The ringing of her alarm clock shook her awake and she turned it off. Sleep heavily tugged at her eyelids and she decided to spend ten more minutes in bed. She woke hours later and stared at the clock in disbelief. It was 8.45 am and she had fifteen minutes till class started. How could she have let herself sleep like that? She was supposed to have gone down to the forbidden forest to search for the silver bell flowers. Swearing she stumbled out of bed and ran into the bathroom. She pulled of the glove from her right hand to find it was completely healed and she started to brush her teeth. Five minutes later she stepped out of her room fully dressed and she ran down to the great hall. There was hardly anyone there and quickly stuffed some food into her mouth then she drained a goblet of water. Glancing at her wristwatch she rushed out the great hall and she started to run towards the potion's dungeon.
She entered the classroom out of breath and she was glad to find Slughorn hadn't started yet. She walked up to her table and clutching the back of her chair she took in deep breaths. She suddenly noticed Tom looking at her and his face was expressionless. Thank Merlin he wasn't staring at her angrily anymore, did that mean he had gotten over her burning the Zulfitack flowers? He was a master at concealing emotions and she wasn't really sure but she didn't want to risk getting crucioed by him ever again. From now on she decided to work extra hard not to anger him and hopefully everything would work out. Once her breathing steadied she sat down and Slughorn started the class. When it was time to make a potion together she watched Tom carefully but he didn't bang objects or cut ingredients with more force than necessary. He definitely didn't seem angry but she still wasn't sure.
"You should add 4 drops of bats blood instead of 3" he suddenly said and all her worry vanished. Not only was he talking to her, he was telling her things again and that must mean he had forgiven her. He started to explain why 4 drops was better and she couldn't help but feel a little happy, although she didn't like to admit it she had missed his explanations. Whenever he made changes he told her why he was doing it and she continued to listen with great interest. She had a dozen questions in her mind but she didn't dare interrupt him in case she angered him. Ten minutes before class ended Slughorn went around the room grading everyone's potion and as usual they received an outstanding.
"Attention class" Slughorn said walking back to the front of the room and everyone became quiet. "As you all know, this is your last year" Slughorn said in a serious tone. "To pass this subject you are all required to work on a project which will be worth 40% of your total marks." A few people brought out their quills and started making a note of this. "This years project is to invent a potion for preventing werewolf transformation" the whole class burst into worried whispers and a flicker of concern even passed over Tom's face while Hermione had an expression of panic.
"Prevent werewolf transformation" Hermione whispered running her hands through her hair and Tom was staring at Slughorn with creased brows.
"Calm down everyone" Slughorn shouted silencing the class. "You are not required to actually invent a potion that works" Everyone looked relieved at his words. Hermione removed her hands from her hair and Tom's face was blank again. "As long as you justify why you think your theoretical potion might work and you carry out some practical work to prove the properties of the ingredients, then you will still be able to gain full marks." The scratching of quills filled the air as most people wrote this down. "You are required to work with your potions partner and the project is due on the 4th of December." Hermione and Tom immediately turned to look at each other. He didn't look pleased to be working with her and the feeling was mutual. "The essay on fairy tears is due today, put them in there as you leave" Slughorn said pointing at a box on his desk. "Class dismissed" Slughorn said making a gesture with his hand and the classroom became noisy once again. She opened her bag and she started to search for her essay.
"Granger" Tom said making her look at him again. "Listen to me carefully" he said glaring at her. "I will set the time and place of our meetings. You will show up and you will do actual work. Is that understood?" Stupid controlling psycho, he was giving her an order like he owned her and she felt a spark of anger but she forced herself to keep calm.
"Understood" she said nodding her head and he wordlessly walked away to the front of the classroom. She resumed searching for her essay and a few seconds later she pulled out the scroll. She threw it into the box on Slughorn's desk and left the potions dungeon.
She had fifteen minutes break before her next class started and she decided quickly visit the room of requirements. She ran up to the seventh floor and looking back and forth to make sure no one was watching she entered the room. She opened up the dark magic book and started to skim through the pages. The second ingredient she needed for the broom cursing potion was a plant called Solanum nicrum but the book hardly had any information on it. She let out a frustrated sigh and put the book down. She glanced at her wristwatch to find she had five minutes to get to the defence against the dark arts classroom and grabbing her bag she rushed out the door. She ran down many stairs and through a couple of corridors before arriving at the classroom out of breath. She stepped inside breathing heavily and she was glad to find Professor Galatea Merrythought hadn't arrived yet. Clutching her side she made her way towards her usual table and quickly sat down. Tom stared at her with a blank expression and she bowed her head as she waited for her breathing to return to normal.
