A/n: As promised, here is the next chapter. I will be updating every weekend from now on until the end of the story. (This story will have 40 chapters). Thank you all for reading!

Thank you to: Alexybath and JRRTFrk (x4) for reviewing. You two are amazing dolls, cookies for you!

Chapter 24: Riddles and Riddle

Hermione:

Over the course of just a few weeks, my life had miraculously changed. I had gone from overly happy to utterly depressed, to jobless then madly in love and working more than I had worked since during the war, if truth was to be told.

When Draco said he'll get you a job, he wasn't kidding around like the ministry arseholes who just wanted another desk to fill and another intern to fetch coffee. No, he actually gave you work and paid you what you're worth.

Granted, I had to convince him to actually lower my salary because he was being utterly ridiculous with the "what you're worth" idea... but all in all, it was the most desirable situation I'd been in my entire life. Yes, I mean my entire life. This is what I'd worked my arse off for. The man, the job and the sex. Not that I'd fantasized about sex as a kid. God no! I used to be rather naive.

Or... I think they call it innocent these days.

I had two forms of employment because the man knew I needed a good push in work ethic. First, I was put in charge of "muggle relations" for all of his existing companies (and for all of those that were soon to be opened). It sounds like quite a flashy, complicated job, but it really rather isn't. Basically, it was my job to show America and the rest of the world that Sebastian Dominique/Draco Malfoy was promoting the welfare of muggles and their way of life. But we weren't stopping there. Oh no. We were attempting to get the rest of the wizarding community to start embracing the muggle way of doing things.

To Draco, this was the ultimate goal he wanted to achieve. It was the most important thing in his life (besides me, he said rather convincingly) and he had put me in charge of it.

The job was one of great responsibility and one that would not easily be done. There were many witches and wizards who still held prejudiced views of muggles – And America hadn't even had a war over it yet! – their welfare was not highly promoted at the corporation level.

Draco was attempting to change this, of course, having been through a war himself and witnessing such awful things... It had become his ambition towards protecting not only the wizarding community's secret but integrating both societies to function as one. It was rather genius, actually, and I was proud of him.

The man was regarded as a revolutionary.

Because really – using pens and laptops at home was one thing, but at work? Insanity! Of course witches and wizards were aware of muggle technology and all its uses, but it was a complete faux pas to actually take a part in such practices where other people could see you in public. Draco had introduced a new way of life, almost, and a lot of people were against him.

For me, this meant dealing with howlers, angry people, pureblood extremists, old ladies with pearls in general... You'd think I'd stepped into public relations all over again like my old job at the ministry, except this time I had actual work to do. It was relieving and terrifying at the same time. I hadn't had an important job in years. I hadn't had an actual important job since I'd been out searching for horcruxes.

While I highly respected this job and certainly enjoyed finally having something proper to stress over, I enjoyed the bonus job he'd gotten me as well. He had made it so that I worked part time, completely home based, as an editor in the publishing house he was affiliated with due to his literary accomplishments. It was my dream come true.

Living in New York City, check.

Running in central park, check.

Editor, check!

My life was officially complete. I could die happy. Who wouldn't like this kind of job? Paid to read and run my mouth off about what I thought about it... it was my dream come true.

The funny thing was that it seemed as if Draco knew that this was exactly what I'd need. I hadn't even had to ask him. He just... did it. Who says men don't have intuition? I don't think I could love a man more than I love Draco Malfoy.

And it's not just because of my paycheque, honey.

/

"You're not thinking hard enough."

I sighed. I was sitting on the ledge of the highest Astronomy Tower. Coming to the dream world had become a daily occurrence and it was beginning to be a bit of a drag. Tom Riddle did not know how to play nice. Oh, of course he'd tried when he was afraid I'd give him up for his arch-nemesis, Dumbledore! But when that fear had faded, so had his poor attempts to be nice.

The man certainly was the definition of arrogance.

"Well then what do you think?" I asked him, rather annoyed and about to leave.

"I think," the self important bastard continued, "that we've narrowed the second member of the prophecy down to the Malfoy boy. Why you're smitten with such a creature is beyond me –"

"Hey! No insulting the boyfriend!"

