Invictus [Tom Riddle / Tomione]

I Put a Spell On You

I Put a Spell on you...
Because you're mine.

The dinner party was like an enormous Slytherin House reunion. There were far more people in attendance than Hermione had originally anticipated. The guest list included many families, The Yaxleys, the Rowles, the Bulstrodes, the Flints and Fawleys, the Crouches and Carrows, and the Abbotts. Then, of course, there were Tom's Death Eaters: Edward Rosier, Charles Macnair, Orin Mulciber, Ida and Cora Greengrass, Cygnus and Walburga Black, on the arm of Orion Black, Druella Rosier, Maximillian Dolohov, Daegan Rookwood, William Avery, Acacius Nott, and Rodolphus Lestrange.

Not only were they all there, but so were their parents .

It was a glorified sacred twenty-eight dinner party. Hermione felt nauseous.

Imagine if they all knew she had mudblood carved into her left arm.

They'd all piss themselves.

She was grateful that her spells and glamours had held up well on that arm.

Hermione felt everyone's eyes on her as she walked into the drawing room. Alphard had his hand resting casually around her waist as he guided her into the room. They had arrived after the dinner by design, because Hermione didn't feel like eating dinner with a bunch of Death Eaters. Talk about losing one's appetite. She could only imagine the topics that had circulated at that table.

Hermione swallowed nervously; not because of the stares, but because she hadn't been in this room since Bellatrix Lestrange had tortured her brutally with the cruciatus curse.

Hermione felt her breathing growing shallow, dizziness threatening to swallow her vision, but thankfully, the euphoria elixir kept her sanity intact. She had another in her beaded bag on her wrist, just in case.

"Alphard!" Druella Rosier sidled up to the eldest black son, wrapping her arm around his waist in a friendly side hug. "Long time, no see! I've missed your witty banter." She winked at him and he laughed in return.

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Dru. Have you met Miss Dumbledore?"

The younger woman cast a wary glance at Hermione. "I think we may have met at the Ostara Ball back in March. How do you do, Miss Dumbledore?"

Hermione gave her a genuine smile and bowed her head, then held her hand out and they shook hands. It was a stilted reunion, but not entirely unfriendly. She suspected that Druella was a kind person at heart, but possessed certain loyalties, being the best friend of Walburga Black.

"I'm delighted to make your reacquaintance, Miss Rosier."

Hermione glanced about the room but did not see Tom Riddle.

She did, however, capture the gaze of her escort's sister, Walburga. The eldest Black daughter's blue eyes were iced over and frigid, openly communicating her hatred for Hermione. Hermione smiled back at her, refusing to let the bitch intimidate her.

Alphard was the perfect buffer for unwanted attention, as well as a pleasant bridge to the other guests, as he guided her painlessly around the room, making introductions and bringing her much-appreciated flutes of champagne.

"I don't know what I would do at these things without you, Alphard," Hermione muttered under her breath.

His arm tightened around her waist and he turned to her. "Glad to be of service, Hermione." He said her name with an intimate inflection and a lowering of his voice. Her eyes lifted to his, and she found him gazing at her hungrily, his stare devouring every detail of her face.

Hermione swallowed.

She had caught him looking at her like this more and more frequently of late. Her breath caught in her throat.