Hey. I'm scaring myself. I promised my friend (goodoldpenutbutter) that if she reviewed, I'd update before midnight, and I plan to do just that. So, without further ado, here's to the delightful reviewers who put up with my stupidity!
TO!
CareBearErinI know, I thought of that too after I updated. I hope the recon work I did in this chapter fixes the problem. She's reacting in a way I feel I would react, so I hope it isn't too far fetched. And I KNOW what I want to do with Severus, but I don't think he'll come into play until later in the story. But he WILL make an appearance, I assure you. After all, I am an insane Severus fan. Also, I know a great site that discusses the, um, outcome, of HBP; so if you'd like the URL, please email me. --BEST THING ABOUT HBP-- It proved to all the doubters in the world that A) BLAISE IS MALE! And B) Serious main characters CAN, in fact, die. Thank you.
Moony'sMate-Bows- I hope it is as well. I tried to make it as realistic as possible, so bear with me if there are some facts that don't add up.
Hazelocean-Likes you already- Sweet, simple and to the point. I take it you liked the story? Lol. Well, I'm glad. And I did update. Almost just for you! HA! Lol –Evil, Maniacal Laughter-
So. I have a lot of free space here to talk all I want. And I'm not quite sure what I want to say. SO I'm just gonna sit it while I think.
-Thinks-
-Cricket-
-Cricket cricket-
He, well, I'm wasting space anyways, so here. Just go to the story.
Yeah, that's right, you heard me.
Keep walking.
No, don't turn around.
Keep it moving.
And while you're at it, read my other stories!
-Likes shamelessly promoting herself-
So, like, GO! –Giggles-
Hermione woke to bright streaming light coming through her open window. The birds urged her to greet the day, an urging she rather resented. She burrowed even more deeply into her rather comfy bed in an attempt to drown out the annoyingly cheerful birds.
That is, until she remembered her touch of claustrophobia and flung back the sheets within seconds, gasping for air. And, of course, the sun nearly blinded her. Muttering curses to the annoyingly bright sign of day, she stood up and quickly crossed to the window, slamming it shut, and pulling the curtains tight. Breathing a sigh of relief, she returned to her bed ready and willing to slip back into sleeps gentle graces.
Only to find she couldn't. Now Hermione was in an even worse mood then before. Not only had birds rudely awoken her, but now she couldn't return to her much wanted slumber. So she did all she could think to do, logically. She got up.
Hermione wasn't willingly awake at this, the ungodly hour of 10 AM. And, contrary to popular belief, she was NOT a morning person. She sighed, grab a robe from the closet, flung it on, picked out an outfit for the day then walked slowly down the hallway to the bathroom, where she took a nice, delightfully hot shower. Unfortunately, as usually is the case, she did not get a blissful shower. No, instead Hermione was plagued with stupid reminders of the day before. And felt rather sick.
She didn't know what got into her when she was playing around with Tom. That shouldn't have happened, and she felt quite ill over it. She nearly scrubbed her skin off in an attempted to rid herself of the dirty feeling she got at the mere memory of the night before. Hermione couldn't, no, wouldn't, allow herself to have fun like that. Especially with the Dark Lord. After all, just a day ago one of his servants had brutally raped her, and more of them had destroyed her family. There was no way she was to be won over so easily.
She must have dozed off, however, because the next thing she knew, she was suddenly being bombarded by freezing water. She shivered and stepped out of the shower, turning the water off and wrapping herself tightly in a large terra cotta towel. Hermione quickly dried herself off, and clothed quickly.
After leaving the bathroom, she hesitantly walked to the kitchen, where she smelt breakfast cooking. She really didn't want to see Tom at all, but felt she had no choice, considering the fact that her stomach was revolting against her and attempting to drag her towards the delicious smells.
Hermione approached the kitchen cautiously, and entered rather slowly, as if afraid he'd pounce on her if she moved to quickly. However, the kitchen had other plans. Breakfast sat on the table, held warm by potholders placed strategically. And the kitchen itself was empty of any Dark Lords. She sighed, relieved, and picked up the notes he'd left on the table. It read:
-Hermione,
I hate to do this to you, but I have to work. I won't be back
until late, so don't expect me for lunch or dinner. I don't
suggest you wait up, either. I'll you in the morning. Oh, and
I spoke to my lady neighbor down the hall about any music
She thought you might like. There is a pile of CDs on the couch.
I hope you like the artists I got.
