19|| Knight to B3
Perhaps it is the wanky schedule she is already used to, given the past few months in both the 1940s and the 1990s, filled with power struggles and unnecessary stresses for such youth. But then again, Hermione is not one to conclude on such things without proof, not feeling particularly inclined to research into why she is not exhausted. After all, she is quite busy fighting off the Dark Lord from inside his ranks and divulging his secrets once and for all. And thus, she does not bare one shred of tiredness when she appears at the Knight meeting on that Sunday night, her eyes as absorbing, yet sharp, as ever.
Unsurprisingly, given his warning of business the previous night, Tom is quick in his arrival and departure from the meeting, making excuses as he spies thoroughly upon the mystery of Dumbledore at every chance. But during the meeting, his desire to flee to his promising duties becomes all the more poignant given the idiocracy of his troops. Not only is Rosier failing his mission, but Mulciber's group has no new information on Grindelwald from the Ministry. Indeed, the only positive outlook is the marking of Crabbe and Goyle with the Dark Mark, though their whimpers of ignorance weaken Tom's joy of recruitment. Hermione watches as he grows angrier through the night, Crucio-ing five of them, and finally storming out after Hermione's thorough report. And though Hermione was not tired prior to the meeting, or even during, she finds herself emotionally exhausted by her fears, slinking back to room and collapsing into sleep, only to be awoken for school early the next morning.
Hermione did not think she could ever hate the classes and schoolwork at Hogwarts, and indeed, she still doesn't. However, the sheer joy of learning is diluted by her loneliness in class, having to isolate herself from Abraxas and Clarence under Tom's sharp eyes. And even that boy, as evil as he is, leaves her to eternal aloneness, too busy with spying to bear her a single look after classes end. So, with no one left to distract her, Hermione thinks over her future with Harry and Ron, her plans for the raging war, and how she's to complete her plan by the end of this school year. But with the very monster himself inhabiting these walls, his company now lost to duty, Hermione realizes that she misses his company, not only because it kept her from thinking. Tom Riddle may be a pureblood supremacist, child murderer, and evil monster, but he is the only one Hermione's been able to have an academic discussion with in her many years of magical learning. His smarts match her own in more ways than one, contradicting her yet giving her great joy in arguments. And just as she begins to fear that she enjoys his company, Hermione realizes this is indeed the case.
Wednesday arrives in a fog of loneliness, grief, and guilt--negative emotions, yet only fitting for the company she now keeps. Hermione takes to teaching the Knights with ease and with a greater fervor--anything to distract herself--as she instructs them in the Flipendo and Furnunculus spellwork. They accept her lessons easily enough, distinguishable through her lonely fogginess, coming to accept her as a leader over them, much like Tom, yet not his equal. Rather, it is a reluctant acceptance of her knowledge and the fact she holds Tom's respect that keeps them in line; and this serves to show Hermione that these boys have a great ability in fighting, bad for her cause but bright for her present. By this point, they are well armed with most spells.
Friday morning's Defense class is ever the boring lesson with no duels to be fought and only Merrythought to drone on-and-on. Tom Riddle sits at her side, his typical position in hindering her relationship with Abraxas, his hand scribbling down notes despite the fact he already knows of all this darkness. And yet, Hermione does the same, throwing herself fully into classwork to hide her aching heart, only for it to plummet as the class is dismissed and she remembers the future.
Hermione, overcome by some need to communicate with anyone other than professors, rushes after the Dark Lord at great speed--nearly running--as she takes to a question she's held since two nights before. Around the two, solely due to Tom Riddle, kids cower away and girls swoon at his powerful and strutting sight, more fitting of a catwalk than the halls of a wizarding institution, Hermione is sure.
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Veal & Venison {Tomione || 1940s/1990s}
Fanfiction#180 in Fanfiction || #1 in Hermione || In the language of literature, there exists a seemingly-concrete, antonymous relationship between good and evil, light and dark, hero and monster. And yet, we often disregard the transition from one to anothe...
