SECOND UPDATE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS? WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?

haha hellllo! i didn't go to school today so i managed to finish this chapter! :-) oh yeah, this chapter contains spoilers for the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald, so if you're planning on reading the great gatsby any time soon... sorry.

disclaimer: i own nothing.

October 1, 1938, Slytherin Common Room

Draco sat in the common room with Black and Rosier, half listening to their conversation and half paying attention to his potions essay. It was a Saturday, and most of the other students were outside enjoying the weekend before the weather got too cold. He honestly thought this was a bad decision, on everyone else's part. Oh well, he thought to himself. Not my fault that they all will be scrambling to finish their assignments at the last minute. As he thought this, he realized how much he sounded like Hermione. They had weekly meetings to discuss any progress she's found on their situation, and afterward they sometimes found themselves studying or doing homework together. Her school habits had worn off on him.

Speaking of Hermione, where was she? Draco looked up and scanned the common room, but she was nowhere to be found. He saw Lorna Parkinson exit the girls dormitory, and immediately wondered if Hermione was in her room. "Hey, Lorna!" He called her over.

Lorna raised her eyebrows, walking towards Draco and his friends. "Yes, Draco?"

"Hermione isn't in her room, is she?"

Lorna shook her head. "No, I haven't seen her since last night. She came back to the room fairly late, I daresay it was nearing curfew when she finally got back."

Draco's eyebrows shot up beneath his bangs, which he had given up on pushing out of his face, as they always flopped down. "All right. Thanks, Lorna."

"I'll let her know you're looking for her if I see her!" Lorna said, winking at Draco before turning around and exiting the room. Draco felt sick. Anyone related to Pansy Parkinson was enough to make him feel like vomiting, but Hermione missing on top of that made him feel like he actually might regurgitate his breakfast everywhere.

"Rosier here reckons she's off with Riddle," Black's voice interrupted Draco's thoughts. He looked over at the other two boys; Black looked apprehensive, while Rosier smirked. Draco narrowed his eyes at the two, sitting up straighter.

"And what makes you say that, Rosier?"

Rosier barked out a laugh. "They're together all the bloody time, haven't you noticed?"

Draco reflected back on the past couple of weeks. Hermione had seemed to form some sort of friendship with Tom Riddle. She never said a word of it during their meetings, so he chose not to bring it up. She knew what she was doing, didn't she? Then again, she didn't exactly have the best judgment when it came to picking friends. She had, after all, picked The-Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Bloody-Die and Weasel King to be her friends.

"Hermione and Riddle sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Draco glared at Rosier, who seemed to be having the time of his life making jokes about Hermione's 'relationship'. Draco had quickly come to realize he didn't like the boy much. He preferred Black, who wasn't outspoken and rude, much like Rosier was. The two were quickly becoming good friends – though Hermione had told him it would be best to not become too good of friends with anyone in this era. Then again, if she was off making friends with Tom bloody Riddle of all people, why couldn't he make a friend or two as well?

"Watch your mouth, Rosier." Draco turned away from the boy, who was about to fall off the couch from laughing so hard, and tried to concentrate on his assignment, mentally cursing himself. He'd grown protective over Hermione in their short time here – not that she knew, thank Salazar. Anytime he did something somewhat protective, she assumed he was acting to keep up the brother/sister act. He damned whatever sort of magic that sent them here for ever make him even consider caring about Hermione mudblood-extraordinaire Granger. As odd as he felt admitting it, she reminded him too much of his mother to not feel protective over her.

"Pay no attention to him, he's been like that since he came into the world," Black said to Draco, leaning over so he could be heard over Rosier's obnoxious laughter.

Draco snickered. "I wouldn't doubt that."
Black was quiet for a short moment before hesitantly speaking again. "But... doesn't it worry you a bit, though? How your sister is so close to Tom Riddle?"

Draco sighed. The way he saw it, now that he thought about it, Hermione being acquaintances with Riddle couldn't be too bad – maybe he would confide in her about the Chamber when he first opens it, or about his horocrux's when he makes them. They could surely use this to their own advantage, couldn't they?

He shrugged. "Not really."

Black didn't bother masking his shocked look. "Really?"

Draco nodded. "Really. She's a big girl, she's capable of deciding who she should and shouldn't associate herself with."

