Hey guys, first of all I'd like to say sorry for the wait, I've been killing myself over this chapter but I hope it's paid off.
Thanks all for the reviews as well :D :D Just a note: I'm planning to go through all their years but I'm not too sure, I'm more of a 'whatever I feel like writing' author so lol, we'll see :P
(oh, and remember – it's extra long – so extra reviews please) :P
~enjoy
Chapter 16
"G-Granger? What in Merlin's name…" He rubbed his cheek lethargically, yawning while doing so.
"Don't play dumb Tom. You know very well that you deserved that."
He didn't plan it but as soon as she said those words the walls that he had begun to build in his mind crumbled at the edges as a memory of Harold saying the exact same thing found itself at the forefront of his mind. He froze for a second as fear gripped his heart in an iron fist but he forcefully shook it off, disgusted at his moment of weakness.
"What are you moaning about now?" He demanded, rubbing his eyes once more for show and letting his eyebrows crease in confusion.
"You know very well what I'm talking about Tom! How could you do that to him?" She demanded, hands on hips and spitting fury.
"Do what Granger? And to whom might I add?" He demanded, propping himself up on his pillows and glaring at her.
"You can't just go around slapping people Granger. In case you hadn't noticed it's not called good manners."
He watched as her delicately shaped eyebrow rose and her chocolate brown eyes narrowed in distaste.
"Nor is it called good manners to curse a man who has done nothing to deserve a painful death."
"Curse? What in Merlin's name are you talking about Granger? I haven't done anything! I don't even know who you're talking about!" He exclaimed, now yelling in both confusion and anger, mentally applauding his acting skills.
"Oh, so it's just a coincidence that it's the bloke who you were trying to hex before for bullying you?" She insisted, her voice becoming shriller with every word spoken.
"Who? Greengrass? Are you serious? Excellent!" He really was brilliant at this whole acting business he had to admit.
"Who did it? I need to send them some flowers!" He was shocked to say the least when her hand swung around and collided with his left eye in a punch.
"What the hell mudblood!" He yelled, covering his eye and glaring mutinously at her with the other.
"What is your problem Tom?" She screeched, her voice escalating an octave.
"W-What's going on?" Their heads turned as one as Malfoy groggily got up, glaring at the two of them in his sleep-filled state.
"Nothing Malfoy, go back to bed." She hissed before turning back to Tom, her anger now in check.
"I hope you're happy Tom. I hope you feel real proud at what you've done."
His bemused expression was the last she saw as she turned on her heel and marched away.
"Granger," He called out just before she reached the door.
"What?" She whispered venomously.
"Did you say he was going to die?" He asked, his face an innocent mask of confusion.
"Yes," She whispered to watch in suspicion as his lips tugged infinitesimally at the corners.
"A shame no one knows a cure," He whispered mockingly before falling back onto his pillows and pulling the curtains shut.
She stayed there for what seemed like an age before leaving, her mind in turmoil over what had just passed.
It was only when she reached her own dorm that she remembered her own tired state and flopped down onto her bed without a second thought, her mind instantly falling asleep and wiping away everything for the time being.
The Great Hall was as loud as every other morning, with the students bustling around and yelling over the tables to be heard. Their laughter and smiles filled the air with something akin to peace but she walked past them, immune to their joy, head lowered in weariness and her heart heavy with the events of last night.
She blatantly ignored Tom who sat there chatting with Malfoy and moved to sit beside Elaine who looked at her confused before pointedly nodding towards Tom.
She shrugged in return and ate her breakfast, a tear prickling her eye.
She thought she had escaped this at least for a few more years. Clearly she was wrong. She would never escape death and the war no matter what. Sighing into her porridge she couldn't help but blame herself. She was sent here to change Tom, to show him the light so to speak, but here he was, a tiny eleven-year old who had just murdered a student. Well, almost, she thought.
Grabbing her book bag she threw it onto her shoulder as an idea struck her and she was about to go get up to see Dumbledore but was stopped as Dippet stood and demanded the attention of the students.
"This morning I was made aware of some very disturbing news," He murmured, head bowed in grief. It was as if someone had cast a silencio on the students as suddenly everyone stopped talking, forks stopped scraping against plates and even the teachers looked up surprised, holding their breaths.
"Last night a student was fatally attacked."
The silence that existed was pierced into shards as friends looked for friends and brothers looked for sisters.
"He has been sent to St. Mungo's," Dippet continued, eyeing the students sadly.
"I have been told he won't survive the week." A few first year Hufflepuffs began to sob but no cry was as excruciating as Mary's as she had finally noticed that Raven was no where to be seen.
"No! NO! Tell me it's not him!" She demanded, begging Dippet to disagree with her but he didn't, looking away as she screamed his name in anguish, wrestling past her friends who tried to comfort her and running away from the Great Hall in tears.
"How pathetic." She turned around at Malfoy's comment, enraged at his behaviour.
She was about to speak her mind when Dippet cleared his throat uncomfortably before continuing.
"If anyone knows anything about the events that transpired last night I implore you to step forward."
When no one did he sighed heavily into his hands, his thoughts divided.
"Then I ask you to take extra precautions when walking the corridors."
"Tom." He looked up bewildered to find Granger standing before him, her eyes swimming orbs of peace.
He raised an eyebrow at her; she hadn't talked to him the entire day and he couldn't help but wonder what had changed.
