Tom continued to drink from the bottle and any minute now Hermione was expecting to see a reaction but nothing happened. He stopped drinking and started to inspect a plate of pumpkin pastries. Her eyes widened and she continued to stare at him feeling shocked. What was going on? Why wasn't it working? The effect was supposed to be immediate. She shakily ran a hand through her hair as she watched him bite into the pastry and take another swig from the bottle. How was this possible? She had just added a deadly poison to his drink and it wasn't having any effect on him. It only required a few drops and she had tipped in the whole thing so why wasn't it working?
Maybe she had brewed it incorrectly but she had followed the instruction word for word and that couldn't be the cause. A familiar looking bottle suddenly caught her eye and she realised in horror that in her haste she had added the poison to the wrong bottle. No wonder it wasn't having an effect on him, the poison wasn't even in his bottle. She doubted he would try to drink another bottle and the chance of it being the one she had poisoned was hopeless. To make things worse she had accidentally used up all the poison and she couldn't even try again. Hermione couldn't believe how horribly wrong the plan had gone, all because she was stupid enough to add it to the wrong bottle. She felt like crying and screaming in frustration. The killer of her parents and friends was still walking around and it was all her fault. A few tears formed in her eyes and streaked down her cheeks.
"Miss Granger" Dumbledore's voice sounded behind her. Oh Merlin, Dumbledore couldn't know. She was sure no one had seen her add the poison. She quickly wiped away her tears and turned to face him. Dumbledore's usual piercing gaze wasn't their and he was staring at her wings with happy twinkling eyes. "I do not think I mentioned earlier but your wings are magnificent" His words made Hermione's worry immediately vanish.
"Thank your sir" she said forcing a smile.
"I am quite impressed by your spell work" he said peering at the wings more closely.
"Actually sir, I didn't make them"
"May I inquire as to who did" he said with a curious expression.
"I made them" Tom said suddenly appearing by her side and Hermione almost jumped.
"You made them" Dumbledore said and the twinkle immediately disappeared from his eyes.
"Why? Do you doubt my capabilities sir?" he said sharply and Dumbledore briefly had a puzzled expression on his face.
"Of course not Tom" Dumbledore said calmly and his gaze flickered back and forth between her and Tom. "I merely wished to congratulate the maker on their impressive spell work" he said slowly and his eyes became fixed on her.
"Thank you sir" Tom said coldly. Dumbledore was staring at her with a concerned expression and Hermione knew what he was worried about. He was wondering why a selfish person like Tom Riddle made her such beautiful wings. The Dumbledore of her time had firmly held the belief that the dark lord could not love and she knew he wouldn't assume like everyone else that they had something romantic going on between them. As she was a mysterious outsider with enough power to get through the barriers of Hogwarts, he was probably coming to the conclusion that she was feeding Tom important information in exchange for his services.
"Enjoy the evening" Dumbledore suddenly said with the twinkle back in his eyes and he turned to leave. Tom hatefully bore his eyes into Dumbledore's back as he walked away.
"Riddle" Longbottom shouted waving from a distance. "Could do with your help" Tom speed of towards Longbottom's direction and Hermione stared at the refreshments table feeling tearful. She suddenly noticed Dumbledore approaching and her pulse quickened as he moved towards the butter beer bottles. The poisoned bottle was still there but what were the chances of him picking up that one? There were dozens of other bottles and she should just calm down. She took a couple of deep breaths and casually walked towards the bottles with the intention of removing the poisoned one. Dumbledore picked up the poisoned bottle and Hermione froze. Her eyes widened and her heart violently banged away against her ribs. What should she do? She couldn't murder Dumbledore but he would die if he drank it. It would be suspicious if she asked him to hand over the bottle and no one could suspect her. She had to stay at Hogwarts and finish of the dark lord. Dumbledore unscrewed the lid and she started to panic. She had to stop him somehow but how? Dumbledore lifted the bottle towards his lips and all logical thoughts flew out of her mind. He opened his mouth and she was about to shout for him to stop.
"Professor Dumbledore sir" A squeaky voice interrupted and Dumbledore lowered the bottle. Relief spread through her and she was glad she hadn't shouted anything. She suddenly realised a house elf had been the source of the voice and it bowed down to Dumbledore.
"No need to bow down Lolly" Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"I is not wanting to disrespect master, good elf bow down to master" the elf bowed down once more. "The headmaster is wanting you sir" Dumbledore set down the bottle and Hermione relaxed. He suddenly picked it up again and all her previous fear returned.
