Author's Note: Holy hot damn, you people are the absolute best and I sincerely mean that. Thanks everyone for reading and those who reviewed with your awesome words of encouragement. I can not tell you how pump I get when I read your beautiful, kind words.
June 1937
It was a perfect, sunny day with the lightest breeze that carried the smell of grass and flowers. Hermione and Tom were in the backyard for a change since it was too hot in their secret room to do anything. Hermione wore a crown that she made by weaving several daisies together. She made it originally for Tom but after he refused to wear such a "girly" accessory, he gave it to her instead. It wasn't like the crown she made him for Halloween and he wasn't about to strut around the orphanage with it on his head. Beside, Tom thought it looked much better on Hermione. It sort of looked like a halo and he thought it was quite fitting for her. Hermione still wanted Tom to wear it but gladly took the crown anyway.
Hermione sat up with her back pressed against the large, cool trunk of the oak tree that stood tall casting a comfortable shadow. Her legs were straight out in front of her while Tom laid on the grass with his head on her knees. She was mindlessly playing with his soft hair, gently twirling it around her nimble fingers. Her action caused his scalp to be tugged gingerly putting him in a sort of trance as he felt himself falling asleep.
The two looked like something out of a romantic movie. Hermione: the sweet, innocent girl with frizzy, curly locks and a smile brighter than the sun. Tom: the mischievous boy with eyes only a creature from heaven could possibly have but a mind like a twisted, mad scientist. They were two odd pieces from different puzzles that miraculously fit together.
The young girl lowered her book an inch as she looked down to her friend with his book covering his face and his hands laced together on his stomach. Tom's breathing was slow and he hadn't move for a while since he placed his book on his head saying the heat was giving him a headache.
"Are you asleep?"
He didn't respond so Hermione decided to be bold and take a peek at his sleeping face. Slowly, Hermione removed her fingers from his luscious locks and took the book corner closest to her. Just a few inched up and she could see his eyes closed, his face relaxed. She was only allowed a few seconds to look before his hand shot up and grab her wrist making her shriek and him smirk.
"Got you."
She pouted and released the corner of his book allowing it to drop back into his face.
"Ow," he fibbed hurt.
"You could have told me you were awake," was her response before sticking her nose and embarrassed cheeks back into her book, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Tom laughed into the ink stained page and Hermione was sadden to have such a sweet and rare sound muffled. He untangled his fingers to lift the offensive object off his pale, smug face. She refused to look at his exposed mug because his eyes alone would be enough to melt any anger she held for him.
"That's no fun. How else are you suppose to learn to be sneaky?"
"I can't ever be as sneaky as you."
His smirk widened at the compliment. "True, but that doesn't mean you can't get better."
She rolled her eyes into her book but knew Tom could see despite the barrier.
"Do you want to play hide and seek?" Hermione suggested when she finally finished the last page of her book. She saw Tom place his book back onto his face.
"I don't like that game." It was true. Neither of them, especially Tom, liked being away from one another so why play a stupid game that required that? "I always find you too quickly."
She peeled his book off his face to hear him clearer and he shut his eyes at the sight of the blinding sun before turning his head to look at Hermione's face.
Much better.
"You can hide this time and I'll find you," she suggested.
"Knowing you, you would get lost or locked in a closet again."
"That only happened once!"
"And once was enough. Remember what happened when you were looking for me in the basement?"
Hermione shuddered at the flashback. Billy told Amy to lock her in the basement with the lights turned out and threw a handful of plastic spiders from Halloween to keep her company. Mrs. Cole was out buying grocery and the temporary caretaker was God knows where. It wasn't until five minutes later that Tom came to the rescue. That night, Amy's favorite and prized bunny doll accidentally made its way into the fireplace.
"See," he asked watching her lost in thought.
"What if I promise to find you this time. Without getting locked somewhere?" she quickly added.
"If you get locked up again I will have to find you and that will end the game."