Rosier sniggered, having mostly composed himself. "How long d'ya reckon before Hermione lets Riddle bed her?"

Draco's anger flared as he nearly snapped his neck to regard Rosier, fire in his eyes. "Why don't you learn your bloody place and keep both my sister and Riddle out of your mouth, yeah?"

Rosier looked frightened for a moment, but smirked to cover it up. "Stop being such a girl, Pope, jeez."

"No, Rosier, you stop being such a bloody arsehole."

Rosier didn't say another work and looked away from Draco. Satisfied that he seemed to get his point across, he turned back to his assignment yet again, smirking when he heard Black's muffled laughter at the exchange.

He lacked the motivation he previously had to finish his assignment, sighing as he rolled up his parchment and took his things back to his room. Vowing to finish it the next morning, he grabbed his wand and exited the Slytherin dorms and common room. He needed to find Hermione.

He set off through the castle, first checking the Great Hall, where he knew she sometimes fled to in order to do homework. He furrowed his brow when he didn't see her anywhere in the school, not even the library. There wasn't a single room in this school that he hadn't checked and yet she was nowhere to be found He'd even checked the blood-

He stopped in the middle of the hallway, realization dawning on him. There was one room he hadn't checked.

The Room of Requirement.

The Room of Requirement

In the almost two weeks since Hermione had agreed to be friends with Tom Riddle, she had grown to begin to enjoy the boy's company. She was careful, though. She knew that he was still Lord Voldemort in the making and that he could be quite manipulative. But other than that night in the library when he had jeered at her, he was as polite as a person could be. He opened the doors for her when they walked to class together and shared private looks with her when someone said something ignorant in class. They had even taking to sneaking off to practice magic or do assignments together, as they were now. As soon as Hermione brought Tom to the Room of Requirement the first time, he declared it their spot, and they began returning to it frequently.

That's where Hermione currently found herself, curled up in a chair, a book in her hands. Tom wasn't in a good mood today – Shocker, really, Hermione bitterly thought to herself – so she decided to ignore him and read a book. To her surprise, her parents had sent her several muggle books for her birthday. Where they got them, she had no idea – but she was ever so thankful. As much as she loved wizarding books, she missed classic muggle literature.

She gingerly turned the pages of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, chastising Daisy as she read. As many times as she read the book, she could never get over how ignorant and shallow the female character was. She shook her head at Daisy as she read, sighing softly.

"What?" Tom's smooth voice sounded, catching her attention.

She looked up at Tom and felt her heart skip a beat, as it sometimes did when she looked at him. Of course he was attractive, she just sometimes realized it more than she did others. At this moment, he had a piece of parchment laying over a page in a textbook as he read the other page, quill perched just above the parchment as if he were about to scribble down more notes. Seeing him in his natural element, so dedicated to his schoolwork, made Hermione realize yet again just how attractive he is and would grow to be for the next couple of decades or so. How can a monster be so attractive? She thought to herself, quickly shaking these thoughts out of her head. She knew he wasn't a legilimens yet, but she didn't want to risk the possibility of her thoughts appearing across her face.

"Nothing, just this book," she replied, dropping his gaze and going back to her novel.

It was quiet for several moments before Tom spoke again. "What book is it?"

"The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald," She replied, not looking up this time.

"I've heard of that. They have it in the library at the orphanage, but they save those books for the older kids. Mrs. Cole won't let me read it until I'm fourteen."
Hermione was shocked, as she had been the first time, to hear Tom talk to her about the orphanage. This was only the second time he'd brought it up. Last week, when Hermione said something about her parents being smothering, Tom told her he simply did not have parents and lived in an orphanage for all of his life. She wasn't sure if he was telling her this because he actually trusted her, or because he wanted a way to earn her pity and admitting to being an orphan was his way of doing it.

"It's a good read, but some of the characters are so... irritating," She said looking up at him.

He cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

Hermione felt her face begin to flush, as it usually did when she talked about books she was passionate about. "Well, Daisy. Gatsby – the character the novel is named for – has been in love with her for half his life. And she's in an extremely unhappy marriage with Tom Buchanan, who is cheating on her with Myrtle, and – and Gatsby is obviously the best choice for her! She's the only person he's been honest with his whole life, other than the narrator, Nick, and they were in love before he went off to war and she completely gave herself to him! And she has this choice between him and Tom, and she accidentally kills Myrtle, and she betrays Gatsby, and – and –"

She looked up at Tom, who was slightly amused. He motioned for her to continue. "Go on, go on."

