Author's Note: So I'm currently working on my Secret Santa fic, and then I also started a oneshot, but don't worry; I haven't abandoned GD. (I even wrote the outline for the next chapter. Aren't you proud of me? xD) Though I'm revising the first few chapters of that, so it might take a while for the next update…sorry. :c Meanwhile, enjoy this little drabble that I wrote.

Disclaimer:I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters.


Prompt: A Tree in Albania

"A tree in Albania," Tom muttered, his eyes sweeping around his surroundings. "A hollow tree in Albania. What the fuck?"

In front of him were endless rows of trees. Exactly how was he supposed to figure out which one contained the diadem inside? Maybe that damn Grey Lady had tricked him so she could run off to find Dumbledore to come and capture him in the act. However, he highly doubted that; he had charmed her, after all, and it had always been quite effective.

He supposed he could've forced her to be more specific, but he doubted she could've said more even if she tried. The stupid girl had barely been any use—other than chasing him here with such a vague clue.

Normally, he didn't mind as long as he got an important piece of information. However, he had to be back at school before sunrise to prevent Dumbledore from getting suspicious. He would've came during the holidays, though the old codger had managed to put yet another restriction on his life—he was not to leave the orphanage no matter what the circumstances were. He had tried slipping out, of course, but that had been the first time he had gotten detention. His perfect track record was ruined. Dumbledore had threatened worse the next time he left. Besides, winter holiday was in two months; Tom couldn't wait that long.

Tom sighed; once he got the diadem and got back to Hogwarts, the Grey Lady was going to be happy she died so quickly. This was a complete waste of time. Had he been crankier when they had spoken, he would've imperio'd her and made her get the diadem by herself. The only reason he came rather than sending one of his followers was so he could see the diadem when it was unveiled at last. And he didn't trust his blubbering followers with something as important as this.

Tom looked at the tree towering before him. What exactly was he supposed to do to see if it was hollow—or more importantly, see if there was a diadem inside? It was easier to burn the whole forest rather than searching tree by tree, but he didn't want to risk damaging the diadem in any way. He needed it for a horcrux, so it was crucial that the diadem remained in one piece when he found it.

He took his wand out of his pocket. It had been his best friend—his definition of friend, anyway—since the moment the two of them had met. It understood him like no one else did, and it followed his orders without any protest or questioning. In essence, his wand was his ideal follower. And it killed him to admit it, but he could not live without it. Not now, at least, when he hadn't perfected the art of wandless magic.

He was about to slit the tree into many pieces when the sound of footsteps stopped him in his tracks. He turned around as silently as he could, making sure not to step on any branches or twigs that might give away his location.

In front of him was a girl who was wearing Hogwarts' robes, even though he had never seen her before. She had frizzy hair, chestnut eyes and a gap between her front teeth. She was, essentially, the ugliest girl Tom Riddle had ever seen, though Tom had never cared about looks—and neither, apparently, did she.

However, he noticed that her eyes were narrowed, scanning her surroundings suspiciously. Her wand was out as well, held in a way so that she could fire off a curse quickly should she need to. Her stance was well positioned so she could move easily. 'Well,' Tom smirked to himself. 'At least she had some brain hidden inside that wild mane of hers.'

Feeling rather curious about her, he disillusioned himself and trailed after her. His suspicions arose when he noticed her inspecting tree after tree. Was she after the same thing that he was? But that was impossible; the diadem had been lost for centuries. He had barely managed to coax the location from the Grey Lady, and he didn't blame her for telling him; he was perfect, after all. It was hard to resist his charms.

Tom snorted as he looked at the girl; he didn't think that the Grey Lady would be too obliged to tell the beaver lookalike if she had asked.

His suspicions arose when she began knocking on the trunk of every tree. Some of the knocks made no noise, and Tom thought she was simply wasting her time. To his surprise, when she knocked on a rather tall tree, a nice hollow sound echoed. Tom narrowed his eyes; was the girl also testing for a hollow tree? Was she trying to get the diadem as well? He could not allow that. On top of that, how did she know to knock on the wood?

He closed the space between them in two big steps and flicked his wand. Quietly, he pressed his wand tip against her neck, hard enough to make a mark. Now at such a close proximity, he could smell a hint of lavender on her. It wasn't overly strong, like the perfume he had been so used to smelling at Hogwarts. Leaning closer to her, he whispered harshly in her ear, "Drop your wand."

The girl didn't turn around, nor did she seem surprised that he was there at all. Instead of following his orders, she flicked her wand as well and Tom felt his disillusionment charm fade away. Nonverbal. Impressive. Not many people he knew could do so. Even most of the professors at Hogwarts couldn't manage such basic magic.

She, however, didn't even turn around to see who he was. Instead, she said, "Hello, Tom Riddle." And went back to what she was doing before. She ignored him and Tom didn't like that; he was not used to being ignored. Everyone always fanned him with attention.

Tom narrowed his eyes and pressed his wand tip deeper in to her neck. Aside from tensing a little, she showed no other reaction. "How do you know who I am?" he demanded. "Why are you here? Did Dumbledore send you?"

"So many questions," the girl tsked, sounding rather amused, finally turning around to face him. If he expected her to start babbling nonsense after seeing his appearance, he was terribly mistaken; her eyes stayed on his face and there was neither giggling nor anything else. Her face was impassive, and it irked Tom to no end. "I've seen you around. And no, I do not work for Professor Dumbledore." Her lips twitched up.

