Authors note: First, I can't believe I got this done. It's a little bit shorter than usual but oh well. I kind of enjoyed it since it's playing more into the plot. You guys want Hermione to be pregnant like way too bad. I commend you though, but I honestly laughed every time someone was like she's pregnant tho. Nah you guys. She forgot about Lavender. And I really didn't want to put it in the sex scenes about Tom using magical protection because I feel like it's a mood killer, but he did even though I never said it. Sorry, but I'm not quite ready for tiny little magical riddle babies

Any whom. Much action in this chapter. Much action indeed. I like my action chapters. They're interesting.

Also I apologize for skipping so much time but I'm trying to get somewhere. I won't be skipping as much time anymore. They've got a lot to do in a short span of time.

So read and review! Thanks!

Hermione's every instinct told her to turn around now, to just forget everything and just leave. Any chance she had to turn and walk out was completely shattered for the second she had stepped into the door it slammed shut, she could hear the tongues sliding back into their original spots. The heavy darkness that surrounded her was increased tenfold due to the heavy humidity and smell that encased her and her professor. She bit her lip to keep any sounds from coming from her lip. Some desperate childish part of her wanted to turn and claw at the door, to scream and kick at it until it opened for her.

Very suddenly she was hit with the fear that Tom had simply led her into this tunnel and had walked off assuming she had followed or had simply disapparated and left her here to die. Hermione couldn't decide whether she wanted to cry or to scream for help. Something told her that screaming was probably the dumbest thing she could do at this point. She was too terrified to raise her wand and light it, not knowing what lie in the tunnel she'd just entered. She wanted to stretch her fingers out, to try and feel for Tom's jacket but her fear kept her from doing that either. She simply stood still with her eyes clasped shut and her arms paralyzed to her sides, unsure of how to handle the situation.

"Hermione?" She heard Tom's light whisper come from beside her and the abrupt sound of it made her jump, biting down hard into her lip tasting blood to keep from screaming. "You must be quiet, do you understand? I'm going to light my wand and no matter what you see, you must stay quiet. No matter what you see."

"Okay." Her murmured response cracked from the distress she felt.

The bright light that expanded from his wand made Hermione quickly aware of why she was too keep quiet. No warning prepared her for what the harsh white light of his wand revealed. Tom must have again expected Hermione to react the way she had, the halls they'd just came from were very similar to the hall they'd just entered except for one very large difference. The skulls that had been packed tightly into the walls were still there, except they weren't skulls. They were human heads, very fresh human heads. The severed skin at the edge of the necks was ragged, as though the heads had been shredded from their bodies. Blood dripped from the mangled uneven shreds of skin and muscle. However, as much as the severed heads terrified her, it wasn't so much the heads as much the faces that were on them.

Tom's hand held very tightly over her lips to mask the scream that was trapped behind his hand. Her legs gave way beneath her and she crumpled to the ground; she found herself staring into the faces of her friends. Ron's eyes seemed to follow her, the grey skin sagging grotesquely, his mouth lulling open as though he were to scream, but nothing would ever come out again. Harry's glasses were smashed into his face, the bright green eyes now dulled, their usual twinkle gone, and the matte color glaring intensely at her. Ginny Weasley's tongue stuck out, a disgusting grey-purple color, her face blotched with ugly coloring where the blood had pooled. Tom was whispering into her ear but she could barely hear it, his arms wrapped very tightly around her as he trailed her to the ground holding onto her body.

"Hermione, it's not real. Shh, stop. You have to listen to me. It's not real, I need you to stop and breath. This isn't real." His voice was deep in her ear, his grip tight. "Hermione, stop. Now." His voice was hard and commanding.

A sob racked in her chest and she begged herself to calm down and close her eyes, to quit staring at the faces that seemed to be following her every move. He turned her around and forced her to look into his eyes, her breathing hysterical.

"They aren't real. Do you understand me? I need you to stop crying. We have to keep going, you need to calm down." He gripped her shoulders tightly. When she only hiccupped a cry back in response he shook her hard. "Hermione! Now! Stop it."

She took a deep rattling breath to calm herself, forcing herself to stare into Tom's dark eyes though the eyes of her friends glazed at her through her peripheral vision. Tom's eyes were wide and unblinking. She continued to take deep shaky breaths and raised her hands to rub her eyes ferociously.

"Nothing you see is real. I need you to stand up, we have to go. You have to get a hold of yourself. Remember what I said, no matter what you see you have to stay quiet and remain calm." His eyes remained trained on her face, refusing to move away until he was sure she was okay.

"I-I'm okay. I'm okay." She huffed readying herself to stand up.