"Not if I break out first," she declared. "C'mon," she cooed, poking him in the side with a finger tickling him. He fought a smile down.
He could tell from her tone that she wasn't going to stop until he agreed. "You promise to find me? Even if you get locked up in the basement again?"
Hermione made a fist with her pinky out and held her other hand with palms facing out. "I, Hermione Granger, pinky promise to find you, Tom Riddle, in our game of hide and seek," she said as if on a witness stand. Tom blamed this on her book.
"And?" he asked.
"And to break out of any confinements to find him so he won't have to come looking for me and end the game," she vowed dramatically and crossed her heart in an X motion before holding her pinky out to him.
He only looked as she wiggled it in front of his face urging him to hook his pinky with hers. "C'mon Tom, I am pinky promising."
He sighed and raised his hand to seal the deed. She beamed down a smile and he returned it awkwardly. When she went to get up, Tom grabbed her hand and pulled her back down without removing his head from her knees.
"Let's play later," he grumbled.
"Why? What do you want to do now?"
He took her hand and placed it back in his hair. Without having to look down, he handed her his book and closed his eyes. "The heat is giving me a headache and I am tired. We can play after you read me a chapter," he ordered.
"Fine," she accepted the challenging book and resumed playing with his hair again. His eyelids fell shut but he never went to sleep. He just lied there to the sound of Hermione's voice, the flipping of paper and the tugs on his hair.
Oh, how he loved when she played with his hair. They discovered this little treat for Tom back on the anniversary of Hermione's arrival when she had another night terror only this time, it felt very much real. She could feel her lungs constrict as if they were clogged with black smoke and her heart raced a million beats per second. She felt hot as if she was being boiled like an egg and she had bloodied scratch marks on her arms from the fiery itch she dreamt. Tom slipped into her bed after the doctor was done treating her arms and started to play with her hair soothingly. She gladly returned the favor and the boy was out like a light after a few tugs of his strands. After that, Hermione played with his hair quite often but only if he allowed it.
He always did and she loved playing with it.
She found his hair to be so nice and soft. It was straight and perfect unlike her cavewoman hair. His hair felt like silk threads that she was weaving with her small fingers.
Ever since New Year's, the two have gotten much closer. Tom never let her out of his sight although after New Year's he tried to stay away for a few days from her thinking he was getting ill. He never caught a cold though and so the source for his constricting chest and spiking temperature that night was left a mystery. Good thing too because Hermione was not happy about the distance he put between them. She never kissed Tom after that night for fear it would cause him to distance himself from her again.
The two were both engrossed in the book and hardly heard their matron's call. One chapter turned into two, then three, then quickly Hermione forgot about her desire to play with Tom and just kept reading, unable to hear anything but each other's breathing and the chirping of the birds that nested above the two.
"Hermione?" After asking a few of the other children, the matron found the two who looked up to her as she came into view.
"Ah, Hermione there you are, my dear. You have a new visitor," she announced a bit breathless.
"A visitor?" Hermione repeated.
She glanced at Tom who had sat up looked at her and the matron with wide eyes. His hair was a bit ruffled up in the back and the girl wanted to laugh if something in Tom's eyes hadn't stopped her. Hermione could see fear in them.
Why? It was just a visitor.
Sometime Charlie would visit with a box of books or David to fix an electrical issue. But the expression on Tom's face showed fear, panic, as if he was scared of this particular visitor.
"New visitor", Tom thought to himself. It wasn't an adoption day. Mrs. Cole would have made sure to dress them in their best. It couldn't have been David, he wouldn't be considered a "new visitor," she would have just said he was here.
He looked at Hermione and squeezed her hand tighter. She looked back at him with a puzzled face not catching on what Tom had already figured out and he only wish she would catch on soon. They both snapped their heads away from one another when they heard Mrs. Cole directing the visitor to the back.
"Right this way. She's the cute one with the brown, curly hair," Mrs. Cole whispered behind her as she pointed to Hermione.