"Granger" a voice said and she looked up to find Shiv Patil standing in front of her table.
"Hey Patil" she said with a slightly out of breath voice.
"You haven't brought any cookies lately" Shiv said with a mock sad expression.
"I've been busy, otherwise I would have visited" It had been a while and thinking about the biscuits made her mouth water.
"I've got new ones with 50% less fat" Shiv said pulling out a pack. "You can have this one for free" he said dumping the pack on the table.
"Thanks" she called out as Shiv turned to leave. Tom was staring at the pack of cookies with a murderous look and knowing that he hated chocolate chip cookies she hastily stuffed the pack into her bag. Merrythought suddenly entered the classroom and everyone immediately stopped talking. Merrythought was an old woman but she didn't appear frail or weak, instead she radiated power and strength. She was a strict looking woman and everything about her commanded respect. Her eyes were the scariest thing about her and when she looked at you it felt like she was looking right into your soul. Hermione had found Merrythought's stares uncomfortable on her first class but she had gotten used to it over time. Tom sat up straighter and looked at Merrythought with what Hermione recognised as respect and admiration. She had seen him occasionally look at Slughorn like that but for Merrythought it was always there. Looks like his two favourite professors were Slughorn and Merrythought only he had more respect for Merrythought. Defence against the dark arts was the only class where Hermione came dangerously close to getting the same mark as Tom and it had become her favourite subject. The only annoying thing was the way Merrythought always favoured him over her.
"We are going to start working on containing dark curses" Merrythought said drawing her wand. "But in order to do that you must know the spells of containment and the type of curses it should be used with" Merrythought waved her wand at the blackboard and a list of numbered incantations appeared. "Who can tell me what number fourteen does?" Tom immediately raised his hand and Hermione slowly followed knowing she had a slim chance.
"Tom" Merrythought said and she put her hand down resisting the urge to shout at Merrythought for playing favourites.
At lunchtime she was starving and she decided to quickly eat something then go down to the library to find more information about Solanum nicrum. She rushed into the great hall and she started to swallow her food at a fast pace.
"Maya slow down" Susan said. "We don't have class for another 40 minutes"
"Need to go to the library" she said in between swallowing her food.
"Why?"
"I want to read up on something" she said with her mouthful.
"Why do you take school work so seriously?"
"I just do" she said standing up and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Can you come over later? I've got some--"
"Sorry I can't" she shouted as she ran out the great hall. She felt bad for neglecting Susan but making the broom cursing potion was far more important.
In the library Hermione searched shelf after shelf but she couldn't find a single book mentioning the plant. She was about to give up when a very large dusty book at the top of the shelf caught her eye and she had a feeling it would contain information about Solanum nicrum. She tried to reach it but it was too high up. She tried to levitate it down with a spell and the book hovered in the air for a few seconds before settling back onto the shelf. It was just too heavy and her spell wasn't strong enough. Feeling frustrated she stamped her feet and let out a string of swear words.
"Stop making so much noise" a voice said making her freeze and she instantly recognised whose voice it was. "The library is supposed to be a quiet place for studying" She slowly turned towards the direction of the voice to find it was coming from the back of the library. It was dark down there and she could make out a tall dark shape walking towards her. "And some of us are trying to study" Tom said stepping out of the shadows with an irritated look on his face. Recognising her as the noise maker the irritation on his face quickly became replaced with anger and Hermione's pulse quickened. No, this couldn't be happening. She'd worked really hard to keep him calm and it all couldn't end with a bad fight in the library. She had thought she was the only one here, how was she supposed to know the dark lord would be hiding in the shadows? "It's you" he said clenching his hands into fists and she took a step back with a worried expression.
"I'm sorry Riddle" she said hoping he would calm down. "I didn't realise you were in here otherwise I wouldn't have made so much noise" After a few tense seconds his expression softened and he unclenched his hands. She felt so relieved he wasn't angry anymore and she waited for him to leave but he kept on staring at her expressionlessly. After a while she started to feel uncomfortable but she didn't dare to tell him to go away. He suddenly looked up and following his gaze she realised he was looking at the book she had tried to remove. "Move, I'll get it for you" he said walking closer to the shelf and she moved out the way with her heart racing. How did he know she wanted that book? He had been at the back of the library the whole time and he couldn't have seen her levitating it. Being tall he easily lifted the heavy book of the shelf and a loud thud echoed through the room as he dumped it on the table.
