FIFTY-FOUR

Monday, 22 December 1944

Draco had thought that with all the people having left the castle for the holidays, it would be even harder to keep his distance from Hermione and Riddle. He thought for sure Riddle would be flaunting it in his face every chance he got that Hermione was his now, especially after he had followed her out of Slughorn's party. But when it came down to it, he hadn't seen much of either of them. Riddle he saw occasionally, usually in the middle of the night or in the morning getting ready. Each time he saw him, Riddle kept to himself.

He hadn't seen Hermione since she stormed out of the party Friday night. According to her roommates, they weren't even sure if she was in her bed due to the wards. He had been afraid Riddle might have done something and checked the Room of Requirement, but she wasn't there. It did nothing to ease his growing worry and he berated himself for even feeling that way when he shouldn't be caring about her at all.

Monday morning, when he opened the door to his dorm, he ducked as something flew straight to his head. It missed him, only to come back around and try again. He continued to dodge it until he realized it was a note in the guise of a bird. He flicked his wand and it turned inanimate once more, dropping to the floor with a little thud. He picked it up and opened it, clenching his jaw at the familiar sight of Hermione's elegant scrawl.

Will you please meet with me tonight? I need to talk to you about Thursday. My room, eleven.

He tossed the note back to the floor and set it on fire, watching until the last of the flames died out and then vanishing the pile of ash. Thursday, he mused, trying to recall what was so special about that day. When realization kicked in, his mouth curled in contempt. Christmas. What on earth could she possibly have to say to be about the holiday? He thought bitterly.

He spent the rest of the day debating on whether or not he would go. He had caught a glimpse of her at breakfast. He had taken residence at their normal spot at the end. She had briefly made eye contact with him as she chose a spot further down. He had taken all of two more bites before Riddle entered the room and took a seat across from her. Having received the message loud and clear, he shoved his plate away and left the Great Hall.

It was fast approaching eleven that night when he finally decided to stop pacing his room and hurry down the corridor until he reached her room. She opened the door when he knocked and he followed her into the privacy of her wards. He wondered if she had adjusted them to let him in so they could talk or if she had never banned him at all.

"Shouldn't you be discussing holiday plans with your new boyfriend?" he asked, letting his anger get the best of him.

She had the audacity to let her eyes water for a moment as she stared at him. She cleared her throat and blinked a few times before narrowing her eyes at him. His anger flared when she didn't deny it before she spoke. "Thursday is the next New Moon," she said, her voice flat. "I can't help that it fell on the holiday."

His eyes widened in surprise. With everything that had happened, he had nearly forgotten about the door and the possibility of going home. "I'm surprised you still want to leave."

He forced himself not to react at the way she flinched. "Don't be an idiot, Malfoy. Of course I want to leave."

He bit his tongue to hold in his comment. "What about your project? You think he's just going to let you meet up with me? Does he even know that there's potential you could just not return one day?"

"He knows that I'm still researching how to get home, but he doesn't know we have a theory nailed down."

Draco snorted. "I suppose I feel a bit better in knowing I'm not the only one you lie to."

"Draco-"

"What time on Thursday? Same as usual or do you have plans?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line as she not to lash out at him. He could see the cogs of her mind turning with the need to fight, but she managed to let it go. For now. "As far as I know, nine should work. We're supposed to be on break, so I don't know if we're doing an observation night or not. If something changes, I'll let you know."

"And if you get held up?"

"Wait for me," she whispered, her voice light; eyes pleading. "Please… Just don't leave me here alone."

Something about the way she said that last bit made the knots in his stomach tighten to the point he thought he might snap. For a moment, doubt crept into his mind about the decision he had made; about his assumptions. But when he blinked, she had composed herself again and he took a deep breath. He gave a curt nod. "I'll give you until eleven. If you're not there, you're on your own."

With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of her room.

Thursday, 25 December 1944

Draco had kept himself distracted by making the acquaintance of a few students from the other houses. He spent the following few days playing board games and filling the time with idle chit-chat. It had helped ease the ache, knowing that he was alone on Christmas Eve. They gave him something to refocus on when his mind continued to wander to thoughts of Hermione.

Christmas night, however, he found himself reading in the common room. He wasn't surprised when she came out of her dorm shortly before they were to meet and take a seat on the couch opposite him, closer to the fire. She picked up a random book and trained her eyes to it, but he knew she wasn't reading a word. Just as he wasn't. From the glance he allowed himself to steal of her, he noted that she wore the clothes they had come through the door in. He too was wearing the same clothes from their arrival and wondered if both of them were being too optimistic.