Tom helped her stand up and he looked at her one last time before finally tearing his gaze away to turn his wand forward. However much Hermione wanted to refrain from acting childish, she ignored it. She firmly gripped Tom's hand, though he turned to give her a surprised look he allowed it. He pulled her forward, egging her to look nowhere but at his back. She felt herself shaking as the faces seemed to morph, their features melting into those of her parents. She bit back bile and continued to move forward behind Tom.

They continued walking on for what felt like at least a mile before they reached a crossways. Tom stopped and held his wand up in each direction. Hermione noticed the wall was covered in Runes, though they seemed to be written in some sort of silvery liquid that looked very similar to Unicorn Blood. She felt a small very quick burst of pride at being able to read the Runes but regretted it simultaneously when she read them.

I am the instrument of death, fathered by hate, bred of pure evil.

Thy nightmares hast nay contest with thee

See the dead who thou mourn, all those who thy love

Thy death in these halls will surely be of thy own doing.

So choose thy direction and be wary of thy choices

"Please tell me you know where to go." Her voice was so quiet she could barely hear it.

The look Tom turned and gave her was one of heavy annoyance and that of an adult giving their child a final warning. He turned back, holding up his light higher to the wall as if looking for something. She finally decided it would be best to light her wand and raised it, 'Lumos', and held it behind Tom. She turned and looked down the two halls that they were given to choose from but the light from her wand revealed nothing but the few feet ahead of them.

"Do you trust me, Hermione?" His voice caused her to jump and his question scared her even more, she didn't answer him. She just gave him a very wide eyed look. "Do you?"

"Yes." She whispered.

The word had barely slipped from her mouth when Tom suddenly lurched forward into the wall where the Runes were written, disappearing from her sight leaving her very alone. She jumped to move forward but the wall was hard. She took a step back, her breath catching in her throat.

"Tom, Tom please. Oh God, no Tom. Please." She slammed her fists against the wall trying to keep her voice quiet but the frenzied fear coming over her body was preventing it.

Hermione stopped pounding on the wall and tried to stop and think but her head wouldn't stop spinning, her mind was spiraling out of control and she couldn't seem to pause her frantic breathing.

"He didn't leave. He wouldn't leave me. He's coming back. Tom's coming back." She willed herself to calm down.

Just as soon as she took her first deep full breath, an outstretched hand broke through the wall. Hermione screamed so loudly that she thought she could feel her throat ripping inside her neck. The hand gripped her by her sweatshirt yanking her through the wall. Next to apparating, it was one of the most incredibly uncomfortable things she'd ever been through. The wall seemed to adhere to her skin, as though it were trying to grasp her body and mold it into the wall. For the few seconds she was in there, her breath was pushed from her chest making her feel strangely as though she were being constricted by a snake.

Finally when her body landed through the wall she found herself sprawled awkwardly on the floor at Tom's feet, her wand held tightly up at him already a hex on the tip of her tongue. Tom however already had a shield ready, prepared for anything she was going to send his way.

"You didn't honestly think I'd leave you, did you?" He smirked.

"You're a fucking asshole." She resisted the urge to slap him across the face.

He helped her stand and she glanced around at the new surroundings, thankful that there was light in this particular area. She was however confused at the abrupt change of scenery. Unlike the halls from which they'd just came from, this very large circular room was more like a giant smooth cavern, lit with large blue orbs that swirled slowly around the room.

"Where are we?" Her voice sounded loud and hallow in the room, it seemed to echo in circles making it difficult to decipher where it came from.

"We're precisely 80 miles under Italy, more specifically Naples. Listen…" She opened her ears and realized she could hear a faint rushing and rumbling sound. "Can you hear it?"
"What is that?" The eerie look on his face made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"Have you ever wanted to visit Mt. Vesuvius?" A devilish look came about his face.

She froze and stared at him, turning back to look around all the room. The sound seemed to be louder as she tried to understand what she was hearing. Eighty miles under the ground in Naples, Italy meant they were currently surrounded by molten rock and magma. The sound she was hearing was who knows how many thousands or maybe millions of tons of melted rock and hot earth was rushing around them, encasing them. She felt very enclosed and she felt her breathing become shallow.

"What the hell is that?" She found her attention based onto the center of the room where a very large black rock, it seemed to be cracking and moving slightly. It had burst of red and orange within it, moving as though it were alive. She realized the rock seemed to have liquid earth moving within it. "Is it in there?"

"Yes. It is." He walked towards the middle of the room, examining it. "Now we just have to get it out."

She walked forward and came up behind Tom. What she thought were more runes walking up to the stone were strange symbols that she couldn't place. Placing her hand over the rock she felt an extreme heat, so hot that she was forced to quickly remove her hand.

"That was stupid." Tom let out a mirthless laugh but he stopped quickly.

"Are we just going to stand here and make fun of me or are we going to do what we came here to do?" She asked walking around the large boulder.

