Feeling immobilized and being immobilized were two completely different things—something she realized much to her chagrin as she was carried blindly for quite some time, unable to move the slightest muscle.

She was embarrassed that he had gotten the drop on her. How had he managed to petrify her so quickly when she was already grasping for her wand before he could finish his sentence?

But he was quick and clever, not needing to do more than stare at her to perform the petrificus totalus spell, causing her to fall back instantaneously. She was sure it would have hurt if she had any feeling left to her body—nonetheless, she would end up with quite the bruise after this ordeal was over.

She'd be lucky if that was all she left with.

Yes, unfortunately for her, Tom was clever, and instantly cast a blindfolding spell to prevent her from seeing where they were going. She could only hear the sound of his footsteps for the longest time, a maddening tapping sound as the leather hit the cobblestone floor repeatedly.

At one point, she swore she heard hissing—what could possibly cause a hissing sound in the castle? A burst pipe, maybe?—but it ended just as soon as it began, and the never-ending tapping resumed. She felt she would go mad from the noise before the journey ended.

Approximately another five minutes of walking and the hissing returned tenfold, much louder and closer to her than before; but this time, something hissed back.

If she had any feeling left to her body, she knew she'd be covered in goosebumps from head to toe.

It almost sounded as though the two hissing entities were having a conversation—absolutely absurd, right? What were they doing, standing back and watching two snakes have a quick interlude before continuing to wherever the hell they were going?

She cursed herself once more for her slow reflexes and simply waited. That's all that she could do at this point—wait, and curse Tom for deciding to do this to her.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the aforementioned bastard removed her blindfold, and she blinked rapidly at the influx of light that assaulted her senses. Not that they were in a particularly well-lit room, she noticed, but any light after that length of darkness was difficult to bear.

She squinted up at Tom and felt her body release from the body-binding curse. Cold instantly rushed into her bones and made them its home, causing her to shudder violently and wrap her arms around herself to restore any heat she could manage to savour.

"Fuck," she chattered, searching blindly for her wand, desperately wanting that warming spell she had over her for most of the night. She was wholly underdressed for the climate of wherever the hell they were. "Where's my wand, Tom?"

"Oh, Hermione," Tom tutted, shaking his head. "Surely you don't find me that stupid. Your wand is safe and sound with me for the time being." He patted his dress coat pocket, indicating where her wand was "safely" stored.

She rolled her eyes at his response, knowing full-well he withheld her wand to keep her from instantaneously sending him flying across the room.

"Where are we, anyway?"

She looked around the unfamiliar place, trying to find hints of anything that would give away their location. She took notice of a wide array of pillars, varied by large statues of what appeared to be snakes with their mouths open, hissing. At the end of the room stood an enormous statue, built from the floor to the ceiling, of an old man with a flowing beard, long hair, and dead eyes. The entire room centered around that statue, making it feel like a temple of sorts dedicated to the man.

She also took note of the unfortunate amount of dampness surrounding her—especially underneath her, as the wetness seeping through her dress reached her skin and made her even colder than before.

"Take a guess," He purred, motioning to the space around the pair. "It's somewhere entirely safe, where no person would think to reach us."

"I think we have different meanings of safe, then, Tom," She mumbled mostly to herself, but heard Tom chuckle loudly. "I haven't the slightest idea of where we are." She struggled to stand, legs still stiff from the curse, and squared her shoulders, unwilling to let Tom see her in a weakened state.

"Well, if you're that desperate for me to spoil it, I suppose I'll tell you," He said cheerfully, in high spirits and making Hermione increasingly more uncomfortable by the minute. "Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets."

As he said the name, the remainder of the unlit torches flashed to life, bringing more light to the now terrifying enclosed room.

"The Chamber of Secrets?" she repeated, taking a step back from the mad man in front of her. The only thing she knew of the Chamber of Secrets really came from him, and that wasn't much—but the one thing she did know was the last time it had been brought up, someone died.

Her already sluggish blood froze in her veins.

"Quite ominous, I know," He said conversationally, following her movements, "but it's only appropriate for the Heir of Slytherin to have his own dwelling, don't you think?"

"What are you on about, Tom?" She continued backtracking, and he continued stalking forward, never allowing more distance than what he wanted between the pair.

"You're taking all the fun out of this, you know," He sighed, running a hand through his curly, dark hair. "Here's this big reveal that I've planned, and you won't even acknowledge any of the clues I've given you."

She blinked up at him, eyes wide, as she took into consideration the few things he said to her since their unfortunate arrival in the chamber.