"Oh, very well. It's clear that the Neanderthal is part of the prophecy too -"

"I'm warning you, Riddle!"

He rolled his eyes. "Well, you can't honestly blame me. You're associating yourself with a specimen of inbreeding. Am I meant to ignore that?" The bastard had the shame to grin at my mortified expression.

"That's it! I've had enough out of you, you son of a bitch!" His eyes widened and I managed to snag a glance of the horrified expression on his face before I closed my eyes and concentrated. I heard him apologize loudly, probably to save his sorry arse, but he had pissed me off far too much for his own good. When I opened my eyes I found myself and a very grumpy Slytherin in the dungeons.

Ah, yes. The perks of being in a dream based world.

To be precise, we were now in my old potions classroom and at the very front of the room sat Professor Snape at his rightful place behind his old desk. I had never known Professor Snape to be so easily amused in life, but in death...or limbo, whatever this place was – he took quite a lot of pleasure out of watching a younger version of the Dark Lord suffering under my hands.

"Hello, Professor Snape," I greeted him cheerily.

"Hello, Ms. Granger." He inclined his head towards us. "Back again? Has Mr. Riddle been misbehaving?" he asked as if he were talking about a little toddler who'd been troublemaking.

"Indeed, he has!" I laughed. I knew how much it pissed him off to be talked about as if he wasn't even in the room. "He's been a very naughty little boy. Whatever shall I do with him?" I sighed, exaggerating the movement. Snape smirked evilly and I couldn't help but laugh a little louder.

"Yes, yes, very funny!" Riddle exclaimed.

"Oh good, I was beginning to think you didn't have a sense of humour. It is quite funny." Riddle actually pouted. Even though the look on him was mouth watering, the action in itself was too surreal to even comprehend. So I did what I do best. In situations you can't understand, can't analyze, can't do anything with really – ignore, and continue as if it's not there at all.

Unless it's trying to kill you.

Yes, Draco had taught me well.

Professor Snape left us in the room when we finally began to work again. "Yes, I agree. Draco is the second party... and that I was meant to be with him," I quickly added. This part of the prophecy I really enjoyed. I wasn't with Draco because of any old reason. We were meant to be together. Just what a girl wants to hear.

"Yes, but only because you have to carry out some plan of fate," he was just as quick to point out. I sighed. Riddle didn't seem to like Malfoy all that much. It was actually really surprising. Why should Riddle have anything against Draco? He had ruled the family through three generations, after all. Perhaps he and Abraxas Malfoy had had a tiff? Or perhaps he didn't like them in general... It was too difficult to discern without more information and I certainly was not going to go venturing in Voldemort's past again.

I'd done enough of that to last me a lifetime.

"The man of identity that is challenged and the good is to be put on his shoulders... good from my shoulder to his shoulder. So I guess... I need to teach him to be good?" Riddle just shrugged and I slapped my forehead. This was going nowhere!

"I'm going!" I shouted at him, completely exasperated. I had reached my limit for annoyance today. Before he could say anything else I had gone away, back to the real world. There I lay, next to Draco in bed. He was snuggled against my side with his face gently resting against my neck. I gently stroked his hair, willing proper sleep to come back to me.

And soon, that came too.

/

"Another one of the visions came true today," I groaned, dejectedly. Tom and I were sitting in the great hall at the Slytherin table. He wouldn't have it any other way and I had been far too tired to object.

It had been a long, long day.

"What happened?" he asked in a voice that almost came close to sympathy. But hell, I was low enough even to accept his pathetic attempts at being nice.

/

I had made my way to Draco's office during my lunch hour to see if he'd come eat with me. All in all it had been quite a lovely day, so far. I had made progress in a novel that I was editing, I had had three successful meetings today already and I was scheduled to work on a proposal to stop the testing of magical products in the muggle world on muggles after lunch.

I really loved making progress to the point where it could be called addiction. I suppose everyone has their own flaws, right?

The door had been wide open and his secretary had gone to lunch too, apparently. I decided I would surprise him, so I quietly made my way into his office, attempting to be quiet but probably failed. In other words, he would have caught me if he hadn't been so engrossed in his work.

