A Promise Unspoken

CHAPTER 4

Thorfinn Rowle watched the curly-haired little Gryffindor girl across the Great Hall where she sat all alone, her nose buried in a book as she picked at her food. He'd been watching her daily since the incident in the library and keeping an even closer eye on her since their second encounter in the hallway when the little witch had caught him shagging Becky Selwyn. It was clear to him that Hermione Granger was a bit of a social pariah, even in her own house, for her studious nature and her utter swottiness. Something he'd experienced first-hand. He'd been contemplating how best to exact his revenge on the little tattle-tale for ratting him out mid blowjob weeks ago.

If he was being honest, watching the way she twitched and flinched every time she spotted him watching her or every time she had to pass him in the corridors was almost revenge enough. Almost. She was positively terrified of what he planned to do to her and the bravado she'd showed in the corridor after catching him with Selwyn seemed to have dried up again. Clearly his reputation, either as a short-tempered arsehole or simply as a Slytherin, proceeded him and the little cub was terrified of what he might do to her.

As well she should be.

The plans he had forming in his mind were beyond reprehensible but that was half the fun, wasn't it? The things he planned to do to that little witch would ruin her life. She'd almost cost him everything. His family. His future. His inheritance. His career. Even his merlin-cursed education. Her little act of tattling on him had almost ripped all of that away from him and he wasn't going to take that lying down. No, Thorfinn had a plan in mind that would cost her everything she had almost cost him. She was going to rue the day she drew his ire. Hermione Granger would one day lament ever having laid eyes on Thorfinn Rowle.

Not that he was actually all that pissed off at her for catching him and telling on him, when he thought about it. Sure, she'd ratted on him but he'd still come before being interrupted by Pince. He'd still ticked that off his Hogwarts Rite of Passage task-list. And anyway, it gave him an excuse not to have that awkward dismissive conversation with the Hufflepuff tart he'd talked into blowing him when he was done with her and no longer wanted to look at her sideways. Saved him the easy let-down that would undoubtedly have turned cold-fury shut-down when the pushy little swot wouldn't take no for an answer.

That said, he couldn't let the little lion cub think she'd got off scott-free for being a tattle-tale. That wouldn't do. If she wanted to survive this place the girl was going to have to stop being such a swot, get her nose out of those books, stop showing off in class - the Malfoy kid never shut up about her know-it-all ways in the classroom - and she was going to have to learn to keep shit to herself. Thorfinn wasn't above teaching the little brat. Even if she had kept quiet about Selwyn. She would learn to keep her mouth shut and she would learn that all of her actions had consequences. Unpleasant consequences.

The question was, how exactly would he do it?

He reckoned she wasn't likely to actually be intimidated by him if push came to shove. The little brat was rumoured to have run off after that troll that had broken into the school, intent on taking it on all by herself. If not for the Boy Who Lived and his ginger side-kick the swot would likely be dead. But if she had the stones to willingly seek out a fully grown Mountain Troll and try to take it on by herself even though she was just an ickle first year, he wasn't sure she'd be so intimidated by him. She might looked petrified of what he could do to her but she would likely turn on him all claws and fangs if she lost her temper.

Now that would be a sight to see. It had been sight enough when she'd snapped and snarled at him the other night in the corridor, clobbering him with that heavy tome she'd been reading and sneering at him as though he weren't twice her size and capable of literally snapping her in half in he wanted to. She'd packed quite the magical punch too when she'd hit him with that Stinging Hex, her magic lashing out spitefully in her fury with him.