Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. Original characters play minimal roles.
CHAPTER SIX
A shadow is moving…but where is the light coming from?
I'm getting tired, but I can not...succumb
So cold, so cold in this dusty corridor
What is this strange, strange odor?
Footsteps getting louder, something is coming.
What is this place…why am I running?
Hermione sat up swiftly. Her breath ragged as she reached up with a shaking hand and wiped a few sweaty locks of hair away from her face.
"Hermione?" Someone whispered with mild concern, fingers grasped the Head Girl's shoulder.
Hermione whipped her head around and yelped as she came face to face or rather nose to nose with a masked stranger.
The person blinked at Hermione through the eyeholes and quickly pulled off the black mask on her face, revealing a frightened Maria.
Maria spluttered, "Hermione…I'm so sorry! Merlin, I didn't mean to scare you. I forgot I still had this mask on. It's one of those materials that are supposed to help you have dreamless sleep…I didn't mean…oh, Hufflepuff's toes, I'm sorry!"
She squatted on the ground and wringed her mask, glancing nervously at Hermione.
Hermione giggled, "It's alright, Maria! I just…I just had a bad dream and you just scared me, thats all. Hufflepuff's toes?"
Maria blushed and mumbled, "My sister said her toes were famous for something..."
"I don't want to know," Hermione laughed, pulling her cloak over herself.
Maria yawned loudly as she stood up to stretch and asked, "So, how are you feeling?"
Hermione wiggled her fingers and toes, and threw her legs over her makeshift bed and blinked a few times, surprised to see the rich soil directly below her. She groaned out loud as remembered the events that happened the day before and realized why she was now in the middle of a very unfamiliar forest.
Maria stared amusingly at Hermione's many facial expressions and laughed. "Tell me about it. I nearly screamed when I saw a lizard prodding my leg."
Hermione grinned, tugging on her shoes. "Not exactly a happy wake-up call."
Maria nodded animatedly, her nose wrinkled in grimace. "You know what? When I was little, there had been a time… a phase I suppose, when I wanted to runaway from home and live in the wilderness. Strange thought?"
Hermione smiled, watching a couple of birds flying above, as she said, "Not really. I remember I thought that too, but I have to say, it's not as wonderful as we would have thought!"
Maria grinned. "Yeah."
Hermione looked around, watching bemusedly as a lone squirrel scrambling around a pile of neatly folded clothes in the clearing. "Um…where are the others?"
Maria replied quietly, "Well, the Slytherins left before I awoke and Steve said he was going to check the area out."
Hermione blinked, rubbing her eyes wearily.
Screeches of a variety of birds rang from the treetops as the two witches sat in a companionable silence, contemplating what to do. Sunlight pierced through the canopy, the temperature already pleasantly warm. However, the nice parts of the forest ended there. Croaking, shrieking, and other highly ear-splitting sounds of wild creatures seemed to mash together creating a cacophony.
Hermione groaned, placing a hand across her forehead as she stood up.
Maria yawned again. "The noise is awful isn't it? I'm surprised the sounds didn't wake you up. Some annoying bird pecking my bag woke me up. Though I guess its not that bad. I went out and was able to find the stream that I think Tom mentioned yesterday. It's not too far actually. Want to go wash up?"
Hermione nodded gratefully, collected her knapsack and slung it over her shoulder as she followed Maria out of the clearing.
After they washed up, Hermione and Maria decided to find breakfast...or whatever was edible.
"I am impressed!" Maria said admiringly on their way back to their camp. "Not many people I know would know what kind of wild nuts are edible...me for one."
She paused, pushed away a low branch and admitted, "I've actually never been much of a outdoor camping person, despite what people think. I shudder to think how different this would be with only Stella. I'm glad you're here and is my friend."
Hermione bit her lip hard, hugging the nuts she had carried her arms. "I'm glad you're my friend too."
Maria grinned, but grumbled as she swatted away a swarm of little flies in front them. "If only my sister had packed me some of that muggle bug repellent stuff."
"What's your sister's name?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Adriana Diggory," Maria replied proudly.
Hermione's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Her eyes wandered towards the little star button on Maria's robes, "but...your last name is Davis!"
"It is," Maria explained. "But my sister got married this year to Kevin Diggory."
