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Somewhere in Time	By : serpentinred Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 64474 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
A/N: Many thanks to my wonderful beta, LSMerlot, and those of you who've read and reviewed: Lady Miya, Mr. Galion, Devourer, cosettex, and A Dangerous Angel!

Lady Miya: Yesss, they finally kissed. Right before the author explodes on them, thankfully. XD Ah, yes. The monkey wrench is coming back. I didn't like to bring them back either, but meh ... what can I do? Although, interesting (chaotically?) things might happen with them back. ;)

Mr. Galion: Sorry for the long wait! real life's been catching to me, and I had to attend that first. Hope you enjoy this chapter, too!

Devourer:Thanks for the compliment! ;) Hope you'll like this chapter, too!

cosettex: I'm glad they kissed, too! (*is still happy that they finally, finally kissed*) Hope you have fun with this chapter!

A Dangerous Angel: Sorry for the long wait! As I've mentioned above, real life's been taking up too much of my time. *sniggers* Well, Harry and Ginny will definitely not be pleased about their "little" encounters. XD Hope you'll like this chapter!

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Chapter 22

As Hermione had predicted, throughout the entire weekend, curious gazes were shot her way wherever she went, and whispered discussion would promptly commence whenever her back was turned. In fact, she could no longer call the library a safe haven, for the younger female students who were on the kinder end of the spectrum would follow her around with their eyes aglow with pure admiration.

It was, after all, not every day that the admired Head Boy of Hogwarts fell in love—and with a Gryffindor, no less!

At least, that was what the rest of the school believed. The idea of Lord Voldemort "in love" with her was as hilarious as it was ridiculous to her, and she was sure Tom felt the same way.

She had to admit that the rumors did give her an advantage. It was rather funny watching Abraxas Malfoy run the other way when she so much as raised her eyebrows at him, no doubt in fear that his Lord would give him a torture session for "miffing his girlfriend." Although, she was curious in regards to why Tom did not explain things to his Knights. Perhaps he was too busy teaching them how to become world-class idiots?

Mealtimes were a horror to go through since nearly the entire school was there. Therefore, she would quickly stuff food down her throat before escaping back to her dorm. Of course, she would then be bombarded with questions by Lilian Brown and Adriana Scrimgeour, who suddenly decided to become her "best friends" after finding out that she disappeared for the rest of Friday evening with Tom.

Throughout the whole weekend, however, Hermione had not caught sight of the young man in question.

By Monday morning, Hermione was ready to hide in the Room of Requirement until things started to settle down a bit more. However, she knew that hiding in the dorm would only feed towards the rumor mill. Not desirable at all.

Fortunately, it was the last week of classes before the holidays. Therefore, despite how heavy her feet felt, she dragged herself to the Charms classroom. The attention that followed her throughout the hallway did not make her feel any easier at all. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and entered the room. Iris was sitting in her usual seat, talking to one of her friends with puffy and red eyes, undoubtedly complaining about Tom's "lack of tastes."

A fleeting grin appeared on Hermione's face despite her attempt to hold it back, and she found it hard to wipe it off. Iris lifted her eyes and narrowed them at Hermione's cheery expression. The brief interaction worked like a trigger, causing Hermione’s expression to transform into a condescending sneer. Anger blossomed on Iris's face, and she probably would have pulled out her wand already if her attention were not caught by something else behind Hermione.

"Good morning, Hermione." Tom's breath tickled Hermione's earlobe as his softly spoken words wrapped around her, indicating just how close he was to her. Her body tensed up, and she felt her cheeks turn warm again even though he had not so much as touched her. "Planning to prevent innocent students from entering the classroom?"

Swiftly recomposing herself, she let out a short and mocking laugh.

"I daresay, 'Slytherins' can hardly be classified as 'innocent,' " she retorted, hoping her voice did not give away just how much he affected her. She stepped inside without so much as glancing at him, and the light sounds of his chuckles followed her all the way to her seat.

"Hello," Gareth greeted her as she sat down.

Both his and Joseph's eyes traveled between her and Tom as they sat down after she replied with a "Good morning," and she did her best to ignore them. It was, however, a lot harder to pretend that they were not there when they started whispering between themselves, no doubt speculating about the relationship between Tom and her.

She suddenly froze when she felt someone's hand slither into her bushy locks, entangling with them. Tickling sensations traveled down her spine from her hair brushing against her neck as she noticed the Slytherin girls staring in jealousy at the scene and shooting glares of hatred towards her. If looks could kill, she would have died, her corpse resembling that of a poisoned porcupine by now.

She swung her head around and narrowed her eyes at the culprit.

"What are you doing?" she whispered furiously at Tom, ignoring the ogling duo beside her.

"How curious. It's almost like petting a lioness," he commented, neglecting her question altogether.

"You're going to get me killed," she said.