Hermione flushed in embarrassment. She musn't let herself get so riled up when speaking about books. Especially muggle books – she was, after all, supposed to be a pureblood.

"Well, it's just, Gatsby truly loves her. He even took the blame for killing a woman for her. Tom wouldn't have done that. Tom was more upset about Myrtle, his mistress, dying instead of the possibility of Daisy, his wife, leaving him for another man. Sure, he was upset by it, but he was undoubtedly more upset about Myrtle."

Tom stared at her for a moment. "Why are you so passionate about this?"

Hermione faltered. Why was she so passionate about this? Why did Daisy's decision to stay with Tom instead of leaving with Jay Gatsby, the true love of her life, upset her so?

"Well," Hermione began, searching for the right words. "Daisy chose to be with a man who doesn't love her, when she had the possibility of being with her true love. She chose a life without love. What's the point of life with no love?"

When Tom didn't comment, Hermione went on.

"It's mad, really. Why would someone ever choose to be with someone who doesn't love them when they know things could be different?"

"Are you obsessed with the idea of love?"

Hermione almost dropped her book she was so shocked. Out of all the things Tom Marvolo Riddle could possibly say to her, that was one she wasn't expecting. "Pardon?"

"I said," Tom began, obviously somewhat annoyed at having to repeat himself, "are you obsessed with the idea of love?"

Hermione mentally kicked herself. She didn't know how to respond, and that was a first. Hermione Jean Granger always knew what to say, no matter what she was asked. But I'm not Hermione Granger anymore, she reminded herself. I'm Hermione Pope.

She thought back to her fourth year when she had a brief fling with Viktor Krum. She still isn't sure what attracted Viktor to her, but at time, she hadn't cared. She was excited to have captured someones attention for once, to be seen as attractive and intriguing. She knew she hadn't loved Viktor, though. He certainly hadn't loved her, either, now that she thought of it.

The only other guy she had ever had feelings for was Ron. Her heart ached at the thought of him, but not because she was romantically interested in him. She had thought she loved Ron back in her original sixth year, and for a while after the war, she was sure he loved her, too. But he had broken up with her as he and Harry left for Auror training right before she started school, and to be honest, she was kind of glad. She just could not see a future with Ron, no matter how hard she tried.

With a start, she realized that no one had ever loved her. Sure, her parents did, but that didn't count. No one had ever loved her with their entire heart, dreamt of her at night, or felt their heart skip a beat as she entered the room. No one had ever thought about kissing her or asking her to be theirs. Maybe she was obsessed with the idea of love, because she had never truly felt it.

"No," she lied to Tom, averting his gaze. "I just feel like Daisy made the wrong choice."
"You're lying. Why are you lying?" He sounded angry. His emotions were a constant hot and cold thing. One moment he was amused, the next intrigued, and now he's angry.

Bloody great. "I've read about it a lot. It's normal to be curious about it."

"There's a difference between curiosity and obsession, Hermione," Tom said, shaking his head at her as he turned back to his textbook. "Besides, love is a game for fools, anyway."
Hermione's head shot up. Who did Tom Riddle think he was, telling her about love? She had already felt some sort of love for more people in her short life than he would in his entire lifetime.

"And what makes you think you know so much about love?" She asked him. As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted them, because Tom's eyes were sad for a moment before turning into dark blue ice. He was angry. Now she'd done it.

"Tom, I – I didn't mean –"

"Save your breath. Yes you did." He threw his stuff down, standing up and moving to look out the window that overlooked the grounds. How dare she! How dare she say that to him! Of course he had never felt love – not from his dead parents, or Mrs. Cole, or any of the orphans, and certainly not from Hermione the she-devil. But that didn't mean he wasn't aware of what a foolish act love was. He was certain he knew more on the subject than Hermione did.

"Tom..." Came her voice again. He didn't say anything. He heard her move around, and the next time she spoke, she was right behind him. "Tom... I'm sorry, Tom."

