It was Saturday and Hermione woke around twelve. After lunch she went down to the library and scanned the section on defence against the dark arts. She was trying to come up with ideas to eliminate the dark lord but the books were useless and the Latin book she had read before was missing. She would have to sneak into the restricted section later and she was about to leave when a book at the end caught her eye. She pulled out the book and dusted it. A guide to 101 common dark spells, the faded title read. Coughing she opened the book and it was so interesting that she began to read it standing.
"Maya" Susan's voice made her jump and she looked up to find Susan approaching with her girls. Hermione quickly changed the books title to, how to take care of a Hippogriff. "What are you reading book queen?" Susan said pulling the book out of her hands.
"It's about Hippogriffs" Hermione said uncomfortably.
"Why on earth would you read about them?" Susan said with an expression of disbelief and handed the book back to her.
"I--I find them interesting" Hermione said plastering a fake smile on her face.
"You're weird" One of the girls said.
"Morgana leave her alone" Susan said giving the girl a look. "It's Saturday and guess what?" Susan said excitedly.
"What?"
"Its Hogsmeade weekend, come out with us" She instantly felt sad at Susan's words.
"I can't go" she said in a low voice.
"Why not?" Susan said looking disappointed.
"I don't have permission" she said looking at the floor. "My parents their---their dead"
"I'm so sorry Maya" Susan said giving her a brief hug.
"Its okay" she said holding back tears.
"Cheer up and think of the bright side. At least you won't be out in the cold-" Susan suddenly placed her mouth next to Hermione's ear.
"I don't want to know" she said attempting to pull away but Susan held onto her arms firmly.
"-and you can get cosy with your secret lover" Susan whispered. "He's not allowed to go to Hogsmeade either" Susan pulled away grinning.
"I don't have a secret---" Hermione started angrily.
"He's here right now" Susan interrupted excitedly and she thought Susan was joking until she noticed Tom walking towards her. Hermione dropped the book startled and the girls let out a chorus of laughter.
"Morning Tom" Kirsten said eyeing him up and down.
"Morning" Tom said politely and Kirsten stared at him dreamily. He held out a piece of parchment towards Hermione and she stared at it dumbly. "Granger, its next week's patrolling timetable" he said coldly.
"Oh" she said feeling stupid and quickly grabbed the parchment. She stuffed it into her bag and suddenly noticed Tom bending down to pick up her fallen book. "You don't have to" she said loudly but it was too late. The book had sprawled open when it had fallen and with his eyes glued to the page he stood up. Oh Merlin, this wasn't good.
"You should tell your friend not to waste time reading up on Hippogriffs" Haley said giggling.
"Hippogriffs" Tom said with a confused tone and he continued to run his eyes over the page. He suddenly snapped the book shut and raised an eyebrow as he read the title.
"Ignore her" Susan said ushering her group out of the library. "See you later Maya" For the first time in Hermione's life she wished Susan wouldn't leave and she stared at Tom uncomfortably. He couldn't figure out her real intentions from the book, could he? No, she was just being stupid and paranoid. The book showed she was into dark magic and he already knew that. Also the book wasn't from the restricted section and he couldn't get her in trouble for reading it. She should just take the book and leave.
"Give it back" Hermione said holding out her hand and he continued to stare at her unmoving. She suddenly noticed a look in his eyes that she had never seen before and it frightened her. "The book Riddle" she forced out "Give it to me" He suddenly looked down and started to search through the book. He paused at a page once in a while and skimmed through it then he resumed his searching. When he got to the end of the book he looked up.
"Don't you think it's strange Granger that a book on Hippogriffs doesn't mention them at all?" Tom's voice was mocking and he loudly snapped the book shut.
"Its not on Hippogriffs" she whispered looking back and forth.
"I thought so" he said taking out his wand. "Eureveliaro" he said tapping the cover and the original title became visible. He didn't appear surprised by the title and he suddenly smirked at her again. That weird look was back in his eyes and an uneasy feeling pooled in her stomach.
"Can I have it back now?" she said in a controlled voice and held up her hand once again.