Tom
p.s. There should be enough food in the fridge for you to
make whatever you want for lunch and dinner. And if you
prefer to order in, there's some money on the stereo and a
phonebook on the coffee table.-
Despite herself, Hermione was touched by his thoughtfulness. He was, in her opinion, turning out to have much better manners then Harry and Ron combined, Dark Lord or not. They would never do the dishes for her, or make sure she was comfortable. Sure, she could take care of herself, but it was nice to be doted on every once in a while, right?
She gasped at the slight resentful feelings toward her best friends. She didn't understand where they came from, and was slightly afraid of them. Hermione loved her best friends dearly and knew they did all they though possible to help her. But they were guys, so unintentional idiots, something that was most definitely not their faults. She tried to calm the odd feelings, but it wouldn't work.
Giving up, she sat down and contemplated the food in front of her. It would have been easy to poison it, her logical side reasoned.
But, her hungry side countered, it wouldn't help him much to kill her, then there'd a body to get rid of.
Her logical, and slightly paranoid, side would have none of that. Yes, but he's a DARK LORD, he has his ways.
In the end, her hungry side won, stating simply: If he poisoned it, at least we won't die hungry.
And that was the end of that.
Hermione thoroughly enjoyed the food. It was warm still, and perfectly made. She ate it quickly, but not so quick that she reminded herself of Ron. She finished it in a record time, however, then cleaned up the mess she had made. After her guess and go of trying to find where the plates went, she went to the living room.
She found easily where everything he'd mentioned in his note was. The CDs were spread on one of the two couches, the phonebook lay on the coffee table, and there, on the stereo, lay about 50 pounds. She snorted slightly at that. In her opinion, he was trying to hard to keep up this charade of a muggle life. But then, she wasn't sure.
WAS it a charade? It was hard to tell with this guy. There were so many sides to him, so many secrets she probably had no chance of ever knowing. There was something definitely evil about him. She didn't know what, exactly, but she could feel it in her very bones. But there was also…what? A, sweetness, sort of? Like the innocent sweetness of a child who was being showered with the love he had always deserved, but never quite was given.
She decided not to worry about it. She would just get a headache from thinking about it. Hermione curled up on the couch that held the CDs, and started examining the covers. And snorted again. Most of the artists were American, and some were definitely not what she'd call music. Like the Eminem and Britney Spears CDs. Yeah, right. There were, however, so good CDs in the mix so she decided to listen to them. She pulled out Kelly Clarkson's 'Breakaway' CD and put it in the stereo, turning it to song four, Gone, and placing it on repeat.
-------
What
you see's not what you get
With you there's just no measurement
No
way to tell what's real from what isn't there
Your eyes they
sparkle
That's all changed into lies that drop like acid rain
You
washed away the best of me
You don't care
-------
She quickly retrieved one of the books he'd gotten her the day before, Phantom, by Susan Kay. Phantom is an expansion of the popular musical turned movie, The Phantom of the Opera, and tells the story behind the story. Hermione had always liked that book, and found it particularly enthralling now. She returned to her curled position on the couch, where she stayed, reading, until her stomach prompted her off the comfortable couch and on the prowl for food. It was about 3 PM, and she was surprisingly hungry.
Hermione did a quick tally of the food in the fridge, and decided on just a light salad. Now enough to fill her up, but enough to quiet the incessant rumbling going on it her stomach. It was then that the absurdity of the situation hit her and she broke out laughing hysterically. Here she was, in the flat of THE Tom Marvolo Riddle, letting her stomach rule her, and yet still worrying about eating all his food. She wiped her eyes clear of her hysterical tears and calmed down slightly. The one situation she had never anticipated being in….
She cleared her mind and quickly tossed the salad together, with tomatoes, carrot peelings, croutons, and a light olive oil dressing she had always been partial to. Hermione brought her salad into the living room, singing along to the song.
------
You
know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this
world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a
bridge that I gotta burn
You're wrong
If you think you can walk
right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've
finally moved on
I'm already gone
------
The salad was particularly good, and she marveled at the freshness of the lettuce. Which, again, reached her as a ridiculous thing to marvel over, and snorted into the salad, causing herself to choke slightly. She didn't understand why she was so hysterical today, but she was, and it was rather disturbing.
The closest thing to a reason Hermione could find was that she was using the hilarity of her current situation to cover the pain she was still harboring after her rape and the catastrophic murder of her family. She decided that must be it, and continued read.
