A/N: Reviewers:
An Unsanitary Dream - Ron's dream prophetic... that would be a bit too much according to some readers, so no. It's not. Sorry to disappoint you, but I can make it so that it has some revelance later on... keep reading to find out and thanks for the review.
encantada - Yes, Hermione is a bit reckless in the last chapter. But keep in mind that this is Dumbledore and she trusts him for most EVERYTHING! I will for sure keep writing... in fact, I'm on Chapter 9 right now. Riddle's eyes... (sigh) a real subject of heated conversation. I think that I will ask Jo Rowling what color his eyes were before he underwent his transfiguration. And in fact, I might even change them to a dark color later on... just to show his transfiguration. Oh, I best keep quiet... I'm giving away too much. Welp, thanks for your review, appreciated as always!
Read on y'all...!
Chapter 6 – Tom's Warning and Control
Hermione was on her way back up to her common room with her new clothes, cauldron, quills, notebooks, and ink when someone called to her from a shadowy corridor. Eona had decided to let her stay the night in her new dorm seeing as Hermione claimed to be feeling much better thanks to Eona's marvelous potion. Hermione knew the flattery got her further than the actual begging, but she didn't care.
Being back in the Gryffindor girls' dorm would make her feel at least a bit more at home. She would know exactly where she was and maybe be able to get the same spot she had in 1997, the bed by the window with the wardrobe to the left side of her bed.
"What are you doing out?" Hermione jumped, dropping her shrunken shopping bags and turned to see Tom Riddle emerging from the shadows.
"What are you doing hiding in the shadows scaring the life out of people?" Hermione hissed as she stooped to pick up her bags while Tom laughed cruelly for a minute and then became dead serious again. It was scary how his mood could change so quickly.
"I'm Head Boy and I'm patrolling the corridors for wondering students like yourself. You do know it's after hours, right?"
"Yes, I do, and I have good reason for being out," Hermione said defiantly.
"Oh," Tom exclaimed as he narrowed his eyes on her. "And what would that be?"
"I've just got back from the village with Professor Dumbledore. So, I'm excused for being out right now," Hermione said simply.
"Is that so?" Tom stepped forward and began circling her like a snake slithering about its prey just before striking. Hermione stood up as she felt a sweat break out on the back of her neck as he disappeared out of her eye sight. She waited for him to reappear on the other side of her, but he never did.
She slowly turned around, and found herself face-to-terrifying-face with him. He smirked at her wide-eyed and gaping face as it went pale. His eyes were narrow slit with glittering black orbs in the center of bluish white that shone because of the moonlight that poured into the nearby windows.
"So," he said in a low, bone-chilling tone. "What shall I do with a rule breaker like you?"
"I didn't break any rules," Hermione protested in a shaky manner. Why was she so afraid? He wasn't exactly Voldemort yet, but he had set the Basilisk on a girl already. "And if you do anything, I'll just go to Dumbledore about it," Hermione added as she found some courage.
"Is that so?" At this, Tom rose his wand and waved it back and forth between their faces like a pendulum of a clock. "You couldn't say anything if you couldn't talk," he laughed cruelly.
"You wouldn't dare," Hermione breathed.
"Oh, wouldn't I? Learn this, girl-"
"I have a name... it's Alice Granger," Hermione said forcefully as anger rose in her. Who did he think he was? 'Voldemort, that's who' her mind answered.
"Well, learn this, Alice," he spat out the name like it was something awful. "I'm power beyond your wildest dreams, and I have a feeling that Dumbledore has you watching me, so if you value yourself and your life, you'll stay out of my way."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm warning you," he corrected as he looked her up and down before backing away from her.
Hermione glared at him. He wasn't going to make her job easy, that was apparent.
"Now, get to your common room before I have to punish you," Tom scolded as he tucked his wand back into his robes.
Hermione stooped and gathered her remaining bags into her arms before turning and walking off for Gryffindor Tower without another word to Tom.
"Power beyond your wildest dreams, indeed," Hermione scoffed. "Great prat!"
"Password?" Hermione looked up and saw the Fat Lady. She smiled as she felt herself feel a bit more at home in this new time.