"Why are you reading this?" he said commandingly and her hand immediately dropped to her side. She knew from his tone of voice he wasn't asking her to tell him, he was ordering her. Oh Merlin, he couldn't possibly suspect her of anything. Of course not, she was just being paranoid. He already knew she was interested in dark magic and she should use that as an excuse.
"Things like that fascinate me" she said in a false excited voice. "I don't like being held back on knowledge" Her fascination with the dark arts was a lie but the knowledge bit was true.
"What do you find so fascinating about the dark arts?" he said slowly and the passion she heard in his voice made her almost shudder. He continued to stare at her and she forced herself to speak.
"Sometimes it's satisfying to use when you want to take out your anger" she said uncomfortably. "The power and control it offers when you want to make your enemies suffer" she said thinking back to the times she had used unforgivables on death eaters. "White magic can protect and defend against the enemy but not punish them" she suddenly said in a louder voice. "Black magic is perfect for giving them what they deserve" she didn't realise but this time her voice was raw with hate. Hermione had no problem torturing evil people but like the death eaters she could never find pleasure in it, just satisfaction and a feeling that justice has been served. "But even on enemies-" she said in a lower voice "-I have never found it pleasurable to-" she abruptly paused realising that she was pouring her heart out to the dark lord.
"You don't enjoy it" he said softly and he slightly tilted his head to one side.
"No" she whispered thinking back to the time she had killed a death eater.
"You don't feel joy watching them suffer and beg for mercy" he said in a disbelieving tone.
"No"
"Even when they really deserve it" he said sounding irritated.
"I don't enjoy torturing people" she snapped and his blank face instantly changed to show anger.
"Then your weak Granger" he said coldly. "Because deep down you still feel sympathy for them"
"I am not weak Riddle" she hissed angrily. "And you're wrong" She said glaring at him "I have never felt sympathy or hesitated to hurt my enemies" Why was she talking to him? She wasn't even breaking any rules and she shouldn't have to explain anything. "Accio book" she suddenly said pointing her wand and he instantly blocked the spell with an expression of surprise.
She looked at him angrily and wondered if he could move at the speed of light. This wasn't the first time this had happened, twice before he had reacted faster than her and she wasn't sure if he was better than her or if she was losing her touch since she wasn't battling death eaters anymore. No, she refused to believe he was better than her at duelling. That night on the astronomy tower she had presumed he was defenceless and her guard had been down. She had forgotten the most important rule taught at battle and underestimated the enemy. When they were fighting in the common room she had tripped on something and that was just losing due to bad luck not skill. Then he had used physical force not magical and there was no way she could have won. The other times he was so fast at reacting that she didn't even get the chance to draw her wand and now that she thought of it, she had never actually properly duelled with him. She was sure that if she managed to draw her wand in time and if bad luck didn't make her trip on something then she had enough skill to defeat him or at least put up a good fight. But she had no desire to duel with the dark lord and foolishly risk getting killed. She would rather play submissive and unsuspectingly work towards murdering him.
"My level of awareness isn't rubbish like yours" he said sneering at her and she wanted to say something back but there was nothing to say since he was right. "You must always remain alert" he said holding the book towards her. "You can never know when your enemies might strike" She was suddenly reminded of the way Moody had kept on saying constant vigilance. She knew that while she was very good at duelling, being watchful and on guard all the time had never been one of her strengths. Harry had constantly pointed out the weakness and told her numerous times, there was no point being powerful if you couldn't draw your wand in time. She had greatly improved since then but her awareness level still wasn't good enough against people with extraordinary senses. Glaring at him she snatched the book and stuffed it into her bag. Tom stared at her for a while and she unconsciously take a step back. He suddenly turned and wordlessly walked to the back of the library.
Hermione paced her room deep in thought. Tom had seen her with the book and it wouldn't be wise to use it because if she failed he would know she had been behind it. She needed to sneak into the restricted section for ideas and she couldn't do that until late at night. She decided to spend the rest of her morning doing homework and reading important textbooks. At lunchtime she was starving. She rushed down to the great hall and sat next to Susan.
"How was your trip?" She asked Susan.
"Good" Susan said excitedly. "Guess what I brought?"
