I know this took forever, but life and laziness happened. Also, Harry Potter does not belong to me.
Enjoy!
Hermione stifled a groan and turned to the other side of the bed, making sure to hug her pillow on the way. As far as she knew she was going to have a very pleasant morning sleeping in.
Or maybe not.
"Hermione, are you awake?", someone opened the drapes on her bed, allowing some light to fill her eyes. After a few seconds of squinting and hugging her pillow, Hermione was greeted by the sight of her roommate: Minerva Mcgonagall.
"I was hoping on sleeping a little more today", Minerva chuckled after listening to Hermione's response.
"Come on get dressed, breakfast doesn't last forever", Hermione felt like scowling at her new friend, but decided against so. So far Minerva has been very amiable and was proving to be a good friend. Out of all the Gryffindor Seventh Years she was the first one to greet Hermione and since then, both girls have been inseparable.
Hermione, at last, stood up from her bed and initiated her morning ritual, which consisted on making her bed, showering, brushing her teeth, getting dressed, and making her hair look like actual hair. After making herself look presentable, Hermione walked towards the Common room and saw Minerva waiting for her. Without thinking about it twice, the duo made their way towards the Great Hall.
As always, Hermione was glaring daggers at Tom Riddle. Well, maybe not always, for she has only been at this time for a week. This was the newest addition to her morning ritual: glaring at Riddle during breakfast. The more she looked at him the more she despised him. He was always looking so composed, and even Hermione had to admit, so handsome. At every single meal, dozens of girls were sighing over him. It didn't matter their house, their appearance, intellect-or lack thereof-, or year, because even First Years were staring dreamily at him. If Hermione didn't know about Tom Riddle being Voldemort, she would be another clump of hormones.
Tom Riddle somehow managed to look regal at every moment, even when grabbing a napkin he looked like aristocracy. His appearance was immaculate, from his perfectly combed hair to his pressed uniform. Oh, and his skin looked like polished marble, so smooth and lustrous tempting Hermione to pass her fingers over it…
Yep, Hermione had tons of reasons to glare at Tom Riddle every morning.
"Um, Hermione, what are you glaring at?" Hermione stopped glaring only to be faced with the confused eyes of one Charlus Potter.
"Can't you see that that's her face? Tsk tsk Charlus, you should know better", great, now Edmund Jordan was making fun of her. Again.
"Edmund, leave poor Hermione alone, and Charlus, she is glaring at Riddle", inquired Minerva as passive as ever. Now, both Edmund and Charlus were staring at her as if she was some sort of freak show.
"Wait, so you were just glaring at Riddle?", said Charlus while pointing a finger at her and sporting an utmost curiosity.
"Are you sure you are a girl?" it would be an understatement to say that Edmund Jordan lacks the smallest knack of sensibility.
"But why would you glare at Riddle? He is not my favorite person either, but I don't see a reason…"
"Leave it alone Charlus, she won't tell me either", interrupted Mcgonagall without sparing both boys a glance. After that, they ate their breakfast in silence until it was time to go to Potions.
Later that day, after a not so fascinating Potions class with Slughorn, Hermione and her companions were in the midst of Charms class. As in the future, Charms proved to be a very enjoyable class. Professor Isais Durret made sure that his classes were a balanced mixture between dynamism and theory. Said professor was looking very very pleased when both Hermione and Tom raised their hands at the same time. Hermione could swear that every time they did that he made a mental "Eeny meenie miny moe" in order to pick one of them. Much to Riddle´s dismay Charms was not the only class where both of them felt like answering every single question.
Since Hermione Callhome arrived he was forced to share the professors' attention, at first it was amusing but now it was irritating. He was supposed to be the smartest. To make matters worse he had every single class with the lion-maned witch, except for Divination. Riddle was growing tired of seeing Callhome's face all the time, and when Hermione Callhome was not there, an annoying female had to make sure to be there. His life couldn't be worse.
Even though Hermione enjoyed competing with Tom Riddle, the consequences of her actions were very annoying. A quick glance at Walburga Black and Riddle´s groupies reminded her of that. She knew that Tom Riddle´s fangirls were passionate and brainless individuals, but to glare at her every second of the day? Oh, and she was still mad at Walburga for threatening her a week ago.
Hermione was walking on the hallways on her way to Transfiguration when she spotted a very livid snotty, pale, and black-haired girl blocking her way.
"What do you think you are playing at?" yelled the livid girl. Said girl walked towards Hermione in an intimidating manner and gave her a cold glare.
"Excuse me?" although Hermione was already angry at the black-haired witch she tried to be polite.
