A/N: Many glorious, gracious, grand thank you's to the following for being such lovely, wonderful, amazing readers and reviewing: Lizzy Evans, CareBearErin, MandaPandaAR, xxxCheezItxxx, Silver Tears 11, nehimasgift, litprincess, svelte, pottersgirl91, Joou Himeko Dah, san01, Swiss Snow Drowsy. . . ., and PhanPhic-adict. Now I'm off to write some more of Chapter 13 before I leave Saturday so I can post on Sunday night. -winkety wink-

Chapter 12 – Meg's Move

Hermione entered her room to find Tom already there, stretched out on her bed, hands behind his head and ankles crossed.

"Just who do you think you are? Get your dirty boots off there," she grouched. "I've got to sleep there, ya know."

"I know... and I don't care," Tom shrugged, but sat up nonetheless. "Great news, brainy."

"What's that?" Hermione asked as she took a seat at her vanity, ignoring the prodding insult to her intelligence.

"Well, your little friend, Meg," Riddle drawled carelessly as he got up and walked over to where she was sitting. "Is going to be moved."

"Moved? What do you mean 'moved'?" the Gryffindor questioned.

"Just what I said, Granger," he replied. "Your running and telling the King angered that General and now he's going to move Megalise before anyone else finds her."

"Oh well, we'll just find out where he's moving her," Hermione muttered, though she sounded uncertain.

"That's not the best of it," Tom added as he picked up her mirror and looked at his reflection.

"What else?" she asked in annoyance.

"Her death penalty," he answered vaguely.

"What about it?"

"It's been moved also."

"To when?" Hermione inquired frantically as she jumped up from her seat.

"Four days from now," Riddle responded as he laid down the mirror and turned to her.

"We've got to do something!" she gasped in panicked tones.

"Like what? You've already done enough by opening that fat trap of yours," he taunted.

"Listen you!" she growled as she grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and shook him so that they got closer. "I've had it with your smart as-"

"Princess!" Johnalin hissed as he opened the door to her room. "And Aramis D'Artagnan... I'm sure the King would love to know that one of his soldiers is in his young daughter's bedroom... without reason."

"Sod o-"

"Tom," Hermione sibilated under her breath so Johnalin couldn't hear.

She let go of Riddle and stepped away from him, her head bowed in pretend embarrassment. Tom puffed out his chest slightly and crossed the room, glaring directly into Johnalin's eyes before the man threw Hermione a disapproving look and left. He closed the door behind him, and Hermione immediately grabbed a cloak-like coat out of the wardrobe and headed for the tower where she knew it would be cold.

"Meg?" Hermione whispered as she entered the tower.

"Hermione? Is that you?" Megalise muttered through her hood.

"Yeah," she answered as she pulled out her wand and removed the shackles. "How are you feeling?"

"As good as I'm going to get. But what's wrong with you? You sound... worried or something," the older of the two pointed out hoarsely as she stretched.

"It's nothing," Hermione lied as she shook her head. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to tell the woman before her what she had learned tonight. "Would you like anything?"

"A drink would be nice," Meg said as she got up and began feeling along the wall for the place where Tom had stashed her basket of things.

Hermione picked up one of the shackles and looked at it for a moment before shrugging and sighing. She looked up as she heard a soft hooting and saw a tiny owl sitting on one of the lower turrets of the castle. Getting up quietly, the Gryffindor aimed her wand at the bird.

"Accio owl!" she whispered quickly. The tiny owl zoomed toward her and tried his best to bite her as she held him and preformed another spell. "Vera Verto!" The owl slowly changed, its feathers and body going watery as it transformed into a goblet. "Aguamenti." Water sprouted from Hermione's wand tip and flowed into the glass which she in turn handed to Meg.

"Thanks," Megalise said as she sat down and took the cup, drinking gratefully. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" she asked as she noticed over the rim of the goblet that Hermione was watching her with saddened eyes.

"It's nothing really," the more youthful of the two witches muttered as she sat down next to her new friend.

