Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Somewhere in Time	By : serpentinred Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 64471 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 31
- 32
- 33
A/N: Many, many thanks to tormented eyes and catcachoo (from PI) for beta-ing the chapter! Special thanks to Nerys for looking over the chapter to make sure if things are stupid or illogical. Special thanks also to ssserpentsssotia for inspiration at one point in the fic. Huge, huge thanks to those of you who read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: Lady Miya, bluelagoon, Mr. Galion, nikky, kit, and spiffylinen!
Review replies can be found here: http://serp-replies.livejournal.com/
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Chapter 32
He leaned against the wall directly across from her, crossed his legs at his ankles, and folded his arms across his chest. It was the perfect picture of leisure and carelessness if it were not for that contemplative look on his face. All the while, he never took his eyes off her until finally, he spoke.
"You're nervous."
Since she was still under the Silencing Charm, she did not have too much of a choice; she could only wait for him to continue.
What had she been thinking when she thought that things would have been easier to talk about without Harry, Draco, and Ginny around? Things were never easy when it came down to Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was not Harry. He was not Ron. And he was certainly not Draco. She should have known before she sent the three of them away: Tom was not predictable. He was anything but predictable, exactly like his surname. He did things that completely threw her plans into the "unknown" and added random factors to it, until she did not even have an inkling of an idea about how to react and what to do next.
And then, he moved. She did not even have the chance to blink. With a fluid movement, he withdrew his wand and flicked it at the walls and then at her. Because she had expected either the Cruciatus or the Killing Curse to fly her way, she was more than surprised when nothing happened. Or at least, she thought that nothing had happened.
Who knows? He doesn't like to do things according to the norm anyway. Perhaps the basilisk is hungry or something ...
She blinked, and it was then that she noticed that her head could move. However, when she tried to move her body, she found out that the rest of it was still immobilized. During her attempts to move, she thought she heard a soft chuckle from his direction, but when she looked back at him, his face was expressionless once again.
"Why so, Hermione?" he asked.
As much as she tried, she could not deduce what he was thinking. His facade was firmly in place, without any traces of cracks or hints.
"Is this where you were going to bring me? To a girls' toilet? Although I've only been here once or twice, I'm pretty sure there are no books in here, Riddle," she snarked, mustering as much courage as she had and pushing away her fears.
"I never said that this was our final destination," he replied, the contents of his answer making her heart skip a beat again.
Slowly, he pushed himself away from the wall and walked up to her. Stopping right in front of her, he placed his hands on the sinks on either sides of her to support himself. He leaned forward until his face was mere centimeters away from hers.
"Why are you nervous, Hermione?"
Because you hate Muggle-borns and a creature that hates Muggle-borns, too, lives just an entryway away?
She swallowed, and she was sure her expression was telling, even if she were not looking at him. However, it was not something she could control, and the longer he waited, the more horrifying she pictured her death to be.
"Who said I was nervous?" she questioned him instead.
He raised his eyebrow, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, softening his features to those of an innocent, curious boy.
"Oh?" he simply inquired.
With a languid, sensual move, he straightened himself up and withdrew his wand, never taking his eyes off her face. Therefore, he quite clearly saw how her pupils dilated and how the breath hitched in the middle of her throat. Considering how close he stood, Hermione would not be surprised if he saw the throb of her pulse speeding up.
This was it. She was going to die. She thought about closing her eyes to wait for the moment the flash of green light hit her, but she could not pull her attention away from his yew wand as he twirled it effortlessly between his pale, long fingers.
Tilting his head slightly, he said, "Hm ... not nervous at all?"
"... No."
His smile widened. "Good."
She swallowed hard. She had no idea what he meant by that. Good? For what? Good for killing? Good for torturing? Good for being pet food?
She could feel her heart racing at an abnormal speed, but regardless of what she did, she could not get it to slow down. She swore it stopped for a second when he pointed the wand towards her, and her eyes finally landed on his face again. The amusement on his face was so apparent that in other cases, she would have snapped and felt annoyed.
If the basilisk did not kill her, heart failure would.
"Such an impressive, little ... Gryffindor," he mocked before lowering his wand.
She was about to relax when he spoke in Parseltongue, causing her to stop in the middle of exhaling. Frantically, she turned her head around, expecting the sink behind her to turn into the tunnel that led down to the Chamber of Secrets. Then, she remembered that that was a very bad idea, since the snake could be right there, waiting to stare into her eyes. So, she turned her head forward again.
But I'll fall down the stupid tunnel ... though looking won't make the fall any easier on me ... wait ... why isn't the sink moving?
To say that she was confused was an understatement. Looking back at Tom, she found that his expression had turned contemplative once more and the smile gone from his face.
She mentally cursed when she recognized it for what it was: It was a trap, and she had stupidly walked into it. Her mind quickly went through the options she had. What could she say? The move was ... too telling, and he would definitely ask her how she knew about the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Then, he looked at her. After what seemed like an eternity, he exhaled heavily and turned around. He walked back to the wall he had been leaning on and rapidly tapped it at several places, all the while hissing something in that peculiar language of his. The tiles and the bricks behind them slid apart, revealing a staircase, and very slowly, Hermione's heart started to slow down to a normal rate when she saw no signs of killer monsters emerging from the darkness.
Swirling around, he strode towards her again and tilted her chin upwards so that he was looking directly into her eyes. After staring at her for a moment, he finally spoke.
"You know where we are."
She blinked once. Drawing a deep breath, she glanced around the room and plastered what she hoped looked like a genuine confused look, even though her previous actions were far from inconspicuous.
"Er ... the girls' toilet?"
His eyes narrowed, and his fingers curled themselves into a tight grip on her chin as he moved even closer to her.