Tom said nothing but instead struck his hand straight into the rock. She shouted, reaching her hand out to stop him but it was too late, his entire arm went into the rock. His face grimaced heavily and he moved around, she watched as the sleeve on his shirt sizzled and burned. She ripped her face away when his arm came back out. However her curiosity bested her and she turned peeking an eye at his arm.

It didn't look at all as bad as she expected it too. It looked as though he had received bad sunburn on his arm, though the clothes were singed and the top of his sweater was still smoking, the sleeve now covered in small growing holes edged with burning red embers. He patted them out nonchalantly before turning to look at her.

"Come on then." He nodded at the rock and readied his hand to stick it again. "It's a large boulder, I need help."

She walked forward and stared at the rock ignoring the fact that her hand was still warm from holding her hand over it earlier. She had yet to forget the fact that Tom had made that same face when they'd first entered the area. She found herself incredibly hesitant to stick her arm in the rock but instead stuck her in her right hand and came on the other side of the rock.

She knew she was supposed to be quiet, but the second her arm entered the rock she shouted. Though it was definitely not as hot as it had been when she held her hand over it, it still burned to the point where she forgotten why she'd stuck her arm in. The feeling was odd, as though she'd pushed her entire arm into a large vat of burning jelly. She bit her lip and moved her arm around searching for something, anything to put her fingers around. With every second, the burning sensation grew worse and she felt tears burning out of her eyes as she struggled to keep her arm in the boulder.

"Wait!" She felt something grace her fingers but it was just out of her touch. She took a deep breath and pushed in until her side was pressed into the rock. She let out a cry as she felt the skin on her arm beginning to blister, her side now feeling the pain of it. "I've got it!"

Tom pulled his arm out, the clothing that once covered it gone and the pale skin now blistered and shiny, the grimace on his face severe and his teeth gritted. He looked over at Hermione's skin who looked equally worse, if not more burned than him. Her sleeve was also gone but the entire side of her sweater had been burned, her sweater and under-tank now completely useless and she found herself simply pulling it off. The skin on her side was red and shiny and her arm was a hot red color, covered in hot pus filled blisters.

"It's a locke-"Her words were cut off by a distant rumbling coming from the walls around them. She felt a cold sense of terror wash over her body as she looked up to the smooth cavern around them.

A large crack had appeared in the wall in the very edge of the room, spreading down to the floor, the room shaking heavily. Her eyes followed the crack as it moved across the floor towards the rock where they sat.

"WE NEED TO GO! NOW!" Tom's words jarred her, trying to come around to her as the room began shaking harder. She stumbled as the crack pushed up twisting her ankle and pulling her to the ground. "Hermione!"

She shouted as she hit the ground trying to pull herself back up but the ferocious movement of the room made it hard. She found her vision pulled away however when a piece of the ceiling fell down and she felt bile rise in her throat and a cold sudden fear paralyze the body as a thick stream of magma began pouring into the room.

"Hermione," Tom grabbed her burnt wrist pulling hard to yank her body up. "Get up! We have to go!"

The temperature in the room had increased by at least one hundred degrees, she felt her face sweating heavily and was for a moment glad she had shed her ruined clothing. The molten rock that was filling the room was spreading quickly, the glowing orbs that had given the room light were all out, the only light coming from the glowing magma now quickly making it's way towards them. More holes were coming from around all sides, allowing more melting rock to pour in.

"Tom!" She screamed as they reached the door, the melting rock only a mere ten feet away, the temperature now quickly surpassing a hundred degrees. The boulder that sat in the middle of the room now gone. She found herself clenching her wand and locket so hard they were painfully digging into her hands. "Tom! Please!"

Tom was speaking quickly, waving his wand intricately across the door they had entered, the look on his face grave and frantic. She turned and yelped, the lava was only a foot and a half away. Tom whipped his wand down the door and then he was gone and she screamed, the edge of her shoe burning, she turned and pressed her back into the wall.

"AGUAMENTI" She whipped her wand across her feet but the water turned to steam before it even hit the red rock. She felt her feet burning, the rubber soles of her shoes melting and burning her feet, the laces suddenly catching fire. "Oh God, please-"

She was cut off by a hand suddenly jerking her by the neck of her robe back through the door. Her laces were still on fire when she landed on her ass outside the door and she found herself frantically sitting up to pat the fire out, ignoring the burning that stung her hand.

"FUCK YOU TOM!" She shouted falling back to lay down and breath heavily, her heart racing dangerously fast.

The pain of all of her injuries were slowly catching up to her, her arm was beginning to sting so sharply she started groaning. Her toes were stinging, the rubber melted onto her feet and the heat from the molten rock burned her legs, making her feel as though her legs were heavily sunburned.

