Tempus Viatorum

Chapter 6

Hermione Granger was avoiding him. As was Draco Malfoy. There was something off about them that he couldn't quite place. So naturally, he had made everyone keep tabs on them. Include them, if you may.

Draco was easy, since he was a Malfoy he already held a spot at the table. He had however surprised Tom with his wits. Draco had been showing a real knack for whatever spell Tom showed them, and even successfully completed a task he gave him. However small it was, he had still delivered.

There had been a little mishap with one of their... test subjects, and Draco had received the honour of obliviating the mudblood. And what a memory charm indeed. As expected, Tom had used legilimens to see how thorough Draco had been with the charm and was pleasantly surprised.

Draco had yet to learn his rightful place, but that came with time. Tom hoped his cousin Abraxas would guide him in the right direction, he sure had a way with words after all.

Granger however...

From the start she avoided his advancements, never really giving him the time of day – if you didn't count the handful of times he beat her to a question during classes. This earned him a glare so dark he thought he had imagined it at first. She was nothing if not competitive.

She never acted like any of the girls he knew; she talked back to whoever and snapped at anyone who tried to tell her off. She didn't put in as much thought to her appearance as the other Slytherin girls. She had slapped Lorenzo Avery in the face in front of a whole class, only to proceed to act like nothing had happened. Hermione Granger was feisty, she didn't take no for an answer and always had a witty comeback.

She was... a mystery. And he wanted to know just what secrets she held in that bushy head of hers.

The only problem was, she wouldn't fucking talk to him.

It was Wednesday and they had double Transfiguration. Tom made a point to seat himself next to her, and the witch tensed up like he had yelled at her or something. It was almost like she was scared of him, which would be utter hogwash considering he had done nothing but play the perfect prefect to her. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he assessed her, before pasting on his most charming smile.

"Good morning, Miss Granger. How did you sleep?"

Hermione jumped like a skittish cat before turning towards him with big eyes. She held so much expression in those, didn't she? He wondered if she knew just how much information she was giving him through them. It was terribly easy to see that he frightened her, that he made her extremely nervous and that she wanted nothing more than to ignore him.

"Oh, er. Good, thanks. You?" she finally said after a few seconds.

He could practically hear her pulse thrumming.

"Splendidly," he smiled. "I hope you do not mind, I seated myself next to you today. I've been terribly intrigued by that big brain of yours."

Her eyes grew even bigger.

"M-my brain? What about it?" she stammered.

"You're terribly clever, surely you must know this. I figured we'd study even better together. What do you say?"

"Oh. No... I'm... I study better alone, thanks," she said quickly before turning her attention back to what Professor Dumbledore was saying.

Tom narrowed his eyes at her but bit down the retort that was dancing on his tongue. Instead, he rolled his tongue over his upper teeth and turned away from her.