expected to be using the connection to keep an eye on him, because she hadn't trusted him. Now though… How could anyone feel like that and not be insane? If he'd felt that way his entire life, of course he'd become Voldemort.
She knew the moment he fell asleep, because the connection suddenly went flat, the emotions that had been pouring through it becoming muted and barely discernible.
Hermione rolled onto her side and touched her lips, feeling them twist with uncertainty under her fingers. It hadn't been much, she thought, as far as kisses went. She'd almost have preferred if it had been terrible, but it wasn't even that. Just… perfunctory. Something he did because it was required, and it had been painfully clear that he hadn't wanted to do even that much. It didn't feel personal though. She frowned. Had that been his first as well?
Why was she even thinking about this? Riddle certainly didn't think anything of it. It was merely a step in the ritual.
Hermione decided then that it didn't count. She'd have another first kiss with… someone. Eventually. She'd actually hoped it would be Harry, but that hope was… She bit her lip, eyes burning at the thought she'd been repressing all evening.
There wasn't any chance of anything anymore with Harry, because Harry was gone.
She swallowed a sob and pressed her lips together until they hurt. She would find a way to bring Harry back, even if it meant working with Tom Riddle and doing terrible things and giving up on everything. For her first friend, she'd do anything and everything within her power to save him.