"Belladonna," Hermione replied as she shifted the bags in her arms. She entered the common room to see that there were still a few students up, most of them looking up at her upon her entering.
They began to whisper as they looked at her, Hermione beginning to feel nervous because of this. She looked around at all of them who had eventually gone back to their work. She walked quietly over to a deserted table and sat her bags down, one of them falling off the table and shirts and skirts went everywhere.
Some nearby second-years laughed at her as she stooped to put the contents back in the bag, but they weren't laughing long. Someone was scolding them, and now that someone was helping Hermione. It was a girl with a long blond braid down her back much like Parvati had, except for the color.
"Hi," the girl said as she and Hermione stood up.
"Hello," Hermione greeted.
"I'm Sandie Marie Michaels. What's your name?" Sandie stuck out her hand with a smile as Hermione smiled back.
"Alice Granger," Hermione replied as she took Sandie's hand and shook it. "What year are you in?"
"Seventh. You're the new girl everyone's been talking about. Headmaster Dippet said that I should help you since I'm a prefect and all," Sandie informed.
"That's awfully nice of you. So, where's our dorm? I mean, if you don't mind showing me," Hermione added. "I'm a bit tired and I'd like to get settled in before too much longer."
"No problem," Sandie beamed. "Let me get a couple of these and you can follow me." Sandie grabbed three of the seven bags and headed toward two stairwells, taking the one on the right. They climbed up to the very top, passing door after door until they reached the seventh and last.
"Hey, Sandie, what's shaking?" a girl inside the dorm asked.
"Tiffany, this is Alice Granger," Sandie introduced. "Alice, this is-"
"Tiffany Summers," Tiffany finished as she jumped up to shake Hermione's hand. "Quidditch Captain and best Keeper in Hogwarts." At these words, Hermione was reminded very much of Oliver Wood, Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor for the first three years Hermione was in Hogwarts.
"Nice to meet you, Tiffany," Hermione smiled.
"So, where are you from anyways?" Tiffany inquired.
"Belgium," Hermione said quickly.
"Is it true what everyone's saying?" Tiffany sat down on her trunk and looked at Hermione with a sneakingly secretive look on her face, her eyes sparkling with wonder.
"What's everyone saying?"
"That you were half dead when they found you," Sandie answered as she rolled her eyes. "What utter stupidity. I've never seen such ignorance as the one that floats about this castle."
"You'll have to excuse little Miss Practical over there," Tiffany mumbled as she pointed annoyedly at Sandie. "She hates gossip... she says it's nonsense that does nothing but cause troubles."
"It is," Sandie snapped as she stopped folding Hermione's clothes, laying the last garment on Hermione's bed.
"She's just mad because everyone keeps saying that she's dating Boil Boy Brian," Tiffany giggled.
"Stop calling him that! And so what if I am!" Sandie shot.
"Who's Boil Boy Brian?"
"That's not his name," Sandie sighed. "His name is Brian Covington and he's seventh year Gryffindor prefect. Everyone calls him that because he's got a little acne. There's nothing wrong with him... he's very smart and nice and working on a boil curing potion as we speak."
"But I don't think the boils are going to cure his skinny, lanky, and dorky ways," Tiffany snorted as she doubled over with laughter.
"Stop it! Just stop it! He's sweet and one of the most good natured guys I know," Sandie hissed. "And the only reason you like gossip is because everyone spread around that rumor about you and Arnold!"
"Who's Arnold?"
"Oh, Alice, he's the most handsome guy on my team," Tiffany sighed dreamily. "He's the Seeker and he's brother to the famous Seeker, Elefred Murray, for the Wigtown Wanders."
"Tiff, if you knew as much about school work as you did about Quidditch, then you would be better than Tom Riddle," Sandie said triumphantly as though she had won the argument between her and Tiffany.
"Tom Riddle," Tiffany sighed, "Now, there's another hunk, right there. And he's amazingly charming and smart and... oh, my!"
"Tom Riddle, indeed," Hermione grumbled. "He's a pompous airhead." Both Tiffany and Sandie raised their eyebrows at this remarked and waited for Hermione to say something more. But she didn't as she walked over and began putting her clothes away into her new trunk.
