Sorry for the long wait! This story was hard to continue, I need to be in a very specific mindset, or at least be watching a series with a delicious Psychopath or Sociopath. Not to worry, I will continue updating and hopefully within shorter intervals.

Thanks to the people that follow or has favorited this story.

Thanks to Lady Akane Jim for the lovely review, and sorry for the incredibly long wait. Hopefully, that won't happen again!

Xx

Harry Potter and its characters belong to Bloomsbury, Warner Bro, and the queen JK Rowling to mention some. I do not own any of the characters or places in this story. The definition of badger and Snake is from the Oxford dictionary of English which I don't own either.

Badger

Verb: repeatedly and annoyingly ask (someone) to do something.

Noun: a heavily built omnivorous nocturnal mammal of the weasel family, typically having a gray and black coat.

Snake

Verb: move or extend with the twisting motion of a snake.

Noun: a long limbless reptile which has no eyelids, a short tail, and jaws that are capable of considerable extension. Some snakes have a venomous bite.

Hufflepuff

What a surprise that was, she had not expected to end up in that house. Maybe Slytherin because of her desire to be left alone, a trait which she seemed to share with all snakes. Or Gryffindor of course, as all her Hogwarts career she had been all of those things so completely. Maybe even Ravenclaw to go with her studious nature, but Hufflepuff?

When her eyes sought out and found Tom Riddle's as she sat down, she saw the way he snickered and laughed at her. But she could also see the rage in him. Maybe he was mad that she had escaped his claws by ending up in a different house? Or maybe it was the fact that he had just said she was his first worthy opponent and she had ended up in the "weakest" house of Hogwarts.

She couldn't help the self-satisfied smirk at the last thought. Somebody at the table looked at her oddly, but then smiled when she met their eyes. So trusting, such a nice change she thought fondly as she looked over at the girl.

"Welcome to Hufflepuff! I'm Susan."

"Nice to meet you, Susan, I'm Jean if you missed it earlier." certainly nicer than the people she had met up with on the train. Susan was smiling at her again, the sort of open trusting smiled that just endeared you to a person.

"These are my friends." she pointed to a bunch of people and said their names, but Hermione was a bit overwhelmed and looked it. Or so she gathered from the giggles of them, and the boy to her left (Marc?) who told her "Don't worry, we'll remind you if you forget." and then he gave her a dashing smile.

"Thank you." she said, unable to be anything but grateful in a world where there would eventually be so many enemies.

They talked with her all through dinner, and Hermione eventually found her cheeks hurting a bit from all the smiling. It had been such a long time since she smiled. Apparently the smiles on her new housemates faces weren't forced or something you came into the house with. It was the result of being around so many openhearted genuinely nice people.

As they walked her to her new home for the year, she couldn't help but think of Harry and Ron, and how much they both would have loved this house. This would have been a second family for Harry and a joy for Ron since it was so close to the kitchen.

Tom was furious.

He had been all through dinner, his followers had long since pulled away a bit, or refrained from talking. No one wanted to be the one at the other end of Voldemorts anger and subsequent wand if they could help it.

That stupid smile on her face was both annoying and alluring, and he hated her for it. Part of him wanted to call her a Mudblood again, and see that smile turn into a pretty little frown, then maybe into that anger, that fire that seemed to spark slightly when provoked.

He also wanted that fire to spread from her eyes to her body, and push it towards him in anger, he was semi erect just thinking about that anger. It seemed like only stupid noble Gryffindor boys took the bait when you poked them with thinly veiled insults. They were too stupid, and too hard, like rigid stone, unmoving and boring in their anger.

But that girl, the little Mudblood, she had some of that fire. He had tasted some of it when he cornered her on the express, licking at her soft skin where she was so beautifully marked.

That's what he wanted, fire that seemed so soft, so pliable, but stoke it a little and it would consume you, burn you to the ground in an inferno that left so little evidence. The true fire didn't let itself be smothered, it found a way around your efforts to kill it. Sometimes biding its time, flaring up again when you think you're safe.

Then she had the gall to be in Hufflepuff. That boring sad excuse of a house. He frowned deeply at her, letting his other thought of dealing with that stupid smile linger in his thoughts.

For he could take a knife to her cheek. Make that smile permanent, knowing he had caused it. She would have more of her skin permanently altered, but this time by him. Proclaiming to the world that only he could proudly say he was the cause of this smile.

