hi i aM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO POST THIS CHAPTER. i literally started writing it, ahtes it, and began rewriting it... like... six times. i still don't like it and was very unhappy with it, which is why it's so short... sorry :-(

also, i got a couple comments on the last chapter how eleven-year-old's didn't aren't like the way i had written, or that the characters said things eleven-year-old's wouldn't say... am i the only one who knew eleven-year-old-s like that? i mean, i was eleven nearly seven years ago, but things couldn't have changed too much, right..? i was trying to base personalities/things said on boys i knew when i was eleven-years-old. anyway, i apologize if this upset/confused anyone and i will try to pay better attention to it in future chapters.

disclaimer: i don't own harry potter!

October 31, 1938

"I think we should talk to Dumbledore."

Draco looked up from the discarded copy of The Daily Prophet he had been reading, not surprised to see Hermione standing before him. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking," Hermione began as she sat down,"If anyone here would know exactly what sent us back here or how to get us back home, it would be him."
Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "And what makes you think that?"

Hermione huffed. "Honestly, Draco, why must you doubt him? He's the greatest wizard alive, and if anyone could possibly help us, it would be him." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, staring at her brother defiantly,
Draco rubbed his eyes, feeling the familiar headache that he associated with Hermione's nagging forming yet again. "Okay, whatever, we'll talk to the old coot."
Hermione scowled at him before pushing her bench out and walking out of the Great Hall, nose in the air. Draco almost found it comical, Hermione getting defensive about Dumbledore.

Not long after Hermione left, the seats around him were filled by Rosier, Abraxas, and Alphard, as they usually did. After Draco's outburst earlier in the month, Rosier had made sure to keep his mouth shut about Tom and Hermione around Draco; though he still talked about them when Draco wasn't present. The time traveler was surprised the boy still associated with him at all.

"Morning, boys," Alphard said cheerfully, piling food onto his plate.

Draco eyes the boy skeptically, grabbing his goblet of pumpkin juice. "What's got you in such a good mood, Black?"

"It's Halloween!" Alphard replied, all too cheerful. "Come on, Pope, you can't seriously say you don't enjoy Halloween."

Draco shrugged. "It's all right, I suppose."

Abraxas, Rosier and Alphard stared at him, each giving their friend a bit of a weird look.

"What?" Draco demanded, feeling his headache worsen. It's not going to be a good day.

"Did you not celebrate Halloween at home?" Abraxas questioned, looking from Draco to the Halloween decorations adorning the Great Hall.

Draco slouched, thinking back to Halloweens during his childhood. It was one of the days where both of his parents seemed to relax. Lucius would always get really into the holiday, demanding the house elves to prepare a huge Halloween feast and to decorate the house. His father seemed to actually be somewhat happy on Halloween. His mother was happy as well, Draco assumed because her husband had relaxed enough to enjoy himself for once.

He should answer yes, that he did celebrate Halloween when he was younger, but the more he thought about it the more it made him miss Before, as he and Hemrione had taken to calling the time before they were hurled through time.

"No," Draco replied, meeting his grandfathers gaze. "We never really took to celebrating Halloween. Father was always busy with work. Plus Hermione is frightened of vampires and other monsters, so we decided to not take a chance of scaring her." Draco shrugged, going back to his food and shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"Just wait until tonight!" Abraxas exclaimed. "I asked some second years, and apparently they go all out here for Halloween! You'll see what it's all about tonight, Pope."

Draco stayed out of the boys conversation, thoughts still suck on past holidays from Before. He sighed silently, looking up at the sky reflected on the ceiling. Oh yes, it id definitely going to be a long day, indeed.

"All right, students, settle down!" Professor Merrythought shouted over the excited first years, trying to gain their attention in order to teach the days lesson. "Children! If you would quiet down, we could begin the days lesson!" The aging professor sighed, close to giving up on gaining her students attention. Of course none of them wanted to pay attention – the were first years and it was Halloween. A disastrous match, in the professor's opinion.

"Students, if you would just quiet down, I'll teach a somewhat Halloween themed lesson today!"

The students gradually stopped talking amongst each other, giving the professor their attention. Smiling triumphantly, Professor Merrythought moved to the front of the room.

"As you all know, this is a course meant to tell you how to defend yourselves from the Dark Arts, and wizards who practice these arts." She paused. "However, I like to take one day out of the year to teach you about muggle lore concerning the Dark Arts."

"Muggle lore?" A student asked.

"Precisely. Now, who can tell me about vampires? Let's see... Mr. Riddle?"