"How did you know I wanted that one?" She said in a low controlled voice.
"Isn't it obvious Granger?" he said with an annoyed expression and she nodded her head to say no. "It had less dust on it" Her worry immediately vanished at his words. Of course it would be less dusty after all her levitation attempts and she felt kind of stupid for not realising but it was hard not to get paranoid when it came to the dark lord. She looked down at the large book and the faded title read, 669 herbs and plants used in potions. She suddenly noticed Tom staring at book and she started to feel panicky. Did he know what she was trying to do? Of course he didn't, it was just a potions book and she could be looking up something for an essay or the potions project. It didn't give him any indication whatsoever that she was trying to kill him and she should stop being so paranoid all the time. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"Thanks Riddle" she said pulling the heavy book towards her. "I mean thank you Riddle" she added hastily remembering that he didn't like the shortened version. He held her gaze for a couple of seconds then he silently disappeared to the back of the library and she sat down feeling relieved. She opened up the book at the back to find the index section but there wasn't one. Either the book was written at a time when index sections didn't exist or someone had torn it out but the author could also not have bothered with one. This was going to be much harder than she had thought and she flipped the book to open it at the front. She skimmed through page after page as rapidly as she could and nearly at the end of lunch she found Solanum nicrum. She quickly read the page and she wasn't pleased with the information. Solanum nicrum didn't grow in Britain and that meant it wouldn't be growing in the forbidden forest. She glared at the book and tapped her fingers on the table. How was she supposed to get hold of it if Hogwarts didn't have it? Maybe I could get it from outside of Hogwarts she thought pausing her fingers. A shop in Hogsmeade might sell it but the problem was how was she going to get to Hogsmeade when she didn't have permission to go out on Hogsmeade weekends? She would have to break out of Hogwarts and that was looking impossible until she remembered something. Thank Merlin Fred and George had discovered a secret way out. She could get to the cellar in Honey dukes through the statue of the one eyed witch and then all she had to do was leave the shop undetected. If everything went as planned the whole of Hogsmeade would be at her fingertips but first she decided to get the silver bell flower from the forbidden forest. She would have brought it but she didn't think she would have enough money to buy both the ingredients and Solanum nicrum was probably going to be expensive.
During her afternoon classes Tom was in one of his moods again. He snapped at her and insulted her when she made even the slightest of mistakes and she forced herself to remain clam. He could say all the things he wanted but she wasn't going to provoke him to hit her. She wondered why he was behaving like this and she was certain she wasn't the cause of it.
At 7.30 pm Hermione sat in the heads common room writing an essay for divination. It was on scrying with water and as far as she was concerned she was wasting her time writing about absolute drivel. The sound of a door being opened made her look up and Hermione raised an eyebrow when she saw Bones coming out of Longbottom's room. Bones's usual neat hair was messy and her robes were blatantly worn inside out. She hastily tried to enter her room and her face went bright red when she noticed Hermione staring at her.
"It's not--not what you think Granger" Bones said stuttering. "I was erm--erm" she quickly pulled something out from her pocket. "I was borrowing a quill, mine broke"
"It's okay Bones, you don't have to prove yourself" Yeah right, borrowing a quill. After the way she had seen them in the corridor she could imagine what they had been doing in Longbottom's bedroom.
"Well-erm-Goodnight" Bones said turning to open her door. "And I never meant that stuff about you being evil" she suddenly said in a high pitched voice. Clever girl Bones, Hermione could see what she was trying to do. Bones wanted to get on her good side so she wouldn't tell anyone in case she knew more than she was letting on.
"Don't worry I won't tell anyone" she said bluntly and Bones's expression grew worried.
"I--erm--we-" Bones appeared lost for words.
"It's okay Bones" she said closing her inkpot.
"We haven't slept together" Bones burst out.
"I never said you did" Although she didn't approve she wasn't the kind of person to spread nasty rumours if they hadn't been able to wait until their wedding night.
"No you didn't" Bones mumbled to herself. "Good night Granger" she said with a strained voice and she quickly disappeared into her room.