"You heard me wench!" for some reason the yelling sounded quite familiar…
"I'm sorry" to be honest Hermione was not sorry at all, the tart reminded her a lot of Lavender Brown" but I don't know what you are talking about"
"You think you are so smart, don't you? Answering all questions and making poor Tom look bad" Hermione was very tempted to scoff at the black-haired tart, was she for real? What upset Hermione the most was that this tart had the nerve to talk to her like that.
"To begin with whether or not I answer questions in class is none of your business. Secondly, if Tom Riddle gets upset over something as trivial as this then he should get his head checked up" if something the black-haired Brown looked angrier as she began to point at Hermione with a finger that resembled a claw.
"You, you…" the girl was fuming so much that she couldn't even talk.
"What about me?"said Hermione smirking.
"…you stuck up…" tried the Brown look-alike.
"I've been told worse" the black-haired girl just replied with a look of indignation.
"Now, if you must I have to head to class, I'm already running late"
Later that day Hermione learned that the black-haired dolt was Walburga Black.
Hermione briefly wondered how Walburga black and her companions managed to get into NEWT level charms; but she had to get out of her musings when the class ended. As usual she got to Minerva's side and struck a conversation with her.
"Have you noticed that Black is scowling at you" Hermione just shrugged.
"Oh, I know, she's just mad because I am stealing Riddle's spotlight" Minerva chuckled and shook her head a little.
"She cannot help it, she practically worships Riddle"
"But that does not give her a reason to threaten me" muttered Hermione angrily.
"I still can't understand why you dislike Riddle so much" Hermione sighed, she couldn't really explain her dislike for him. It was suspicious enough that she didn't drool when she saw him for the first time (well, just a little).
"He is just insufferable" replied Hermione purposely using the adjective which was used to describe her for many years.
"Are you sure that insufferable is the best word to describe him?"
"Yes" said Hermione a little bit too aggressively for Minerva's liking. "He parades around Hogwarts as if he owns the place; he always wants to answer every single question thrown in class, oh, and he doesn't stop sucking up to professors as if he was the best student of the generation, ugh, and I am sick of listening to him being all bossy and self-righteous. Did he really have to scold Charlus like that last night? I am not kidding, Riddle has every single Hogwarts rule memorized in that overbearing head of his" if something, Hermione felt angrier after her rant. Meanwhile, Minerva was still trying to figure out the meaning of "sucking up" and "kidding".
"For a second I thought you were describing yourself, Hermione", the wild-haired witch looked utterly gob smacked.
"Oh please, don´t look at me like that. With that attitude of yours it is not surprising that Walburga Black and that devious group of hers dislike you so much" Minerva ignored Hermione and continued walking towards their next class without giving a second glance to Hermione, which stood frozen on her spot on the hallways. Maybe she overdid her rant, but she still couldn´t believe it. Minerva, that traitor…
"Ms. Callhome, you should close your mouth, or else you will end up eating a fly, or worse, a pixie" just perfect, Tom "Who Cares About Him" Riddle was talking to her. Quickly, Hermione closed her mouth and turned to look at her dreaded classmate. Of course, she narrowed her eyes at him for an added effect.
"I heard there was quite the incident in Transfigurations class. Some student came upon the ownership of half a dozen pixies and released them in the middle of class. Ugly mess if you would like to know." Hermione crossed her arms and continued glaring at him.
"I am just warning you because I don't want you to accidentally swallow a pixie while you eloquently express your opinions of me. Have a good day Ms. Callhome" Hermione only had time to look at Riddle's retreating form, the git heard everything! From now on she had to make sure to be accompanied by someone; she didn't want to be attacked unsuspected by a ruthless Riddle. That meant she had to make amends with Minerva.
Meanwhile, Tom Riddle was looking smug ad on the verge of snickering evilly. That would teach that ugly witch not to spout lies about him.
At first he thought that the witch was a relief. Of all the females in Hogwarts she was the first one that didn't undress him with her eyes. He even assessed the thought that perhaps Hermione Callhome was indeed a man, but after remembering that some faceless Hufflepuff tried to rape him last year he quickly dismissed the thought. To add fuel to the fire there was incident where Slughorn got drunk and on one of those club meetings of his and assaulted him ruthlessly. Tom Riddle will never be able to get rid of the emotional scar or look at potions the same way ever again.
The Head Boy shook his head and returned to his normal and healthier train of thought. Hermione Callhome appeared to be a godsent gift at the very beginning, a very ugly godsent gift by the way; but now she was proving to be very annoying. She was always glaring at him: during class, during lunch, in the library, whenever he was attacked by…Scratch that, she always laughed at him when his fangirls attacked him.
Also, she always tried to take the spotlight from him. Merlin, she was worse than him! She even raised her hand during History of Magic, something that not even he bothers to do. She was an oddball indeed. A very annoying oddball that brewed a better potion than him this morning.
