A/N I do not own Harry Potter, I'm just borrowing J.K. Rowling's Characters

Hermione opened up one eye to look outside to see what was making that annoying sound and found a brown owl pecking at the window, she groaned and closed her eye again and tried to go back to sleep. She huffed in annoyance when she heard it again, knowing it wouldn't go away, she rolled over and got out of bed. Stomping towards the window with murder on her mind, she opened it and instantly shivered as the cold came in and brushed over her skin.

The owl flew in and landed on the window seat nudging her hand. Hermione grabbed the letter from it's mouth and gave the owl a treat and water, the owl hooted while it flew out the window, shutting and latching the window back up Hermione glared at the letter.

Tearing the offending envelope open, she looked down at the letter, realized it was from Dumbledore, she cursed out loud after she read the letter.

Miss Granger,

I hope you and Mr. Riddle are doing well so far. I wanted to inform you the elementary school will be taking in applications now. It is a first come first serve school and I know both teachers there and want to inform you they are both from the wizarding world so, you don't have to worry about any incidents that may accrue. To meet them you'll have to be at the school in august for an open school night and have Mr. Riddle meet them as well. Have a wonderful day.

Dumbledore.

Of course! why didn't she think of this before, feeling very dense to not think of it herself. she definitely was not ready for this. She thought she had this all planned out but of course she didn't. Signing up Tom for school was one of the things Hermione did not think about. Thank goodness for Dumbledore.

Shaking her head, she opened her door and walked towards the kitchen to make some coffee. When she got to the kitchen she let out a tiny scream when she almost stepped on a snake. The green little snake slithered its way under the table as Tom jumped up, blocking its view from Hermione. She placed her hand over her heart, taking a deep breath trying calm herself down while leaning on the wall to support her.

"Oh Tom." Hermione mumbled out. "It is way too early for this."

"I'm sorry." He said. "He wont hurt you I promise." He sounded as if he was unsure of it himself.

Hermione looked down at him quickly, he looked alarmed, thinking he was in trouble for letting a snake in. Hermione expected he wasn't sure how she would react. Hermione straightened up and smiled at him, she walked towards him kneeled down in front of him.

"I'm not mad Tom." She said trying to convince him. "I was not expecting to see a snake this early in the morning." She smiled. "Is this your new pet?" She asked, trying to sound cheerful, as if she wasn't afraid of that slithering disgusting snake which Hermione could feel watching her with those bitty evil eyes. Hermione tried to stop a shiver that threated to go through her body. Complete and utter shock took over Tom's face.

"You mean I can keep him?" He asked sounded surprised but delighted at the same time. She smiled at him tying to not look disgusted. "Of course, but it's a big responsibility Tom." She said in her 'adult voice'. "You have to feed him and change out his tank…" Tom cut her off. "I will! I promise I will."

"Okay" She said softly feeling somewhat nauseated to have a snake living under her roof. Hermione pulled him into a hug and felt him tense but he relaxed, she felt his arms wrap around her. Hermione was surprised but grateful that he is making an effort. She stood up and fixed some coffee while putting together breakfast for them.

Having Tom with her was a lot better then she expected. He's been with her for a month now and everything has been great. There had been a couple accidents with him when there were other people around who decided stop and talk to her but she suspected he didn't like to be around a lot of people. Hermione understood and immediately made an excuse to leave and took him away before something happened.

It wasn't bad things that happened but sometimes people stopped them to talk, their belongings would suddenly fly out of their hands and they had to run and fetch it, completely forgetting they were talking to her and Tom. Another gentleman who thought he was a god's gift to women, who annoyingly reminded her of the DADA professor Lockhart. He would not leave her alone when all of a sudden he noticed Tom.

He smiled down at him but instantly frowned and started to back away slowly, scared of what he saw. Still keeping an eye on Tom, he turned, and ran as fast as his legs would let him. Hermione was sure he saw something scary behind Tom, that Tom had nothing to do with it, but being clueless always gotten people hurt, Hermione who was surprised and confused as to what had happen, she tried to be mad at Tom but to say the least she was happy the man was gone.

Hermione had been teaching Tom how to read and write and she was very impressed of the outcome. He was definitely a very smart child and she was surprised at how proud she was of him because of that. He caught on very fast and was very eager to learn. Hermione smiled at a memory where Hermione had to take the book away from him so he could concentrate on getting food and liquids down him, it surprised her how similar they were. when she was his age she remembered her parents doing the very same thing to her.

She was sure she would have problems with him at first, that he'd act out or not listen but he had been good so far. Hermione thought maybe he was grateful someone took him in, who understood him. Hermione could feel herself liking him more and more. She never thought of having kids before, during the war the thought never crossed her mind. Now she was a little sad that she never would but chose to ignore that thought and focus her time on Tom.

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Getting Tom signed up for school was a difficult situation on its own. Being his guardian and all, she had to fill out a lot of paper work. Hermione found a babysitter, deciding on not taking him with her because not knowing the time it would take her to get him signed up, she found an elder lady who lived next door. Hermione told Tom what she was doing and that she would be back in a half an hour. Tom wanted to go with her but Hermione convinced him it was going to be boring and told him she'd buy him books when she got back.

What Hermione didn't know was that is was going to take a lot longer than expected because she was supposed to sign him up last month but wasn't aware so she had to go through more steps to get him into that school. She was getting irritated mad finally voiced out she told the lady Dumbledore told her and the woman immediately changed her attitude.

It still ended up taking two hours just arguing with the principle and dealing with school papers that when Hermione came home after being at the school for a couple hours she was wore out and just wanted to relax.

When Hermione walked up to her front door she felt magic surround her and Hermione heart jumped. Hermione instantly opened her door and noticed her flat was completely destroyed.

