AN at the end of the chapter.

Hermione awoke the next morning to find the girl's dormitory completely empty. She checked her watch and found that she had slept in. It was now almost eight o'clock. She threw an array of books and parchment into her bag, got dressed, and attempted to brush her hair before leaving.

She was forced to skip breakfast and hurry along to her first class that day, Charms. She was a few minutes late, but Professor Flitwick wasn't upset with her in the slightest. She quickly took a seat and listened intently on his explanation of the day's lesson.

Around noon, she found herself being carried by a current of students to the Great Hall. The smell of food perked her up a bit, and she eagerly made her way to the Gryffindor table. She heaped some food onto her plate and began to ponder while she ate.

Tom Riddle remained a mystery. Hermione began to make a mental list of the things she knew about him. She knew that he was not a pureblood. She knew that he was in Slytherin, and although he had shown her nothing but kindness, she couldn't avoid the stereotype that was associate with his house. He likes books and riding trains around London. Is that supposed to help me understand?

She concluded that she hardly understood or knew Mr. Riddle. She understood even less about his ability to live through the journal. She was suddenly frustrated by the lack of information that she was able to dig up on the method of possessing the journal.

She could feel a knot of pain collecting inside her skull and she gently massaged her temples with her finger tips. She then remembered what had happened in the dream last night. She had been standing in the second floor corridor near the girl's restroom. Tom had appeared out of nowhere shouting at her to run and not look back…there was something about…

A basilisk.

Hermione vaguely recalled reading about such a creature. Supposedly a large serpent-like monster. Very keen sense of smell and hearing.

One look could kill you..

So that's why Tom warned her not to look back. If she had made eye contact with the beast she would have died. Or would she? It was only a memory, right?

Hermione decided that her best option would be to spend the weekend researching basilisks, reasons for one being in the castle, and ways that Tom could possess the journal like that.

x~x~x~x~x~x

Hermione survived the week and Tom hadn't reappeared since the incident with the basilisk. She found herself sleeping until her alarm woke her up. Instead of waking up and feeling weighted down by drowsiness, she felt alive and ready to face the day.

She awoke on Saturday, feeling refreshed. She decided to write a quick letter to Harry and Ron before leaving for the library to continue her research. She pulled out a small piece of parchment and a quill from her bag and sat cross legged on her bed. She paused for a moment with her quill poised above the parchment. She decided that she was going to send one letter to Harry and the other to Ron.

Harry,

Are you okay? Were the healers able to take care of the burn for you? I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying yourself. It's great that you have found something specific that you enjoy doing. I'm still a little torn. I'm not sure if I want to work for the ministry after all the corruption that happened during the war.

So does this mean you're going to be off recapturing the remaining death eaters soon? Do be careful.

I do find joy in the little things, but they're getting quite bland. I might just hop on a plane and see the world a bit after I graduate. You know, have a little adventure of my own.

I would sure hope plans for the Burrow are still on. I miss you all so much! If Mr. and Mrs. Weasly are fine with having me over, then I'll be over.

Hermione

She crawled across the mattress to her bedside table. She opened the small drawer and dug around for a pair of envelopes. She tucked Harry's letter into one of them, addressed it, and began to work on Ron's.

Ronald,

Your letter writing skills don't seem to have improved much. I think you should file a complaint. The food you described seems to be lacking in essential nutrients and is in no way fit to be fed to the ministry's future law enforcement!

Everything is going well. Stop, I'm not always fantastic. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately.

Hermione paused. She was hesitant to bring up the journal. She didn't want Ron or Harry to get flustered over something so simple as stationary. She scribbled a half thought out excuse.

You know, NEWT level classes and such. It's reasonably more difficult than sixth year. Maybe it's a little difficult to get back into the 'groove' of things.

I mentioned in Harry's letter, that if your mother is okay with having me over for Christmas I'd be pleased to join everyone. Could one of you ask her? I don't want to seem like I'm inviting myself.

Hemione

Hermione folded Ron's letter and placed it in the envelope. She knew that she was always welcome at the Burrow, but she didn't want to seem rude in assuming. She quickly dressed, grabbed her envelopes and her bag and departed for the owlery.

x~x~x~x~x

The owlery had a very distinct smell and it over came Hermione as she attempted to tie her letters to the foot of an extremely squirmy barn owl. She put a hand over her nose and mouth to shield her orifices from the stench. The owl took the opportunity to wriggle from her hand and soar into the rafters.

"Fine!" Hermione huffed, her hand still covering half her face. She made her way over to a more docile breed of barn owl. This one stared at her dully as she secured both letters to its foot. She pulled back and expected the bird to take flight. Instead it cocked it's head as if to say, now what?

"Well go on then," Hermione said, gesturing to the window. The bird looked at her as if it suspected her to be insane and pushed itself from its perch and soared from the open window.

x~x~x~x~x`x~x

That afternoon found Hermione in library, buried behind a tall stack of books. She scanned the ancient volumes for hints of the monstrous creature she had encountered last night. She had found numerous references to it in various books, but none mentioned a Basilisk in Hogwarts.

She was ready to give up a she idly scanned the index of a book of ancient myths of the wizarding world. That's when she saw it. Basilisk.

She turned to the page indicated and began to read.

It is common knowledge that in 990 A.D. Hogwarts was founded by two wizards and two witches: Gordric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They each had very specific motives for founding the school. It was Salazar Slytherin who harbored the most malicious intent. He wished to share the gift of magic only with those of the purest of blood (pure blood wizards as opposed to muggle born children).

