Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Noon's Phoenix, whom I inadvertantly frustrated. - This chapter is shorter than the previous two, but I'm working on getting chapter four up as I post this, so worry not! Enjoy!
Hermione couldn't understand why she was being woken up so early; the sun hadn't even begun to come up yet.
"Come on, Jane, we're going to be late for breakfast!" At the word late, Hermione sprang up. She was never late; it was just something she didn't do.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"It's already seven o'clock! You should have been awake half an hour ago, at least!"
"But it's still dark –"
"Of course it's still dark in here. We're underground, remember?"
Hermione suddenly felt like an idiot. "Okay, I'm awake," she said. "Just let me find my clothes and I'll get dressed."
"Here," said Elizabeth, handing her the full Hogwarts uniform, minus robes. "I've been trying to wake you up for a while."
Hermione groaned. "Thanks a bunch, Elizabeth." She swung her legs out of bed and stood up.
"I'll be waiting in the common room, right out there. Come out when you're dressed." She left, closing the door behind her.
Hermione lost no time in getting dressed. She was usually up by six o'clock, at least, and now she was hopelessly behind schedule. I suppose I'll have to get used to waking up in the dark. Then again, the light probably had nothing to do with it; I had a 36 hour day yesterday, after all, she reasoned while pulling on her shoes. She ran a hand down the back of her hair out of habit, trying to smooth out some of the frizz, while she stepped out of the dorm and into the hallway leading to the common room.
"Ready?" asked Elizabeth.
"Yeah," answered Hermione before being lead out of the common room and back into the maze of dungeons. "Elizabeth?" she asked suddenly.
"Yes, Jane?"
"What can you tell me about Tom Riddle?" she inquired, feeling stupid. She wanted to know if he often offered to tutor classmates.
"Tom Riddle? I've gone to school with him since first year, what do you want to know?"
"Er–" She wasn't exactly sure how she could ask what she wanted to know without it seeming like she was infatuated with him. She couldn't think of anything, so she decided to tell the truth. "Well, I've heard that the classes at Hogwarts are very advanced, at least compared to Tarnley, and last night, at the feast, he told me that if I needed any extra help…" She trailed off, leaving Elizabeth to fill in the blanks, which she did with ease.
"He offered to give you any extra help you need?" Hermione nodded. "Well, if you really need extra help with schoolwork, he'd be able to help you. He's Head Boy, remember, and top of our class. But somehow," Elizabeth added, "I think his intentions were less than innocent." I could've told you that, thought Hermione. "You must be very special, Jane," she said. "Tom has never flirted with anybody, not in years. Too absorbed in his grades."
She blushed. She wasn't even what most guys would consider pretty, and now she was supposed to believe that, somehow, before even talking to him, she had managed to catch the attention of the Dark Lord-to-be? Yeah, right.
"I think you should stay away from him," Elizabeth said suddenly. "He's a bit… odd."
"So?" Hermione found herself objecting, though she didn't know quite why. "What's wrong with being a bit odd? Not everyone's the same, you know."
"I don't mean 'unusual' odd, I mean – scary odd, sometimes – he's dangerous, Jane."
If it's that obvious already, what hope is there for the future, she thought. "How do you mean?" she asked, wanting to know as much about him as possible. This was her mission, not just curiosity, she told herself.
"I really shouldn't be talking about this, Jane, but you need to know, especially if you plan on seeing him more often." She pulled out her wand and cast a small spell to check the time. "It's going to take a while. Do you want to just skip breakfast and do it now, or wait until later?"
Hermione thought she had eaten enough the previous night, and besides, she really needed to know about Tom. "I'll skip breakfast. I'm not that hungry anyway."
"Okay then. Come on, follow me. There's plenty of room for us to talk down here, but we need to get a bit farther away from the main path…" She lit her wand tip again and walked through a door to the side of the one they had been about to walk through. Hermione followed Elizabeth through several more chambers. It really is a maze, thought Hermione.
When Elizabeth stopped, Hermione looked around in awe. They were in a huge library, as big as the official one of Hogwarts. "We call it the Slytherin Library. Nobody else knows about it. It's usually deserted until a few weeks before OWLs and NEWTs. We can talk in here." Hermione decided that it wasn't going to be deserted as long as she was there; it was quite an impressive sight, and she couldn't bear to leave it alone. Elizabeth sat down in a large, comfortable-looking armchair and gestured for Hermione to do the same.
"There've been rumors circulating Hogwarts about Tom since a few months after we started our first year. They started out with impressive stuff, mostly good – he was powerful, we all knew that. The rumors progressed, though. People started saying he practiced Dark Magic; most students in other houses are convinced we're all Dark Wizards, so it wouldn't have really mattered, except it was coming from Slytherins, too.
"You probably haven't heard about it, but in our fifth year a girl was killed. A third year, Haggard or something, was expelled for it, but…" She looked around nervously, obviously not trusting the privacy of the library as much as she claimed. "I heard that Tom had something to do with it. Something big."
"As I said before, nobody doubts that he's powerful – in a few years, he'll probably be more powerful than half the teachers here. For us, his classmates, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing. For his enemies – and yes, he does have enemies, and I have to admit they're brave, though stupid, for allowing it – it's a definite bad. I almost feel sorry for them.
"Which is why you should stay away from him. If something happens between you two and you end up getting on his bad side, I doubt it'll turn out well for you."
Hermione was shocked, both at how well Elizabeth knew Tom and at her concern. "Don't worry about me, Elizabeth. I know Tom Riddle's dangerous." She looked surprised and opened her mouth to speak. "Don't ask me how, but believe me when I say that I know." I know better than you do, she thought, thinking of all the people who had been lost in his quest for power and purity.
"Everyone has their secrets, I suppose," muttered Elizabeth.
"I'm glad to know you understand that."
Elizabeth nodded. "Of course I do."
"That's good to hear," she replied, a smile on her face. "You wouldn't happen to know where my first class is, would you?"
"Of course I know; I'm a prefect, after all. I have access to all the Slytherin schedules." She bent down and rummaged through her bag a bit. "Here goes," she said, pulling out a few pieces of parchment. "Jane Levvens, first class is Potions. Luckily, that's down here." She looked at the other piece of parchment in her hand. "And I have it with you." She handed Hermione her schedule. "You hold on to that. Come on, I'll show you the way."