A/N oops. Its August.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 7

"I won't allow it!" Ron shouted later that day as the three time travelers met in the Room of Requirement to debrief.

Hermione had asked it to create for them a cozy little sitting room with a large sunny window overlooking a rocky room, done in light blues and whites, had 2 comfy chairs, and a large plush sofa facing a merrily cracking fireplace.

Hermione and Draco each sat in one of the chairs while Ron agitatedly paced the room as he ranted and raved.

"Malfoy come on, can't you trade or something? Hermione can't be left alone with that psycho!" The red head whined.

"Ronald I am a perfectly competent witch and can make decisions for myself." Hermione responded, a fiery glint in her eye.

Oblivious to her growing ire Ron continued on, his voice getting more and more hysterical "But it's the Dark Lord, You-Know-Who, Lord-Freaking-Voldemort and I—"

Malfoy cut him off "Weasel if you don't shut up, I'm pretty sure Granger's going to hex your balls off any second now."

Ron glanced at Hermione who was looking more pissed off by the second. Her fists were clenched and her teeth gritted. "I am not a little girl anymore Ronald; I can take care of myself. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and meet up with 'Lord-Freaking-Voldemort'. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll come back in one piece." She snapped scathingly and walked out of the Room of Requirement.

Malfoy snorted, "Now you've done it, you idiot." With that he walked out too. Leaving Ron alone with his thoughts.

DMHGTR

Hermione loitered outside of the door of their newly assigned classroom. Not ready to go inside and face Tom.

Her mind was racing a mile a minute, the anger from her confrontation with Ron still coursing through her blood.

Maybe Ron has a point, she mulled over the thought. Her memories of the future version of Tom were muted, but she could still comprehend the concern from Ron. However, she was determined to handle whatever this teenage version of the Dark Lord might throw at her. After all, he was still Tom Riddle, a 16-year-old schoolboy, not the terrifying Lord Voldemort who commanded armies in her time.

Slowly her hand reached out towards the bronze door knob and she was about to give it a confident turn, when someone clearing their throat behind her startled her.

He leaned nonchalantly against the door frame, his image the epitome of devilish charm. His smirk was cool, calm, almost indifferent, but his eyes held a calculative coldness that sent chills down her spine. After her argument with Ron, she half-expected to see Voldemort's menacing red eyes in place of Tom's usual brown ones.

"Well are you going to open it or just stand there" He asked coldly.

Summoning up her Gryffindor courage, Hermione tried to act casual.

"Oh Tom you startled me, you mustn't sneak up on people like that." She said trying to sound unaffected and like the girls around here that fawn over him.

He smiled—he never apologized she noted—and reached across her to open the door.

His arm brushed lightly up against hers.

She felt a shock of something and took a quick step backwards.

Hermione wasn't sure if Tom noticed, but if he had, he said nothing and swept into the room.

Stop acting so strange, you can't afford to draw his attention or suspicion, Hermione chastised herself. Shaking her head to clear it she quickly followed him into the room.

The first thing she noticed was that room was completely bare, nothing except the stone walls, floors, and ceiling. The only light came from a small ball hovering in the center.

The door closed behind her with a solid thunk. For a moment they both just stood there, Hermione looking everywhere but Tom, and Tom just looking completely bored.

Deciding she ought to take charge instead of standing around awkwardly, she slipped into teacher mode.

"Alright, well the first thing we'll need to do is carve the Jacui rune in the center as that is needed for every project of this scale. We don't know our topic so the generic parts are all we are supposed to do now. Judging by the size of this room I'd say the rune should be about 100 centimeters or so across."

Tom nodded "Sounds about right to me. Want to start on the left and I'll take the right and we'll meet in the middle?"

Hermione nodded, drew her wand, and got to carving.

They fell into silence, whether awkward or otherwise Hermione was unsure.

It was a fairly simple rune, though it was large and it had to be drawn near perfectly or it could cause major problems.

When their halves met up in the middle, the meeting was nearly flawless.

Hermione had worried that the halves would look obviously split. If one of them applied more or less pressure, creating thicker or thinner lines, or if one side was just poorly drawn. Secretly, she was very impressed with his work.

"Good work, next we should draw the Tilte rune about 15 centimeters up and to the left" Tom said.

"No it needs to be to the right or else it will modify the effect of our rune and make it do the opposite." Hermione replied, unable to restrain herself from being a know it all.

Tom looked annoyed "It's definitely the left." He said and knelt down on the portion of floor by the top left of their rune.

Hermione stomped over and firmly planted her feet where he planned to start carving. "No! I'm not going to let you ruin my grade. If you'd just consult the text book you'd see that I'm right."

"You're wrong." He bit out, his voice betraying the anger he tried so hard to conceal.

Hermione knew what she was doing was foolish, the Dark Lord did not like to be disagreed with. However, she was on a roll and was unable to stop herself and blurted out, "I know I'm right. You are not carving Title here."

A dangerous spark flickered in Tom's eyes. Hermione could feel the heated anger emanating from him, the air crackling with his magic. He stood up, his tall frame towering over her, and took a step towards her. He looked like he was about to retort, his grip on his wand so tight it seemed ready to snap. Hermione braced herself, anticipating an inevitable attack.

But just then the door opened behind them and Professor Babbling walked in.

Tom immediately stepped away from her and pasted his charming smile on his face.

"And how are you two doing? Ah, I see you got the Jacui rune drawn, flawless carving. Now do either of you know what the next step is?" Professor Babbling asked.

Hermione jumped in before Tom could, "The Tilte rune professor, about 15 centimeters up and to the right."

"Right you are Miss. Hurwit, 5 points to Slytherin. Now do you have any other questions or should I leave you to carving?"

