It was the last week of October. For the past month Hermione had worked hard and kept her cool around Tom. She had gotten used to the way he liked to keep his distance and the way he liked to be controlling. They competed in class as usual and Tom always managed to get 1% above her, no matter how hard she worked. They argued a lot and no matter how much she tried she couldn't help answering back but she always stopped before it got out of hand. Most of the time he insulted her and she always let him have his way. Not once had she provoked him to draw his wand and if they weren't verbally attacking each other they worked together quite well, not that any of them ever would admit it. They had always worked in silence before but this week he had started to tell her things about what he was doing or how a spell worked. It was never a detailed explanation, only a few words or sentences. She absorbed the knowledge and never said anything unless she thought it was necessary. Sometimes he answered and sometimes he didn't.
Working in class with him wasn't so bad anymore and she found herself looking forward to some of their classes. When she thought about it she always felt guilty but then she reassured herself that she didn't have a choice when it came to working with him and learning something for her efforts to stay calm wasn't anything bad. Malfoy always stared at her hatefully but he never tried anything when Tom was around. Hermione had found it disturbing that Tom was still protecting her from his friends but then she figured he probably hadn't told them that she was clueless about the barriers because the dark lord would never admit to being wrong. Malfoy had tried to attack her alone a few times and failed. She had found Malfoy's weakness, he was weak at shielding non-verbal spells and she had to take out his crew before she could defeat him.
In charms she sat two seats away from Tom listening to a middle aged woman with glasses known as Professor Jane Hedger. They were meant to conjure flowers for decorative purposes and the instructions appeared on the board. Hedger demonstrated by conjuring a bunch of yellow chrysanthemums with a golden aura and all the students looked impressed. Hermione glanced sideways at Tom to find him staring at them with a bored expression and she knew he could do way better. The chrysanthemums looked beautiful but they weren't as impressive as Tom's roses. His roses had been sparkling with a glowing aura and the chrysanthemums lacked the sparkle.
"You may choose any kind of flower you like" Hedger said making the chrysanthemums vanish. "Use your imagination to add the effects and keep in mind that you are trying to impress your supposed guests" she finished dryly.
Hermione thought about conjuring roses but dismissed the idea since a lot of people were doing that. Daises or daffodils seemed too ordinary and in the end she settled on pink carnations. Now came the hard part. She wasn't very good when it came to art and she didn't have the faintest idea what to do next. She looked around the room for ideas. Everyone's flowers had an aura of faint light but apart from that the designs were unique. She looked towards Tom to find him floating a bunch of beautiful white orchids. He lightly traced a finger across one of the flowers and seemed deep in thought. He suddenly looked towards her and she quickly turned back to her flowers. What colour aura should she produce for her pink carnations? Hedger had done a golden aura for yellow flowers so what colour matched with pink? She looked at Susan's table to see a bunch of floating violet's with an orange aura. Susan smiled at her and started to add some green glitter to the leaves. Orange kind of matched with pink and she decided to add an orange aura to her carnations. She didn't know what else to do and after a while she added green glitter to her leaves just like Susan.
She looked at her finished work with a feeling of satisfaction. It wasn't great but she thought it was alright. She looked at Tom again and stared at his flowers in amazement. The orchids had a luminous white glow to them and mini icicles hung of the petals. It was like the flowers were studded with diamonds but they looked so natural covered in ice particles. He muttered a spell making crisscross movements with his wand and the dull icicles immediately began to sparkle. He finished by dusting the leaves and stalks with a layer of frost and the whole thing was absolutely breathtaking. The whiteness and the ice on the orchids seemed to remind her of being cold and emotionless but beautiful at the same time. The flowers were a lot like their maker, cold and emotionless but radiating beauty. He floated them high and crossed his arms. He stared at them with a satisfied look and then he turned to look at hers. She felt anxious as he inspected her flowers. She shouldn't really care what he thought but she couldn't help it.
