Hermione Granger had never been good at making friends.
Her primary school bullies had made it their goal to point out her every failing. From being too bookish, to being far too bossy, they seemed to find a deep set joy to making her miserable.
"Brush it off," her mother always said when young Hermione would come home in tears over one cruel comment or another, "You're special and amazing, and someday you'll meet people who will appreciate you for you." While meant to be reassuring, these words only served to make Hermione feel more alone.
She didn't want to be "special" or "amazing" if it meant her classmates didn't like her. She just wanted to be normal enough to fit in.
When a tall, severe looking woman appeared in the Granger's family house, the Grangers had been wary at first. Her tales of a world separate from the one that they knew seemed far fetched at best. Though Hermione did feel the sparks of hope, at the thought of a new world. Perhaps she wasn't as different as she thought. Maybe there were others like her, others who would understand her.
After much convincing and wand waving, Helen and Richard Granger finally relented in the face of this magical world.
Hermione's only fear about going to Hogwarts was that she would be horribly behind the other students. After all she had just learned about its existence, while many of the other first years had been exposed to it throughout their entire lives. At the first opportunity, she picked up a pile of books from Diagon Alley to learn everything she could about this new world.
The extent of magic seemed simply stunning to her. Impossible feats appeared to be easily accomplished with a simple wave of a wand. From Potions to Transfiguration, the wizarding world seemed to have something for everyone.
Perhaps in this new world, she'd finally be able to find some friends. After all, everything seemed possible with the accessibility of magic, even Hermione Granger making a friend.
Once entering Hogwarts, however, it became clear that despite her attempts at fitting in, she was still too bossy and bookish for her classmates. Rather than being behind, it was apparent that she was the only one in her year willing to pick up the textbooks outside of class. While the Slytherin taunts about her hair and attitude were annoying, nothing compared to the comments her own housemates made about her.
When the Sorting Hat had placed her in Gryffindor, she had been thrilled. From reading Hogwarts a History, it was clear that the lion house was superior. After all, Albus Dumbledore had been a Gryffindor, and he was highly successful. All of the Gryffindor upper years had been more than friendly to her too. During the feast she had been sat next to the ginger Percy Weasley who had been more than happy to lecture her about the opportunities Hogwarts presented to those who were academically successful. The idea of earning points for the House Cup was particularly appealing, as it provided an incentive to do well in her coursework.
In class she diligently completed her work, and even tried to help her classmates when they struggled with something. This, however, rarely came across the way she intended, leading to many backhanded compliments and taunts.
The other Gryffindor girls in her year, Parvati and Lavender, were always gossiping behind her back when they thought she wasn't listening. While comments about the unfortunate nature of her hair and teeth weren't new, they still pained her to hear.
Ronald Weasley, though, was particularly vicious in his belittlement of her, criticizing everything from her bossy nature, to her appearance, reminding her of her primary school bullies.
Absolutely nothing had changed. Even in the magical world, where the impossible was considered mundane, Hermione Granger was still unable to find a single friend.
So the hushed conversation she overheard between Seamus and Ron over dinner one night hit home.
"I swear, she's insufferable. Absolutely insufferable," Ron hissed, "It's no wonder no one can stand her."
At the noises of affirmation made by Seamus, Hermione abruptly stood up and exited the Great Hall, fighting back tears.
She blindly made her way through the castle, not really caring about where she ended up, as long as it was far away from everyone. She couldn't deal with this all alone. It was too much for any one person to handle. One person to confide in was all she was asking for.
Like a mantra, these thoughts kept cycling through her head as she wandered through the school.
Hermione skidded to a stop in front of a rather atrocious painting of dancing trolls, her eyes fixated on the ornate door next to it. Something from within the depths of her being pulled her towards it. In a daze, she felt the cool doorknob underneath her hands, the sensation pulling some of the fogginess out of her mind.
With a jerk, the huge door swung open, letting out a haunting groan and revealing a beautiful library with a you boy sitting in the corner.
His eyebrows lifted in an expression that was comical in nature at the sight of her. She looked at him with an inquisitive gaze, taking in his perfectly styled curls, causing a brief flare of envy. Her eyes fell on the thick tome he had been reading.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone was in here," Hermione said, "To be fair I also don't really know where here is either." She peered at the book on his lap, taking in the oddly familiar binding. "Is that Hogwarts: A History?"
