dark// tom riddle⚡️

ix

   The New Year's Ball was a great success, everyone had loved the ball except for Ginny Weasley and Albus Dumbledore. Ginny Weasley had broke up with her boyfriend, Micheal Corner and became more reserved than ever because the pressure of the secret was too much for her to hold and she was scared that she would accidentally let it slip. For Albus Dumbledore, on the other hand, he hadn't found out whose body Voldemort was using as a host. Although he had a hunch, he put the New Year's Ball in place to find out if the host body Voldemort was in would approach Hermione Granger but instead nothing happened and Dumbledore was getting frustrated. Without a lead, how could he protect the children of Hogwarts from this dark force? 

   The OWLs had already started and the trio had their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL was the next day. Hermione was sitting on their usual, comfy couch reading the DADA textbooks from over the years calmly while Ron and Harry were revisioning their textbooks and finishing bits of homework they hadn't finished over the years for a bit of extra practice. Hermione had been studying for the OWLs since her third year and felt very confident about tomorrow. Ron and Harry on the other hand, were not as confident as the third member of the trio. Instead they started to cram every single textbook from the past five years in one single night. An hour later, Ron and Harry had become tired and went up to their dorm to fall asleep while Hermione stayed in the common room. She was the only one in the cozy common room now and she stared out the huge window in the crimson room that showcased the full moon beautifully. She felt pity for the werewolfs who were out there, changing into a vicious wolf. Then she thought of Remus Lupin, her third year DADA teacher, the best one they had if you asked the Gryffindors. Suddenly, her necklace glowed a bright gold and vibrated. Hermione heard a soft whisper coming from the necklace. At first, she thought it was all in her head but as she listened closely, she heard that it was indeed coming from the sliver necklace. 

   It whispered, 'Come outside and you will see me. Come outside and we will be reunited once again.' the necklace whispers were high pitched and were dragged out as if a snake was talking to her. Hermione couldn't resist, she tiptoed to the portrait hole and gently pushed it a crack and peeked through to see if anyone was there. Her chocolate eyes searched every crevice of the corridor but she hadn't found anything or anyone. Finally, when Hermione had given up and turned to close the door, she saw a pair of  familiar emerald eyes glistening in the moonlight. She did a double take and the second time she saw them, they were gone. Hermione sighed, thinking that her brain was playing tricks on her so she climbed up the stairs to he dorm to get a good night's sleep in order to be ready for the day to come. 

   In the corridor outside, Tom Riddle emerged from the dark pillar he was hiding from and touched his other half of the necklace which had the initials, HJF. He smiled thoughtfully, something he hadn't done in a long time and it felt foreign on his lips as his muscles stretched. 

   "She is still a Parselmouth." he whispered to himself, "Glad to know that she hasn't lost those powers." he chuckled as he left the other way in the direction of the dungeons. He smiled in spite of himself, 'If she could still talk in Parselmouth, then she must still have the rest of her powers.'

   Hermione Granger, whether she knew it or not, was a very powerful witch. 

~*~

   As the morning sun rays came through the windows and hit Hermione's face like a playful slap, the memories of the night before came flooding back to her. When she had heard the soft whispers of the necklace, she remembered that they sounded exactly like the ones that she heard in second year when the basilisk threatened the old wizarding school. Hermione made a mental note to go to the library after the OWLs to research a bit more about the whispers that she had heard.