Everything was back to normal again. She never mentioned anything about the common room incident and neither did he. They just carried on like it never happened. After a day of remaining silent he had started to tell her things about spells and potions in class again. At the end of the day they would meet up with Bones and Longbottom and decorate the great hall. Professor Hedger would pop in from time to time and help out. She couldn't stop complimenting Tom and even Hermione found herself impressed with his decorations. Slughorn had come down once and he had been so proud of Tom that he called down the other professors. Dippet had been really pleased with the progress and loved the idea of the main colour of the hall being a glowing green.
They were making a sleeping potion in class today and she allowed him to take control as usual. She noticed he modified a step and added in willow bark as well as the cinnamon stick.
"Think at a molecular level" Tom said stirring the cauldron and she nodded. "What does the cinnamon stick do?" She really had no idea.
"I don't know" Hermione said feeling stupid.
"It reacts with Mugwort and induces dreamless sleep but it also produces another by product which causes poisoning when taken in large doses. Willow bark neutralises the poison but it has to be added at a low temperature. Too much heat will destroy the acid in the willow bark" She absorbed the knowledge and watched on feeling jealous. He became quiet again and they carried on working silently. He probably wouldn't tell her anything else. There was no point pressing him for answers. On rare occasions he answered if he felt like it but most of the time he would insult her intelligence and give her answers that weren't helpful at all. 90% of the time this led to huge arguments and then she had to work very hard to remain calm to prevent the situation from deviating into something violent. The worst thing was his mood afterwards, he would either completely ignore her or make hurtful comments for the rest of the day. They completed the potion in silence and then he stared into the cauldron unmoving.
Since they had finished early she had nothing to do and being bored she found herself staring at him. His skin was flawless and milky white as usual. He was so pale and she found herself wondering if Salazar Slytherin had Vampire ancestors. It was possible, there was no way of knowing for certain who your ancestors were thousands of years ago. No one kept records that far back. His raven black hair was neat as always and sometimes she felt like asking him how he managed to keep it that way. He began to lightly tap his fingers on the table and her focus shifted to them instead. His fingers were longer than normal and thin. Was it easier to grip things with longer fingers? Did it cause problems or was it just like having normal fingers only they were longer to look at. She looked up and her heart missed a beat. He was staring right at her. Crap, he had caught her looking at his fingers. She quickly looked away and busied herself with tidying up to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. With everything cleared away she sat down while he remained standing. He stirred the potion occasionally and adjusted the heat. How could he make potions like that? He always knew what to do and his knowledge had to come from somewhere. He couldn't have come up with it all himself, could he? She wouldn't put it past him. But he had to have at least read something to provide him with the vital foundations before he expanded it using his own knowledge. He looked like he was in a calm mood and she could try and ask him. She thought about it for a while then she decided to ask him.
"How do you know what to add?" he stared at her for a while and appeared to be thinking of whether he should answer or not.
"I read and use my brain for the rest" he said stirring the potion.
"Which book?" She said eagerly and she hoped he would tell her.
"Wouldn't you like to know" he whispered. He suddenly smirked at her and she glared at him. Selfish idiot, of course he wouldn't tell her easily.
"There is no book is there Riddle, otherwise you would know the name" she said crossing her arms.
"Use your brain and the titles aren't that hard to guess" he said raising an eyebrow.
"I've read all the potion books and I've never come across a book that talks about the things you do" he had to be lying, she would have found the book by now.
"Perhaps you're looking in the wrong section" what other section told you about potion making apart from potions.
"And what section would that be?" she said with a high pitched voice.
"Did you really think I would fall for that Granger?" he said with an amused expression and his lips curled to give her half a smile.
"Worth a try" she said gloomily.
The morning of double potions ended with them both receiving outstanding and they parted their way for lunch. The great hall was still half finished and all the students seemed impressed by the decorations so far.
"Hey Maya" Susan said sitting next to her. "Great work on the hall, what else are you planning to do?"