"What?"
"No you're meant to guess" Hermione rolled her eyes and spooned some tuna pasta onto her plate. She had a few ideas but she wasn't sure.
"Erm--I don't know" Hermione said bringing a spoonful of creamy pasta close to her mouth.
"Enchanting eye shadow" Susan said smiling widely.
"Enchanting what?" she said with her mouthful and Susan's smile fell.
"Don't tell me you don't know what enchanting eye shadow is" Susan said with a look of disbelief. She had never heard Parvati or Lavender talk of such an item and it had to be a 1940's thing. She nodded her head to say no and carried on eating. "Merlin Maya, how can you not know?"
"I just don't"
"Don't worry, I'll tell you" Susan's smile was back on again. "The eye shadow changes to the favourite colour of the person looking at you"
"I see" she said in an uninterested voice. That was all it did and Susan was acting like it was something big.
"You don't find what it can do impressive, how can you not?" Hermione just shrugged her shoulders and carried on eating. "Hey, do you want to try some?" Susan said digging into her bag.
"No thanks"
"Oh come on" Susan said in a high pitched voice. "Tom will love it" the spoon dropped out of her hand and noisily landed on the plate.
"He doesn't mean anything to me" she said glaring daggers at Susan. "Leave me alone" Her eyes slowly wandered towards the Slytherin table and landed on Tom. He wasn't staring at her like he usually did and he wasn't reading either. Instead he was staring at Malfoy and his group with a blank expression and they were huddling together with expression of fear on their faces. Looks like the dark lord wasn't too happy with them.
"Maya" Susan said making her look away. "I didn't mean to upset you"
"Its okay" She was used to the girl's comments now.
"Are you doing anything this afternoon?"
"Nothing really"
"Me and my girls are having a little get together, can you come?" All her homework was finished and she couldn't go to the restricted section until night so she didn't see the harm in killing some time.
"Okay"
"Yay" Susan said hugging her. "Come down at four"
Hermione entered the heads common room and she was about to go to her room when something lying on the table caught her eyes. It was a large book and the front cover was peeling. She could smell the faint damp odour that old books gave of and she walked closer feeling curious. The books title read, Possible further uses of dragon's blood. The Incomplete theories of the great alchemist Albertus Magnus. She continued to stare at the book and her mouth hung open in disbelief. It was a very rare book and only two known copies existed. Albertus Magnus had been working on inventing further uses of dragon's blood but he died before he finished. The book contained his theories and unfinished workings but no witch or wizard had been able to finish his work. In her time she had come across the book being referenced in many sources and she had always wanted to read it. A rush of excitement went through her and she bent down to reach the book. The book suddenly flew out of her reach and she drew back startled.
"Don't touch my book Granger" Tom's voice sounded behind her. She turned to find him standing near the stairs holding a roll of parchment in one hand and with his other hand he pointed his wand at her. She had been so absorbed in the book she hadn't even noticed his presence and feeling disappointed she forced herself to move away. He summoned the book and protectively wrapped an arm around it. He glared at her and she seriously considered shouting the killing curse just to get her hands on the book.
"You shouldn't leave it lying around" She said glaring back at him. "It's not like it has your name on it"
"Actually it does" he said holding up the book and walking closer. "There" he said pointing at the bottom of the cover. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she noticed the small label on the left hand side reading, Property of T.M Riddle. Well, she had been so intrigued by the books title that she had overlooked the very small label at the bottom. The book was hard to obtain and obviously very expensive so how the hell did someone poor like Tom afford it? He couldn't even buy new clothes so where did he get the money from?
"I didn't notice" She said uncomfortably. "The labels too small"
"It's not small" he said wrapping his arm around the book again. "You're just too blind to notice it" he said sneering at her. She glared at him angrily and she felt like saying something back but she forced herself not to. According to her rules she wasn't supposed to make him angry and violent. She was meant to lie low and get the job done, not get seriously injured or have the dark lord take an interest in her duelling skills. He sat down in his armchair and started to read the book.
"The book Riddle, how did you-" she wanted to say afford but she knew he wouldn't take it too well. "-how did you come across it" He snapped his head up from the book and stared at her for a while.