A few seconds later, a couple showed up and stood in the doorway looking at the pair of children sitting by each other. The woman's hair was a slightly darker shade of brown and unlike Hermione's hair, hers was silky straight except for the tiny curls at the end. She was wearing a light blue sundress that matched the sky and sandy beige heels. A man stood behind her. He was much taller despite the woman in front of him wearing heels and had black, cropped hair that poked straight out in front. Hermione thought it was a little funny looking. The couple just stood there staring until the woman in the sundress spoke.
"Hermione?" she asked, a small tremor in her voice.
"Yes?" Hermione chimed back.
She felt Tom squeeze her hand again as if scolding her for answering and noticed that the couple was looking at her oddly. They almost looked happy, yet the air around them was off.
Strange, she thought.
The couple started to move closer, slowly, as if she was a rabbit they wanted to catch but was afraid if they moved faster than they were now, she would be startled and run off. Hermione then saw David following them out the door and stood by Mrs. Cole. The couple finally stopped a few feet away from Hermione and Tom with Mrs. Cole and David standing behind them like guards.
"Hi, Mr. Martin!" Hermione greeted cheerfully just like every other time she did when he visited.
"Hey, kiddo," he replied simply and threw her a weak smile.
Hermione made to get up and run to the man for their usual, crushing bear hug but Tom quickly pulled her back to crash into his larger self. She gave him a confused look but Tom only continued to glare at the small crowd of adults that formed in his line of vision.
"Tom, dear," Mrs. Cole said to the boy when she saw his rough actions, "why don't you go inside? We have something private to discuss with Hermione."
Tom looked like he was going to be sick. He looked as though all the blood from his face was completely drained and his skin was a shade paler if that was even possible. He had never been more afraid and nervous than he was now.
"No," Tom answered bluntly. He squeezed Hermione's hand so tight it almost hurt. He wasn't going to leave Hermione with these new people. He wasn't going to leave her at all.
Mrs. Cole sighed and the woman in the sundress scooted a bit closer causing Tom's dangerous glare to shift to her.
"Hermione," the woman began to say, ignoring Tom's burning sneer, "I know you don't remember me but I am your aunt Helen, your mother's older sister. This here is my husband Carl, your uncle," she gestured to the tall man behind her. "Hermione, I am so sorry we didn't come get you sooner and bring you home. You must have been so scared to have been brought here."
"No, I had Tom with me," Hermione explained pulling her best friend closer. "There are also a lot of kids here to play with. Sometimes Charlie and Mr. Martin comes and brings lots of new toys and books," she added excitedly, looking to the lumberjack looking man standing in the back.
Hermione looked at the sad, shocked expression on the woman's face and it looked like she was about to break out into a sob. Her husband, Carl, knelt down next to his wife, taking her hands in his and looked into Hermione's big, doe eyes. Hermione thought their eyes looked odd. There was a dullness to them that she had never seen in anyone else's eyes. They were glazed and lifeless as if all the light of day were sucked from them.
"Hermione, sweetheart." the man said, "I know we weren't there for you when your parents...died. But-" he cut off, pausing as if to plan a way to form what he was going to say. "We had no idea about what happened until a few weeks ago when we tried calling after not hearing from your mother and father for... for over a year." He paused again, something Hermione noticed that he was doing a lot when he spoke. "Hermione, we would like to take you back with us to France," he finally said.
"Can Tom come with me?" she quickly asked like a reflex, pulling him closer to show that she wasn't going to leave him. He instantly complied and closed the distance between them only to be reward with her kind smile. The same one that gave him strange butterflies in his stomach at the sight of her toothy grin.
