OK got something a little different this is a whole chapter from Tom's POV

if you like or dislike this sort of content comment comment comment Yall know I love to hear from you

this chapter has around 5,650 words so not too long or too short

please enjoy

Preferential Treatment

She was a mystery. Something to be unraveled and observed. He didn't know what drew her to him but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. And it frustrated him to no end that she would not meet his gaze. It was as though she was intentionally avoiding him. 'Well now' he thought to himself turning back to his food, 'that won't be something she will be able to do for long'. Tom always enjoyed the little privileges that came with being a prefect. And he was all but certain that one of those would be to escort the newest student around her new school. He only hoped that she didn't turn out to be a disappointment as so many of his peers were.

His mind flashed back to when he first saw her. That dark look that flashed across her face sent a chill down his spine one that he couldn't quite understand. He wanted to see that look on her face again. To make sure he didn't imagine it. Tom looked up from his plate. She was practically shining among the other Slytherin girls. Her tanned skin and bouncing curls made her hard to ignore, and from a quick glance around him, he could tell that he wasn't the only one that had taken an interest in her. There were boys all over the long table stealing glances at the new arrival, even some boys from other tables would try to quickly turn around to grab a glance.

Tom clenched his jaw. He was a possessive person, he knew that from a very young age. And he made sure that everyone around him knew to stay away from what he had laid claim to. But they didn't know that he had already marked her as his. He didn't like that she was garnering as much attention as she was but there was nothing he could do about that right now, and soon she would fall in line with the others, and then she wouldn't be as much of a distraction. The sooner she was his, the more at ease his mind would be, and the first steps to getting close to her were already laid out in front of him. And at the end of the day if she ended up being a bore he could just toss her aside.

After it looked like she was done eating he excused himself and got up from his seat walking over to where the girl whose name he now knew, Hermione Pembroke, was sitting. But no sooner had he made his move had he noticed that Professor Slughorn had also made his way down from the main table to where the girl was sitting. As Tom approached he could hear the end of their conversations on some sort of potion ingredient.

"Ah Tom, just the person I wanted to find!" Exclaimed the slightly stout man

"Yes Professor, I was just making my way over to introduce myself to the new Miss. Pembroke." Tom said his usual charming smile making the girls around him give sideways glances to Hermione.

"Oh, how good of you Tom, the ideal prefect and all-around model student of this school." Professor Slughorn said, placing one hand on Tom's higher shoulder, "Now I was just explaining this to our young Hermione here but there is no more room in the regular female dorms. All the girls that are left in Slytherin are already all in one room and it would be much too cramped to add one more to that mess. So she will be keeping residence in the female prefect quarters, as there is no female prefect from Slytherin house this year I think it will work out quite well. And Miss Pembroke's exams quite warrant a reward if I do say so myself. With you two and our quidditch team in top-notch form with Mr. Malfoy at the head, I do say, the other houses have no chance at the house cup!"

Preferential treatment. She got good grades and is from a highly respected background, so of course, they would want to give her the best. What Mr. Slughorn didn't know was something that Tom knew very well and that while things like these may seem like a reward they more often than not led to discontent within a house especially when it came to Slytherin girls. He could already see a few pursed lips and narrowed eyes. It wasn't his business to say that none of them qualified to be a prefect or that they all preferred to be in their room together anyway, but it wouldn't stop any of them from holding a negative impression of the girl who seemed to be getting preferential treatment from the school. It would take a miracle for her to make actual friends within the female group of her year now. If doing so was even possible in the first place.

But if she couldn't handle them, he knew he would probably lose interest in her anyway. So it was one more thing to look out for. He watched as one unruly curl kept escaping from behind her ear as she was continuing to talk with Professor Slughorn about her schedule and accommodations. She kept pushing the stubborn thing behind her ear no as though it was nothing though and the movement seemed so natural. Tom wondered for a moment what it would be like to push the curl behind her ear as well, surely if he did it, it would stay put in its place.