Her skin would be red as those plump lips stretching across her face, at least for a little while. And he would get to see more of those teeth. Those fucking perfect teeth that mockingly smiled at stupid Hufflepuffs who were so beneath her.

The thought of her eyes being so sad, and angry, and accusatory after he had carved out a beautifully curved smile stretching across her face. Showing her perfect teeth while glinting and bleeding with magnificent red blood seeping into them, pouring down her jawline, onto her neck. It all made him want to rub one out at the table, fucking minions be damned.

When they returned to the common room, he felt a pull towards the kitchen, to their common room. He ignored it, mostly, only allowing his eyes to follow her form as she was laughing in that tinkling precious laugh he wanted to steal. Of course, she was flanked by Hufflepuffs, her friends.

In the dungeons he was surrounded by people others would be as bold to call his friends. But they were mere pawns to move around at his whim, seemingly making their own moves, as he followed their progress over the imaginary board. He was the man that made them move, where she seemed to be moved by her friends.

She wouldn't see it that way, but in his mind, they were her pawns. Pawns he needed to conquer using his own.

In classes, she proved worthy to be called enemy again. He caught every twitch when the teacher asked a question, or when a student made a stupid remark. Yet she sat quietly, patient, waiting. Where his face was one of boredom, hers was utmost attentive, like she devoured knowledge easier than food. Like the only thing keeping her tethered to this world and not the next was knowledge.

She tried so very hard not to glance his way, and he admired her efforts. Her eyes were easily kept in check, but the rest of her body made her so easy to read, twitching, coiling, relaxing. Every sudden move he made was answered with one of her own.

His followers kept back that day while her friends surrounded her. He commanded the distance, she wanted their presence.

Their similarities were made so much better by their differences. He wanted to see if he could even them out, make her his toy instead of his adversary.

It took days before she was alone, moving towards the library no doubt. Most puffs used their time working together in the common room, delegating a task to each other, helping each other out. One would get refreshments, some would go around helping, others would discuss, and a few would rely on everyone else. But the roles were always changing, flexible yet always present. Hermione loved the sense of camaraderie and belonging.

She was so lost in thought she missed him at first. Glaring at him when he came closer, trying to escape him.

"Hufflepuff huh?" He caught up with her, matching her short angry strides. Even though the little fireball had a high speed to her steps, his gait easily matched hers.

"What's it to you?" she didn't even look at him as she continued to move through the castle. Perhaps she hoped to get rid of him by finding some of her annoying housemates. Or maybe she just wanted to be somewhere more public so he wouldn't attack her.

"Here I thought you had fire, bravery and all those things that make you a Gryffindor. But you turn out to be a poor defenseless Puff." She finally stopped and faced him, Her face was calm, but her eyes were filled with rage. At first glance, she was calm and collected but ready to attack. White knuckles clutching her books while they shivered slightly, and shoulders facing forward but slumping spoke volumes on her fear hidden behind it.

"Oh Tom, I thought you knew better." her condescension was dripping through her words. How little she must think of Slytherins, or maybe it was just him she loathed this much.

Ire provoked, he took the bait and raised an eyebrow "oh?" he snarled.

"Badgers eat snake for dinner." and with a look that promised pain, she moved away. Twirling on the spot, her bushy hair flicked behind her to cover any facial cues as she walked away.

"is that a threat?" he called out after her, making her turn towards him again, still clutching her books to her chest. Before she could retort with what would certainly be an insult of some kind, judging by her angry furrowed eyes and stern mouth, he continued "or is it a promise?" He licked his lips slightly at that, moving his hand suggestively towards his crotch. The way her entire body turned rigid amused him. Her mouth had fallen open in shock, and she was spluttering, unable to respond to such a lewd suggestion.

Instead, she threw him another one of those icy stares that contradicted her fiery nature. They stood there, staring, daring each other to stand down or make the first move.

Then her friends came, and she turned into that warm sickeningly lovely creature that others seemed to love. That same creature that made him want to devour her in his sickening ways, his deviant perplexing horrifying way.

The way he looked at her as she walked away was the reason why they hated him at the orphanage. It gave those who looked at him chills.

It was a promise of a magnitude of pain for the person he stared at, and one of immense pleasure for him.

The hungry snake coiling together to strike its enemy.

But the badger stared back, and the look was almost mirrored.

Badger and Snake, in the end, they could not live side by side. One would surely kill the other, for that is nature's way.