The question was the reason why she was still in the orphanage. Whenever an adoption opportunity came for Hermione, she would always ask if Tom could come too. As much as everyone wanted a sweet little girl like Hermione, they didn't think the package deal was worth having a "creepy" boy like Tom around. To Tom's enjoyment, Hermione constantly asking if Tom could come with her every time she was considered for adoption wasn't part of his plan to keep her with him, although he wished it was. It made him happy that she wanted to be with him just like he wanted to always be with her. It hurt him every time they said no, but Hermione was always there to heal that small pain. To help him forget by pulling him into an embrace and telling him how happy she was that they were still together.
The couple looked at each other for a moment and turned back to the brown haired girl. "I'm sorry, sweetheart but I'm afraid not," the woman finally said.
A triumphant smiled flashed across Tom's face but quickly died away before anyone else could see.
She wasn't going to leave him. Yes, she would refuse to go just like all the other people who wanted her and he would never have to let go of her hand. They would always be together.
"Hermione, dear." The voice came from Mrs. Cole this time. "This is your family, your mother's sister and brother-in-law. Don't you want to go with them?"
Tom mentally scowled at the old woman for trying to coax Hermione into something she already refused.
"I want Tom to come with me too," she stated as she looked back to her friend with a smile that made him feel reassured that she wasn't going to leave him behind.
"I'm sorry to say this, dear, but you need to go with them. They are good people and they will love you very much."
"I don't want to go if Tom can't come along with me," she repeated her conditions as if the adults weren't understanding.
Mrs. Cole was surprised to see Hermione so disobedient. She knew Tom was a bad influence on Hermione and the matron was now kicking herself that she didn't keep them separated in the beginning.
But they didn't understand. Hermione needed him just like he needed her. She couldn't imagine living here for so long under constant torment without someone like Tom, someone who understood her. This was not a simple friendship or even an obsessive crush. They were two sides of the same coin and they both needed each other to feel complete. They didn't want to feel alone again.
There was a silent moment as all four adults looked at each other, talking silently among themselves with nothing but their eyes and facial expression before directing their attention back at Hermione and Tom.
"I'm sorry, but the law says that if your parents or guardian dies and there is another blood relative that is willing to take you in, you must go with them. You can not stay in the orphanage," Mrs. Cole explained. "The papers have already been filled out and everything is signed and done."
Both Tom's and Hermione's eyes widen at the matron's last statement.
"No, you're lying. There is no rule like that" Tom yelled and pulled Hermione protectively behind him as he had done so many times against the band of orphan bullies. But now the situation was much different. He wasn't dealing with stupid, brainless kids. He was dealing with stupid, brainless adults. It was ten times worst. He would need to use his brain to defeat them instead of fear and brawns.
"You can't just wait a year and decide when you can take her when your lives become convenient," he bit bitterly.
Hermione's aunt gasped as an invisible knife coated with Tom's venomous words stabbed her heart causing tears to flow down her cheeks. "How dare you you disrespectful boy? We didn't know she was here! If we did she wouldn't have had to go so long without her family."
"Well, that is your fault then. Your inability to fulfill your duties to her as relatives just shows that you both would make lousy guardians," Tom spat. "Besides, if she doesn't want to go she doesn't have to. It's part of the adoption rules that every orphan has the right to refuse and she is technically an orphan."
He knew he should stop talking because every word that left his lips just added more fuel to the flames. He was acting childish and he hated it but he knew his facts was true and that should be enough to keep Hermione with him. The law is the law and must be followed. At least, that was what he was always taught.
"Tom, stop it right now!" Mrs. Cole yelled. "You have no say in the matter."
"I have plenty to say in the matter and so does Hermione. She's not a pet for sale." He knew he was wrong there. They were all orphans. They were all pets for sale.
Hermione quaked with fear as she watch the ordeal, her eyes flying back and forth between her matron and her best friend. As Tom argued with Mrs. Cole, Carl snuck behind the two children. He placed his big hands under Hermione's armpits and launched her in the air and into his arms. There was an unknown weight as Hermione was lifted and he glanced to see that Tom and Hermione's hands were still glued together.
"NO!" both of them screamed as the situation was happening.