"We have to go Hermione." He looked around and Hermione hastily understood the look that was on his face.

The tunnel around them was shaking and as the light that beamed from his wand turned to face the way which they'd entered, the severed heads still sat on the walls however some were beginning to fall off rolling across the floor towards them. She cussed and moved back to avoid it and pushed herself against the wall to try and pull up off the floor but her ankle was giving out and her arm wouldn't hold. She however didn't have to wait for Tom's help, he quickly grabbed her arm again almost yanking her shoulder out of its socket to get her moving.

"What's happening?!" She asked as he pulled her arm around his shoulders to push her along.

"The place is collapsing, we have to go." He pulled her along his voice shaking slight. She could tell he was hurt too but he was ignoring it. She looked down and could see blood was dripping from his burned arm where the skin had been ripped down.

She did her best to keep her eyes glued to the tunnel above them working as quickly as her leg would let her but every step on her leg felt like she was digging knives into her ankles. Without warning the hall shook so hard that Tom slipped, Hermione slipping from his grasp and ramming into the wall. She held her eyes shut tight as she felt her body hit the wall of severed heads, feeling of rotting flesh was slimy and when she slid to the ground she looked down and could see thick clotted blood and a heavy disgusting thick pussy substance all down her burned arm. She felt the bile hit her mouth and found herself throwing up all down the front of herself.

Tom paid no attention and bent down, moving to pick her up again but the hall shook violently again and an incredibly loud crack made them both whip their heads up. Hermione's eyes slammed shut again as a large piece of rock came down, she made to move her wand but the words wouldn't form in her head and she felt it before she could even finish the spell.

The crack that resounded from her leg was so loud and piercing she could hardly believe it had come from her body, let alone a bone at all. The sound however wasn't got her the most, it was the abrupt piercing knife-like pain that traveled through her leg. She heard a noise and then vaguely realized that it was her screaming. She looked down and the sight of her leg made the blood drain from her face. The rock that lay on her leg landed on half of it and from the side she could see, the bones had smashed through her ankle and were sticking out grotesquely through the skin.

"Fuck!" Tom blasted the rock away but paid no attention to her leg, instead grabbing her arm and ripping her up eliciting another scream from her. "Just a little bit further Hermione, Come on!"

She could see the door ahead of them that they had come through but every step on her leg made her feel like she was going to pass out, a small sob escaping her throat every time she was forced to put weight down. He was making a fast pace, her arm around her shoulder forcing her to keep up but she could see his face was now dripping with beads of sweat and dirt from the dust falling from the ceiling around them.

When they reached the door Tom quickly withdrew his wand and grunted as he whipped it down his arm withdrawing blood, smearing his arm down the door. He gripped Hermione's wrist, her cry resounded as he cut her wrist again repeating the motion. She could hear the door moving and it opened towards them allowing them to go through. Tom ripped her through the door, ignoring the heavy sobs that echoed from her throat.

They hit the floor in their hotel room with a hard thud and Tom's hand came across her mouth to quiet any sounds that came out of her mouth. The abrupt apparation Tom had sent her through caused her to vomit again, his hand quickly coming away from her mouth as she leaned forward. The pain coming from her body was making it hard for her to even stay awake. She saw black edging the corners of her eyes and she fell back on her back.

"Hermione….Hermione…"

When she woke up, her body burned with such an intense pain that she could hardly open her eyes. She forced herself to twitch her fingers and when she did, she regretted it instantly, the fingers on her right hand burning so immensely she moaned aloud.

"Hermione?" She heard Tom's voice coming from what sounded like the other side of the room.

"T-Tom?" Her voice was harsh and it made her throat burn.

"You sound awful." His voice came closer. "Try not to move, you're covered in bandages."

She found the will-power and forced her eye lids to move up, blinking several times to clear the blur from her vision. Tom was staring at her with a look that seemed to range from somewhat uncaring to relief. His entire arm was covered with a thick bandage that was soaked in some kind of yellow ointment. Looking down at her burned appendage she noticed that her arm was covered in the same thing as well as her abdomen. Her opposite wrist was covered in a thick purple paste that had dried and now looked like a dried mud and her foot propped up on two pillows, though covered in bruises the bones all back where they belonged.

"Can't believe I'm not dead." She felt a giggle rising in her throat.

"I can hardly believe you're awake." He came next to her on the bed and sat down, leaning against the headboard and turning the television up, a black and white movie playing.

She sat up very suddenly and groaned but looked around, ignoring the pain that ran through her body.

"Where's the locket?" She asked her eyes scanning every inch of the room.

"Don't worry about it. I'm taking care of it." His voice held finality and she didn't argue.

She sat still watching the television for a few minutes before she turned to look at him.

"Will all the items be like this?" Her voice was low.

