Revelation
For as long as I have had the pleasure of knowing Hermione Granger, I have known her to be hotheaded.
It might not be how most would opt to describe the witch, but it is how I know her best to be.
• • •
Hermione weasled her way through the crowd swiftly, walking to the far end of the table so as to avoid contact with any of the other Slytherins.
Looking to the side, she could see Tom seated with his friends- a large group of people ranging from burly to scrawny, consisting both girls and boys. He seemed to be quite the popular one. Even though Hermione could not listen into his conversations, she could see the girls that were clearly fawning over him.
Scowling to herself, Hermione turned to the food on the table and helped herself to small portions. She felt isolated, even as she was cutting into her food, no one approached her. Not a single greeting, nothing but side eyes and annoyed glances. Hermione scoffed, as if she needed their friendship. All she needed was to go back to the future and seek medical help for whatever damage she had done to her body whilst ingesting experimental potions.
Then she needed to work her way through the legal setbacks, though she was certain no previous laws existed prohibiting her current actions. "Hermione," Tom's voice cut through her reverie, "I did not take you as a social recluse," he jested.
Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You don't seem to have the personality befitting a popular kid either."
Tom grinned, "obviously, the face makes up for what the personality lacks." Hermione scrunched her face up in distaste, not even bothering to hide her scowl. Sure, he was mildly attractive (read: incredibly attractive) and he had quite the taste in books (read: smart), not to mention his status as head boy (read: responsible). But that surmounted to nothing when you conversed with him, she huffed.
"You're quite full of yourself." Hermione stated factually.
"No, I am quite sure of myself." Tom corrected, sliding into the seat opposite Hermione, helping himself to some salad.
"Do you have something you'd like to say?" Hermione sighed, wanting him to go away.
"Oh, is my presence a bother?" Tom asked, furrowing his eyebrows innocently.
Hermione tsked, arching an eyebrow, "well, yeah," she jut out her thumb towards the direction of all of Tom's friends, who were looking at the pair with badly masked curiousity, "your entire gang over there is staring holes into the side of my face."
Tom turned to look at them before shrugging, "they look like averagely curious bystanders to me."
Hermione stabbed her chicken with a fork, "exactly what is there to be curious about me eating?" She snapped, sounding nearly incredulous. Tom opened his mouth to answer, but was swiftly quietened by the head of Slytherin house approaching their table. Professor Horace Slughorn was walking straight towards Hermione, jovially stopping to chatter with any student that greeted him before he finally stopped in front of her.
"Ah, Tom, M'boy! Good to see you keeping the newcomer company," he winked at Tom, as if they were sharing an inside joke.
Tom gave him an amicable smile, "of course, Professor. It is my duty." He was offensively charming.
Slughorn laughed, obviously pleased with Tom's response, but turned to address Hermione. "It is nice to meet you Miss Granger, I am the Slytherin head of house, Horace Slughorn. I offer you my warmest welcome. Ah, pardon my intrusion but since it is a weekday I may have to take up a few minutes of your time." Hermione nodded, smiling.
"Could you tell me what your OWL scores were if you have taken any? As well as the subjects you prefer for your NEWTs."
"I got ten OWLs, nine outstandings and one exceeds expectations. My subjects were Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures." She spoke in a long breath, huffing. Slughorn looked a little stupefied but nodded nonetheless.
"And for your NEWTs subjects...?" He asked
Hermione hummed thoughtfully, "Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Potions," she smiled at the Professor. Slughorn nodded cautiously, not seeming confident in her credentials.
"Which subject did you receive an exceeds expectations on?" He quizzed.
Hermione answered without missing a beat, thought she had been quite embarassed and distressed about this particular score, "Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor." Slughorn considered her for a moment, before nodding and walking away.
"A smart one aren't you," Tom spoke mockingly.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "why, do you need a tutor?" She teased back.
Tom smirked, looking quite cocky, "I am afraid I received all O's, not to mentioned I took 11 subjects. If you ever need tutoring for Defence Against the Dark Arts on the other hand..." he trailed off, looking down at her with his increasingly slappable face. I would pay to land a punch.
Hermione scoffed, "well, no one likes a fucking know-it-all, Tom." She pushed her plate away, feeling her appetite drain by the second.
