So sorry for the delay, but now that the holiday season is (kinda) over, updating will be as usual. Thanks again to all that reviewed!
Chapter 4 - Of Train journeys and Tom
"Just go straight through the wall, at a bit of a run," Abraxas instructed as he and Hermione stood in King's Cross Station in front of Platform 9 and changed her grip on her trolley. Her palms had been sweating like mad since that morning when Brutus Malfoy had announced that she'd be starting Hogwarts today with Abraxas..
She'd plastered another fake smile on her face and went about getting her trunk ready but now her panic was starting to show...
I sincerely hope no one will remember me! Hermione screeched internally, Circe, who am I kidding?
She'd probably already messed things up... big time. By associating with junior Death Eaters of the past, she had automatically associated herself with Tom Riddle a.k.a Lord Voldemort. And that was not good.
"It's OK, Hermione," Abraxas said, breaking through her thoughts, "It's just a barrier."
"I know that, Abraxas! Barriers like these are quite common in Norway!" Hermione lied. And stop treating me like an imbecile…
"Then what are you waiting for?" Abraxas frowned.
For some-one to scream 'Ha ha, Got you!' like this was some horrible joke…
With a half hearted glare at him, Hermione pushed her trolley towards the barrier and went on through to see the familiar sight of The Hogwarts Express, waiting for departure as steam billowed out of the chimney.
She pushed her trolley away from the barrier and was joined by Abraxas who was looking around edgily.
"I wonder where the others are," Hermione pondered, following Abraxas across the platform. After all, she had to appear like a girl that had never got this particular train before, "Do you know when they're arriving?"
"No," Abraxas said blankly, taking his trunks off his trolley and leaving it to the side of the platform, "I'm sure they'll catch up... They always do."
Hermione left her trolley to the side too and making sure that Lind was draped comfortably over her shoulders, followed Abraxas onto the train.
They had left Malfoy Manor early and so were some of the first people on the train. Abraxas lead them to a compartment near the front of the train and started stacking their trunks onto the luggage rack. Hermione didn't object, like she usually would if a man had tried doing her manual labour, but instead sat quietly stroking Lind."I wonder which house I'll be in..." Hermione wondered aloud without even thinking.
"How did you know about houses?" Abraxas frowned, darting a suspicious look at her.
"Oh, I, umm... Didn't want to go into the situation blind, so to speak….I read 'Hogwarts a History'," Hermione quickly corrected herself. That at least made sense.
"Do you have any idea what house I might be in?"
"Well, there's Slytherin, that's the house I'm in. Obviously it's the best house, that's where most of the Purebloods get sorted into," Abraxas explained, "Then there's Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor... You won't be put in Hufflepuff, you have too much talent. All the useless Mudbloods go into Hufflepuff and the almost squibs too. Definitely not Gryffindor. They're all complete perverted jerks who wouldn't know intelligence if it ran them over in the shape of a hippogriff! You might go into Ravenclaw but most probably you'll be a Slytherin because as I said, it is by far the best house and it would fit you like a glove."
Hermione almost snorted. So it wasn't just the Gryffindors that stereotyped the Slytherins... Apparently it happened all around the school. Well... That was something new.
Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by the very loud arrival of the Junior Evil Do-ers. Or JEDs as she had taken to calling them.
The Black brothers were laughing about something, ad she could see some of the others behind them.
"Well hello, Hermione. I hope we weren't interrupting?" Cygnus plonked down beside her and was about to drape his hand over her shoulders before realizing-
"There's a snake on your shoulders!" He sprang up.
"Yes, this is Lind, my new familiar." Hermione smiled up at him, trying to hold in her laughter at his reaction.
"Oh, he's….nice," Cygnus replied, sitting a safe distance from Lind's flicking tongue. Everyone else had filed in, or gone to the neighbouring Carriage leaving about two seats free.
"Lind is a girl," Hermione told him, before pulling out 'Human Transfiguration' and starting to read.
She could hear the chatter in the back-ground, listening in, in case she heard anything….interesting. Suddenly the chatter stopped. Hermione lifted her head, curious as to what caused the sudden silence. Standing in the doorway, in all his evil glory, was the bane of her existence. Tom Marvolo Riddle.
"Hello Tom, we saved you a seat." Fomalhault kept his head slightly bowed as he gestured to the only available seat. Right next to Hermione.
Kill me now! Hermione thought, before realizing who she was sharing a compartment with. Thank Merlin she hadn't said that out loud.
Tom walked over and sat down, far too close for Hermione's liking. He regarded her carefully.
