Whatever teacher thought it had been a great idea to hand over a time turner to a young girl at the tender age of thirteen should, in Tom’s humble opinion, have their teaching license revoked and sent for a thorough examination of their mind at St. Mungo’s.
Patting the young girl on her head as she let out a truly pitiful sniffle, he handed her another biscuit which she took with a miniscule nod in his direction, not raising her head enough to meet his eyes.
The bell above the door in the shop let out a chime and Tom glanced back towards the shop. He sighed and then looked back to the girl who looked no closer to being done crying over her truly precautious predicament now than she had been an hour ago when she had landed in the middle of Borgin and Burkes.
“Stay,” he told her, an order disguised as a kind offer, and gave her wild curls one last pat before leaving her to nibble on her biscuit. “Eat your biscuit.” He added as he left the small back room.
In the shop, two of his former school mates stood, heads bent towards the other, muttering between themselves. They hadn’t noticed his entrance and Tom sighed.
“What did I tell you about seeking me out at my job?” he asked, somewhat annoyed by the two idiots, who instantly stood at attention.
Abraxas rubbed the back of his head, giving him a sheepish grin. Antonin tried – and failed – to plaster on a look of chastisement. The dark-haired Russian was entirely too smug, Tom thought.
“What did you do?” he asked with another sigh, feeling a strong urge to run a hand down his face.
His two friends were notorious for getting themselves into some truly strange situations that never failed to confuse the people around them. The fact that they had somehow managed to reach the age of twenty-one with no permanent disfigurement or missing limbs was a marvel.
“I made a new spell,” Antonin told him, his dark eyes taking on a feverish gleam. “And it works!”
Abraxas grinned.
“I supervised him. No one got hurt and the spell was tested rigorously,” he said. “It works.”
Tom raised a dark eyebrow at them as he looked between the only two people in the world, he would ever come close to consider his friends.
“And you could not wait with showing me this until our next meeting?” he asked and the two men suddenly looked a bit embarrassed though not quite enough in Tom’s opinion. “Show me at the next meeting. Right now, I-“
A small hand clenched the fabric of his jumper at the back. Abraxas and Antonin’s eyes both zeroed in on the sniffling girl peeking out from behind him.
“Who’s that?” Abraxas demanded, his hands clenching into fists.
Tom sighed.
“Gentlemen, this is miss Hermione Granger. She’s a… distant relative.” Tom reluctantly forced out through gritted teeth.
He couldn’t exactly be honest and tell his friends, notorious gossips that they both were, that the Granger girl was an accidental time traveler. If the Ministry got word of her, they’d surely whisk her away and she would never be heard from or seen again.
Even if Tom couldn’t get her to tell him what year she was from, he was convinced she knew something about him. When he had introduced himself, she’d flinched away from him minutely, fear taking over her expression for the briefest of moments.
It made him curious and when he’d lightly skimmed her thoughts, he’d encountered surprisingly strong Occlumency shields that kept him from getting anything besides a surface look of her emotions and thoughts in the moment.
“A relative?” Antonin repeated curiously, dark eyes flickering between the two of them. “I didn’t know you had any family left.”
“Neither did I until a couple of hours ago,” Tom said dryly, turning to the girl hiding behind him. “Miss Granger… Hermione. These are Abraxas Malfoy and Antonin Dolohov, my old schoolmates.”
The Granger girl’s eyes lingered on Abraxas for a brief moment, something akin to resentment and cool curiosity in them that made him think she knew Abraxas or at least knew of him. When she looked at Antonin there were no form of recognition as far as he could see.
His eyes flickered to his old friend.
Ah. So he’s not part of the future.
“Miss Granger, a pleasure.” Abraxas said, putting an end to the brief but awkward silence in the shop.
He stepped forward, took her hand in his and graced her knuckles with a kiss. Releasing the girl’s hand, he stepped back to allow the Russian to do the same.
“Pleasure.” The girl murmured, cheeks tinged pink as she avoided looking at them.
Tom suppressed a grin.
Adorable.
“Are you related to the Dagworth-Grangers?” Abraxas asked curiously and the Granger girl behind him hesitated slightly before looking up at him, surprisingly seeking his guidance.
Considering how everything about their supposed relation was being made up on the fly, Tom felt a tad bit nervous – there was simply too many variables to take into consideration, so many things that could go wrong.
“Abraxas, Hermione lost her family recently. There is no need to remind her of her loss,” he said, eyeing the blond Malfoy heir with narrowed eyes. “Now, if both of you would leave, I have a family emergency to tend to.”
The two Purebloods nodded and left, though not before stealing a curious glance over their shoulders at the girl.
Tom turned to her the second they had left the shop. She shrank under his steely stare.