His response was not immediate and for a while she thought maybe he was simply ignoring her. He took a deep breath and turned to look at her his eyes moving across her face. She had a feeling that her face and eyes didn't look too much different than the rest of her severely beaten body.

"Most likely." They didn't speak for the rest of the evening.

Sunday arrived and Tom had forced Hermione to stand up and try and walk around on her leg. Tom had informed the school there had been an accident, something involving an unfortunate apparation over what appeared to be a wizard placed muggle trap. There was no escaping the numerous inquiries that would come if they both came home looking the way they did. While the bandages seemed to have greatly helped heal the burns on her arm, it still looked a bit pink and shiny and the scars where the skulls had lapped her blood while not as thick and ragged as they had been, were still very visible. Tom had however used his wand to cut across them giving the scars a less uniform look and now it looked as though she'd stuck the front of her wrist across a blender.

Her leg still felt rather stiff and her arm stung if she moved it too quickly but she found that she felt a great deal better than when they had first arrived in the hotel room they'd stayed at. Hermione recognized the hotel as one she'd stayed at with her parents when she would visit when they vacationed in Paris. She made no comment about it to Tom, they barely spoke as they dressed to leave. They would apparate into Hogsmede and walk to the school from there.

As they walked from the hotel he finally said something to her though.

"So, now that you've experienced it. Do you wish to continue?" His voice curious.

She kicked a pebble that lay on the ground as the cold wind blew across her face, her hair whipping around her.

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked as they made their way to a bench near a small boutique, sitting down.

Tom didn't reply as he went to a small stand and ordered to cups of coffee only responding after he'd sat back down and they'd taken a few small sips.

"It won't get any easier." He glanced at a couple walking by, their laughs echoing down the street.

"I don't expect it too." She responded feeling slightly jealous of how intimate the couple seemed, the woman leaning in to kiss the man on the cheek causing them both to laugh again.

"I can't watch you get hurt like that again. It's not going to get any easier." He repeated it but this time, she felt as though he were talking to himself more than her. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea."

"I did fine. I was the one who found the locket. If that rock hadn't fallen on my leg-"

"You almost died." His voice cracked on the word died and he took a large drink of his coffee.

"I didn't. I'm still here, you can't just bring me along and then decide this isn't for me." She retorted angrily the coffee leaving a bitter taste on the back of her tongue.

"I can do whatever I want, I'm the adult here-"

"Oh, we're going back to that now are we? I'm just a stupid child who can't do anything then?" She couldn't hide the anger welling up in her voice.

"That's not what I meant Hermione." His voice snapped. "I just can't keep bringing you back to school looking like this. They're going to suspect something and it's too fucking dangerous for you. I should have never-"

"It was my decision to stay!" She shouted standing up, her coffee coming out of her hand and spilling onto the ground. "I wanted to help!"

"And it was a bad decision on my part to allow you to stay! I shouldn't have let you come! It was irresponsible and if something happens to you, it'll be on me!" He was furious, his eyes digging into hers with such lividity it was any surprise they weren't bleeding.

"So what? That's it? We go on one mission and then I get a little hurt-"

"A little hurt?! You couldn't even walk!"

"So I get hurt and what? That's it? No more?! You told me I might get hurt! You told me it was going to be dangerous!"

"I've made my decision Hermione! We're leaving, now!" His hand grabbed hers and they apparated quickly. As soon as her feet hit the ground she ripped her hands from his and ignored his calls. She refused to stop as she made her way back to the castle and past the gates. He'd stopped calling her and when she finally turned and peaked around her shoulder, he was nowhere to be found.

She made her way through the castle, ignoring some of the looks she was getting from the students she passed. She knew she looked rough but she didn't care she just marched straight up to her room, ignoring the passing stares and whispers until finally she made it to her dorm room where Ginny sat in a small circle with Parvati and Padma braiding each other's hair. The three of them stopping suddenly when they turned to look at her face.

"Good God, did he beat you?" Ginny asked standing up to come look at her.

"I figured McGonagall would've told you. We were apparating and when we landed, we think we landed on something a wizard had left for a muggle. It's no big deal, I'm fine." She waved her hand, really desperate to not talk about anything but Tom Riddle. "Anything fun happen while I was gone?"

Ginny and the two girls gave her a very perplexed look but Ginny gave them one last fleeting look before shrugging and turning towards her.

"Well, turns out Nina and Robert Wedvise are going to the ball together. Seamus is pissed and she made it seem like no big deal. He tried to talk with her about it at lunch but Nina is Nina and she turned it into a huge deal and began yelling about how all he wants to do is make out and it was pretty awkward."

"Maybe for him. I thought it was hilarious." Padma shrugged a dark smile on her face. "Suits him right."
"Cormac of course has been telling everyone you're going with him-"

"I am." She felt the very urgent need to repeatedly slap herself in the face. What the fuck? "I told him I'd go with him."