"Miss Westron, it is a pleasure to see you again."
Hermione looked up from her book, to see him smiling charmingly at her, acting perfectly politely.
It's not fair! He has dimples! How can some-one so evil have dimples!
Hermione forced an interested expression on her face, pretending that she didn't know he was a bigoted sociopath.
"And you, Mr Riddle." Hermione turned back to her book, hoping he would get the message and stop talking to her. Of course, she had no such luck.
"That's a very advanced book you're reading, particularly the chapter dedicated to Human to Animal transformations."
Hermione bristled. Was he trying to suggest something?
"Yes, I have read it before. I found that chapter very interesting. It's quite fascinating how the cells of a human have to be re-arranged into that of an animal, although that's the easy part. When you try to turn yourself or some-one else back to their human form, all cells and organs must return to their original position. If they didn't, results could be disastrous, like loosing a lung or causing a hole in the heart. I'm surprised you have read such a complex book," Hermione replied defiantly. So there!
Riddle looked impressed, right until she suggested that he might not have been able to understand such challenging magic. If the sudden hardening of his gaze wasn't scaring her slightly, Hermione would've thought, Point to Granger!
Hermione lifted her chin slightly, refusing to cower in fear. He won't risk his image to curse you Hermione!
Riddle stayed silent for a moment, seemingly to compose himself, before speaking again,
"I see you still have your snake... She's a lot bigger."
"She has a name," Hermione replied, "This is Lind."
"I see..." Riddle said, "A Russell's Viper, is she?"
"I... I don't know," Hermione admitted.
"She is," Riddle decided, "I can tell by her markings.
"It was then that Riddle did something that made Hermione want to growl at him... He reached over and picked up Lind...His hand softly brushed the back of Hermione's neck as he grabbed Lind which almost made her shudder. She restrained it and turned to glare at Riddle who had just turned Lind over onto her back.
"See? Look at the markings on her stomach. She's obviously a Viper," Riddle said.
He kept talking but Hermione didn't hear any more. She was working her way into a rage as Lind claimed Riddle's shoulders and hissed into his ear.
That little traitor!
"And the fact remains that- Ah!" Riddle cut off as Lind sunk her fangs into his neck. Hermione grinned with glee for a moment - her snake hadn't abandoned her... It was simply plotting Riddle's demise, like a good familiar should - but stopped as Propus got out his wand.
"STUPEFY!" He yelled.
Lind fell to the ground with a thump, venom still seeping out of her fangs. The compartment froze.
"...You stupefied my snake..." Hermione said slowly, "Why did you do that?"
"Propus... You are an idiot!" Riddle snarled.
"But... It was biting you, I -" Propus stuttered.
"I WAS DEALING WITH IT!" Riddle yelled.
"YOU STUPEFIED MY SNAKE!" Hermione shrieked.
"I -" Propus was starting to panic. Being at the centre of what seemed like a screaming match was really making him nervous as he didn't know who to reply to first - His Lord? Or the girl who looked like she was going to kill him?
The other JEDs shrunk against their seats, wanting to disappear in case Tom got angry and started cursing everyone or in case Hermione did exactly the same thing. Hermione and Tom got out their wands at exactly the same moment, both pointing them at Propus who looked like he was about to start crying.
Riddle flicked his wand and a stream of red light shot out.
'Locomotor Mortis!' Hermione thought. Hermione's curse bound Propus' legs together and made him fall to the floor, narrowly avoiding Riddle's curse, which looked suspiciously like a Crucio. He would have been saved if Riddle had not cast another spell a few seconds later.
"AGUAMENTI!" Riddle snarled.
Propus was nearly drowned in the jet of water that exploded from Riddle's wand before Riddle stopped. Hermione immediately took away the leg locking curse and Propus shakily got up.
"A word, Avery," Riddle growled, motioning to the door. Propus gulped and made his way to the door, closely followed by Riddle.
"Uh, Tom..." Hermione said hesitantly, "You're bleeding..."
Not that she particularly cared, it would just raise unnecessary questions…
"Well, your snake attacked me, didn't it?" Tom snapped.
"It just -" Hermione started.
Tom cut her off by slamming the compartment door shut.
Tom forced Propus down the hall into an empty compartment. The train had started moving a while ago so Tom locked the door and pulled down the curtain on the compartment door and windows before turning back to Propus who was practically shaking with fear.
"Why?" Tom demanded.
"The snake might have been venomous, my Lord. I was just defending you!" Propus explained quickly.