All of a sudden Tom was brought from his musings, "Tom I was hoping that you might escort Miss Pembroke to her classes this week. We don't want her to be late to classes because she got lost in the halls."

"Oh really, I will be just fine, professor." Hermione said with a light laugh, but there was a nervous undertone that Tom seemed to catch, "I can find my own way. I have studied the maps of the school and have a fairly decent sense of direction."

Nervous undertone? Why would she be nervous to have him escort her around? Hadn't he been pleasant with her since they first met? Ah, Tom thought to himself and quickly glanced at the other girls surrounding Hermione. They were either trying to garner Tom's attention or subtly staring daggers at Hermione. There were a few Slytherin girls that were good at concealing their emotions to better acquaint themselves with those that would bring them higher status later down the road, but for the most part, they were just a catty group of girls that only cared about looks and sparkly things. The main sparkly thing being the one that goes on the fourth finger of their left hands. The thought made Tom shudder.

But Hermione was different or at least different enough to garner the attention of Grindelwald for a dance. And that alone was enough for him to be interested. "Professor, it would be an honor to escort Miss Pembroke to her classes this week." Tom said, his smile easing back into place.

"Oh good. You see most of you are in the same classes so there shouldn't be much of a problem with you being late for any of your classes Tom so this really does work out well. I think she is taking every class you are in except for Divination and Alchemy."

"Not one for looking into the future Miss Pembroke?" Tom asked jokingly

"Never had a talent for it." Hermione shrugged, "I prefer to deal with Advanced Arithmancy... logic and reason over symbols and prophecies."

"I see." Tom said soaking in what she said, analyzing what it meant about her, she was logical but also was seeming to sound a bit like she discounted prophecies altogether, something that he had always found of great interest. "Since it appears that you are done eating shall I show you to the Slytherin common room?"

"I am sorry but I have to decline Mr. Riddle, you see the rest of the girls have already offered to show me to the common room and I am sure that they know where the prefect's room is for the Slytherin girls hall. Plus I read in Hogwarts a History that the dorms are warded so that only one gender is allowed in the halls of that gender so it might be a bit difficult for you to show me where my room is anyway. But I suppose I shall see you in the morning."

And with that, she turned back to the girls and Tom could feel the hand on his shoulder give a reassuring pat at the rejection. And professor Slughorn finally removed his hand from Tom's shoulder and began walking back towards the teacher's table at the head of the room. "I look forward to seeing you both in potions class."

With a smile at the rest of the girls at the table, Tom nodded and walked back to his seat. He could hear off in the distance say, "I can't believe you turned down an opportunity for Tom Riddle to show you to your room. If I were you I …" He stopped listening after he sat down

"Shot down again were you Tom?" Abraxas asked, looking up at him from across the table, a small smirk testing his usually well-masked features. "She seems to be a bright one, or has one hell of a good sense of self-preservation."

"And what is that exactly supposed to mean Malfoy?" Tom asked

"Well, she seems to see the value of not getting on the bad side of the girls of our year at least." Abraxas shrugged, "So is she a candidate for the... club?" he asked in a more hushed tone. They were surrounded by the rest of the knights but that didn't make talking about it outside of meetings any less risky. But Tom would let it slide this once.

"Possibly, I have to escort her to all of her classes this week. It should give me ample time to see if she meets the criteria. And have you heard anything about her parents who they were? We don't want to be admitting any dirty blood into the… club." His eyes followed Hermione as she got up and left the dining hall with a few of the girls from his class.

"No, not much on my end at least. Her mother was kicked out of her house at a fairly young age and that's why no one's heard of her, but no one seems to know why or where she went. The Pembroke house was always tight-lipped about family matters." Shifting in his seat to get a better look at Hermione he continued, "And well she seems to get along well with the girls, and I don't think anyone in the knights would object to having her to look at during the meetings, but is it really the place for a girl? All that dark magic and what not?" Abraxas asked hesitantly.