"Enough of your silly games, Granger," he said quietly. "It was quite obvious you know precisely where we're standing and where what you're sitting on will lead you."
"I ... have no idea what you're talking about," she lied, mentally cursing herself when she heard how shaky her voice was. However, she could not, for the life of her, think of any other reason why she would turn around and stare at the sink when he spoke in Parseltongue.
His gaze hardened.
"Fine," he snapped, and in a swift move, she was over his shoulders again. "If you want to play like this, we'll do it your way."
"Wait—Tom—what are you doing?" she squeaked.
Her heart sped up, and she frantically swiveled her head around, hoping she could find any signs of a ghost or human.
"What do you think I'm doing, Hermione?"
"Where—where are we going?" she stuttered as her eyes widened with each step he took towards the staircase.
He did not answer her, which made her even more frightened.
"No—wait—please!" she shrieked.
Merlin, why was there no one coming to her rescue? She had been screaming so loudly.
And then she recalled that he had cast an unknown spell at the walls.
Dear Godric, she was going to die. He was going to kill her and leave her body down there to rot, wherever he was taking her. Nobody would know what happened to her. Did the staircase lead to the Chamber of Secrets? What if there were more basilisks hidden inside Hogwarts?
Where were Harry and the sword of Gryffindor when she needed them?
Suddenly, he placed her down with her back against the wall next to the archway.
"What's the matter, Hermione? Frightened of a girls' bathroom now?" he mocked.
She swallowed, and if her body were not under the spell, she would undoubtedly be shaking. He tilted her head upwards and gazed at her, his expression void of emotions.
"One last chance, Hermione," he spoke softly, caressing her skin under his thumb, his gentle movements a big contrast to his threat.
When she still did not answer, he sighed exaggeratedly and made the move to pick her up again.
"Wait!" she yelled.
He stopped in his motions and glanced at her.
"I'm not interested in waiting again, Hermione, especially when I know it is simply a waste of my time," he replied.
"I—I'm just frightened—" she stammered. He raised an eyebrow, indicating his impatience. "I'm—Joseph and Gareth told me—a girl—a Ravenclaw dying in here—I—I just thought—"
A cold smirk appeared on his face as he straightened up. He cupped her cheek with his hand and his eyes glinted with mockery.
"And did they tell you why the girl was killed? Or that the person who ... accidentally killed the girl was expelled?" he asked, his tone of voice sickeningly sweet.
She averted her eyes the moment Hagrid's endearing smile appeared in her mind's eye. She was not yet sure what Tom could see from her mind and what he could not. She had seen Hagrid a couple of times on school grounds, but she had never spoken to him. So, she could not afford to let Tom see the interactions she had had with the friendly half-giant. Not to mention the fact that Hagrid was much younger in this era, and the fifty years difference could be easily told.
"That is not the reason why you're afraid," he concluded.
Hermione swallowed hard, and after making sure her voice was not as shaky, she spoke. "Why wouldn't I be afraid? I may be a Gryffindor, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to die for no particular reason." She inhaled deeply. "I want to see my parents again. There are so many things to do, and I'm not ready to leave without doing something for the world out there." She stopped and bit her bottom lip.
"Like saving the house-elves," he added sarcastically.
She slightly narrowed her eyes at his remark. "Yes."
A small smile curved his lips, and he shook his head, momentarily dispersing the threatening air around him. However, the next minute, his face was wiped clean of emotions again when he stared at her.
A dark glint flashed through his eyes, and he raised his eyebrows. "Potter and Gareth must have told you about Hagrid being expelled for being the cause of Myrtle's unfortunate death. So, Hermione, do tell me why you still feel frightened."
Well, if he's going to kill me, it wouldn't matter if he knew about me knowing about the Chamber of Secrets ... as long as he doesn't know that Harry also knows about it ...
As quickly as she could, she created a story in her mind and hoped that he would buy it. After all, if she kept details to a minimum, it could be considered "the truth."
"I ... There were too many things unanswered," she responded.
"Unanswered ...?"
"Yes," she replied. "It ... it didn't make sense, since people who knew Hagrid expressed disbelief about him being the person who killed Myrtle."
"Joseph Potter," he named.
She was unsure whether this would harm Joseph or not, but in the current situation, she could only nod.
"He's ... one of them," she answered vaguely. "So ... I decided to investigate."
He laughed lightly as if he heard a mildly funny joke. "Investigate?"
His slightly condescending reaction made Hermione miffed, but given the condition she was in, there was nothing she could do.
If and when she got the chance though ...
"Yes, investigate," she said in a clipped tone of voice. "I've read about the Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts, A History, and I asked around about it. It was impossible for Hagrid to be the Heir of Slytherin."
She stole a glance at him and found a sardonic smile lingering at the corners of his lips.
"Continue," he ordered, indicating that he was still listening.
"I continued looking through books, but I've found nothing more about the Chamber of Secrets, since it was only considered a myth," she told him. "However, Myrtle's death directly proves this so-called myth to be true, even though the professors discourage belief in it. A few weeks ago, I came here, the scene of Myrtle's death. Through my investigation," she placed emphasis on the word, "I found a carving of a serpent protruding from the tap of the sink. It's the only one in Hogwarts with it."
She looked at him again and, much to her surprise, saw a quick flash of approval on his features, though his next words contradicted it.
"The taps in the Slytherin dungeons have those engravings in them, too," he pointed out.
"The only one outside the Slytherin dorms," she corrected, rolling her eyes before she could stop herself. "Anyway, regardless of what I tried, I could not get it to open, and then I recalled reading about Slytherin being a Parselmouth. So, I figured that perhaps the only way to open the Chamber of Secrets is through Parseltongue. Then, that ... that day ..." A furious blush erupted on her cheeks. "... in ... in your room ... when we ...when we ... you ... you spoke in Parseltongue ... so ... I kind of ... made the connection ..."
