A/N: I'm exhausted. :)

Is Tom twitching because he's annoyed? Or because he is lying? And why the twitching anyways?

Annoyed. Tom's too great a liar to have any lying ticks. And as for why I added the twitch…I like to make Tom seem a bit more human. (And my dad's eye twitches when he's annoyed; it's quite funny.) :P

Will Hermione cure the twitches?

Didn't even think about that…;) Interesting. I might play with that idea.

Hermione; scared or hateful? (Of Tom.)

A little of both, I think. She's never met a wizard so powerful, except for Dumbledore, and to see him in teenage form would be more than a bit scary. And hateful, most definitely. After what he put her best friends through, it would be hard for her not to hate him.

Why was Hermione comfortable in the bookstore, but completely unnerved outside the ice cream shop?

It'll be explained in this chapter, darlings. Now, read on!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all. Except the plot; that bit belongs to me.

Hermione looked back towards Tom once, before whipping her head around and disappearing into the crowds.

She Loves the Rain

Chapter Two:

Recognize

There it was. Oliver Twist; one of her favorite books. She grabbed for it, and stopped. There was another hand on the cover, but it withdrew quickly.

Hermione looked first at the hand. It was quite a beautiful hand; the fingers were long and thin and perfect, all of them slightly outstretched and curved, like they had just been holding something (which they had been). She traced the hand to a clothed arm, and the clothed arm up to a squared shoulder and then to a slightly tall neck, and finally to a face…a face that was way more beautiful than the hand.

High cheekbones, a pointed nose, arched eyebrows, and eyes that Hermione couldn't tell the color of. They were either black or really dark blue, and they were gorgeous. And his hair…it was so black and neat and fluffy.

This man, in Hermione's opinion, was quite appetizing. She could feel herself blushing, and she held the book out to him, her hand shaking a little.

"I-I'm sorry; would you like it?"

The man paused for a moment. "No that's fine. I'll just find another book."

No. She didn't want him to leave. His voice was so deep; so soothing. She needed to hear it again. She bit her lip, and said "Well, I've already read it-have you?"

The beautiful man shook his head. Hermione thrust the book towards him. "Then here, you take it. I can find a copy elsewhere."

"I...if you're sure you don't want it…?" he asked. She shook her head, and let him take the book. "Thank you."

They both paused. Hermione wanted to say more, but she really had to go find Dumbledore again, so she turned and left, winding her way through bookshelves and stairs until she reached the door of the shop, empty handed.

She wandered through Diagon Alley until she found Dumbledore headed towards the quill shop.

"Ah, Hermione! I was hoping you would turn up soon." he said, smiling. He was holding a dozen packages, which he dumped into Hermione's arms.

"Um, sir?" she said, struggling under the weight. "Couldn't we just shrink these?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Oops, how silly of me. Here."

Hermione shoved the now jewelry box sized packages into her pocket.

"I think we just need to get you some quills and parchment and we'll be done."

They walked the rest of the way to the quill shop, and Hermione went in alone, leaving Dumbledore chatting pleasantly with an older witch. She took her time looking through all of the quills and bought a pack of generic ones, and a really nice phoenix feather quill that she would only use for writing letters. (If she ever had reason to.) Picking up some parchment, she headed for the pay counter, but stopped short.

There in a bin in a corner were some diaries, half off, and on the very top of the pile was a black leather diary. A black leather diary that looked strikingly similar to the one that belonged to…

Tom Riddle.

Hermione almost fainted.

TmrHgTmrHgTmrHgTmr

Oh God, oh God, oh God!

Everything from second year came tumbling back to her; the diary, the basilisk, and Tom Riddle. She remembered going through old yearbooks in the library, trying to find a picture of him when Harry had first showed her the diary.

Hermione remembered the little picture of the head boy; remembered thinking the smirking figure was quite handsome.

Oh God. I thought young Voldemort was appetizing!

Realizing she had been standing in the same spot trying not to hyperventilate for over a minute, she quickly went to the cashier and paid for her things. She left the shop, mind racing. Dumbledore was just outside, rocking back and forth on his heels humming.

"Professor, I don't think I can go to Hogwarts." Hermione said, putting her new quills into her pocket. Dumbledore frowned.

"Why ever not?"

She paused. "I…I can't tell you. It has to do with the future. There's a student, and-"

"Hermione, don't tell me anymore." said Dumbledore, as they started walking back towards the leaky cauldron. "I don't want you to ruin the future for me. And I'm sure whoever this student is, you can easily avoid him. Hogwarts is a large school."

Hermione sighed. Could she avoid the most dangerous wizard in the world? It was weird enough to see him in human and teenage form. It would be even weirder going to school with him. But she would be in Gryffindor. That she was sure of, and he was in Slytherin. If they had classes together, she could just sit on the other side of the room.

It could work…

"Ah, good afternoon, Tom!"

Hermione didn't even realize Dumbledore had stopped. She looked at him in confusion, and then turned her attention to the person he was addressing.

Of course.

It was none other than Tom Riddle, sitting in one of the wooden chairs outside of an ice cream shop with somebody who looked almost exactly like Draco Malfoy. Hermione tried not to look nervous, but failed miserably at it.

"Shopping for school?" asked Dumbledore, oblivious to Hermione's silent signals.

Riddle nodded, and looked directly at her. She looked away. "Who is the young lady?"

Young lady? I'm not that young…

"Oh, excuse my horrible manners! This is Hermione Duree. Her mother just passed away, and she was sent here to finish her schooling at Hogwarts." explained Dumbledore, using the cover story they had both come up with.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Duree." Riddle said, holding out his hand. Hermione looked at the hand. (It was still a beautiful hand, even if it did belong to a future evil overlord.)

She hesitated, not really wanting to shake hands with the man who was to grow up and cause almost everybody she knew to suffer. But he was waiting, eyebrow arched, and eyes cold.

Hermione took his hand gently, surprised to find it quite warm. As soon as the hand shake was over, she quickly brought her hand back to her side. She still couldn't believe his hands were warm! She expected them to be as cold as his eyes.

"We shall be seeing each other at Hogwarts, I suppose?" he asked, his eyes betraying his lack of real interest.

I certainly hope not…

Dumbledore bid the two boys farewell, and led her to the Leaky Cauldron, where they used a fireplace to floo back to Hogwarts.

HgTmrHgTmrHgTmrHg

A/N: I really meant for this to be longer. Really. I did. But I got stuck, and I'm tired, and I wanted you guys to have something. But I promise to post at least two chapters before Christmas. Promise, promise, promise. :)

I hope some of your questions from last time were answered, and thanks to those who reviewed last time. And for some reason, listening to Stable Song(think that's what it's called) by Death Cab helped me write this. :3 As always, tell me if I made any mistakes. I think I reviewed this one thoroughly enough, but you never know.

Next chapter: School starts! Yay, happy fun times!

Please review, I'll love you forever.

'Til next time-

Tom