"She is familiar with dark magic. I could tell just by observing her in Borgin and Burkes the first time I saw her. And if she can handle the rest well we will just have to see then won't we." Tom said feeling a bit of excitement come back to him. Then he got up from the table and headed off to the dorms. He had to get some rest. He would be escorting Miss Granger in the morning after all. And if there was some sort of problem that the girl had with him he was sure that he would be able to charm her enough to suede her out of those opinions. It had taken him only a few years to get the School to fall for him; one girl could only take so long.

The next morning Tom woke earlier than usual to begin his normal morning routine. Everything, as usual, had to be impeccable. He was the prefect, obvious choice to be head boy next year and so he had to present himself as though he was deserving of those spots. But that was not why he got up early this morning. No, this morning he would be waiting in the common room for a particular person. And he had a sneaking suspicion that this person would want to get out of their little situation any way she could. Including leaving early to go to breakfast and then off to class before him.

Surprisingly though, he found the object of his interest sitting on one of the black leather couches with a large book in her hand. Tom stopped at the edge of the boy's dorms and the common room not wanting to disturb the image quite yet. Today her hair was tamed back by a simple braid leaving her face and neck exposed, their elegant lines slightly highlighted by the green tint of morning rays coming through the windows of the lake. She was wearing little if any makeup, something that was very different from the other girls in the school. But he could admit that she could probably use something under her eyes, she was starting to get the hint of dark circles under them. He wondered if it was the result of sleeping in an unfamiliar place for a few nights or a more long-standing issue she had.

He tried to glance at the book she was reading. It looked old, but he couldn't tell what it was exactly as she had put a blank cover over the book. From how she would have to turn the book from side to side now and then he assumed it was some sort of ancient rune text where one needed to read around the rune to fully understand its meaning. But why hide the cover? Was it a dark text? No, she seemed bright enough to know to keep those things under your bed and read them under the cover of night when everyone else was asleep. But everyone else was asleep, well except for them. He smiled to himself; it felt as though they were already sharing secrets.

"Well, are you going to just keep standing there staring at me, or has someone cast a binding spell on you?" Hermione asked, jolting Tom from his thoughts. He wasn't aware of how long he had been standing there or how long she had known he had been watching her, but either way, he entered the room with his usual calm confidence.

"Goodmorning Hermione." He greeted her, he noticed her slight wince as he did and how quickly she closed the book as he approached.

"Pembrook is just fine, Riddle." Hermione said a passive smile crossing her features.

There it was again that dirty last name he had. "Really I would like it no prefer it if you just called me Tom." swiftly shifting the topic he moved on, "I did not expect to see you up so early."

"Well First day of classes and all. I don't want to miss anything." She said with a smile, but Tom could see the coldness behind her eyes. What had he done to make her like this towards him? Was it really only the fact that he saw her in a bad part of town?

"Ah yes. I remember when I was a first-year student I was so excited for classes that I could barely sleep." Tom said with a laugh trying to connect with her.

"Right I bet you were, magic being so new to you and all." She said folding her hands in her lap, ohhh so was that what this was about. Him being a half-blood. He had proven himself to the rest of the school and to his knights but she barely knew him he would have to work on ridding her of not only her first impression of him but also of the fact that he was a dirty half-blood he thought bitterly.

This might be harder than he had initially thought. Maybe he should bring Abraxas in to break down her 'misconceptions' about him. But something in himself warned that it might not be a good idea if those two got too close. Abraxas was his most loyal follower, so pushing him into an unknown situation might make things more complicated than they might already be. No first he would observe her for the time being till she proved to be disinteresting.

Play the sympathy card, that usually worked on the girls, "Well yes it was, you see... Gosh I don't even know why I'm telling you this," he reached up to scratch the back of his head, a pose that most of the girls fawned over, "I am an orphan so I didn't grow up in the wizarding world."

"Oh is that so?" Hermione asked nonchalantly, putting her book away as though he had just told her the weather was going to be cloudy. "Seems to be a lot of that going around now."

