Disclaimer: don't own.
That's what happened in chapter 5:
A/N: Just to make this clear: I picture Tom Riddle as the one who played him in Harry Potter 2 (Christian Coulson) and NOT the young one in HP 6! And Hermione as Emma Watson, obviously…. :) Here is chapter 6… enjoy…
"I've just fled – I mean, I've just left my fourth one standing there." Hermione murmured, aware that half the table was listening in.
"Your fourth what?" Draco had the audacity to ask.
"Isn't it obvious?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes. "Our Hermione is popular. She has admirers who have asked her to the ball. Correct?"
Hermione nodded and Draco looked outraged. "That's just crazy!"
"Crazy?" Hermione turned to her "lover" furiously. "What do you exactly mean by that?"
"Miss Delacour?" A very familiar, but not pleasant voice interrupted her rant and Hermione turned around sharply. "Would you like to go to the dance with me?"
On with the story:
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"I'm sorry, Mister Malfoy." Hermione simpered, putting on a smile – or at least she tried to. "I'm already going with someone."
Malfoy's face fell comically. "Oh... uhm..." He was speechless – Hermione had never seen a Malfoy speechless before.
"I'm sorry, but thank you for asking me." Hermione smiled at him, but felt sorry.
"It's okay." Malfoy turned around. "Hilda, would you like to go to the ball with me?"
A younger girl, Hermione had never noticed before, blushed heavily and accepted gratefully. She breathed a sigh of relief – that was settled then. But there was a question bothering her: Who was Tom Riddle going with? She had absolutely no idea. He actually didn't seem to be interested in ANY girls.
Maybe he was gay?
Hermione grinned inwardly at the thought – if he were gay, that would be a waste for the female world. Oops, where had that come from`?
Hermione looked at him from the corner of her eyes and noticed with a jolt that he was staring straight at her. Oh no. Was he already skilled at Legilimency?
Maybe, she should try it out. 'Who are you going with, Tom Riddle`? Hermione thought as hard as she could, but Tom Riddle remained quiet. Damn!
When she looked at him closer, she noticed that his usual smirk was absent and his handsome face looked part angry and part confused. Hermione was clueless – WHY did he look so... strange? So... jealous?
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'Who is Hermione going with?' Tom thought when he and Mc Gonnagal made their way to the headmaster's office. The thought made him extremely angry. He wanted to crucio her date again and again... and again. Little did he know that this feeling was called jealousy.
"I trust, you two will hold the traditional speeches at the Halloween Dance?" Dippett said lazily.
"Of course." Tom answered with almost a bow. "We've already prepared our speech!"
"Wonderful! I knew it was right to appoint you as headboy, although some other teachers gave me a hard time for it." Dippett winked.
McGonnagal looked a bit pissed off that he hadn't included her in his praise, but she was used to that – Tom Riddle was always at the top.
"Thank you, headmaster." Tom said politely and couldn't help but smirk. It was probably Dumbledore, the old fool, who didn't want him. Dumbledore was sharper than he thought, obviously.
"I trust you two will be going together?" Dippett asked nervously.
WHHHHAT? Tom was abruptly pulled from his daydream about the new black book about Horcruxes which was lying in his dormitory, just waiting to be read. He couldn't wait to go back to the dorm and read it. "Uhm... together?" Tom asked alarmed at the thought of going there with someone. "I had actually planned to go alone." As usual.
Dippett laughed. "But you are the heads. It is a tradition that they always go together."
"The headboy and headgirl always go to the ball together?" McGonnagal asked horrified, looking at Riddle with loathing. It was common knowledge that Gryffindors and Slytherins hated each other.
"Yes, of course." Dippett's face began to purple and he stood up. "This is my final word. Good night."
"Good night." the two students mumbled, both of them believing that they had the worst deal. If he had to go with a girl, it would definitely NOT be McGonnagal... but who would it be? Olive Hornby? No. Parkinson? A definite No-Go. Eileen Prince? Ugh. Hermione Delacour. Her face crept into his thoughts and he had to smile inwardly. Yes, Hermione Delacour would have been his perfect date. A shame that he had to go with the frickin headgirl of all people. A Gryffindor even.
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Hand in Hand, Draco and Hermione made their way to the room of requirement. They had planned a cosy evening together; just the two of them. However, when they were on the third floor, they heard muffled voices and footsteps.
"Shht, there are voices." Hermione whispered, pulling her hand away from him.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked agitated.
"We don't want the whole school to know that we are... snogging and making out..." Hermione whispered her face as red as Ron's usually was. "I mean, it was your idea to keep it a secret... we've always wanted to ... Besides, with Tom out there... We are here on a mission, Draco."
"Fine fine." Draco groaned, but his face was green with jealousy.
What Hermione hadn't counted on was that it was indeed Tom.
"Good evening, Miss Delacour... Mister Lumiere." Tom said stoically. Mc Gonnagal was with him and Hermione hid a smirk. She looked absolutely hideous this evening. Her face was furiously red and blotchy, her forehead sweaty and her robes crumpled... to the contrary of the always perfect Riddle next to her who didn't even have a hair out of place.
"10 points from Slytherin." Mc Gonnagal stared directly at Hermione, an ugly look on her face. "It's past curfew."
"No, it's not." Tom and Hermione snapped at the same time. Hermione gave him a half-smirk which he returned to her big surprise. "Not yet, Mc Gonnagal." Tom pointed at the big clock on the wall opposite. "In five minutes though and so I think we should hurry up to get back."
"Good evening, Mc Gonnagal." Tom sneered and steered Hermione and Draco out of the hallway. But before they reached the door, he turned around; his face triumphant.
"Oh, and 20 points from Gryffindor for false information and unfair deduction of points." Tom laughed heartily and Draco and Hermione joined in.
