A/N Ahhh thank you everyone who reviewed/favorite/followed the story! As I keep telling myself, this is the building part of the story. Building characters, plots, tension, conflict, so please keep reading! Review and share the story! Tell me what you think! I feel like I sound desperate so enjoy!

Chapter 6

A week had passed since Hermione began classes and she had remained virtually silent in all of them, determined to not attract any more attention than she already had. She had carried the quiet act when it came to being around other students as well. Most had deemed her as introverted and only really talked to her to give her a polite hello. Yet, one student had been determined to keep a close watch on her. He brought a sense of fear, anger, and anxiety. This man was Tom Riddle.

Despite Hermione's protests after the first couple of days, he insisted on walking her to every class. He was always in a close proximity to her, save for when she was in the Gryffindor common room, and he would always bate her with things that he knew would bother her despite his limited knowledge of her.

He was biding his time, placing a crack here and there in the mold she had built for herself in this time period, waiting for her to fall apart altogether. He would casually point out the faults in her back story that she had somehow overlooked, questioning her in a way that one would see as an inquiry, but Hermione could see it for what it really was: an interrogation.

One day, he was walking her to class when he turned to look at her, twirling his yew wand in his hands, "Granger," he said drawing out the word as if he was mulling it over, "What an unusual name."

Hermione did a sharp intake of breath at this, but remained virtually unfazed.

"It's not very common, is it?"

"No," she said simply.

"No," he repeated pursing his lips as if he was thinking over something, "Especially not in the wizarding world," he laughed lightly and Hermione felt chills go down her spine. Her instincts were telling her to run, but she kept herself rooted in her place by his side.

"Yes," she said, "Just like Riddle."

At this, he turned to her, his face rang with fury. She flinched violently away from him, when he suddenly calmed and smiled, though it seemed tenser than his previous one.

He flicked his wand and the cuts she had made from clenching her hands were healed, "Yes," he said slowly, "Just like Riddle."

He eyed her pale, sweaty, and shaking form, "Should I take you to the Hospital Wing, Miss Granger? You seem ill."

He flashed her an equally innocent, yet mocking smile as she let out a shaky, "No."

"Ah, well then we must get to class before we are late."

That happened three days ago and Hermione had successfully avoided him since then. Though, she got the sickening feeling that she had only managed that because he allowed her to stray from him, yet she never seemed to feel like she had fully escaped from his watch. Now she sat in one of her only classes she did not share with him, and allowed herself to breathe again. She looked to her side and saw Renee pursing her small lips at the gigantic pot take up their entire table.

"Now class!" Professor Beery exclaimed, "The Snargaluff pods are extremely tricky to deal with so please arrange yourselves in groups of four."

Renee immediately started waving over two Gryffindors when Hermione felt a breath ghost her ear, "I know your secret," the voice said as she turned to see a familiar blonde haired boy seat himself down next to her.

She struggled to hold her composure, "Oh really? And what is that?"

"That you're actually a genius," he stated, staring at her accusingly.

"I was not aware that was a secret."

"Oh yes you did," he joked, "You act all quiet and don't participate, when really you're feeding Bryant answers. It's quite selfish actually."

Hermione quirked her eyebrows at him.

"Only sharing your genius with Bryant. You should start sharing the wealth with more people. More people worthy of your genius, like Alphard and I. Isn't that right, Alphard?" He said looking back at the dark-haired man seating himself next to a very silent and suddenly stiff Renee.

Alphard chuckled lowly with his dark locks falling over his equally dark eyes, "Just because you're shit at every subject doesn't mean I am too."

Malfoy shrugged, "It's still selfish. Really though, Hermione, I don't blame you that much. I mostly blame Bryant for hiding you from us," he turned to Renee, "That was extremely selfish of you, not only hiding Hermione's brains from us, but also her beauty."

"Put your tongue back in your mouth, Malfoy, it's distracting," Renee said rolling her eyes.

"Do I sense a bit of jealousy there, Bryant?" Malfoy said smugly, "Don't worry, you're not bad yourself. Could use a bit more food though, you're lacking in the," he paused, as if trying to find the right word.

He pointed at Alphard to finish the thought for him, "Womanly assets?"

Malfoy turned smugly back at her, "I was going to say a decent ass and tits, but Alphard is more well-mannered than me."

"Prat!" Renee yelled at Alphard who gave her a cheeky grin in return.

Hermione opened her mouth to defend her newfound friend when Renee turned to Malfoy, "As if I would be jealous over a ferret like you. Don't kid yourself, Malfoy. Your ego is obviously overcompensating for a few things," She snapped, making sure to run her eyes over his trousers.

