Veal & Venison {Tomione || 1940s/1990s}

22|| Pawn to E4

22|| Pawn to E4

The morning after the party leaves a mess of the Common Room, yet a perfectly content Hermione Granger and Tom Riddle, as if he had not invaded her thoughts just hours ago.  And even if the Dark Lord did it with malicious intentions, Hermione would have pushed the event away, finding Tom waiting for her in the Common Room on that Saturday morning with a fresh cup of coffee and perfect hair.  He smiles at her entrance, obviously expecting her usual routine, as Hermione eyes him with a gleam to her eye.  They are closer now, with jokes exchanged about the others and united in a front against the pettiness of their age.  Tom and Hermione are a duo of smarts, wise for their time, and aged ahead due to the struggles of their pasts.  If Hermione were to have thought about it weeks ago, this friendship would seem logical in progression.

That Saturday and Sunday are spent in the library, studying for classes and outside interests in a community of knowledge that radiates from within them.  Eating when necessary, and always together, the students that see Hermione and Tom feel the magic that they radiate, hers being lighter and his of a potent darkness.  His dark eyes gleam at hers when she talks, admiring her knowledge in all subjects, and her honey-orbs gaze at him with new understanding over academic pursuits.  And by Sunday noon, with many hours spent chatting and working, they are done with classwork and eased from unnecessary reading on interesting topics.

"I've been meaning to ask, but how did you get into Hogwarts when you first arrived?" Tom asks as the two students walk back to the Slytherin dungeons, intending to drop their bags before eating lunch.  His words almost prove to hinder Hermione's movements, but she pushes through with renewed fervor in the ever-present challenge of Tom Riddle.

Perhaps it is foolish for Hermione to act on her sudden thoughts, but she does not immediately see any harm in telling Tom Riddle of the secret-passage to Hogsmeade, his future self already capable of breaking into Hogwarts without it.  She turns to him with a mischievous grin, one that is becoming more comfortable and less fake in this time.  "I'll show you."

Hermione takes them on a detour around the castle, diverging from their direct path to the dungeons to direct him by the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that holds so many secrets.  And upon her approach, Hermione is quick to survey their surroundings, moving closer to the one-eyed witch statue while Tom stares curiously upon her.  He ought not to be so surprised by her actions, and yet, the girl is full of hidden knowledge and dirty secrets.

"Dissendium," Hermione mutters the incantation, the hump of the one-eyed witch opening to the short slide that she's travelled too many times.  Tom Riddle looks slightly startled and overly curious, leaning over the gaping hole to see darkness and nothing of revelation.  It's much smaller than the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, he notices but obviously does not verbalize.

"Where does this go to?" he asks, that Ravenclaw spirit a continual grace of his and almost masking his desire for power and nothing less.

"Honeydukes," Hermione answers with a small smile of remembrance.  "My mother said it's easy to travel unseen when there is a crowd."

"But you arrived at night.  Honeydukes would have been closed."

Hermione blushes under his implications, his grin widening at the look upon her mouth and cheeks as she admits, "I broke in."

Tom Riddle's laughter rings about them as he tries to visualize the goody-bookworm breaking into a candy store in the dawn of darkness.  Hermione's face lapses from a blush into a scowl at the sound, no matter how flattering to his expression.  Her body flinches back but stays firm in her sudden and expected irritation at the boy.