"Why don't you tell her, Granger?" Riddle said softly from the shadows of the stairwell. Hermione yelped and jumped up, turning to face him as her heart beat rapidly. "You should lock the door," he advised as he walked to the center of the room.

"I-I uh-"

"Tell me what?" Meg asked, interrupting Hermione's babbling as she too stood up and looked suspiciously from one to the other and back again.

"That you're going to be removed from the castle tomorrow night," Tom replied casually as he walked over and stood at the window, staring down at the guards in different spots around the castle grounds.

"To where?" the eldest of those in the room asked as she looked to Hermione who shrugged and shook her head with an apologetic, guilty expression.

"Oh, and there's one more thing," Riddle added through the tense silence, his tone sounding as though he were enjoying this. "Your death penalty... it's been moved as well. You can thank your new little friend," he smirked as he nodded to Granger.

"I'm so sorry, Meg," Hermione gushed as her throat became constricted, and her eyes shone with tears. "I was trying to help and get the King to release you and-"

"I know," the older witch sighed in understanding as she sank back down to the floor. She hung her head and seemed to be thinking for a moment before she exhaled a deep breath heavily. "Then we've not got much time... we have to get things worked on now."

"A plan would probably be a nice thing to have," Tom reminded cockily as he turned away from the window. "Otherwise, it'll be just li-"

"Shh!" Hermione gasped. Her eyes were wide and fear was etched on every feature of her face. The shadows cast in the room's weird lighting made her look twice as panicked as they all realized someone was coming up the stairs to the tower. "I thought you locked the door!" Hermione's voice rustled fearfully.

"I thought that I did... Damn it," Riddle growled.

She began helping Meg get back into the shackles, the footsteps drawing closer as a voice with a rumbling tone grew louder. It was the General and someone else. 'Please let it be the King!' Hermione prayed frantically as she stashed away Meg's things.

"Quick, Granger!" Tom ordered as he ran over to her and rapped her sharply on the head with his wand. She shivered as something ran down over her, and he pushed her up against the wall as light began to break into the room from the stairwell.

"Aramis!" General Mardon's stern voice snapped. Riddle whipped around and looked to the General with a straight, expressionless face. "What are you doing up here?" Mardon growled as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Just...," Tom began, his brain flipping over and over for an idea. "Checking on the prisoner. I mean, if someone was sneaking around and found her, I'm just making sure they don't return here."

"And why should we believe you?" Porthos shot as the General's attention faltered to Meg who was chained as she originally was the night Tom and Hermione had first saw her.

"Why wouldn't you?" Riddle rebounded.

"Because. How do we know it wasn't you who told the King in the first place?" Porthos sneered.

"Why would I tell the King about something I was involved in doing?" Tom presented arrogantly.

Hermione, from where she stood Disillusioned against the wall, stared on in awe, trying her best not to move. Riddle was amazingly good at lying. How could someone be so silver-tongued and manipulatory? It baffled her how one could be so slick at speaking truthless things.

"You could just deny ever being involved... we all know how much the Princess likes you," Porthos hissed. "How do we know she wouldn't stick up for you?"

"Enough," the General ordered in calm tones. "Aramis is right. Keeping the witch here another night would mean risking her exposure once more. We should move her tonight."

Hermione gasped, Porthos eyes darting in her direction. She closed her eyes tight and held her breath as her mouth went dry, her stomach clenching.

"Fine," Tom agreed casually.

"Porthos. Aramis. Grab her when I unlock her bounds," Mardon commanded as he pulled a key from his belt and began unlocking the shackles. Porthos immediately seized Meg's right arm up near her shoulder, dragging her to her feet. Tom stood watching, hesitant to help.

"C'mon, Aramis!" the youthful blond snapped.

Riddle stepped forward and grabbed Meg's left arm, though his touch was a bit more gentle. He watched as she hung her head, her hair falling forward from under the hood. He swore in that moment that he saw something else fall from under the hood, something quick and sparkling. Almost like tears. Then Meg sniffled slightly as Porthos began dragging her to the stairs. She hesitated, leaning back toward Tom as she tried to pull herself away from Porthos, but he gave a mighty tug, and Megalise went stumbling forward. Hermione watched with a frown on her face and a tear in her eye as her friend's cloaked figure struggle down the stairs.

