Theodore prodded Hermione's cheek staring at her with squinted eyes, "and where have you been young lady." He reprimanded sounding nearly incredulous, "do you know how long I- we have been looking for you?" He pointed to himself and Abraxas.
Hermione scoffed, "the two of you gave me the ditch after lunch, don't act all innocent." Abraxas' ears tinged red.
"Now don't question your daddies little o- oof." Abraxas began, getting cut off mid sentence as Theodore's fist made contact with Abraxas' abdomen- hard. Theodore moved away from Abraxas, dropping his arm which Hermione only then noticed was previously interlinked. Abraxas scowled at the wall, "'m not appreciated enough 'ere." Hermione stuck her tongue out at him, grabbing his arm.
"Alright drama queen now lets go play something I'm bored..." Hermione trudged back down to the dungeons, Abraxas' sleeve clutched tightly in his fist as she wondered if anyone would have found Alphard Black's unconscious body by now.
"What d'you wanna play," Abraxas mumbled as Theodore scurried to Hermione's side.
"No fair you hold Abraxas' hand but not mine," Theodore pouted. Abraxas stuck his tongue out at him, suddenly seeming superior.
Hermione ignored both of them and continued making her way down to the Common Room. Theodore sulked pitifully, mumbling by himself behind Abraxas and Hermione. Before the trio reached the portrait, she grabbed Theodore's sleeve to stop his quite sulking. "Minotaur," she told the portrait, waiting for it to open before she could climb inside. Both boys followed in tow.
She let go of the boys and placed her hands on her hips, "now." She said with emphasis, "let's do something I'm bored." She exclaimed dramatically. Abraxas cracked a grin.
"Since we're back at the Common Room how 'bout we go back to my dorm an'- ow!" Tears pooled at his eyes as Hermione pressed down her feet on Abraxas' toes with increased pressure.
"Alright now without any suggestions from Abraxas, what should we do?" She looked at Theodore, ignoring the whimpering Abraxas who was currently tearing up and shaking his leg on her other side. Theodore took a sly step backwards, earning himself an eyeroll.
"How about we play exploding snaps?" Theodore suggested. Hermione scrunched her nose, shaking her head no.
"How about we go study together," she spoke with sparkles in her eyes. Abraxas deflated even further.
"'Mione my foot's hurtin' too bad I think I'd better stay," Abraxas mumbled, staring at her with big doe eyes. Hermione's eye twitched.
"You want a young lady such as myself, to walk the corridors alone? What shall I do need I require a man to save me?" She pouted, drawing her eyebrows down. Abraxas' lips parted in a gasp.
"Right right right right I'll become your knight in shinin' armour and you'll fall in love with me." He amped himself up, running back to his dormitory. "I'll go get my book bag don' leave without me!" He shouted as he ran inside at full speed.
Theodore snorted from beside her. Hermione's stomach dropped. Book bag. She looked at Theodore with urgency, "Theo I think I dropped my book bag on the sixth floor." She ran her hands through her hair. She was so busy stuffing Black into a nearby broom closet before Abraxas and Theodore came too near that she forgot to pick up her satchel before leaving. Panic settled into Hermione.
Theodore furrowed his brows, "I'll go get it for you-" he began, turning back and already heading towards the portrait hole. Hermione quickly placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Don't worry about it, just tell Abraxas I had to leave. I'll finish my work at the library after I get it," she told the tall boy, who frowned seemingly unsure but he nodded the affirmative nonetheless.
"Sure but do you remember where you left the bag?" He sighed. Hermione nervously shifted ger stance slightly. No, I don't.
"Yeah of course I must've left it by the lavatory." She laughed awkwardly, walking towards the portrait hole. "Well, I'll see you at the Great Hall perhaps!" She bade him goodbye. She watched as the portrait hole swung close on an unconvinced Theodore Nott's face.
Groaning with frustration, Hermione broke into a full sprint for the sixth floor. Too bad she charmed it to make sure no one could mess with her bag. Perhaps an extreme measure but she'd rather be safe than sorry.
She was pretty sorry right now though, as she ran through the corridors and up the stairwell gasping for air.