"You mean how I afforded it?" he said angrily.
"No, no I meant come across" she said hurriedly and his angry expression went blank. "I mean it is a rare book to come by and well I was just wondering but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to"
"I don't want to tell you" he said bluntly and he went back to reading the book. She knew it was her cue to leave but she really wanted to read the book. He probably wouldn't let her but it was worth a try.
"Erm-Riddle"
"Leave me alone Granger" he snapped with his eyes still glued to the book. Yeah, that was definitely a no. He would never let her borrow the book and if she actually said the word borrow he would probably get mad at her or something. She walked up the stairs to her room and pictured herself standing over his corpse with the book in her hands. After she killed him she was going to get her hands on that book and feeling determined to kill him more than ever she entered her room. Hermione sat on her bed reading a huge textbook. At four she snapped the book shut and straightened her aching spine. She left the heads quarters and walked towards the Ravenclaw dorm. She entered the dorm to find all the girls sitting in a circle near the fireplace and various snacks were placed in the centre.
"Hey Maya, come here" Susan said moving to make space for her and Hermione sat down feeling out of place. She felt like she was intruding in their group but after a while the feeling dissolved as the other girls treated her nicely. Susan showed of her pot of enchanting eye shadow and demonstrated it. It was amazing to hear each girl stating a different colour and Hermione saw it as her favourite colour ocean blue.
"Hey Susan, got anything new" Morgana suddenly asked and all the girls sat up straighter and looked at Susan expectantly.
"Yes, I have something that's going to blow your brains out" Susan said excitedly crawling towards her bed. She removed her trunk from under the bed and brought out a book. "Fresh out of print" She said sitting back down and Hermione groaned when she saw the title. Oh Merlin, not another witch romance story. "This is from the forbidden passions series" Susan said holding up the book. "This one girl gets it on with two guys at the same time"
"Same time" Haley whispered.
"That's right" Susan said flipping through the pages. "Okay this is the best bit" she said pausing at a page. "Ready everyone"
"Just read the damn thing" Stacey said.
"Someone's desperate, okay here goes" All the girls listened spellbound with dreamy eyes while Hermione started to recite the twelve uses of dragon's blood in her mind. After some time she walked down the corridor and felt glad to have left the Ravenclaw dorm. She entered her room and flopped on the bed. A tapping noise made her look up and she noticed an owl outside her window. She took the letter and tore open the envelope. It was a letter from Slughorn inviting her to a slug club meeting at 7 pm tomorrow and she put the letter away with a sigh.
At night Hermione stared at her clock and she decided to wait 5 more minutes before making her way down to the restricted section. When the time was up she put on a hooded cloak and quietly opened the door. No one was there and she quickly sneaked out. Hades and Persephone were sleeping peacefully in their portrait and she was grateful they weren't awake. Hermione walked down the corridor in the dark and she didn't dare light her wand since it would be too much of a giveaway. One more floor and she would be inside the library. Cold high pitched laughter suddenly rang out and she froze in her tracks. She knew very well who the laughter belonged to and she instantly pulled out her wand. With her heart beating wildly she searched the surroundings but she couldn't find Tom Riddle lurking in the shadows. She jumped as she heard it again and it sounded close to her left. She turned and stared at a closed classroom door. The laughter had to have come from inside the classroom and she stepped closer to the door. Her mind screamed at her to run but she was curious to know what the dark lord was up to and with her heart racing she pressed her ear against the door.
"Did you really think you would get away with it" she heard Tom's voice. She suddenly noticed a stream of light coming from the key hole and she bent down to peer through it. Hermione could make out Abraxas Malfoy and his boys dressed in their nightclothes. Tom was pointing his wand at them and they were all huddled in a corner with expressions of fear. "You think you can insult me and not get punished" Tom shouted making all the boys shake and even Hermione felt frightened at the coldness in his voice.
"Malfoy, I don't understand" Crabbe suddenly said in a tearful voice. "Why did we all walk in here?"