This displeased the other founders and they each grew to distrust and dislike Slyterhin. A year prior to Slytherin's departure, he completed the construction of a large chamber, hidden somewhere in the castle. Inside the chamber he placed a basilisk. The reason for the beast was to purify the school by ridding it of all muggle born children.

No one has ever seen the chamber (apart from Salazar himself), and it has yet to be found.

Hermione reread the passage a few more times. But it was found! Someone found it and figured out how to open it. Then they set the basilisk on Tom.

To purify the Slytherin house…

Hermione almost shuddered. She had got what she came for. She replaced the books back to their crevices in the shelves, grabbed her bag, and left the library.

x~x~x~x~x~x

She was ready to sleep. Almost ready. She eyed the journal uneasily. She felt a lot more refreshed when she slept without it. She was curious though.

What was Tom up to?

She reasoned for herself for a while before finally deciding to leave the journal on her bedside table. She slid the curtains shut and fell back into her pillows. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she felt sleep engulf her almost immediately.

x~x~x~x~x~x

She walked along between shelves of books. Light was filtering in from the high glass windows and she could see dust faintly swirling in it. She was in the Hogwart's library. But how?

Then she spotted him. The familiar handsome boy with the well kept mass of curly dark hair. Only this time, he was asleep. He had dozed off and his head was cradled in the pages of a thick text book.

Probably studying for his N.E., Hermione thought tenderly. Then she realized that she had not fallen asleep with the journal near her. How was all of this possible?

She walked over to him with plans of interrogation. Hermione shook his shoulder gently and he sat up quickly. His eyes met hers for a spit second before he rubbed them drowsily.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"I've been a little busy," Hermione said half truthfully.

Tom laughed, "Well so have I." He gestured to the parchment and text books laid out in front of him. "I mean, I probably could pass without studying, but…I'm not sure. I'm worried that I'll forget a really important fact or spell or something right as I'm taking the test."

"You get test anxiety?" Hermione asked. His cool demeanor was a little misleading. He was the last person she would expect to lose control over a test.

He nodded, "Yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

"What am I doing here?" Hermione asked suddenly.

Tom looked at her with a slightly disappointed facial expression. Something flashed in his eyes and his lips pressed together. "Hermione did you just come here tonight to ask questions?" he asked.

"Well, I mean, I'm a little curious as to how all this is happening Tom," Hermione said. She sounded a little bit more irritated than she had meant to.

"If I'm just a curiosity to you, Hermione, please stop bothering to visit me," he said cooly.

"Now that's not what I meant at all," Hermione replied defensively.

Tom clenched his fists and Hermione could see the joints beneath his already pale skin. His eyes bore into her and for a second she was sure that he was going to throw a fist into her face.

But he didn't. The next second he was calm and clenching and unclenching his fists to stretch his hands. "My apologies, Hermione. I've just been under a lot of stress."

Hermione exhaled, quite unaware that she had been holding her breath. "Okay, I'll stop asking you questions," she said quietly.

"It's just," Tom said. He looked as though he was physically searching for the proper words to use, "I don't like to be reminded that I'm dead and your questions are really good at reminding me that I am. I just want to feel alive Hermione. That's all."

"I think that's what we all want," Hermione said smiling.

They sat and talked a bit about everything from school to the opinions and actions of the minister of magic. Hermione was mortified to learn that witches did not have as many rights as wizards. (It was a lot like muggle society during this time) she noted to herself.

Tom and Hermione found themselves talking about Slughorn, a professor they both had in common. They agreed that he was a phenomenal teacher, but they were both made extremely uncomfortable by his little parties.

"How are they in your time?" Tom asked. He was leaning back in his chair while Hermione perched on the edge of the desk in front of him.

"Awful. This one time in my sixth year, I took a boy, well I can't even say boy seeing as he was so vile."

Tom frowned, "What did he do to you?"

"It was all rather harmless. I managed to avoid him for nearly the entire night," Hermione gloated.

Tom relaxed and a smile played at the corner of his lips. "I'll show you one of his parties tomorrow night," he said decidedly.

Hermione bit her lower lip. It was…like a date. But of course it wasn't. How preposterous. He was dead. Has been dead for a while.

"You're uneasy," he observed, "Why?"

She tried to find an answer to his question. Suddenly her thoughts were scrambling from her. She tried to focus just one of them and it squirmed like the barn owl from the owlery earlier that day. She scanned his face, he looked somewhat disappointed. She suddenly became acutely aware of the proximity of their legs. Almost close enough for contact.

Hermione. What are you doing? she mentally shook herself. For a moment everything was clear. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have already. Hell, he had even saved her life, sort of.

She smiled, "I dunno, it's nothing. I was just being absurd. Of course I'll join you tomorrow night."

He grinned. "Fantastic. I look forward to seeing you."

Before Hermione could answer, the room began to warp, and she recognized the signs of the dream terminating.

All of you are such interested readers, but I apologize because I can't answer any of your fabulous questions without giving away the plot.

Sherlockian: Oh my God! I hadn't even realized the Sherlock reference until you brought it up! You're so right lakjsdf i need to stop watching reruns :P

I know I said hiatus, I actually have exams and a lot of stuff due this past week and next week. Oops. Oh well. Do you all find that it's easiest to find inspiration when you're supposed to be doing other things?

I'm just plain rambling now