Braving the Past

Chapter 7: A Wonderful Turn of Events

"Lestrange?" Tom called upon seeing his knight striding down the hallway.

"My L...Tom," Antony Lestrange said awkwardly as a kid walked past them with a strange look.

Tom ground his teeth. "You should know only to call me that when we're alone."

"I'm sorry, Riddle."

"Why aren't you following Granger?"

"That's why I'm here," Antony said. "I thought you might want to know that she went to see Professor Dumbledore today."

"So? According to her backstory, she's close to him or something."

Antony shook his head. "I think this was something different."

"Go on, then, I have Head duties to do," Tom said impatiently, crossing his arms.

"Well...er...I'll just cut straight to the interesting part..." After receiving a raised eyebrow from Tom, Antony continued. "They had a conversation about when the full moon was – "

"Why should I care if Granger and Dumb talk about the weather?" Tom interrupted.

"Er...Hermione asked about the possible effects it could have? And...Professor Dumbledore wondered if she wanted to consider potions, but she said she was hoping it wouldn't be needed."

Tom thought for a moment, looking at Anton with a scrutinizing gaze while the boy shuffled his feet nervously.

"Thank you for this revitalizing news, Lestrange, now I suggest you make sure someone is watching Granger next time you decide to relay such useless information."

Anton scurried off hurriedly and Tom made his way to the Great Hall for dinner. Hermione was, once again, absent. How was the girl even alive?

He found her reading in their shared common room in front of the fire, her feet curled up underneath her on the soft chair. She spared him but a small glance up before returning to her book with increased fervor.

Tom, still put off that she was able to resist him so, merely strode into his room and locked the door behind him. Her continued stubbornness had Tom pulling at his hair as he paced back and forth in front of his four-poster, wondering what else he could possibly do to convince her to share her secrets.

The next morning, the sound of squealing woke Tom up from his sleep. He shoved his door open, hair in complete disarray, looking in on the scene before him.

Angela Brown – that would be the cause of the screaming – was speaking animatedly to an equally disgruntled-looking Hermione, who was raising an eyebrow at her new friend.

"How did you even get in here?" Hermione was asking.

Angela waved this off with her hand. "I was good friends with Cindy before her parents took her out of school during the holidays." Cindy was the Head Girl before her parents got all paranoid about keeping her safe while Grindelwald was creating chaos.

"Cindy's in Ravenclaw," Tom said from his doorway, alerting both girls to his presence. Hermione uncomfortably crossed her arms over her chest after jumping a foot in the air like always.

"Well, we Gryffindors don't discriminate based on House, Tom, unlike Slytherins," Angela snapped before turning back to Hermione. "Anyway, this weekend is our first Hogsmeade trip after our holiday! And you're coming with us."

"I take it I'm not being given a choice on this," Hermione deducted with squinted eyes. Tom rolled his eyes and slowly made to take a shower to avoid any girl talk.

"Last trip Jonathan started a snowball fight with some Ravenclaw boys, and Phillip got surprisingly into it!" Angela laughed. "He accio'd his Quidditch broom and started pelting the Ravenclaws from above hardcore."

Tom was surprised to hear Hermione let out the first laugh he'd ever heard from her, and he stopped in his tracks, his hand freezing on the bathroom door.

"I had some old friends that did something a lot like that," Hermione laughed. "Beauxbatons has a small village a lot like Hogsmeade that we got to visit, and there was one day some...er...boys were being particularly rude, so Harry cast a...uh...Disillusionment charm on himself and threw snowballs at their faces and acted like a ghost until they freaked out and ran off."

Angela let out a loud laugh. "I've got to meet this friend of yours! It sounds like he and Phillip would get along extremely well."

And just like that, Hermione's smile was all but gone.

"Yeah," she said sadly. "I could see that."

Tom finally closed the door, reducing the rest of their chatter to mumbles. Hermione had just shared her past with Angela. And it seemed to Tom as if memory had been genuine, for the most part.

So if he really wanted to know who Hermione Granger was, he was going to have to open up himself, and share some of his own past with her. It didn't seem too difficult, for Tom was an excellent liar. All he had to do was make up a few stories, and he'd soon have everything he'd been trying for.

What a wonderful turn of events.

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Sorry it's such a short chapter, you guys! I promise I'll make it up to you with a longer one tomorrow.

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