"Granger" he said slowly and she suddenly felt nervous waiting for his opinion. She hoped they were at least acceptable in his eyes. "What kind of rubbish have you produced" his words stung and she felt hurt but she didn't let it show.
"Nothing's wrong with them" she said glaring at him. "Their perfectly fine Riddle"
"They're an eye sore." Well now that she thought about it the bright orange did look terrible with the pink petals.
"You're just saying that because---because" there was no way she was going to admit he was right. "You find fault with everything I do" she blurted out avoiding his eyes.
"The colours clash horribly and the green glitter makes it look like a child's art project" he said sneering at her. "In case you forgot Granger the aim is to impress guests not make them throw up"
"It will impress them" she said glaring at him.
"This is a charms class and you have to create things that will actually charm people" All very well for him to say when his mind was filled with clever ideas and all he had to do was pluck one out.
"Exactly how am I supposed to do that?" she said moodily.
"You should try using your actual brain once in a while"
"What is that supposed to mean?" she said in a high pitched voice.
"Exactly what I said"
"I used my-----"
"No you didn't" he cut in sharply. "I saw you looking at Susan and you stole her idea"
"Well--I---I--"
"There were no instructions in a book to memorise or refer to and since you're so dumb you struggled" he said nastily. She felt like punching him and the worst thing was he was kind of right. She normally would have carried on arguing but she forced herself to let it go. She sat down and stared ahead gloomily. Of course she had a brain and she could use it better than he thought. Just because she wasn't artistic didn't mean she was dumb. Everyone couldn't be a genius like the dark lord and be good at everything. She would show him who had brains when she killed him. "You need to create something that will capture people's hearts and keep them captivated" he suddenly said.
"Easy for you to achieve isn't it Riddle." She said looking at him. "Your always charming and deceiving people so it can't be that hard when it comes to using a bunch of flowers as bait" he looked annoyed and one of his hands clenched into a fist. Okay he was getting angry, time to cool it down a bit. She went back to silently staring at the wall and he ignored her for the rest of the lesson. Tom received an outstanding for his flowers while she received an acceptable. She glared at him and his lips curled into half a smile.
At lunchtime she stabbed her baked potatoes repeatedly while imagining it was Tom.
"Maya what the hell's gotten into you" Susan said placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I hate him" Hermione hissed.
"Who Xav?"
"Why is he so good at everything? He's always so full of himself"
"Xav's good at quidditch but his not that great. You don't need to impress him, I'm sure he'll go out with you"
"I'm not talking about Xavian Potter" she suddenly shouted. Susan backed away in fear and everyone turned to look at her. Tom looked towards the Ravenclaw table with an unreadable expression.
"I'm so sorry Susan" she said quickly.
"It's okay Maya"
"I'm really sorry, I'm just having a bad day" She got up and ran out of the great hall.
"Maya come back and eat something" Susan called out. Hermione ignored her and ran further down the corridor. She spent the entire lunchtime in the library and then she headed for her afternoon classes. It was freezing outside and she held her cloak tightly as she walked towards the green house for Herbology. As usual she sat at the front near Tom. They were given some nasty looking plants and they were supposed to pick off the flowers. The only problem was the plant tried to attack you every time you tried to touch it. You were meant to stroke it behind the ears but she couldn't tell where the ears were, the entire plant looked the same to her. Tom was already picking the flowers of his plant while she attempted to touch hers without losing a finger. She looked at the diagram in the book and it looked easy but when she looked at the plant it wasn't the same. She cautiously attempted to touch a part that looked like the ears and it bit her through the glove. She cried out and pulled her hand away. A chorus of laughter sounded from Malfoy's group and Lestrange clutched his hand with a fake panicked look. She pulled of the glove to find one of her fingers bleeding badly.
"Granger if you had any sense you would know the plant in front of you isn't the one we're supposed to be working on" Tom said looking amused.