She came to an abrupt stop in front of the broom closet that she had stuffed Alphard Black's unconscious body into, ripping it open.
She was met with a bare closet. No Alphard Black and no satchel in sight. Hermione bent over propping herself on her knees to catch her breath. "Fuck." She cursed, getting up to go look around the corridor she had erased his memories in. She didn't need to walk far, just straight ahead and turn to the left and- thump. The noise was pretty muffled but Hermione scowled, pulling away from the idiot that decided to stand right next to a turn in the corridor.
The idiot turned around to look at Hermione, "oh, Hermione." The idiot raised his eyebrows. Hermione wiped the scowl off her face.
"Oh, Tom." She mimicked dryly. Tom sent her a half amused smile. "So uh, what are you doing here?" She laughed awkwardly, swinging her hands back and forth as she rocked slightly on the balls of her feet.
Tom shrugged, "one of the boys found Black shoved into a nearby broom closet and called me over." He did not look interested nor concerned in the slightest. Hermione formed a small 'o' with her mouth, avoiding eye contact. "Though interestingly, I did come across your book bag here." His grin grew as Hermione's mouth pulled into a thin smile. "I wonder why?" He pulled it out from behind him, dangling it infront of Hermione.
Hermione gulped. "I can explain." She began slowly, raising her hands in defeat. Tom leaned against the wall, still holding the satchel up with one hand.
"You'd better." That's the first contraction I've seen him use. Does this mean I'm in trouble or he's feeling more easygoing than usual?
Hermione cleared her throat, looking behind Tom to see the eyes of the three other Knights glued to their backs. Hermione clenched her jaw. "Please, let me tell you in private. Bring Black and I will undo the memory charm so he can verify my statement." She promised.
"Undoing a memory charm is unheard of." Tom scoffed.
"But not impossible I..." she trailed off. She shut her eyes with frustration before looking directly into Tom's, "last year before I went on the run, I obliviated my parents. But I undid the memory charm. It took some studying and experimenting but I did it." Tom stared into her eyes, unfazed.
"Since when have you known?" He asked with a stoic expression.
Hermione cracked a cheeky grin, "it was not hard to tell. Some Knights avoid eye contact with you. You always ensure eye contact is maintained when you ask a specifically important question." Tom did not budge. He nodded at her subtly.
"Rosier, take Black to the empty arithmancy classroom." He turned back on his heel and walked away from Hermione, leaving her to scurry after him. Give me the bag already! Hermione scowled to herself incredulously. Tom turned back to look at her. "Did you say something?" He asked, amusement flitting over his previously expressionless face.
Hermione slapped a hand over her mouth, "did I-"
"Yes." He grinned as he threw Hermione's satchel at her. She caught it with ease, although a nonverbal wandless wingardium leviosa did help direct it right into her arms. Rosier slammed open a classroom door and flung Black's limp body onto the ground next to the door, before turning back and leaving without query. "Now, in details recount the incident first."
Hermione took in a deep breath, "well I was kind of just walking down the corridors on my way to the Common Room when I felt someone following me so then I cast a revealing charm and then I was kind of drawn to Alphard Black's location and anyways he just seemed like he really had it in for me you know? He just told me he was ordered to follow me- by you actually so what is that about really- and while i was taking him back to you we were nearly discovered by Theodore Nott and Abraxas Malfoy but I just thought obliviating and stuffing him into a closet would of been faster because he wanted to tell Abraxas and Theodore what we were up to and that would sort of expose the Knights of Walpurgis wouldn't it so if you think really hard about it I did this for us and I did this for the Knights-" Tom slapped a hand to Hermione's mouth, amusement dancing in his eyes. He grinned at Hermione.
"Was that all a single sentence?" He asked, trying to wipe the cheeky smile off his face. Hermione nodded from behind Tom's palm, eyes wide. "Alright take a deep breath and start from the beginning then." He laughed, peeling his hand back.