He didn't say a word.

She sighed.

"I don't know much about love – I admit that. And... all right, I know I'm only going to anger you more by saying this, but... my guess is... no one has loved you before, have they, Tom."

The nerve! How dare she ever even think about speaking to him like this. He'll have to punish her, as he did Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson. He could sneak off into the forbidden forest and find a snake and send it after her. He could hurt her, make her ever regret saying something so foul to him.

"But... I love you, Tom. Not the way Gatsby does Daisy or the way my parents love each other, but you're my friend – my first friend, at that – and I do love you."

She felt weird saying the words, telling Lord Voldemort she loved him – but she felt it necessary. Dumbledore had told Harry that Tom was incapable of love because his mothers love for his father was unrequited, and that since Tom was conceived under the use of a love potion, he wouldn't be able to truly love someone. But that couldn't be true... could it? Surely, he could heard how to love, though it might take some time. She could teach him what love was, she was sure of it.

Gently, unsure of her actions, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Tom. She felt his body go rigid under her embrace, but he didn't pull away.

He was confused. Not about what she was doing – he was aware of what a hug was. He'd just... never had one before. A hug.

He wasn't sure what to do, as he had never been in this situation before, but he knew that generally when someone hugged you, you were supposed to hug them back. He was above this sort of childish thing. Wasn't he?

To both his and Hermione's surprise, he turned around – still in her arms – and hugged her back. She was his, she had to know that. Tom Riddle did not share his things. Especially his friends – or, as he should say, friend.

After a moment, Hermione pulled back, a soft smile on her face. "Okay?"

Tom didn't smile back, but nodded. "Okay."

He looked down, unnerved by her cheerful and caring gaze, and spotted something glittering on her left hand; a ring. His ring, to be exact.

"You're actually wearing it?" He asked, grabbing her hand so he could view the ring easier.

"Yes," Hermione replied, studying him as he studied her hand. "I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me."
Almost like she knows she's mine, Tom thought wickedly to himself as he met her eyes, smiling at her. His possession, his property, his friend. His.

"Where'd you get it?" Hermione asked, and he could hear the hesitation in her voice.

"It was my mums," He replied, dropping her hand and leaning against the window behind him. "She came into the orphanage just as she was about to give birth to me – I guess she knew she was about to die – and before she had me, she gave Mrs. Cole this ring and told her to give it to me when I was old enough to understand. I reckon it's the engagement ring my father gave her."
Hermione felt her stomach drop. Lord Voldemort gave me his dead mothers engagement ring.

Oh," Hermione said, staring at the ring. "Well, it's beautiful."

Tom didn't say anything, and they stayed there in that silence for several minutes, staring at each other, only looking away when they heard a noise outside. "Hermione! Hermione!"

Hermione's ears perked up at the familiar voice. Draco was searching for her. She looked to Tom, her eyes practically asking if she could go. He smiled softly and nodded. "Go. Draco obviously needs you."
"Thanks, Tom!" Hermione said, rushing back to her chair to collect her belongings before walking towards the door. "I'll see you tonight, right?"

"Of course you will," He replied, turning to look out the window again, arms crossed behind his back. He heard the door open, then close again, and he was once again alone. Hermione hugged me, he thought to himself as he stared out the window, fighting the blush that threatened to spread up his neck and across his cheeks. He pushed the small fireworks spewing off in his stomach as far away as he could before collecting his things and returning to the Slytherin common room.

Abandoned Classroom – 3rd floor, Hogwarts

Hermione ducked inside the classroom after Draco, shutting the door behind her and casting a silencing charm on the room before casting a locking charm on the door. She turned to Draco, who looked disgruntled and was leaning against a desk.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, moving to stand across from him. He ran a hand trough his hair, which had grown quickly and was becoming fairly unruly. He looked at her, really looked at her, and she felt uncomfortable under his gaze. She shifted her weight from one foot to another, twiddling her thumbs as Draco scrutinized her. He was beginning to worry her. "...Draco?"

"When did you become friends with Tom Riddle?" He finally asked.

Hermione sighed. She thought he knew, for crying out loud! She dearly hoped he wasn't angry with her. "My birthday."
Draco nodded. "Well, I'm not upset or angry. Just... rather surprised that you became friends with him so quickly."