By the time she was finally finished, her face was so warm that she swore she could fry eggs on them.
Wrong time, wrong reactions, wrong memories, she thought to herself.
He fell silent, quietly eying her. The next second, however, he hauled her over his shoulder again, and he did not stop despite her yells.
Her heart thudded painfully against her chest, and she felt cold sweat breaking out across her skin. Merlin, she was too young to die. She had thought that her story was perfect, flawless. Even though the last part of it was a lie, she had not been looking at him, and her embarrassment could have easily covered it up. How had he known that it was false?
Or maybe it is because you just accused him of being a murderer? Brilliant, Hermione. Now, your body will lie in the Chamber forever. And rot. Or maybe digested inside the basilisk's stomach.
Her breathing sped up as that notion truly anchored itself into her mind.
Why did I think it was a good idea to let him know that I know he's the Heir of Slytherin again?
When they entered the secret passage, the barrier behind them sealed up on its own accord, causing Hermione to swallow. She was certain that nobody would ever find her corpse now. Why did she think it was a good idea to not tell him the truth again? However, she still could not bring herself to say the words; she knew deep in her heart that she could not betray Harry like that.
Her screaming seemed to irritate him, since he placed the Silencing Charm on her again. The silence that fell over them caused Hermione's skin to crawl, even though she was still thinking of ways to fight back.
Echoes of his footsteps on the marble stairs made it almost seem as if there were unseen phantoms walking in front of and behind them. Even though she was still mentally cursing the Slytherin Head Boy, she could not help but take in how delicately designed the staircase was. Although it was merely a staircase hidden behind a secret passageway, it was perhaps more fitting for the palace of the king of snakes. Despite the fact that it had been sealed up for so many years, she could not feel any traces of humidity in the air, nor could she find any traces of cobwebs. Hermione supposed that there were some sort of charm placed on it to prevent any sort of contamination or damage.
Candelabras on the walls of both sides of the stairs flared to life as they walked passed them, allowing her to see the snakes carved into the arms supporting the candles. The candles cast flickers of light onto the railings, momentarily tricking the viewer into believing that they were made of gold, rather than silver. The light caught on the intricate carvings of the wall, which turned out to be a withering mass of snakes. For a second, she was certain that should she reach out, their scales would slide against her hand as they slithered away from her. The precious stones that made up their eyes glinted maliciously when the candlelight reflected off them, causing a cold, numbing feeling to run down Hermione's spine.
She averted her eyes, only to catch sight of the end of the staircase. This could not possibly lead to the Chamber of Secrets, which was located all the way at the bottom of the lake, unless there was some kind of shortening-distance spell that Slytherin had cast on it.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs at what seemed like a dead end, Tom placed her against the wall of bricks there and studied her frightened features intently. With a flick of his hand, the Silencing Charm was taken off her. The overabundance of fear swirling around her body made her slightly faint, and the creative names she had been calling him in her mind immediately came tumbling out of her mouth the moment she could start talking again. The vulgarities caused a frown to appear on his forehead.
"Hush," he said quietly, and his softly spoken command reverberated throughout the closed area they were in.
Being still clear-headed enough to discern that this was not the time to be defiant, she snapped her mouth shut and kept her eyes on him fearfully. Satisfied that she had obeyed his words, he twirled a strand of her hair around his fingers and tilted his head slightly to the side.
"You weren't surprised about the fact that I knew Legilimency. It was almost as if ... you expected it. Why?"
Slightly taken aback by the random question, she hesitated before answering.
"There were books on your table."
It was something she remembered from her conversations with Draco, and she did not recall at all if there were still books on his table when she was in his dorm. Therefore, when he did not speak but merely continued to stare at her, she swallowed hard. However, for the life of her, she could not remember—she did not even know which table was his, and she was too irritated to care that day.
"Draco ... told me about it," she said reluctantly.
A single eyebrow rose at her declaration.
"Mr. Malloy again." The words slid off his tongue in an almost contemplative matter.
Hermione hoped that she had not inadvertently given him another reason to harm Draco.
"He mentioned it in passing because we somehow started talking about you," she quickly added.
"Talking about me?" he asked as if he found the idea preposterous. "Do satisfy my curiosity, Granger: Why was I even mentioned in your conversations with Draco?"
At his words, Hermione could barely keep her frustration in check, causing her to neglect the mocking undertone to which he said Draco's name with.
"If you don't remember, Riddle," she answered, unable to keep the sneer off her face, "you've recently Cruciated him. Since I obviously know about that, why wouldn't we talk about it?"
He apparently found her anger funny, since a smile curved his lips again. "Pardon me. I'd forgotten that Draco had complained to you about that, but that hardly explains why you are not surprised about the fact that I know Legilimency."
Hermione raised her eyebrows instead. "You've had the books for months. You can't possibly tell me that you doubt your intelligence. Or did you think I was stupid enough to underestimate your ability to learn things?"
He laughed at her comment. His eyes glinted merrily when they landed on her again.
"Perhaps I am, Granger. Perhaps I am just so desperately looking for approval from the people around me and I never really trusted my own intelligence to begin with," he said, feigning a hopeless expression.
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "That'll be the day."
The two of them then took a look at one another, and before she knew it, they were both laughing. For a moment, Hermione nearly forgot the fact that they were standing in the middle of Merlin-knows-where and that she was still immobilized.
"You don't know Occlumency," he suddenly uttered after they stopped laughing.