Ginny just stared at her open-mouthed searching for words and Parvati and Padma began giggling so ferociously that their faces turned red.

"Y-you're…what?" Ginny looked as though she wanted to laugh but couldn't decide whether or not she was joking. "Are….are you being serious?"

"Yes. He wouldn't stop asking me so I just. I just said yes, I mean. We'd only be dancing. It can't be too bad." She was more or less trying to convince herself at this moment in time.

The following morning word had spread quickly, and she assumed it was either Parvati or Padma and she wasn't sure whether or not she was angry, that she would be accompanying Cormac McLaggen to the dance. When she seated herself at the breakfast table she adamantly refused to meet the eyes of her professor though she could feel the stare from his eyes boring holes into the back of her skull.

Apparently Cormac felt that the news of her attending the ball with him was worthy enough for him to make an appearance next to her at the breakfast table.

"Hermione, now that we're dating-"

"We aren't dating Cormac, we're just going to the ball together." She could see many of the students in the hall were watching with interest.

"Of course." He nodded as though he understood. "But there's no telling what could happen in between then." He whispered these last words in her ear.

His voice was hot against her ear and the moist feeling of it made her sick to her stomach. She felt her skin burn at the embarrassment at so many people see him even come that close to her.

"You did that to yourself you know?" Ginny had tears rolling down her cheeks when he walked away, trying to contain the laughter slipping from her mouth. "You should have known as soon as you said yes that that would happen."

She couldn't help herself she turned and caught eyes with the person she'd spent all morning avoiding. Tom Riddle's eyes were slanted and she finally understood the saying "if looks could kill."

Hermione would have thought that the following weeks would have been calm on her. She wasn't going to detention anymore and she wasn't staying up until three in the morning anymore, at least not on purpose. She found that she was hardly getting any sleep either way whether it was nightmares or just the bare fact that half the time her stomach hurt so bad she could hardly sleep.

Cormac's advances had grown more annoying, which was more surprising than anything. She honestly didn't think there was anyway Cormac could've been any more annoying than he'd been in the past. However annoying she thought he was, she relished in the dark looks sent her way whenever Cormac managed to sit next to her in class or whenever he trailed her to her next class and her professor was watching over the hallways.

The way he treated her in class made her feel that whatever anger or possible jealousy he felt against her or seeing her with Cormac, he was taking out on the entire class. The entire student body seemed to be in agreement that Professor Riddle had grown more terrible (as with Cormac, if that was at all possible). Students were beginning to feel that Riddle was beginning to fight with Umbridge as worst professor Hogwarts had ever had. However nobody in the school doubted that no one had it worse than Hermione Granger who was known to be his least favorite student. Simply sneezing would result in a loss of points for Gryffindor if Riddle deemed necessary. It grew to the point where as the end of term grew closer, Hermione seriously considered just skipping the class indefinitely and dropping out.

She'd made up her mind the previous Friday and decided that it was for the best as attending the class would either way result in a monumental loss of points all because of something small and stupid she would do. However, it turned out to be an even more grievous error she would come to find out.

She found herself stored quietly and privately up in her seat in the library working on an essay for Magical Maladies. She had skipped her Dark Arts class the period before and spent it studying in the library instead. Hermione had hardly slept the night before (or really any night prior to that) and found herself drifting off when a voice pulled her very suddenly from her stupor.

"Skipping class again? That's forty points." The last time she'd had this run-in, he'd sounded more playful. When she turned and met his eyes however, he looked pissed.

"I wasn't feeling well." She lied quickly turning to look away from him.

"Lying to a professor, that's another twenty points." His voice sounded dead.

"Or you could just give me detention and feel me up and call it a day? Tell me, have you sexually harassed any of your other students to help you kill an old headmaster or was that just me?" She began packing her bags, she felt a deep pain in the pit of her stomach. The thought of her body wanting to be near his so bad made her want to rip her own stomach out. She hitched her bag up her shoulder and made to move past him but his hand caught her arm.

"I'm not done talking to you. We need to talk." His eyes were dark and there was something in them she couldn't read.

"We've done all the talking we need. I have nothing to say to you, let me go." She made to rip her arm away but he held on tight.

"Well I haven't-would you stop and just talk to me? You're being ridiculous and making this a petty fight." He pushed her back and blocked her exit.

"What could we have to talk about? You told me you didn't want my help anymore and that was that. I don't understand what more there is left to be said!" She found herself very consciously trying to ignore the effect that he had on her when he touched her, his fingers still held her arm.

"So you hear something you don't like and you decide to ignore me and act like a jealous child? Toting that stupid incompetent boy around with you everywhere you go?"