"Can you come with me?" She asked just as calmly, her eyes beseeching him to follow her.
He didn't know why but he didn't say no, standing from his chair by the fire and following her out of the common room and into the darkening corridors of Hogwarts.
"Granger?" He asked but she only shook her head in response, grabbing his hand and leading him outside towards the courtyard.
Again, he didn't know why but he let her, tolerating her hand and letting her lead him to Merlin knows where.
They stopped just before an archway and she turned to him, her face unreadable, before pointing towards the far end of the courtyard where he saw that idiot of a girl Mary sitting by herself in the windy weather, her shoulders shaking in what was obviously suppressed sobs.
"Pft." Tom turned around to Hermione sneering. Somehow he had expected something more…meaningful.
"Tom. Look again." Her eyes never wavered from his but he couldn't stop his eyes from rolling in annoyance and boredom. Looking back around he found the same scene as before and again snorted in amusement.
"She's pathetic," He murmured, echoing Malfoy's words from before.
"No. She's not," Hermione replied and once more asked him to look back at her.
"Granger…" He growled, his voice bordering threatening.
"Tom. Please." He must have been in a merciful mood because there was no other reason for him to listen to Granger…again.
"Just…look closely Tom and tell me what you see."
He mentally snorted at Hermione's idiocy but did as she said nonetheless.
"I see a girl crying pathetically over a man who is just as pathetic as she is."
He froze as a hand slowly entwined with his.
He tried to pull back but she held it firmly in her grasp. "Look again," She whispered.
He gulped before turning back once more to the sniveling girl a few meters away, trying to think of something that would get Hermione off his back.
"She's sad." He stated the obvious, the tiniest hint of contempt lacing his voice.
Hermione sighed in defeat at his obvious lack of remorse.
"I see a girl who's about to lose something precious. A girl who would give her life if she could to save the man she loves."
"Stop being so melodramatic Granger. She's only sixteen."
She stepped in front of him and stared him down.
"You would be surprised what people can do when they truly love another."
He snorted again before turning back round to head back to the castle.
"That's why you all should have been sorted into Hufflepuff. You're all just a big bunch of pansies."
"You know Tom," She called after him, walking calmly behind him. "I once knew a woman. A mother." He had stopped walking, his head trained forward but she could see his hands balled into fists at his sides.
Walking up behind him she gently laid her hand on his shoulder only for it to be vehemently shaken off but he didn't start walking again, frozen as he was.
"She loved her son so much that when a man tried to kill him she sacrificed herself, refusing to stand aside."
"How…touching," He sneered but she ignored it, continuing with her story.
"Yes, it was. Her love was so fierce and true that when the man tried to kill the child, he couldn't. It destroyed him instead."
Tom scoffed at this.
"That's impossible Granger."
"No. It's not." She countered.
"Love is powerful Tom. It makes us stronger. Stronger than what anything else could ever make us."
He rolled his eyes and continued to walk having lost his interest in the subject.
"She doesn't deserve this Tom and nor does he, but remember this Tom. They are no weaker because of it."
She watched him walk back to the castle sadly, only praying that she had struck a chord.
'I can't believe she got me to move just to hear that rubbish,' he thought, scoffing at her silliness.
'Ignore her,' he told himself firmly. 'Just focus on what you need to do,' and with that he walked off to the library, his mind already pushing back everything she said to the 'useless' corner of his mind.
She hadn't had a good nights rest that was for sure. Her chin lay propped on her hand as she stared vacantly at Professor Merrythought as she demonstrated the wand movements required for that day's lesson.
Her mind had refused to shut down yesterday, leaving her restless and annoyed. Tom wasn't helping either as he perfectly copied Merrythought's wand movements before smiling smugly down at her.
"My my my, I never thought I'd see the day where Hermione Granger refused to participate in class."
Glaring dully at him she turned her head so that she wouldn't have to see him although that did little to nothing as her mind began to replay the events of the night before the last, something it had loved doing recently when she was trying to fall asleep.
The class wore on with Hermione barely concentrating, soothing her guilty conscious by reminding herself that she'd already lived through this lesson before.
What she couldn't sooth though was her mind which simply refused to sit still and behave.
"Oh for Merlin's sake!" She hissed, burying her head in her arms.
"Bee in your bonnet Granger?" She heard Tom whisper but she refused to deign him with an answer.
"Shame. I would hate to see this blatant disregard for schooling become a regular thing."
She froze.
It…it wasn't possible.
Was it?
Her head whipped back round to stare at him, eyes widened with hope and incredulity, all signs of sleepiness gone.
"Granger?"
"There's a cure…" She whispered and it was his turn now for his eyes to widen in surprise and…was that fear?
"But why would you find a cure? How could you find a cure? You're only eleven." She murmured before shaking her head as if that had been a ridiculous question.
Standing up she hurriedly gathered her things into her bag and strode as fast as she could towards the still lecturing teacher.
"Professor, I'm sorry but I feel sick. Could I be excused for the lesson?"
Professor Merrythought stared dumbly at her before gesturing towards the door.
"Of course Miss Granger. You are excused."
She could barely restrain the smile that promised to break free so before it did she nodded before hastily exiting the room.
Once out of sight she sprinted down the corridor, her heart beating a mile per second.
There was only one man who could help her.
Dumbledore.