When the time approached for them to leave, he felt the hairs on his body stand at attention and a shudder ripple down his spine a moment before Riddle entered the common room. Hermione looked up at him in surprise. Draco tried his best to keep his eyes on his book, but his gaze kept lifting to the pair across from him. He scowled as Riddle plucked the book from her hand then curled his fingers around her chin, lifting her face up to him.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

"For what?"

Riddle frowned. "The New Moon. I see no reason we cannot spare a moment of the night to make an observation." Hermione's gaze flickered to Draco for a moment and he wondered if Riddle noticed. "Have you forgotten?"

"No, I just… The holiday…" she answered weakly.

"It is just another day," he said, his hand falling away from her chin only to take the necklace Draco had given her between his fingers. Draco struggled to keep his anger from getting the best of him. He had never planned on asking for the necklace back, but if Riddle was going to make a show of defiling it with his touch in front of him, he would be demanding it back tonight.

Hermione pushed herself to her feet, knocking Riddle's hand away from the necklace in the process. "Fine, let's make it quick. It's cold."

Riddle chuckled and Draco closed his eyes a moment too late; the image of his hand at the small of her back forever burned into his memory. "Nothing a warming charm cannot cure."

Whatever her response was was lost to Draco as the common room door shut. He hurled the book across the room and took to pacing in front of the fireplace. He gave it ten minutes before he allowed himself to head to the Room of Requirement, knowing that if he saw them together in the halls, he wouldn't be able to control himself.

When he entered the room, he stomped through the stacks of junk until he came across the spot. The door was already there. Like last time, it was more than just a door; there was a frame and a bit behind it making it look like someone had built a closet in the middle of the room for no reason.

With a heavy sigh, he plopped down onto the floor, vaguely aware of what happened the last time he had leaned against this particular stack, and closed his eyes while he waited for Hermione to show up.

Hermione forced herself not to hesitate as she climbed the stairs to the observation deck of the Astronomy Tower. She refused to think of the last time she had been here; of the way Kerus' core had snapped, ending his life with a simple touch of her hand. Or the way she had painted Riddle with her blood, mixed her own with his, and fucked him as though she had never wanted anything more. It was all so unlike her, but yet she had never felt more like herself since.

"Why are we even here?" she asked, wrapping her arms about herself. Despite the heating charms and the wards on the tower, it was still well below freezing outside. "It's not like we actually do anything Astronomy related here anymore."

Riddle's lips curved into a smile and he gave a curt nod. "I wanted to see if you would crumble when faced with this place again, knowing what you had done."

She tilted her nose up arrogantly at him. "Sorry to disappoint you."

He moved closer to her, his gaze chilling her more than the air. "Believe me, I am the furthest from disappointed I could possibly be."

"Even though you have my blood tainting your precious lineage?"

"Christmas is a holiday, Hermione. Perhaps we can rehash your affinity for blood play another night."

She was quick to avert her gaze as heat flamed her face.

After a moment of silence between them, she asked, "Have you decided what you plan to do with me if you win?"

"No."

"What's the hold up?" she asked, turning to look at him again. "I think it would be fairly easy. It's just a matter of if you hate me and my dirty blood enough to make me a slave, or if you like my power and mind enough to make me your equal?"

He stared at her, his eyes as dark as the sky behind her. "I believe it was you who pointed out that a child conceived under heavy doses of Amortentia is incapable of love."

"I don't want your love." She wondered if it was a trick of the light or if disappointment had been the flicker she saw in his eyes. "I want your respect. For you to keep your word once it's been given. For you to make a decision and stick with it."

"You assume I have already made my choice and that it is to make you my queen."

"Haven't you?" She tipped her head to the side and studied him. "Do you expect me to believe that of all the times you were in my head, you never once learned who I was?" she asked, her voice low. "Or was it that you just turned a blind eye to it; that you wanted to ignore it because you liked everything else that I had to offer?"

His eyes narrowed a fraction, but she could see the anger that simmered beneath the surface.

"Our stories aren't really all that different," she pressed.

Amusement lit his eyes as he tipped his head. "How do you figure?"

"We were both born into a world we knew nothing about until we turned eleven. We both had such powerful cores that no one understood. My parents tried, they really did, but they were scared of me. I heard them whisper to themselves when they thought I was too lost in a book, wondering what they should do with me. If they should seek professional help." She took a deep breath. "The kids at school called me a freak so I kept my distance and soon they let me be. I buried my nose in book after book, hiding in corners and wherever else I could be to stay hidden.

"I know a little bit of your time at the orphanage. Harry had a connection with you; he knew some things and shared it with me. Dumbledore also shared some of his memories. Mostly of the day he came to tell you about your true nature. That you had been accepted into Hogwarts."