"I'm sorry?" Tom asked totally in the dark

"I happen to also be an orphan." Hermione said looking back up at Tom, she had a sad look about her but she didn't seem overly emotional about it. "Though for me it was fairly recent so I am still getting used to the term and I would appreciate it if none of the other students knew. I still do have some family. And I'm not trying to advertise that I am some sort of charity case. I'm sure you would understand what I mean." She reached around and put her hand on his, the contact made his mind go blank for a moment as he tried to process everything at once. "Tom?" Hermione asked, "Are you alright, you look a bit out of sorts?"

The moment passed as he heard the pipes creak as the other students were getting up to use them. "I'm so sorry for your loss." He was going to have a meeting with his knights tonight and one of them had better have a good answer as to why none of them could figure out through their extensive networks that she was an orphan.

"Thank you but I would rather put it to the back of my mind." Hermione said, removing her hand and getting up from the black leather couch. Tom immediately missed the warmth of her hand, but he wasn't going to overanalyze that part now. "Plus it sounds like the rest of the students are getting up for breakfast. How about we go and grab the best seats? I told the girls that I would be sitting with you and your group this morning. I'm trying to make as many friends as I can while I am here. I think the girls understood they seemed a little… hesitant about me sitting with the boys."

Oh yes, they were probably not happy to hear that at all. "I'm sure it is all fine with them." Tom said, smiling as he led the way out of the common room and into the dungeons to go to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Polite, that was the word that Tom ascribed to Hermione's reaction to him and his advances. She seemed engaged in what he was saying but whenever he looked at her she barely seemed interested. Even as they sat in the dining hall chatting about the different professors she responded and engaged in some of the jokings but he could tell she couldn't care less. Tom was a delightful partner to chat with, in fact, he would say he was downright charming. But for some reason, his charms were not having their desired effect on the girl. It was beginning to irritate him. But then for a moment, her eyes brightened a bit and in that brief moment, she seemed to perk up before her mask quickly slid over her face once again.

Tom turned to see what she saw that drew her attention. Malfoy. Perhaps this would be easier than he thought. If the girl was already interested in Abraxas then there would be no problem with him getting closer to her to get more information about her. He did feel a twinge of disdain for his peer, but what could he do. The rest of the girls in the school that did not have a crush on him, had one on Abraxas. So perhaps she just had a thing for blonds. And he knew that for a fact Abraxas was interested in Hermione, well at least as far as getting her in the sack probably. He noticed how a grin grew over Abraxas's face as he took a seat next to Hermione.

"Good Morning Miss Pembroke. Seems as though you are joining us boys this morning for breakfast. Do let me know if any of them act like a right git and I'll put them in their place." Abraxas said in a smooth tone.

"Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but I believe that I am perfectly capable at putting wizards in their place when the occasion arises." Hermione said, grabbing a piece of toast to go along with her eggs.

"I don't doubt that you could, but I would hope that you would not rob me of the pleasure of being your knight in shining armor on occasion." Malfoy rebounded quickly

Hermione let out a light laugh. "Well if you insist I suppose I can't stop you. But really isn't being a knight a more Gryffindor quality than a Slytherin one?" Hermione asked

Abraxas leaned into Hermione a bit whispering " Don't tell anyone but for you, I don't think I would mind the insinuation."

"Well if I had known that getting to breakfast early would get me a seat next to Miss Pembroke I think I would have actually tried this morning." a messy mop of black hair sat opposite of Hermione's, and grey eyes looked up at her with amusement.

"Good luck with that mate now that Malfoy has his sights on her you don't stand a chance." Lestrange said sitting next to Black.

Black let out a huff of a laugh "Well maybe you don't Lestrange, but I have to say I clean up very nicely. Wouldn't you say so Hermione?"

"Yes, in fact, I would say you clean up so nicely that I hardly recognize you from the... event." Hermione said with a laugh

"Oh come on now my hair is not that bad." he said with a mischievous grin, "But if it is you, you are always welcome to brush through it if you'd like."

"Please do I look like some sort of house elf to you?" Hermione asked with a fake incredulous tone. "What happened to the propper Black that I met a few days ago that was able to converse over goblin artifacts?"

