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

36|| Pawn to A5

36|| Pawn to A5

Quickly preparing in her dormitory for the Quidditch game, Hermione has some final moments of thought before she casts herself off into the crowds of cheering students and the company of the Dark Lord. Having showered to extinguish the chill of her blood and erase the mud from her skin, the girl now adorns all the green she owns (not much), including a Slytherin scarf she'd stolen from Abraxas some time ago. Of course she tried to give it back, but Abraxas found it 'fitting' to her appearance and begged her to keep it. And though she initially intended to return it subtly, there is something about the homeliness of the boy's scarf, some instance of love wrapped across her chest. Like a saving grace.

Finishing off the remainder of her Potions essay, Hermione is left to some minutes of waiting before she departs to the depths of Slytherin cheer, ringing from outside her door. How is it that she's fallen for the Dark Lord, Tom Riddle, the man who's supposedly incapable of love? But she gave him that answer: love is not a concrete force that unites two people, but a perceived emotion felt differently for each person. Hermione does not think she truly loves Tom, at least, not yet. It's been a calm few months of growing closer, without the extreme dangers she's used to facing here in Hogwarts. Hermione doubts she'd be capable of falling for the Dark Lord in a time of personal war, but in peaceful times like these, she's very well capable...and in her own way.

When she travelled back in time, Hermione trusted Dumbledore with her full heart, and she still does to this different day. She felt no need to consider the consequences of her actions on the future, given that Dumbledore needed her to learn of Tom Riddle, and that required a closeness to him. But, thinking of it now, Hermione wonders what will happen when she leaves. Will Tom remember her? Most likely. Will her departure cause him to return to darkness? Again, most likely. Must she then stay here? No, Harry needs her and Dumbledore implies a short vacation to these times. But most of all, how will she affect the future? Hermione will not know until she travels back, that much is certain.

It is an all intensive quandary of massive proportions, capable of changing the lives of numerous wizards, all at a single word on her part. But to the extent that it is important, it cannot be answered and it is giving Hermione a headache, sending her to her feet and out the door of her single bedroom.

The crowds of before are departing before her eyes as she steps into the throng, so packed tight with Slytherins that Hermione has a hard time imagining the amount of rooms needed to fit them all. But with each person comes a harder task of finding the one boy she's meant to meet, her smaller form not much manageable in distinguishing the dark hair of Tom Riddle. From the shoving behind her and pushing beside her, Hermione is barely able to distinguish the touch of one from the rest, only realizing the significance as a hand becomes intertwined with hers. Looking up, Hermione sees the smug grin of the Dark Lord himself as he pulls her from the Common Room, out with the masses but down a different path. She finds that he is far too snake-like in his moves, slithering through the crowds and heaving her less agile form behind him. Practically being manhandled, Hermione is glad to be away from the crowds as they take the longer path to the pitch, Tom's irritability keeping them away from others at all costs.

"What are you thinking about?" Tom asks some minutes later as they move down the hill to the Quidditch stadium, hands still clenched together and bodies close in this connection.

Hermione is being strangely silent and withdrawn in Tom's eyes, only looking up to his dark green irises when he addresses her directly. Honestly, Hermione was thinking about the happenings of the previous night, and moreover, what would have happened if she'd not been able to do her Patronus...or if Voldemort would have 'died.'