"Isn't he the one that found you? I mean, that is if the rumors are true," Tiffany pointed out.
"Yes, he found me... found me in a paralyzed state with broken eardrums, broken bones. Badly beaten, let's put it that way," Hermione said with dissatisfaction. "He's also full of himself and nothing more than a jerk."
"What makes you say that?" Tiffany questioned.
"What makes you say he's charming?" Hermione fired back.
"Well," Sandie muttered. "He's never really been nothing but helpful to me, especially in Charms-"
"And he's really good at Quidditch... helped me there and in Potions," Tiffany added.
"You mean he's never threatened you guys?" Hermione was in shock. Why was Tom picking her out of the bunch? Especially since she was new and seemingly, at least to him, knew nothing about him.
"No, not to our faces," Sandie replied. "We know he doesn't like Gryffindors – or any house but his own for that matter – but he's never been unpleasant."
"He barely likes Slytherins either," Tiffany corrected. "He's got this one group that follows him around, but the rest seem to fear him... everyone shows him respect, that's for sure."
"Why show respect to someone who doesn't deserve it?"
"Whatever do you mean, Alice?" Sandie pried.
"Tom's quiet," Tiffany said. "He bothers no one... unless you bother him first. Remember how he caught Hagrid in our fifth year, Sandie?" Tiffany paused as Sandie bowed her head and nodded slowly.
"Who would have suspected him?" Sandie sighed.
"Dumbledore thinks he's innocent, and if he thinks that, then so do I," Tiffany said defiantly.
'So this is the kind of control Tom Riddle has over everyone! He's got everyone believing he's innocent and perfect' Hermione thought as she watched Tiffany and Sandie with their heads bowed.
"You can't believe Tom, Sandie, can you?" Hermione ventured.
"I don't want to, but he's Head Boy. He wouldn't lie, I have to believe that," Sandie said softly. "Besides, Hagrid was a bit strange-"
"You've got to be kidding," Hermione said in disbelief.
"What do you mean?"
"Tom's a fraud... he's-," Hermione stopped. She wasn't supposed to know anything about Hogwarts before this year unless it could be found in a book and she doubted that things from only just two years prior would be in any book yet. "Probably the one who did it."
"What makes you dislike him so?"
"The fact he's in Slytherin," Tiffany laughed as she pulled the covers back on her bed.
"The fact that he threatened me tonight on my way up here," Hermione answered.
"Threatened you?" Sandie spat with disbelief.
"How?" Tiffany asked.
"He said that he was power and that if I valued myself and my life that I would stay clear of him and not be Dumbledore's spy," Hermione explained. Tiffany and Sandie looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Hermione.
"It's well known that Tom and Professor Dumbledore don't get along," Sandie informed. "Professor Dumbledore really keeps a close watch on him. He's asked me a few times even what Tom does, but he's not asked me much after that because every time I answered him, it was all good things that I had to say."
"Do you think he'll do anything to you, Alice?" Tiffany questioned somewhat fearfully.
"I don't know... I don't know him. That's what really surprised me... he doesn't know me, yet he threatened me," Hermione murmured slowly.
"Well, you're not spying for Dumbledore," Sandie laughed uneasily as though the thought were ridiculous, but that she feared it all the same. "So, you have nothing to worry about."
"Or so you think. Remember Myrtle?"
"Tiffany! Stop it or you'll scare Alice," Sandie reprimanded.
"Tell me about Myrtle, Tiff," Hermione said as she walked over and stood at the foot of Tiffany's bed.
"Everyone said that she was Dumbledore's spy on Tom, too. Dumbledore was really suspicious as to why Tom was always wanting books from the Restricted Section of the library so everyone said he had Myrtle spying on him," Tiffany explained. "Well, Olive Hornby started making fun of Myrtle for it... saying that's why she wore those ugly glasses so she could see Tom coming. The Slytherins who were friends with Tom teased her, too... some say they threatened her. Well, one day after Olive got done teasing Myrtle, she disappeared, some say she followed Tom and he killed her with the Killing Curse-"
"Stop it, Tiffany, he did not!" Sandie stood up off her trunk and crossed her arms as she turned to the window. "Tom didn't kill her... some monster did. She was found in the girl's lavatory one night during dinner. Whoever killed her was a horrid brute and- and... Hagrid was known for keeping monsters like that!"
