It wasn't unusual to pay the Riddles a visit to their Little Hangelton manor during the summer or vice versa. The women would either have tea and biscuits in one of the parlors or in the back garden while Louisa, Eleanor, Tommy, and the other children played around the bushes. Hermione would often find solace in the library. Reading books that she had bought with her or browsing their bookshelves.
This summer, with Tom in the picture, ever since she first boarded the train for Hogwarts, she was now joined by a second person. On one such day in July – a week into their summer holidays – found Hermione and Tom sitting at one of the tables by the window. The two of them bent over their homework for History of Magic.
"I would have liked it if you could check out books during the summer holidays," Tom had mused as he turned a page in his textbook. "There was this book that I have found interesting in the library."
"Did you ask one of your house mates if they had a similar title?" she had asked, setting down her quill.
"I did, and if my stepmother heard that owl pecking at my bedroom window," he had replied. "I doubt she would have fancied that."
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask," Hermione had said. "Of course, our owls are different than any common ones."
It was true. The owls a wizard or witch would purchase at Eeylop's Owl Emporium behaved differently from the run-of-the-mill owl known by people like their parents. It would be more apt to be likened to those birds one usually keeps as pets.
"I might, though I don't think I'd expect to hear a yes," he said. "They are not that fond of magic."
As Tom put it, his father had stored away his wand for safekeeping until that day when he departed to school on the train. Though Tom didn't feel too bad about it as Hermione expected it. He didn't say it outright for Hermione to figure out why it wasn't bothering him.
"Even if you could do magic without a wand, it's still forbidden," she warned him. "They gave us notes not to do magic outside of school. You'd be accused of breaching the statute of secrecy!"
"You forget who I speak to sometimes." Tom had waved his hand dismissively. "The Ministry tends to overlook underage magic if there is one more person or more in the house that is a witch or a wizard. Since Louisa is probably going to Hogwarts, the Ministry might think it was a bout of accidental magic. Besides, I'm not going to do anything too drastic. It wouldn't be Slytherin of me."
Still, Hermione didn't want Tom to get into trouble, even if he had wanted to be careful.
Eventually, Hermione and Tom decided to take a break with their homework. Leaving the library to join mother, Dame Riddle, and some others outside.
"Ah, there you are!" mom exclaimed fondly as they neared the table where she sat with Dame Riddle and a couple of their friends. "We were wondering when you'd come out and join us. It's a nice day, after all."
"Well, we can't stay out here too long," said Tom as he smiled. "We are doing our homework after all."
"Simply because you are focused on your studies doesn't mean you shouldn't deprive yourself of a day like this," said Mrs. Hancock. "Children need some sun."
So Tom and Hermione stayed for a few minutes. Accepting offers of biscuits and juice as they listened to the women talk.
"Are you worried that if it's going to come down to war, that your husband might enlist, Trudy?" asked Dame Riddle.
"My husband's family had committed themselves to fight for England ever since the Yanks wanted to break away from the crown," said Mrs. Hancock. "Of course, my husband is going to sacrifice a limb for this country should it come down to it."
"It seems more likely with each passing day," said mother. "I won't be surprised if Hitler takes Poland in a month or two."
"Now, please, may we change the topic?" pleaded Mrs. Ellingsworth. Gesturing to Hermione and Tom. "Not when we have children listening in. Now, what is it that you two learn at that school?"
At this, Hermione could see her mother and Dame Riddle exchanging nervous glances. As if they weren't certain about that question. Tom's grandmother appeared to be on the verge of spitting out her tea. What Hermione gathered, they never told everyone the truth about where she and Tom will go every fall.
Of course, they weren't supposed to know.
"We learn what one would usually," Hermione had answered. "Except it's a few years ahead."
"I don't think that should really be a surprise," said Mrs. Ellingsworth as she saw the relief dawn on mother's, the younger Mrs. Riddle, and the elder Mrs. Riddle's faces. "With all your love of books." She then turns to Tom. "Now, they say that Tom Riddle Senior was a prodigy in his day, and I wouldn't doubt it if the same could be said about you, dear."
Hermione could tell that Tom had wanted to mutter something, and whatever it was, he was hiding it behind his glass of apple juice.
Eventually, they had left the adults and decided to go back up to the library to continue their homework until it was time for her parents to collect her for the trip back home.
"Are you and Tom ever going to venture out of the library when we visit?" Eleanor had asked once they took their seats in their train car.
