As she and Harry were leaving the Great Hall after lunch, Hermione noticed Tom walking down the corridor. He was dressed in less formal robes than he'd worn during his last visit to the school for Board business but still looked as sharp as always. He smiled when he saw her and extended an arm in her direction once he was closer.

She grinned and sprinted towards him, throwing her arms around his middle with a ferocity his younger self would've judged her for. But present-day Tom just wrapped his arm around her shoulders and returned the hug.

"Hello, Dove," he said warmly.

"I missed you," she said, ignoring the heat in her cheeks. "Is that weird, considering I saw younger you last night?"

Tom gently moved a few stray curls out of her face. "No, Dove. He and I are very different people, even if he is just me at a different point in my life than I'm at now. For example," he raised a teasing brow, "younger me doesn't have a best friend. I do."

Hermione beamed. "Honest?"

Tom hummed his affirmation. "She's the cleverest witch I've ever met, too."

"Surely you've met cleverer witches than me by now, " she said dryly.

Tom raised a brow, his expression grave. "Now why would I lie to my best friend about the rarity of her brilliant mind? What sort of charlatan do you take me for, Hermione?"

Her nose wrinkled in distaste at his use of her proper name. "A charming prat of one."

"You've already hung around the gents too much, excellent," he muttered sarcastically. "Not sure how that'd be possible when they're still too afraid of my wrath to speak to you freely right now, if memory serves."

Hermione grinned. "Has it never occurred to you that I'm the bad influence? Not Abraxas and Flynn?"

"Hm...no. It's definitely them," he said. "Speaking of… do you have a few moments? The idiots are anxious to see you."

"The gents are here?" she asked, excited once again. "Where?"

"Away from your nosey classmates, " he said, glancing at the handfuls of students around the corridor who weren't being very stealthy with their staring. "Shall I take you to them?"

"Yes please!" she said. Turning to Harry, she added, "Will you tell the others I'll meet you all in the library in a bit?"

"Sure," Harry said, grinning. "See you later Hermione. Nice to see you again, Lord Riddle."

"You too, Harry. Would you mind letting Draco know that his grandfather will come find him before we leave today?"

Harry agreed, then started heading towards the library as they started back the way Tom had come from.

Tom took note of Hermione's barely concealed enthusiasm and chuckled. "Come along, you, they're down by the lake," he said, leading her down the halls and passages with less foot traffic.

"Severus floo called last night," he said once they were alone. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," she said, frowning at the memory of the cold and despair. "Dementors are awful though."

"You are unfortunately getting a taste of why Sirius will be on low dose medicinal potions for at least two years following his false imprisonment," Tom said with a sigh. "Do try to be careful. Those damn things are why the boys and I are here today. The Quidditch players have written home about the dementors getting closer when they're out on the pitch… Worried families complain to the board, I file a report and investigate, do more paperwork, and a housecall."

They stepped out of an archway and began following the path that would take them directly past the Black Lake. After a group of upper-year students passed them on a long set of stone steps, Tom spoke up again.

"Of course, there were boundaries in place to prevent that sort of thing initially. They've been tampered with, however. Albus should've sensed it if the wards were sabotaged but claims he hasn't felt anything. And he doesn't know you were attacked yesterday afternoon."

"Because Floren took me to Professor Snape instead of the infirmary…" Hermione guessed.

Tom glanced down at her and raised a brow. "As we're his orders. We told him that any students he found targeted by dementors this year were to go to Severus first if possible. Albus can mind his own business. You're the only student on this campus who legally isn't under his jurisdiction."

"I'm not?" she asked as they rounded a corner and two taller, slightly older-looking, very familiar forms came into view on the lake's shore.

"No, you're under mine," Tom said. "I'll explain shortly. Now go greet the idiots so they quit whingeing about how much they've missed you."

Curious and excited to see just how enthusiastic the present-day versions of the quiet boys she'd met the night before would turn out to be, Hermione skipped ahead a few paces. In doing so, she drew Flynn's notice.

"Birdie!"

Flynn's smile as he sprinted towards her was surprisingly bright and a far cry from the shy grin his younger self had given her a few times the night before. Hermione squealed when he picked her up and spun her around, laughing all the while.

"Bloody hell, we've missed you," Flynn said, setting her back on her feet but still holding her tightly. She was happy to return the hug, even if she was missing context.