Tom lowered his hand, meeting the professor's gaze. "Vampires are, obviously, magical creatures. Also known as the 'living dead', they are nocturnal and stalk their pray at night to feast on their blood."

Professor Merrythought beamed at him. "Wonderful, Mr. Riddle! Five points to Slytherin."

Tom smirked as he sat back in his seat, glancing over at Hermione. She sat on the other side of the room, unfortunately, so the most they could communicate during Tom's favorite class was by stolen glances and shared looks.

"Now, muggles have numerous rumors about vampires; for example, muggles have this myth that garlic wards off vampires." Students around the room snickered at this.

"Other rumors, however, are based on real vampires wizards deal with. As you all know, vampires can turn into bats, and..."

Tom tuned out of the professors discussion, instead focusing on Hermione. Their friendship was very, very odd. He'd never met someone so like himself until he met her. And she was like him – she might not admit just how alike they are, but he can see it. She had a dark side, and although she kept it in check, Tom could see it clear as day.

She seemed to be so intrigued by the discussion, and he loved watching her. The way her eyes rounded as she stared at the professor as if even blinking would cause her to miss vital information. It was amusing. He wondered if he looked like that while learning, too.

"All right, enough about vampires. Let's see... let's move onto a topic muggles know nothing about. How many of you know who Grindelwald is?"

Tom looked back up in interest. Every student in the class had raised a hand.

"Excellent. Grindelwald is, essentially, the darkest wizard of all time."
Another student raised their hand. "Professor, what makes him so... dark?"

It was quiet for a moment as Professor Merrythought leaned against her desk, searching for the right words to say. "Students, please understand when I tell you that I can't go into great detail with that for you. Not until you're at least fourth years. But, I can tell you this; Grindelwald hates muggles. Muggle-born witches and wizards – as well as purebloods who befriend muggleborns, known as 'blood traitors' – are at as much of a risk to his wrath as muggles are. So, children, I advise you this: if you hear of Grindelwald in an area, or that he is attacking an area near by, turn away. Get out as far as you can. Try to stay as safe as possible in these times, children."

Tom masked his smirk. He and Grindelwald were more alike than he had originally guessed. Ever since he had learned of his place in the wizarding world, Tom felt his true annoyance and irritation with muggles come out. It was overwhelming, really, how much he absolutely could not stand muggles.

Yes. He and Grindelwald were very alike indeed.

As she did on most days, Hermione found herself in the library after classes ended, flipping through her Transfiguration textbook. She has already finished her assignments for the day and wanted some leisure time to read. It felt nice to be alone for once, without Tom or Draco trailing alongside her. She was always with one of the boys; it almost felt weird being out of their company. She had to lie to both of them, telling Draco she was with Tom and telling Tom she was with Draco, in order to get away from them.

Not that I don't care about them, Hermione reminded herself. We all need alone time every now and then, right?

Thinking about it almost made her want to laugh. The two sole people she actually somewhat cared about here were Tom Marvolo Riddle and Draco Malfoy. While she still found the thought preposterous, she couldn't deny that she did care about the two boys.

She quickly shook her head. No thinking about them. This is my time.

Hermione lost herself in the book once again, seeing Transfiguration in a whole new light, as she had since she began learning it under Albus Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall had been a terrific instructor, of course, but there was something about having Professor Dumbledore as an instructor that made the subject all the more exciting.

She smiled softly to herself as she finished another chapter in the book. She sat up slowly, rubbing at the back of her neck where an ache had formed from leaning over for so long. She stretched out her arms and her back, yawning softly. Glancing to the clock on the wall, she jumped with a start – dinner started fifteen minutes ago! Hermione quickly shoved her belongings in her bag, pulling the strap over her shoulder and heading towards the door. As she passed the restricted section, however, a strange sound caught her attention. After glancing to the front desk to make sure Madam Ronan had left the library for the feast, Hermione creeped into the restricted section.

The restricted section held considerably less books than Hermione remembered, making it difficult to remain unseen. She softly muttered the incantation for the disillusionment charm, moving forward once she double checked her new-found invisibility. The strange sounds she had previously heard continued and grew louder as she went deeper and deeper into the restricted section. As she drew closer, Hermione was horrified to find that the noises were whimpers and soft cries of pain. Upon realizing this, she moved quicker through the stacks of books.

After what felt close to hours, though she knew it had only been a few minutes, Hermione came to a clearing at the back of the restricted section. There was a solitary table in the middle of the clearing, one chair tucked into it. To the left of the table, much to Hermione's shock, stood Tom, wand at the ready. Five feet from him Abraxas Malfoy, Dominic Rosier and Alphard Black were all in heaps on the floor, all moaning in pain. Hermione covered her mouth with both hands to hide her gasp, not believing what she was seeing. She knew Tom had bullied and, to an extent, tortured his followers before they actually became his followers, but had no idea he started in his first year.