"She hates Slytherins." Tom told them again when they reached the dungeons. "Just stay away from her; she's not worth the trouble."
"Okay." Hermione nodded while Draco kept quiet.
"Soooo..." Tom began and Hermione braced herself. "Do you already have a date for the ball?"
He knows anyway, Hermione thought furiously.
"Yes, I do." Hermione's face purpled, but she didn't elaborate. "What about you, Tom?"
Tom groaned theatrically. "Yes; Dippett has a belief that the two heads have to go together."
"Really?" Wide-eyed Hermione turned to the young man. "Why?"
"It's the tradition, obviously." Tom shrugged, but his face creased in worry. "I hate her as much as she hates me, though."
"What a pity." Hermione shook her head.
"I would rather have gone with someone else." Tom said quietly, but looking directly into Hermione's eyes and her heart beat faster. Uh oh.
"With who?" Hermione asked, trembling slightly. She had a feeling that whatever name he would say; this girl would be at the top of her "hate-list".
"Hem hem." Draco interrupted, pointing at the entrance. "We've reached the Slytherin common room." he almost snarled.
"Oh yes." Tom Riddle had obviously regained his typical manner. "Snake venom. Goodnight Miss Delacour, Mister Lumiere."
"Good night, Tom Riddle." Hermione said dejectedly. She sooo wanted to know who he wanted to take to the ball. Damn!
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"Eileen, I like this one very much." Hermione held up a dark red 40s dress.
Eileen wrinkled her nose in obvious distaste. "It doesn't go well with your hair." she murmured, her typical sullen look returned.
"Oh... I wasn't talking about me... I thought this would be good for you." Hermione answered.
"Oh." Eileen's brow cleared. "Yes, I think... nice.. I'll try it on." And she sauntered off to the changing rooms.
"Okay." Hermione and Eileen were buying dress robes in Hogsmeade which differed greatly from the future version. Some shops were missing, although Honeydukes, The three broomsticks and the Hogs Head were already there. Some other shops, though, (Which Witch) – a shop that was selling clothes to witches only and another shop for men (Wizard'(S)) were new and she didn't know them from her time. Handy, since she could buy her dress robes for the ball there and didn't need to go to Diagon Alley.
Lost in thought, she picked up a cream coloured long dress, with elegant flowery sleeves, low cut (but not too low) with golden trimmings. Wow, stunning.
"That's beautiful, Hermione." a voice answered and Hermione turned around.
"Thank you Eileen." she smiled, jerking back to the present. "I like your dress too. It absolutely suits you." Which it did – Eileen's black hair and pallid complexion almost glowed in combination with the red dress.
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When they left the shop, they noticed Tom and Abraxas just emerging from Wizard'(S). Abraxas spotted them first.
"Miss Delacour. Eileen." Abraxas greeted, a smirk on his face. "Buying your dress robes as well?"
Tom smiled as well, enhancing his already extremely handsome features. "Good evening, ladies, Miss Delacour, Eileen."
MISS DELACOUR again? Hermione was getting sick of being called MISS all the time and Abraxas knew her quite well now.
"Please call me Hermione." Hermione smiled at the two boys.
Abraxas immediately stepped forwards, his cocky grin returned. "Why thank you, HERMIONE. You can call me Abraxas."
Tom scowled for a second, before rearranging his facial features back into the polite headboy face. "Same with me, of course; call me Tom, Hermione."
"Alright." Relieved Hermione looked at the two boys, her face burning. She swiftly changed the topic to safer talk. "Would you please let me see what you bought?"
Eagerly – it seemed – the boys opened the carriers and inside were (oh surprise) two black suits which looked very similar, except for the ties: Abraxas' was dark green and Tom's silver (another surprise).
"What did you buy?" Tom asked in a friendly voice, looking intently at the two girls.
Grinning, Hermione opened her bag and Tom's eyes went wide. "Beautiful." he said approvingly, one eyebrow raised. "A pity that you aren't my date to the ball."
Oh, what did he just say? Hermione blushed profusely at such compliment and looked at her shoes. When she had taken a deep breath, she smiled back at Tom, who looked as if he regretted saying that compliment in the first place.
"Yes, a very nice dress." Abraxas smirked. "And your dress is also very lovely, Eileen. Who are you going with?"
To everyone's surprise (even Hermione's), Eileen's face purpled. "Terence Longbottom."
Longbottom?
"Longbottom?" Abraxas' eyes were bulging. "You are going there with a Hufflepuff, of all people?"
Hufflepuff?
Hermione was completely thrown. "You didn't tell me." she accused her friend. "Why?"
Eileen mumbled something. "Sorry, I didn't catch that." Hermione said.
"Well – I didn't tell anyone, because I didn't want to be made fun of." Eileen explained, looking at Abraxas with apologetic eyes.
"You could have anyone." Abraxas stormed. "Zabini, Goyle, McNair... why didn't you take anyone decent from Slytherin? Why a Hufflepuff?"
"He was the first one who asked me and he is quite good-looking." Eileen pouted. "And he is really nice."
"It's a disgrace to the Slytherin house." Tom said icily. "If you hadn't found a date, you could have asked me and I would have gotten you someone."
"Look..." Hermione decided to butt in. "It's not really important, is it? I mean, they are just going to a ball together."
"But this can lead to much more." Abraxas said disgruntedly. "With who are you going with anyway? I hope, it's not another Hufflepuff?"
Tom looked intently at her and Hermione averted her eyes. "Uhm... not important. You'll see then."
"But I'm curious." Abraxas persisted. "We can't have another Slytherin date a Hufflepuff."
"Well... he is not a Hufflepuff; he is a Slytherin." Hermione tried to sound soothing.
"But who is it?" Tom asked, giving her a strange look.