The change of subject was so abrupt that Hermione was caught off guard. Thankfully, it was more of a statement than a question and did not require an answer. Sure enough, he began talking shortly afterwards.
"The only way the information could have been blocked is through a powerful magical barrier ..."
His words caused Hermione to frown.
"What barrier?" she asked bluntly.
He scrutinized her for a moment, and she was sure that he was deciding whether she was faking it or not. In the end, he seemed to be satisfied with what he saw because his expression softened slightly. However, he did not answer her question. Instead, he continued to think out loud, thoroughly confusing her.
"Perhaps Dumbledore?" He paused and then shook his head. "No, that kind of spell is too—" His lips curved into a sneer as he looked off to the side. "—dark for the 'noble' Albus Dumbledore ..." He glanced at her and his gaze took on a teasing glow. "And it's impossible for someone with no Legilimency and Occlumency skills to cast that spell." His eyebrows furrowed. "The caster, without doubt, would have erased all magical traces afterwards ..."
Tom trailed off as he immersed himself in deep thoughts. Since he had been unwilling to share information, Hermione could only think about it herself.
It then hit her that he was talking about the blockage that occurred when he tried to see what books she was looking for. Her first thought was that some power, most likely time, was hindering with his Legilimency and preventing him from seeing the future and things related to it. However, it appeared that the information could have been blocked because of some other form of magic.
Contrary to Tom, she knew that Dumbledore would not hesitate to use darker forms of magic "for the greater good." So, she would not be surprised at all if it turned out that it was him who had cast the spell on her. Nonetheless, before she saw Dumbledore again, she would not know the answer.
"What barrier is it?" she asked.
He looked at her, his head slightly tilted, and Hermione could tell that he was still thinking.
"That," he said slowly in the end, "is none of your concern."
Her eyes narrowed. What kind of an answer was that? It was none of her concern?
Excuse me, but this is my brain here. I would think that I have the right to know if some idiot's been tampering with my memories.
"What—" she started to say again, but he placed his finger on her lips before she could finish speaking.
"Shh ..." he said. With a sigh, he continued, "We're running out of time. I daresay, I'd need to put you under the Full Body Bind again later on."
She gazed at him, alarmed. A soft chuckle escaped his lips when he saw her expression, and leaning forward, he gently kissed her on the cheek.
"Have you also ... investigated about what lives in the Chamber of Secrets?" he whispered into her ear.
Goosebumps erupted across her skin again, though this time, it was not purely from fear. Shaking the inappropriate thoughts away, she slowly nodded.
"And your results?"
Her eyes flickered around, and she was more than glad that he could not see them right now because it would undoubtedly give away how nervous she was.
"Since ... it is rumored that only the direct descendant of Slytherin can control the creature that lives in the Chamber of Secrets, I deduced that perhaps it should be some kind of snake."
Her voice turned a bit unsteady as his fingers caressed the other side of her neck and he placed small kisses on her cheek.
"And?"
"Well ..." Her breath momentarily hitched when his lips reached that sensitive part right beneath her ear.
"Hm?" he pressed on.
She swallowed and continued, "There are none more deadly than the king of serpents—" She inhaled deeply. "—the basilisk."
She felt his lips curve into a smile before he pulled away.
"Excellent work, Hermione," he complimented as he touched her cheek gently.
He gazed at her, and that contemplative expression was back on his face again. So, she lowered her eyes and concentrated on following the intricate pattern carved into the tiles on the floor. Finally, he spoke.
"You never considered telling the professors about your findings," he said, causing her to look back at him.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Riddle."
He chuckled at her statement, which made her want to punch him.
Clenching her teeth together, she continued, "First of all, why would the professors believe a foreigner? Second of all, there is no proof. Lastly, it is really ... none of my business, and I don't want to get involved with things that have nothing to do with me."
He raised an eyebrow. "Contradictory statements, Granger. You got yourself involved the moment you started to investigate."
Fear gripped to her heart once more. She was walking on a fine line between life and death, but there was nothing else she could do, especially now when she had indirectly admitted that she knew that he was the Heir of Slytherin and the murderer of Myrtle.
"I didn't realize what I was getting myself into at the beginning," she replied in a soft voice. "Neither had I known what I was going to find out."
"You're regretting your decisions?" he asked, amused.
"No," she replied.
"No?" he questioned her, a touch of surprise entering his words.
"I doubt I'd be able to contain my curiosity ..." she answered, allowing her sentence to trail off. She shook her head. "No, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from finding out the truth."
Silence fell over them after she stopped talking, until he murmured, "You are ... odd."
She blinked and furrowed her eyebrows in irritation. How was she odd now?
However, he did not bother to answer her question.
"I assume you know how the basilisk kills?"
She nodded. "Its venom and its glare."
A cold, vile smirk appeared on his face as he ran a single finger down the side of her cheek and lingered on her jawline.
"I trust, then, that you wouldn't need me to advise you to keep your eyes shut until I tell you to? It would be such a pity for you to go the same way dear Myrtle did."
Alarms went off in her head at the insinuation that they were going to come face to face with a basilisk. It appeared that they were going into the Chamber of Secrets after all, and there was more than one way that led down there. She should have known. The notion of Slytherin or Lord Voldemort sliding down a disgusting pipeline had been ridiculously hilarious when Harry told her who the Heir of Slytherin was. It should have been obvious that there had to be simpler ways to travel downwards.
However, she doubted that he would kindly take her back to the school now if she asked.
He abruptly turned towards the wall to the right of her. Hermione quickly snapped her eyes shut as the strange tones of Parseltongue reached her ears followed by the sounds of bricks rearranging themselves. When the final stone slid into place, she felt Tom pick her up again.