Yessss, tonight sounded perfect for payback time, and with the Mcgonagall girl mad at her she was going to be an easy prey.
Finally, after long minutes of walking and evil plotting, Tom Riddle arrived to his next class: Defense Against the Dark Arts. It would be an understatement to say that this was his favorite class, although he would like it more focused on the Dark Arts.
He smoothly made a beeline to his spot, not Callhome´s-nasty witch, she chose to sit there last class- and sat, ready for Professor Merrythought to begin. Just as she was about to open her mouth and start the class, Hermione Callhome enter the classroom in a hurry. Tom scowled; he really hopedthat the witch got attacked by stray pixies.
Merrythought spent the rest of the hour blabbering about the holiness, excuse me, sinfulness of the Unforgivables; a topic that Tom already knew like the back of his hand. It was in classes like this one that Professor Merrythought would rather lecture everyone instead of making the students practice the spells mentioned in class. With the exception of some helpless Hufflepuff, nobody dared to speak in class, making Merrythought's voice be the only sound in the room. Finally, Merrythought dismissed them and Tom made his way to the Great Hall to have lunch. He was rather hungry today.
From the other side of the room, Hermione was fumbling through her stuff and jogged towards Minerva´s side. She really wanted to apologize.
"Hey Minerva" fortunately Minerva decided not to ignore her; still, she didn't look that happy with Hermione.
"errmmm…I just wanted to apologize for lashing out a while ago" said Hermione nervously. Minerva just looked at her and then her face broke into a small smile.
"Apology accepted" Hermione nodded and attempted to have a conversation…until Charlus Potter arrived.
"I don't know about you, but all that talk about the" Charlus pretended to gasp" Unforgivables made me hungry" said Charlus cheerfully, his brown eyes gleaming with mirth.
"Well, it is a topic I would rather avoid" replied Minerva who was looking at her dark-haired friend suspiciously "Why are you so happy anyways?"
"You see, Ms. Dorea Black was frightened at the prospect of hearing about the Unforgivables, so she spent most of the time looking at me seeking comfort" at this Charlus swelled with pride.
"I pity her poor soul" teased Hermione while smirking. Charlus just feigned hurt and looked outraged.
"My my Hermione, are you sure you are a Gryffindor?" then Charlus began to sniff around Hermione´s area "you smell like a Slytherin".
"So nice of you to wait for me" said Edmund Jordan with sarcasm in his voice, a little flustered from running after his friends.
"Always" said Charlus, who prompted to slap his friend on the back as some sort of apology.
"So Charlus, care to tell the crowd what was that with Ms. Dorea Black" Edmund said with a ridiculously big grin on his face.
"Merlin no! "Exclaimed Minerva with fake terror.
"Both of you looked so lovey dovey" kissing sounds followed this statement.
"Oh please, someone make them stop" begged Hermione with a palm on her face.
"I couldn't agree more" it seems that Minerva was starting to get annoyed too.
"If you don't hurry Riddle is going to snatch her from you"
"Riddle" growled Charlus with contempt evident in this voice.
"Please stop it. Edmund, stop teasing Charlus, and Charlus"Minerva turned to look at her friend straight in the eyes" Dorea got over her crush on riddle in Fourth Year" how Minerva managed to control both guys, Hermione will never know. Even with Harry and Ron, her attempts always failed.
After a few more minutes of teasing and bantering they entered the Great Hall… just to be greeted by the sight of Riddle choking on his muffin.
He looked utterly miserable to say the least. His face was pale as ever and his eyes appeared to be bulging out of their sockets. The poor guy was kneeling over the table and was struggling a lot to breath. To make matters worse, Abraxas Malfoy was pounding on Riddle's back in a much panicked attempt to save him; but the Head Boy kept gagging and gasping for breath. Around him the Great Hall was in chaos, a crowd was already assembled surrounding the Slytherin table and girls were crying. But Hermione didn´t see any of that, in her eyes all she could see was the pathetic sight of Tom Riddle choking.
Suddenly, Hermione stopped looking at Riddle but at a poor house elf. The house elf appeared to be dying and suffering so much…the image soon morphed into Dobby struggling to catch his breath, begging with his eyes for somebody to save him. Well, Hermione would not have any of that; she had to be barmy if she was going to allow Dobby to die.
"Dobby! Momma´s going to save you"
"…"
"…"
"Did she just yell Dobby?"
Hurriedly, the witch ran towards Tom Riddle, tears of desperation clouding her sight. But in order to get to him she had to crash and walk into people. It was like the ultimate challenge, broad backs that never wavered, girls that spilled acid from their eyes, random spit laced with food, and Merlin help hear, the stinky stench from Albert Bulstrode and Alan Goyle.