"What?" she said looking at her plant closely. Malfoy that son of a bitch had probably switched it. It must have been Riddle's idea since Malfoy hardly attacked her in his presence. "You think its funny, instructing your friend Malfoy to switch my plant" She said angrily. His amused expression quickly dissolved to show anger.
"Malfoy is not my friend" he snapped clenching both his hands into fists. "It is funny Granger since you're stupid enough to fall for it" She glared at him and healed her hand. Malfoy was looking at her expectantly but she wasn't going to attack him in class and get expelled. However they couldn't expel her if it was an accident and she was going to make it look just like that. She carefully picked up the plant pot and walked closer to him. She made it look like she tripped on something and threw the plant pot in Malfoy's direction. Malfoy's screams rang through the room as the plant clung on to him and started to bite through his robes.
"I'm so sorry" Hermione said looking panicked. The professor made the plant freeze and instructed him to go to the hospital wing.
"She did it on purpose" Malfoy yelled clutching his torn blood soaked robes.
"Calm down Mr Malfoy it was an accident" the professor said.
"This isn't over Granger. You're going to pay" Malfoy shouted on his way out.
For the rest of the day she felt much better. She had put Malfoy away without getting in trouble and although Tom wasn't showing it he must be pissed that his friend had been defeated by her.
In the evening she sat in her room writing an essay and eating chocolate chip cookies. An owl with a letter tapped on her window and she let it through. She took the envelope and gave the owl a small chunk of her cookie. It hooted happily and flew away. She tore open the envelope and read the letter. It was from Tom announcing a heads meeting at 8.30 pm and she wondered what the meeting was about. She finished her essay and opened up another pack of chocolate chip cookies. No lunch had made her extra hungry and although the cookies helped she was still starving. At 8.30pm she went down to the common room. Bones and Longbottom were sitting close to each other and Tom was pacing on the other side of the room. Noticing her presence Tom paused and walked into the centre of the room. He waited until she was seated then he sat across her.
"As you all know Halloween is coming up and we have to make preparations for the ball" Tom said addressing the group and he was clearly in charge. Hearing the word Halloween Hermione looked down at her hands unblinking. That meant she had been here for almost 2 months and she hadn't even come up with a plan to kill him yet. "The minister of magic is going to attend and Dippet wants us to impress him" Bones and Longbottom looked excited but Tom looked uncomfortable. "To save you all the trouble I've already selected all the designs and decorations. I suggest we stick to using my designs, all agreed?" Bones and Longbottom instantly agreed. Why were they letting him walk all over them like that? "Good" Tom said pulling out parchments with detailed drawings and annotations. "I have worked everything out. I just need everyone to follow the plan."
"I don't agree" Hermione suddenly said looking up and everyone turned to look at her. Tom looked murderous for a second but his face quickly took on a neutral look.
"Do you have a better idea Granger?" Tom said with an irritated tone.
"I might" she said uncertainly.
"You have no plan of your own and you're saying mine isn't good enough" he said glaring at her. If she had known before she would have planned something. This just wasn't fair.
"All I'm trying to say is we're meant to work together as a group" Hermione said. "All the designs are your ideas, we're not getting a chance to add any of our own" he stared at her unblinking and one of his hands clenched into a fist.
"Bones, Longbottom are you okay with what I'm doing" Tom suddenly said with his eyes still fixed on her.
"Fine with me" Longbottom said.
"I'm with you, don't let her tell you what to do" Bones said looking at her with dislike. Stupid Bones, why couldn't she recognise the real evil person that was controlling them?
