I'm back! And this time for reals! I had some troubles and no time to write, but that time is now over! Hahaha! So I pledge to update at least one chapter pro week :) Anyway, I hope you like it and please READnREVIEW!

Menteur: Chapter 6: Diary and Ring

October 2, 1943

"Follow her and find out as much as you can, but be careful. Don't make her suspicious." Tom Riddle's smooth voice ordered a dark clothed figure standing next to his neatly made bed. The figure simply nodded and swiftly left the Hospital Wing.

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(AN: Here Hermione's going through the memory sequence of TMR's diary like HP did in HP2)

Hermione excitedly followed the young 1st year out of the classroom through the misty, distorted vicinity of the diary's memory. His thick dark hair was all disheveled as he kept running his hand through it and clenching it harshly in between his fingers. The all-knowing obsidian eyes betrayed no emotion, but Hermione could tell just how distressed he was from the events she'd just witnessed. Little Tom Riddle had obviously more imperfections than expected. For over twenty minutes she watched his endless, unsuccessful tries to master simple transfiguration charm, while all the other peers were already preparing to work on the next spell in their textbooks. To describe it simply, young Riddle's technique seemed essentially as bad as Neville's… Countless times the little boy picked up his wand and flawlessly repeated the already memorized movement, but nothing happened. Not a single beam of light, not a single spark escaped the tip of his wand, leaving the old white cloth, which was supposed to be a fork by now, unchanged.

Lost deep in her thoughts Hermione almost didn't notice how abruptly the young boy stopped when he reached adjacent intersection of the corridor. She quickly followed his line of sight towards a small group of Slytherin boys, some of whom were in Tom's transfiguration class and others she have never seen before. A lanky boy with long smooth red hair and exceptionally chunky nose spotted Tom and promptly alerted others. At first Hermione was certain that they must be Knight of Walpurgis or other of Voldemort's minions, but the predatory look in their eyes aimed at young Voldemort told her otherwise. Tom's cold features reminded passive, but Hermione noticed his fingernails were now viciously drilled deep into the ashy skin of his palms.

"Look who's here!" smirked the ginger and stood almost exactly an arm-length from the noticeably shorter 11year old. The others soon followed his lead and created an unorganized semi-circle around the housemate. Tom timidly pulled his worn-down leather backpack further up on his shoulder and frowned. Then the ginger pulled out his wand.

"What's wrong, little Mudblood? Still no magic, hmm?" the taller boy laughed ferociously and Hermione's eyes went wide as the older fellow fearlessly insulted Slytherin's heir.

Without any delay Tom pulled out his wand with shaking hands and muttered: "I can do magic, so leave me alone, Jason!" But that only earned him a laud round of laughter from the group.

"Oh, I don't think so, Tommy-boy…" whispered the ginger boy, Jason, and traced the tip of his light cinnamon colored wand around Riddle's exposed neck. "For you see," he continued: "We cannot have just any little Mudblood soiling our house's prestige."

Riddle gritted his teeth at that: "I'm not soiling anything. I was sorted into Slytherin properly just like you!" He tried to push the assailant's wand away from his throat with his free hand, but Jason was quicker and grabbed the hand before Tom had a chance to do anything. He pulled the dark haired boy closer and growled dangerously: "You only got accepted to Hogwarts because that muggle-lover Dumbledore felt pity for you!"

"That's not true…"defended Tom, but from Hermione's point of view it sounded like he himself wasn't sure of the truth in that statement. Jason snorted humorlessly: "Prove it" and then he slashed his wand vigorously through the air, sending 11-year old Riddle flying backwards, through Hermione's aerial body and towards one of the stone wall, where his body noiselessly crushed to the ground.

Surprised Hermione watched the group of laughing Slytherins slowly stroll by and into the next corridor, before turning to the small boy curled up on the floor. It was obvious that only thing that was seriously hurt was his fragile pride. He sat- unharmed- quietly on the ground with his legs pulled close to his chest and his ebony wand laying but a foot away. Still, he made no move to pick it up. The beautiful obsidian eyes gradually went from angry and hurt to completely vacant, impassive look and Hermione could feel the strange tingling sensation as the black leather diary slowly pushed her out of Tom's private memories back to her table at the deserted part of the library.