"Lolly would you like a butter beer?" Dumbledore asked and held the poisoned bottle towards the elf. Oh no, the house elf was now going to die.
"Lolly would be honoured master" the house elf said in a high pitched voice and took the bottle. She was glad it wasn't Dumbledore but she didn't want the house elf to die either. She couldn't do anything to arouse suspicion and the idea of killing an innocent house elf put her in emotional turmoil. She had half a mind to run up and knock the bottle out of its hands but the logical side of her brain told her it wouldn't be a good move. Before she could decide for certain the house elf suddenly drank from the bottle. The house elf's eyes immediately widened and it dropped the bottle with a scream. Hermione's heart jumped violently and intense guilt filled her up. The bottle smashed into pieces and the house elf fell to the floor. She watched feeling horrified as it started to shake and make loud wheezing noises. Everyone turned to look and shouts and screams filled the air.
"Lolly" Dumbledore shouted and he cast a few spells on the house elf but it didn't help. He sent a distress signal into the air and shouted at everyone to stay back. The headmaster and the other professors soon appeared. "Horace fetch a bezoar stone" Dumbledore shouted and Slughorn ran out the hall. Dippet looked panicky and all the aurors immediately surrounded the minister. Tom stared at the dying house elf with an unreadable expression and took a step back. Hermione watched on feeling guilty as the house elf continued to wheeze and shake violently.
"Out the way" Slughorn shouted pushing his way through the crowd. Using Dumbledore's help Slughorn shoved the bezor stone down the house elf's throat and the elf continued to shake. Everyone was looking hopeful but Hermione knew the bezoar stone wouldn't work against Letum Sero. The house elf started to make chocking sounds and foam started to bubble out of its mouth.
"Why isn't it working Albus?" Dippet shouted and the house elf suddenly stopped moving. Some of the girls screamed and shouts filled the air. Panic and confusion broke out through the hall and the Professors tried to calm things down. "All student's return to your dormitories immediately" Dippet said with a magically magnified voice. The aurors immediately escorted the minister of magic outside and drove away but two aurors remained behind. The aurors lifted the house elf's body onto a stretcher and covered it with a cloth. Hermione suddenly noticed Tom staring at it unblinking and he was holding his hands behind his back. She had never seen him in that pose and she couldn't interpret any meanings from it. He was probably being reminded of moaning myrtle's death and she briefly wondered what he was feeling. Was he feeling happy and recalling memories of killing Myrtle or was he remembering the house elf dying and revelling in its suffering. The aurors started to levitate the stretcher away and she snapped out of her thoughts. Hermione started to feel terrible and guilty again and she watched until the stretcher was out of sight. Everyone was trying to leave the hall and there was chaos as they all tried to get through the doors at once.
"Everyone step back" Tom shouted with a magically magnified voice. "Get into a line" The students immediately obeyed and after a while everyone was out the great hall.
Ten minutes later Hermione paced her bedroom with tears in her eyes. Everything had gone wrong. The dark lord still lived and she had just murdered a house elf. She had killed a death eater before but the thought of having killed something good and innocent made her feel so bad. She hadn't been able to get her revenge and she punched her pillow feeling angry. She had let her parents down and Harry and Ron as well. She was meant to kill the dark lord for their deaths and she had failed. Everything would have worked out if she had just added the poison to the right bottle and this was this was all her fault. She sat on her bed and her crying turned to loud sobs. After a long time she wiped away her tears and decided to get changed.
Hermione looked into the mirror and stared at her reflection. Her black mascara had run down her face and her red lipstick was smudged. She cleared away all traces of make-up from her face and the wings suddenly caught her attention. She stepped closer to the mirror and properly looked at her wings for the first time. She couldn't deny they were beautiful and she hated the fact that Tom Riddle had made them. She was meant to get revenge for her loved ones deaths and here she was wearing wings that their killer had made. Anger filled her up and she tried to make the wings disappear but she couldn't do it. After a few more failed attempts she knew she would have to go and find Tom. Hermione really didn't want to see him but she didn't have a choice. There was no way she would be able to sleep with these huge things sticking on her back and she took a couple of deep breaths to calm her anger. She opened her door and found the common room empty. If he wasn't in the common room then he was obviously in his bedroom and she walked up to his door feeling uncomfortable. She forced herself to knock and there was no answer. She knocked louder and there was still no answer.