Any doubts she'd been harboring over whether Tom's closest companions would like her vanished. "I take it we're friends too then?" she asked, desperately trying not to focus on how much more handsome they'd both be in their twenties whenever they all became immortal.

Flynn pulled back but left his hands on her shoulders. His expression alone could've lit London for a night. "The best of friends, Birdie," he said emphatically. "Merlin, I forgot how little you were when we met initially." He shook his head to, she assumed, shake away whatever memories she hadn't lived through yet. "Regardless, we really did miss you something fierce."

"Especially in the eighties."

Abraxas had followed Flynn at a reasonable speed and caught up to them. He gave Hermione a warm smile that harshly contrasted the stony respect his younger self regarded her with. "It's lovely to see you again, little one."

"Don't suppose you'd like a hug too?" she asked. "And why the eighties?"

Abraxas held an arm open in invitation, which Hermione accepted. He even surprised her by dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "Tom was unbearable in the eighties and the pair of us spent a fair amount of our free time at pubs and nightclubs. You appreciate good music and fun more than our mutual walking headache, thus you were missed."

Hermione snickered as Tom joined them and said, "The walking headache can hear you."

Abraxas ignored him, but shot Hermione a wink. "It's very nice to have you back, Birdie."

Hermione squinted. "Is that the nickname you two land on? Birdie?"

"Tom wouldn't let us call you Dove," Flynn explained. "Birdie was the first alternative we agreed on that you didn't hate."

"It's cute," she allowed. "And better than most of Tom's nicknames."

"Still here," Tom said dryly.

"However could we forget," Abraxas said, earning a glare.

"Don't start, Malfoy," Tom warned.

Abraxas sighed, glancing down at Hermione. "Do you see what you left us to deal with? Honestly, Birdie, he's been a nightmare."

Hermione tried not to laugh too much at Tom's expense, but the opportunity to tease him was so rare… "Well, what am I meant to do about it?"

"Frown at him," Flynn and Abraxas said together.

"Literally be displeased with him in any capacity. He can't stand it," Flynn said cheerfully. "And it's been over forty years since we've gotten to properly see him out of sorts as a result of your disapproval. To have that viewing pleasure again would make up for all his nonsense we put up with without you."

"When this whole time mess is finally caught up, I'm planning your funerals," Tom said tiredly. "Honestly. The only orders you had today were not to say anything she can't know about yet and to behave. While I appreciate you not obliterating time, you could have an ounce more self-restraint while having your fun."

"Better mouthy than creating paradoxes," said Flynn, grinning. To Hermione, he added, "He's just mad because he missed you the most but he couldn't show when you two reunited since you were still just a little second year. But we get to have a nearly proper reunion by comparison."

Hermione squinted at him. "You mean for me to believe that Tom's jealous?"

"No he does not," Tom said sharply. "Not unless he longs for his grave."

But once again, Tom was ignored in favor of Hermione.

"Abraxas and I have more freedom," Flynn explained. "Sure we have to help Grumpy keep time intact, but we interact with you less by comparison. So we can generally treat you the same way. Unfortunately for him, Tom was an even bigger prat in school than he is now, so he has to be extra careful that way he doesn't confuse you too much."

Hermione turned to Tom, who was glowering at Flynn. "Is that true?" she asked, frowning. "You don't get to just be normal around me because of all this time mess?"

Tom's glower softened as he switched his attention to her. "Partly, Dove," he said. "It's not always an acting game. I don't fake being pleased to see you, but I have to take far more care with my actions and what I say. It's not for you to fret over, either. Time is my problem, remember?"

"I'll do my best not to," she said. "Did you really miss me the most?"

Tom snorted softly. "Of course I did. You're my best friend, these two can piss off if they think you mean half as much to them as you do to me."

"Well, now you've got him started," Abraxas muttered, smiling. "We know, Tom. She's the only proper friend you've ever had. How could we ever compare our friendship with her to the bond between two of the biggest brains to ever exist simultaneously in Britain? Our mistake."

Hermione snickered again. "Careful," she said, "I don't think he ever outgrew his temper."

Flynn and Abraxas laughed, while Tom rolled his eyes and suppressed a smile with exaggerated annoyance. "Yes, yes, you three are as hilarious as ever, " he said. "And you wonder why I was dragging my feet over reintroducing you all."