This wasn't the first of Riddle's memories she witnessed today. She went through the majority of the diary; starting at Tom's latest discovery of his Slytherin heritage just a month or two ago, she watched many episodes of his life- both sad and happy- but she had not yet encountered one quite like this. From what she understood, Tom obtained this diary early on in September 1938 as a present from Dumbledore himself to celebrate his Hogwarts acceptance and it contained all the visions and memories Tom had put in. This aspect, of course then, made the information Hermione's found highly selective and subjective. Riddle commemorated very little and mostly just things related to his magical research, such as horcrux-making techniques and different disillusionment charm types. In all of those memories Tom Riddle was just as she expected: cold, calculating, and brilliant manipulator, but during the run-in with Jason and his friends in Tom's first year at Hogwarts, for the first time Hermione noticed a sign of emotion other than hatred or indifference in those mysterious eyes. The kid in the diary seemed so different from Voldemort she knew. So very…

"Excusez-moi, Mademoiselle Durand?" Somebody lightly tapped on Hermione's shoulder, making her jump up from the cushioned wooden stool and turn abruptly. The cheek of her face came in contact with soft, dark-mahogany material of a shirt covering a muscular chest. Instead of acting gracefully and apologizing for her maladroitness, young witch's war reflexes kicked in and she pushed herself with all her might as far from the unknown threat , which proved to be a very bad idea considering her legs' proximity to the low coffee table she was working on. Before she could clumsily trip over the said table though, a strong arm sneaked around her waist, stabilizing her enough to stand back up and Hermione met with a positively entertained gaze of young Abraxas Malfoy.

"I-I'm sorry…"stuttered Hermione. Suddenly she wasn't sure whether her temporary lack of the ability to breath was caused by the traumatic nearly-fall experience or the immediate closeness of the handsome blond wizard's body. As if he realized their awkward position, Malfoy let go of her waist and took a quick step back.

When they both calmed down from the unexpected encounter, Abraxas smiled brightly, put his right palm on his chest and elegantly bowed down: "Please, Mademoiselle Durand, accept my apology for any unpleasantness I may have caused you. I was merely wondering if I could borrow that book." He stated smoothly while pointing somewhere behind her. She turned towards a book of potions' basics lying on the coffee table. She couldn't even recall why she had taken it from the book shelf and was positive she won't be needing it anymore. Her eyes wandered over to the blank pages of Tom Riddle's diary just couple inches away from the book. She hurriedly pushed the leather covers closed and dropped it in her school bag before Malfoy could catch a glimpse of what is was. She loved Draco, but she knew very well that other men of Malfoy clan were not to be trusted, ever. Only sometimes it was hard to remember; especially facing the familiar aristocratic features and rare genuine smiles of Malfoys.

Abraxas' sumptuous dark eyebrow shot up in amusement at girl's secretive behavior, but then he simply waved his hand dismissively and offered: "Don't worry, Mademoiselle Durand, I won't be nosy. Believe it or not, we, Slytherins don't like interfere with each other's business, because we tend to keep enough of our own secrets. "

Now it was time for Hermione to look amused: "Personal experience?" she quetioned with a smug smile. Malfoy's mouth fell open at witch's blunt flirtatious tone, but soon recovered and chuckled.

"Abraxas Malfoy, at your service" he smirked friendlily and stretched his hand towards his female classmate.

Hermione eyed him suspiciously. She wasn't sure if she should even be talking to the Voldemort's minion #1. A close contact with anyone, especially someone whose children's lives are so tightly intertwined with hers in the future, posed a real threat to her mission, especially after she just proved to be a potential threat herself by beating Riddle and openly using dark spell on school grounds. On the other hand, the blond heir could be her ultimate ticket to any news on Voldemort's plans and projects. Maybe Abraxas even knew who Riddle's secret friend was. That is, if it's even true and Dippet didn't just make it up to bring some excitement to his pathetic, boring, bureaucratic life…, thought bitterly Hermione, but on the outside she forced a tiny smile and took Malfoy's awaiting hand.

" Serena Durand. It'z pleazure to meet you, Monsieur Malfoyee."

Malfoy bend down to kiss the knuckles of her hand, when the large emerald ring on her ring finger came to his view. He stop in the middle of his movement and ran the distal phalanx of his thumb across the shiny gem, turning it slightly sideways on Hermione's delicate finger and exposing detailed engraving of a snake crest entwined between stray Tilia twig and neatly inscribed letter 'M'.

Hermione cursed under her breath and snatched the hand out of Malfoy's grasp. "Look, I'm sorry. I have to go.": she mumbled, grabbing her bag and leaving stunned Abraxas blankly staring down at his own hand, where an exact twin copy of Hermione's ring was proudly encircling his middle finger and verifying his rightful place as a Malfoy family heir.

XXXTo be continuedXXXX

For those who forgot, Hermione got the ring when she married Draco (before he died and she was thrown to the past), who got it from his mother, who got it from Lucius, who got it from his father Abraxas…so that's why now there are two copies of the same ring

Tilia tree= Linden tree

Distal phalanx = the inside part of one's finger segment furthest from the palm aka. The cushioned part of your finger :D

Now you better go and write me a review …anything to improve? Anything you liked?