authorsnote: rebranded and have determined the outcome of this story, which has me itching to write it, and so do enjoy...
I'm also aiming to update all of my stories before the end opf 2023, and am actually doing decently! feel free to check out all my other hp stories on my page with updates incoming!
songrecs: me and the devil - soap&skin
And the very second, he released her, back in her Grandmothers cottage, she turned on him.
"How dare you!" She practically shrieked, didn't care as Riddle winced at her shrill tone, only felt fury, anger, that he'd dragged her away, from her friends, her family, from Harry.
The closest thing she'd ever had to a brother, they'd once joked they were siblings separated at birth, and he was alive! She had no idea how, but as she turned on Tom, tears trickling down her cheeks, from relief, anger, joy, fury, she knew she had to get back to him, knew she should be with him right now.
Where else should she be?
Here?
Not a chance, for a moment, all of it, the Death Eaters at Hogwarts, Riddle, the fact Harry was alive when he certainly shouldn't be, none of it mattered but getting back to the Burrow; in fact, she didn't scream anymore, that didn't matter, instead she squeezed her wand, ready to apparate, to go back to Harry, to Ron, to Ginny, to her friends, to her family.ar
And nothing happened.
Instead, she remained in the cold, house, alone but for Riddle, her enemy, who she couldn't and wouldn't trust. How could she?
He was her enemy, and she was glad to be reminded of it. Any thought of Tom, not Riddle banished from her head, she'd let her guard down, and couldn't allow herself to do so again.
She shouldn't be letting him brush a thumb over her chin, or try to convince her he was the best option, shouldn't be comparing herself to him;
'You're like me in that regard'
'I'm nothing like you'
'You tell yourself that'
She wasn't like him, even as a voice in the back of her head whispered otherwise, she couldn't be, she wasn't.
It was too terrifying to confront the fact she might be.
"Take down the wards" She practically growled at Riddle, she knew he'd stopped her apparating, wand in hand, she cast a quick non-verbal Expelliarmus at him, followed by a stunner, but he blocked both.
It infuriated her, how good he was, it was fucking effortless, how could anyone stand a chance against him when he was this good? How could she? Wasn't that why she was willing to try and work with him? To have him be the 'better alternative', how could anyone stop him? What other choice was there?
They'd barely managed to stop the insane version of him, but and even that hadn't worked considering he was here, just younger, less insane, and brimming with power but without the craziness? How could they stop him?
She knew the answer, they couldn't.
"Let me go back" She said furiously, Riddle looked unbothered, and she fired a fast stinging hex, but he deflected it again, and again, and again, and she shrieked in frustration, just about stopped herself stomping her foot, though her glare could surely cut like venom.
"You can't go back" Riddle said with a shrug, unbothered, she hated him for it, hated him in general.
"Yes I can-" She began, but he cut her off with a sigh, frustrated himself apparently, and then his glare near matched hers, and she forced herself not to flinch, she wouldn't be scared of him, even if they both knew she was.
"No, you can't" He didn't let her interrupt this time, "It won't work"
"What won't work?" She asked, "I can see Harry and-"
If she'd have looked at herself, she'd have realised she was being a fool, there was no straddling this line, Riddle made sure she knew that.
"And what?" He asked, eyebrow raised, "What are you going to do?" There was no hint of mocking in his tone, which she could have thanked him for but the way he spoke down to her made her bristle, "Hang out with your friends and then tell them you have to leave to meet me? Or maybe you can introduce me to them? Will I be your friend or your boyfriend?" He rolled his eyes then, then the mocking came in, she flinched.
She could have sworn he softened, just by a hint, as she did, but no, she must have been imagining it, there was no softness in him.
"There is no way you can be with your friends, and then keep me here, I won't wait" He said with a shake of his head, "And presumably, with your friends alive, and what happened you saw at Hogwarts, the war you were fighting continues, how are you going to straddle that line? How do you think you can?"
"Why?" Hermione asked, her hands were shaking, it was all being put on the table here, a completely honest conversation, "I can, I will…"
"There is no way" He said, some frustration coming through his teeth then, "If you want to win, there is no way to have it all, you have to decide, and be warned the decision is final" He said, a deadly glint in his eye that spoke to that truth.
"Win what?" She asked, yelling now, but they were alone out here, there was no need to worry about being overheard, she could scream and shout if she wanted.
There was no one to hear them.
"What are we trying to win?" She yelled, her hands shaking, sparks coming from her wand, "Power for you?"
"You'd prefer the people you saw in the Great Hall to have it?" He sneered, and she wanted to scream again in frustration, almost did, "Is that better?" Mocking again and she wanted to slap him, if her magic couldn't hit him, maybe she could.
"I don't know you" She threw back at him, she was so angry, and scared, and exhausted she didn't know what to think, her mind felt like it had been ripped out messed with, rearranged and thrust back into her, "All I know is what you become, and I will never, ever fight for that" She said it so viciously anyone but Tom Riddle would have flinched.
He didn't though of course, he just scowled, and that glint remained.
"I am not that" He threw back at her with force, but she did not flinch either, she wouldn't on principle alone.