Finally, after pushing a girl that screeched just like Walburga Black Hermione got to Dobby, I mean, Riddle, and in an expertly fashion she stood behind him and surrounded her arms around his torso. If someone could pull a Heimlich's maneuver without years of practice that was Hermione Granger. Using all of her strength and silently praying for Dobby to survive, Hermione pressed Riddle´s stomach. Tom Riddle to say the least, was still suffering.
The Great Hall grew quiet, everyone, professors included, was staring blatantly at Hermione Callhome while she attempted to save Tom Riddle's life. Girls were fuming with jealousy, guys were cringing and twitching, Abraxas Malfoy was taking notes, and McGonagall just ate a pixie.
Tom Riddle began to cough violently and after gagging he spat whatever object was suffocating him. What looked like a chocolate covered ring fell to the floor. Tom Riddle couldn't believe his eyes. He just spat a ring.
Suddenly, thunderous roars and cries of protest-Guess from whom?-flooded the room. Hermione, shocked by the sudden amount of noise, looked around in a very confused manner. Then, she looked in front of her and saw how Riddle turned around and faced her.
Oh no…
Oh no!
Did she just save Tom "He´s not that handsome" Riddle? What's wrong with her? The guy is evil, he has murdered already, he is the owner of two horcruxes, and he is Voldemort!
She doesn't deserve to live. She practically murdered Harry's parents. Maybe she should join the Death Eaters and have tea with Bellatrix Lestrange. Or perhaps she should seduce Riddle and kill him when the opportunity arises, she owes the Wizarding World that much!
But when she saw his face, so pitiful, she was reminded of house elves and Dobby. She cannot help it after all, she has a soft spot for pitiful and miserable creatures. Allowing Riddle to suffer and then die in such manner was the same as allowing Malfoy to kick Dobby, or to allow Snape to bully was one of those things that are unforgivable, but at the same time she just did something horrible to the world by allowing him to live. She couldn't be any more conflicted. So in a very panic stricken manner, Hermione bolted to the door, ignoring the looks of everybody´s faces.
On the other hand, Tom Riddle was surprised. From what he could gather he was choking because for some reason there as a ring on his muffin, and then Abraxas-that idiot, he was going to Crucio him tonight- began to hit him on the back, causing him more pain. But, surprisingly, someone saved his life, and that someone was Hermione Callhome. Maybe Tom Riddle was evil, but today, just today, he didn´t feel that evil. So he decided to dismiss Callhome's big mouth and cease his intentios of attacking her tonight in the hallways. What could he say, he can be nice.
"I knew it! She does like Riddle!" Edmund Jordan intended only his friends to hear, but Walburga Black was a sneaky bitch-I meant witch-, and she heard him.
"Can you believe it, that ugly wench dared to touch Riddle!" yelled Walburga Black. Soon, all the girls in the room began to bash Hermione.
"How dare she? Tom is mine"
"She is so ugly, I hope that Tom is healthy after touching her"
"Gross. I cannot look at Tom anymore without feeling sorry for him"
"Let's kill her"
And those were the nice ones. The other quotes had to be censored due to extremely offensive language and a foreseeable danger to the human intellect.
Minerva McGonagall was extremely annoyed. Her friend did not deserve this kind of bashing for saving someone else's life, why weren't the professors doing anything? Something sparkled in her line of sight and Minerva picked it. So it was a ring what was choking Riddle.
"Don't touch it! If someone will marry Tom that will be me!"
All heads turned to look at the source of the noise: Petronila Burg, a pimply chubby girl with pigtails.
"Hey, wasn't Tom Riddle choking because he swallowed that ring" Charlus Potter sometimes was the best. He made sure to shout the stamen with the slowest and loudest voice Minerva has ever heard. He obviously wanted the raging fangirls to bash the actual source of Riddle's suffering.
"Petronila, is that your ring?" Walburga "Screching" Black stepped forward, eyeing the girl as if she was the dirtiest of dirt.
"You attempted against Tom's life. That's unforgivable!"
"I didn't want to kill him, I just wanted him to marry me. Walburga, please, I love him. I needed to-"
"I don't give a mudblood! Chapter seven, paragraph twenty-four, line nine of the " Worship Tom Riddle Guide" : Even if it goes against one's wishes or moral principles, one must never act in a manner that endangers Tom Riddle. In the circumstance that this occurs, the culprit must be excommunicated from the L.U.S.T community"
"What! No, please, I beg of you!" the girl, Petronila, begged, fat tears rolling. Walburga just smirked cruelly and left the scene.
"Students, assemble yourselves" Now that Mr. Riddle is safe, you can proceed with lunch."
Minerva had the nerve to roll her eyes. It took Dippet an eternity to create order. Maybe he was enjoying the scene or maybe he was too enthralled with his turkey. Whatever had happened, it seemed forgotten, except for the crying girl eating in the corner.