The light left the tower finally, and Hermione was left alone in darkness. She looked around for a second before retrieving Meg's basket of magical items and heading back to her room. She sat the basket in the bottom of her wardrobe and walked to the balcony, peeking outside at the front gate. There was the General, Porthos, Tom, and Meg. They were getting into a carriage as another two guards sat up front in the driver's seat.

Hermione watched the carriage leave before crossing the room to her bed. She sat down and sighed. Tomorrow she would ask Riddle where they took Megalise so that they could venture there.

Hermione rolled over in her bed, birds were chirping melodiously outside, and they were beginning to drive her insane. She jerked at the covers to pull them up over her head, but she found them pinned down and unmovable. She groaned and rolled over, but when she did, she rolled into something very solid. She huffed angrily and opened her eyes with an annoyed flutter. The instant they were open, her eyes landed on none other than Tom who was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring down at her.

"Excuse me!" Hermione gasped scandalously. "Just what the bloody hell are you doing?" She noticed that he wasn't looking directly at her face, but instead, at her chest. She felt the sudden urge to slap him, but stopped as he began to speak.

"I'm sitting here trying to figure out how it is that you can be so stupid," he replied, his eyes still not moving from her chest.

She glared and sat up in the bed, Riddle's eyes moving and now hovering at her chin. She touched her chin, afraid there might be something like drool there, but when she brought up her hand, she noticed something else. It didn't look like her hand at all. Instead, it blended with her bed covers just as though she were part of them.

"What kind of idiot forgets to take the Disillusionment Charm off after they're done?" Riddle questioned incredulously as he pulled out his wand and rapped her on the head once more.

A warmth trickled down from the point where Tom's wand tip had hit her head. She looked down and saw that she was normal once more, but she had more pressing things to discuss.

"Where did they take her?" Hermione asked urgently.

"Th-"

"Princess?" called Mary from the other side of Hermione's door as she knocked.

"Quick! Hide!" she whispered to Tom who dropped onto the floor and slid under the bed. "Um... come in!" she called to Mary who opened the door and ushered in with a breakfast tray in hand. She was followed by Janessa who was carrying a bowl of water with a washrag draped over the side.

"Would you like us to pick out your dress for the day?" the maid asked as she sat the tray over Hermione's lap.

"Oh no," the Gryffindor declined while shaking her head.

"What about laundry. Anything you need taken to the basement for cleaning?" Janessa questioned as she headed toward Hermione's wardrobe.

Fearful that Janessa would open the wardrobe and see the basket of Meg's stuff sitting in the bottom, Hermione half yelled her answer in a panicked fashion.

"No!"

"Oh!" Janessa said with a little jump. "Okay. We'll uh... just be going, then."

"All right. Thank you," Hermione said as they softly shut her bedroom door. Sighing, she removed the tray from over her lap and placed it beside her in bed as she got up.

"Ouch!" Tom barked. "That's my hand you just stepped on!"

"Oh, sorry!" she breathed as she moved and stood beside the bed waiting for him to rise.

"I think you just broke my finger," he complained as he inched out from under the bed.

"Honestly! Stop whining, or I'll break more than that," Hermione scolded as she walked over to the vanity and sat down while Riddle began brushing dust from the front of his uniform. "So, where did they take her?" She turned around and saw him laying leisurely on the bed, grapes in hand and jaw moving. She watched him chew slowly and swallow the grape before prompting him again. "Well?"

"I'm getting to it. Jeesh," Tom huffed as he sat up on the bed. "Unlike you, I'm hungry. I don't get to eat but two meals a day, and that's around four in the morning and then again at eight o'clock in the evening."

"What's this got to do with Meg's new prison placement?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"You are heartless!" he scoffed as he gave her a foul look. She sighed and shrugged while mumbling something about a cauldron and a kettle being called black. "Like I was saying, unlike you, I don't get to sit on velvet pillows and stuff my face six times a day."