She giggled in her hand and whispered, "She already decided her kid's name. If they're having a girl, she'll name her Claire and if they're a boy, she'll name him, Amos."
Hermione nearly choked. Oh, they were definitely going to have a boy in the future. Hermione grimaced as she recalled the horrible fate of Cedric Diggory. She had not known him or been there to witness his ghastly fate, but tremendous sadness came over her as she remembered that the grandson of Adriana and Kevin Diggory and Maria's future relative was, in her time, dead.
"These do look rather unappealing, don't they?" Hermione remarked a couple minutes later, glancing at the mass of fuzzy round globes in her hands.
Maria glanced into her bag and then at Hermione's hands and chuckled. "Oh well, I'm so hungry I could eat a Hippogriff!"
As they neared the clearing, sounds of laughter and voices became evident.
"Oohh...that is incredible!" Someone squealed.
Hermione raised her eyebrows questionably. Sure enough, her suspicions were correct. There sitting on a picnic sheet were the three Slytherins and Steve was far off to the side, doing something she couldn't see.
"We're back!" Maria announced as she and Hermione dumped a portion of the collected food near a pile of blackberries that the Slytherins must have picked.
Stella smirked, wrinkling her nose. "Well, that's good to hear. Where were you two? You've been gone so long, I thought you both surely got eaten. Then again, Maria probably will in the near future, considering her lousy survival skills."
Maria turned scarlet, but didn't say anything.
"We washed up in the stream an went to find breakfast." Hermione replied irritably. "Where did you go?"
Xavier reached idly for a nut and replied with a charming smile, "We went up to the stream too."
"Really?" Hermione said. "I didn't see you guys there."
Tom Riddle shrugged, the tips of his black hair looking slightly wet. "It's not that small. We were probably in a different area."
"Yeah. Now could you please leave?" Stella asked irritably, sending Hermione a scathing glance. When neither Maria nor Hermione made a motion to leave, she scooted nearer to the Slytherin heir with an eager look for more conversation.
"Not like we want to stay with you," Hermione muttered, taking a couple of nuts and berries as Maria sat on her makeshift bed and rummaged through her bag.
Hermione carried a bundle of nuts and berries towards Steve. He seemed to be busily sawing a chuck of wood with his rusty pocketknife. She observed his work up close and noticed various shapes and lines chiseled in it.
"Its Maria," She said in awe as the features began to pronounce themselves.
Steve turned scarlet and nodded, his bright, blue eyes darted towards Maria's direction and then self-consciously, he covered the unfinished artwork from Hermione's view.
"Not too good," He mumbled humbly after thanking Hermione profusely for the food.
"I like it. It looks wonderful," Hermione said honestly.
Steve glanced uncertainly at the wood and then smiled at Hermione, "Thanks, I suppose it looks okay…I've never carved faces before."
He let out a rushed breath. "See?" He said, handing her a large knife he carved out of wood. Hermione flipped it over across her hand, she slid an index finger across the blade and was impressed at the craftsmanship.
"It looks so real!" She exclaimed, handing it back with awe.
Steve beamed, twirling his carved knife between his fingers in a pleased way.
After lunch, the group decided to separate to explore further. However, they met again with the same result; no sign of civilization. Evening arrived and Steve and Xavier offered to find food. Tom Riddle managed to rid himself of Stella and the girl trampled unheeding through the bushes with Maria, uncomplaining and smiling as Maria calmly attempted to explain what type of berries to find.
Hermione was left with Tom Riddle.
"It's unfortunate we can't use our wands." He stated crisply, crouching near a pile of wood for the campfire.
Hermione glanced at him, not at all surprised at the bitter tone that suddenly upheld his voice. She was silent as she comprehended his resentment. Of course young Voldemort would hate the idea of wands being useless. After all, it probably made him feel like a muggle. She clenched her fists, finding this thought very unpleasant.
Hermione frowned, suddenly realizing why she felt uneasy through the entire day. The forest is suppose to be magical, but no magical creatures had appeared so far...it was almost as if they were hiding and waiting for a perfect time to come out.
"I thought of that too." Tom said, shattering her reverie.
Hermione jumped, turned her head so her eyes met with his amused ones. Did she only say that last part aloud?
"And...your opinion is?" She asked gamely.
He smiled somewhat patronizingly and replied with a theoretical question, "How can you prepare yourself against the unknown?"