Pink flashed across his pale features as he spat out an answer. "Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, no, of course not! It's...it's just my favorite book," she stammered out, honestly startled by his curt tone. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way."
"Tom Riddle. If you don't mind me asking, how did you discover this room?"
Discover? That was an unusual word to use. It implied that this place was somewhere to discover.
Not wanting to admit her questions of friendship and escape, Hermione simply said, "I just needed someplace quiet to read. I fine my roommates can be a bit erm… overwhelming sometimes."
He studied her closely for a moment. "I get that. You're a first year too, right? Gryffindor, I take, from your robes."
Hermione fidgeted under his piercing gaze. Something about his eyes made her feel like he could see right through her.
"Uh, yeah. You're a Slytherin right? I don't think I've seen you though, even in our shared classes."
He didn't seem like someone she'd miss either. He had a commanding presence about him that drew her in. Perhaps Malfoy's nastiness had simply distracted her enough to not notice him, though that frankly seemed unlikely.
"Hmm. Me neither. I guess I've been paying less attention than I thought," he said with a shrug.
Silence stretched between them, dragging on and filling the room with a sense of awkwardness. Hermione was filled with the urge to do anything to disrupt the silence, and to move his gaze away from her. Continually being under that intense scrutiny, quite frankly made her uncomfortable.
"Well, I'm sorry for intruding for so long. I guess I'll go find somewhere else so I'm not bothering you for any longer," She finally managed to get out, feeling her face turn hot with embarrassment. In a jerky movement she turned to the door to leave. While this boy was interesting, there was something about him that made her nervous, possibly stemming from his green and silver tie.
"Wait!" The exclamation made her jump. She froze by the door, turning back to look at him. "You can stay and read her if you want to." A blush lit up his face in scarlet. "I don't mind."
"Thank you." Hermione moved towards the couch he was sitting on, pulling her book out her her bag.
Tom scooted over to make room for her, curiously examining the cover of her book, a defense tome listed as a reference in Quirrell's class.
Used to the judgmental looks from her peers, she turned to the defensive. "I got interested in the lecture in DADA the other day."
"It looks fascinating." His brows formed for a moment, before he glanced down at his book to hide his expression.
"It is! It's hard to believe that this all is real sometime you know? Like I've grown up in a world where all of this is something of fairy tales." She gestured around the room wonder echoing across her features. It stunned her how amazing everything at Hogwarts was.
"It's all impossible, but lovely at the same time." A wistful smile turned his lips up. "I love it."
"Are you a Muggleborn too?"
"Dunno. Orphan."
"Oh." Hermione mulled that piece of information over for a moment. "Must be hard, especially rooming with Malfoy. He seems like the most racist of the lot." She let out a humorless laugh, remembering the "Mudblood" commentary him and his cronies regularly used around her.
"It's not the easiest," Tom said dryly, "I'm just gonna be better than him."
That made sense. In fact it was her goal with dealing with the ferrety Slytherin as well. "Well, it shouldn't be too difficult, what with him never opening a book."
Tom snorted, the sound causing a flash of pride to fill Hermione's chest. If she could make this stoic boy laugh, she could do anything.
"He's been handed everything on a silver platter. Imagine the face when he's upstaged by someone less 'refined' than him." Tom did his best impression of the pureblood aristocracy in the school, turning his nose up and letting out a haughty sniff. A giggle escaped her at the thought.
Rather than reading as planned, the two of them instead shared anecdotes both from the wizarding and Muggle worlds, in addition to discussing theory brushed upon in class that they had found fascinating.
At a glance at her watch, Hermione shot to her feet, letting out a gasp. "Merlin, it's almost curfew." She began throwing her belongings back into her bag. "Er, it was nice to get to know you. D'you want to meet again tomorrow night maybe?" She scratched the back of her neck nervously, pausing in her hurried actions.
"Of course. It's difficult to find good conversation when surrounded by dunderheads."
Hermione giggled before waving goodbye. She walked back to the Gryffindor dorm with memories of her time with the young boy bringing a smile to her face the whole way.