"Good night Bones" she called out and she started to re-read her essay with a smile. When she didn't find any mistakes she rolled up the parchment and placed in her bag. Feeling tired she leaned back into her red armchair but she couldn't get herself to relax. Something didn't feel right and she looked around the room wondering what it could be. Hermione realised what it was when her eyes fell on an empty green armchair close to the fireplace. Tom was missing and he usually sat reading or writing at the same times as her. Although they hardly talked she had gotten used to his presence and now that he wasn't here it felt odd. Where could he be? He hadn't been in a good mood lately and he was probably sulking in his bedroom or torturing owls.
She stood up placing the straps of her bag on her shoulder and she was about to go up to her room when the common room door was violently thrown open. Tom Riddle stepped inside and she gasped loudly taking in his appearance. She started to stare at him open mouthed and she blinked on purpose several times. He was wearing the Slytherin quidditch uniform and his right hand held a very worn out looking broomstick but his clothes weren't holding Hermione captivated, it was his hair and face. His hair that was always neatly combed was messy and most of it was covering his left eye. The skin of his face that was always deathly pale was flushed pink and there was sweat on his forehead. She had never imagined she would see Tom looking so messy and so human. To see him like that was absolutely shocking.
"Stop staring at me like that?" he shouted making her jump. He let go of the broomstick and it crashed to the floor with clatter. He quickly drew his wand with a furious expression and she took a step back looking frightened. "Do you think it's amusing that I have to waste my time doing something useless like quidditch?" he said in low rage filled voice. "Are you having a laugh at me inside that thick skull of yours?" he shouted pointing his wand and her heart violently jumped. She hadn't meant to be nasty by gasping or staring at him like that but he obviously thought otherwise.
"I don't find it funny Riddle" she said with a shaky voice and she wondered if she had said the right thing when he still seemed angry as ever. "I hate quidditch, remember I had no idea who Jack Allen was?" she said in a high pitched voice and she took another step back. His expression suddenly went blank but his wand was still pointed at her and Hermione hoped to God he would calm down. After a few seconds he slowly lowered his wand and relief spread through her. He grabbed his broomstick and disappeared into his room loudly slamming the door shut. Hermione ran into her room a second later, she had no desire to be hanging around in case the dark lord came out again. She dumped her bag on her desk and sat on her bed. Tom must have learnt he had quidditch practice at the end of lunch and that was the reason why he had been in a foul mood all afternoon. The image of the way he had looked a minute ago was burned into her mind and she still found it hard to get over the way his hair hadn't been neat. It just didn't seem normal to see Tom Riddle not looking perfect because everything about him was always perfect or as close to perfect as you can get.
She suddenly wondered about something, why hadn't he gotten changed in the quidditch changing rooms like all the other players? She knew Tom didn't like getting close to people so the most likely answer was he didn't want to be in a room full of half naked guys that were standing too close to him, and as far as she was concerned that was further evidence that he was asexual because if he was queer he surely would have changed in the changing room in the hope of seeing some bare male bodies. She wondered why anyone would want to be so alone and friendless with only power as their companion but then again the dark lord wasn't a normal person. He was a power hungry monster wearing a human shell and she was going to destroy him soon.
She decided to skip dinner to sleep early and she changed into her nightclothes, then she set her alarm clock at 5 am with the hope that the extra sleep would make sure she didn't fall asleep upon waking. She needed to find the silver bell flower and tomorrow she would make sure she went down to the forbidden forest no matter how sleepy she was feeling. Hermione blew out the candles and creeping under her quilt she closed her eyes.
Thank you for all the reviews everyone. I tried to update faster but I'm depressed right now and it makes writing harder when you're crying your eyes out all the time.
I've spent hours trying to make this chapter perfect but I couldn't make all the sentences flow properly. So I'm sorry if some of the paragraphs or words seemed forced or if it isn't fluent enough. But I think it's been too long I haven't updated and my mind isn't working to make it any better. Plus, I think I'm going to go insane if I have to read through this chapter one more time. I've read it so many times when I was correcting it that I've memorised this chapter word for word.
I've made a picture of Tom feeding the Kevatrix and its up on my live journal. The link is on my profile page and please leave comments to tell me what you think. (If you can't remember what a Kevatrix is then see chapter 23)
HashBrwn – Tom's abusive because it's in his character but he only dose it when things don't go his way or when someone make him angry. The romance will come into this story later and all the unanswered questions will be answered as the story progresses. Also, Hermione dose not like the abuse and she just tolerates it so she can easily kill him without him getting suspicious. Thank you for the review.
Please leave me reviews everyone. The more reviews I get the more inspired I feel to write and I promise the next chapter is going to be longer than this one.