Hey all, sorry I took so long to update and anyway thanks to all my reviewers and please don't forget to leave your comments after this chapter too.

So what is Hermione's plan? and that's what you have to concentrate on guys, Riddle is just going to use Hermione's weakness against her. What Hermione and Harry are planning though……….

You have to read and find out..

R&R as always.

CHAPTER – 17

"I can't believe this" Hermione said with frustration evident in her voice. "We came all the way back and now this has to happen"

"We should just bloody kill him" Harry supplied none too helpfully as Hermione thought.

"We could, if only we can Harry" Hermione sighed and dropped on the couch beside Harry as he looked at her with his eyes wide which meant he did not understand what she was saying. Hermione sighed again and said "It can't be as easy as you think Harry, he's not the most feared wizard for no reason"

"I didn't say it was going to be easy but atleast it's better than trying to make him like us" Harry said laying emphasis on like.

"Harry we have to do this the hard way and we both knew it. Maybe if he doesn't come around before he graduates we will kill him, by all means but for now let it be the last option"

"Why?" Harry asked getting up and looking at Hermione directly in her eyes. "After all we came here for it"

Hermione looked straight back into his shining emerald eyes and said "No Harry, we intended to kill a nine year old orphan boy in an orphanage and go back without anybody noticing" Hermione shook her head "Unfortunately we both were not prepared for this" Hermione said with her hands flailing to indicate their situation.

"Thinking back, I don't think I would have been able to kill him anyway" Harry said truthfully.

Hermione suddenly looked up at him and asked "Really" she asked with only a hint of disbelief and as Harry shook his head, she understood that Harry was after all Lily Potter's son.

"Just stick to the plan Harry, play him in his own game. He has to feel a connection to you after you reveal it to him" Hermione said trying to sound confident.

It had almost been two weeks as Riddle noticed and Miss Broston was still very keen on avoiding him at all costs. He however was tired of this routine and decided to break it the first chance he got. And it was in Professor Slughorn's class that he finally had the chance. Slughorn had to Riddle's pleasure and Hermione's displeasure, paired them together for a week.

Hermione was disgruntled as she thought of her fate. She didn't know when she was going to throw in a temper tantrum again on someone. Slowly she walked over to Riddle's seat as she knew he wouldn't very well come to hers. She was a little suspicious when Riddle moved his things immediately and made room for her to stand. Hermione glared at him for a second before she dropped her things and took out her cauldron. If there was a God he was definitely not taking pity on her.

To Hermione's dismay and to the other girls' great pleasure Slughorn announced that they would be preparing the love potion today. Hermione noticed that Slughorn was back to being his cheery self weeks ago and she hadn't found out the reason of why he was so upset the time she was in detention because of Riddle, she scowled at the thought. She had endured a lot of difficulty and agony due to the person standing in front of her. Hermione's scowl deepened as she saw Riddle pretending to listen to Slughorn's instruction. This person standing in front of her would be the murderer of thousands and thousands of people. He would be the epitome of evil and vileness and yet nobody except Harry and her and Dumbledore seemed to see that side of him. It frustrated her to no end and sometimes she thought 'Why Oh Why did God have to gift the psycho killer with such an awesome, adorable, handsome and perfectly flawless appearance?'

"Hmm" she grunted and Riddle looked up to see her trademark scowl set firm in her face. He resisted the urge to smirk at her obvious displeasure of being in his company and instead he just looked at her with a concerned expression.

"Is anything wrong Miss Broston?" Riddle asked still with the concerned student look.

"No" Hermione grounded out 'Nothing is wrong except that I'm standing in front of the dark lord and I can't even snap at the vile prat' and as Hermione was on the brink of creating another list of adjectives to describe the young dark lord she was brought back to the earth by Riddle snapping a finger in front of her face.

"Wake up darling daydream" he said in an irritatingly sweet voice according to Hermione's opinion but the girls in the radius obviously thought it was sweet as they swooned and giggled.

Hermione who wanted to get this over with as quick as possible wrote the instructions down and went to fetch the ingredients but Riddle stopped her with his hand blocking her way.

"I'd like to get it on my own Miss Broston" he said flashing her a smile before he swept off to the cupboard to get the ingredients. Hermione just huffed and stood in her place. She liked to take her ingredients too but she couldn't very well have a fight with the dark lord about it. Nope, she didn't disregard the fact that she had only escaped narrowly the last time although Harry insisted that she did.

"You better stay away from him or you'll have to suffer my wrath" Hermione heard a girl say in her year and before she turned to look the girl was walking away and she had the sneaking suspicion that she was Lois Greengrass. Hermione shook her head, not only did she have to deal with the wrath of a young dark lord and his ravenous pet snake but also the banshees in the school. She really did have to find a way to deal with the banshees though. She didn't think she could escape all these unscathed. As she was formulating a plan in her mind Riddle appeared before her and as Hermione looked at the ingredients she scowled again as his choice was in every way perfect.

"Shall we start Miss Broston?" Riddle asked in the irritatingly sweet voice again and Hermione had to bite her tongue to not snap something witty at him.

"By all means" Hermione replied tightly.

Riddle did most of the work which irked Hermione as she was always used to doing her work on her own. She didn't need to be mothered by Tom Marvolo Riddle for god's sake. She stood firmly rooted in her spot with her eyebrows knit together and her lips pursed as she took out all her anger on the gillyweed she was currently cutting into pieces. Hermione didn't understand how Riddle could act as if nothing had happened between them at all. This only served to heighten her anger more as she cut through with fervor and finally she made a yelp of pain as she realized what she had just did. She looked down at her bleeding finger and tears started to prick her eyes.