The words left her lips before she contemplated on the possibility of that being the purpose.

His hand disentangled itself and slid over her neck until he was cupping her cheek, and she distinctly heard sharp draws of breath from the front of the room.

Oh dear.

"Why would I do something like that?" he asked, gazing at her like the only thing that mattered in the world was the young lady in front of him.

Hermione nearly shivered from the gooseflesh that erupted across her skin from the expression of adoration on his face. She was positive that Lord Voldemort was not the type that would become all lovey-dovey because of a simple ... well, not-too-simple of a kiss, but it was definitely not enough to make him fawn over her. Additionally, that intense way with which he was staring at her right now contrasted too greatly with the wicked glint that passed through his eyes when she first turned around to look at him.

Pushing herself away from the chair, she leaned slightly towards him despite knowing that it might give the girls something else to hate her about, but she did not want Gareth and Joseph to hear her conversation with Tom: It would undoubtedly become the next gossip in the Gryffindor common room.

"You're doing this on purpose," she hissed at him, taking a leaf out of the Slytherin girls' books and giving him a glare of death.

"Oh?" he simply replied, tilting his head to one side and an expression of interest plastered across his features.

"If you think that I would believe in your ‘Oh, I am so in love’ act, then you are horribly mistaken," she whispered. "You're doing this because you still don't believe that the four of us came from Durmstrang."

Amusement replaced the interest on his face, and his hand resumed playing with her hair. An exasperated sigh nearly left her lips when she realized what a sticky situation she was in. If she pushed him away (and consequently "hurt his feelings"), she would undoubtedly be murdered on the spot. However, she knew she would not fare any better by letting him continue.

"So presumptuous," he answered, shaking his head in mock disappointment. Just when she thought he was going to deny it, he added, "But not completely incorrect."

He did not elaborate, leaving the rest up to Hermione's imagination. Her eyes flickered over to his cheek, the skin of which no longer had the scratch from the Bat Bogey Hex she had thrown at him.

"You can't tell me," she said slowly, "that you're still holding a grudge because of a stupid little scratch."

Approval appeared on his face as he twirled a few strands around his index finger. "It's so nice to have someone with a quick mind. At least I don't have to put up with the ignorance that's present in most people."

If she had not been all over him on Friday night, she would have been very suspicious about his gender by now. Blokes usually did not fuss over tiny things and plot out revenges because of injuries to their faces. Hell, even Draco did not take any actions towards her when she punched him in the nose.

Then again ... she had never heard about Lord Voldemort getting married or having children. Additionally, most of his Death Eaters were male, so could it be just purely to eliminate possible competition for attention?

It could be possible that he was parading around as a male simply because he was not filled out in the right ...

Stop right there, Hermione!

Shaking her head to clear it up a bit and to get rid of the shivers running up her spine, she glanced at him, realizing that he was studying her face.

"I want to make it clear once and for all, Hermione," he finally spoke, his lips barely moving and his voice so low that she was sure that Joseph and Gareth could not hear them even if they had tried. "Do not think that I will forget things. I will always retrieve what is rightfully mine, whether they're objects ..."

His hand slid down her arm.

"... retribution ..."

His fingers entwined with hers and brought her hands up to his face.

"... or witches."

She tried as best as she could to stay calm and casual as if her hand were not currently being held by the most desired man in Hogwarts, but it was easier said than done. She could not help the little leaps that her heart was making when he sent a smile her way. She could not help feeling worried and excited at the same time, knowing how the rest of the class had their eyes on them.

"Therefore," he whispered, his dark eyes trained on hers, "to prevent you from making more ... mistakes, let's set the rules right from the beginning with a minor lesson, shall we?"

She remained still, irritation at his quiet, commanding tone quickly building up inside of her. Before she could express her emotions with a sarcastic comment, he spoke.

"Good luck for the rest of the week." A fleeting smirk appeared on his face before he brought his lips in contact with the bare skin on the back of her hand.

As Iris burst out of the room with strangled sobs, the feeling of joy that Hermione would have experienced was greatly diminished by the increase in intensity of the glares from the front of the room.

She was doomed.

~-0-~

It did not take too long for her premonition to come true. During Transfiguration, she had had to duck away from no less than five different hexes, all of which went unnoticed by the substitute teacher, Professor Dimmock. Tom glanced at her from the corner of his eye every once in a while with an amused smirk lingering on his lips, offering her no help whatsoever.

Not that she thought that he would, and she would honestly think that he was possessed if he did.

She was, however, not so lucky at the end of the class. As she walked towards the exit of the classroom, amid a flurry of gasps, an ice-cold feeling enveloped her. Before she could comprehend what exactly was happening, her vision was blurred, and a curtain of water appeared in front of her. Quickly, her robes started to weigh down on her shoulders, clinging onto the clothes she had underneath.