--------
Sometimes
shattered
Never open
Nothing matters
When you're broken
That
was me whenever I was with you
Always ending
Always over
Back
and forth, up and down like a roller coaster
I am breaking
That
habit
Today
--------
Hermione didn't know how she managed to do it, but she continued to read all the way to dinnertime. And her rumbling stomach again, sounded dinnertime. When contemplating what to have, she decided she had eaten nutritiously enough for the day, and decided to order a pizza. She used the phone book to find a pizza place close by, and called in a pizza. Realizing she had no idea where she was, she put the order for pick up, and soon set out to get the pizza.
When she had about 10 minutes before the pizza was supposed to be done, she left the building and made sure to write down the street and building number of the complex, then set out to get a cab.
She found one is about 5 minutes, and had a relatively anticlimactic ride to and from the pizza place. When Hermione returned to the complex and got upstairs to the flat Tom lived in, she realized with a jolt that she didn't have a key.
---------
You
know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this
world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a
bridge that I gotta burn
You're wrong
If you think you can walk
right through my door
That is just so you
Coming back when I've
finally moved on
I'm already gone
--------
She sighed deeply at her own stupidity and was about to just sit down and wait outside the flat when she remembered her wand. Hermione rejoiced when she pulled it out of her pocket, muttered a near silent 'Alohamora', and was able to enter the flat.
She flounced across the living room, placed the pizza on the coffee table, and opened it, and started eating and reading all over again. Halfway through the pizza she was full and left it on the table, planning on putting it away when she got up to go to bed. She was curled up in that damned comfortable couch when she managed to fall asleep around 10:30.
And that's how Tom found her at midnight, when he returned to the flat. Snuggled deeply into the couch, her head resting on the arm rest, and the throw pulled down around her. The pizza had long since gone cold, and her book had fallen from her hand to the floor when she fell asleep.
He smiled cruelly.
---------
There
is nothing you can say
Sorry doesn't cut it, babe
Take the hint
and walk away
'Cause I'm gone
Doesn't matter what you do
It's
what you did that's hurting you
All I needed was the truth
Now
I'm gone
--------
'Just like a mudblood,' he thought snidely, moving to pick up the pizza box. He closed it and brought it into the kitchen and placed it in the fridge. 'Leaving all the work for some one else.'
Tom debated just leaving her there, on the couch, where she was sure to get a kink in her neck, but decided against it. Even though it would show her for falling asleep on a couch, he had to show the "Loving, repentant, Tom" to her, and that Tom would never leave some one on the couch like that.
So he picked her up and carried her slowly to her room, trying not to move awkwardly and jolt her awake. He got as far as her bed before he made a mistake. He stubbed his toe.
------
What
you see's not what you get
What you see's not what you get
You
know you did it
I'm gone
To find someone to live for
In this
world
There's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight
Just a
bridge that I gotta burn
You're wrong
-------
His muffled curse was enough to wake her up, and she started thrashing in his arms as soon as her brain was functioning. He damn near dropped her when she happened to land a lucky fist on his nose. As soon as Tom got to the bed he dropped her unceremoniously on the bed and turned to the mirror, attempting to survey the damage done.
Hermione immediately felt awful when she saw her 'captor' had been Tom. She got up to see if she had hurt him, when he turned to face him. She immediately rushed to his side to see what she had done.
Which was nothing. Hermione felt slightly disappointed when she saw she had done absolutely nothing to Tom at all with her punch. But it didn't last long when he gave her a definite Slytherin Sneer, and turned to leave. Then her pride flared.
---------
If
you think you can walk right through my door
That is just so
you
Coming back when I've finally moved on
I'm already gone
I'm
already gone
Oh, I'm already gone, gone, gone, gone
Already
gone
I'm gone
--------
"Thanks. You jerk." She called after his retreating form and slammed the door behind him. Hermione huffed and lean against the door. In her mind, this incident just showed that he wasn't a nice guy whatsoever.
Meanwhile in the Living Room, Tom was fuming over the audacity of that Mudblood. No matter if she was to be his prophesized bride, nothing gave her the right to do that.
He calmed down a little and reminded himself of the Dark Revel he'd just come from. Yes, t hose memories more then make up for her actions. All the females who were vying over his attention, each one wanting to be the next Bellatrix. All that young flesh…
But no. He hadn't been able to indulge, knowing that the scent would follow him home, and it was not something easily misconstrued. And he needed Hermione's trust. Badly. And he wasn't planning on destroying that trust until AFTER she was his forever.
YAY! A new chappie. And 8 pages long, too. I know it's basically a filler chapter, and I am even rather unimpressed with my own work, but I thought it had some humor bits that made up for the boring parts.
!RA!