"Looks like your outvoted Granger" Tom said still staring at her unblinking. "Everyone meet me in the great hall at 5.15 tomorrow." Tom stood up and handed a copy of his designs to Bones and Longbottom. "Good night everyone" Bones and Longbottom started to walk up to their rooms and feeling defeated she was about to do the same. "Granger" he called out when she was about to climb up the stairs. "Stay behind, we need to talk" his voice sounded very controlled and she bit her lips feeling worried. She turned around and held her breath. Merlin, both of his hands were clenched into fists and his face had a dark expression. She had disagreed with him before and she hadn't thought it would anger him so much. As soon as Bones and Longbottom disappeared into their rooms he drew his wand and pointed it at her. Hermione froze and her heart beat speed up. He was seriously mad at her and now she wished she hadn't said anything at all. "Don't ever undermine my authority like that" he suddenly shouted making her jump. Okay so he was angry because she had disagreed with him in front of all the other heads but maybe sending his right hand man to the hospital wing also had something to do with it.
"Are you sure that's the only reason your angry or is it because I sent your best friend Malfoy to the hospital wing" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself and she immediately regretted it. She should have kept quiet and now all her weeks of hard work to keep calm was going to go down the drain. He looked like he was going to explode and his expression turned seriously frightening. She couldn't ever recall seeing him so angry and goose bumps formed on her arms. She was about to draw her wand but he non-verbally summoned it before she even got the chance. Her eyes widened as she watched her wand neatly land on the palm of his left hand.
"Silencio" he said pointing at her throat. Her wand was gone and she couldn't make a sound anymore. Her heart started to beat really fast. This was exactly the kind of thing she wanted to avoid and from the looks of it he was going do something really harmful. She tried to run up to her room and with a wave of his wand he surrounded her with a circle of fire. Hermione let out a soundless scream and huddled in the centre with a frightened expression. He made the fire vanish and grabbed her by the hair. She struggled in his grasp and he threw her onto the floor. Her nose banged into the stony ground and it started to heavily bleed. She tried to get up and he kicked her back down making her silently cry out. She lay still breathing through her mouth and her tears merged with the blood leaking onto the floor. He sat on the floor across her and she slowly looked up. "Malfoy is not my friend" he said moving closer and she crawled back a few inches.
He suddenly raked his hand deep into her hair and painfully pulled her into a sitting position. With his hand still buried in her hair he stared at her unblinking and Hermione didn't dare move in case she made the situation worse. Blood dribbled onto her chin as she fearfully stared back at him. "Malfoy is not my friend" he suddenly repeated in a low voice. "If you ever say he is, you're going to be really sorry Granger" his eyes took on a haunted look and he looked absolutely mad. He roughly tugged on her hair making her wince. "You're going to be really sorry Granger" he repeated. "You're going to be really sorry" he continued to stare at her. "Students respect me because their either afraid of me or they admire the way I look" he said softly and his voice had a hint of sadness to it.
He gently let go of her hair and pointed his wand at her. Her eyes widened in fear and she backed away. "Don't move" he hissed making her freeze. He muttered an incantation and repaired her nose. With her heart drumming away at a maddening speed she blinked several times in surprise. She had been expecting him to do her more harm, not heal her. He conjured a goblet and she stared at the goblet with an unsure expression. "Agumenti" he said filling the goblet with water. What was he going to do now? Mix in poison and force feed it to her. He placed a hand in his pocket and pulled something out. She stared at his closed hand with a panicked look. It might be poison or something worse like veritaserum. He opened his hand to reveal a white hankerchief with a green and silver S embroidered on one side. A hankerchief she thought confused. What was he going to do with that?
He picked up the goblet and drew closer with an uncertain look. He set the goblet down and knelt in front of her. He had never been this close to her before and she saw a glimmer of fear in his eyes like he was afraid of their closeness. She had no idea what he was doing and she was too scared to move back. He dipped the hankerchief into the goblet and pulled it out all wet. He waited until the water drops stopped falling from the material, then he carefully folded it and held it up with a shaky hand. He slowly brought the soaking wet cloth closer to her face and she momentarily stopped breathing. He gently touched her face with it and she let out an inaudible gasp.