"Same place you put your lovely purple dress, it's stored in a safe place so that it is ready to be pulled out when the need arises." He said, grabbing some sausages and putting them on his plate.

"Ah I see." Hermione said with an upturned eyebrow, "So then Mr. Malfoy is this the real Blsck or is the one I met at the last event the real Black?"

"Oh definitely this one, the proper act he puts on for events and his father." Abraxas said smiling at the girl

"Hey now Abraxas! I like to think that they are both me. I can be an intellectual when the need arises, I almost beat your scores in Magical History and Runes last year!"

"You do realize you are kidding yourself, your scores weren't even close to mine." Malfoy said, as he began to eat his food

"I was only 6 points behind you in Runes." Orion persisted

"That is a whole letter grade Orion." Tom said, "I wouldn't call that close either."

Hermione just stayed quiet and kept eating, completely ignoring the little dick swinging show that was happening in front of her. Tom noticed that too.

He noticed that she did not seem to put too much food on her plate, but that she finished everything she did put on there. He noticed that while she did eat with proper manners, she also went along with some of the less than mannered actions of his group. He also noticed that her eyes seemed to go dark whenever Dolahove spoke. Now that was interesting. Apparently, there was another person that she had a bad impression of. She either had very good instincts, as Dolahove was a bit of a sadist, or she simply did not appreciate the way he was leering at her like a piece of meat.

Deducing that she was done eating, Tom offered to show her to their first class.

"Well, I suppose that is next on the agenda. We have Advanced Arithmancy, then I believe we split, as I believe you're taking Apparition and I'm taking Alchemy." Hermione said, grabbing her bag full of books.

"Why would you take Alchemy over Apparition rarely anyone does. And isn't Alchemy only offered for NEWT level students." Abraxas asked as they were leaving

Over her shoulder Hermione responded, "Well I qualified to take the course, and why take a class in something you are already proficient in?" and with that Tom and Hermione left the great hall.

"So you are already 'proficient' in apparition?" Tom asked, slightly shocked. The classes had only just started but he could tell that it was advanced because he had yet to fully apparate himself. And he had a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea that this girl had already learned something more advanced than him. Not to say he was bad at apperating, in fact, he was the best in the class so far, but he didn't like being second best.

"Well it ended up being something that I had to use a lot of this past year to get around. Though once you see someone get spliced it takes a while to get back to using it. Almost like falling off a horse, but once you get over the fear of falling again and learn from your mistake, you probably won't fall again for a long while if ever."

"Ridden many horses have you?" Tom asked jokingly

"No, but I have flown on a Hippogriff." Hermione said nonchalantly

"Really now I find that hard to believe, even more than the whole 'proficient at apparition bit'." Tom whispered under his breath incredulously.

"Boys," Hermione groaned, apparently having heard him, "You never believe things until you have seen them with your own eyes."

Tom backpedaled, "Well then there must be quite a story there. You must share it with me at some point."

"Right, I'll think about it." Hermione said, brushing him off once again.

Tom swore he could feel his eye involuntarily twitch. This witch better be worth the effort or someone was going to take the brunt of his frustration by the end of his wand. He still couldn't tell if she was a know-it-all or if she actually had some brains in her head.

Advanced Arithmancy cleared that question up for him. The way that she solved equations seemed second nature to her. She barely paid attention to class yet when it came to applying the knowledge in the classwork she was finished before he was. Professor Bulwick barely even looked at her parchment she turned in before grading it. Then they spoke for a moment before Bullwhick patted her shoulder and sent her back to her seat to wait out the rest of the class. At one point she looked over to Abraxas who was sitting next to her as well and began helping him with one of the, particularly detailed calculations.

"No," She laughed quietly trying not to disturb anyone, "You don't want to do it that way because you will distort the outcome of the numbers and not get an accurate prediction. Remember this is all about predicting outcomes."