"Loads left" Hermione said digging into her food hungrily.
"Can you tell me what your gonna put up next?" Susan said eagerly.
"Sure" she said pulling out her copy of the designs. "Erm---next, blood roses are supposed to go up" she said reading from the parchment.
"What are blood roses?" Susan said excitedly.
"I don't know, roses dripping blood all over the floor" she said dramatically waving her hands in the air. The dark lord would obviously come up with something like that.
"Scary but messy" Susan said making a face. "Don't think Dippet will allow it, people might trip on the floor"
"I don't know for sure" she said putting the parchment away. "Riddle came up with it"
"Really, it's probably going to be something breathtaking." Susan said in a high pitched voice. "He never fails to impress"
"He sure knows how to charm people" she grumbled miserably and dug her spoon into her food.
"So which ones your idea?" Susan said looking around the hall.
"Actually there all his" she hissed and lightly punched the table. "I just follow the instructions and put them up"
"Cheer up Maya" Susan said placing a hand on her shoulder. "That's less work for you and more for him" Well now that she thought of it that way it made her feel better. "You see that brown haired boy on the Hufflepuff table" Susan started with a high pitched voice and Hermione mentally groaned. Great, here comes the boy talk.
"Yeah" she said gloomily.
"I know he's shy and everything but for the past month I've caught him staring at me" Susan finished in a whisper. "I'm gonna ask him to the Halloween dance"
"Go for it" Hermione said talking with her mouth full.
"But if he says no then I'm gonna ask another boy I met in divination last week" Susan said pouring herself a glass of apple juice. "Or maybe Xav's nice black haired friend" Susan turned around and waved towards the Gryffindor table. "So who are you going to take?" Susan said in a high pitched voice.
"No one" Hermione said pulling a bowl of apple crumble towards her.
"But your head girl, you have to show up" Susan said in a serious tone.
"I know I have to keep everyone in line all night but if I choose to I don't have to dance with anyone" Hermione said turning to look at Susan. "I read the rules in the handbook"
"That's exactly the same thing Tom did when he was a prefect" Susan said frowning. "I don't think his ever taken part in a dance" Susan said with a pensive look and she glanced at the Slytherin table. Well the dark lord didn't like anyone getting too close to him. If he maintained a distance of two seats in class with her, she doubted he would ever let anyone get close enough to dance with him.
"Can't imagine why anyone would want to go with him" Hermione said rolling her eyes.
"Are you kidding?" Susan said looking at her like she had grown two heads. "He's so gorgeous" Susan said dreamily looking towards the Slytherin table. "I would love to hold him close, run my fingers though his hair and progress down to his---"
"Susan stop" Hermione said sharply. "I don't want to hear it"
"Suit yourself" Susan said rolling her eyes. "So you're really not going with anyone cause I could ask Xav to--"
"No need" She said feeling annoyed.
"Maya you should get out there" Susan said turning towards her. "Believe me with a makeover you can make men fall at your feet" Susan took hold of some of her hair and placed it on her forehead to see how she would look like with a fringe.
"No thank you" Hermione said moving Susan's hand away and rearranging her hair.
"Can I at least give you a makeover?" Susan said sounding hopeful and drank some of her apple juice.
"No, I hate makeovers" She said nodding her head. Susan started to cough loudly and accidentally splattered juice all over herself.
"Maya you got a tissue or something" Susan said wiping her wet face with the back of her hand. Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out the first thing, a handkerchief. "Thanks" Susan said taking it. She patted her face and neck dry with it. A symbol caught Susan's eyes and she opened up the handkerchief. Susan's eyes widened as she inspected the whole handkerchief and her mouth hung open for a second in disbelief. "Oh my God" Susan suddenly said in a high pitched voice and the other Ravenclaw's looked at them curiously.
"What?" Hermione said alarmed.