"Regardless of what happens, keep your eyes closed. There is nothing I can do if you stare into the basilisk's eyes."
Without her eyes opened, she could not see where they were heading. The loss of sight heightened her uneasiness, and the urge to take a peek was only pushed back by the fear of seeing a pair of bulbous, yellow eyes.
After a small distance, he stopped in his stride and placed her on the floor. She desperately wanted to hold on to him, but due to the spell she was under, she could not move. She slightly calmed down when she heard him hiss and spit without drawing breath right next to her—he had not moved away. It was not much, but she took whatever amount of comfort she could from that fact. At least, that meant the basilisk was not going to move in for the kill. Therefore, she very nearly started screaming when she heard another source of hissing directly in front of her.
Recalling Tom's words, she scrunched her eyes together, determined to keep it shut. Tom's arm suddenly wound around her waist, and he said something to the basilisk. Her heart slowed down to a manageable rate with his presence, though the logical side of her mind "kindly" reminded her that he could easily throw her towards the giant snake in front of them in the next second.
She mildly registered that the two of them were having some kind of conversation, and the moment she felt something—the basilisk's tongue—flickering against the skin of her hand, she stopped breathing and bit down on the inside of her cheek.
"You might want to reconsider biting too hard into your cheek, Granger. Not that it will make a difference to the basilisk, since it can smell the Muggle blood in you anyway, but the stronger the smell, the more ... enticing it is," he whispered into her ear.
The amusement in his voice was telling, and she could tell just how much he was enjoying her discomfort. To disregard his advice, however, would be beyond stupid, so she immediately loosened her jaw. However, her fear hardly dissipated as she listened to the two snakes converse over her head.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally heard the sounds of the monster's heavy body slithering away from her.
"You may open your eyes now," Tom informed her once there were no more sounds of movement.
The Chamber of Secrets was exactly how she recalled it, except without the skeleton of the basilisk. She momentarily wondered how Slytherin managed to build all of this in secret. The wandwork and magic required to make such a feat was fascinating and beyond what Hermione could imagine. Honestly, with the three of them—Harry, Ron, and her—it had been nearly impossible to do something without Dumbledore finding out. Slytherin, however, did this without Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff noticing it. How had he done it? Unfortunately, she knew that she was not going to find answers to that any time soon, which was quite irritating because she had been so accustomed to finding answers from books.
Her eyes took in more details of the Chamber of Secrets. To the right of them stood the gigantic statue of Salazar Slytherin. She was still very uncomfortable with the fact that she was in such close proximity to the notorious creature, even though she knew the basilisk would not come until Tom called for it. Additionally, it was not exactly comforting that she had no idea why he brought her down here.
"Why ... did you bring me down here?" she asked cautiously.
"Hm ... it's almost time for the basilisk to have a midnight snack ..." he trailed of jokingly.
"Very funny," she remarked dryly.
He chuckled at her reaction. "Well, the basilisk was so very disappointed."
She wondered if she dared to ask why. However, it was not required since he continued speaking on his own accord.
"It was rather hungry," he said, looking off in the direction Hermione assumed the basilisk might be in.
Her skin crawled when she realized just how near death she had been.
"But since you've been such a somewhat ... accommodating girl today, I suppose I can let you live," he uttered, so casually that he could have been talking about the weather. "I believe there's something in here that might interest you."
Swallowing her fear, she laughed shakily.
"I doubt the basilisk can be considered a book," she commented.
He raised his eyebrow again. "Secrets, Granger. Plural. Did you really think this place was simply built to house a giant serpent?" He circled around her body until he was standing behind her. "Now, care to tell me what you were looking for in the library?"
She blinked, her mind moving much too slowly for her liking. She had thought that he had let that topic slide.
"I've ... told you already," she replied, her voice very nearly a whisper.
"Not the complete truth," he said sharply.
The harsh tone of voice he implemented caused her mouth to snap shut. It took a while, but she managed to gather enough courage to open her mouth again.
"Why would we need to nick other books?" she asked in return. "There aren't other immediate threats, nor are there other possible reasons why we would risk expulsion to sneak into the library."
His lips curved into a cold smile. "That's precisely what I want to know, Hermione. What is so important that a magical barrier was needed to conceal information in your mind? The only person that comes to my mind who would go to this length to protect you is Dumbledore, and that in itself is suspicious. Why did he feel the need to conceal whatever information is hidden behind that barrier?" He grabbed her chin and forced her to face him again, placing quite a bit of strain on her neck. "I felt your panic when I nearly saw the title of the book you were looking for, Granger, and I prefer your pretense to end tonight."
"Look, I don't know why there was even a barrier erected in my brain. I didn't even know about it until you told me. How would I know why some idiot found it funny to protect information in my mind? It's not my fault. If you really want to know the answer, why don't you ask the person who bothered to cast that spell on me?" she ranted angrily. She took a deep breath and went on, "I went to look for information about how to travel. If you don't believe me, bring me back to the Gryffindor tower, and I'll show you the books, for Merlin's sake! And why wouldn't I panic if you were threatening to get me expelled from Hogwarts?"
She was a taking a chance with her words. She only guessed that things pertaining to time travel were concealed, but she could not be sure. She limited her words to merely "travel" while she was thinking of "time travel", therefore, telling a half-truth rather than lying. She hoped that the trigger word was, indeed, "time travel" and that would bring in the magical barrier.
Tom stared at her silently again. After a while, he released her face and picked her up again. Frustration completely pushed her fear away and instead of cringing in fear, she felt the urge to kick him. Unfortunately, she was still immobilized, so she could only start cursing at him.
"Granger, would you just shut your mouth already?" he finally spoke up as they stopped in front of another wall on the other side of the Chamber.