"Then prove it" She said viciously, for she didn't know what else to do. She knew they couldn't allow the Death Eater contingent to rule the Wizarding World, where people like her would be exiled, Harry killed again, the Weasleys imprisoned. She knew they couldn't let that stand, but what was the alternative? What else was there?
Riddle? Tom? And yet, she didn't know enough about him, she wouldn't hand the keys over, or help him when she didn't know him, didn't know if he'd be any better.
And to his annoyance, she knew he needed her help. He didn't know this world, he didn't know what changes time had wrought, he needed her, and she in a sense needed him, to stop the Death Eaters, to keep the battered and broken Order safe who stood no chance of resistance themselves.
And there was also the fact she knew he did need her, but if she refused, he'd find a way either without her or to force her to help, and she couldn't let that happen.
The real question was; what alternative was there?
"Prove that if I help you, if I give up my friends for you" She swallowed down any thought of tears, knowing Harry, Ron, Ginny, they'd see this as a betrayal, helping Tom Riddle, even if her reasons were correct, they'd still think her traitor, and she understood why, "Prove that you won't be as bad as them" She pointed out the door, indicating to Hogwarts, tears threatened again but she gritted her teeth, she would not cry, "Prove you'll be better"
"Done" He shot back, and then he nodded, softening his expression, "I'll prove to you, I want power, I want the Wizarding World, but I won't be what I become, I have no desire to insanity" He said, and she had no way to tell his sincerity but there seemed to be truth to his words, "But you have to be by my side" He paused then, she noted he didn't ask for help, and he even smirked then, "Every step of the way"
"Done" She replied and it shocked her how she didn't hesitate, not for a second, her hands shaking, sparks flew from her wand again, red and angry, but she ignored them, this was a pivotal moment, the pivotal moment, perhaps the history books would write of it, as shaking she spoke, "If you prove it"
"How?" He asked, and he didn't hesitate either and she wanted to weep, of course he thought nothing beyond him, of course he was ready to take power by any means necessary.
But what was the alternative?
"You kill the Death Eaters" She spat out, hating herself for it. The Light side weren't supposed to be as bad as the enemy, but she'd always had a vindictive streak, and she knew, they had no other choice. The Death Eaters that would see her dead just for her blood could not be allowed to stand.
The rest … being by Tom Riddles side, keeping everyone safe … that would come later.
"All of them" She said, and she was trembling now, her wand sparking, and she didn't resist as he took it from her hand, gently almost, not with a spell but with his hand, and he didn't take it to steal it but perhaps to stop her magic blowing the house up.
With her hands free she stepped forward to him then, and this time the tears came and she didn't try to stop them. The scar on her arm stung, mudblood it wrote, and vengeance equal to the need for justice surged through that blood.
She grabbed at his robes, gripping them between her hands, tilting her head back to look up at him, his handsome face, with those deep brown eyes of his that didn't hold one hint of softness, looked into them with her Gryffindor brown, and urged him.
"Kill them, stop them, and then I'll be by your side" She said with a nod. She didn't imagine the swirl of magic around them, as Tom nodded too.
"Until the end" He said, "By my side until the end" His eyes didn't leave hers, not for a second, as she felt magic heavy in the air, as she nodded.
"Until the end"
And sealed their fates, on either side.
The nerves in her stomach fluttered.
This was their first and only stop for the day.
"No time like the present" Tom, she supposed she better start thinking of him as Tom, if they were to work together, and not just the suggestion, but the vow to had sealed that. Her lot was thrown in with him now, she'd made that choice.
He'd said that when she'd asked him how long he needed to ready to take down a Great Halls worth of Death Eaters, he'd shrugged, and suggested now would work as best as any.
"Look" She'd said as he emerged from the doorway, dressed in her Fathers spare clothes, she'd nearly giggled to see him corduroy trousers and a cable knit jumper, it was odd, he looked muggle, but he didn't look uncomfortable, and she reminded herself for a lot of his life he'd been raised the same way as her.
And of course, he still looked incredibly handsome, and knew it.
She too had changed, just a quick shower after him and into a jumper and jeans. Her beaded bag at her side, wand back in hand, he held his and nodded for her to go on, though he looked like he was just indulging her.
"These aren't 8th year dropouts from Hogwarts like me" She said, not normally one to disparage herself, but she needed to make a point, "These are hardened criminals, Witches and Wizards you trained and marked, or future you" She acquiesced at his annoyed glare; he did not like being compared to his future self, which she hoped was a promising sign.
"They will try to kill you, they might succeed" She knew she was bruising his ego but she didn't care, she needed him to know what he was coming up against, wasn't that what she was here for?
She would try to help of course, but she was no natural duellist, a lot of it would be on Tom.
She tried not to think of the worry in her stomach, for him, convinced herself it was just for the worry of the Death Eaters succeeding.
She didn't know yet.
"They won't" He sounded unconcerned, and just held a hand out to her, "I'm not worried, neither should you be"
"You know our plan won't work if you're dead" She mocked, even as she took his hand, sliding her fingers between his, and he squeezed hers.
"Won't it? Dying doesn't seem to stop me" He mocked back to her, and at that before she could scoff or maybe scold him for being so glib, he apparated them away with a snap.
Back into the fight.
gurl hermione getting in deep
but its not entirely her fault, tom is hella good
and ... we will see how the fight, fights? turn out
speak soon(er)