There he was, sitting behind his perfectly majestic desk looking absolutely gorgeous. Smiling, I was about to walk in when something about the scene struck me as frightful. And then I realized it.

Draco was sitting at a desk, writing and looking utterly frustrated. It was my vision, I knew it immediately. Panic started to fill my veins. Four visions had passed. I was going to come to my death soon. Forget the fact that I had no clue what the prophecy meant. I was going to die and then no more Draco, no more job...no more anything!

I was about to leave and have my panic attack in privacy when Draco looked up and found me staring at him on the verge of hyperventilating. Of course, he didn't immediately notice the signs and I was grateful. It bought me some time to compose myself.

All signs of his frustration had melted. "Hello, love," he called to me, gesturing for me to come inside. I stepped in and made my way to sit in one of the empty chairs before his desk.

"What were you doing? You looked put out when I walked in... I'm not disturbing anything, am I?"

He shook his head. "No, I was just working on my novel... it's just not going as well as I expected, you know?" I nodded. "Is there something wrong?" he asked. He reached over his desk to brush a stray lock of hair off of my face.

"No, nothing. I just came to see if you wanted to have lunch." He smiled and I almost felt bad for lying. I couldn't tell him about this, yet. This dream world stuff or the fact that maybe sometime in the near future I was about to die and leave him to fend for himself was too much for him to handle with everything that was going on. The time just wasn't right. But then again, the time might never be right. I felt so alone at that point, so scared and lonely that all I wanted to do was go around that desk, sit in his lap and sob it all out. But I restrained myself, if only just barely.

Before he could answer I interjected. "But that's alright. You rarely get time to work on your novel anymore, and I know your editor Ella personally now. She hates you and your sporadic drafts. I'll see you at home?" I asked, getting up and making my way to the door.

He nodded again, smiling. "You know you will."

Instead of kissing him – which I wasn't ready for in the midst of my panic attack – I blew him a kiss from the door, hoping he wouldn't find anything wrong with my behaviour. Then, when I was sure I was out of sight, I ran to the safest broom closet I could think of and stayed there for half an hour until a janitor found me cowering in the dark amidst spiders and mops.

/

"You actually hid in a broom closet?" Riddle was laughing at me again.

"Grow up, you arse. I wouldn't laugh if you did something like that! I was having a panic attack, what was I supposed to do?" I crossed my arms hoping he'd get the message that I wanted him to fuck off and die. Except for one little problem, of course. He was already dead.

Well, hey. Wish granted.

"You could have gone home," he suggested. "Or to your very empty office?" The fucker had a point and it really annoyed the hell out of me. Why did he always have to be right about everything?

"And I could've picked Dumbledore to help me, can we get on with it?" He sighed and then I sighed. We both decided to ignore each other and stare in opposite directions. It was childish, stupid and a whole lot of waste of time but I could be stubborn too.

"Alright," he finally assented. "Let's get on with it."

"Great!" I said, suddenly cheered. It wasn't everyday that you could win in a battle of...well anything, with Tom Riddle. He simply had to be the best of the best, no doubt about it. Major ego complex, you see, and if he hadn't been able to fix it in life – he sure as hell was not going to be able to fix it in death.

I found him staring at me, suddenly, in such a piercing gaze that I was immediately uncomfortable. It was as if he were stripping me to the bone until I was laid completely bare for him to see. Trust me, it's not a pleasant feeling, especially when it's a former dark lord doing it to you.

I cleared my throat eventually, and he seemed to snap out of it, as if he'd been in a daze. "My apologies," he said in a tone that was too formal to question. "I seem to have gotten off track." Well, yes. If by off track he meant staring at me inappropriately, then he was way off track. "Where shall we continue today?"

And so, I spent another fruitless night in the dream world, attempting to decipher a prophecy and my future with Lord Voldemort as my companion. It was surreal as fuck – but I was taking any help I could get.

Maybe just maybe together we were cunning enough to manage.

Or you know, fail and then die a miserable and painful death. But you know, either way...

A/N: Unsigned Reviews

Alexybath: I'm glad you enjoyed the Luna reference, it was thrown in especially for you because you're such a dedicated reviewer. Hope you enjoyed the Tom Riddle portion of this chapter as well. See you next week!