The first thing Tom Riddle did when he got out of the Chamber of Secrets was to hold Ginny's funeral.
It was only expected afterall.
She had been a witch at Hogwarts; with the promise of eternal glory or a helping hand in soaring to the greatest heights a witch or wizard could do. That was the promise Hogwarts held. Except hers had been squandered; her life cut short; or perhaps it was always fated as such. It was possible for fate to have picked this event to occur years before it did. Tom wouldn't put it past fate, some things just seemed too much of a coincidence to be an accident - like how he was so much better than everyone else, and had always been.
Surely an individual like him couldn't be trapped in a diary forever?
He cleared up her body, removed the bruise at the back of her head from where it hit the chamber floor, decreased the cuts she'd gained on her hands scrabbling over cold stone to get out once she'd awoken from her possessed state down here and attempted to make a bid for freedom (he bites back laughter - short-lived attempt for freedom. She had fallen to her possession once more and wondered back before she collapsed ultimately...the end of her life coming shortly after), and floated the corpse up to outside the chamber entrance with even a few flowers blossoming by her side. (The flower conjuration charm always came in handy.)
Before disappearing beneath the grounds again.
Harry would enter the girl's bathroom to achieve his goal - finding Ginny - all of 'her' he would indeed find, and Tom wouldn't be hunted anymore. He'd picked up the chicken blood Ginny was using to create the messages - 'her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever' and wrote one more on the walls. 'The attacks will stop in exchange for her life.'
He had not meant to commit any more attacks however, so it was true.
Nonetheless, even though it may be by the prick of cruel fate, it was a sad surface thing that Ginny died, such a death in such a place always deserved a funeral, and that was how Tom found himself wondering the school grounds for some flowers to bring to her funeral just before everyone was ready to go home for the holidays at the end of term. He was just making his way back to his familiar home down there when he bumped into someone by the girl's bathrooms.
She wasn't there when he left, but she was sitting by a toilet cubicle, the door wasn't even closed. A book was in her hand and there were half-dried tears on her cheeks that suggested she had been sobbing quietly but was in a well collected enough state as not to ruin the state of the book.
"Bad day?" Tom couldn't help himself. It had been so long since he'd last spoken to a human. Speaking to Ginny and Harry while he was trapped inside a book didn't count. He hadn't been a real person in a proper body until Ginny so miserably passed away. He savoured over the details of her death in his mind. It was not that she was the worst person, technically speaking, just that she was so utterly useless alive it was only practical that she die.
"What are you doing here? It's the girl's bathroom?" the girl that spoke to him, young but close to growing up into a young lady soon and not a kid anymore, thick bushy hair and intelligent brown eyes spoke to him without even the slightest hesitation or reverence to him - or any authority he had - real or imagined by her. (She did not give of the impression of sucking up to him at all based on her tone.)
"Ah. Hermione Granger then?" If all of Ginny and Harry's frantic fangirling, yes, fangirling, was the world that he'd plucked as if from thin-air to describe the bothersome girls that sometimes chased him around at Hogwarts and had zero actual use or worth to offer him, or the boys who tripped over themselves to gain his fancy but did not offer him anything in return, was just as applicable to describe the souls from his time and this one, of Hermione Granger in their diaries was enough, it was indeed, for him to gain a sense that this might actually be the aforementioned witch they were both talking about.
He knew enough about her to be enchanted by her.
She was the Tom Riddle of her generation. The brightest witch of the age, the muggleborn coming from an unexpected family who shot up the school ranks, the witch with unbounded magical potential in front of her.
She was like a Tom Riddle of her generation and held some sort of casual recognition from him, even if she did not know it yet. (Did not know her parallels to one of the greatest wizards ever to exist...)
She sniffed and dabbed at a tear with her sleeve. It was evident she was holding back more emotion than this and talking to someone had bought it out for the first time that day.
"What does it matter who I am if she's dead? For all the supposed heroism I held she's gone. Nobody can bring her back-" her voice cracked.
Tom Riddle's gaze softened.
