Breaking Hermione

Selise

Ok so the video above is Tom Riddle as I see him, played by Christian Coulson. I rewatched HP2 last night and all I can say was I was blown away by Tom Riddle once again (surprise surprise 😂) He's such a hot psychopath. Emphasis on psychopath ;) Also I really want to emphasise here that this book is just me trying to make Tom Riddle seem as evil as J.K Rowling portrays. Thank you to everyone who comments and votes honestly I notice all of you. Enjoy!

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Hermione P.O.V

This was it. Tonight was the School Ball. And I hadn't even decided what I was going to wear yet. Usually of course, I was prepared in advance. But this time I had absolutely nothing to wear that would be appropriate. My date Isabella was going to be wearing a beautiful blue silk gown. I couldn't just wear my casual red dress that I wore when I was with Harry and Ron on Shaftesbury Avenue that night at Bill and Fleur's wedding when we got confronted by Death Eaters. That was nice but it wasn't fit for the occasion. And I wasn't going to be wearing that flouncy white dress that Shalini had conjured up for me for the date I had gone on with Tom, either.

I needed a dress that I felt comfortable in. And it had to look amazing. I wandered the School halls alone deep in thought not realising what was ahead of me until a loud voice broke me from my thoughts.

"...and it is imperative that you all must be in correct dress code. I don't want to have to be denying any of you entry to the Great Hall."

I looked up to see Horace Slughorn standing in the hall ahead of me, bellowing at a small group of students. I walked forward, realising that all the students were in my year.

"Miss Granger! Perfect timing." Slughorn boomed at me. "I gather you will be joining us all in Hogsmeade, then?"

"What? Hogsmeade?" I said stupidly.

I saw a couple of Slytherins in the crowd roll their eyes. Zero Zabini and Xavier Malfoy clearly thought I was an idiot. But no one had told me anything about going to Hogsmeade today. I was always three steps behind these days with all the stress I was under.

"Hogsmeade is the neighbouring village," Slughorn explained as though I had no idea what it was. "There are a select few shops we will all be visiting today, one last chance to purchase dress robes for tonight's Winter Ball. And not to mention the perfect opportunity to have a Butterbeer or two..."

"Great. I'll go." I said.

"Excellent!" Slughorn roared.

Xavier and Zero rolled their eyes again.

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Hogsmeade was definitely not what I expected it to be. I don't know what type of expectations I had but apparently I was expecting absolutely nothing. There were a few decent looking stores, the street was bustling with locals. As soon as all the students arrived they split into two groups, with half going into the 3 Broomsticks and the others going into a small store named Gladrags Wizardware. I followed them, becoming quite interested in what I was going to find. I didn't expect to find such a collection of exquisite dress robes. I honestly thought I would be walking into Ron's aunt Muriel's wardrobe. The shop was tiny, but for what it lacked in size it made up for in the sheer amount of clothing hanging precariously from coat hangers left right and centre. I stepped further into the store, soon almost falling down a flight of stairs hidden at the back.

"Miss! Would you like to see our latest cuts of fabric?" A kindly looking witch asked me from the bottom of the stairs.

"Er- sure, ok." I stammered.

"Come on down, I won't bite!" She smiled at me warmly. I couldn't help but notice she looked almost exactly like Madam Rosmerta. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I looked at her closely. She could almost be Madam Rosmerta's doppelgänger if her hair wasn't bright red.

"Ok, you wait there and I'll bring out the collection." She said happily. "This is a very exciting time for us. Every time Hogwarts throws a Ball we always get new stock. It is a busy time for us." She explained, walking over to a large stack of fabrics.

"Now," She said, walking over with a book of about 15 different fabrics inside it. "What takes your fancy?"

I took the book from her, flipping through the sample pages with interest. Dawn/Dust, a silver and white bedazzled fabric jumped out of the page at me.

"Oh, excellent choice! Most Veela take a particular fancy to this one, which is a wonder since none of them tend to want to buy it. It's a betwitched fabric, it will do wonders for even the most shabby looking witch."

"I guess I'll look great then." I said mildly.

"That's the spirit!" The lady said merrily. "Now, what dress were you looking to buy? Would you like an emphasis on bust? How about an off the shoulder number? You have such beautiful skin. I think that style would look enchanting on you."

"Yeah. Sure." I said quickly. To be perfectly honest I didn't really care what style. I was on a limited time schedule anyway, I couldn't spend all day here.

"Off the shoulder? With this fabric? Ok. I won't be a moment. I'll just be getting your garment ready."

Within seconds the mysterious woman disappeared with the sample book of fabrics into a sealed off room at the back. I was alone again. While she was gone I took the time to walk around the room, looking around at everything. There were some very beautiful dresses down here. I was surprised that no one else in the store was down here either. Wouldn't this be a very busy part of the store?

"Here you are, my dear." The lady emerged with a long silky dress. Silver and bedazzled with what appeared to be hundreds of interwoven gems in the bust.

"That looks beautiful, but I can't take it." I told her. "I haven't got the money."

"Oh, stop now." The lady chortled. "This won't cost you a dime."

"It... won't?" I frowned. "It's new isn't it?"

"Not... exactly." The lady said hesitantly. "This fabric is sought after by a great deal of witches. Veela... and then of course, select ladies of Slytherin House, such as yourself."

"But why doesn't it cost anything?" I pressed.

"This very dress wasn't made by me. Well, at least not just now." She said quietly. "This very dress was assembled by a long deceased witch who used to work here. A request made by none other than Salazar Slytherin himself."

"Salazar Slytherin... wanted this shop to make a dress... for him."

"Not for him, silly girl." The witch waved me down. "For his love, Selise of course. Gorgeous witch she was, too. So I hear."

"Hold on... Salazar had a wife?" I must have been sitting under a rock during my History of Magic lessons. The witch gave me a look which said all too clearly well what did you think?

"How on Earth did you expect descendants from his lineage if he did not procreate?"

I was silent.

"Not everyone knows about the hidden affair Salazar had with her." She said seriously. "Not even very many in Slytherin House. It was all very hushed up. And no surprises there. Don't they say Slytherin is the more cunning of the Hogwarts Houses? Anyway. Take a look at it then, it's not going to hurt you."

I took the dress timidly from her hands. Up close, it was blindingly beautiful. The detail was astonishing, sewn extremely carefully from the topmost gems inset into the bust down to the silken hem at the bottom.

"This fabric will fit you." The witch eyed me up and down. "I don't require your measurements. The material is enchanted as I said. It will accommodate for size."

"Oh, good." To be honest I felt like I had lost a lot of weight since my appetite had been destroyed by my ever mounting stress levels. Courtesy of none other than one particular brooding bad boy.

"So that's the only reason why this dress hasn't been taken is because she wore it?" I finally asked.

The witch inclined her head gravely.
"No single witch has ever decided to take this dress after hearing about who had worn it."

She told me. "You will be the first."