Tempus Viatorum

Chapter 16

He hadn't been entirely pleased with Hermione during the summer. Correction: he had been livid with the girl.

First she had gone and left him without so much as a word, and then she didn't respond to a single bloody letter he sent her. He even sent her fucking flowers, and he hadn't gotten so much as a thank you. How dare she ignore him?

Tom was almost embarrassed over how many bouquets he sent using the Malfoys' endless amount of flowers. A small part of him hoped she wouldn't figure out that each one had a meaning.

Tom was much too proud to admit to his bruised feelings, but the acidic feeling in his stomach hadn't gone away since June. Instead he turned to anger, his constant companion through life.

Only, he hadn't been able to stay mad at Hermione after they came back to Hogwarts. He got out what he needed to say on their first night, and it was like his anger fizzled after that.

Tom entered her room that very first night back with the intention of hurting her. But when he saw her sleeping so fitfully, a frown in between her brows, he decided that was enough torment – for now. He did spend a good half hour or so worsening her nightmares, however. There was an end to his lenience.

Hermione had gone back to playing by his rules, with some exceptions. The constant fighting over magical theories could be seen as exasperating, but Tom saw it as more like foreplay.

There wasn't much in this world that got him as turned on as Hermione did when she got all worked up about their differences of opinion. He particularly enjoyed when she'd get so angry her hair started to crackle with energy, a hidden sort of rawness visible in her eyes.

They fought, and occasionally it'd be immensely tiring, but more often than not he'd consider it intriguing. Whenever that happened, he couldn't help but to let his mind wander, picturing her above him and deeply penetrated by his throbbing member.

Tom found himself imagining her on top of him more and more. He imagined her hair would sparkle with energy as she orgasmed on his cock the same way it did whenever she was furious. He imagined her breasts bouncing, her taking his dick deeply and fully. But with every scenario, there was one in particular he always came back to; having Hermione cuddled up in his arms, shaking with the afterglow of their combined orgasms.

During the first month of term, they reverted back into an amiable routine – despite a few altercations.

Those had been on him, of course. But then again, he simply wanted answers. And she was still refusing him. It was infuriating. She was infuriating.

Was it really so hard to listen to him? To just hear him out? Tom thought himself to have given her too much leverage to move around with, and yet she'd fight him for even more. He didn't quite understand.

He hadn't forgotten how she made him feel, or behave, during the summer. He knew he needed to make her pay for it before he could move on entirely. But things had just started to get somewhat better between the two of them again, and he had to admit himself hesitant to destroy the hard-fought peace.

As they entered October, she began to accept his advancements. Nothing more than a few touches, no. But still, he could play with her mesmerising hair, touch her neck or even her cheek; and she'd lean into the touches instead of drawing away from him.

It told him that she'd eventually come around. Eventually, she'd let him in fully, just as he had planned her to. There wasn't a human alive that had seen his tender side the way Hermione had, and he knew it was getting to her.

She had a way of bringing that side out of him as well, and he had to admit to having gone easier on his Knights as of late. Not to say he didn't crucio some of them from time to time, but they had all been on their best behaviour since the summer. Tom didn't quite know if it was because of how angry he had been during the summer when he took it out on them, or if they simply learned to not fuck things up.