"Ok then Hermione, how should I do it then?" Abraxas asked softly leaning into her

Tom could feel his jaw clench and he quickly finished his work slightly listening to the semi-flirtatious tutoring that was going on next to him. He brought his work down to professor Bullwick who looked down over his work and after correcting a few slight mistakes said, "You know Tom it would be great if you and Miss Pembroke up there could start a tutoring club of some sort. Brilliant, the both of you, truly Mis. Pembroke is shockingly brilliant."

"So do you know what her scores were on her entrance exams?" Tom asked curiously

"Now Tom, you know better than to ask about another student's grade. But I can tell you that Albus made sure that the exams were up to par with what a student would be taking for the NEWTS let alone the OWLS which all of you will be taking soon. He seemed truly set to have her take hard exams and I suppose he was right in suggesting that because now all of us professors know what to expect from her at this school. And trust me when I say this Tom she is destined for great things. I even contacted one of my old colleges in Germany to tell them to wait for her and try to scout her for a Mastery after she graduates. That one would be invaluable to anyone's research, not many people have a knack for Arithmathy." the old wizard finished

"I see. Professor do you mind if I take Hermione to our next class a bit early. You see we are taking different courses and I don't want to be late for my next class." Tom said, Bullwark nodded and Tom went on his way in his own thoughts. So old Dumbledore seemed to have it out for this girl too... or maybe he was just testing her skills. Walking back to his chair he sat back down next to Hermione. "Since we have time now, how about I show you to your next class?"

Hermione didn't turn around but he could see the sigh she gave from her shoulders, and from Abraxas's amused face she must have had some sort of look on her face. "Awe come on love I'll see you in Potions later." Abraxas said, taking her hand and kissing the top of it. He was certainly laying it on a little thick Tom thought to himself.

If the girls in the room had not been paying attention before they all were now. It was as though Hermione could sense the tension that was beginning to grow in the room that Abraxas was either ignoring or oblivious to because she swiftly removed her hand from his grip. And Tom, doing the gentlemanly thing, and also maybe trying to get in between the two of them Tom went to grab Hermione's bag along with his own. But when he grabbed Hermione's, a painful sharp sting went up his arm "Ow! What the bloody hell was that!"

"Quiet in the classroom, even for you Tom." Professor Bullwark said sternly

Tom looked to glare at Hermione for an explanation holding his stinging arm. Grabbing her bag Hermione slung it over her shoulder and gestured for the door. "I think we have caused enough of a scene don't you?" she said calmly walking towards the door.

After exiting the classroom the pain in Tom's arm began to slowly subside. "What was that?" Tom asked again

"Just a few harmless protection charms." Hermione said, then she paused and looked at Tom, "Well mostly harmless at least. Nothing that would cause any permanent or visible damage of course."

"And what do you have in your bag that would require such charms?" Tom asked

"Just books and tomes as any student would, but that is not why I have the charms on my bag." Hermione said, "You see, I don't like people touching or interfering with what is mine. My bag being one of those things. So while I appreciate the gentleman within you trying to be courteous, it is wholly unappreciated on my end. I would like you to keep that in mind as we move forward." and with that, she continued down the hallway.

Tom paused for a moment watching her walk away. At first, he wasn't sure what he was feeling. Then a small smile began to play on his blessed features. He jogged a bit to catch up with her fast pace. "Of course I understand wanting your privacy. I apologize if I offended you in any way."

A curl had come loose from her braid framing her face blowing back in the wind that was created from their walking. She pushed it back behind her ear, not turning towards him, "Of course Tom, we will just have to get to know each other better to avoid these little misunderstandings like this in the future."

If Hermione had looked up at him, a shiver would have probably gone down her spine. Tom, for once, had a real smile on his face. He had found someone. Someone that with a little push here and there could be like him. And that thrilled him. He would finally have a peer. Someone to share ideas with. Someone to go toe to toe with despite her gender. The idea thrilled him. He wanted to see that dark look in her eyes again. He wanted to bring out that in her and have her be grateful for it, grateful to him. She would see it soon too. She would soon see all he could provide her with. Then she would give in to him. Then she would be his.

Ok So here we are at the end of the Tom POV and nearing the end of her first day in classes

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