Hermione sat, crying on the floor of her living room. She couldn't seem to find it in her to stand up and take care of her loved ones. Instead she sat there, gazing at their bodies and sitting in their combined blood, finding it impossible to stand up.
IN a dark chamber, far beneath the earth's surface, chanting could be heard. There was a circle of hooded men, chanting loudly. In the center of that circle was a rock table. Lying on that table was an unconscious man.
The chanting grew louder, and soon a bright green light enveloped the man. The circle of men stared at the man, each with a scared stance. It was obvious they all wished to run, but knew if they did, the spell wouldn't be complete, and their master would punish them severely for it.
The light disappeared and in place of the man now lay a handsome young man. He opened his eyes and looked around him at his followers with a satisfied look on his face. He sat up and jumped off the table, just as the doors to the chamber burst open, revealing two guards pulling a rather scared looking Draco Malfoy behind them.
"Well, what is it? Why do you bring this worm to me?" The young man snarled at the guards, glaring down at the quivering 'worm'.
"M'lord, we f-f-found him wandering the streets of London, b-b-boasting that he had raped Hermione Granger. W-w-we thought you would wish to see him, to punish him for this o-o-obvious disregard for your orders, sir." Stuttered one of the guards. The other nodded quickly and shoved the terrified young man to the ground in front of their lord. Tom Riddle looked down at him and smiled cruelly.
"Is this true, young Malfoy? Well, here I was thinking I made myself quite clear that Hermione Granger was not to be touched. That she was mine, as was foreseen. To be my Dark Queen, and you have polluted her with your unworthy hands? That is a high form of treason and for it, you will be given the highest form of punishment." He raised his wand and pointed it at Malfoy, before stopping with a thoughtful look on his face. "However, now that she has been raped and has discovered her family murdered in their home, she will need comfort, and will be more susceptible to me. Since you have done this favor unwittingly to me, I shall be lenient. You will only have to endure a minute of the Cruciatus Curse. Crucio!"
Draco Malfoy's agonized screams could be heard long after the curse had been lifted.
The next morning, Hermione woke to find herself laying in the pool of blood still. She moaned and sat up, hoping she was imagining it all. But it was not to happen. She looked around her and shuddered. Her family was slaughtered because of her, and now there was nowhere for her to go. The second the neighbors came to investigate, she'd become a suspect, and if they chose to lock her up "just to be safe", they'd be doing the Dark Lord a favor. She would be a sitting duck for him. As she tried to stand up, she found she was sore everywhere, which brought back more unwanted memories from the night before.
Hermione tried to think of where she could go. After her seventh year, Grimmauld Place had become vacant, as it was too well known of a place among the Pureblood families. Hogwarts was out of the question, as the protection spells on the grounds were so incredibly powerful, that anyone who came near it immediately collapsed in pain. Harry and Ron were at the Burrow, along with most of the Weasley family. She couldn't go there, as Arthur was now the Minister of Magic, and Hermione wasn't willing to give Voldemort the chance to get rid of him and her at the same time.
No, Hermione concluded, there wasn't any place in the wizarding world she could go. But in the muggle world, there were plenty of place to hide. After all, nineteen-year-old girls were common to see traveling alone throughout the world. So it was decided. She would find a way to a rather non-magical country, where she would stay till word reached her of Voldemort's demise.
After she had decided this, and had finally managed to stand, she heard the front door open behind her, and the accompanying gasp of the visitor. She turned to see a rather handsome young man, with jet-black hair and dazzling black eyes. He rushed to grab her as her legs gave out and she fell towards the floor again.
"Are you all right? Is this your house?" He asked, a concerned air about him. She nodded dazedly as he helped her to remain standing. He looked at her curiously and spoke again. "What happened here? Who are theses people, and who did this?" She tried to answer, but her throat felt swollen from her tears and scream from the night before. He seemed to sense her trouble and led her out of the house. "How about we get you washed up and changed? And maybe a warm meal in your stomach. Then maybe you'll be able to help answer some of my questions." He started walking down the pathway, leading away from her house, giving her support she desperately needed.
He led her through muggle London to an apartment building, leading her to a rather nice looking flat on the third floor. After showing her around the flat, he led her to the bathroom, and told her to take a shower while he asked one of his neighbors for clothes she could wear. Shutting the door behind her, Hermione leaned against it and slid down to the floor. She shut her eyes and tried to pretend none of this was happening. But since it didn't work (sadly) and turn her reality into just a simple dream, she stood up and turned on the water for her shower.
After her shower, as she sat snuggled into a large, fluffy white towel, waiting for the mysterious stranger to return with clothes, she wondered about who he was. Which led to her wondering who she was. After all, if was NOT common for Hermione Granger to just go off with a complete stranger, letting herself be put completely at their mercy. The only excuse she could come up with for her actions was the complete shock of the day before. She had just been so shocked and distracted, she wasn't thinking straight when he offered her a shower and clothes. She sighed at stood up, looking at herself in the mirror.
