Chapter 23: Muggles
Walking alongside the thames bank Hermione drank in the site of muggle London. There were no crowds, the destruction caused by the Blitz lingered on winding through the streets. From a distance St. Pauls Cathedral stood undamaged surrounded by blackened buildings and rubble. It was a wonder the theatre was up and running. As she neared the theatre she heard laughter and music. The sound of life. Hermione breathed deeply and allowed a smile to touch her eyes. The resilience of the human race against greater evils. That day Hermione thought to reevaluate her life. Tom Riddle was her charge. She had prevented him from murdering his father and that was an achievement that could not be negated by how many horcruxes he'd continue to create. The cold killing of kin, of flesh and blood, had been prevented. Surely his soul was somewhat salvageable? Now it felt her purpose was coming to an end. There was only so much she could do to reform a man destined for creating great evil. It was out of her hands. She felt lost. The hatred was ingrained in him. Could she perhaps forget and live her own life now, free from the hauntings of a war that may never happen? Have a family, a career, a life worth living? Could she perhaps bury her friends in the past? She knew she had to try. If for nothing else, for her sanity.
"Prince, Hermione Prince" Hermione said at the box office. The lady handed her two tickets and called for the next customer. She turned and saw a tall handsome boy looking uncomfortably down at her.
"Riddle!" She gasped.
"I promised." Riddle said tensely. "Muggles, everywhere"
"Goodness sake" Hermione sighed as she walked to the doors leading outside to the courtyard. "They aren't harming you!"
"In principle" Riddle muttered.
"Lets get you a drink" Hermione patted his arm and ordered a bottle of red wine.
"You're not a half-blood are you?" Riddle looked suspiciously at her.
"My parentage is none of your concern, though it is rich that you speak to me in that manner when we both know who your father is and where you were brought up" Hermione scolded him lightly.
"But I am the heir of Slytherin" Riddle boasted with good humour.
Hermione smiled and looked at him a while.
"How can you be so amiable and charming one night and the stuff of nightmares the next?"
"You mean the stuff of legends" Riddle smirked.
"Riddle… Tell me about these knights of yours." Hermione hesitated a little but was determined she'd hear from the source.
"An extracurricular activity I run." Riddle sipped his wine.
"Where the activities include torturing friends that have failed you?" Hermione asked, exasperated. "Riddle, it sounds more like a cult!"
"I fail to see what business it is of yours" Riddle said dryly.
"Your philosophy is based on the hierarchy of blood supremacy. Yet you yourself are half-blood. You yourself have been to a muggle dinner party and enjoyed the company of those you deem inferior. Here we are at a theatre, a muggle establishment to enjoy muggle entertainment. A common wizarding activity seeing as muggles have accomplished far more in their arts and culture than we have." Hermione ranted. "Yet you continue to look down on them!"
"They are a threat to our kind. I grew up in an orphanage, Hermione and I was branded a freak. I suffered beatings until I was able to teach them a lesson." Riddle was shaking with anger.
"Tom." Hermione gently put her hand to his cheek. "I'm not taking that away from you."
"Hermione." Tom's eyes were glassy with emotion. "I have never allowed anyone to get so close. I hate that I feel for you something far from hate. I cannot be in control and yet I seek your company. It terrifies me."
Hermione only stroked his cheek in response.
"I can't change." Riddle muttered, pouring himself another glass of wine.
Hermione wondered how she could expect him to. If right and wrong was not so ingrained in him and his fluent language power, she'd have to let him go.
The show was about to begin. They had seats in the upper gallery. Hermione had brought honey glazed nuts and happily munched away as she watched the crowds below in the yard.
"Have you ever been to the theatre?" Hermione asked.
"A pantomime, once" Riddle replied tersely. Hermione giggled at the thought.
"Which one?"
"Cinderella"
Hermione almost choked on her nuts as he looked bemusedly at her.
"I'm familiar with reading plays." Riddle continued. "I am no stranger to literature"
"Would you say Shakespeare was beneath you?"
"Yes." Riddle said confidently. "Royalty is in need of court jesters. That is all artists are."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I've always wondered" Hermione started. "Why you have a fascination with violence?" hermione closed her eyes, remembering the detached heads of her friends, the torture she'd suffered and the muggle sports the death eaters had played.
"I am not the only one." Riddle smiled. "We all have an obsession with the perverse. Some are more open to that fact than others."
The show had begun and the lights dimmed. Drums and trumpets sounded and two servants entered to the roaring of the crowds. Hermione smiled contently.