Riddle's eyes had darkened at the mention of his childhood. "I was abandoned-"

"You weren't. Not really. Your mother was sick. She was too repressed; abused. Her escape was the one she fabricated with your father. She gambled to the extreme and it didn't pay off. But she did you a favor in the end."

His jaw clenched and she felt his anger emanate off of him. "A favor? Being raised as a Muggle in a place where society places those they do not wish to deal with? I am the Heir of Slytherin, I-"

"Would you have rather have been left to be raised by your Muggle father who was essentially raped? Who was put into a false state of love and forced to father a child?" she asked. "Or would you rather have been raised by your grandfather and uncle?" she pressed. "The same two figures who suppressed your mother's magic. The same two that abused her and would have killed her in the end. They probably would have killed you for being a Halfblood. They wouldn't have cared that half of your blood was their own. At least in the orphanage you had a chance at a real life. A chance to find a family and a purpose in this world."

Their connection the other day along with the piece of his soul mingled with hers that was housed around her neck allowed her to see the cracks in his mask. She was making him think, making him face fears and truths he wished to keep buried.

"There is more to life than prejudice and purity. You harbor such an anger over something you can't control. Muggleborn, Halfblood, Pureblood… None of it matters. It's the magic that matters. And what you do with it when you have it." Slowly, she raised her arms. He tensed as her hands cupped his face. "You've always been afraid to let people in. You decided the day we met that you'd let me in. All you've ever wanted was to be accepted. You don't have to build a regime based on fear to achieve that, Tom."

"You think you have me all figured out," he said. "You think I just want someone to love me and tell me everything will be okay. That the world will just open up after Hogwarts because I possess powerful magic." He reached for her left arm, his fingers squeezing over her mark. She winced, but refused to make a sound. "You know nothing of the world, Hermione. The world relies on power, money, prestige. Possessing only one of those three will never be enough. I need them all in order to get the recognition I deserve."

He squeezed harder and this time she couldn't stifle the cry of pain that escaped her lips.

"Did you know the other bloodlines of the Founders of Hogwarts have died out? That I am the last?" He reached up with his other arm, his hand sinking back into her hair to pull her closer to him. "Even with that pedigree, the wizarding world will never fully accept me simply because my lineage has been tainted with Muggle blood."

"So you set out to make everyone bow at your feet and wipe out an entire group of those that possess magic simply because you despise a part of yourself?" She grit her teeth against the pain in her arm from his touch. "Why not try to fix it by harmonizing it?"

His laugh was bitter as he relinquished his hold on her and took a step back. "Your romantic notions for world peace make it very hard to resist the urge to kill you."

Hermione carefully folded her arms over her chest again, her left still humming with pain from being squeezed. "So is that a yes?" she asked. "That you've decided my fate?"

"When the time comes, you will surrender to me. You will forsake your precious Order and vow before the masses that you belong to me and only me," he said, stepped back towards her. "And in exchange, I will treat you as my equal and name you my queen. We can discuss what our combined rule will look like once I have won. The only concession of life I will allow is Draco's, but if you ever go behind my back for any reason, his will be the first one I take."

"Even if he doesn't bow down to you, you'll let him live?"

He hesitated for a moment, but inclined his head. "Do not make me regret this, Hermione."

She swallowed hard at the thought of making a deal with the devil. At betraying everyone she knew and everything she stood for. She stretched out her right hand, surprised to see that it wasn't shaking. He placed his in hers and she felt their skin heat with the form of a magical bond. It wasn't deadly like an Unbreakable Vow, but it was powerful transaction of oathtaking in its own right. When she lowered her hand from his, she turned towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To bed. I'm tired," she said, looking over her shoulder at him. "And no, I don't want you to escort me back to the dungeons. I need a few minutes to myself."

His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, but he gave her a curt nod. "I shall see you in the morning then."

Not if my instincts are right about tonight, she thought, making sure not to broadcast. Aloud, she agreed, "In the morning," and then made her descent.

Draco checked the time with a flick of his wand in what felt like every twenty minutes, but had turned out to be every two minutes. At quarter to ten he was getting restless. He had given her to eleven, but his anxiety and nerves were through the roof. The door was right there. Five steps forward and he could open it and potentially be home. Each time they had seen it, more progress seemed to be made. He could feel it in his bones that this time it would happen.

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the door opening and then being shut with more force than necessary. A few moments later, Hermione turned the corner and attempted to flash a smile at him. "Sorry, I didn't know he was-"

"Spare me the details."

She huffed and then scowled at him. "Draco-"

"I want the necklace back," he said, marching up to her until he was right in her face. He held out his hand expectantly. He saw her eyes widen in fear for a second and she shook her head, her hand raising to close over the jewel. "It was a present meant to symbolize my love for you. Since that's gone, I-"

"I can't give it to you."