"It's only been a week into summer, Ellie," Hermione had pointed out. "We're not going to be in the library all the time."
Six-year-old Thomas Alexander Riddle stomped up the stairs when he was done with dinner. Ignoring his mummy's calls that they were having strawberry strudel for dessert.
Tommy plopped down the window seat of his and Louisa's room. Frowning as he gazed out the darkening sky. He hated seeing his grandma and grandpa fawn over his older brother. Who he didn't know about until last year.
He'd overhear the words "sickly" and "unfit" from them when pertaining to him. They said that his older brother looked a lot like daddy when he was that age, so of course, his grandparents would now favor this new kid over him.
Tommy still had his hands folded as he heard the door open to his room. No, he didn't want anyone to see him or talk to him.
"You sure you don't want pudding?" he heard Tom ask him. He was holding a plate of strawberry strudel. "Mother said it was your favorite."
Tommy shrugged. "No. No, thanks."
Tom had left, and Tommy had thought he'd left him alone until he came back. "Do you want to play Monopoly?" he had asked, now holding the box in his hands.
Tom had always seemed friendly to him since the Christmas holidays. He wasn't too much of a bully like a kid from an orphanage might turn be. He wasn't mean to him like a Golden Child of grandma and grandpa would be.
Tommy nodded as Tom emptied the box. Maybe having a big brother wouldn't be so bad.
When Hermione had finished her homework on the eleventh of July, she had felt her schedule clear for any new books that would be worth her fancy. Or checking out books in the library to send to Tom to see if he'd like them.
"Would you be able to go to Oxford after this school you go to?" Eleanor had asked her on an afternoon in early July.
"Maybe," Hermione had said. If Eleanor had asked her that question before receiving her letter, that answer would have been a definite 'yes.' She would have, without a doubt would, have wanted to attend the school that Great Uncle Archie had taught. Now, Hermione was interested in whatever was out there for a witch. What opportunities there were instead of just Oxford.
Of course, Tom's grandparents would have wanted him to go to Oxford or Cambridge following Hogwarts prior to inheriting the title of Earl of Little Hangelton and the estate. It was apparent that his Hogwarts education would be the only thing involving magic. Knowing Tom, though, he wouldn't want either.
"Well, Dame Riddle says that if Louisa doesn't go to Oxford, she's not realizing her priorities," said Eleanor.
"You and Eleanor are only ten," Hermione had pointed out. "Oxford should be years away."
Towards the middle of July, Hermione and Eleanor had made the annual trip to the Hancock Manor for Eloise's twelfth birthday. The party taking place in the shade in the Hancock's expansive back garden.
"This Tom Riddle boy, you seem to have become pretty tight with him," Eloise mentioned.
"Yes, is that a problem?" Hermione had demanded, not appreciating the disdain that was in Eloise's tone.
Eloise shrugged. "Well, it's not all the time a family of the aristocracy would take in a child from a scandalous marriage. Unless the heir is sickly, as mum would say."
Of course, both Hermione and Tom knew that the only reason his father ad Dame Riddle took him in was because the elder Mr. and Mrs. Riddle didn't feel confident that Tommy would live to see the age of majority due to his health. Even if Mrs. Hancock would be right in their assumptions, she didn't feel like entertaining Eloise. For who knows what she might tell Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret the next time she sees them.
It was always in the middle of July when Sir Riddle and his wife Cecelia would take their children to Edinburgh to see Cecelia's sister, Pearl Evans nee Bradshaw, her husband Richard, and her family. Personally, Tom would have preferred it if he had gone over to the manor where the Grangers lived to spend that time with Hermione. To talk about the books she had lent him and theorize what they might be learning for the coming term.
He should have known that his father would have been adamant about bringing him along. As if he didn't trust him under his watch. As if Tom was that stupid to try anything while he was away. It was like he had seemed to forget that his grandparents never seemed to approve of magic either.
For the three-hour train ride, he had spent that time writing one letter to Hermione and writing one to Gaius Mulciber. As Tom didn't have an owl yet (he was pondering what strings to pull this August when they go to Diagon Alley for his effects for the second year), Gaius had found a way to send him some letters.
"I mean, there are wizards who work with Muggle post," he had broadcasted on the day they had all packed their bags for the trip home. "We can just send you to post that way until you get an owl."