"I suppose I won't see them terribly often, will I?" Hermione asked. "So we can only torment you on occasion?"

Tom grimaced. "If only."

"We come to most Slytherin quidditch matches," Flynn told her. "We do like to watch our grandchildren play, of course."

Hermione's lips twitched. "Of course. Annoying Tom is just a happy side effect."

"Precisely," said Abraxas. "Always quick with your cleverness, aren't you, Birdie?"

Tom rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Introducing the three of you in the sixties was a mistake."

"Too late now, " Hermione told him cheerfully.

With a glare that was somehow annoyed and fond in equal measure, Tom lightly flicked her between her eyes. "That's enough out of you, Dove."

This time, she laughed with Abraxas and Flynn, and missed Tom's bittersweet smile.

One day at a time, he told himself.

As Tom walked her back into the school towards the library, Hermione remembered the question she'd forgotten to ask his younger self the night before.

"Oi. When's your birthday?" She asked. "Since you wanted to make such a fuss about mine."

Tom chuckled, relaxed once again now that the gents weren't taking the piss at every opportunity. "December thirty-first, Dove. I had a birthday shortly after we met, just before we decided to properly trust each other."

"You didn't tell me," she muttered pointedly.

Tom raised a teasing brow. "I didn't find it relevant or noteworthy at that time in our acquaintance."

Hermione stopped walking and stared at him. "Are you aware that you're a bloody hypocrite?"

Tom shrugged, continuing his leisurely pace. "I did not consider it hypocrisy at the time, no. We barely knew each other when my birthday came around. You'd mastered the patronus charm and fiendfyre by the time yours did. Circumstances were notably different."

"Hardly," she said. "So you were fifteen when I met you?"

"Mhm. You'll technically be older than me after your sixth year. But your present passed by at double speed for me then. You were connected to me for twice the amount of time as I was to you."

Frowning, she jogged to catch up with him. "I don't consider that much. I've had more time to consider you a friend…"

Tom made a displeased noise in the back of his throat. "I'd rather you didn't make excuses for my emotional ineptitude in school, Dove. Doesn't sit right."

"The orphanage was hell, right?" She asked.

"Worse than, even though I didn't realize that until — Merlin, sixth year maybe?" he said stiffly. "My sixth year, not yours. Why?"

"You're not the only orphan I care about, you know, " she said. "Harry didn't have the same upbringing as you, but some of the social disconnect is the same. The difference is, Harry started making friends at eleven when he got to Hogwarts." She glanced up at his unreadable expression. "Did you have any friends before me?"

"You already know I didn't."

She shrugged. "I can't hold much against you then, in all fairness, can I?"

"I'd prefer you did," he said.

"Why?" she asked. "You couldn't have known any better."

"I also could have learned faster," he said vaguely. "In hindsight, I'm not exactly singing my own praises."

"Isn't everyone a little embarrassed when they look back at their younger selves?" she asked. "I dread thinking about primary school or first year."

Tom rolled his eyes. "There was nothing wrong with you in primary school or your first year except for not learning to hide your enthusiasm and being too smart for your own good," he said.

"How would you know? You reconnected with me in second year."

This time, Tom stopped and stared at her. "We did check on you from time to time, Dove. Secretly of course. That little windstorm magical outburst of yours when you were, what, five? Six? It never would've gotten sand in that freckled brat's eyes without my help. Your magic lashed out to scare him. I helped it ensure he never tried to sneak up on you again. The little bastard was about to swing a dictionary into the back of your head."

Hermione's jaw went slack. "You were there?! You helped me get sand in Mattie Raymond's eyes?"

Tom grinned cruelly. "Oh yes. That kid was an arsehole. And don't forget about the day he made you cry in the library, little miss 'I wish there was a book about a girl like me'."

Hermione felt her cheeks heat. "You levitated Matilda off the shelf?"

Tom hummed his affirmation. "The boys found the movie back in ninety-six. I figured you'd like to read the book first."

Something warm and comforting took away Hermione's ability to talk. Even when she'd felt the most alone, Tom had been waiting for her, watching over her.

She hugged him again, but tighter this time.

"Dove…" he said softly. "What's the matter?"