"Shut up Crabbe" Malfoy hissed. "This is not the time for your stupidity" Tom suddenly pointed his wand at Crabbe and smirked at him sinisterly.
"I'll enlighten you" Tom said jabbing his wand into Crabbe's forehead and Crabbe let out a frightened cry. "Do you know what an imperius curse is?" Crabbe stared at Tom fearfully and started to cry.
"Answer me" Tom shouted kicking him and Crabbe cried out.
"No" Crabbe said shakily and grabbed Goyle for support.
"The imperius curse can be used to control a person's mind-" Tom said tracing his wand across Crabbe's face. "-and I imperiused all of your weak minds to follow me into this room" He suddenly jabbed the wand into Crabbe's cheek and Crabbe clutched it with a scream. Tom stepped back laughing and eyed the group with a predatory look. It frightened her to know that Tom was capable of controlling five minds and at the same time she was impressed by his ability. It took great effort to control a person's mind and she had found it really hard when she had tried in the past. She had no idea how he managed to control five minds when she could barely handle one.
Malfoy suddenly placed a hand in his pocket and after a few seconds he removed his hand with a troubled expression. "Lost something Malfoy?" Tom said smirking at him "Surely any of you didn't think I'd let you bring your wands" he said running his eyes over the group and they all huddled together even closer. Tom muttered a spell and made ropes appear around their bodies. They struggled against their bonds looking terrified and he stared at them with an amused expression. "I don't think any of you learnt your lesson last time" he suddenly shouted and they all froze. He made Malfoy's ropes vanish and grabbed him by the hair. Malfoy screamed in fright and Tom repeatedly smashed his head against a wall. Malfoy struggled and blood started to pour from his nose. He dragged Malfoy into the centre of the room and threw him onto the floor.
"Riddle I'm sorry" Malfoy pleaded trying to crawl away. Tom dragged him back and kicked him in the ribs. Malfoy cried out and clutched his chest.
"Did you think your behaviour at the Halloween ball would go unpunished?" Tom shouted kicking him again.
"I'm sorry" Malfoy shouted with tears streaming down his face.
"I don't forgive and I don't forget" he shouted grabbing a fistful of Malfoy's hair "You will do well to remember it" he hissed violently tugging on the blonde strands and Malfoy screamed. He suddenly cast a silencing spell on Malfoy and traced his wand across Malfoy's lips. "I think I recall you inviting me to be your guest when I said I would cut your tongue out" Tom said coldly and continued to skim his wand over Malfoy's lips. Malfoy's eyes widened and intense fear pooled in Hermione's stomach. He wasn't going to seriously cut out Malfoy's tongue, was he? "I think I'm going to take you up on that offer Malfoy" he said pausing his wand. Malfoy desperately struggled and his group started to whisper frantically. Knowing that he was actually going to do it made her feel scared but she couldn't find the strength to look away.
Malfoy placed his hands over his mouth with a terrified expression and Tom laughed. "You don't have to be willing at all Malfoy" he said pointing his wand. "The imperius curse can fix that" he flicked his wand and Malfoy's hands instantly dropped to his sides. Malfoy slowly opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. "That wasn't too hard, was it Malfoy?" Tom said in a soothing voice and Malfoy had a horrified expression on his face. "Shall I cut it vertically or horizontally?" Tom said staring at the tongue. "What do you think Goyle?" he suddenly asked and turned to look at the chubby boy and Goyle stared back with a fearful expression. "Answer me" Tom shouted. "Or I'll sew your lips together"
"Horizontally" Goyle said shakily.
"Yes, I was thinking that would be better" Tom said calmly. He positioned his wand over Malfoy's tongue and Malfoy whimpered in fear but he couldn't move. "Scindo linguatum" Tom said slowly and moved his wand horizontally. Blood welled up on Malfoy's tongue and a piece of pink flesh suddenly fell to the floor. Everyone screamed and Tom laughed. Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth and her heart started to violently beat against her ribcage. Malfoy was crawling on his hands and knees with tears streaming down his face and blood was pouring out of his mouth. If there wasn't a silencing spell on him she was sure Malfoy would have been screaming loudly. Hermione felt sick watching Malfoy's bleeding form and Tom continued to watch with a smile. There was a look of pleasure in his eyes and she couldn't understand how he could feel such joy in causing pain. Chills went down her spine as she continued to watch his sinister smiling expression and Malfoy suddenly dropped to the floor. Malfoy's boys let out frightened cries and Tom silenced them with a shout.