He hadn't intended to carry out the rest of the muggle-born killings because the moment he got out of the book he could see it was a bad idea. It was a bad idea even in the book but he hadn't been quite in his right mind then. Souls could exist within other objects but they worked best inside bodies afterall. He had not exactly been the most mentally stable nor the best person to make decisions whilst he was a tattered piece of soul within a book, and the moment he had the clarity of mind after Ginny's death was also the moment he saw the foolishness of his plan to kill muggle-borns at Hogwarts (did he care so little about his personal safety he was going to risk getting destroyed as a horcrux? He could hardly kill more than a handful of students without getting everyone else sent home and then Hogwarts would be closed forever after this. It was not a very good plan at all) and aborted that plan rapidly.
He returned Ginny's body - he had only meant to lure down Harry Potter with the comment about her skeleton to hopefully off him as well as his (once believed brilliant) idea that killing muggle-borns this time around was great, but he had no particular need for it down here, nor did he want the heights of Salazar Slytherin to be tainted by a blood traitor like her.
He'd meant instead, to wait in secret, read the air and attack when the time was truly right. He had known what his younger self was intending to do, with the rest of the wizarding world, before the prophecy about Harry Potter came, and he had grown enough (and 'died' enough times for it) to know his younger self was wrong in some ways and that he made grave errors in splitting apart his soul. It made him too mentally unstable, he couldn't rule the world or work that way. It was one of his biggest mistakes. And he knew this time around - he was going to be more intelligent about it.
He already planned to dominate the world in a few years - he had never given up on that dream - but he had also planned to be smarter this time around. Including avoiding confrontation with Harry Potter.
He had never doubted himself. Never did, never have. He was sure that in ten years time he would be the king of the wizarding world, atop his mountain of glory, and that unlike the previous time of his life - he would dabble in romance. For he was a great wizard, and it would be such a tragedy if he couldn't leave the world without having some taste of that. Like how he wanted the best in everything, he also wanted a sizable stake in the romantic pie.
Except it couldn't just be anyone. (No, it would never just be anyone...)
He had wanted to break the heart of the most desirable witch around.
Breaking someone's heart was the thing he had wanted to do with regards to a romance. He couldn't leave the world without breaking a heart could he? Not the hearts of silly witches that held childish crushes on him. But the hearts of someone who deeply and sincerely believed he loved her, whom he had deep relations and intimacy with, for whom it had seemed they journeyed to the pits of the earth and back together, and then...broken. Just like that.
He wanted to break someone's heart deeply.
But in order to break a person's heart you first have to get them to fall in love with you.
Hello Hermione, he thought.
You are like a froggy princess in a world of frogs and princes.
I am back but I am not a reformed person and this time - I'm old enough to be unable to resist the temptation of dabbling a bit in romance as part of my greatest legacy.
You shall be courted and beloved, only to become my beautiful story of a heartbreak.
You are like a frog in a pot of boiling water, happening so slowly I wonder when you will open your eyes and see it, but until then, I shall be your lover, oh froggy princess of sorts.
"There's a funeral on today. You can come if you like," he said.
"Oh, so that's why you're holding flowers," Hermione looked like the shock of talking to a person about what was bothering her that day had worn of a bit. She looked almost conversational and easy to lead anywhere.
"Come. No one will mind you being here-" he said, turning and waving her down towards the Chamber of Secrets.
"It's not really a funeral her parents are holding for her is it?" she asked as they slid down the pipe and landed in the pile of rocks at the base.
"No. They would not want to hold it at a school. Her body was due to be signed of and shipped after the last day of term when all the students had left. But there is some time in between and I thought a funeral would be proper," he said, leading her towards the middle of the Hall of the Chamber where Ginny lay atop a pile of rocks he had levitated to create a sort of podium, large leafy boughs from the outside, heather and twigs gathered all around her like a holy wreath.
He added the flowers to the mix at the bottom of her feet.
"She always loved heather during the summer and twigs on the ground she could snap for she favoured the sound but didn't want to harm a living tree. It was hard to find heather at this time of year but I believe Ginny told me secrets about where to get them, the twigs were easier though," there was a slight bite of amusement in his voice as he nudged the flowers to their final position with his shoe.
"Were you close to her then?" asked Hermione.
Tom held out the last of his bundle of flowers for her to also have something to settle down.
"Holistically? No, she was far too naive and simple natured for me to like. I could appreciate someone else's fondness for her, but not have it myself. Circumstantially? Yes, I was her closest friend of sorts for the past year or so. What do you like about Ginny?" he asked her.
Hermione blinked as if a bit surprised.