Before she could take her wand and heal it though Riddle took her hand in his and to say Hermione was shocked was an understatement. She almost wanted to shout in her paranoia but she just contained herself by pulling her hand out of his forcefully. Riddle looked like he was hurt for a minute before looking at her with an innocent look and said "I only took your hand to heal it Miss Broston, I'm sorry if I offended you" and by now half the class was looking at their exchange and Hermione's fear of the banshees increased ten fold. Tom Marvolo Riddle was going to get her butchered. Riddle still looked at her apologetically and Hermione almost wanted to smack him in the face for playing her like this. She was surely going to be killed by the banshees now but then again Riddle didn't know who he was playing with. She was not the most bloody brilliant witch of her age for nothing.

"I can heal it by myself" she shouted at his face. Riddle seemed to be taken aback for a moment but Hermione could tell he was trying to control his temper. He looked tense but he didn't show it on the outside. Hermione was satisfied to see that although she was frightened. Hermione looked around too see that the Slytherins especially Malfoy and Goyle glare at her but she wasn't bothered. She had controlled the monster within her for so long and it was about time it reared up its ugly head and spit fire.

"Now, now Miss Broston that is no way to behave to a fellow student trying to help you" Slughorn chastised and Hermione opened her mouth to reply before Riddle cut her off swiftly.

"It was my fault Professor" Hermione had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the apparent yet so perfect act performed by Riddle.

"Well, you have to learn to get along with each other, the both of you. You just fight too much and although it's interesting to watch I'll be giving you a detention for a week if I see you fighting this week" Professor Slughorn said in a mischievous tone with a bit of playfulness and Hermione did not like where this was leading to. She mentally cursed Slughorn in every language she knew. She had not even talked with Tom the past two weeks and now this bafoon of a Professor had the nerve to actually throw her in her own grave and she knew Riddle would see this as a perfect opportunity. She noticed the Slytherin girls giving Slughorn a scathing look. She really did consider casting a Silencio on her before healing her cut finger and returning to their work. Thankfully they were only going to start the potion now if not it would have probably blasted away.

After about a half hour their potion was simmering in a light pink already giving out a spiraling mist of pinkish vapour and piercing their nostrils with its intoxicating smell. Hermione looked around the class and noticed that as usual only they had completed it successfully.

Hermione bent down towards the cauldron and smelled. Riddle found this amusing for some reason and asked her "What do you smell?"

Hermione who was in a daze replied without thinking as she did in her sixth year "Parchment, fresh moan lawn and the scent…." and Hermione just realized what she had said as she looked up blushing.

"What scent?" Riddle asked in a curious tone but his eyes showed his disinterest.

"That's not something I would want you to know" Hermione said before standing up straight and throwing the cauldron a dirty look as though it had tried to hurt her. She was actually smelling a perfume she used in about fifty years in time and although she knew no harm could come if Riddle knew it she didn't want to take a chance.

"Why are you so hostile to me Miss Broston?" Riddle asked with an expressionless face in a calm tone. Hermione turned around alarm bells ringing in her head and sure enough Professor Slughorn and the whole class had been immobilized.

"Riddle, what have you done?"

"That doesn't matter Miss Broston. Now, answer my question or you will undoubtedly have to face detention with me alone for a week and I think that's not something you'd prefer"

"This is insane, Riddle renervate them or….." Hermione said looking determined but Riddle merely chuckled and asked "Or what Miss Broston?"

"Or I will" Hermione said drawing out her wand and performing the spell and to her surprise Riddle didn't stop her but before everyone could be released from the spell completely Riddle swept Hermione and kissed her lightly on her lips. Riddle wasn't disappointed as it had the necessary effect.

Hermione pushed him off of her immediately and shouted "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE?" but Riddle who was perfectly composed and cool and looked at her like he was confused. The entire class was now looking at their exchange and the Slyhterins looked almost ready to kill Hermione but she didn't notice as she was in a towering temper.

Riddle noticed that Slughorn was only now awakening and decided to irk her some more by playing innocent. "What are you saying Miss Broston?" he asked in a slightly impatient voice that everybody knew he used only when he was angry.

Hermione couldn't believe the nerve of the git standing in front of her. All rational thought left her as her hand connected with his face quite hard in a slap. The sound echoed through the room and Slughorn looked affronted and then disappointed and then angry and finally he smirked. Hermione was still looking at Riddle furiously while Riddle on the other hand was trying hard to not slit the throat of the girl standing in front of him. He had known would anger her but he had never been insulted before in front of his peers, he would like to see her in detention with him. He was going to put her in her place very soon.

"Detention, Miss Broston and Mr Riddle" Slughorn said trying to sound disappointed but everyone could see that he was very amused with what was going on.

Hermione looked affronted as she whirled around to face her potions Professor "But he was the one who…" and Hermione stopped in mid sentence realizing that there was no way she could tell what he had done to anyone and it was not like they would believe her anyway.

"Detention for a week after Christmas holidays, no explanations will be entertained. It has gotten far too worse this time"

Riddle was very disappointed and very angry. He was not going to wait until that time. He was going to show the girl her place where she truly belonged and she wouldn't know what would hit her then.

"I'm sorry sir, I assure you it will not happen again" Riddle said with his fists clenched at his sides.

"Of course Tom but I can't let you off the hook this time"

So guys, I finally decided to grant your wish………

Please R&R….

If you want the update soon, Oh and it's ready and I'll submit a preview if you review.

GOODBYE and HAPPY VALENTINES!!!!!