She slowly moved forward, crouching down beside the right side of the table, sitting on her hands and knees. Tom slowly moved forward, stopping when he was right in front his classmates. "Pathetic." His voice, which had sounded to light to Hermione earlier that day, was now dark and cold. Hermione suppressed a shiver at his tone.

"Absolutely pathetic. How could any of you possibly think you could be of any match to me?" Tom was slowly circling the boys, arms folded behind his back, wand still clutched tightly. He stopped next to Rosier, prodding the boy with his foot to roll him over. Hermione had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from calling out once she saw the poor boy's face. Dried blood was caked around his nose and Hermione was almost certain Tom had broken it, and it looked like he'd taken a slicing hex to his shoulder. Hermione was sure Tom had hit the boy with several other curses as well.

"You all think that because I'm quiet... because I have one sole friend... because I don't know whether my parents were magical or not... you are better than me?" It sounded much more like a statement than an actual question.

The three boys on the floor remained silent.

Tom chuckled. "Of course you think you're better then me. Let me be the first to remind you that you're not."

Tom walked over to Abraxas next, who was closest to Hermione. The blonde boy laid on the floor, slightly shivering. Hermione found herself thankful that Tom didn't turn Abraxas over; she didn't think she could stomach seeing more blood.

"Abraxas," Tom said softly, looking into the boys face. "Such a shame. I would think you, being so well-educated and from such a noble, pureblood family, would know better than to underestimate those around you."

Abraxas began shaking softly.

"Pathetic," came Tom's voice again. "All of you." He returned to the table, leaning against it. "You all are to go to the nearest bathroom and clean yourselves up. You will not speak a word of this to anyone, not even amongst yourselves. From now on, you all will respect me and will do as I tell you to do. Do I make myself clear?"

The three boys each murmured a yes, too frightened to say otherwise.

"Leave."

Hermione had never seen the three move so quickly in the short time she had known them. She waited until they had left the area to stand up, still under her disillusionment charm. She looked at Tom in fear, realizing just how quickly it took for him to turn dark.

He eyed the spot where she stood wearily. "I know you're there."

Hermione mentally kicked herself. Of course Tom knew she was here. She took the disillusionment charm off and took a tentative step closer to him. "How did you know I was here?"

"I saw you reading when I followed that lot over here. Figured you'd grow curious."

Hermione didn't miss the cold note in his voice; he knew she hadn't been with Draco and he was angry. "Listen, Tom -"

"Why did you lie to me?"

His voice was still cold and uninviting. Hermione sighed. "I just wanted a moment to myself. I can't be around you or Draco all the time, you know." Tom gave her a cold look and grabbed his bag before turning away.

"Tom, I didn't mean it like that!" Hermione cried, walking up to him and turning him around to face her. He glared at her and, despite her fear, she glared right back at him. They stood like that for several moments, glaring at one another, before Tom broke the silence.

"You will not lie to me again," he began in a low voice. "I would hate to do to you what I had to do back there."

Hermione felt her blood run cold. He couldn't possibly be implying that he would hurt her, could he?

Tom snapped Hermione out of her thoughts by grabbing her hand, warm inside his own. "Come on. We need to get to dinner."

Hermione stared at Tom as he dragged her towards the Great Hall, horrified. As she entered the Hall, she immediately met Draco's gaze. His gaze turned from confused to worried when he took in her terrified expression. She mouthed "later" at him, sitting down beside Tom as he pulled her down. As she had expected, Abraxas Malfoy, Alphard Black and Dominic Rosier were missing from the table; instead, in their place sat John Paul Lestrange, speaking quietly with Draco. Hermione had never seen Lestrange speak up in class, little less to his housemates.

Lestrange looked up at she and Tom, and Hermione just barely saw him wince as he met Tom's gaze. Could Tom have hurt him, too?

Lestrange, who looked rather frightened, was the complete opposite of Tom at the moment; He was sitting straighter than he had during class that day, a smirk plastered across his young, arrogant face. Hermione started at him, still shaken up by the scene in the library, until he met her gaze and his smirk grew.

He was still holding onto her hand.

once again, i just want to apologize for this chapter being so... well, crappy. i don't know why it was so hard to write, but it was. blah. i'll try to have my next update up as soon as i can.

until then,

~umbridgesnapecarrow