Tom shrugged, finishing up his salad quite diligently. "Would you like me to show you around?" Hermione bit down on her tongue, it would be too suspicious to just know but she would prefer to spend less time with this loathsome fool. Of course she only had to hold on until he showed her to the common room. For even the first years were expected to navigate their way through the castle on their own.
"I would be grateful," she smiled despite her eye twitching in annoyance.
Tom grinned at her, "wonderful. I have just finished, so shall we?" He extended an arm courteously. Hermione sighed, feeling for her wand in her holster.
"We shall," she mumbled, getting up and walking over to him.
The pair walked out the Great Hall with more just a few pairs of eyes glued to their backs. Hermione could almost hear the uproar once they were out of sight. She gave Tom a quizzical look, "I wonder what that is about..." she thought aloud.
Tom grinned charmingly, "Is it not obviously about the war veteran and the most popular boy in school leaving together? Not to mention the boy happens to be your saviour." He winked. Hermione looked appalled. She pulled back and with great restraint, held back from kicking him in the shin. She barely hid the disgust in her expression, making Tom feign hurt with a hand to his chest. "But I must say, I am curious to find out about your abilities, my war heroine."
Hermione guffawed, my war heroine?! "Mind your own business, Tom. Did you not know that curiousity kills the cat?"
"Oh but my dear, satisfaction brought it back. Not to mention I quite enjoy puzzles," he shrugged nonchalantly. The pair walked towards the direction of the Library, side by side, though Hermione knew that with Tom's long legs, he was likely pacing himself to accompany her. "This is the Hogwarts Library, it has quite the extensive range of books. It is divided into two sections, the restricted and unrestricted section. You need special permission for the restricted section obviously," he raised his hand to gesture inwards, "it is typically open until 8pm."
Hermione eyed his hand, the gleam of which caught her eye. "What's that?" She asked, staring intently at his hand. Her face grew taut.
"Huh? A family heirloom." He brought his hand towards her, looking obviously confused at the blatant disgust on her face.
She recognised the ring instantly. How could she not, it had been what ailed the greatest wizard alive, Albus Dumbledore, what led him to his demise. The resurrection stone sitting atop the gold band made her stomach lurch. "Y-you're Tom Riddle," she said in a moment of gobsmacked reality. She did not know what else to say
Tom nodded, "am I supposed to know you...?" He trailed off awkwardly, pulling his hand back.
Hermione stared at him blankly. "No." She felt disgusted, somehow. Knowing she had a civilised conversation with the likes of him, felt like a crime.
"Okay..." he waited for her to say something, but the longer Hermione stood quietly the angrier she got.
"You know what? I can't do this, I hate you!" She screamed the last part, stomping her way back to where they had come from. I cannot believe I did not realise sooner, Hermione sniffled.
Hermione left the boy standing in front of the Library's entrance, looking befuddled. She stomped out of sight, leaning against the wall as she wondered what she ought to do. Irritated with herself for not knowing where the Slytherin common room was, she stomped back out to face the heir of Slytherin. "Oi!" She snapped. "Show me where the Slytherin common room is," she crossed her hands over her chest, tapping her feet expectantly as she avoided the gaze of Tom Riddle, who barely held in his laughter.
"Of course," he spoke, ever so pompous. He walked forth as took the lead this time, not caring for the witch. The pair walked in thick silence, with Hermione huffing and scowling to herself every few minutes. "Would you like to say something?" He questioned, though he did not seem interested in knowing her answer. He's mocking me!
Hermione opened her mouth, as if to yell, but wired it shut almost immediately. Voldemort does not deserve to talk to me, she huffed once more, making Tom roll his eyes. "You know, love and hate are two faces of the same coin. You might just fall in love with me if you keep this up." He grinned, winking at her.
Hermione recoiled, face reddening, "as if I would fall in love with you!" She snapped.
Tom laughed at her reaction, but did not answer as they reached the portrait of a serpent, "Astrea," He whispered, making the snake hiss as the portrait pushed open to reveal a hole in the wall.
Tom climbed in first, making Hermione follow him. The Slytherin common room was a beautiful, spacious area. The colour palette was true to Slytherin, green and silver. A beautiful combination. There were several sets of chess tables and seats littered around the area, with long windows surrounding the room, giving them a view to the bottom of the lake. A massive chandelier below which two couches faced one another with a coffee table in between. Even though the place was so far away from her home, the Gryffindor common room being on top of a tower, it had a sense of homeliness to it. Hermione ignored the Slytherin head boy and plopped onto one of the seats, arms crossed waiting for a prefect to come by instead.