He levitated Malfoy's shaking form high into the air and blood continued to dribble from his mouth. Tom levitated Malfoy's severed tongue up into the air and Hermione suddenly felt jealous of his ability to levitate multiple things. He muttered a spell and repaired Malfoy's tongue. He flicked his wand and Malfoy crashed to the floor. "Crucio" Tom shouted. Malfoy violently shook on the floor and his mouth moved but his screams were blocked by the silencing spell. Hermione paled as she continued to watch the torture and she knew Malfoy would have preferred his tongue to be repeatedly cut out than to be crucioed. There was nothing worse to torture someone with other than the cruciatus curse, the pain it caused you made you wish for death and the pain from the after lasted for weeks. Tom kept his wand trained on Malfoy with an expression of hatred and Malfoy suddenly passed out. Tom muttered a spell and revived him. He carried on crucioing Malfoy and a wicked smile suddenly formed on his lips. Hermione could almost make out the smile and she felt goose bumps form on her skin. He was clearly enjoying the pain and the way he was revelling in it frightened her.
Tom suddenly levitated Malfoy and threw him into a corner. He levitated Lestrange into the centre and made his ropes vanish. Lestrange pleaded and Tom silenced him with a spell. He started to torture Lestrange with the cruciatus curse and the smile was back on his lips. Avery was tortured next and he finished by throwing him into a wall. He levitated Goyle into the centre and made his ropes vanish. Goyle curled into a ball and lay on the floor sobbing loudly. Tom crucioed him but only for a couple of seconds and Hermione noticed the smile was missing from his lips. He levitated Crabbe into the centre and the same thing happened. With a spell he cleared away blood stains from the room and rearranged some of the furniture. "If any of you ever disrespect me again, you'll be very sorry" Tom shouted and he started to walk towards the door. Hermione suddenly realised he was about to open the door and she quickly ran into the next corridor. With her heart racing she leaned against the wall and heard his footsteps fade away.
When she couldn't hear anything she started to walk again and all of a sudden she didn't feel like going to the restricted section anymore. She felt scared and she wanted to be inside the safety of her bedroom. It had been months since she had seen anyone being tortured but that wasn't what was bothering her. When Bellatrix Lestrange tortured someone she had seen an expression of joy on her face but it was never continuous and Tom Riddle had managed to maintain an expression of hate and pleasure throughout the entire torture. His eyes had been filled with hatred and the sinister smile had showed his enjoyment. She couldn't understand how anyone could feel such happiness by hurting someone but he was the dark lord and he was meant to be evil to the core.
Something else was also bothering her. He had behaved differently with Crabbe and Goyle and it was like he had shown sympathy to them but that couldn't be right. The dark lord didn't show compassion and mercy so maybe he had gotten tired or bored of torturing but that didn't sound right either. It was really late at night and maybe he had wanted to leave earlier. Crabbe and Goyle had been really scared out of their minds and he must have thought a few seconds was equal to the amount he had spent on the others. That sounded right but she suddenly thought of something else.
Was Malfoy and his group Tom's death eaters in training or not? What she had seen today could be interpreted in two ways and that question was still left unanswered. Tom was either punishing his death eaters for rebelling against him or he was just punishing a gang of bullies for insulting him. She was sure now that Malfoy wasn't friends with him and Dumbledore had said Tom never desired friendship but she had thought he might have been pretending just to use Malfoy. If the gang bullied him then she could understand why Tom reacted badly at being told he was friends with Malfoy but if they were his death eaters, he must view Malfoy as someone beneath him and saying they were friends probably angered him because it gave them an equal status in his eyes.