"Hello? Really, nothing," Tom said when he was aware the time for an immediate answer to fly out if Hermione had one had passed.
"You can't have not really known her as a person, but just liked her for the idea of your best friend's younger sister right? Someone to be sorrowful over because it's such a pity someone's younger sister had to die. But someone whose favourite colour you couldn't even name..."
Hermione flushed, "I've only ever met her for a trainride," she said.
"But yet you're here at her funeral..." said Tom, the lilt in his voice and glare in his eye not letting her know he overlooked this.
"Who are you? What is this place? It can't be a normal part of the school nor normal function can it..." Hermione was suddenly voicing aloud all her previous suspicions.
"If I promised to give you all the answers later will you be quiet for a moment and hold a minute's silence with me for Ginny? She was a great young witch, promised no lesser fortune than the many others of her age attending this school. Alas Hogwarts did not hold up to it's name and her life was squandered in vain. It is a sad moment is it not? I have thought it was appropriate to hold a funeral of sorts for her down here. Even if the circumstances mean I am not the person most like her, but I am close enough to see the need for this recognition of her death. The events are sorrowful afterall, and I intended no less of a funeral today you know? Now, if you don't want to interrupt proceedings, a moment's silence for her, kind thoughts and memories about her from when she was alive only..." he said.
Hermione put down her (small) bouquet of flowers. Daisies they were but from the greater than average mass and arrangement that had been picked it was not without the suggestion that perhaps these had been her favourite type of flower as well. Whoever this dark-haired stranger was he was right. This did appear to be a funeral, quickly thrown together and without much funding, but a funeral nonetheless, for an occasion such as her death, and he did appear to have wanted to lead some planned procession of good thoughts of the dead before her passing so it made no sense for her to turn away from this.
Ginny would've wanted you to do this. She told herself, her head swimming. The whole situation around her death is mysterious and stupid, but this is a real funeral of sorts for mourning her death, the loss of a life, and she would want you to pay your respects here.
She channeled all her positive thoughts of Ginny during that funeral. Which wasn't to say it was much for the only real life memory she had of her, living and breathing there in the flesh, was the ride to Hogwarts all these months ago where she'd confessed she had a crush on Harry Potter and she'd given her advice (even with half-hearted thoughts of it was soooooo stupid to put all your thoughts and feelings on a boy, but she was Ron's little sister afterall, and little sisters deserved to be advised gently on these matters, even if she might've been some sister by friend of sorts to her) but it was all she had to go of on.
Hermione tried her hardest to channel all the positive thoughts she'd had of Ginny during that conversation. Her forthrightness, her honesty, her quickness to say what was on her mind, how she truly thought...
When she looked up Tom blinked his eyes open as well. It seemed he was still in thought but could sense when he was being looked at again.
"That was unusually short but it would do," he said.
"It was definitely more than a minute. Why, you had more memories?" she asked.
He waved his hand and a pile of sunlight and softly falling snowflakes rained down on her, disappearing just moments before it reached her skin; leaving it untouched.
"Come," he said, leading her back up out of the chamber. He used a levitation charm to bring both of them up.
"I actually had several memories to pick from," he said, his voice not telling which they were. Hermione noted he didn't seem like the sort of person to wear his heart on his sleeves and barring a few lapses in time, didn't seem like the type to admit his true emotions about anything much.
"And now we get to the bottom of some things. Who are you, where was that place and how did you come to know Ginny?"
"You can take me home with you for the holidays and get to know me in so much more detail there. I don't exactly work at the school though I have an attachment to this place and it is not exactly easy for me to find a lodging after school is over. Since I've little sense of home I can be swayed by simple pleasures such as probable company, which place is best, and it would not be as hard for me to relocate to where you are, or near enough we can see each other all summer holidays as you may think. That was the Chamber of Secrets, a place that had a big role to play in all of this mystery but will not be touched ever again. I will seal it after I remove her body from the place. And one doesn't have to be within a person's normal social circles to know them well. Friends come and go in all places. She considered me as much of a friend as those she met in her usual circles. I do not need such a role in order to claim myself a person she thought of as a friend to her..." he seemed a little defensive.
Hermione thought this over.
