Notes: Thank you all for the continued support. I hope you are all staying safe.
For those of you that might wonder about Hermione's appetites and her interest in Tom, I ask you to have faith. This is a journey and we are only just beginning.
Chapters 4 and 5 are super short so I'm posting one today and another on Saturday. Then I think I'll transition to posting Tues, Thurs and Sat since that jives better with my work schedule.
~*~ Four ~*~
It took most of dinner, which thankfully had been served to them at the table adjacent to the professors', and the entire walk down to the dungeons before Hermione was able to wrap her head around exactly how screwed she was. It had been one thing to think of taking down Riddle from the Ravenclaw common room, it was an entirely different thing from within the snake pit itself. Everyone would be gunning for her; every single pureblood would take her to pieces if they found out even one hair on her head was a lie.
She risked a glance at Malfoy, who walked silently beside her, eyes sweeping the corridor as if on patrol. She couldn't fault him; her own eyes traced the same paths, searching for an ambush that wasn't coming, at least not now.
The door to the Slytherin common room swung open with a whispered Mudblood that had her skin prickling even if she wasn't surprised. It would be such a joy to use the slur every day to return to her bed. None of the other Slytherins batted an eye and Hermione reminded herself that it was a different time, a different world and if she was going to take down Tom Marvolo Riddle, certain things like Mudblood would have to roll off her skin like dew from a petal.
"Welcome to Slytherin," a prefect girl, perhaps a sixth year, beamed at Hermione and Malfoy as they crossed the threshold. "I'm Aurelia Greengrass and I'm one the of prefects. Headmaster Dippet thought it best if I was assigned to help the both of you specifically since you'll need a much different orientation than the first years. You'll both be part of sixth year classes, and some seventh year."
Warm honey eyes blinked up at Hermione from beneath luminous toffee bangs. Despite clearly being a Slytherin, Aurelia didn't appear to have a single menacing bone in her petite body. Hermione had to blink several times to make sure the girl, and her bubbly personality, were real.
"Uh… thanks," Hermione managed as the Slytherin kept smiling at her with undeniable enthusiasm.
Malfoy was staring at Aurelia like he'd simultaneously seen a ghost and gotten food poisoning. Hermione elbowed him sharply in the ribs and he reverted to simply appearing nauseous. The girl frowned at him, but turned the full force of her attention onto Hermione.
"We're sharing a dorm, so I can show you where you'll bunk when we go upstairs. Your class schedules are already on your beds." Movement from beyond the fireplace had Aurelia pausing, her cheeks flushing. "But enough about that. I think Tom is excited to meet the both of you. He may not be Head Boy yet, but he's the head of Slytherin house already, even if he is only a sixth year."
Electricity shot down her spine as Riddle crooked a finger, summoning them to his fireside milieu. Malfoy shot her a warning glare as they followed the unspoken command. Hermione glared back with equal fervor. She wasn't stupid. It didn't matter how strong her craving became, she wasn't about to risk the very basis of this mission to scratch an itch she knew would not be so easily satisfied.
Infinite cobalt drank her in as they approached, never leaving her eyes and yet sending tremors across every millimeter of her skin. "It is my utter pleasure to meet both of you, Miss Hermione Gable," Riddle purred, voice deeper than she'd imagined.
His lips, sinfully soft, were against the back of her hand before she could blink, let alone realize he was touching her. If his gaze was pure electricity, his touch was unbridled fire, utterly consuming and infinitely dangerous. She knew he could feel the tremble of her palm, utterly limp in his firm grasp as he stared down at her with a hunger that promised to undo her.
Malfoy cleared his throat and the moment fractured, leaving only her arm shaking against her borrowed skirt, Riddle's attention momentarily diverted. Malfoy stuck out his hand, "Dacian Mallet."
"Tom Riddle."
Their handshake was quick, but firm, Malfoy showing no sign of unease as he smiled grimly across at Riddle. The two were approximately the same height, which surprised her. She'd always thought of Malfoy as slight, smaller, but the last time she'd seen him next to her friends he'd been merely sixteen. She'd known Riddle was tall, but seeing that this young version truly had nothing in common with the snake who'd taken everything threw her. This was a handsome young man; not a monster. And yet she knew, knew that underneath the charm and the beauty lurked the beginnings of one. And it was her job to snuff it out.