"It was venomous but I can defend myself!" Riddle snarled, "That snake lied to me, Lord Voldemort! It shall pay and so shall the girl..."
"N-not Hermione, m-my Lo-rd," Propus stammered.
"No... Not yet, Avery... You need to be punished first," Riddle decided. He quickly healed himself with a charm before looking back to Propus.
"But the others need to see this too... They need to know what happens when someone underestimates Lord Voldemort," Riddle said slowly. And with that he pulled back his sleeve and brought his wand down to the mark on his arm... The Dark Mark.
Fomalhault felt it first - The tingling on his left arm where his mark was... He looked around at the other Knights to see if they were feeling it too. His eye caught Cygnus's eye and he nodded. Cygnus nudged Orion, informing him that they were being summoned and so it went on... All of the Knights in their compartment knew what was going on, without informing Hermione.
"I'm going to see if the food trolley's nearly here, I'm starving," Fomalhault lied, "Anyone want to come with me?"
"Sure."
"Yeah."
"Great."
The compartment rose, except Hermione who was still nursing a newly Enervated Lind.
"You're all going?" Hermione frowned.
"No, I'm going to the….little boys room," Orion lied.
"Oh... Well, I'll see you all in a while then," Hermione said suspiciously. The Knights exited and walked down the hallway before pulling up their sleeves and simultaneously Apparating. They ended up standing in front of their Lord who was smirking and pointing his wand at Propus Avery.
"You summoned us, my Lord?" Abraxas said quietly.
"Indeed, I did... But the other Knights need to come before I reveal why," Tom smirked, still staring at Avery with cold eyes.
A few minutes later, Augustus Rookwood, Merak Yaxley, Alcor Nott, Leonis Mulciber, Walden McNair, Orionis Selwyn and Hydrus Travers Apparated into the compartment making it very crowded.
"You took your time," Riddle commented.
"Slughorn's on the train," Merak explained, "He's trying to recruit for his Slug club again... He wanted to make sure we were still coming."
Pathetic old fool
Riddle laughed. The laugh was hollow and cruel and the Knights shuddered at the sound.
"But as to why I summoned you... This, my loyal Knights, is what happens to someone who underestimates Lord Voldemort," Riddle grinned, "This is just a taste of what's going to happen to Miss Westron and her snake if you don't keep her in line... Somes Incendia!"
Tom smirked at the scream Avery let out.
There was something suspicious about that Westron girl, and he would have great fun finding out what…..
The JEDs had been gone for a while and Hermione was starting to get bored. She had finished her book The trolley witch had came and gone so Fomalhault and the others had lied. Orion had probably lied about going to the toilet too - otherwise he must have had serious problems. The train was getting near Hogsmeade Station, Hermione could tell. She'd taken this train so many times the journey was imprinted into her memory so she decided it was time to put her book away and put her robes on. She set Lind down and climbed up onto the seat so she could reach the luggage rack, only to have the top trunk topple over and fall to the ground, spilling its contents everywhere.
"Damn it!" Hermione scowled, jumping down from the seat. She proceeded in folding the person's clothes - Muggle clothes... strange - and robes and putting them back into the trunk before starting on the books. She opened the first one that came to hand - 6th Year Advanced Potions - to find the owners name written inside in neat calligraphy -
Tom Riddle.
This is not going to end well... Hermione thought desperately to herself, closing the book and placing it inside the trunk. It was only when most of the books where back in the trunk that Hermione realized what was underneath - Dark Books and some rather dodgy Artifacts, probably bought from Borgin & Burkes.
"Oh God," Hermione muttered to herself. She decided against touching Riddle's 'Imaginative tortures and how to cast them', and proceeded in finding her robes (without knocking any other trunks over) and pulling them over the blouse and skirt that Hanita had forced on her that morning.
Hermione sat down on the seat once again and let her gaze wander over Riddle's things. Some of them didn't look particularly Dark... It was just the aura they gave off. Except for one item.
Intrigued, Hermione picked it up and looked at it - A golden locket with a green snake on the front of it - It was beautiful... In it's own way, and looked strangely familiar. It was the kind of thing that Hermione would wear with a nice dress, if a little bit more expensive. It was just gorgeous. Lind's hiss cut through Hermione's thoughts. She looked around, quickly stuffing the necklace into her robes, to see Riddle standing in the compartment doorway, his JEDs behind him as he glared at her with a that could send Grindelwald running for cover..
"And why is it, Miss Westron, that you are poking through the contents of my trunk?" Riddle snarled.
Yes, as Hermione had thought before, things were not going to end well...