"Riddle" she called out and knocked again. The door suddenly opened and a furious looking Tom Riddle stepped out. He quickly slammed the door shut before she could get a glimpse of his room and he was still wearing the green dress robes but it wasn't glowing anymore.
"What do want Granger?" he snapped.
"The wings Riddle" she said hesitantly. "I can't undo them" he glared at her for a while then his expression went blank and he took out his wand.
"Turn around" he said holding the wand up high. Hermione immediately turned and expected to feel the familiar sensation of warmth and pulling. She suddenly felt something and her heart violently jumped in shock. She refused to believe what she had felt and she thought she was going insane until she felt it again. This time the feel of warm skin rubbing against her back was continuous and she knew it was his hand touching her. Her breath caught in her throat and she couldn't find the strength to move. She suddenly realised Tom wasn't touching her back. His touches were on a body part that had never been their before and it was further away from her back. Hermione came to a shocking realisation that it was her wings. She had thought they were lifeless and until now she hadn't realised how real they were. She had no idea she would be able to feel it if someone touched them and the sensation was almost identical to having someone stroke the bare skin of your back. Shivers went down her spine and her breath started quicken against her will.
He continued to stroke her wings and his long fingers suddenly dug into her feathers. The feeling of soft rubbing suddenly became replaced with fingers pressing into her flesh and squeezing it. She drew in a sharp intake of breath and knots formed in her stomach. The actions of his fingers were rough but gentle enough that they didn't hurt and it was like a deep massage. He grabbed a handful of feathers and gave one of her wings a soft squeeze. A tingling sensation shot through her and she wanted to move but her legs felt like jelly. He suddenly dug his long fingers in really deep and started to roll some of the feathers between his finger tips. She bit her tongue to suppress a gasp and she started to feel faint. She could feel the feather roots twist on her wing and it felt like someone was lightly pinching her skin. It kind of hurt but it was highly pleasurable at the same time. Her heart rate increased dramatically and she started to feel dizzy. It was getting too much to handle and she didn't think she could take it anymore. She didn't have the energy to move and several times she opened and closed her mouth to say something. She mustered up all her strength and focused on speaking.
"Riddle" she finally managed to whisper weakly. "What do you think your doing?"
"Admiring my handi work before I destroy it" Tom said slowly and he continued to caress her wings. "I've never done something like this before" he suddenly started to scissor his fingers through the feathers and her knees suddenly went weak. "It's one of my newly invented spells" he started to move his fingers at a faster pace and it took all her strength not to drop to the floor. If Tom had invented the spell himself and he had never tried it out before then he probably didn't know she could feel his touch. "Excellent realistic texture--" he said withdrawing his hand and relief spread through her "--but completely lifeless" He had no idea how wrong he was and now she knew for certain he didn't know she could feel him touch her wings but there was no way she was going to tell him the truth. Hermione felt the tip of his wand poke into her back and he started to mutter a string of incantations. She suddenly felt the sensation of warm running water pouring over her back and a pulling feeling on her shoulder blades. A couple of seconds later she couldn't feel anything and she looked sideways to find the wings were gone. Tom wordlessly walked back into his room and as soon as his door shut she ran back into her room.
Hermione leaned against her door for support and took in a couple of deep breaths. She could still feel the ghost of his touch and she closed her eyes trying to forget but his phantom fingers kept tormenting her. She vigorously rubbed her back to make the feeling go away and she forced herself to stop thinking about it. She sat at the dressing table and brushed her hair. Her mind became empty as she continued to brush and Tom's imaginary fingers crept back into her thoughts. She paused the brush feeling annoyed and hardly scratched her back with the hair brush. She closed her eyes and pushed the memory right to the back of her mind.
Hermione changed into her nightclothes and crept into bed. She recalled the events of the Halloween ball and she felt like a failure but she wasn't going to give up. There was still time and she would kill the dark lord soon. She thought of her parents and tears came to her eyes. Hermione tried to recall the happy memories and a smile formed on her lips as she drifted of to sleep.
A huge thank you for the reviews everyone. It was fun writing this chapter and when Tom touches her wings it was hard to come up with ways to describe how it would feel on the human body so you could understand what she was feeling.
In case anyone's wondering. Tom did not lie and he actually doesn't know that she could feel his touch.
Now, I know all of you have gotten used to my fast updates but I won't be updating until 16th or 17th of July or maybe one week later than that. This is because I need time to revise for the exams I have to retake and also to do coursework. I am so jealous of people enjoying their summer holiday while I have to study. Please leave reviews.