He placed her upright again, allowing her to glare at him properly.
"Right, because it's completely normal for a person to shut up when they are in danger of dying the next minute," she retorted.
"And it's completely normal for a person who's worried about dying to scream vulgarities at the one who might kill them," he snapped. "Very intelligent, Granger. Every second passing proves to me that your cleverness was overrated."
Without saying another word, he swirled towards the wall. Momentarily, she wondered how he could tell where every single passageway was. In her opinion, the walls looked almost the same to her. Every five steps or so, there would be an engraving of two snakes in a circle, biting one another's tail while a snake with nine heads was coiled in the center. She and Tom were standing in front of one of the Merlin-knows-how-many engravings.
Softly, he hissed at the barrier. The two snakes in a circle released one another's tail while the hydra in the middle recoiled into the position of a snake getting ready to attack. The carving then slid to the right, revealing the bricks behind it which were swiftly moving apart to form an archway. The candelabras nearest to the doorway inside the room lit up on their own when the bricks finally stopped moving.
The moment he moved her inside, she was immediately distracted. She did not even notice the fact that he had taken the immobilization spell off her and she could move again, nor did she see the bricks slide back into place after they passed through the archway, sealing off the entrance.
The room was circular with green carpet covering the entire floor. The main light source was a chandelier that hung above the middle of the room. Right below it was an enormous redwood table surrounded by green armchairs and sofas. Sitting on top of the seating furniture were pillows covered with silver materials. Engravings of snakes coiled around the legs of the tables and chairs. However, those were not the details that caught Hermione's attention.
Books! Volumes and volumes of books!
Her eyes brightened considerably as her brain registered the fact that though there might not be as many books in the room as in the library, there were many tomes in here that could not be found anywhere else in the world. Except for the wall above the doorway and a small area surrounding it, the entire wall was covered from the ceiling to the floor with books. In addition to the collection on the walls, more than forty bookshelves were arranged in a semi-circle around the room.
More candelabras hung from the sides of the bookshelves, providing extra light for the reading area in the middle of the room. Snakes were, again, carved on the arms that held up the candles. Images of serpents could also be seen embroidering the edges of the bookshelves as well as coiling around the pillars that held up the roof of the room.
Her body acknowledged its freedom quicker than her mind did, and she excitedly rushed over to one of the bookshelves and gazed almost fanatically at the titles. To her surprise, some of the texts had no names on their spines.
"Some of them were written by Slytherin himself, so you will not find names on them," he said, answering her unasked question.
"The bookshelves have empty spaces in them," she commented, looking pointedly at the random vacancies throughout the room.
"The books on the walls were already here when I first found this place," he answered as he sat down on one of the sofas. "Slytherin concealed his writings, other books, and objects he deemed worthy inside the Chamber of Secrets with riddles, spells, and other challenges. It took me a whole school year to find the books you're looking at right now."
Grudgingly, she had to admit that he was quite clever for finding so many books. Although he had said "a whole school year," she knew that in that school year, he also had to avoid attracting Dumbledore's attention as well as keep up with his schoolwork.
She looked back at him, and though it was the most improper moment, she could not look away. She had no idea if he had done it on purpose or not, but the way he sat there on the sofa was far too ... eye-catching. The dim light from the candles caressed his flawless, pale skin softly, accentuating the alluring darkness inherently in him. He drummed one of his hands absentmindedly on his knee while his other arm rested on the edge of the back of the sofa.
She had no doubt that if it were another girl in her shoes right now, they would have jumped on top of him and started to snog him senseless. Merlin, if it were Lavendar or Parvati, they would probably have started pulling off his robes already.
Lucifer was known as the most beautiful angel before he fell, a voice reminded her at the back of her head.
And this was certainly all the proof she needed.
"Have you read through all the books?" she asked, trying to pry her eyes away from the appealing scene in front of her.
It did not help that she remembered what was beneath those layers of clothes. Definitely not helpful at all.
"Not yet," he replied, picking up one of the tomes from the table. They were apparently left there from his previous visits.
Her cheeks flushed red as she watched the way his extraordinarily long fingers turned the pages of the gigantic book. Images of the otherways he had used them on her entered her mind's eye, throwing her into a rather awkward position. So, she cleared her throat and pushed her hair away from her face. He looked up from the book on his lap and gazed at her.
"There are books on international traveling?" she asked when she had his attention.
"There might be," he answered, a smirk in place. "You may look through the books, you know?" His hand gestured at the many bookshelves in the room.
She raised her eyebrows, and he looked back at her with the same expression, causing her to throw up her hands in frustration. His eyebrow rose even further.
"Or was I mistaken and you had no interest in the books?"
"Oh, stop faking it, Riddle. What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.
He tilted his head to one side. "Tsk ... must I have an ulterior motive to everything I do?"
"Yes," she answered deadpan.
He laughed, too happily in her opinion, before he motioned for her to go closer to him. She narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest, and made no movements at all. He placed the book back on the table and placed his arm back on the back of the sofa, resting his chin on his propped up hand.
"We don't have all day, Granger," he said.
"I realized that," she sneered, "which was why I wanted to know what the downside of this is. I find it hard to believe that you are willing to share something like this, especially when this indirectly proves to me that ..."
She bit her lower lip.
"That Myrtle died because of the basilisk?" he finished her sentence coldly.
"... Yes," she whispered.
"Which is why I need you over here right now. Do come over, Granger. I am not in the mood to chase you around the room," he replied, his expression emotionless.
"Why?" she asked.
"Well, if you prefer to stand there ..." he trailed off tiresomely and stood up from the sofa.
She took a step back for every move he took towards her, and then suddenly, he stopped and grinned. Making sure he had her attention, his hand slid into his pocket and withdrew something.