"The only one that sounds jealous is you." She spat venomously.

"Right. You barely glance at the inept moron. I long to be ignored and treated like the way you treat him. I must've forgotten how jealous I was when I was thinking of how many of the times I'd actually tasted your cunt and he was just smacking it alone in his room thinking about it." His eyes burned harshly.

"How do you know I haven't fucked him?" She felt a fire burning in her chest and her hand twitched with the urge to slap him.

The laugh that came from his mouth was void of humor and was mirthless.

"Oh please. You look at him like he's nothing more than a dead bug on the bottom of your shoe. You expect me to believe you've let him touch you? You flinch every time he even speaks to you."

"You're such an asshole. We've obviously got nothing better to say than to insult each other. Just fuck off and let me go-"She made to move past him again but he pulled her back, the angry look in his eyes had dropped.

"Hermione, please. This is ridiculous." He almost sounded as if he were begging, his tone considerably softer.

She stared into his eyes and she could feel it deep in her chest, that deep hollow filling and how very there it was. How just simply being around him made the edges less sharp. The knowledge of being this close and being so far at the same time and not being able to touch him made it even worse and all she wanted was to leave. She didn't move to stop him when he moved and pressed his lips to hers.

His lips were rough and his fingers dug into her shoulders and his body mashed against hers. She relished in it for a moment, her body desperate to feel what she'd been missing and her lips trying to keep the taste on her lips, but it soured the feeling in her stomach even further. The hole that had spread into her chest felt whole and then it burned. She had to force herself to rip away, tears burning the corners of her eyes.

"Just leave me alone, please." She pushed past him again and this time, he didn't stop her and she couldn't decide what hurt worse. That he let her go or the look he'd given her when she pushed past.

Hermione wanted nothing more than to simply drop off the face of the earth. She didn't feel like eating anymore and her appetite completely vanished for the remainder of the day. She was grateful when she found a door appear before her as she passed a hallway, the Room of Requirement offering her sanctuary from the day she'd suffered.

The room was nothing more than her dorm sans for the fact that the only bed in sight was hers, a window enchanted to the outside giving way to what looked like a storm. Candles floated around as enchanted sounds of thunder beat around her giving her a sense of calm. She made her way towards the bed and lied down ignoring the sharp pain that was resounding in her chest. She didn't sleep but instead just laid there staring out the window watching rain slam against its pane and lighting flash through constantly illuminating the small area around her.

She refused to cry, there was absolutely nothing to cry about. She had no one to talk to and she'd done this all to herself. She knew from the very beginning that this was all stupid and would backfire and leave her in this exact position. She had nothing to cry for and the only reason she wanted to cry was because of herself. She wasn't positive how long she'd been in the room, but she know it'd been a while because eventually she heard the door opening and heard someone walking into the room.

"Hey." Harry's voice was quiet and she felt him sit down on the bed next to her.

She closed her eyes, she had no explanations for why she was sitting here in this room alone staring into a fake storm. She had no explanation for why she had skipped an entire day of class and said nothing to anyone. She had no explanation for the way she'd been acting lately.

"Ginny was looking for you but Cormac told her he hadn't seen you in class all day. Searched everywhere for you before I finally decided to check the map."

"Does Ginny know I'm here?" She asked quietly, still staring out the window.

"No, just me. Want to talk about it?" He stared out the window with where she was looking. "This room is amazing."

She didn't say anything but just appreciated his presence, he just sat next to her in the bed sitting up against the headboard and reading his map. The fact that he was there and not asking any questions to comfort her though the burning in her body didn't change. They lay there until Hermione felt herself drift off to sleep, it would feel like hours later when Harry would wake her up and he would sneak her back up to the dorm. They said nothing until she was almost ready to walk up to her dorm.

"Hermione, listen." She turned to look at him and the look he gave her made her feel slightly sick. "I'm not saying you have to tell me or anyone else for that matter and I'm not saying you need too. I have no idea what's going on with you and Professor Riddle-"
Hermione felt a lurch in her stomach and had she had eaten anything today, she might have thrown it up all over her best friend's shoes.

"Harry-"

"Hermione, just let me finish." He stopped her from speaking and she pursed her lips so tightly it hurt. "I'm not sure what's going on between you two. I haven't said anything to anyone and I won't, but I know that's why you've been acting so weird lately. Whatever you two are doing, you need to be careful. You've always been so good and careful but you've been different lately. I know it's because of him. I won't tell you what to do but I will say this," His green eyes had never looked so bright to her. She was struck with a memory of when she'd seen a memory in a pensieve that Dumbledore had shown her one time.

Harry and his father looked so much alike and then she'd seen his mother and she can't remember anyone whose eyes looked as much like their mothers as did Harry's. It seemed cruel to Hermione to force someone to lose their parents so young and the force him to look so much like them.