"You have his hankerchief" Susan said excitedly jumping up and down. Hermione looked at the huge S on the handkerchief and remembered it was Tom's. Damn it, she thought with a troubled expression. Now Susan was going to jump to wild conclusions. "It's Tom's" Susan said squealing. Some of the Ravenclaw's nearby whispered and stole glances at her. Hermione's cheeks reddened in embarrassment and she shrank in her seat.
"Is not" Hermione said loudly so all the other Ravenclaws could hear. She couldn't see how a huge S proved anything. It could belong to anyone in Slytherin.
"Then why does it have the initials T.R at the back?" Susan said in a taunting voice.
"What initials?" Hermione said weakly. This couldn't be happening. Susan was probably making it up, trying to get her to confess or something.
"These ones, see" Susan said triumphantly holding up the handkerchief and pointing. Hermione froze when she saw very small letters at the back with the initials. They were so small she hadn't realised they were there before.
"Well, I didn't know" Hermione said hurriedly, wishing the earth would just swallow her up. Susan probably wouldn't believe her but she could just say she found it. "Besides I found it" Hermione added in a determined voice.
"The only person in Slytherin with the initials T.R is Tom Riddle and I don't believe that rubbish about you finding it" Susan said taking another look at the handkerchief with an excited expression.
"I'm telling you I found it" Hermione said firmly.
"Something's going on between you two" Susan said accusingly.
"Nothing's going on" She said angrily. That would probably make Susan more convinced that something was going on.
"Come on Maya, I've been watching you two" Susan said with a mischievous smile. "Tom actually talks to you when he usually ignores people" If Susan thought they had sweet conversations. She was seriously mistaken.
"He's always insulting my work and we argue a lot" Hermione said glaring at Susan. "How does that make you think---"
"You're missing the point" Susan said cutting in. "He usually doesn't talk to anyone and he talks to you"
"So" Hermione said taking a bite of her apple crumble.
"So if he thinks your worth talking to--" Susan started in a high pitched voice. "--he might like you in some way" Hermione almost chocked on her food. The dark lord did not like her, he was forced to work with her. Besides if Susan knew about the way he had attacked her then she would definitely change her crazy theory. They clearly hated each other.
"That's ridiculous" Hermione snapped. "He hates me and I hate him. There's nothing more to it" The girl would obviously spread stupid rumours around Hogwarts. It would be better if Susan didn't have any evidence to support her theory and no one would believe her if she couldn't show the handkerchief. Hermione suddenly grabbed the handkerchief out of Susan's hand.
"Hey give it back" Susan shouted.
"I found it so it's mine" she said stuffing it back into her pocket.
"Now I'm convinced there's something's going on" Susan said jumping out of her seat. "Why else would you want it back so badly?" She said with a suspicious tone.
"I don't want you showing it around to support your false stories" Hermione said going back to eating her apple crumble and Susan watched her for a couple of seconds with a frown.
"Accio handkerchief" Susan suddenly said pulling out her wand and the handkerchief flew out of her pocket. Grabbing it Susan ran.
"Susan bring it back" Hermione shouted chasing her down the hall and everyone turned to look at them. "I mean it Susan or you're going to get hurt" Susan continued to run. "Impedimenta" she roared slowing Susan down. "Accio handkerchief" it flew out of Susan's hand.
"Wringardium leviosa" Susan shouted trying to take it back. From a distance Tom Riddle narrowed his eyes at the floating handkerchief.
"Incendio" Hermione shouted making it burst into flames. Now Susan wouldn't be able to prove anything with a piece of burnt cloth.
"This isn't over Maya, I'll find a way to prove it" Susan shouted walking away and dusting her robes.
"There's nothing to prove" Hermione shouted back. Exhausted she sat back at the table and continued with her lunch. She momentarily looked up to find Tom staring at her with his usual expression and she looked away feeling uncomfortable.
