Popular Monster | Tomione

Chapter 04: I Knew You Were Trouble

I knew his world moved too fast and burned too bright.
But I just thought,
how can the devil be pulling you toward someone
who looks so much like an angel when he smiles at you?
Maybe he knew that when he saw me.
~ Taylor Swift ~

~Hogwarts Express, 13th July 1943, Friday~

Hermione felt so tired. She knew she should wake up, but her mind wasn't able to control her body anymore. Every single cell inside her demanded rest but her thoughts were running wild. Where was she? What happened? Why on earth did Dumbledore attack her, she who had been no threat at all? And what did he do to her?

Questions, so many questions.

She drifted in and out of sleep. The world was moving, it was shaking and it was soft. She smelt peppermint and parchment and wondered just why she was back in Potions lessons. Hermione could see some schemes through her closed eyelids. There were shadows that moved too fast for her to figure out who or what it was. But that didn't make sense, she wasn't moving at all.

Tom was lying on the bench of a single compartment on the Hogwarts Express to London, leaning against the wall next to the door and had placed the brunette on top of him. Her hair was tickling his neck and Tom wrapped his arms around her protectively. Just to make sure she didn't roll off, of course.

He wasn't about to let her go, not before he knew how she got a time turner and from what time she came from. Oh yes, that shiny golden jewelry with an hourglass in the middle was one of those ancient time turners legends talked about. There was no book inside the Hogwarts library that hadn't been read by Tom, not even from the Restricted Section thanks to Professor Slughorns permanent pass. There he found out about casting spells speaking parsel could have slightly different, but mostly more powerful effects on every kind of spells. A little Episkey in traditional language healed not more than tissues, but a parsel Esāah-Asy healed bones. And it wasn't that the caster needed to know Parsel, he just needed to hiss those words. That could revolutionize their healthcare system instead of that outsourcing the Minister is currently doing, but the Ministry would be having none of it.

Abraxas was sitting just like him but leaning next to the window so that they were facing each other. The window to their compartment was obscured by a bit of parsel magic to show Tom and Abraxas either sleeping or reading.

Tom felt the witch stirring and with a firm gaze at Abraxas, they started talking louder than they were before.

"What? Dumbledore wouldn't do that!", Abraxas exclaimed and lied without batting an eye. Well, technically he wasn't lying by reciting the conversation he had had with Tom the moment they boarded the train. In fact, it wasn't more than just a recapitulation of their conversation earlier to share their knowledge with someone new.

"He did. That senile man stole her magic and she collapsed instantly."

Hermione gasped at that sentence. Dumbledore did what? It didn't make sense! Why would he harm her?

She heard Tom growl and felt how her pillow vibrated. Was she lying on top of him? She tried to sit up but her muscles were protesting. Something was tracing patterns on her arm and she relaxed a bit. To be fair, she rather liked the way his body felt under hers. His body was warm against her skin and...

Wait, was she attracted to him? Hermione hesitated. Was it that bad to be attracted to someone who should be as old as her grandfather if she was the age she was now? It certainly felt wrong, but on the other hand, she allowed herself to enjoy the company and physical contact of someone attractive. That alone couldn't be something bad.