Her eyes widened when she saw what was in his hand.
Her wand.
Her fear was immediately forgotten as she stomped up to him and grabbed the piece of wood he was holding out towards her.
"You—you vile, evil—disgusting, annoying—" she sputtered, ignoring the amusement on his face. "How dare you—You had my wand the whole—I was worried and you pretended—"
"Now that you have your wand back," he said, disregarding her anger, "my conditions are simple, Granger. You are not to speak a word about the Chamber of Secrets to anyone."
She was still glaring at him furiously and considering if she should knee him again when he sighed.
"Are you listening, Granger? Or do we need to do this the hard way?" he asked indifferently.
However, before he finished speaking, she whipped her wand through the air and threw a Stinging Hex at him. His wards were up before her spell hit him, and within seconds her wand was in his hand again.
"Apparently, you cannot be allowed to hold on to your wand, Granger," he spoke as if he were talking to a five-year-old. "Now, should I just Obliviate you and throw you back upstairs or are you going to listen?"
"Give me back my wand," she said, her voice dangerously low.
"Not before we're back in the school," he replied. With a quick flick of his wand, her wand got Banished. "Now stop being unreasonable and listen."
"When and if you give me back my wand," she said.
"No bargaining allowed, Granger. You're in my territory so I suggest you follow my rules," he replied coldly.
Still glaring at him, she willed herself to calm down. There were a lot of books in here. Perhaps she might even find books about time traveling. With that thought in mind, she slightly calmed down, though not completely.
"So we can do the Unbreakable Vow," she said through gritted teeth. The nose isn't all that unbreakable.
"We do not have a bonder, Granger, and I am not about to bring someone else down here," he said.
"Then you'll just have to take my word for it that I'm not going to tell anyone," she snapped.
He looked at her condescendingly, letting her know exactly how he felt about her suggestion. A frown then settled in place as he thought of a solution. Hermione impatiently tapped her foot on the floor as she thought of the perfect way to maim him for snitching her wand twice. Punch him in the face? Recalling his reflexes from their previous encounters, she was sure that he had enough time to react before her fist connected with his nose. Perhaps she should stomp on his foot this time. It was the perfect distance away and it was a less conspicuous move...
Before she could make up her mind, however, he had already made his decision. He grabbed her and turned her around so that her back was towards him. Caught by surprise, she did not have enough time to react and he was already holding her in his embrace with one arm. He swirled his wand above his head before whipping it straight out ahead of them. His hand twisted and turned, and misty white flashes left the end of his wand. Sibilant tones left his mouth as the flashes connected with one another, forming longer strands of white. The strings slowly enveloped around Hermione, elongating and coiling around her as Tom continued to hiss in Parseltongue. Finally, the last syllable left his mouth, and the white mist settled onto her skin and disappeared.
It was all finished before she could stop him from what he was doing. The moment she thought about protesting, he had already released her and moved away. She whirled around and stared at him.
"What was that?" she immediately asked.
"Nothing that ... concerns you unless you attempt to be foolish," he replied ambiguously, walking down an aisle and browsing through the books.
"What do you mean 'attempt to be foolish?'" she pressed on.
He leisurely took a book out and flipped through it. "As in trying to tell your wonderful friends about anything related to the Chamber of Secrets."
"But—" she started to say but snapped her mouth shut in the last minute.
He was not supposed to know that Harry and Ginny knew already.
"I doubt there is someone else here who's a Parselmouth. However, even if there is, the basilisk is neither kind nor merciful to strangers or Muggle-borns. To walk in here without my company ..." he trailed off, his lips curving into another cold smirk before he placed his concentration back on the book.
She nibbled her lower lip and glared at him. A short moment later, he looked up again.
"Granger, are you planning on staring at me for the whole night? I thought your travel to Germany was so very important."
Resisting the urge to stick out her tongue at him, she turned around and walked into another aisle.
"Where's the international traveling section?" she asked after searching for a while, still unable to keep her voice overly friendly.
"The books are in alphabetical order," he replied.
"Then what's the title of the book?" she questioned him.
"I wouldn't remember now, would I?" he answered, and this time his voice was a lot closer than before. Sure enough, he appeared at the end of her aisle seconds later.
Her eyes narrowed again at his words. "You? Not remembering something?" A snort left her mouth before she could stop it.
"Now why would I hide that piece of information from you?" he asked, picking up a book from the shelf and leafing through it.
"How am I supposed to know?" she asked, her tone still suspicious.
There was something ... that seemed off about this, though she could not put her finger on it.
"Pray tell, Granger, why else would I risk letting you know who the Heir of Slytherin really is?" he sighed, replacing the book on the shelf and shaking his head. He gazed at her. "Such accusations after I had so ... kindly brought you down here. And here I am, trying to help you find the book, and you accused me of hiding it from you." He paused and tilted his head. "You do know that the invitation can be easily retracted."
Guilt caused her to blush, though she tried to tell herself that she should not feel it towards Tom Riddle out of all people. Additionally, the sheer amount of books in the room had her sold; she would never get a good night's sleep again knowing that there are hundreds, thousands of books down here that she could never touch again. Therefore, the words of apology passed through her lips before she could stop them.
"I'm sorry."
A corner of his lips twitched upwards. "Apology accepted."
She sighed out of relief when he turned back to the bookshelves, though there was still something nagging her at the back of her mind. She decidedly pushed it away—she was probably thinking too much into things. It was ridiculous, really. If he had wanted to hide that information away from her, he would not have brought her down here in the first place.
Therefore, a few minutes later, with the help of Tom, she carried a heap of books over to the armchairs in order to skim through them one by one rather than fuss over something that was so illogical.