She first thought that someone had simply cast the Aguamenti Charm over her. A few seconds later, she realized that the free shower was not going to end.

There was a cloud over her head. Literally.

Most of the class stopped in their movements and stared in surprise at the spectacle in front of them. Gareth and Joseph stood there with their mouths wide open. Draco's eyebrows were nearly touching his hairline while Augusta stuffed her fist into her mouth to prevent the professor from hearing her laughter. The Slytherins were not so discrete. Many of them were simply roaring with laughter, especially the girls. Tom was staring at the area above her head with interest. His eyes met with Hermione's for a brief second, and she could swear that a glint of amusement made its way into his gaze before impassiveness slid over his features once more.

Needless to say, Dimmock, being nearly as helpful as Lockhart when it came to handling classroom situations, wrung his hands together while ogling from student to student, as if he hoped that one of them would help him control the situation.

"Right ... who ... who did this?" Dimmock asked.

If Hermione were not busy casting the Impervius Charm over her books and bags, she would have rolled her eyes. Honestly, as if the person who had done this would have the nerve to own up to it.

She gnawed at the inside of her cheek when she realized that for some reason, the Charm was not working: The rain continued to drench her properties.

"Someone should get Madam Pomfrey," Draco finally spoke up, his eyebrows knitted into a frown.

"Right ... excellent suggestion, Mr. Malloy. Um ... Mr. Potter, can you get the school nurse for us, please?" the substitute professor stuttered, not taking his eyes off the cloud hovering above Hermione.

Suddenly, a minor shock went through Hermione's body, and she nearly collapsed onto the floor. Lilian promptly shrieked out of fear from the front of the room.

"Er ... that's a thunderstorm over your head, Hermione," Gareth carefully informed her, taking care to stay a good five feet away.

"I think I would have realized that," she replied through gritted teeth, her body slightly shaking from the cold and the shock.

One by one, the students reluctantly left the classroom to go to the Great Hall for lunch after Dimmock shooed them out until only Tom, Iris, Gareth, Draco, and Alphard were left. Hermione assumed that Tom stayed behind to express his "care," and Iris ... well, it was pretty obvious that she stuck around to hang onto Tom and to laugh at Hermione.

By the time Joseph came back with Madam Pomfrey, Hermione had already suffered a total of three electrical shocks. Thankfully, none of them were enough to kill her.

"Well, I probably should have guessed that it would be you, Miss Granger," Madam Pomfrey sighed.

Unfortunately, after swishing and flicking her wand a couple of times, Madam Pomfrey was still unable to make the cloud disappear. Gareth Transfigured one of the chairs into an umbrella, and though doubtful that it would keep the rain out, Hermione held it over her head. To her relief, it actually worked. Apparently, the rain only penetrated through charms and spells.

"At least the rain seems a bit smaller," Joseph attempted to comfort her, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Yeah, and there isn't any more lightning," Gareth added, still staring curiously at the cloud.

"Hopefully," she muttered, glaring upwards as though she could see the cloud through the umbrella.

"You will be able to get rid of it, won't you, Madam Pomfrey?" Tom asked, his voice laced with concern.

Oh, she was quite sure he was worried—worried that she would not get enough of a "punishment" for her "impudence."

"I'll try, Tom," Madam Pomfrey replied, her eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "I'll discuss this with Professor Fireswish and Professor Merrythought later. They do have more experience in this field than I do." She looked at Hermione sympathetically. "We'll find a solution to this, dear. Don't you worry about it."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione replied in a small voice, her eyes still on the curtain of rain surrounding her.

She was pretty sure that Madam Pomfrey would find the solution in the end, but unfortunately, she doubted that that would happen any time soon.

~-0-~

After a couple of days, although there was still a cloud hanging above Hermione's head, the shower slowed down to a drizzle, and there was no longer lightning zapping her. The amount of giggling she had to endure was also decreasing since the hex had evolved from "funny" to "annoying." Students often had to duck away in order to avoid getting wet whenever Hermione walked past them. The professors had made it a habit to conjure a bucket underneath her while she attended their classes. Hogan was thoroughly infuriated when he first saw the trails of water she left behind wherever she went and would have thrown her in detention if he had not considered the mess that would undoubtedly cause in his office.

The worst thing that happened to her was that Madam Pince had banned her from the library.

"Until they find a way to get rid of that dreadful cloud, you're not getting anywhere near the books," the librarian said sternly, standing protectively in front of the library doors.

Thankfully, the house-elves had been informed about Hermione’s "little problem" and had done something to her bed to prevent it from becoming a swimming pool throughout the course of the night. Knowing that the witches and wizards of those days most likely underestimated the magic of house-elves, she had cornered one at night and questioned it if there were some way to get rid of the cloud. Unfortunately, they could not come up with a solution to it.

On Thursday, she took a few textbooks and sat under the tree by the lake, a place that had become a common hideout for her ever since she was hexed.