The plan was to put the letters all in one envelope delivered from Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire (Abraxas had offered to send him clippings from the Daily Prophet to keep him in the loop of what was going on in their world). Though Tom thought that it was thoughtful, he could tell that they'd rather send post the traditional way. To not have to degrade themselves in this fashion.
Not that he'd blame them.
His stepmother's sister lived in a house that was the same size as Riddle Manor. She and her husband had two young kids as well. Though younger than Louisa and Tommy. The latter went off to be with the nursemaid while Tom and Louisa had to sit with the four adults.
Though of the two, Tom seemed to be the main attraction from his step-aunt and her husband.
"Now, Cecelia tells me you love to read in your spare time," noted Aunt Pearl, looking over the top of her glasses at Tom as she picked up her teacup and saucer. "What is it that you like to read?"
"Anything by Charles Dickens," Tom had answered, trying to come off as ordinary as possible. Even if there was nothing ordinary about him. "I really like the Hobbit by Tolkien."
"Excellent taste, I might say," his step-uncle noted. "Fair to say that the orphanage hasn't sullied your mind."
"The benefactors would also give us books, sir," Tom pointed out. I would nick a few from the older orphans, he adds mentally. I didn't want to read any of those stupid books.
In no time, the adults dismissed him and Louisa. Though he lingered behind to see what they would say about him thinking he wasn't there to hear.
"Seems in perfect shape to me," he could hear step-aunt Pearl say. "He doesn't seem to inherit the abnormalities from those mongrels you said lived outside the village."
"I'm afraid it's a little too early to tell," said his stepmother. "He's only twelve."
"In my experience, people are said to have shown any derangement from a young age," his step-uncle seemed to counter. "That is based on the records in the facility where I work at."
So, his step-uncle was one of those people then. Those doctors like the one he thought Dumbledore was before he proved to him otherwise. Like the ones he heard that Mrs. Cole was going to refer him to. If it weren't for that Hogwarts letter, he'd probably currently be sitting in an institution for the criminally insane.
Maybe be subject to an exorcism.
Tom didn't want to hear anymore. So, he went up the stairs to the room where he would be staying with Louisa. Pulling out one of the books from his trunk, plopped on the bed and opened it to read it. Of course, he had to make sure that the adults couldn't catch him dead reading this, for it was a book on his world that Hermione had lent him.
"See, this proves our point," he could see his stepmother say.
Hearing someone get close to the door, Tom had rushed to put it back in the trunk. Only to stop to see that it was Louisa. His young sister fixed a quizzical look at him.
"Why aren't you outside?" she had asked him. "It's a nice day out."
"Sometimes, I like to stay inside and read," he said.
"You can read outside," Louisa had pointed out. "The sun helps us to grow aside from the vegetables. As that's what mum says."
Certainly, listen to what your mummy says, Tom grumbles mentally. On the outside, however, he had complied. Following Louisa out to the back gardens, though not before taking Ezekiel – his pet garter snake – with him. Putting him in his pocket.
He finds a nice tree with a good shade of leaves to read his book at. Setting his snake on his lap before opening the page he had left off. He hoped to get his own copy of Great Wizarding Events of the Turn of the Century when they go to Diagon Alley, as he knew how Hermione is with her books.
Because he was that way, too, with his books. Maybe he can convince one of Hermione's parents to buy him a copy of his father and stepmother were unwilling. As they would be.
Around the time of the second letter from Hogwarts, it was more common than ever for the Grangers to sit around the radio. Listening in stony silence as they hear the BBC broadcast on the buildup of German aggression to Poland.
"Any day now, any day now," mother would say in a mantra with each news report. Her hands clutched around her pearl necklace.
If Hermione had it her way, Hitler wouldn't go through with invading Poland. That there would be something or other that would prevent Hitler from taking Poland. That would have been ideal. However, with the way he took Austria and Czechoslovakia with such ease and with the mounting concern displayed by the reporters….
At the dinner table, the adults tried to stray away from the topic of the possibility of war with Germany. Though they probably conversed about it when she and Eleanor would be put to bed. Voicing their concerns about what would happen without worrying Hermione and Eleanor.
Though that didn't stop Eleanor from coming to her room at night and snuggling with her in bed. As she did when she had a nightmare when she was very little. "We're going to be okay," Hermione had tried to assure. 'If it does come to war, we'll stop him."
Hermione, though, had doubted her own words. Even if Britain were to win against Hitler, right now, her words came out hallow.
