"[He's] not God. Wouldn't have any fun being God. Defying God, that's his idea of a good time."

.

There was tension between the two young men as Billy Stubbs repeatedly turned on Ron's car. Billy would turn it on and look questioningly at them, "What weird noise did you say it was making?"

"It's uh," Harry's fingers tried to tangle their way out of his hair as he thought of a good description of an odd sound.

"Like metal hitting metal," Ron answered.

Billy looked stumped but turned off the car and instead went to the hood of the car to look inside it.

Ron nudged Harry and they both walked closer to Billy. They peeked over his shoulders and mused over all the parts they saw under the hood. "Now I kinda wish we took at least a semester of that auto shop class Hogwarts offered," Ron's voice was very forced, Billy only huffed.

"Say, you went to Hogwarts, did you take that class?" Harry seemed to have an easier time at sounding casual.

"Nope, only spend about a year in Hogwarts. Wasn't for me."

"We met in Hogwarts," Harry motioned between Ron and himself though Billy was focused on the car. "Been best friends ever since. We were inseparable there, us and Hermione. We met her there too. She's like a sister to us." Harry could feel himself rambling, even Ron shot him a look. "Well," there was a planned pause, "she was like a sister to us. You know how it goes, we think we meet the love of our life and we ditch our friends."

Ron only looked down at his nails and pretended to fix a hangnail.

"Doesn't sound like much of a friend, Or sister," Billy's voice was uninterested, He kept inpecting the car.

"Yeah I think her boyfriend- or I guess her fiance," it sounded like a question but Ron continued,, "Is a real piece of-"

"Ahem," Harry interrupted, "Yeah I don't know how she even let Riddle get in her head."

If Harry and Ron hadn't been waiting for even the slightest reaction from Billy, they wouldn't have noticed.

Billy's hands froze over the car, and his back seemed to tense up.

"Tom went to Hogwarts too, before we were even there but we've heard stories. A star student, always well behaved, top of his class!" Harry mocked.

"I don't think anyone believes us when we say there's a different side of him."

Billy didn't say a word, he closed the hood of the car with a slam. If there was nothing wrong with the car then, there might have been now. "Your car is fine," he said curtly. He turned to look at Harry and Ron, his mouth thin and his gaze hard. "If Tom -" he shook his head and stopped. "I haven't seen Riddle in years and I'm not ready for a reunion," his smile was forced and angry. "If he sent you, for whatever reason there could be.. I wouldn't put it past him.." Billy wondered. ",,,But if he didn't, and this is all a coincidence, you were meant to be sent here so I could warn you. Stay away from Riddle. Stay away from the girl, if she's with him now, she's gone. He has a way of changing people."

Harry felt the fear Ron had been trying to tell him about. He was right. Something was very wrong.

"What did he do," Harry's was quiet but anyone could hear the pleading in it.

"He's not a good guy," Billy's anger was gone now, replaced by sympathy. "If you're dealing with him, it's best to distance yourself before it gets worse, because no matter who he says he is now, that's going to change. He's… God, I haven't met anyone as bad as Riddle was."

"You went to school with him, everyone else in his class only say wonders about him."

"He knows who he can scare and who he has to put a mask in front of. I was one he could scare, I never said any of the things he did."

"What did he do?" Harry stressed.

"It's.. not a good memory. We were young at the time, and that's what scares me the most. What he was capable of at that age… He made us go into a cave. No one could hear, it was right by the pier, but it was dark and the waves were loud..I don't know how anyone would live with that." Billy stepped around Harry and Ron, shaking his head. "Your car is fine," he repeated, "I- I have other - You - You should go-" Billy made it only a couple feet away from the boys when he stopped, not turning around when he said. "Help your friend. Get her away. Riddle isn't… Nothing is beyond Riddle. I saw what he could do. The way he could torture…" Again, Billy only shook his head instead of finishing and kept walking into the small office in his shop.

Ron and Harry didn't try to stop him, they couldn't get themselves to even talk really.

Who was Hermione dealing with? What was she dealing with?

.

"Play with your food, and you give it the opportunity to bite back."
"Oh I'm not playing,"

Hermione was tired.

This was not what she pictured herself becoming. A stay at home, fiance? She gagged at the thought.

It took more effort than Hermione was proud of, but she pushed herself off the bed and dragged her feet into the bathroom. She wasn't sure how long she was in the shower, convincing herself to go out and do something, anything! But at last, she was out, wearing clean clothes, not the new ones Tom picked out for her either, just her plain old comfortable clothes.

"You're up," Tom looked surprised when she made it down the stairs and into the kitchen. He reached over for a hug but Hermione moved away, pretending to look for something in one of the cabinets. It didn't' go unnoticed by Tom, who's jaw hardened. "Not in a good mood are we love?"

"Better than ever Tom."

"Hmm," he lowered his eyes as he followed her movements around the kitchen.

"You weren't here last night," Hermione commented, looking around like the first time she was here. Oh how long that was.

"I got home late, did that upset you?" his steps towards her were soft, carefully planned, it was like watching a nature show. He pushed her damp curls away from her face and smiled, he seemed pleased by the idea of upsetting her. "I was out with a client Hermione, you know how intense some people get."

The words felt like a pinch to Hermione but she only stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I got you something," he said suddenly, as if he had forgotten all about it. He took her hand and led her to his office. It was dark in there, the only light was from the sun seeping through the window blinds. Hermione mildly wondered what time it was.

Tom reached for a small sleek box on his desk and opened it with care. What was inside was a surprise to Hermione.

"I didn't know you like jewelry so much. What does the S stand for?" she reached for the necklace and took it in her hand. It was heavier than she thought it would be.

"It's an old family heirloom. My mother had it, her mother's maiden name was something with an S," Tom didn't seem too interested when he mentioned his grandmother, but he stroked the necklace almost lovingly. It meant something to him, and even Hermione felt touched by that.

She stared at the necklace, trying to find the beauty Tom was looking at, when she saw the smallest speck of something on the velvet case. "What's that?" Hermione lightly touched the spot, it was like something had splattered over the case. It had to be something thick.

"The story is grandfather use to love remodeling, had a red room that his wife just hated. Maybe paint fell over some things."

Hermione looked at Tom and wondered when he started getting so bad at lying. It was like he wanted her to know.

He only smiled back, his eyes glowing when he took the necklace from the case and stepped behind her. He pushed her hair aside gently. Hermione remembered how much she loved his touch. Now, the goosebumps on her skin didn't feel great. He kissed her bare neck before he placed the necklace on her.

All the energy she woke up with seemed to instantly begin to drain. The necklace was cold against her skin, and too heavy for someone to actually wear.

She was being dragged down again. She couldn't let herself feel like that.

"I made plans to go out today," her voice felt too loud. She ignored his less than happy expression and excused herself from the room, "I should call Cissa and see if she's ready."