Tom kicked at the man holding Hermione and she pounded on his shoulders with her small fists which felt more like a massage than a beating. She quickly switched her tactics to scratching her kidnapper's skin off his face. David then came and yanked Tom from Hermione, the sudden force surprising him enough to loosen his grip and let go of her hand. Tom was now thrashing against the meaty man's grip.
"Mr. Martin, help! I don't want to go!" Hermione screeched holding her hand out to David, begging for the man to walk up and snatch her away from Carl's arms. He would help wouldn't he? Wasn't it him who found her and saved her from the fire accident a year ago? He was the reason she was able to give Tom such a wonderful gift. He was the reason why she was able to meet Tom and was so happy. Surely he still wanted her to be happy, right?
He didn't move toward her. He didn't say anything and only gave her eyes full of sorrow. Hermione knew he wasn't going to help her so she turned to the only person she knew would.
"TOM!"
She clawed painfully at the man's buttoned shirt in hopes he would drop her from the pain. Her actions only made him tighten his grip as he stomped hurriedly away with his wife in tow.
The children that crowded at the door to watch the whole ordeal quickly parted for the couple with dumbfound looks on their faces. Never was there a case that a child refused to be adopted and they most certainly had never seen a child fight so hard to stay. They all wore sad looks on their faces. Even Billy shot Hermione, the girl he had been tormenting since day one, a pitiful look as she was carried away.
With nothing but pure panic and adrenaline coursing through his veins, Tom hissed out and a familiar small, garden snake slithered out of the rose bush and turn its head to Tom, flicking its long forked tongue at him. Tom hissed again and the snake launched forward and wrapped itself up David's lower leg. Before David could notice the snake, the tiny green serpent sunk its thin fangs into the man's skin causing him to bark out in pain.
David dropped Tom's arm at the surprised attack and quickly ripped the snake from his leg, tossing it to the side like a crumpled piece of paper. Tom only wished the snake was venomous. The boy didn't think twice before picking up a rock near by and hurled it at the older man before quickly dashing for the front gates to stop Hermione from being taken away. Tom could see them trying to stuff Hermione into the car, her fingers white from clutching the corners of the door, her feet kicking and swaying away the man in front of her.
She was fighting back.
"Tom!" she screamed for him again. "Don't let them take me!"
He could see a man dressed in black with a matching cap on his head and an ugly scar across his face as if someone slapped him with a jagged blade. He looked like a personal driver and Tom wondered if he would try to intervene as well. Dodging four adults was hard enough, Tom didn't need the numbers to increase against his favor and with his snake out of commission, he knew he would lose.
Carl gave Hermione a nasty push and slammed the door on her cries for help. Her cries for Tom.
The ten year old boy pushed past the massive crowd of curious bystanders and as he was about to reach the front door of the orphanage, ready to toss the door apart and be a hero to save his damsel in distress, he felt an arm wrap around his waist and pull him off his feet.
It was Mrs. Cole. She yanked him away from the door, just out of his reach and with all the power her old body could muster, she pulled Tom up the stairs. He could still hear Hermione crying out to him.
Mrs. Cole opened the door to his room and shoved him so hard he crashed against his desk and hit his head against the dull wood. Mrs. Cole quickly locked the room from the outside. Tom banged on the door demanding her or anyone near by to let him out. He ran to his window as he heard the sound of a car door closing.
"HERMIONE!" he roared out of his window.
Damn these stupid bars!
He took the cold metal bars encasing his window and furiously shook them, trying to unbolt them from their place with his 10-year-old strength. The car engine squealed and started up and Tom could see a grey cloud coming from the back of the vehicle.
"No! Hermione!" he yelled reaching his hand out as if by some heavenly miracle her hands would meet his. His voice was hoarse and raw from all the yelling.