She had not exactly expected him to be a normal Hogwarts students, his robes were outdated and his did not particularly look like someone from this century. Ginny's body had been found by the Entrance to the Chamber of Secrets but in post-mortems done by none other than Dumbledore himself, the wisened wizard had made it very clear she was not harmed by the Basilisk and that her death was of other methods - which - it was impossible to tell. Possibly by dark magic he said. But he did not want anyone running of with false conclusions and the one thing which he could present as fact that he did not want anybody to forget was that she did not die by the Basilisk and that indeed, the message outside had likely been true and that was the end of this year's mystery. Dumbledore did believe in all earnest there would be no more attacks and that no one would worry anymore about this particular year's mystery.
It made sense for him to want to seal the Chamber of Secrets. The mystery was over. Hermione had not known by what methods Ginny may have passed on but she didn't want to do disservice to her death by speculating. She trusted Dumbledore to know it was not the Basilisk.
It seemed he really had been someone who could potentially live near her. That had nothing more to do with this. And the decision whether to accept it or not ought to come down to his personality and whether or not she liked spending time with him...
(whether or not she liked him...had she done anything but like him since the moment he first said 'Bad day' to her in that careless lofty but softly inquisitive tone and talked to her all this time? Like it or not he had been exactly the sort of personality she felt she could get along well with, even just from the meagre interactions that they had...)
"Simple pleasures huh?" Hermione couldn't stop saying.
"Ever since I first set my eyes on you I just had the feeling you'd be the sort of personality I'd get along well with, so simple pleasures, indeed I'll say it is," said Tom smoothly and elegantly as they left the bathroom together.
"That's actually how I felt about you but..." Hermione blushed.
"You didn't expect me to reciprocate so soon?" Tom quirked an eyebrow at her.
"How will you know where I live? I assume you won't be coming back on the train and truthfully I don't even have any idea to tell you how to get to my home if not for the train. It's actually a very critical juncture between Hogwarts and the muggle world, here's no alternatives of travel there..."
"I shall do the normal thing and check your name in the school records. They can't not keep them on paper somewhere when you're still attending. And I shall make my way there eventually. I may be a few days late however, will you be able to handle it...?" Tom asked.
"Of course," blinked Hermione, not wanting to feel too dependent on anyone for happiness or interaction, "who are you?" she said finally before she really prepared to go. ("Tom Riddle," he had told her.) He had known her name but she not his. It didn't surprise her really, many people knew her name. She had built a bit of a name for herself anyway.
Indeed, Tom was thinking as he summarised over the day's events. Hermione Granger was not someone who was desirable in the immediate sense. She was easily overlooked by idiots and dullards who wanted someone flashy, someone immediately gratifying, to be their girlfriend or beautiful arm candy on display during the years at Hogwarts.
But she was one of the brightest witch of the ages, who had mastered knowledge of magic at an alarmingly high rate few others could match, Tom shivered to think what delights held for her in her future and...
It was impossible to think she shouldn't be courted by dark wizards, or anyone who would come to see her worth with due time.
And so she was desirable to him. (And other people - they just didn't know it yet).
And he would break each and every fibre of her desirable heart beneath the ambitious and calm and so so casually confident facade she had in herself and everything now.
But first, in order to break a heart you have to make them fall in love with you.
Author's Note: This is an idea for a dark!fic I had. Canon was intense and there were many turning points where it really felt like Voldemort could win. I always wondered what would happen in an alternate reality where it went dark and so we're of to a dark start, to a dark fic... (Ginny's death).
The real caveat here is will Tom accidentally fall in love with Hermione here? How will this actually play out?
Edit: Although I've had the idea in my head for a long time, I'm also trying out several new tropes/ideas in this story and seeing how I find writing them, so thematically it's not my favourite to write, but I hope there's still enough good things in this entire story for there to be some enjoyment with reading it. I like the deeper exploration into magic and different plots with the wizarding world but I don't like my portrayal of some darker themes or how I didn't truly explore the ethics behind them. It was more a shallow understanding or superficial exploration of some dark themes. I could've done better in my opinion. At the time I edited this it was before I got to the romance part of this slow-burn so it's on everything else, but for the romance part I hope to explore/write it better than the other darker themes, so hopefully there's more exploration of the morality/ethics of it and it's more enjoyable than the dark themes that could've been written better. I think if I finish this I might want to write a next story with exploration of magic and different plots in the wizarding world but not dark themes.
Please review if you want to read more.