Hermione glanced and Tom who stood next to her with a stoic expression on his face. Behind his carefully blank expression she could tell his jaw was clenched tightly as he tried desperately to control himself in front of the professor.

"Ahh, no I think we're fine professor." She said shooting a nervous glance at the dark haired boy beside her. Idiot! She thought to herself, Why are you allowing yourself to be alone with him again so soon when he's clearly enraged?

"Alright well if you need me I'll be floating around."

With that, she turned and walked out of their classroom.

After a moment of silence Hermione worried her bottom lip and turned to Tom.

"Look I'm sorry I can get really pushy when it comes to grade—"

He cut her off. "Look I have some prefect duties to attend to, so you can finish the Tilte and then we'll move on next time." Without waiting for an answer he turned on his heel and left.

After the door clicked closed behind him Hermione sank down to the floor. She closed her eyes for a moment. How could she be so stupid? Provoking someone like him? She was glad he left or she'd be afraid of what he might do to her.

After she'd collected herself she got started drawing the Tilte rune, 15 centimeters up and to the right.

DMHGTR

Later that night Hermione returned to the Slytherin Common room. Upon her arrival she found it nearly completely deserted except for Malfoy.

When she walked in he looked up. Hesitantly, not knowing how to act around him, she walked over.

"How did it go?" Draco's voice was surprisingly soft, a stark contrast from his usual condescending sneer.

"Could've been worse." She replied with a grimace

"What did you do?"

"Um… I may have done that thing… that thing where I need to be right." She muttered so he could barely hear her.

Malfoy stood up abruptly and inclined his head for her to follow him. He then quickly swept out of the common room and into the corridor.

Hermione followed him down a couple hallways to an empty classroom. She hesitated briefly at the threshold, unsure how much she could trust Draco, and whether being alone with him was smart.

To hell with it, she thought. I just survived a standoff with Lord-Freaking-Voldemort, what could Malfoy possibly do to me that is worse?

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Both of them immediately cast privacy charms, effectively soundproofing the room from potential eavesdroppers. Draco turned to face her, his expression a mix of frustration and disbelief.

Malfoy rounded on her, "Granger… I thought you were meant to be the smartest witch of our age; how could you be so incredibly stupid?!" His voice got louder and louder

"I don't know." She almost whispered.

"Oh wow, something the know-it-all doesn't know!" Malfoy exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

Hermione managed a half-hearted smile, uncertain if his comment was a playful jibe or a veiled insult. Draco sighed, running his hand through his platinum blond hair. "Look Granger you need to be more careful, the Dark Lord is not a forgiving man, and some silly little grade is not worth getting tortured over."

Just as his words began to sink in, Hermione felt a strange sensation. It was as if her tightly wound occlumency shields, a complex network of walls she had built within her mind to hide her true thoughts and emotions, were beginning to crumble. An unexpected fit of giggles seized her, escalating into a hysterical laughter that left her gasping for breath.

Draco watched her warily, his eyes wide as he took a cautious step forward, likely wondering whether she'd finally gone round the bend.

The chains binding the tumultuous crate of emotions deep within her psyche rattled and finally broke. The dam burst, and a torrent of suppressed feelings came rushing forth, overwhelming her. Hermione could only double over, clutching her head as a storm of suppressed emotions ravaged her. Panic welled up within her as she began to shake, the intensity causing her robes to cling to her sweat-soaked skin.

Malfoy stared at her for a moment, stunned, then a quick clarity came over him as he realized what was happening to her.

"Granger," he said as he knelt down in front of her, "look at me." He placed a hand on her shoulder.

Hermione glanced up at him and their eyes locked. "Legillimens" Malfoy intoned.

Malfoy dove into her mind and Hermione tried desperately to fight him off, but it was no use, her shields were in shambles and her mind was completely out of control as it fought to reobtain it natural state.

But then, the pain in her head slowly start to recede. Malfoy stepped straight into the flow of thoughts that were rapidly streaming out of her hiding places and slowed them. The shaking receded as she didn't have to relieve every little memory and emotion she had suppressed.

Hermione didn't know how long the two of them sat there, but eventually the shaking completely stopped, and her head no longer pounded against the inside of her skull.

Gently, Malfoy slipped out of her mind and just stared at her.

Hermione stared back, without really seeing him. Her emotions churned violently at the surface now that her occlumency walls were completely down. She took a deep breath.

Before she could open her mouth, Malfoy spoke, "I know occluding can be tempting, but you need to be more careful. If you're not you could end up quite literally driving yourself insane. Trust me, I've seen it nearly happen."

"Thank you," She blurted out.

Malfoy just nodded and then swept out of the room before she could say anymore to him.

Hermione was left alone, staring at her sweaty hands in her lap. I think Malfoy was just nice to me?

Well maybe not nice, but helpful. He almost seemed concerned. Now there's a strange thought.

As she sat there she ached for home, for her world, her time. She let herself feel the grief she'd been suppressing all day. The fear, the uncertainty, the horror.

The worst thing that she finally had to face the thought that she'd been running from all day. The more she thought about it, the more she saw the likelihood of it. She would probably never be able to go back. To go home, to her own time. This was no longer the past, but her present.

It was then that she decided that she would not let Tom Riddle become the horrible wizard that destroyed her life. The faces of her dead friends flashed before her eyes. There was so much pain and suffering all caused by one man. She then made a promise to herself.

No matter what it took she'd stop him.

Pleased yet terrified by her own resolution, she pushed herself up from her seat and headed back to her dorm. As she navigated the gloomy corridors, her mind buzzed with the impending task of revealing her thoughts on their predicament and her new plan to Ron and Draco. She dreaded their reactions but knew it was a confrontation she could not avoid for too long. One thing was for certain, though — it was going to be explosive.

A/N: The longest chapter yet!

*Edited Jun 12 2023