She shook her head, trying not to cry. Younger him might not be her friend, but present day Tom certainly had to care about her well being if he'd checked on her when she was younger, didn't he? If he worried about her prior to time overlapping again? He'd probably been paranoid that something would happen to her and destroy time before their time loop even started.

"Dove, you're fretting," Tom said above her, despite the fact that he'd returned her hug again. "What on earth has gotten into you?"

She sniffed and peaked up at him, embarrassed. "You can swim," she managed quietly.

Tom's worried expression melted into something almost warm as he ran a hand over her curls.

"Of course I can," he told her. "I had an excellent teacher."

Hermione smiled and wiped her eyes. "Just caught me off guard is all."

"I don't know how that's possible, I've been intentionally vocal about it," he teased. "Now enough with the fretting. Don't you have Divination homework to put that energy into?"

Hermione stuck out her tongue, making Tom chuckle.

"When will you be back?" she asked. "When quidditch starts?"

Tom's expression faltered for half a second before he managed to give her a tight smile. "Probably. If I can manage it around work at the ministry and Order meetings, I'll be here. Otherwise, Brax and Flynn will certainly spoil you with attention in my absence."

Disappointed, she muttered a quiet, "Alright."

Tom gently flicked her forehead again. "No. Fretting. Go do your schoolwork."

She rolled her eyes but stepped back and let him continue on without her. She'd already have to backtrack to get to the library.

As he started to walk away, Abraxas and Flynn rounded the corner and waited for him. She returned their smiles and waves.

"Dove?" Tom called over his shoulder. "Don't forget to write."

She rolled her eyes at his ironic tone, made a face at Abraxas and Flynn for laughing at her expense, and started heading back towards the library.

Despite her best efforts at employing a mind-over-matter mantra, she couldn't help but be deeply bothered by Tom's absence. Abraxas and Flynn's too. She'd have to content herself with the company of the youngers, she supposed. Especially if she wanted to build the friendships she'd experienced with their elder selves.

Still, her heart ached for a day where the fifth year prefect on the other side of his diary would ever express that he missed her company when they were apart for any stretch of time. He may have been anxious for her to return to the school for her lessons and their mutual appreciation of learning new things, but being apart from one another had a far different effect on Tom than it had on her.

Without her, Tom was impatient and annoyed. Without Tom...she had been just another know-it-all with few friends and an unchecked ego.

She tried not to dwell on that fact too hard, but found it difficult, even when she made her way to the library. Surrounded by insufficient distractions, her mind roamed in melancholy circles long after she joined her friends in their favorite studying area. They wouldn't have enough time to return to their abandoned classroom before splitting up again for dinner, so their round table would have to wait.

"Hermione, are you alright? Is it from the dementor the other day?" Tracey whispered across the table. "You seem upset…"

"I'm fine," Hermione told her, forcing a half smile. "Silly thoughts, is all."

Decades in the past, Tom the younger was squinting at a surveillance-spelled wall in confusion, desperately trying to understand how his older self had seemingly cured her mystery ailment, only for it to return stronger in his absence.

"It can't just be the dementor exposure," he muttered to himself. "What's going on with you, Dove?"

In a journal, he wrote, 'Silly' is her tell-word when she's lying about whatever is bothering her. Fully rule out dementor exposure as a cause for her mood changes.

Discontent to watch her half-arse her studies in her current mood, Tom packed up his belongings. He wouldn't stay in the Room until lunch using his spell to keep an eye on her like he originally planned. Instead, he'd go find Malfoy so they could finish charming her hair ribbons and get to work on the protection necklace.

He'd need to look for wards against dementors, if any existed. The last thing she needed was another run in with one. Especially if his older self wasn't guaranteed to be returning to the castle anytime soon.

A/N: 50 fought me so hard I fell into a slight rut with writing for almost 2 months and totally didn't almost forget to update this month entirely... Oops. 50 finally submitted to my will about a week ago and now I'm very gingerly approaching 51 so it doesn't fight me like 50 did.

Anyway. Hi. How we doing, dear collective? And, as a follow-up question for fun:

How much of that afternoon interaction with the Elder Knights do we think Young Tom was privy to? How long was he watching? I'm asking for absolutely no reason at all. I definitely haven't already decided how much he was present for and most certainly have not written the chapter where it's revealed what he got to see in this chapter. Absolutely not. Don't be silly.