The common room was fairly empty, it being likely that most students were either at dinner or sneaking around the castle. A couple of younger kids were playing exploding snap on one of the chess tables. Tom watched Hermione with evident amusement, taking a seat away from her in order to watch her irritable behavior. Hermione avoided looking into the latter's eyes at all costs, opting to watch the flames as she waited.
She was so greatly immersed in her menial task, Hermione had lost track of time as well as the presence of the Dark Lord. She turned to look at him, curious as his eyes had been removed from her. He was currently conversing with a couple of boys.
He looked... surprisingly average. He was more than just a little attractive, but she had known as much, it was his demeanour that surprised her. Sure, the first night he had seemed a tad bit angry, but Hermione pinned it on bad timing rather than a psychological disorder. He fit in perfectly with the crowd, even their laughter was in sync. He seemed to make jokes too, the poster boy for perfection and normalcy.
Hermione kept waiting, sat on her spot unmoving. It was when her boredom peaked that the feeling of drowsiness suddenly washed over her. Tom noticed almost immediately, pulling away from the crowd expertly as he snaked his way to Hermione, "not here," he whispered, grabbing her by the forearm. Hermione followed behind him, unable to fight back and not trusting her own feet to keep her up long enough to hide, either.
He pulled her out of the common room, further down the corridor, where to Hermione did not know. She followed behind him with into nearly pitch black darkness before her knees gave out. She fell forward, almost making contact with the ground before Tom held her up with a hand around her waist. He watched with mesmerised eyes as reality became increasingly blurry within Hermione's sight. Thin, almost invisible lines clouded her vision. Tom raised a hand to Hermione's cheek, stroking it. Hermione nearly whimpered at how cold his hands felt. Like those of a corpse. Finally, when her head felt too heavy to hold up, she blinked, her head dropping.
When she opened her eyes, she was in the same alley she had been in the last time she travelled back. It was afternoon, just as it had been. Hermione felt a dull throb in the back of her head, making the decision to just apparate back to her flat a quick one.
With a pop she was whisked away to her flat. When she regained her footing, the place looked familiar enough to Hermione, save for the blond haired ferret in her living space. No matter how Hermione tried to justify that her own past actions changed this future she was in, she could not wrap her head around the fact that anything in the world could possibly make Draco Malfoy so comfortable in herhome. "Hello," Hermione spoke cautiously.
The blond boy had a big bowl of popcorn on his lap and was engrossed on the movie playing on the telly. Hermione waited for his response momentarily, "hello!" She finally snapped after she failed to garner Malfoy's attention. Malfoy jumped off the couch, falling backwards under a shower of buttery popcorn.
He scowled before his eyes landed on Hermione, brightening almost immediately, "Hermione!" He laughed, getting up and making a run towards her. Unable to process the situation herself, Hermione just made a run for the opposite direction to stay out of his grasp. "Hermione?" Malfoy mumbled, clearly confused. Yet, he stayed hot on her trail, trying to catch up to the smaller witch.
"What do you want?" Hermione shrieked, trying to avoid Malfoy's hands from touching her. Malfoy pouted, almost diving right for her before he fell onto the floor.
"Come on!" He snapped from the ground, "why are you running?"
"Why are you running?" She retorted, holding up her hand as she hunched over to catch her breath. Cushions and popcorn was sprawled all around them. Hermione wheezed with great effort, "alright, let's just call a truce for a minute." Malfoy nodded from the ground, heaving breaths.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione finally snapped after she caught her breath.
Malfoy scoffed, "seriously, I wonder what. What a truly mysterious mystery," his voice was thick with sarcasm.
Hermione sneered at the blond boy, "I am not playing right now."
Malfoy raised his arms in mock surrender, before grinning at her, "did you not beg me to come with you," Hermione removed her wand from its holster, "alright maybe there was no begging involved now that I think about it. Woah, 'Mione. Are you alright?" He got up from the floor cautiously, reaching a hand up to Hermione, just a second too late.
The uneasiness settled into Hermione, she staggered forward to hold onto Malfoy's hand, but much to her dismay, after she blinked she found herself on the floor of a Hogwarts corridor. In front of her, Tom riddle was leaning against a wall with his eyes shut and jaw clenched. "Hello," Hermione chirped.
"You," Tom sneered, charging at her, "what are you?"