His lips curled into a sneer a moment before he reached out with the intention of yanking it from her throat. She dropped her hand in fright, but as his fingers curled around it, he hissed in pain and pulled back immediately. He stared at the angry red welts on his fingers, flexing them for a moment before looking back at her. "What the fuck did you do to it?"

"He cursed it," she said, reaching out to see the damage on his hand, but he stepped further out of reach. "It burns anyone who intends to take it off. Even me."

Slowly, his flesh healed before his eyes and he dropped his hand. "Fine, keep the bloody thing. I hope you remember what you did every time you look at it."

"Draco-"

"It seems you might have gotten lost, Hermione."

She whirled around at the same time Draco's attention snapped up to Riddle coming around the corner. "I just wanted closure," she said, her voice shaking.

Draco made the mistake of letting his gaze slide to the door. Riddle had been staring at him and he tracked the motion. His eyes narrowed before he turned his gaze to Hermione. "What lies beyond the door?" he asked.

"Nothing," they said in unison, both of them flinching at their dead giveaway.

Riddle took a deep breath, giving an almost bored stare to both of them. "I am in no mood to play games tonight. Tell me what you really came here for or I consider this going behind my back and kill him."

Draco's lips parted to argue, but Riddle flicked his wrist and he went toppling to his knees. He couldn't even move to struggle against the might of his magic. All he could do was stare, wide-eyed and open mouthed at the two of them.

Riddle's impatience was plain on his face as he looked at Hermione and took a step forward. She moved closer to Draco and held out her hands to get Riddle to stop advancing. "It's our way home!" she blurted. "We fell through same door to get here and it only appears on the night of the New Moon."

Riddle's anger was tangible and Draco continued to struggle.

"And if it worked tonight?" he asked, stepping closer to her, staring down the length of his nose. Draco hated that he was impressed by Hermione when she didn't back down. "You would have gone back home and left me in the dark?"

"We made a deal," she said.

Draco looked back and forth between them, his thoughts running wild wondering what kind of deal those two could have struck.

"One that could easily be upheld when I get back to the future," she added.

"You are not going anywhere, Hermione."

Draco saw her resolve fading and he struggled harder. "Then let me send Draco back."

"He knows far too much. To send him would be a liability."

"I'll Obliviate him."

Draco had only thought he knew betrayal before. He definitely knew it now and it felt like she had physically removed his heart from his chest with her bare hands. When he shut his eyes for a moment, he could almost see it as though it were real.

"You think you can remove these last few months from his mind? Completely? Without any way to reverse it?"

"I've done it before," she said and Draco saw the tear sliding down her cheek. "I've removed my entire existence from the minds of people I care deeply about just to keep them safe from you. I would do it for him too." Draco thought he was going to be sick as she reached up and laid a hand on Riddle's arm. "Please," she begged. "Let me send him home. I'll remove everything so he won't remember and…" Her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat. "And I'll stay."

The seconds it took for Riddle to consider her proposal stretched on for what felt like eternity. As he nodded in acquisition, Draco felt the hold on him give way and he shot to his feet. Hermione turned towards him with her wand pointed directly between his eyes. He stared at the piece of wood for a moment before refocusing his gaze on the witch at the end of it.

"Go ahead. I actually think I would prefer not to remember any of this," he taunted. "Knowing you'll have to remember everything while I get to be free of you is the best gift I could have ever asked for."

Hermione's grip on her wand faltered, but he felt her magic push its way in. Only, his brow furrowed as he realized what he felt was more akin to Legilimency than anything else.

Run.

The warning came a split second before she whirled around on Riddle. Her magic snapped and sizzled in the air around them as she forced him to his knees before her. "Go, Draco! The door!"

He scrambled back, shoving the first door open with a bang. His heart thundered in his chest as he reached for the second handle. It was his nagging inner voice, the one that he suspected would always sound like Granger, that made him pull away and look back at her and Riddle. He hated that she had gotten so under his skin that he would call upon her Gryffindor bravery in favor of his Slytherin self-preservation in a moment such as this one.

Without a second thought, he ran back to her, brandishing his wand at Riddle. It caused just enough of a distraction from their wandless duel for Draco to grab her hand and pull her towards the door. Much like the night this all started, he yanked her closer and shoved her through the first door. It slammed shut behind them, surrounding them in darkness and preventing Riddle's burst of green light from landing on either of them.

With less than a second to breathe, he reached beside her hip where he had her pinned to the inner door and turned the handle. They both gave a yelp of surprise as it gave way and the door opened, sending them tumbling to the floor beyond it.