Prompt: Shackles
Pairing: Tomione
For the brightest witch of her age Hermione found herself acting very stupid when she wound up in the past, some could argue it wasn't completely her fault, she had simply misplaced the information about him knowing legilimency.
Hermione knew what Tom was, she knew exactly what he did and what he would do, she couldn't help but be fascinated by him. She caught herself watching him in class, the way he prepared his ingredients in potions, the twist of a wrist before flicking his wand in charms, the lazy look on his face when the class was paired up in DADA to practice spells on each other. Like a mouse Hermione was falling right into his trap, watching the sleeping snake and unable to resist inching closer to get a better look.
And then, of course, she messed up. She messed up really bad, she had forgotten to be afraid of him while he watched, she forgot to be wary. For a while she even forgot who he was and allowed herself to be trapped by him in the worst possible way- love.
He hadn't been interested in her at first, besides the fact that she made excellent grades, not nearly as excellent as his of course, she was rather ordinary and kept to herself. One day, however, his eye caught hers and one word popped into his mind Voldemort, but it wasn't him who thought it. How did she know who he was?
After that he was on the alert, he noticed that she often watched him and when she wasn't paying attention he would watch back. Especially in the great hall where she was likely to stare off into space before remembering where she was and spending the last fifteen minutes rushing to eat something. These times were his favorite because he could catch her eye from across the hall and listen in to her thoughts, the things he learned.
He began to formulate a plan, to change his future, but to accomplish it he would need her to help him. The thought of having her help him destroy the world she spent her life trying to save gave him a cold satisfaction and a genuine smile lit up his face. Most would have called it beautiful, but if Hermione had seen him in that moment she would have felt a burning terror crawl up her body and lodge itself in her mind.
And so Tom pretended to not notice her watching him in class, he made sure that she never saw him doing anything that looked suspicious, he even refrained from talking to his Knights in public as much. When their classes required partners he made sure that he was hers, and that he used all of his charm when talking to her, complimenting her and even helping her with her subjects.
In the process he learned how intelligent she really was, how much more potential she held and he began to feel a little possessive. She was his after all, to use as he pleased and then throw away when he was done if he so wished. His Hermione was a little filthy maybe but nobody but he needed to know that she was a mudblood.
And it all happened to gradually, so slowly, that before Hermione knew it she was in love with him, how could this Tom grow up to be Voldemort she reasoned. Maybe her being in the past changed the timeline so completely that he would never become that person, her mind came up with so many reasons and excuses as to why it was ok to love him that she never realized how completely she had been shackled to him.
And he wasn't finished yet.