She looked into his eyes feeling confused and afraid. His face was completely emotionless and his eyes were unblinking. "If you start disagreeing with me in front of them, it makes me look weak." He said slowly rubbing the blood stains away from her face and she shivered from the cold. He dipped the cloth once more into the goblet and the water turned light red. "I can't lose control Granger" he said pressing the cloth onto her face again and she took in a sharp intake of breath. "Not after seven years of hard work" He dragged the damp cloth over her skin and continued to stare at her with a blank expression. Her heart started to beat at a faster pace and a weird pulling sensation developed in her cheeks. Tom glided it over her nose and onto her left cheek. He started to move the wet cloth in circular motion and her breath quickened against her will.
One of his fingertips accidentally touched her cheek and she felt a shiver run down her spine. He immediately withdrew his hand with a frightened expression. "Evanesco" he said making the goblet vanish. He dried the hankerchief and held it out towards her. She didn't move and stared at it unsure. "Take it" she took it from him with a shaky hand. "Dry your face" he said standing up. She did exactly as he said and patted the cloth over her face. She didn't want to risk making him angry again when she was still wand less. He suddenly bent down to her level again. "Whatever happened tonight, whatever I said. Don't repeat it to anyone." He said commandingly. "Is that understood Granger?" she nodded automatically to say yes.
He removed the silencing spell and stood up abruptly. He threw her wand onto the floor and quietly disappeared into his room. For a while she just sat there. Then she picked up her wand and stood up. Her sides ached from being kicked and she slowly made her way up the stairs. She entered her room and collapsed onto the bed. Judging from his anger she had been expecting him to crucio her today or worse kill her but thank Merlin luck had been on her side. Things could have turned out much worse but a broken nose, hair pulling and a few kicks weren't that bad compared to being crucioed.
She would have to carry on maintaining her cool around Tom and think up a plan fast. She hadn't realised until the Halloween ball had been mentioned that time was running out. She stared at the hankerchief in her hands and she felt uncomfortable as she recalled him washing the blood from her face. He didn't have to do that and his actions had been almost too human but the dark lord didn't feel compassion or mercy, he despised weakness. She stuffed the hankerchief into the pocket of her robes and changed into her night clothes. Crawling under the quilt she stared at the ceiling trying to explain his behaviour and in the end she fell asleep unable to come up with an answer.
Thank you to everyone that reviewed, I can't believe I've got more than 100 reviews. Someone asked me why Hermione and Tom's wand didn't react when they fought in the common room and I'll just explain why.
The brother wands would only react if the spells are cast at the same time and then the spells would also have to run into each other. The fusion of the two spells cast at the same time is what forges the connection between the two casters and causes their wands to react. This didn't happen when Tom and Hermione were fighting each other in the common room. Although Tom and Hermione were throwing spells at each other they weren't cast at the same time so even if their spells collided together it would have no effect. Both the conditions of being cast at the same time and then merging together have to be met for a reaction to occur.
Also if you recall from the GOF book, Harry shouted expeliarmus as Voldemort shouted Avada Kedavra so this means the spells were cast at the same time, then the spells also fused together causing the connection between them.
Now some of you may be thinking about something similar occurring in deathly hallows. Let me remind you all that it wasn't Voldemort's wand since Voldemort was using Lucius's wand to avoid what happened in GOF. But since Harry is Voldemort's Horcrux the normal rules of magic don't apply and Lucius's wand was destroyed. That's the whole reason Voldemort went searching for the elder wand.
Now the sad news, I got my exam results back and I failed two modules. I have to do coursework and resist the exams at the end of this month and in the first week of July. I'm so sad I've just been crying my eyes out. If I don't make it the second time around that's my three years wasted and I won't graduate from uni, not to mention the thousands pounds of loan money I will have to pay back. Being Asian just makes things worse because I'm going to ruin my family honour for being a failure. Anyway, I promise to finish this story if I don't commit suicide. I will update but they will be slower than usual because I'm going to be busy with exam revision. The next 3 or 4 chapters will be up quicker cause I've already written them up and they just need to be improved before I post them.
Leave reviews, I need cheering up.