At least there would be extra irrigation for the tree, and there was no one to make her go away.

She was so absorbed into what she was reading that she did not notice when someone took a seat next to her until he spoke.

"Rereading the textbooks again?" Tom asked, leaning with his back against the tree and tilting his head slightly upwards so that he could look at the skies.

She picked up her head and gave him a mere glance before sticking her nose back into the textbook.

"You never know if you've missed something during the first couple of readings," she replied as courteously as she could while she flipped the page.

Although she was still holding a grudge against him for causing her predicament, she decided that waging war was probably not the best action to make at the moment. She was a Gryffindor, but she most certainly was not stupid or suicidal.

"They haven't found a way to get rid of the cloud, I see," he commented, amusement evident in his tone of voice.

"No," she answered curtly.

Well, that was rather apparent, she would think. If they had found a way to get rid of the rain, the cloud would not still be floating—

Just wait a second there.

She whipped her head around and stared at him.

He had to be kidding her. However, the leisurely way by which he was gazing back at her, the casual upward tilt of his eyebrow, and the smirk at the corner of his lips told her otherwise.

"You can't tell me ..."

He blinked innocently, way too innocently in her opinion, while the smile on his face widened.

As quickly as amazement filled her heart, it was replaced by annoyance. How was it possible that a seventeen-year-old knew how to get rid of the hex while the professors were poring through different texts to find the solution?

As Hermione gave out a sigh of exasperation, two Slytherin boys walked past them, giving Tom a slight nod of their head, and then, the answer hit her.

Of course. He was almost like the Slytherin deity—she nearly rolled her eyes at the term—so he could easily get the answer from the person who had cast the curse on her in the first place.

She snapped her eyes shut and leaned against the tree, disgruntled. If it were someone like Alphard who knew the counter-curse, she would have rejoiced on the spot. If it were Tom Marvolo Riddle, then it was obvious that she would not find out any time soon.

"Yes?" he purposely asked.

She slightly opened her eyes and gave him a dirty look before placing her attention on the lake. At least the Giant Squid was more compassionate than that ... that ... that slimey, disgusting, mental, psychotic earthworm!

Too bad the merpeople only dieted on seagrass, or she could probably do them a favor and send them lunch. Oh wait. They might get a stomachache later on. That would definitely come back to bite her in the arse considering the fact that she had to spend a good amount of time down there in the future.

The rain suddenly stopped, thoroughly surprising her. She found that the cloud was still hovering there above her head, but the small drizzle had stopped altogether. She turned her head, but before she could express her disbelief by gawking at Tom, his lips were already on hers.

Frantically, she wanted to see if there were anyone else around, but he would not allow her to. His hand was grasping her chin, forbidding her to turn her head, while he placed his other hand on the tree to support the weight of his upper body.

She honestly hated herself for giving in, but who was she to say “no” to a kiss from him?

A gentle sigh escaped her throat when he deepened their kiss and pulled her gently towards him. She was no longer leaning against the tree but in his arms, nearly sitting on his lap. She didn't care anymore if someone were watching. It did not concern her as long as he continued to kiss her like this, so she very nearly protested when he broke off the kiss.

He gave the cloud a quick glance.

"Just enough time," he whispered and pulled away, confusing her.

The confusion did not last for long since merely seconds after he moved away, the drizzle began again. Her mouth promptly dropped open.

"I do apologize. It appears that Druella did not get me the correct spell," he said. Any sympathy he was trying to convey through his words was completely diminished by that infuriating smirk of his.

She snapped her mouth shut and mentally counted to ten, weighing the pros and cons of retaliating right on the spot when a rather ... entertaining thought came to mind.

If he did not care about other students knowing about their peculiar relationship, why should she? It could not possibly get any worse than this, and she did go through Krum's more vicious admirers back in fourth year, although she made sure that Harry and Ron never found out about it. The two of them would have probably fretted too much for their own good, and Harry already had to worry about the Triwizard Tournament.

Plastering an understanding smile on her face, she gave him a nod.

"I'm sure." She inclined her head and sighed at the cloud. "I do really appreciate your help, even if it had not completely worked."

Nimbly, she pushed herself off the ground and quickly settled down on his lap.

Oh yes. He was most definitely in for a surprise, and if his expressions were anything to go by, she would say that he was thrown off by her actions.

"Therefore, I hope to show my appreciation," she said cheerfully.

Before he could react to her words, she launched herself on him and kissed him. A satisfied smile appeared on her face, knowing that simple Drying Spells would not help him. Even if the person who hexed her did know the counter-spell, it would still take some time for the precious Head Boy to find said person.

The joy of spreading her misery to Tom Marvolo Riddle. Although, he did not seem to mind the rain as his initial shock turned into something else, and he circled his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

That was definitely killing two birds with one stone.

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Somewhere in Time