"You enjoyed it!" Hermione teased him later in some bar off the bank later that night. It was grotty but cheap and filled with people smoking and gambling.
"Satisfactory." Riddle narrowed his eyes. "You are on a fruitless endeavour. You cannot change me. Nor I you."
"I think I've started to figure that one out for myself Riddle" Hermione said, sipping her cocktail.
"The tale itself is ludicrous" Riddle snorted. "Who kills themselves for love?"
"Well haven't I struck gold" Hermione rolled her eyes. "I thought we were on a date."
"Would you rather I lied." Riddle's eyes sparkled. "Doted on you. Worshipped and adored you. Satisfy your every whim?"
"Hmm." Hermione smiled.
"Now really." Riddle chuckled. "If you really wanted that man, you'd be here with Black. Not I."
Perhaps there was some truth in the matter.
"Your father wants to go to his country house for Easter. You're invited." Hermione said sharply.
"Must I?" Riddle drawled.
"Yes, you must" Hermione sniffed.
"Are you going?" Riddle asked.
"Yes." Hermione replied. "As is your aunt and Scarlett and their respective partners."
"Wonderful." Riddle said sarcastically. "I hope you realize I play this game for your eyes only. You can't - heal - me. An orphan boy I'll always be."
"The masquerade is illusion to all but the players" Hermione winked at Riddle.
"Not the puppeteer." Riddle retorted.
"Oh please" Hermione scoffed. "If anyone's pulling the strings here it's me."
Riddle grabbed her hand and pulled her up flush up against her. He swept her hair to the side and kissed her gently then baring his teeth and allowing them to glide across her skin. Her heart sped and her eyelids fluttered. Bringing his lips to her ears he whispered "See how I pull at your heart strings Hermione?"
"Right" Hermione breathed. "I think we should be getting back now!"
Riddle chuckled as she stalked out of the bar.
The first few days of the Easter holiday Hermione, Alphard and Abraxas spent together at the back of the library surrounded by piles of books, parchment and quills. NEWT's were two months away and they had three years of studying to revise for. Hermione was close to hyperventilating every time someone mentioned how short a time they had remaining. Her spell work was proficient but she was hesitant on her theory. Of course, what to her was insufficient was thorough in everyone else's book. Still. She had taken additional subjects and expected top marks across the board. She was Hermione Granger. How many times had they boasted that she was the brightest witch of her age? That kind of talk built expectations, built pressure… she had to deliver. The night before the weekend away she passed out in the library in a mixture of exhaustion and hunger. Rosaline had found her and taken her to her quarters to revive her and give her a real talking to.
"I know you have a lot to prove, that you're ambitious and intelligent and a bloody perfectionist but there are certain things you just can not neglect! Food and sleep being two of them!" Rosaline tried not to yell and was tempted to shake some sense into Hermione.
"And you need a break."
"I'm going on a break"
"You aren't taking a single book with you. Three full days of recovery. Good food and company. Fresh air. Go for walks in the country. Read for leisure. Do some stress baking. Drink, dance, laugh!" Rosaline almost begged her.
"Fine!" Hermione gave in, her body weak with exhaustion. Rosaline left her and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Hermione had a small trunk filled with several outfits of Rosaline's choice to her distaste and a few books from Rosaline's bookshelf. Hermione wore cream riding pants, a white blouse and a smart black velvet jacket with gold buttons. Her hair was tied back in a french plait. She looked like she was missing a horse. Riddle walked down the steps of the Entrance Hall dressed in beige trousers, a crisp white shirt and a checkered waistcoat. Hermione sniggered. All he was missing was a riding crop.
"Appropriate for the country madam?" Riddle boomed in an overly pompous manner.
"Quite good sir!" Hermione matched his tone before bursting with laughter. "You had to have a father who owned a townhouse and a country manor."
"I believe the manor is in town and the country house is a mansion" Riddle corrected her.
"Same difference." Hermione linked arms with Riddle and began walking to Hogsmeade. They would apparate to the country house from there. The walk was pleasant. They spoke about revision and concerns for the upcoming exams. Riddle didn't have any apparently. He was studying at a leisurely pace and was confident he'd achieve Outstanding in all classes. Not that he needed proof of his prowess. Hermione snorted at that.
"Look at us." Hermione smiled. "Acting normal". She whispered the word normal. As if it were taboo.
"Yes…" Riddle agreed. "It is disconcerting, isn't it?"
"I think it's… nice"
"Nice?"
"Yes. Pleasant."
"It won't last forever." Riddle warned her. "Our masks may fall away any second. However good the player. His hand cannot remain hidden".