Hermione felt fear rush through her body and thought about Tom and if he was hurt. Hermione pulled out her wand ready to attack anything that came at her. Seeing nothing but her belongings thrown everywhere and windows broken, she didn't see anyone in her flat.

"Tom." Hermione yelled and she heard a sound in his bedroom, the door flow open and there was Tom, staring at her, he was paler then he usually was, his hair was disheveled as if he was grabbing a hold of it and yanking at it, and saw his eyes were a red as if he'd been crying.

"I thought you weren't coming back." He said in a tiny voice, it cracked at the end.

Hermione suddenly walked towards him and he stepped back as if she was going to hurt him. Hermione grabbed him and picked him up in her arms and hugged him. Relief washed through her and at the moment she didn't care about her flat, she just wanted him in her arms and to comfort him. She whispered in his ear over and over saying she would never leave him while walking towards his room and noticed it was just as destroyed. She moved the items away and sat down on his bed and rocked him until he fell asleep.

Laying him on his bed and tucking him in she walked out of his room and into her living room. She found the baby sitter in the hall closet hiding behind the coats. She opened her mouth to scream when Hermione opened the door but silenced her before she woke up Tom. She saw the fear in her eyes that Hermione knew she had to erase her memory of what happened here. She obliviated her and took her home and made sure she was comfortable and had no memory of agreeing to babysit Tom, Hermione didn't want this incident to get out to the public.

When She came back she looked at her destroyed flat, Hermione broke down and fell to the floor. She cried for Tom, he was so broken, she didn't know how to fix him. She didn't know if she even could, she has never felt this useless in her life. Her hands were shaking; she was sad this had happened but she understood it would take awhile to get him to trust her, to realize she would not abandon him. Seeing this made Hermione want to go and hurt his father for leaving him, a little boy who needed someone.

Pulling herself together she got up she and silently peeked inside his room and saw he was still asleep on his side facing away from her. She heard him snore a little, Hermione smiled and cleaned her flat. She repaired the broken furniture and windows. When she was done and went into the kitchen to start to make dinner.

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"I'm sorry." She heard behind her and she whipped around to see him standing there looking at the floor, looking uncomfortable standing there. Hermione stared at him and stopped what she was doing, walking towards him she grabbed his chin to make him look up at her. "Tom, I want you to know that I will never leave you. I promise you. I'm sorry I put you through that." He stared in her eyes and smiled a little but Hermione could still see the doubt in his eyes, that he didn't believe her just yet.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes" He said with a nod. "Okay." She said dropping her hand and turning away. "wash up, its almost done."

After dinner they sat in silence still unsure on what to say to each other. When Hermione opened up her mouth to speak he spoke first. "I can talk to snakes." He said and it took Hermione of guard, she was not expecting that. "They find me, that's how I found Richard. Is that normal, for people like us?" He asked.

Hermione stared at him, trying to find the answer. Should she tell him or is it to soon? She decided telling him the truth would have a better outcome then lying to him.

"When people talk to snakes, it's looked down upon because it was something Salazar Slytherin could do and he had different beliefs on the wizarding world…" Hermione started.

He looked up, slightly surprised she was going to tell him. "Like what?"

"Well, he thought only purebloods should be taught magic. He thought having half-bloods and muggle-borns would be a disgrace to the wizarding world." She decided to limit herself on what to tell him, for now at least. "So people who could talk to snakes were automatically named as a bad wizard because of him. People who are sorted into Slytherin are still very prejudice against anyone who isn't a pureblood."

Tom was quiet for a moment. "Does that mean I'm related to him because I can speak to snakes?" He asked while looking up at Hermione. Hermione couldn't say anything so she nodded.

"Do you think I'm bad?" Tom asked in a soft voice.

Hermione stared at him and without thinking she spoke.

"No Tom, you are not a bad person. You could be a very talented wizard if pointed in the right direction." He looked at her for a moment and looked down as the snake was crawling on his shoulders. Hermione had to look away from it. She still didn't like snakes after having to deal with Nagini. He turned to look at her. "So if people knew I could talk to snakes…" His voice trailed off.

"It would be best if you didn't mention it Tom. People do not have an open mind like others do." Tom nodded his head. "Is it called something?" Hermione looked at him confused for a second. "When you talk to snakes, what's it called?"

"Parseltongue." Hermione leaned forward, "Promise me you won't say anything Tom."

He looked at her. "I promise." Hermione nodded feeling relived. "Lets get you in the bath and get some sleep. I'll read you the book about Hogwarts." He jumped up and went into the bathroom and Hermione chuckled.

Getting him tucked in and comfortable Hermione laid down beside him and started to read to him. He would stop her every so often to ask questions and she would happily answer them. She thought then maybe Dumbledore would let her take him with her some days to Hogwarts, it made her smile at the thought.

Looking down and seeing him sleeping Hermione brushed the hair out of his face that was still a little wet from his bath and kissed his forehead. She immediately smelled Harry's shampoo and tears came to her eyes. Hermione got up to leave his room, she looked at him one last time and went into her own room.

Hermione looked around her room and looked at the empty bed and realized how lonely she was but discarded the thought. This wasn't about her, this is about Tom and her world. But a thought in the back of her mind wouldn't go away. What would it be like if he had a father figure?

I wasn't for sure about this chapter. Let me know what you think about Tom in this chapter. It hard to write how a child will react to certain things so hopefully you think I captured him okay. Someone asked about Hermione going back to her own time I'm not to sure about that. Right now the answer would be no, she is stuck there for right now, her main concern is Tom. She is 18 now and when Tom turns 18 she'd be 32, 33 so who knows, she might find someone there. If Tom will allow it of course :) I'm sure He'd be a very scary little guy to meet when dating his 'mom.'