"So… You're the heir of Slytherin, then?" She concluded, no emotion present in her voice. She didn't want to let him see that she was frightened, and she definitely didn't want to encourage him to continue on his tirade. She merely wanted to return to her chambers, safe and warm, far away from Tom.

"There's the Hermione I know." He dazzled her with a face-splitting grin, holding his arms out wide for her to behold her surroundings. "Welcome to the chamber built by Salazar Slytherin himself. When he and Godric Gryffindor disagreed on the allowance of mud—muggleborns into the school, Salazar left, but not before leaving behind this wonderful addition to the castle, only accessible to those of his blood."

"That would explain all the hissing, then," She mumbled, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, praying for the friction to heat her up in the slightest way. "And you thought it a great idea to bring a muggleborn into the den of purebloods why?"

"I needed to show you what I'm capable of, of course," He said simply. "I've told you time and time again that I am not to be tested, and yet here you've been, going against my every will and want. It's time to put that to an end."

"And bringing me to a secret chamber will do that how?" She questioned him further, not fully wanting an answer but continuing forward anyway. "Do you plan to torture me down here? Leave me for dead? All because Viktor kissed me?"

"Back to thinking less of me then, are we?" He tutted, shaking his head. "I could never cause you harm, love; not only because I don't want to, but because I know the repercussions that could befall my reputation if something terrible happened to a beloved professor. Surely, you've outgrown this thought process that involves me being a complete idiot."

He sighed, looking her up and down before taking off his jacket and offering it to her, but not before removing her wand. She took it hesitantly, not enjoying the way the conversation was going; but if she was going to die, she'd rather do it with some warmth to her body.

"If I wanted harm to befall you, I'd have someone else do it. Simple as that."

"How reassuring."

"You wanted honesty." He shrugged his broad shoulders, the epitome of care-free.

"Honestly, then, how does bringing me here teach me a lesson?" She looked around the room again, taking in the hissing snakes, and shuddered. "It's scary, but sort of weak in terms of frightening me out of my ways."

"Oh, you haven't seen the best part," He grinned and her stomach churned. "Not that you really should see it—bit of a hazard, that is, for muggleborns. You might want to close your eyes."

She stared at him for another moment, trying to determine how serious he was, before realizing that he almost was always serious. She squeezed her eyes shut, releasing a shaky breath.

The hissing noise she had her twice before resumed, and she now realized that it came from directly in front of her—Tom.

The Heir of Slytherin; of course he was a parselmouth.

She cursed under her breath and wrapped herself further into Tom's jacket, hoping wearing it would somehow repel some of the harm that could come her way.

"As I'm sure you're well aware, Slytherin had a thing for snakes," He began after a long string of hissing. The sound of stone moving against stone began, and he spoke more loudly to be heard over it. "And what snake is more powerful than the great basilisk?"

"Tom, please—" She squeezed her eyes together harder, unsure of what to ask of him.

Please let me go? Please show me how the hell to get out of here? Please, please tell me there isn't a giant basilisk living somewhere in this ancient castle, ready to kill muggleborns at the drop of a hat?

"As long as you listen to me, love, you've nothing to fear," Tom's breath fanned over her face, now mere inches from her. "I know you struggle to follow directions, but this really is in your best interest."

Scales sliding against the ground created a sound that reverberated throughout the chamber and up her spine, making goosebumps rise all over her body.

Tom began hissing again, and Hermione fought back to keep herself from gagging. Fear radiated off of her in waves, and she was certain the creature could pick up on it, but she couldn't bloody well help it; the only thing keeping her safe was Tom, and he wasn't in his right mind at the moment—or really, was he ever?

"She won't hurt you, Hermione. She's completely in my command."

"Brilliant. The man who's pissed off at me is the one controlling my safety. Just what I've always wanted."

"You're simply here to learn a lesson," Tom huffed, indignant, as if he had a right to be offended by her questioning his motives.

"And what makes you think I won't take this lesson and expose you for what you are?" She snarled, tired of being baited time and time again.

Rather than being properly chastised, he laughed. Loudly.

"The fact that we've been having an affair certainly doesn't bode well for you, Hermione."

"That's on both of us. Not just me."

"Would you truly risk your life's work and reputation to teach me a lesson?" He snorted, hissing again and seemingly dismissing the basilisk as the sound of scales against cobblestone retreated into the background. "You can open your eyes. It's safe."

Her eyes instantly snapped open, glaring blindly until finding the source of her anger.

"A muggleborn died. I remember that very clearly from our last conversation surrounding the chamber. And if you're the reason the chamber opened, then you're the reason an innocent person died." She stalked forward, poking him in the chest with each word.

He grabbed her hand and held it to his chest, cradling it.