Tom quickly spun back to his desk and took the wooden stool in his hands. With all his strength he sent the stool flying toward the window hoping it would break the bars under the impact. The chair just bounced back with now one broken leg and he could hear it practically laughing at him. Tom cursed under his breath at the weak piece of material and ran back to his window where he could see the car driving off. Hermione was at the window with her face pressed against the green glass. She was looking up to him with tear filled eyes, screaming something he couldn't hear and she was too far away to read her lips. She was desperately banging against the window with her tiny fists causing the glass to quake under the impact but never shatter. Her eyes never left his as she looked up toward his window pleadingly.
No. They can't take her away. They can't take her away from ME! he screamed in his head as he alternated between shaking the bars, jiggling his doorknob and pacing in circles like a caged, rabid animal.
He was shaking. Shaking the bars outside his windows that was between him and Hermione. Shaking the idea that he would never see her again. Shaking with frustration. Anger. Hot, white rage. So much rage. Why wasn't he stronger? Why wasn't he strong enough to hold onto her!?
His rage built up within him and he looked at the bars that mocked him.
"So weak," a deep voice, unfamiliar to his own, laughed inside his head. He had never heard voices in his head before and from it's taunt, he didn't like he going insane? Perhaps he hit his head too hard.
"You are nothing but weak!" it laughed again.
The rage and frustration built more and more until... he felt something within him shatter. It was a tingling feeling in his stomach that grew as his emotions heightened. He could feel it. With one last cry from Hermione whose voice was so far lost in the distance, he snapped. The metal bars blew off his window then and a loud crash came when it hit the concrete ground. He heard something like crunching metal and a click from behind him and whipped around. The bronze orb that was once his doorknob was completely crushed and deformed, as if a giant grabbed hold of it and squeezed too hard. The door to his room creaked a bit before stopping, revealing a small crack of light coming from the hallway.
It was happening again. Just like Halloween night. He didn't know how those spiders got into Billy's and his friend's rooms, he just knew that he felt so angry and wanted nothing more than to smash their faces against a puddle of parasitic worm infested water for them to swallow and die.
He shook his head of his past. Hermione need him now.
Tom ran out of his room and flew down the stairs, pushing everyone out of the way and bumped one boy back down where he landed on the floor with a loud thud. His hand was on the front door handle and he quickly ran through in hopes of still finding Hermione on the other side.
She wasn't there.
There was David and a crying Mrs. Cole that both looked at him with surprised shock but he didn't pay any attention to them.
Where is she? She isn't there. She's not here anymore! he thought furiously.
The front gate was wide open and Tom could still smell the foul stench of the car's engine but Hermione was nowhere in sight. He lost her. She was gone and there was no way of getting her back. He looked down and saw her crown made of flowers trampled beyond repair into the ground. Tom picked up one of the daisies and held it gently in his hands. The last thing she left for him.
Tom tried to run to the gates hoping he could somehow catch the car if he ran fast enough but Mrs. Cole grabbed hold of his arm and hulled him up to his room again. This woman seemed set on keeping the two apart.
"It's for the better!" she told him harshly. "She's with her family now."
"No!" he yelled back, trying to break free of her surprisingly tough grip. They walked to the stairs where the matron found the boy Tom knocked down laying on the ground with a bloody nose.
"Aaron? What happened?" the matron asked. The boy didn't say anything but pointed to Tom as if saying, 'he did it.'
Mrs. Cole's face turned a raging, unhealthy red color and Tom wondered if she would have a heart attack and die on the spot. Then he could go after Hermione. His wish never came true.
Mrs. Cole had had enough of Tom and his antics. Since the moment he was born he had caused nothing but trouble for her and all the children. All the strange rumors she had hear from the kids, all the strange injuries and the toys that would disappear as if they just evaporated into the air. She knew it was him, she just didn't know how to explain it.
Tom slammed on the hand that was gripping his arm so tightly, clawing and trying to pry the wrinkly fingers off of him. Mrs. Cole hissed in pain but didn't let go. She turned and slapped Tom across the face which momentarily stunned him with pain and shock.