At the end of the day she was back again decorating the great hall. The Halloween ball was meant to take place on Friday night and that only gave them today and tomorrow to finish it. Tom gathered everyone in the centre and started to explain how to make blood roses.
"You will need to remember the incantations so I suggest you write them down" Tom said drawing his wand. Bones and Longbottom pulled out their quills but Hermione didn't bother, she knew she would be able to remember. "Rhodonatrum" he said conjuring a bunch of medium sized black roses. "For the next part, two spells are required. Watch my wand movements carefully" he made the bunch of flowers float. "Atamasco" Tom said swishing and flicking his wand and a faint red light appeared around the flowers. "Atrosanguineus" he said circling his wand above the flowers and thick drops of red blood started to fall from the roses but they disappeared before they hit the ground.
"Wow" Bones said. "Their scary"
"Creepy but perfect for Halloween" Longbottom said taking a closer look.
Hermione stared at the dark roses crying tears of blood and they were kind of artistically beautiful in a horrific way. All of a sudden the memory of Ron's blood stained face resurfaced in her mind. She paled and took a step back with a look of horror.
"Granger you okay?" Longbottom said looking concerned.
"I --I'm fine" she said momentarily closing her eyes. "Its just headache" she opened her eyes and forced a smile.
"I want that wall covered with them" Tom said pointing. Everyone walked towards the wall and she followed. Bones and Longbottom grabbed a broomstick and started decorating the top of the wall while Hermione and Tom started decorating the bottom. She pushed all thoughts of Ron to the back of her mind and started to conjure the flowers. "Why the sudden fear of blood when you didn't seem to mind last time" Tom suddenly said attaching a flower.
"I'm not afraid of blood" Hermione said holding up one of the roses. "Do you see me running of screaming?" She held the flower closer trying to prove her point but he didn't say anything. "Exactly Riddle, I'm not afraid" she said glaring at him.
"Now your not but you were a moment ago" he said conjuring another bunch. She had never really been afraid of blood but the memory of Ron's face had brought back the horrors of war.
"I had a headache" she said attaching another flower.
"You looked like you were going to faint" he said looking at her. "I know fear when I see it Granger" Of course the dark lord would know what fear looked like. After all he loved to torture people and watch their terrified expressions.
"You would know wouldn't you" she said nastily. "You love terrorising people" he smiled at her coldly but he didn't answer back. After some time the wall was almost half covered and she had to stand on her tip toes to attach the flowers. Being tall Tom had no problem and he continued to attach the flowers easily. She carefully balanced on her toes and reached up high. Just a little bit higher and she would be able to attach it. She stretched her arm as far as possible and she was almost there.
"What was all that about at lunchtime?" he suddenly asked making her lose concentration and the flower dropped out of her hand. She picked up the flower and glared at him but he just looked back unblinking.
"Nothing happened at lunchtime" she almost snapped and she attempted to attach the flower again.
"I was there Granger" he said accusingly. "I saw you chasing after that girl" Now she was starting to feel uncomfortable.
"She stole my stuff, I was trying to get it back" she whispered stretching her arm further.
"By burning it" he said making blood drops appear on a bunch of roses.
"I'll burn my stuff if I want to" she snapped. "What's it to you" she was really close to attaching it.
"It wasn't yours was it?" he said in a low voice. "I recognised that handkerchief" the flower dropped out of her hand once more and she stamped her feet in frustration.
"Look Riddle if it meant so much to you, you shouldn't have given it to me in the first place." She said angrily. "But if you're that bothered I'll buy you a replacement"
"I don't need your charity Granger" he snapped and one of his hands clenched into a fist. She could tell he was angry and she didn't say anything to make it worse. Maybe she shouldn't have said that. Being an orphan all of his life couldn't have been easy and he had probably thought she was trying to rub in the fact that he didn't have money but she had never meant it like that. She reattempted to attach the flower and she found she couldn't get close enough no matter how hard she tried. She suddenly felt his hand brush past hers and he attached it for her. She almost toppled over in surprise but managed to steady herself in time. "I'll do the rest, you can leave" he said with his back to her. Feeling glad she was about to leave when Dippet stepped into the hall.