"This is going to take eons," she muttered under her breath as she looked through the books that they had placed on the table.
"Let's hope not then," he replied, a smirk forming on his face.
She could not help but feel that he was not being sincere—she was positive he was not being sincere since it was Dumbledore who was involved. However, she knew it was pointless to argue with him about something like this. Instead, she pored through more books.
After an hour of fruitless searching—although she could hardly complain, since there were so many interesting theories in the texts—she placed another book on the table and leaned back on the sofa.
"Are you sure there's a book about international traveling in here?" she asked, mildly exhausted from the lack of sleep and excessive reading.
"I recalled seeing it somewhere," he answered vaguely, grabbing another book and flipping through it. He smiled. "I just can't remember which book it is."
It still struck Hermione as strange that he had forgotten something, since it did not seem like something that would happen to him. He had even remembered the chapter of the book that proved Longbottom's statement wrong. However, she also recalled Harry mentioning the fact that Lord Voldemort forgetting bits of old magic that formed Lily Potter's lingering protection on Harry. It should be ... normal for him to forget a book here and there. Right?
She discretely glanced at him, trying to see if she could get hints in regards to whether he was being truthful or not. However, he seemed so intent while looking through the books. She knew he was an excellent actor, but why would he spend his time like this? It did not make any sense to her.
Seconds passed, and when she could not find any clues, her mind began to drift off from its original goal. Instead, it started to register minor details about him while the yearning she had for him began to stir. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and she was more than glad that it had not alerted him. She would be too embarrassed if he used Legilimency on her because the current thoughts were definitely not protected by whatever the trigger word to the magical barrier was.
Not normal, Granger. He threatened to kill you just a few hours before. Well, yes, he didn't go through with it, but it's not exactly the right time to think of ... those kinds of thoughts about him.
She mentally sighed. How was it possible that someone with the heart and mind of the devil could look so positively delectable? If only he were not so evil, she would have no problem drooling and swooning over him like the rest of the other girls in school. Not that it stopped her from staring absentmindedly at him right now, but that was beside the point. Completely beside the point.
She was just ... frustrated. Yes. Because he left her stranded so many times. It was unfair ... and she had the right to ogle at him like this. It was entirely his fault for teasing her and leaving her like that.
"Finished looking through the books?" he suddenly asked, tearing his attention away from the tome in his hands.
Flustered, she pushed a lock of hair away. "Mm ... I think so."
Breathe in, breathe out. No reason to let him affect you like this.
Tom glanced at the hourglass trapped inside a glass sphere situated between two of the bookshelves against the wall near the entrance. Apparently, it told the time, though she had no idea how it worked.
Nor did she care at the moment.
"We still have a couple of hours before it's time for breakfast. We should get you back to the Gryffindor tower then," he said, standing up from his seat. "I wouldn't need to place you under the Full Body Bind to take you back up there, would I?" he teased.
"No ... no need for it," she muttered, trying her best to concentrate on what he was saying.
He must have noticed something was wrong with her, since he raised an eyebrow. However, he did not comment on it and simply held out his hand to her. Hesitantly, she placed her hand in it but was completely unprepared for what happened next. With a gentle tug, she fell into his embrace and he had his arms around her.
"I believe I deserve something in return for bringing you down here?" he inquired in a soft voice, causing a leap of excitement at the pit of her stomach.
Seconds later, his lips touched her, and her arms quickly wrapped themselves around his neck. He lowered her onto the sofa and his body pressed onto hers, almost as if he were trying to mold the two of them into one. His hands traveled up and down her body, creating delicious tingles where they touched, and she did not bother suppressing the moan. Feelings from his previous ministrations returned with a vengeance, and she pulled him closer, wanting to lose herself.
Just once, she promised herself. Just once more and she would let go.
But she knew it was a lie, deep down inside of her. It was far too late for her to let go.
Therefore, a strangled noise of protest left her mouth when he disconnected their contact. Before he could speak, however, she grabbed him by the tie and pulled him over.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle, you're not going to leave me like this again," she growled.
He chuckled. "I wouldn't want to rape you again, Hermione Granger."
She hissed, annoyed at his words. "Would you stop with the 'rape' already?"
"I wasn't the one who started going on and on about rape now, was I?" he retorted with a shrug.
"Even if it wasn't rape, it was still non-consensual," she insisted.
"Hm ... was it really?" he asked with a smirk. "You can't honestly tell me that you didn't need it, can you?"
Her face turned bright red at his words, but she had no retort for him.
"You didn't want some bloke to wait for you to make the first move—"
He kissed her on her forehead.
"—or else you wouldn't have been with me—"
He placed a kiss on her nose as his hand cupped her face and tilted it towards him.
"—You needed—"
His voice dropped to a whisper as he kissed her lips.
"—someone to take charge—"
Another kiss on her lips.
"—and force you—"
His tongue flickered out and traced her bottom lip.
"—to surrender."
She held her breath as his words sank into her mind. Fear clashed violently with excitement as the world swirled around her.
It could not be true. It could not be true.
But she knew it was. And it was the reason why she could not reconcile it with herself.
"Do think about it clearly, Granger. I really do not have time for people who are so intent on deluding themselves."
He then made a move to detach himself from her which caused her to snap her out of her self-realization. A string of creative curse words left her mouth, and she tugged at his tie again, pulling his face over to hers.
"Ohhh, Granger. Are you going to 'rape' me now?" he mocked.
A frustrated noise answered his laughter. "Shut up, Riddle!"
With another tug, she then closed the distance between them and kissed him furiously.
And she would be damned if she allowed him to leave her unsatisfied again.

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Somewhere in Time