Hermione gulped down some air, blushing. "Sorry." She mumbled sheepishly. "What really happened was that, Black was following me after I left the meeting. When I caught him he told me you set him up to it." Tom raised an eyebrow skeptically but did not interrupt her. He would make for quite the listener if only he gave a damn about others. "I was taking him back to the Room of Requirement to see you when we nearly bumped into Abraxas Malfoy and Theodore Nott. Black threatened to tell them and I was not sure if I should have let him expose the Knights that way." She explained animatedly, maintaining proper eye contact so Tom would know she was speaking the truth.
Tom took a step back, massaging his temples with irritation. "Wake him up and undo the charm, Rosier will wait outside for you." He said coldly, exiting the room.
Hermione glared at Alphard Black's stupid body before kicking him in the side. Stupid bitch. Hermione huffed, getting to work. Undoing a memory charm was tedious work.
•••
By the end of the weekend, Hermione had achieved nothing. In fact she may have messed up the progress she did make with Tom Riddle by obliviating Alphard Black- although in her humble opinion the only real mistake in that was getting caught.
Tom cancelled practice with her the following night, which did little to reassure her of her progress. She had little knowledge of what the man was up to. She couldn't tell how the Death Eater hierarchy stood from where she was now. But from what she had seen, Rosier did much of the future Dark Lord's bidding. Somehow he was always available to Tom at his earliest convenience. Dolohov had also been handed a pretty important task, but it did not necessarily mean Tom trusted him since he was a Legilimens and could not be lied to to begin with.
Hermione dropped her head onto the book, groaning. "I understand ya think the word's are indescribably sexy bu' there's no need to moan in the library." Abraxas whispered loudly. Theodore rolled his eyes from beside him, focusing on his essay instead.
The three friends had a shared free period first thing on Monday morning. They spent most of the period in the library, where Theodore and Hermione first panicked over Abraxas' horrible potions essay. The two each took turns criticising him between his horrible handwriting and his horribly lacklustre writing. Abraxas leaned back in his chair smug the entire time as they corrected (rewrote the entire feet long essay) his work.
"We'd better get to class," Theodore commented, glancing at his wrist.
"What're ya lookin' at. You don' have a watch." Abraxas scoffed.
Theodore sighed in an almost dream-like manner, "is what I would do if I had a watch. Thanks for your backup 'Brax." He huffed, getting off from his chair. Abraxas pouted, shoving his belongings into his book bag.
Hermione remained quiet, the witch already miserable between her loss of direction and her longing for home. No matter how well she was suppressing it, being around Malfoy specially made it worse. He looked a ridiculous lot like Draco Malfoy (not much like Lucius though, so Hermione liked to assume the handsomenes only came with their sparkling values). Both the Malfoy's were attractive too, but Hermione would rather gut herself than admit it to either. As for Theodore, she did not personally ever get to know the Theodore Nott from her own generation. The bell echoed through the hallways, immediately resulting in the distant noise of bustling footsteps as students walked to their next lesson. "We'd better get going, Dummies." Hermione instructed, snapping her book shut.
Abraxas looked up at her, affronted. "Who ya callin' dummy, Dummy!" He pouted, walking away. Theodore stood by Hermione's side waiting for her to magick all the books back to their respective shelves.
"He thinks walking away from me is funny because I've got short legs but he'll regret it when I cut his off." Hermione mumbled angrily, waving her wand at the stack of books. Theodore chuckled, offering her his arm silently.
Hermione took his arm with grace and walked out with him, slow on purpose. The pair walked in comfortable silence far behind Abraxas Malfoy until they reached the potions classroom. The classroom was already lively with its rowdy mix of Slytherin and Hufflepuff students. Slughorn was recounting a new golden student's lovely life story and his personal impact on every miniscule decision they ever made. Abraxas and Theodore bee-lined for one of the tables at the back leaving Hermione alone.
Hermione rolled her eyes, before setting up station in one of the very front tables. She brought out her Advanced Potions Making book and set it up in front of her cauldron. "Hello." Tom's voice cut into her concentration. Hermione whipped her head to look at him so fast she worried she might have given herself a whiplash.
Tom dropped his head and shook it silently with laughter before looking up at her. "I usually work here." He explained as he brought out his ingredients. Hermione nodded furiously, before moving away to her end of the table to bring out her own ingredients.