"You have to be careful. You know him better than I do, but there's just something. I just want you to be careful Hermione."

"You don't have to worry about anything anymore. It's all over anyway." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight Harry."

She'd have lied if she said when she got to her room she threw up so violently it made her throat burn the next morning. She'd been lying if she said she had gotten any sleep either. There was nothing in this world that could make her life any more worse.

Tom Riddle was not asleep, even though it was much past his bed time. Though before any of this, he found himself in bed around at least ten, since he'd met the girl he couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to bed before two in the morning. Tonight was no exception and it didn't make him feel any better when he'd watched Hermione Granger walk from the Room of Requirement with the Potter boy holding her hand.

It wasn't that she was holding his hand that really irked him, though anyone touching her by him did send a large dose of hot jealousy coursing through his veins. It was the fact he knew that the Potter boy had been in there for so long with her and she'd allowed him in there, allowed him to comfort when it should have been him.

He had known when she ran off this morning that he wouldn't see her for the rest of the day. He couldn't stand that she was being so childish and difficult about this entire thing, why couldn't she just understand that he was trying to protect her. Why couldn't the stupid girl understand he cared about her and wanted her to be safe? She wasn't ready for that goddamn mission and he couldn't understand why she couldn't see that either. The memory of mission suddenly spit into his head.

Tom held her tightly and apparated as soon as the door behind them shut. The pain that was burning his arm was making it hard to hold her but he couldn't let her go, he had to keep her in his grip until they landed in their fucking hotel room. He was positive his arm was broken but he wasn't sure when but he hadn't exactly been paying attention either. His entire focus had been on the locket clamped in her arm and the girl in general. When they finally hit the carpet in their hotel room he dropped her.

He dropped his wand and turned to look at her but she wasn't sitting up, her face was covered in scratches and bruises, blood from the severed heads crusted down the side of her face and her eyes were blinking and slowly rolling back into her skull. There was blood running from her arm and side where the burns had rubbed off. A large rip in her pants gave vision to a gash that ran from the top of her knee down to her ankle where it looked as though the bone had simply exploded from her leg. He could see exposed muscle from how large the gash was, it was a wonder she'd stayed awake this long.

"Hermione….Hermione!?" He grabbed and shook her to try and keep her awake but it did not good, beneath the dirt and gore that coated her face he could see her skin was pale. He ignored the pain that was burning his arm. "Fuck!" He moved to get up and grabbed his suitcase where he'd packed all his supplies. He flung his clothes across the room, revealing large bottles of medicinal potions.

He leaped from the bed ignoring the sharp pain that pierced his elbow when he landed and quickly grabbed his wand, using his teeth to pop the cork off the bottle and simply pouring the burn serum onto her arm and sides. He felt a small feeling of panic working its way up his chest, her body was unnaturally limp and when he gripped her wrist to feel her pulse, he could hardly feel it.

He'd lost track of how long he spent working over her, wrapping her arm in the potion, how long it took him to mend the bones back into her leg. It was early in the morning when he finally had her bandaged and wrapped up on the bed, he was surprised he was still alive. He stumbled his way into the shower, collapsing onto the tile with the rest of the serum soaked bandage over his arm. His breaths were coming out ragged as he leaned over to turn the shower head on, the warm water warming his shivering body.

He wouldn't remember fixing his arm or wrapped his arm but he would wake up an hour or so later, the water having turned cold. He stood up, his body now freezing again from laying in the cold water. He quickly remembered Hermione and came out of the room, she was laying peacefully like he'd left her though the bruises on her face and chest were still quite prominent.

His back hit the wall behind him and he slid down to sit down and stared at her as she breathed softly, the sight of her chest rising and falling somehow relaxing him. Everything in him suddenly became angry, how could he have done this to her? How could he have allowed himself to put her in this danger?

Tom slammed his fist into the door of his bedroom, thinking about it pissed him off even more. Why the fuck was she so willing to let something happen to her? He paced his room trying to find a way to calm down but his blood was boiling. She was ruining him, she was compromising everything and she couldn't care less. He'd allowed this stupid girl to compromise the entire thing.

He walked over his bed and lifted his blanket, waving his wand over the mattress, an invisible seam ripping open to make way for a small black velvet box to appear. Tom ripped the box open and grabbed the locket from the inside. He stared at the locket ignoring the pulse that he felt from the small silver heart in his palm. The locket was small and on the outside, the simple initials K.D. A simple locket, one that had belonged to the old man's sister. He held the locket for a moment, staring at it and feeling the power that pulsed within it.

A small smile broke on his face, the anger that had been bleeding into his veins gone now, replaced with a feeling of simple euphoria. This locket was only the beginning, at least the girl hadn't ruined that.