"That was an accident. The girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I couldn't stop her from looking into the basilisk's eyes. It was instantaneous. Nothing could be done." He cast his eyes down and away from her guiltily, chewing on his bottom lip.

Hermione wasn't convinced.

"So it was an accident. Someone still died, and since you were rewarded for helping find the "killer," who else suffered because of this?"

"The oaf had it coming," Tom growled, eyes narrowing at her. "He was raising killer spiders. He would've caused harm to someone at some point—I merely protected the general population from the possible repercussions."

"Okay, but—"

He raised a finger to her lips, silencing her.

"No matter how you look at things, this was all a giant misunderstanding. Things balanced themselves out in the end. I keep the basilisk locked in the chamber and use the chamber as a personal getaway of sorts. No harm coming to any person." He raised a hand like a boy scout. "Honest."

"You just bring professors down here to threaten them and make them see things your way then, is that right?" She huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face. She wasn't letting him off the hook easily. "I still have half a mind to report you." She took on the voice of Head Girl, reminiscent of her Hogwarts days.

"Report me, and I report you. Ah ah," He interrupted her before she could start arguing again. "I'm an innocent student being taken advantage of by a professor who knows much better than to get into things with me. No matter how you try to sway things, I'll win. I have quite the upper-hand here. You'll find I can be very persuasive."

She tried to imagine having all of her hard work ripped away from her at a moment's notice, all because of her poor decisions to get involved with a student. She knew she was making a mistake with Tom, but kept ignoring the potential consequences that she would face—and losing everything she worked for throughout her life was one of those consequences.

She swallowed hard, refusing to look Tom in the eye as tears began forming in hers.

"I think you're finally seeing things my way," Tom murmured, grabbing her chin gently and pulling her attention back to him. "We're in this together, Hermione. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can move on from this."

"I don't think we should do this anymore," She said, jerking her head and pulling her chin out of his grasp. "It's obviously a mistake. We aren't right for each other. I can't blindly obey you the way you want me to, and I'm far too old to be doing this with you."

"Not this again," He groaned, grabbing onto her shoulders and gently shaking her. "We. Are. Meant. To. Be. Together." He emphasized each word with a shake, venom in his voice. "You are mine, and I'm not letting you get away."

It was a conversation they seemed to always return to, and one that she was tired of having as well; but she knew in her heart that what she was doing wasn't right, and she couldn't allow herself to continue with him, no matter how intense her feelings were becoming for him.

The fact that he decided to pull her into the Chamber of Secrets to teach her a lesson was a bit of a deal breaker, too, but she couldn't let him know that, lest she never get to leave. So she did the only thing she could do—lie.

"Okay, Tom," She sighed, gracing him with a small smile, "You win."

"Could you repeat that?"

"You heard me. I'll—I'll try to listen better. I won't be perfect, but I'll take your wants into consideration more often, okay?"

Tom's eyes lit up and she couldn't help but take in a breath at the beauty of it.

"That's just what I've been wanting to hear, Hermione," He said, knotting a hand in her hair and pulling her closer.

Just what he's been wanting to hear, so he would completely drop the subject and move forward with his life—exactly what she had wanted.

He gently placed his lips upon hers and she allowed herself to be kissed, counting to five before pulling away.

"I'd really rather avoid snogging in this place, if you don't mind. I'd quite like to leave."

He laughed and kissed her once more. She wrinkled her nose.

"Then leave, we shall," He said. "But I can't let you know how to get here, unfortunately, just as a precaution. So I'm going to have to knock you out again."

Before she could protest, she was on her arse again, staring up at the dark, dusty ceiling.

"Sorry, love."

As he blindfolded her once more, she normalized her breathing as much as she could, calculating a plan to end things with Tom once and for all.

Bill Weasley

Tent Outside Pyramid of Djoser, Southern Pavilion Necropolis

Saqqara, Egypt

Bill,

I was devastated to hear the news about Garrett—this goes without saying, but my heart has been with you and Sam since I've received your last letter.

I don't know what to say. I can't believe this happened, I can't believe we lost him, and I can't believe I haven't been with you to help in the time since his passing. I feel awful, and I hope to make things up to you in the near future.

As the holidays approach, I plan to speak with Professor Dumbledore about returning to Egypt to be with you and Sam. I want to work towards Garrett's goal of breaking into the chambers and make it so all of his hard work was for something. I want to be present for you and Sam—you're my team, and I feel so horrible for abandoning you during this difficult time. I will make up for my absence any way that I can.

Know that I will be there soon, and will leave as soon as I have permission.

Sending all my love,

Hermione