This is more like half a chapter. Anyway, that's just how things flowed. After this all chapters will be full size again. I view this as the last of the "prequel" type chapters. Thank you all for reading. Stay safe.

~*~ Five ~*~

"So what did you think?"

Hermione frowned at Aurelia over her shoulder. "Think?"

A coy smile skated across the girl's face as she resumed the perusal of her History of Magic text. "About Tom Riddle of course. You'd have to be blind not to see the way he looked at you."

Hermione absolutely refused to acknowledge the sparks that ignited at the base of her spine. Her hand dug into the pillow on her bed, the alarmingly green sham twisting in her grip. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't be daft," Aurelia's voice was suddenly sharp, even if her honey eyes remained warm. "This is Slytherin, Hermione, we can all see right through you. You like the way he looks at you and every single member of this house knows that."

Hermione's jaw worked silently for a long moment. Was Aurelia right? Was she truly an open book in this lair of snakes? That would make things all the more precarious, a risk she could ill afford with a multitude of secrets already amassed. Perhaps she had been lulled into complacency by the utter-blockheadedness of the Gryffindor cohort. Harry and Ron had been oblivious to nearly everything important that had ever happened in her life. At least until the war. After that there had been nothing but death and survival left to care about.

"I bet he's like that with all the girls," she hedged, not quite willing to acknowledge the chilling truth behind Aurelia's words.

The petite girl's lips pursed for a long moment before she sighed. "Actually, no. The girls may be trying to break down his door every night, but Tom has never, and I mean never, given anyone the time of day. He's showed more interest in you in the last two hours than he's showed in anyone in his entire time at Hogwarts."

Hermione's blood lodged in her veins, frozen solid. "What?"

"Riddle likes you. And that may be the event of the year in Slytherin. I'm pretty sure he's painted a target on your back, at least as far as the female half of the house is concerned." Aurelia paused, hazel eyes pleading. "You need to be careful, Hermione. Riddle is… powerful."

She met the girl's desperate stare with narrowed eyes. "What are you saying?"

"If Riddle wants you…" Aurelia's hands wrung together even as her eyes hardened. "You may not be able to say no."

Hermione's breath caught. She'd known he'd was feared in his Hogwarts years, Slughorn had been intimidated enough to give him information on bloody Horcruxes. But she'd never truly thought about it, never realized his power would extend beyond the clearly nefarious to the mundane. It was a very good thing that he'd never shown sustained interested in a girl before. Hermione could only imagine how much damage he would have wreaked upon some unsuspecting soul, Slytherin or no. But Hermione wasn't just any girl; she was a war veteran and four years his senior. She might have an unholy attraction to him, but she knew every one of his secrets. He would never control her.

"I can hold my own," Hermione murmured, putting the stack of borrowed textbooks in order on her desk.

Aurelia stared at her a long moment, before nodding, honey eyes bright. "Of that, I have no doubt, Hermione Gable."