“The next time I ask you to stay where you are, I expect you to do so,” he told her sternly and noted with some amusement how she seemed to puff up in indignation. “You are a time traveler, Miss Granger. You understand how precocious your situation is, do you not? If the Ministry were to figure out your existence, you would be taken and never seen nor heard from again.”
The girl had paled considerably during his speech, and he thought for a moment she might faint, though to her credit she didn’t.
“The Ministry wouldn’t do that.” She said, though her voice were wavering and when he skimmed the surface of her thoughts lightly, he saw the gaunt face of a young dark-haired boy that was left in the questionable care of his abusive Muggle relatives.
She didn’t believe her own statement it seemed.
“They would if and when they find out, Miss Granger,” Tom assured her. “As I’m sure you’re aware, you are a child that somehow ended up in the past. You have nothing, you are no one here and if your existence were to be found out by the wrong people, your life would be forfeit.”
Her doubt in the people that was supposedly in charge could be used and exploited. He just had to play on her insecurities and fears.
“I had considered assisting you,” he continued and forced himself not to smirk at the way her face lit up with hope at that. “But you have proven to be unable to listen to and follow even the simplest of commands. If you cannot even stay when told to, how can I expect you to follow any other order of mine? You must understand, Miss Granger, if I help you, my life will also be on the line. Not just yours.”
She looked on the verge of tears again and Tom felt the warmth of satisfaction spread throughout his body. If she was too afraid to disobey, she could be useful. Her knowledge of the future would come in handy and considering how he could feel the raw magical strength within her tiny body, she might even end up becoming one of his strongest weapons as well.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice small and truly pitiful, her large honey-colored eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I won’t do it again.”
Tom forced a look of regret on his face.
“I’m truly sorry, Miss Granger. But the risk is too high for me to consider when you cannot follow my orders,” he told her, his voice somber and full of regret he didn’t feel. “Now, I think it is best if you leave. I wish you luck.”
He nudged her towards the door of the shop, completely ignoring her pitiful sniffling as she dragged her feet to the front door. She was clearly expecting him to take back what he had just said but he wouldn’t. Not yet.
A few days of misery would make her desperate enough to go along with his demands. If she had been older, it most likely would not have worked. He had a feeling she would be a force to be reckoned with once she grew out of her teenage insecurities but alas, she had not reached that point yet.
She was still only a child who clearly believed in the good of the adults around her. Her naivety would be what played her right into his arms, willing to do anything to keep his protection.
Tom had to give it to her. She was stubborn and willful and oh so very smart. She had lasted much longer than he had thought she would, nearly two weeks had gone by since he had last spoken to her.
Thankfully, she was still a child and had, predictably returned to the only adult that knew of her circumstances and who had showed her nothing but kindness in her time of need.
“Can I help you, Miss?” he said, his voice cool and his face closed off.
She looked tired, with dark rings under her eyes, a bruise forming near her left temple. Her bushy hair was lank, greasy and matted and her clothes were dirty and smelly. A rumble echoed in the shop, and he had to force himself not to smile knowingly when she blushed in shame.
“I… I need your help…” she whispered and oh, the sound of her begging was exquisite. “Please.”
Tom pretended to sigh, pretended to think it over, pretended to hesitate as he took the pathetic child in front of him in.
“I already told you, Miss Granger, you cannot fol-“ he began but a steely glint in those honey-colored orbs and the slight crackle of magic amidst her lank curls had him pause.
“I know what you said, Mr. Riddle. But I can follow orders, I will listen, please, I won’t ever disobey you.” She ground out, angry, her little hands clenching into tight fists.
While Tom didn’t like to be interrupted while he was speaking, he decided not to blame the girl. She was desperate and would learn in time.
He pretended again. Let her stand there, wallowing in her own misery and the seemingly impossibility of her situation, before giving a slow, hesitant nod.
“If you can follow my orders, I will help you,” he agreed slowly and the way her eyes lit up almost made him grin. “But you need to swear on your magic that you will follow every single order I give you without hesitating or questioning me. I can’t keep you alive and from the clutches of those who would sooner see you dead than allow a child with so much dangerous knowledge wander freely, if you question every single one of my orders.”
She hesitated, briefly, before she gave a slow, uncertain nod. Tom tried not to let his satisfaction show.
“Very well. Come back tonight at six. That’s when my workday ends.” He told her and watched with some cruel satisfaction as her face fell.
Oh well. She needed to be punished for her stubbornness. She should have placed her faith in him within the first couple of days. It was better to start removing that unwanted trait of hers as soon as possible.
Watching her leave, shoulders slumped, he couldn’t help feeling like the girl would be his strongest, perhaps even the most loyal, of his followers. It had truly been the universe’s way of acknowledging his greatness when she landed in the middle of the shop that fateful day.