"I know" Hermione said sadly. "But let us pretend for now."
With a loud crack they disapparated to Wiltshire.
A large house stood in the distance. Surrounding the house was acres of greenery and nought else. Woods crept up at the edge of the landscape, up a mountain but that was a long walk away. Hermione could hear nothing but birds and the odd horse or cow. She felt like she'd entered a Jane Austen novel and happily skipped to the house letting Riddle bring up her trunk.
"Diana!" Hermione ran over to a bloated Diana who was sitting on a swing with a book in hand.
"Darling!" Diana hugged Hermione closely before holding out her arms for her nephew. "Tom"
Tom hugged her stiffly but Diana was not swayed. She was radiant. Her cheeks rosy and her hair loosely pinned in a bun. A tight sundress showcased her slight bump.
"The boys are inside with Scarlett." Diana ushered them in. "They're going riding before lunch if you'd like to join them. Scarlett and I are preparing a picnic since the weathers been so delightful recently. I was thinking of bringing out some white wine and iced tea. Red is maybe too rich for the afternoon but if you prefer-"
"Son." Riddle Sr. clasped Riddle's shoulder and gave him a brief one armed hug.
"Very masculine" Hermione whispered to Riddle with a giggle.
Scarlett was all air and kisses, looking as pretty as a picture in a yellow summer dress.
"You look much too tanned to have been studying Scarlett." Hermione surveyed the golden hue of her skin critically.
"Oh Hermione. Hello to you too!" Scarlett laughed a beautiful sound, carefree and innocent. Hermione didn't miss the way Edmund had his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Right chaps." Edgar came out with a riding crop. "Let's go."
Hermione joined them, wanting to breathe the fresh air. A welcome change following her isolation in the library. Riddle was stiff on his horse so Hermione spent the first hour teaching him the basics. Soon they were out in the open with acres and acres before them. It was enthralling. Hermione left the boys behind and sprinted with her black beauty, spanning miles and miles before coming across a lake by a sloping hill. Hermione took of her clothes and plunged in, revelling in the cool water. The horse grazed on the grass as Hermione began to swim lengths in the wide lake.
Soon the men found her. Hermione kept her body submerged in water and conjured a bathing suit so not to scandalize the older men. Riddle lagged behind. They dismounted and rested their feet in the water as Hermione let herself dry a little in the sun.
"Where are we meeting the girls?" Edmund asked his brother.
"By the hill back twenty minutes ago." Edgar shook his head, spraying water in the dried ground.
"So...Edmund" Hermione grinned at him mischieviously. "What are your intentions with our Scarlett?"
Edmund blushed deeply. Everyone laughed good-naturedly.
"You're going to marry her!" Hermione gasped.
"I was going to ask her tomorrow." Edmund confessed.
"Bloody hell" Hermione said shaking her head. She wondered how he'd take to knowing about her witchy abilities.
"Edmund." Hermione called him over by the horses. "A word please."
"I know she's a friend of yoursbut I really have fallen in love with her. not just because she's the most beautiful woman I've ever met but… she feels like everything good and light. Kind and generous and always laughing. Listening to her laugh it's- it's an antidote to the war out there. With her you forget."
"I don't doubt you Edmund but there is something you need to know. Because I don't think she'd ever tell you in fear of losing you."
Edmund looked at her wearily.
"She and I and Riddle actually, are magical." Hermione paused to let this sink in. "I'm a witch. We have wands and cauldrons and flying broomsticks. The lot. Nothing evil like the witches in Macbeth or anything. There are good and bad witches. "
"You expect me to believe…" Edmund shook his head.
Hermine closed her hand and opened it to reveal a small bird. Closing her hands again she made the bird vanish. She pointed at the clothes in her arms and the next second she was dressed, her hair in a perfect french plait. She picked up a flower and turned it into ice. Edmund slowly backed away from her before mounting his horse and galloped away to the hills. Hermione hoped to god she hadn't made a mistake. Soon all three gentleman mounted their horses and rode to the waiting company on the hill. Edmund was nowhere to be found. Scarlett continued to smile but it seemed less genuine, more forced and Hermione withdrew with guilt. But she hadn't wanted another case like Riddle's. For the greater good, surely.
That evening Hermione cooked and everything was either raw or burnt. The only success was dessert with the help of Diana. Riddle couldn't stop laughing, his stomach in stitches as he saw Hermione's face holding a tray of crispy charcoal chicken. Hermione ended up making pizza with salad and introduced the foreign cuisine to the suitably impressed guests.
"Ooh Edgar and I had this dish in Italy" Diana gushed. "How cultured you are."