"Merlin" Dippet said loudly making everyone freeze and turn around. "This is absolutely magnificent" Now that Hermione looked at the almost finished wall she found herself agreeing that it did look good for a Halloween ball. Dippet called everyone to him. "Excellent work Tom" Dippet said beaming.
"Thank you sir" Tom said putting his wand away.
"And everyone else as well" Dippet added hastily. "Now Tom what else are you planning to do?"
"I was thinking of adding mist to the floor" Tom said looking down with a thoughtful expression. "It would make everyone appear like they were floating" That sounded good but she didn't recall seeing it on the plan. He must have made it up on the spot to further impress Dippet.
"Excellent idea" Dippet said clapping his hands. "Now I have something to tell you all and no matter what your differences, as head boy and head girl I accept you to fully cooperate" Dippet said with a serious tone. "The minister of Magic is coming and I want to show we have house unity within Hogwarts" Oh Merlin, she really didn't want to hear what Dippet was going to say next and even Tom seemed worried. "If head boy and head girl from different houses attended together and opened the dance then it would show house unity very nicely" Dippet finished cheerfully.
Tom tensed and Hermione froze while Bones and Longbottom looked at each other beaming. It didn't take a genius to figure out what would happen next. Bones and Longbottom were dating and they would obviously go together. The only head boy and head girl left were her and Tom. They wouldn't have a choice but to attend the dance together.
"Sir, Cynthia and I are going together" Longbottom suddenly said confirming their worst fears.
"Good to hear William" Dippet said sounding pleased. "Tom I expect you to attend with Maya" Hermione seriously paled and Tom's face went blank but both of his hands were tightly clenched into fists. They both turned and stared at each other unblinking.
"Is there a problem with the arrangement?" Dippet said looking at them with a concerned expression.
"Its fine sir" Tom forced out still staring at her unblinking.
"Maya" Dippet said turning to look at her.
"Fine sir" she whispered unmoving.
"Good, now I wish to burden you all with one more thing" Dippet said pacing. Tom and Hermione suddenly looked at Dippet with alarmed expressions. While Tom's face was blank in the blink of an eye, Hermione's face remained plastered with fear. "Some of you may be excellent dancers while some of you may not be so good" Dippet said clasping his hands together. "Now, I need all of you to dance well in front of the minister, therefore I have asked Jane Hedger to give you all a dancing lesson tomorrow." Dippet paused his pacing and turned towards them. "It will take place in the charms class room at the end of the day and I expect all of you to take part. Is that clear everyone?" Dippet asked. Bones and Longbottom instantly responded but Tom and Hermione stared at Dippet unresponsive.
"Tom, Maya" Dippet said loudly.
"Yes" they both said automatically.
"I hope it won't disrupt the decorating too much." Dippet said looking apologetic. "Do you think you can still manage Tom?"
"It'll be fine sir" Tom said with a controlled voice.
"Good luck everyone and don't let me down" Dippet said cheerfully and walked out the great hall. Bones and Longbottom started to talk excitedly while Tom and Hermione continued to stare at each other horrified.
Thank you to everyone that reviewed and the words of encouragements really helped.
Now, I remember someone saying that Hermione was acting a little out of character and this out of characterness is deliberate. I did this to show how the war had affected her. I mean think about it, the old Hermione would never Crucio a spider or try to kill someone but this Hermione is a bit dark, acts rashly and gets easily angered. Not to mention that she's so hell bent on getting revenge that she has no problem murdering Tom when he hasn't even killed the people she want's revenge for. I didn't think it would be realistic if the war didn't affect her. I think if you were tortured by death eaters and all your friends and family died, it would have a serious affect on you.
Please leave reviews and excuse any errors. I didn't have much time to go over it because I'm busy with coursework.