It was New Year's Eve, the last day of 1988. In the house on 7 Heathgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Tom Riddle felt more irritated and unhappy than even usual on his 9th birthday.
He hadn't known until the last couple of weeks that Hermione lived with her parents next door to them. They lived in the house on the 8th to their right. He supposed it was because he was rather self-absorbed and his "parents" dropped him off to school while Hermione walked there earlier and she never played outside either.
But it was an important factor to consider and he was furious with himself for not discovering it sooner as Tom suspected a trick.
Tom was nearly certain that some power-to-be from the magical world had intervened to make his foster parents move there. It couldn't be a coincidence. And of all places where did they go but become next-door neighbours to a family that also had a magical child?
He hated being manipulated and used and not being able to discover how or why. At that revelation, he had committed himself to avoiding Hermione because he didn't know the reasons behind all of this. Someone had clearly wanted them to meet for unknowable reasons.
And yet, he could hardly admit that he missed interacting with and teaching her magic. But it was unfortunately true. It was the first time he had ever longed for any form of human companionship; well unless it was a secret desire to talk to his mother. It puzzled him and he pondered the new sensation for a while.
The doorbell rang then and Tom went to answer it. It was Hermione whom Tom had invited over for his birthday. Unlike himself, Hermione had apparently known that Tom lived next door since nearly the time he had started teaching her magic.
There she was, dressed in a red snow cap with a matching scarf and a brown jacket with rain boots.
"Happy birthday, Tom," Hermione was wearing a bored expression and she spoke in quite a monotone. "Thanks for inviting me over, I suppose. Where are your parents?"
"At the New Year's Eve party, of course."
"Without you? It's your birthday today," she asked him quizzically.
"Well, I made them leave a bit early."
"You're not being serious. You actually used your magical powers on your own parents!" Hermione was horrified.
"I didn't want to attend some stupid muggle's New Year's Eve Party," Tom replied indignantly. "I'd rather spend more time with you and maybe teach you some more magic, that is if you're interested at all."
She wasn't sure what to make of this abrupt turn in behaviour. Hadn't he been avoiding her for the last few weeks? She didn't want to fall for any more of his excuses or tricks.
He led her out of the house and into their backyard. Compared with the house's neat and well-furnished interior, the yard behind the house was dismal and bare.
"Yeah, my parents aren't exactly gardeners. In fact, I have no idea why they decided to move here from the city," Tom said honestly. He pointed up towards the single bare tree that stood at the side.
"Do you see that?"
"You built that… treehouse?" She was impressed. It was very high up nestled among the branches. There was only a basic platform that was fenced in, but then Hermione noticed something quite off about it.
"Yup, do you want to climb and see it?"
"But… there's no ladder or steps or anything! How-"
There was a loud crack like a gunshot and the next thing she knew Tom was in the tree house with his head poking out of it looking down at her as he roared with laughter.
Hermione's mouth dropped as she weighed the implications.
"It's where I stay when I want absolute privacy and when I want to practice some magic," Tom called from above.
And then Tom jumped.
Down from the tree; it was a fall of nearly fifty feet. She let out a horrified scream but then Tom just glided down towards her, his entire body completely defying all the gravitational laws as the further he fell the slower he descended as he maintained his balance even in the air.
For the next half hour, she tried to make the slightest replication of what Tom could do with no success to the boy's evident frustration.
"It's like you have this mental block or something," Tom said as he studied her. "You can't do it."
"I'm not sure I even want to do it," Hermione admitted in response. "I have a fear of heights." She turned on the spot and thought of her destination but she would always end up like a fool and trip to the ground. Her brain was still in a shock and she couldn't concentrate.
He just threw up his hands in frustration.
"I have to go," she finally said. Her jacket and pants were a bit muddy from her exertions. "Mum and Dad will be wondering about me. I promised I would be back in half an hour."
"Listen, what I said to you a couple weeks back… forget about it. I didn't really mean-"
"It's not that," Hermione said quickly. "But I really must go. My parents are taking me to this restaurant for New Year's Eve, but I'll practice this. I promise."
He let her leave but before she went, she handed him his present.
"A book?" Tom studied the title of Great Expectations. It was beautifully bound in leather and a midnight blue and looked very inviting to read.
"Try it, I know you enjoyed Jane Eyre-"
"It was a bit soppy, but not too bad for a girl's book at least."
She rolled her eyes at that.
"It's just… I didn't understand the main character's motives a lot of the time," Tom said. "I thought it must have been a girl thing. All those self-sacrificing decisions by her got her into a lot of unneeded trouble and it was only that she got lucky in the very end. That's what saved her."
"That's the whole point, she was virtuous and in the end rewarded for it, that's what makes it a good-"
"But that's not how the world works," he replied indignantly. "You must know this."
"But that's how goodness works." Hermione told him firmly. "Goodness IS its own reward. That's why when Jane is ACTUALLY rewarded for it; it just feels so satisfying."
"Anyways, this one's a boy's book. I got it at the nearby bookstore that my parents recommended."
He considered it briefly but then nodded. Tom had decided to read it. After all, she had proven that she did have good taste when it came to books and the more he read, the more captivated he was by the characters and its setting. He found some of it quite relatable while other parts were downright terrifying.
In the months that followed, Tom would continue to teach Hermione magic with varying degrees of success while she would constantly recommend more books that he devoured.
She thought back to all the books she had read; books she thought boys might like. But also books that she thought Tom should read. After Great Expectations, he then read in quick succession at Hermione's urging: Kim, Tom Jones, The Call of the Wild, Huckleberry Finn, Moby Dick, Lord of the Flies, Robinson Crusoe, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Way of All Flesh, The Great Gatsby, and more.