Hermione smiled falsely kicking Riddle beside her who snorted into his glass of wine. Hermione noticed Edmund and Scarlett grow with distance and wondered whether she should obliviate him. Thinking against it she kept quiet and attempted to keep spirits high with stories of her travels around the world. She was a little nervous that Riddle listened so intently and as the wine was consumed she became more and more careless. Answering that her parents were dentists and that she'd hated her school in Surrey so they'd moved to Oxford but then she'd received acceptance to Hogwarts-
"I thought you said you attended Queen's" Edmund asked Scarlett accusingly.
"Oh I didn't end up going to Hogwarts" Hermione backtracked, growing red as she realized she'd said too much and revealed her secrets as well as Scarlett's. She excused herself as Scarlett managed to calm Edmund. Riddle followed Hermione out to the porch where she sat on the swing.
"You're a mudblood" Riddle spat out.
"Yes" Hermione whispered.
"How dare you lie about your blood status. You aren't a Prince either, are you?"
Hermione said nothing, looking straight ahead at the setting sun.
"Answer me!" Riddle shook her violently, forcing her to look at him and meet his eyes.
"You are a fraud" Riddle hissed.
"I have my reasons" Hermione murmured quietly, begging him to understand. Riddle walked away from her and vanished. Riddle Sr. came out and saw Hermione hugging her knees, sobbing softly.
"You knew I was Riddle's father didn't you?" Riddle said quietly, no anger in his voice.
"Yes." Hermione looked at the elder man, so like his son. "Forgive me."
"Of course I forgive you." Riddle smiled. "You brought him back to me."
"I can't promise that he'll always be so.. pleasant"
"Just these memories are more than I deserve." Riddle held her hand firmly before going back indoors.
Scarlett followed a few seconds later and slapped Hermione across her cheek. "You had no right!" Sobbing she too ran out into the fields.
Hermione ran inside and looked for Edmund. He was packing his bags.
"Coward" Hermione hissed. "You love her!"
"I don't appreciate being lied to."
"She didn't lie, she just didn't mention something so trivial"
"You call your tricks a thing of trivia?" Edmund laughed bitterly.
"Yes!" Hermione cried. "So what we can wave our wands and cast fire, or conjure flowers, or kill a man. A match does the same thing. A florist, a gun… She was born that way. She can't help it. It's a part of us. Why does it scare you?"
"She could have tricked me into falling in love with her, she could have done a bit of hocus pocus and…"
"I see." Hermione chided him. "You fear that she is more powerful. Typical man! She has done no such thing. In our world that is a crime. You would accuse her of such a crime?"
"I-I- can't…" he stuttured.
"What?" Hermione shouted pulling his trunk away from him. "Can't what? Process? She's the same woman. She's not a hag. She's still beautiful. She still laughs the same, talks the same, walks the same! She's the same woman. And you know what? I bet if you asked her she'd leave her magic behind just to be with you. She'd sacrifice part of her BEING, her SOUL, for you, because she's in love with you."
Edmund fell back in his bed, his eyes glassy with tears.
"Get out there and ask her to marry you, you fool" Hermione sighed and pushed him out the door. Then she disapparated back to Hogsmeade, walked into the Hog's Head and sure enough there was Riddle. Getting fucked off his face.
"You!" He slurred. "Imposter!"
"Yeah yeah, alright." Hermione sighed. "Firewhiskey for me please and some water to sober this twat up."
"Muggle filth" Riddle sapt out.
"Just words." Hermione rolled her eyes and wondered how she'd play this. "I have secrets. I have a past that would turn your hair grey. I have a past so full of suffering and death and love you'd retch before you knew all of it. You couldn't even begin to process what I've been through."
Hermione waved her wand and showed Riddle the scar his lieutenant had marked her with. "Cursed". She went on to show him the scars on her neck, her arm, her stomach, her back.
"I'll show you the rest in the bedroom." She laughed dryly. "So think before you open your mouth and tell me about the trials of your childhood. I'll admit the first few years of my life I was loved. But my adolescence was marked by fear. My adulthood borne from blood."
Riddle stopped spitting foul words at her at least.
"I screwed things up with Scarlett."
"Edmund needed to know." Riddle muttered. "Otherwise it's my father all over again."
"We should get back." Hermione held out her hand and miraculously Riddle took it. Probably too drunk to know better. As Hermione tucked him to bed he held her hand and pulled her so she'd face him. "Who are you?"
Hermione smiled sadly. "I wish I knew".
A.N. SinghSong A happily ever after would be no fun at all :)