She had been here for so many weeks and all she had was theories. She didn't have a definite answer but she decided to stick with the death eater theory. Dumbledore believed Tom had formed his death eater circle at school and Dumbledore couldn't be wrong. The times when Tom had hurt her she had thought he was being cruel but compared to Malfoy it seemed like he had shown kindness to her. Now that she thought of it, he had never attempted to crucio her and there had been lots of opportunities to do so. She didn't know why he hadn't crucioed her but maybe she hadn't angered him enough like Malfoy. She was glad she had made the decision to tolerate him after their fight in the common room, otherwise who knew what shape she would have been in.
Hermione knew she should be working on a way to eliminate Voldemort but she felt shaken after what she had seen. All the memories of her parents being murdered had resurfaced in her mind and she was too emotional right now. She knew if she went down to the restricted section she wouldn't be able to read anything and it was better to go to sleep. She had already wasted almost two months and one more day wasted wasn't going to make much of a difference.
"Persephone" Hermione whispered standing in front of the portrait but the woman continued to snore. "Hades" she said turning towards the man but he continued to sleep as well. "Persephone" she whispered tapping the painting with her finger and the woman jumped awake. Her husband woke shortly afterwards.
"What in the name of Merlin---" Persephone said looking around wildly.
"Sorry, can you let me in?" Hermione whispered and Persephone and Hades looked down at Hermione's cloaked figure with expressions of surprise.
"Oh, its you dear" Persephone said smiling at her warmly. "It's strange that you should enter at this hour shortly after Mr Riddle"
"We weren't together" she whispered with a worried expression. "Now let me in"
"Of course, Password"
"Medusa" the door clicked open.
"We might have two late night wanderers" she heard Persephone say as she quietly tiptoed inside.
"Unless the next stage has begun" she heard Hades say as she shut the door. What the hell were they talking about? She shouldn't really care what a portrait was saying and like everyone else they were probably thinking there was something going on between her and Tom. Why didn't people ever notice the hate or the forced to work together part? She was relieved to find the common room empty and she hurried up to her room.
She changed into her nightclothes and crawled into bed. She couldn't help it as suddenly burst into tears and she pressed her face into her pillow. She felt bad for being so weak and full of emotions. She should have been in the restricted section, not crying her eyes out and thinking about her parents. She promised herself she would kill Voldemort as soon as possible and she eventually fell asleep but she didn't rest peacefully. She had nightmares of Voldemort murdering her parents with the same kind of sickening smile she had seen on Tom's lips and this was followed by the echoes of his cold high pitched laughter as their bodies fell to the floor. Hermione cried in her sleep and clutched her quilt tightly as the dream continued to haunt her.
I just got back from an exam and read the reviews. I am not happy about the things people are saying about my Hermione and I'm going to clear a lot of things up.
My Hermione is not stupid, weak, cowardly, pathetic or defenceless. She's pretending to be defenceless and letting Tom think he's in control. I repeat, she's pretending to be defenceless.
Did everyone miss the scene in the girls' toilets where she decided to tolerate him and let him have his way? Not to mention the countless other times I've mentioned where she wasn't fighting him on purpose. Her actions of not fighting back are deliberate, she's perfectly capable of fighting him but she doesn't want to.
Because if she did, she would risk injuring herself and he would get interested in how she learnt to fight like that. She doesn't want him investigating her past and she had a hard time getting rid of him when he questioned her about getting through the Hogwarts barriers. He also noticed she blocked Dumbledore but he dismissed it thinking Dumbledore hadn't been using his full ability.
She doesn't want him to know about her real duelling skills and if you remember during their fight in the common room she tripped on furniture otherwise she wouldn't have easily lost. The other times she was too slow at drawing her wand, he disarmed her or she didn't draw her wand on purpose. So you see, she couldn't have fought back without her wand and you can also see that she has never actually duelled with him.
Did everyone fail to notice that she doesn't let Malfoy and everyone else push her around? If she was actually a coward, do you think she would have stood up to them? It's only with Tom that she doesn't fight back and that's because she's letting him get away with it.
I think what people are finding hard to deal with is that she's not acting like a typical Gryffindor. She not acting rashly to prove herself she's brave. Instead she's trying to show Tom that she's not a threat and that way he won't harm her and she can easily kill him off without him ever suspecting her.