"I do not stuff my face six times a day," the Gryffindor snapped. "Now, shut up and tell me where they've taken her."

"Which is it: shut up or talk and tell you where they've taken that girl?" Riddle smirked.

"I'm growing tired of your childish remarks. Can we just get to the point here?" she inquired in a disapproving manner.

"Fine," he shrugged. "After we left the castle last night, we headed west of here. We rode for what felt like hours, passing through a forest and then past a little village like place with a front gate that had some kind of writing and a Muggle cross on it. The place looked like a little town completely devoted to Muggle religion."

"Yes? What else?"

"Well, we rode for another fifteen minutes at least after seeing that village until we finally came to a place that was nothing but a huge field filled with this wheat-like grass. There was a wooden sign hammered into the ground that said 'Meadow Rock'. We walked through there and to this one place in the field where there were large boulders. Once we were there, Mardon made us bend down and walk into this tiny cave opening. It slopes downhill a little at first and once you're inside – it's larger than it looks outside – but he's got her all tied and chained in there with a rock as a sort of door."

Hermione sat for a moment after hearing this and suddenly she stood as though struck with brilliance.

"Tom! That village you spoke about... was there a large, clay, reddish brown wall around it?" He nodded and popped another grape in his mouth as she continued. "And did you happen to see a tower on one of the buildings with a bell?" Again Riddle nodded and continued chewing as he eyed some bacon on the breakfast tray. "That's not a village! It's a university. Monks probably live there."

Hermione knew this from the many books she read. She had once read about a wizard who lived inside a university just such as the one Tom described, and the wizard emerged after eighteen years to be the best alchemist and arithmetician of the fourteenth century.

"Monks?" Riddle quizzed as he grabbed a piece of bacon and began snacking on it as well.

"They're like Muggle church people."

"Now, it's my turn to ask you the rude question. What's Muggle church people got to do with this?" he questioned as he finished the strip of bacon and picked up a piece of toast.

"That university. I could go there on a... a... study trip! And once I'm there, you and I will sneak out and go to visit Meg."

"You do realize that it's a fifteen minute ride from that village – or university – to Meadow Rock, right? Do you know how long of a walk that would be?" Tom pointed out, but Hermione shrugged as though she didn't care.

"What other choice do we have? We can't Apparate for fear of someone seeing us, and we can't have someone ride us out and drop us off in the middle of a field," she explained. "Now, hurry and leave so I can get dressed, and we can go."

Riddle got up slowly as Hermione walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a dress, holding it up before herself as she looked in a mirror on the wardrobe door.

"Here," Tom said as he threw the remaining grapes at her. "Eat. You're getting disgustingly thin." With that, he walked out and climbed over the railing of the balcony as she looked sideways at herself in the mirror. She was a bit thinner, but she would worry about that later.

She quickly dress, neglecting to even properly slip her shoes on as she pulled her hair back while leaving the room. She rushed down the stairs and into the study where she heard the King talking with the General and Johnalin.

"Northern Dublin is rather safe, I think it would be a wise choice to visit there in a week or two," Johnalin spoke as Hermione walked across the room. The General was about to speak his agreement when he noticed her and cleared his throat, calling the King's attention from some rolls of parchment on the table.

"Ah, my dear, darling daughter," the King said fondly. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit this morning?"

"I was wondering if you could grant me permission to take a guard or two and go out to the university for a visit?" Hermione pleaded.

"To the university?" the King repeated.

"Excuse me, your grace," Johnalin interrupted. "I have to intervene and say that there will be no such trip because Anastasia's lessons continue today seeing as we just got back yesterday."

"Oh, Father, please?" Hermione begged. "I wish to go there and read."

"Well...," the King mumbled. "If she's going there in pursuit of knowledge, why not?"

"Really?" she asked happily.

"Certainly," the King nodded.

"Oh, thank you!" Hermione beamed as she gave the King a quick hug and dashed from the room to go get Meg's basket before leaving.