"Where?"

"Hogwarts, silly. I would think that you would know people in your own house. But then, that would be explainable, since you were only first year when I was seventh. I can definitely see how you could've forgotten."

Tom frowned, her jab at his memory not going unnoticed. He prided himself for being able to remember more than most, so the fact that there wasn't even a little recognition was suspicious to him. "What's your name?"

"Doesn't matter," the girl shrugged. She stepped away from his wand and he let her, though he kept it still trained on her. "What are you here for? Some rubies, diamonds, other priceless treasures?"

"Is that what you're here for?" Tom kept his voice neutral and his face impassive, lest he gave something important away.

"No, I'm looking for some sort of animal," the girl shrugged again. "My friend told me about them. She said that they only live in hollow trees in Albania," she grinned. "Luckily for me, Albania only has one tree, right?" She sighed and looked sadly at the endless rows of vegetation. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business," Tom snapped, going back to his work. He would kill her, but not now; he would rather not waste his precious time dueling the girl. While he was sure he would be able to take her out fairly quickly, he didn't want her to accidentally damage the diadem. Also, she could be a help for him; she was looking for hollow trees as well, was she not? Her whole story was suspicious, but he pretended to buy it anyway. She could unwillingly do half of his work for him. It would make things go by so much faster.

The girl raised an eyebrow at his tone, but shrugged it off and went back to knocking on the trees. He really hated to admit he was wrong, and even more he hated copying other people, but he could not see another way to do it effectively. And that was the key: he was under time restrictions. He swallowed his pride and copied her movements, knocking on each tree's trunk.

He could hear her snicker, but he ignored it.

The two of them searched peacefully. He stayed on his end and she stayed on hers. The forest was completely silent other than the occasional footsteps they made, so Tom became even more suspicious of this so called 'animal' she was looking for. He knew the story was fake now, but what was her real intention for being here? Why did she have to hide it? He would find out soon enough.

Tom cut open a tree with red leaves. Red had always been his favorite color; it was the color of blood, after all, and that was his favorite thing to see. The tree opened up, and Tom stared inside, his mouth slowly curling up in to a smirk. He had found it. He had finally found the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw. After so many before him had tried, he was the only one who succeeded. He stared at it greedily, his eyes drinking it in.

A small movement to his left caught his eye. To a normal person, it was so tiny they wouldn't have been bothered about it. Their brains might not have even registered it. However, he was Tom Riddle, and he noticed everything. In a split second, he grabbed the diadem and took out his wand, flicking it.

The girl had moved so she had been positioned right behind him. She moved fast, but not fast enough. Her wand flew out of her hands and landed at his feet, and he pointed his wand at her, a smirk appearing on his face. The girl no longer had her amused look on her face, and instead crossed her arms and scowled at him.

"What's your plan now?" Tom said cruelly, tossing the diadem up and down to taunt her. Her eyes followed the movement, but there was nothing she could do now that he had her wand. Tom could beat her easily when she was unarmed—and strangely, she seemed to know it. Maybe she hadn't been lying about being at Hogwarts with him, but he was almost certain she was. She lied about her motives for being in the forest, so she could've lied about everything that she had said to him.

How did she know so much about him then?

"I don't know," the girl frowned. She was doing well on not showing any emotion, but he could see her hand trembling a little. Her eyes, though they stared at him defiantly, couldn't seem to hold eye contact for very long. 'Good' Tom thought cruelly. 'She should fear me, as well as everyone should.' "I hadn't really thought this far."

"No?" Tom smirked maliciously, twirling his wand in between his fingers. She eyed it, a bit of insecurity crossing her eyes. "Then, do you know what happens next?"

"No." She didn't seem to care, even, but unfortunately for her, Tom would make sure that she knew the ending of this story.

His lips curled up. "You die," he whispered, bringing his wand down. A jet of green light shot out from the tip, and then it disappeared. The girl fell, lying by his feet, her eyes open but unseeing. He glanced at the diadem. Cruel, unremorseful murder, Slughorn had said, and Tom had done exactly that.

Tom tucked the diadem inside his robe pocket. Now that the murder part was done, the rest he could finish at school. He would get another horcrux soon. He smirked proudly as he gazed down at his victims. It wouldn't be long. But first, he needed to satisfy his curiosity.

He bent down and searched through her robes, taking out multiple papers. He found one with a giant picture of her, as well as the words 'Hermione Jean Granger' underneath. Tom raised an eyebrow; she did not deserve such a melodic name.

Her birthday appeared as 'September 19th, 1979.' Tom frowned; she was from the future? How had she managed to come back so many years? He had tried multiple times to go to the future to see what he looked like, but he could not do so. He almost regretted killing her; think of all the information she could've given him if he had let her live. But if he had, there would be a chance she could run off and tell someone. There weren't many places he could hide a person while he was at Hogwarts. If only he had met her after he graduated.

Her blood status said muggleborn, and Tom wanted to laugh. He had used a muggleborn to make a horcrux. Sure, he used Myrtle's death to create one, but in that case, it was accidental. Now, he had full intention to kill her while Myrtle was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But perhaps, that was the case with Hermione Jean Granger as well.

There was one more thing in her robe pockets—one piece of parchment with some words scribbled on it. The ink stained the page, but the writing was still legible. Tom held it up to what remained of the sunlight and read the last thing Hermione had ever written.

Mission: Get the diadem before Tom Riddle does.