Mrs. Cole was never one to use violence, especially against children. It was everything she was against but she had had enough.
When they finally got to Tom's door, Mrs. Cole threw it open and again, brutally shoved Tom inside and quickly shut the door. She locked it again and wedge a stool she found nearby up to the door handle so even if he could pick the lock like he did before, or so Mrs. Cole thought, he would not be able to get out. She walked away, away from the the troubling boy and away from the sound of flesh pounding on wood.
Tom was still pounding on the door long after the matron left him. He kept pounding for hours until slowly, his muscle and strength left him and he finally lost all his energy with nothing to show for his efforts except his bruised hands.
He lost her. She needed him. She was crying out for him and he lost her!
"You're weak. You're weak. Pathetic," the same deep, mysterious voice laughed menacingly. "Couldn't even keep a little girl with you. Yes. Weak like them."
He clutched his head. The dark voice was still echoing the same thing over and over. "You need to be stronger," it whispered. "You need to gain power."
Power? Yes, that was what he needed. He would become more powerful, stronger until no one would be able tell him what to do. No one would be able to boss him around. Like Macbeth, he would do whatever to gain strength, he just won't be stupid like Macbeth and get himself killed.
Tom walked over to his pillow and pulled out his diary, the same one Hermione gave to him for his birthday. The only present he ever received from anyone. He clutched the cold book and open it as if expecting to find something written. Instead, a folded piece of paper fell out.
Had it been there before? Tom wouldn't have known as it was his first time opening the object. Now he wished he did so months ago.
He slowly picked the paper up as if it was a shard of glass threatening to cut his fingers and unfolded the material. In neat handwriting read:
"Happy birthday, Tom! I got you a diary but I guess you already know that."
He could practically hear her laughing in embarrassment and kept reading.
"I hope you like it. Even though you didn't get a cake, you can still make a wish. Blow out the candles below."
There was an arrow that pointed down to a picture of a cake with ten, lighted candles on top. He wanted to smile but his cold heart wouldn't allow his facial muscle to cooperate. Maybe he could have smiled if he found the note before. His eyes went back and continued reading.
"You know the best part about having a birthday like yours? You get two wishes. One for your birthday and one for the new year. I wish that we will always be together. Thank you for being my best friend.
Always yours,
~Hermione"
A new resolution dawned on him.
I'll get stronger, he started to tell himself. I'll grow up fast and find Hermione and I won't lose her again. I won't stop until I find her and when I do, no one will take her away from me. If anyone tries...
He looked at his misshapen doorknob. In a swift motion Tom swept his hand in the air as if swatting a fly and the handle snapped off before tackling into the adjacent wall. He did not know what this new feeling was but he liked it. He looked at the deformed piece of metal with a vengeance.
I will make them all pay.
He raised his hand to his cheek which was now red and swollen and stung like a hot rod was pressed harshly against him, marking him like a calf. It was the same cheek where she last kissed him and now it had been violated, soiled by dirty, unwelcome hands.
Just like I'll make the people who took her away today pay, he thought darkly as he burned every adult face into his memory. Tom looked down to his diary. I will find her.
He already failed as a hero but that doesn't mean he couldn't save her as a villain. And save her he would.
With his last thoughts, he placed the dead flower from Hermione's crown in his book and closed it shut. It would be a symbol of his silent vow until he finds her again.
Author's Note: ...Tom...
I am writing roughly four other new fanfics so updates might be slow because I have a disease where I spontaneously think of a new story idea and impulsively write chapters for them. So... apologies all around.
Special shout out and warm thanks to Voorpret for tumbling about this story and your overly wonderful kind words. I never thought anything related to my story would extend farther than the FanFiction world but there is your post. I'm pretty sure I suffered some sort of happy heart attack when someone showed me your post. Super nice and much appreciated so thank you again. I am so grateful to have fans like you reading.
Until next time.