Hermione realized that her mind wouldn't give her a moments rest about the day before, unless she distracted herself. So she did that. She began trying to decide who this man was that had rescued her. He looked about her age and looked so familiar, but she couldn't place him. From the looks of his flat, he was most likely a muggle, or a wizard who left the wizarding world for good. There wasn't one single magical thing in the entire place to lead her to believe he was a wizard. And that put her at ease, because if he wasn't a wizard, chances were, he'd never heard of her, and she was safe.
For now.
Hermione slammed her palms flat on the counter in frustration. How she hated that little voice of reason that always had to make her on edge, whispering those little reminders that she was never safe.
Her feud with herself was interrupted be rapping on the bathroom door. She cracked it open to show the rather sheepish looking young man who had helped her.
"Sorry it took so long. This building has mostly males in it, and the females I found kept trying to give me clothes that would fit me. It wasn't till the third woman tried it that I realized what they thought. Here," he handed her a pile of clothes, "I think I got the right size, or there about for you. It's kinda hard when the person isn't there. When you get them on, come on out and we can eat and you can tell me what happened in that house last night." She nodded and quickly shut the door in his face. Not realizing till after the fact how rude that must have seemed. But judging from the rumble of laughter she heard on the other side of the door, he hadn't seen it as offensive.
Tom smiled wickedly as he walked briskly from the bathroom door t the kitchen, where he apparated quickly to the kitchen of a nearby Death Eater's mansion, where the house elves had the food he had ordered them to make ready and waiting for him. He quickly brought it back to the flat he had rented and set it on the table to await Hermione.
Everything was going according to plan. She was accepting his help without reserve, from what he could see, and was too jittery at the moment to question it too much. Now, he thought, she was putty in his hands, waiting for him to mold her into his future Dark Queen.
Tom quickly went over his story in his head when he heard the door to the bathroom open slowly, and turned to see Hermione walk hesitantly out to the kitchen. She watched him with the caution she would pay a deadly snake in her bed.
Now, that would do at all, Tom thought. He was supposed to have her ready and willing to depend on his help, without question or reserve. But too bad. It was just a little extra work for him, nothing to be afraid of.
"Hello, my dear, why don't you sit and eat? When you are finished we can talk." She nodded and looked at him questioningly when he moved to leave the room. "Don't worry, I've already eaten, and I was just going to go and watch a little telly while you finish eating." Personally, he despised the muggle form of entertainment, but the story worked well on her, so he was going to stick to it. It was very important for him to appear like a clueless (but good!) muggle Samaritan.
Tom sat on one of the comfy couches he had ordered and clicked on the television. Since he had to keep it on for appearances sake, he cast a quick spell to warn him when she was finished eating and pulled out a good book to read. It was, in his opinion, a must-have for every Death Eater library. It detail some of the finest forms of torture that got the job done but left no physical or magical marks, so it was nigh impossible to prove it had been done to the victim.
About ten minutes after he started reading, the spell alerted him to Hermione finishing her meal, and he quickly sent the book back to his mansion via a highly complex spell he had picked up somewhere.
When Hermione finished eating, she cleaned up the mess she had made on the table and slowly entered the sitting room of the flat. The stranger sat in a couch, his back to her, watching a TV show that looked quite dull, but he seemed quite interested. When he heard her enter, he turned and a smile came to his face and he motioned for her to sit down next to him on the couch.
"Now," he said. "that you are fed and clean, why don't you tell me your name, and what you know of what happened back at your house."
And Hermione told him. If her hoarse voice, she told him everything that had happened. Omitting, of course, any magic related subject. She didn't know why, but she told him everything that had happened since she left the club, including her run in with Draco Malfoy. Something about this man made her feel like she could trust him with anything. But her little voice of reason made her refrain from anything magic, just in case.
When she was finished, she looked at him and saw his sympathetic look. Of course he was sympathetic. The story she had just told was one of heartbreak and tragedy. Something no one was ever to go through. But she felt better, slightly, for getting it off her chest and looked to him again.
"Well, now, do you feel better?" At her nod he smiled and continued. "We're going to have to find you some clothes and a place to stay then, aren't we? At least till the culprits behind this travesty are brought to justice." He turned to lead her out of the flat when her feeble voice stopped him.
"Excuse me, but I'm afraid I don't know your name. Would you mind telling me?" she asked, and immediately flushed when he turned to her with a shocked look on his face.
"I cannot believe I forgot to tell you. How silly of me. My name, Ms. Granger, is Tom Riddle."
OK! Before anyone tries to kill me, I'm sorry for the really long delay. I've had absolutely no inspiration to continue this story after some recent drama in my life.
But I've continued it and am really willing to keep it coming this summer since it appears I don't have anything else to do but write and play softball.
I know this is a small chapter, but it's the best I could do for a day. I'm already thinking over the next chapter and am seriously hoping to have it up by the end of July. It might not happen, however, so do hold your breath.
Please review, and if you have any ideas or criticism for me, please include that. And I'm looking for actual reviews, people, not "OMG This story totally rox!" reviews. They truly offend me. Not to be rude, but I get the feeling that people don't actually read the stories when they just sign that. And I admit, I have been guilty of those quick little reviews, but I've learned my lesson and hope others will too.
In the next chapter, I'll hopefully get to all the reviewers.
Ciao!
Shelby