It was the arrival of her letter from Hogwarts that she was able to push Hitler out of her mind. This year, they'd only need one book for the year, but the thought of going to Diagon Alley and being away from that had held a lot of promise.
"You think one of us should call them, John?" she had heard mother suggest to father. "This would be their first time taking him."
Hermione remembered Tom telling her how he went to Diagon Alley by himself. Purchasing his wand, secondhand robes, and secondhand books using a stipend from the school. Her parents had gone with Professor Dumbledore to their first visit to get a sense of familiarity with the wizarding world. Her family wouldn't need it this year.
Tom's family would. And she wasn't sure if they'd like it that much. Considering that they put Tom's wand away until he goes to Hogwarts this September. Dame Riddle even shifted uncomfortably at the innocuous mention of homework.
All it took was her mother to make one phone call, and the next day, Tom had come along with his father and stepmother. Louisa and Tommy still at Little Hangelton with their grandparents.
"I'm hoping to buy a few books from Flourish and Blotts," Tom had noted as they played Scrabble on the floor. "I discovered some rather interesting titles during my first time there. Though I couldn't buy them as my stipend could only go so far."
"There are some books that I still want to look at," Hermione noted. "I couldn't get them the first time I was there."
In fact, the books that she had gotten for background reading have barely scratched the surface. What books she had hoped to get the last time that she couldn't, she had hoped to procure tomorrow.
The following day, after eating a nice breakfast, they had all set out for the trip from Essex to London.
"Of course, they'll know where it would be," said father as they arrived at the avenue where the Muggle entrance of the Leaky Cauldron was located.
"Not the most flattering of places, I should warn you," mother had said in a hushed whisper. Hermione could remember how uncomfortable mother and father appeared when Professor Dumbledore had led them through the dingy pub the first time.
No doubt that Sir and Dame Riddle would be just as uncomfortable as well. The Leaky Cauldron wasn't the sort of place where you'd expect British aristocrats to convene.
The four of them followed another seemingly Muggle factory into the pub. The man opened the door for them to let them through. Hermione wasn't obvious to the Riddles trying to hurry Tom through the pub as if they thought bad things might happen.
Hermione thought she saw Sir Riddle flinch when they faced the brick wall when she took out her wand to tap the bricks in the order Dumbledore had shown her during the Grangers' first visit there.
Nor did she miss Dame Riddle's slight jump as the bricks separated to reveal the winding alley with its shops.
Hermione wagered that she and Tom weren't the only ones with Muggle parents with them. For she saw a handful of others with parents who appeared to have come through the Muggle end of the Leaky Cauldron. Still, the elder Riddles appeared that might have been out of place.
"We go there first," father mentioned, pointing at the bank at the end of the road. "They don't recognize the Pound. They have their own currency. Word of warning: Goblins manage the bank?"
"Goblins?" Dame Riddle choked in a whisper. As if she hoped she heard it wrong. "Those are real too?"
"It wouldn't have been wise to not say anything," said mother with a nod.
Even if they tried not to show it, Hermione could see them trying so hard not to crinkle their noses as the goblins counted their money and handed them the golden, silver, and bronze coins. Tom, on the other hand, seemed to be holding back laughter.
"Now, let's not stay longer than we need to," Sir Riddle said in an undertone as the adults followed them to Flourish and Blotts.
"There are books that I couldn't get the last time," Tom had stated as Hermione caught sight of Euphemia Ainsworth and her family. "I said that this morning. It's not like I know much."
Both Hermione and Tom had gotten their copies of Standard Book of Spells, Grade Two before straying towards one of the non-fiction sections. For a moment, she thought she saw Tom wander his eyes towards the Dark Magicks and other Irregularities section before trailing his sight to their destination.
"Look at this one, Tom." Hermione pulled out a copy of Alchemy: History of the World's Most Ancient Craft. "It's similar to potions, though more dangerous as it requires a considerable amount of skill."
"I believe I read the first few chapters here," Tom noted as he took the book from her hands. "There are similar books that I have read in the Hogwarts' library. It's still preferential to have my own."
By the end of the trip, she was confident they had a few more books added to their collection. And she didn't miss the satisfaction on his face as they returned to the part of London that they'd known their entire lives before they received their letters.
And of course, Tom was able to find some strings to pull to purchase an owl. For they both were carrying cages with their new slumbering owls.