Malfoy opened his mouth to retort when he was cut off, "As interesting as insulting you is, Bryant," Alphard paused, looking her over, "And believe me when I say it is, I was more interested in actually having a decent conversation," Alphard turning to Hermione, missing the embarrassed and hurt look that appeared on Renee's face at his comment, "So, Hermione, how are your classes so far?"

Hermione suddenly had a wave of nostalgia run over her. Flashbacks assaulted her memory of all the times she, Harry, and Ron had referred to Malfoy as a ferret. It was all so familiar, yet so foreign to her now.

She shook herself out of the daze and shook away the unshed tears threatening to spill out of her as she turned to the striking, more refined lookalike of Sirius, "They're interesting," she paused, determined to defend her friend, "Definitely more interesting than bullying people," she looked at them both pointedly and continued, "Though History of Magic is quite the bore with Professor Binns."

She continued chatting with the group for the rest of the class. She now walked down the halls with the familiar feeling of being watched. She had been in this time period a week, and had done nothing. What would Harry and Ron say? The memories she had allowed to pass through her of her two best friends now drove her out of this slump of inactivity she had found herself in. She had to do something for her best friends, for the betterment of the future. Yes, she was not supposed to alter the timeline, but Hermione didn't see how the future could become any worse than it already was. She needed to stop the darkness at its root. She had to stop Voldemort by stopping Tom Riddle.

She half ran to the library and began pulling various texts from the shelves and began reading. Hours passed as the clock inched closer to curfew.

She jumped at the smooth voice that kissed her ears, "I've always loved the library." She looked up to see Tom Riddle running his long index finger along the spines of the books, "It's always so calming. A place to immerse yourself in the texts and forget about reality." He smirked at her clearly startled form, "Did I frighten you, Granger? My apologizes."

"No," she said shaking her head, "Just surprised."

"Of course," he said smirking and walking towards her until he was standing directly over her sitting form.

She stood, not enjoying having Riddle looking down at her. Yet, she found herself effectively trapped, as her chest brushed against his.

"Yes, well I must be going, actually," she started gently attempting to push past Riddle.

He stuck his long arms out and maneuvered them so she was trapped against the bookshelf, "You've been avoiding me, Granger."

"Of course not, I've just been busy," she mumbled, casting her eyes down.

"You know, you're a very bad liar," he said smirking, "It's quite obvious that you are and I must say Miss Granger, I'm hurt."

She scoffed, "Well maybe if you made your presence a little more bearable than I would be more inclined to be around you." She bit her tongue at her escaped words, preparing for his backlash.

To her surprise, he laughed than leaned closely in, "Did I do something to scare you off, Miss Granger?"

She knew what he was doing. He was trying to get her to reveal something of herself, of her past. She bit her lip and placed a slightly shaking hand on his hard chest, "Of course not, Riddle," she leaned forward so her lips were ghosting his ear and his eyebrows jumped at that.

She surprised him. Good. "You'll come to find that I don't scare easily."

She pushed him away and released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and started to walk away.

He glanced at the clock and quickly pulled her back so that he was leaning in close to her, their lips millimeters apart. He smirked at her wide eyes, and slightly quivering frame, "Are you sure about that?"

She regained her composure in an instant and stared defiantly back into his eyes, "Positive."

He flashed her a grin that would rival that of the Cheshire Cat and ran a single digit along her cheekbone, "Good, I do enjoy a challenge."

Hermione could feel the bile rise in her throat as he held her there, staring intensely at her, as if daring her to play the game that they had started.

Suddenly, he looked at the clock and pushed her away, smiling, "Miss Granger it seems you are out past curfew."

Her mouth hung ajar in confusion as he continued, "It seems that as Head Boy, I will have to give you a detention."

The pieces connected in her head, "What?! You sneaky little prat! You were planning this, weren't you? You have got to be joking-"

He cut her off, "Being out past curfew is a serious offense and is no joking matter. You're new so I will not take away House points, but you must suffer some consequences as any other student would."

Her knuckles were white and her face was red, she could feel her angry magic flowing around her as she struggled to regain her composure.

"You will meet me in the Great Hall at 10 pm on Wednesday night. Do try to be punctual, for once," he smirked at her obvious anger, "Now get back to your common room before I am inclined to actually take away House points."

She turned, fuming and started to walk away, "Oh and Granger?" She stopped and turned. He walked up to her slowly, and leaned in so his lips were against her temple and he ran his thumb along her jawline, "I do look forward to it."

He strode away confidently and Hermione had come to a conclusion: Inactivity was a complete and total bullshit approach.

A/N By the way, all my chapters didn't save so updates may be less frequent! I'll definitely do one every week but yeah.