Hermione pursed her lips and said nothing.
You can't.
The question however hung above her head as each minded their own business. She sighed inwardly and plopped onto the ground, pulled out a book out of her knapsack and began reading.
"Triumph Over Obscurity?" Tom Riddle asked with eyebrows raised.
Hermione looked up blankly until she realized he was referring to the title.
"Where did you get it?" He questioned, looking immensely curious.
"I asked Dumbledore for it." She replied carelessly.
The strange smile Hermione saw yesterday reappeared on the heir's face as he mumbled something spiteful about Dumbledore underneath his breath.
"Talking to yourself, Riddle?" Hermione asked testily. "I hear it's a sure sign of insanity."
He replied pleasantly, "Than you must be insane because I clearly remember someone saying and I quote, "The forest is suppose to be magical, but no magical creatures had appeared so far...'"
Hermione fumed silently.
"Anyways," Riddle smirked, "the book is interesting, isn't it?"
She nodded. "It is quite fascinating. It is amazing to read about famous wizards and witches in other cultures; their way of life was so different from ours.
Hermione was secretly pleased someone else had heard of the book. Harry and Ron never read a book she hadn't, not that they would ever read in their spare time anyways. Tom Riddle told her slyly, " Indeed. Although, the sequel is more of use, the Repfoe spell in the sequel, Obscurity and Minds is one of my personal favorites."
Hermione looked at him in slight surprise. "Really? The spell works very well, the spider just..."Hermione stopped abruptly, dismayed as she just realized she just admitted to trying out an illegal spell.
"Yes…go on," Tom Riddle murmured, leaning closer as he stared at her with newfound interest.
Hermione panicked as she tried to conceive a lie, but end up replying weakly, "So…I found out that overall, it is a very interesting spell."
Even she knew that was lame.
"That interesting?" He whispered, his deep, dark eyes seem to dance with fire.
Hermione shook her head, not enjoying the attention she suddenly brought upon herself.
"It's a very complicated and long spell," He remarked casually, like he was chatting about the weather. "I'm surprised you even know about it. The book is not even in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library, and it certainly isn't for sell in the same store where we buy our textbooks. Of course, most importantly, not many people would know a spell that would cause a person to feel a sudden bout of severe pain followed by a sharp decrease in energy."
Hermione refused to reply as she tried to block out his stare by concentrating in her book. Riddle chuckled, but left her alone. She cursed in her mind, furious at her careless slip-up. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she closed her eyes and exhaled heavily.
After a few moments of silence, she heard a crackle of a just lit fire and saw orange and reddish flames dance in her vision. Hermione glanced up and blurted, "How did you get a fire started?"
Riddle crossed his arms over his chest and studied her, before sighing impatiently and pulling out a green colored lighter. He clicked it on in front of her face. She frowned.
A muggle device
"Well... I didn't know you smoked..."
"I don't," Riddle answered calmly as he placed the lighter back into his pocket.
"...why did you bring the lighter?"
He half smiled as he leaned close to her face. "One, I might be in a situation we are in now and two, you just never know when I'll have to set something on fire." He replied smoothly, a chilling gleam in his eyes.
Hey everyone...okay, so um, I've had this chapter in my documents for about a year. Yeah, I actually did finish writing this chapter the week after I last updated. I'd rather not bore you all with all the excuses, but life has just been a pain and I haven't had time to write.
I don't like this chapter and there is a huge chunk of the Hermione/Tom conversation missing because my computer is completely messed up. I can't promise, but I'll try to fix this chapter soon.
I didn't change anything in this chapter since last year so I apologize for all grammatical mistakes. I've recently looked over this story and I couldn't help but cringe while I was reading. When I have time, I'll either revamp this whole entire story or even delete it. :P
To my reviewers...I don't know what you guys saw in this story, but you guys absolutely rock!
Thanks to: Gywnn-Potter, Ice-Phoenix-Tears, myzteek, Zaralya, ashley48506, Stella, Taren, Only I, Cheri, Rea, Merja, hersheykisses, Artemis1000, Dreaming One, kura52, Jen058, topps, Vera-Sabe, Bluberry-Gurl, Klooooona Jedusor, EternityCircleSisters, Kat, encantada, heila, animerocksjapanrocks and those who e-mailed me.