Slughorn clapped his hands loudly, earning him everyone's attention. "Today," began the boisterous old man, "we will be preparing the Canis Oratio potion, an entire batch requested by the ministry itself." Slughorn smiled so wide his beady eyes closed to a squint. "Now, can anyone tell me what the Canis Oratio potion is?" Hermione's hand shot up immediately and when she turned, much to her dismay, Tom Riddle's hand was already up too. The other students didn't pose much of a challenge but Slughorn particularly adored Tom. "Tom M'boy!" He pointed to the wretched tall, smart and handsome dark lord. Hermione refrained from letting her irritation show.
Tom smirked at her before looking forward. Oh this bitch!
"The Canis Oranis potion grants somewhat intelligent canines the ability to speak. However it may only be able to speak a language it already knows, one it has been exposed to long enough to know." He finished. Hermione scoffed, right whatever it's not like a perfect answer makes the perfect student.
"Perfect! 5 points for Slytherin. Now who can tell me how long it takes to brew and how long the canine will actually be able to speak." Hermione shot her hands up again, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent herself from looking over at Tom Riddle and possibly hurting her own feelings. "Yes, Miss Abbott?
Hermione scoffed softly, turning back to her book obviously miffed as she searched for the page with the potions recipe. "You know Granger, you are pretty meticulous. I would love working with you someday." Tom whispered by her ear. Hermione shivered, when did this snake-y bitch even get here?
She glared at him, "I don't wanna work with a know-it-all." She huffed ignorantly, turning her back to him. Tom chuckled behind her snd Hermione froze. Since when did Hermione think being a know-it-all was a bad thing? Perhaps when Snape called her insufferable? Stupid Slytherins and their stupid emotional abuse. Hermione might have been having a personal issue against Slytherins lately. Or perhaps it was just Tom Riddle who left her high and dry on her quest to squish him like a cockroach and burn all his aspirations.
"Okay then, the ingredients that will be needed are in the supply closet, go fetch what you need and begin with your potion." Slughorn finished finally, waddling out of sight to answer questions near the back of the classroom.
Hermione bolted for the supply closet, hoping to get the better quality ingredients before Tom Riddle got his slimy snake hands on them. However, with the height difference and Tom's ridiculously long strides, he caught up pretty easily. Hermione ignored him, deciding to get her canine hair whilst Tom did whatever he needed to. She pulled the jar down and inspected each single strand of hair, choosing six of the sleekest strands of hair without any tears or split ends. More students filed into the supply closet, searching for the ingredients they required. She felt a gentle nudge on her arm and turned to look back.
"Chewing tobacco." Tom said, his hand sticking out. Hermione looked at the jar of chewing tobacco behind him making Tom roll his eyes, "got the better ones obviously. Do you want it or shall I let someone else have it." He turned away. Hermione pouted, quickly accepting the little stick. She moved onto the jar of dictionarius flower next without spending more time dilly-dallying. She plucked four of the healthiest petals from the flower and turned to Tom, swallowing her suddenly inflated pride.
"There, the healthiest dictionarius petals." She gave him a small smile before turning back to leave the closet, now we're even.
Hermione gently set down her acquired ingredients onto her empty countertop and moved to perch her book upright at an angle where she could easily refer to it whilst working.
Seconds later Tom emerged from the closet as well. From the corner of her eyes Hermione could see how gently he was setting down his ingredients. She turned away to focus on her own work. She had her last potion messed up because of the Hufflepuff girl, Matilda. Or was it Melissa? Hermione did not remember. She only remembered how desperately she wanted to punch the girl in her face. A hex would be too easy on her.
Hermione moved to her cauldron and gently poured 250ml's of her own batch of basic potion starter. She dropped the canine hair into the potion and allowed it to brew for a moment, looking over at her Advanced Potions Making book.
Now to chew the chewing tobacco for a minute. She unwrapped the little stick Tom had given her and put it in between her teeth, biting down on it. Personally she hated how it tasted, she hated the bitterness of it. She glanced at Tom. He was currently hunched over his cauldron, spitting out the chewing tobacco into the cauldron. He looked up and turned to Hermione, maintaining eye contact. He smirked, sending her a wink. Hermione frowned.