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

Draco shrugged, uncrossing his arms and wiping a layer of grime off the desk he was leaning against with his pointer finger. "I assume I had just figured you'd feel... uncomfortable around him, is all."
Hermione let out a soft laugh. "I'm actually quite comfortable around him, to be honest. He reminds me of myself during our first year," she admitted, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

"Was he in there with you? In the Room of Requirement."

Hermione nodded again. "Yes. We usually go there to do homework together, or practice different spells and charms. I just read today..." She trailed off, looking away from Draco. "Draco, I haven't found a way to get us out of here yet. But I think I might have found a way for us to change the future. In a good way."
Draco looked uneasy. "Doesn't it rip the universe apart if we change the timeline?"

"I don't believe that at all. We've already tampered with the timeline by existing here. If that theory were true, the universe would have folded in on it's self the moment we arrived. My theory is that we will simply create a new timeline, and we will be the only ones who remember the original timeline."
Draco didn't speak for a moment, letting the information sink it. He sighed, sitting down in a chair as well, rubbing his forehead with his right hand. He looked exhausted. "So what's your idea? How can we fix everything?"
"All right... this requires a bit of background information. Ready?"
Draco sighed. "Get on with it, Granger."
She gave him a dirty look before speaking. "All right. Merope Gaunt was Riddle's mother. She was a pureblood witch, as you know. She, her brother Morfin and father Marvolo, and Riddle, are the last descendants of Salazar Slytherin, so of course, they all were very hateful of muggles and such. When she was young – seventeen or eighteen, I believe – Merope met Tom Riddle, a wealthy young man who was the sole heir of a wealthy family. Merope was already being abused by her brother and father at home, and once they found out she was in love with a muggle, they beat her violently and cursed Tom Riddle just because she was attracted to him. Ministry officials threw them in Azkaban for this, and free from her family, Merope decided to go after Tom Riddle. There's a couple different ways she could have done it, and it's most believed that she used Amortentia – that's what I believe – to make Tom Riddle fall in love with her. They got married." As she said this, Hermione glanced down at the ring on her finger from Tom, his mother's engagement ring. It must have been in the Riddle family for generations. She looked back up at Draco. "Merope eventually got pregnant, and she either believed that Tom truly loved her, or that he would stay with her for the sake of their unborn child and stopped giving him the potion. He left, of course."
Draco was quiet for a moment. "What does all this mean?"

Hermione sighed softly. "It means that since he was conceived under fake love, Tom has never felt true love in his life. His mother died maybe an hour after giving birth to him, so it's not like he had the affection from his mother that we had as children. He's supposed to be incapable of love, never able to understand it."
Draco was catching on. "So, in order to keep him from transforming into Lord Vold- You-Know-Who, we need to make him... what? Fall in love with someone?"
"Precisely!" Hermione said, smiling triumphantly. "We're going to be here more than six and a half more years. I think that if we do this right, we can make him fall in love with someone by halfway through seventh year."

Draco nodded thoughtfully, and then his face changed first to a look of horror, and then to a smirk.

"You forgot something, Granger."

I did? "What did I forget?"

Draco stood up again, moving towards the dusty windows, looking into the sunset outside.

"Well, it's just that no one else here knows about Riddle's condition, correct?"

"Well, I'm sure not even Professor Dumbledore has figured it out yet, so... yes."

Draco chuckled softly. "You do realize what that means, right?"

Hermione was silent for a moment. "Draco, I don't know what you're trying to say."

He turned back around to face her. "Hermione, we have to make Tom Marvolo Riddle fall in love with someone. But we can't go off telling anyone. It's not like we have an eligible girl we can play with like a doll, tell her what to do and how to live her life, in order to make Riddle fall in love with her. It's also very unlikely that he'll be that open with another person as well."

Hermione nodded slowly. "Okay... and...? I still don't quite follow what you're saying."

Draco sighed in exasperation, running a hang through his already tousled hair. "Bloody hell, Hermione, and they say you're supposed to be the brightest witch of our generation! You, Hermione. We're going to have to make Riddle fall in love with you."

please let me know what you think! your reviews are what keeps me updating! next chapter should [hopefully] be up in a week or a week in a half!

until then,

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