"That's not so," Tiffany yelled back. "Hagrid was a nice boy! After his father died he became quiet and didn't really talk to anyone and everyone thought that he was strange for that." Tiffany stopped for a moment as she huffed, Hermione looking back and forth between the two. "It certainly is easy to blame the quiet one of the bunch," Tiffany added in a softer, almost remorseful tone. "Isn't it?"
"Well, Tom did catch him with the monster, didn't he?" Sandie pointed out.
"But Hagrid wouldn't set it on a student," Tiffany reasoned. This seemed to shut Sandie up, but it also left a silence in the room that was horribly saddening.
"Listen, whatever might have happened is in the past now, no use fighting about it," Hermione reasoned. "Why don't we just go to bed and, if you two don't mind, you can show me around tomorrow, help me get to my classes?"
"All right," Sandie sighed.
"Fine by me," Tiffany agreed.
"Truce, then?" Hermione suggested.
"Truce," Tiffany and Sandie said in unison. With that, there was a bit of relief among them and the three of them went to bed. That night, Hermione tossed and turned in her sleep as she dreamed about something strange.
There was a man in bottle green robes and he was riding through the Forbidden Forest with her on a jet black horse. She struggled against him, but it was no use, he was too strong.
Every now and then, from out of the corner of her eye, she would see a flash of red and gold through the thick, black trees. Suddenly, the horse stopped and the man dismounted, pulling her down with him. He shoved her along a narrow path that was beginning to disappear as tree roots crept upon it.
Hermione shivered and felt her stomach drop from under her as she noticed something tied to the trunk of a tree ahead of her. All she could make out of it was a bright, flaming red dot. Hermione felt fear rush through her, but fear had never gotten her anywhere so she stuck out her chin and continued to let the man lead her toward the bound figure.
"Bravery won't save anything now," purred the man in her ear. Chills rampaged up and down her spine as they entered the clearing and for the first time, Hermione saw that it was a man bound to the tree. "Look upon your lover now!"
Hermione found herself being pushed to the ground where she landed on her hands and knees. She looked up slowly and saw the man in green holding a handful of the flaming red hair in his hand. For the first time, she saw the bound man's face.
"RON!" She scrambled to her feet and moved toward him, but the man in green whipped out his wand and pointed it at her.
"Stay back! I'm warning you, little Gryffindor, your bravery tries my patience and if you dare as so set me off in the slightest way, your lover will suffer." Hermione found herself crying now. How had she gotten into this situation?
"Please- let him go," she sobbed. "He's nothing to do with this."
"Herm-mione... I love you," Ron choked in a low, tired tone. Hermione's sobs grew harder and she wanted nothing more than to reach out and put her hand to his face, but she couldn't do that.
"How sweet," laughed the man in green. "Your girlfriend makes a point. You've nothing to do with this... so I have no need for you." It looked for a moment, as though the man was going to let Ron go as he let go of Ron's hair, throwing his head forward forcefully and stepping back.
Ron looked up at Hermione as she sat there before him, but in that second, green light filled the clearing with the maniacal laugh of the man as he shouted two fateful words.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Ron's face held nothing but horror as he froze in mid-struggle to get to Hermione. The light disappeared and Ron's body stayed frozen with horror as Hermione felt her heart seemingly stop beating.
"No, Ron," she said softly as she crawled forward toward him. She saw the open, blank eyes on a cold, horror-struck face, and it made her want to scream with horror herself. "No," she said as her own throat constricted with realization. "NO! RON! What did you do? RON!"
"Alice! Alice... wake up!" Hermione gasped and sat bolt upright in her bed.
"Alice, are you all right?" Hermione looked around at the concerned faces of her roommates, Sandie and Tiffany.
"Who's Ron?" Tiffany implored curiously.
"It was only a bad dream," Hermione breathed as she tried to calm herself.
"Yes, a bad dream." There was a pause as Sandie patted Hermione's hand and Hermione watched Tiffany stretch before she spoke up again.
"Well, since we're all up, let's get dressed and go down to breakfast," Tiffany suggested.