Nearly in every Tom and Hermione fanfic I've read, Hermione is always fighting Tom back and then he gets interested in her and starts investigating her past or sees her as a threat. I wanted to do something different than the usual plot line so I'm writing a Hermione that's pretending to be less of a threat to avoid all that troubles while she works on her main goal, which is to kill Tom.
Personally, I don't think two people can ever come together if their always fighting and getting violent. Tom doesn't like people that are a threat to him and he always likes to be in control. If you read the story carefully, you would have noticed that he started to tell her things about spells and potions after she stopped fighting back for a couple of weeks. So you see the small difference, before he never used to tell her anything and now he tells her a few things in lessons.
Another thing, I think people are finding it hard to deal with a Hermione that is less intelligent than Tom. My Hermione isn't dumb but Tom Riddle is just a little bit more intelligent than her. Tom Riddle has the sort of intelligence that Dumbledore had when he was young and Hermione cannot match that but after him she is the next intelligent student at Hogwarts. His intelligence and knowledge is what fascinates Hermione. You would have noticed in the story that she looks forward to him telling her things in lessons and she remains quiet just to learn more. So you see, Hermione's submissive behaviour and his willingness to impart some of his knowledge is a small but crucial change.
Someone said Hermione is afraid of Tom – Okay, I know she's been through war but that doesn't mean she's going to lose her fear and become 100% fearless. Hermione is a human being with feelings and she's allowed to feel fear even if she has been through war. Just because someone tried to kill her last time doesn't mean she will feel any less afraid when someone tries to do it again. It might make her a stronger person and give her the courage to fight back but that doesn't mean she won't feel afraid. Her feeling fear doesn't make her weak, it just makes her human with feelings.
Tom can do a lot of hurtful things that frighten her and I think she should be allowed to feel fear, despite having been through war. Like I said it won't make you become immune to fear if you've faced a similar situation before but it might make you feel a little braver. I know some people become fearless after war but it's important to remember that war affects everyone differently. Some people become braver while others become so afraid that they can't step out of their own house. Hermione didn't become completely fearless or too afraid, her fear level is pretty normal for the average human being.
But the war and the death of her loved ones have affected her. As you can see, my Hermione is not afraid of using dark arts and she thinks it's justified when used on evil people. She will even go as far as murder but she isn't 100% evil and she doesn't like to hurt those that are good and innocent. I think someone said Hermione would rather die than murder a house elf. You have to understand that the house elf's death was accidental, she didn't intentionally kill it and she did feel guilty afterwards. I know some people are saying Hermione would never turn dark but I think it's possible after what she's been through.
An anonymous reviewer said Hermione was unable to make simple wings – if they read the story carefully instead of skimming, they would know that Hermione didn't attempt to make the wings. Susan made them for her and Hermione didn't bother to make magical ones because she didn't think it was a big deal. She regrets not making the magical ones when Tom loses his temper after seeing her paper wings. She is perfectly capable of making magical wings but the ones Tom made was above the average magical wings.
Now, about why Hermione didn't realise Tom was stroking the creature differently - She read in the book you had to stroke it and so she believes the books information. She also knows that Tom hates touching living things and so she viewed his light touching as his disgust to touch the creature. She didn't know he was doing it to make it come out, she simply though he disliked touching it so you can see why she couldn't tell.
I hope all my readers understand that she's pretending to be defenceless and that her decisions not to fight back Tom are deliberate. If I get one more review saying my Hermione's a coward, weak, pathetic or stupid, then I'm seriously going to cry. I thought everyone knew that was doing it on purpose.
M.H Bay – thank you for your lovely reviews. I am aware of the age thing and Dippet decided to put her in seventh year since she was a week or 2 away from being 17 in September, besides she was in seventh year in her time so she's not doing seventh year at a younger age. I have read Twilight and I would recommend L.J smith's vampire diaries. It's a vey good read and CW are making it into a TV show after all the Twilight hype. It's gonna air on sept 10th and the trailers on you tube. check it out.
Now I have to get back and revise for my exams. My next update will probably be in the 1st or 2nd week of July. Please leave reviews, I look forward to them.