Chapter Eight: Walburga

"Tom Riddle, what do you think you're doing?" Hermione asked hotly when Tom stopped in the doorway and stood so she couldn't get out of the classroom. This activity also blocked the other students' escape, but none of them would dare say a word about it.

"Just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done," he answered innocently. "You have Professor Slughorn eating out of the palm of your hand. You don't think you laid on the kissing up a bit too thick?"

"Kissing up?"

"Yeah, you know, as in always being the first to answer every question, and in a little know-it-all voice, too," he said. "Sluggy loved every minute of it."

Hermione sucked back the stinging retort she'd been about to utter, and said instead, "Do you think that's original? 'Know-it-all' is what everyone called me back home."

"I suppose you wouldn't even consider the idea of allowing me to answer a few questions next time?" Tom inquired, still trying to appear unruffled.

"Would you stop blocking the door already, Riddle?" Abraxas finally complained. "Some of us have classes to get to, if you don't mind."

"And what if I do mind, Malfoy?" Tom inquired, the hint of a scowl turning down the corners of his lips. But then he stepped out into the hallway, taking Hermione's hand to bring her along with him. "Pushy git. If I had all his money, I could afford to be that pushy."

"Not jealous of Malfoy, are you, Tom?" Hermione inquired sweetly.

He squeezed her hand as he asked, "Should I be?"

Hermione blushed, well aware he wasn't referring to what had just happened, but rather he interest in the wizard himself.

"Of course not," she said as she looked down at their joined hands.

"Good," he answered as they came to the door Hermione needed. "I'll see you after class."

Without warning, Tom swooped in and kissed Hermione before he let her go and moved on again.

"See you later," she answered as she watched him go. Then she turned and walked into the classroom.

"What was that little display?" scoffed a girl she sat next to.

"What display?" Hermione asked, and then it dawned on her. "Oh, you mean Tom? I don't know, I had no idea what he was going to do."

"You looked as though he'd done it before," she commented. Hermione took in her dark blonde hair and green eyes, and the sultry pout on her lips. She hated her immediately.

"Why do you care?" she wanted to know. This girl was starting to get on her nerves. She wished she could hex her just so she would shut up.

"I intend to have him for myself," she preened.

"And just who do you think you are, that you can tell me who to kiss?" Hermione growled under her breath as the teacher came to the front of the room.

"I'm Walburga," she answered. "Walburga Black. My friends call me Wally. But you can call me Miss Black."

"No problem, Black," she answered. "I met your cousin the other day, you know."

"Yes, so I've heard," she sneered. "She told me Tom brought you along for dinner and you kept him all to yourself. I never would have let you get away with it if I had been there."

"And did she also tell you that I said she needed to back off?" Hermione asked sweetly.

"You must be Miss Granger," said the stout woman at the head of the class. "I'll let you get away with it once, since you're new here, but in future I'll expect you to be seated and be silent when you enter my class. Would you please stand up and tell the class about yourself?"

With a blush, Hermione got to her feet. "Hello everyone, I'm Hermione Granger, and I've been schooled at home up until now, so as you can tell, I don't know all the rules around here. I do apologize for my oversight, Professor Tidwell. It won't happen again. Thank you."

And with that, she sat down again.

"Miss Granger is rather modest about her accomplishments, I see," Professor Tidwell said dryly. "However, I have it on good authority that she passed her N.E.W.T. testing with the highest marks this year. That's very good for a 'home-schooled' witch, I must say."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione answered, all the while wishing she would move on to the topic for the day and get on with it. She felt a bit uncomfortable being the main topic of discussion, and she'd rather hit the books.

"Well then, class, as most of you know, we are in the middle of studying magical theory-how and why spells work the way they do, that sort of thing," she said. "So, I'd like you all to turn in your books to chapter five, The Theory of Amulet and Talisman Creation."

Hermione perked up at this. She had been looking forward to this particular topic since she'd first begun school at age eleven. She could just imagine the kinds of things she'd make with such knowledge. Fleetingly, she wondered if horcrux creation would be mentioned, but she doubted it. Tom had discovered the book on that topic in the forbidden section.

As she sat absorbing the lesson like a sponge, she completely forgot that the vindictive Walburga was still fuming over the kiss Tom had given her earlier. Suddenly, her ink pot felt excessively hot, and she looked up sharply to see the girl beside her pretending ignorance even as she tried to hide her smirk.

"Oh, that's really mature," she whispered irritably. "I outgrew that kind of behavior by the time I was four."

"I'd like to see you finish taking notes now," she sneered.

Remembering the ink she'd gotten from the Headmaster, she brought out that pot and uncorked it, using that ink to continue writing. With a scowl, Walburga tried to hex that ink as well, and instead a glob of it floated up and splattered right between her eyes.

Trying not to laugh, Hermione commented, "Now maybe you should get to work, Wall-eye, and stop pestering me."

"Oh!" she growled fiercely, wiping at the mark on her face. It would not wipe away, and she sprang out of her seat and out the door without another word. Hermione glanced up at the Professor, and that woman gave her a nod of approval before turning back to her work.

With a smile, Hermione did the same.