They sat at a desk at the front of the classroom, Hermione silently glowering and massaging her arm. Tom was beside her, blankly staring at the professor, waiting for him to start his lecture. Hermione was fairly sure that Professor Blackburn was arranging quills on his desk, or something equally as inane.

"Does he ever actually START the lesson? Or do we sit here like morons for an hour?" She hissed. He looked over at her, amusement evident on his face.

"He waits for a while, to make sure that everyone is here, and then he locks the door. Those who are locked out need an excuse, or else he doesn't give them credit for the day." He explained. Hermione raised her eyebrows. That seemed harsh.

"Do you know what we're doing today?"

"Every day, he starts the lesson with a lecture on a new spell and its appropriate use, and then we duel. He grades on the quality of application of the spell."

Hermione was surprised. That had to be the most (theoretically) effective lesson plan she had ever heard. "That's interesting. I don't think I've ever heard of a Hogwarts professor doing that before."

"It usually doesn't, but since this is an advanced class, that's how it goes. Lessons sink in when you have to survive through them, according to Blackburn." Hermione nodded her head in understanding.

"Alright everyone. In light of our new student," He nodded his head at Hermione. "We will be reviewing instead of adding."

"I can keep up!" Hermione insisted loudly. "Don't make changes for me, please."

"We've been doing very advanced spells. You might want to take the review sessions." Tom whispered to her. She bristled.

"I'm sure that I can hold my own just fine, thanks." She muttered back. "Please, continue the planned lesson, professor. If I need help to catch up, I'm sure that Tom will help me." She smiled sweetly. Tom growled.

"If you're sure, Ms. Grauel, I'd be happy to continue the class as planned." He turned to address the rest of the class. "Today we will be dabbling in darker spells; ones meant to subdue the other dueling participant for more than just a few moments. There are spells that require a 'safe word', where ONLY at the caster's command will the spell dissipate."

Hermione snorted, and Tom looked at her, eyebrows raised. "What's so funny?" She smiled at him, amusement in her eyes.

"These are the spells that you think I need help with reviewing? Child's play." She laughed under her breath. Harry hadn't known these spells, but she had invented a fair few of them for her own use.

Professor Blackburn droned for ten minutes, introducing simple, yet effective spells that required safe words, before pulling a hat out of his desk. "I will be drawing the first two students to duel each other. Remember every password spell that you use is going to earn credit, and the final winner will not have to attend classes for the rest of the week, so that the rest of the class can catch up. There are no limitations to the duels, save the unforgivable curses, which are NEVER allowed."

He reached into the hat and as if by instinct, Tom and a boy with red hair who wore Gryffindor robes stood and walked to the dueling platform. "Mr. Riddle, Mr. Prewett, you know the rules." Blackburn turned up his nose at them as if already expecting foul play. Hermione couldn't help but giggle. If only he knew what the Slytherin in front of him was going to do with his life.

She watched interestedly as Tom and Prewett walked away from each other, though Prewett looked afraid to turn his back to Tom at all. She didn't blame him. Tom looked unnaturally comfortable on the dueling platform, only telling Hermione that he was an experienced dueler. Tom and Prewett bowed to each other, and Hermione giggled again when Prewett didn't put his head all the way down. His eyes never left the back of Tom's head. As soon as Tom looked up, Prewett fired the first curse. Hermione narrowed her eyes when Blackburn did nothing. That was against the rules in a formal duel.

Tom deflected the first curse and easily stepped out of the way of the second, before flicking his wand in Prewett's direction. Hermione instantly recognized the wand movements as that of a complicated disarming spell. She was proven correct when Prewett was knocked backwards, and his wand was launched into the air. When Prewett looked up and Tom's cloak caught on fire, she realized that they weren't dueling formally. They were practicing for combat dueling. Tom quickly extinguished his robes and stunned Prewett.

"Prewett down, Tom wins. Tom, if you'd please pick your next opponent out of the hat." He reached into the hat, and a Slytherin girl stood and walked to the platform. "Ms. Black, you know the rules."

"I do, professor." She smirked. She gave Tom a predatory look. Tom gave her a disgusted one.

"Control yourself, Walpurga." He sneered. She only raised her perfectly plucked eyebrow before bowing low. Tom merely nodded. Within minutes, Walpurga disarmed, stunned and tied, and she had an apple in her mouth."

"Very amusing, Mr. Riddle. If you don't mind terribly, I want to have Ms. Grauel duel Mr. Malfoy. I need to assess her capabilities before the end of the class."

"Sure." And he stepped off the platform. He walked straight to Hermione's side and whispered in her ear. "He has a penchant for small dismembering hexes that won't get him into too much trouble. He has a tendency to fake left then curse right, and he can't do wandless magic for crap."

"Thanks, I think I got this." She smiled at him, appreciating the gesture but curious as to the motive. Why would he want her to succeed? Why would he care at all? Abraxas looked anxious. "Afraid to duel a girl?"

"Afraid to cream a friend." He shot back.

"Don't worry about me. I can hold my own well enough."

"If you're sure, I won't go easy on you."

"I wouldn't want you to, Abraxas. I like a challenge. The question is whether or not you can give me one."

"I can definitely give you one." He murmured to her. He bowed, though not low enough to show respect. She did the same, and smirked when he narrowed his eyes at her. Before he even raised his wand, Hermione disillusioned herself. She ducked as he threw his first hex at her. Then, as promised, he faked left. Hermione simply dropped to the ground and fired a stinging hex at his hand. Hermione didn't expect him to hold onto his wand, but it earned him a little more respect. More inexperienced wizards would have dropped it and clutched their arm, allowing her the opportunity to bind their hands. Instead, he fired off a lip-locking hex, completely disabling her mouth. The counter-curse was a verbal spell. She narrowed her eyes and moved quickly towards him. He didn't realize HOW quickly until she was standing right in front of him, still disillusioned. Before she could do anything else, he levitated an inkwell from Walpurga's desk and exploded it over her head.

She racked her brain for a nonverbal spell that would give her the upper hand. Her wand cut through the air and immediately boils sprang from Abraxas' previously flawless skin. He yelled in pain and clutched his face, wand (unfortunately) still in hand. With her opponent momentarily distracted, Hermione flicked her wand upwards, and in an instant, Abraxas was hanging from his ankle in mid air. Tom narrowed his eyes in his seat as he watched Hermione as she finished off the duel by yanking the wand from Malfoy's flailing hands. As soon as Hermione let him down, Abraxas removed the silencing curse from Hermione and shook her hand, clearly impressed.

"You took it easy on me anyways, Abraxas." Hermione pouted. "And now you owe me a shirt." She looked down on the ink stained mess that had been a crisp, white oxford just a moment before.

"Alright. But I didn't take it easy on you. You owe me some ego. Malfoys don't lose to women."

"They do now." She smiled at him cheekily and he smiled back, though the smile was thin and it's wearer was obviously irritated.

"Well then, Ms. Grauel if you'd please pick your next opponent out of the hat?"

Hermione reached her hand into the black hat and looked to the black haired boy who was rising from his seat.

She bowled down her next five opponents with no difficulty. They were inexperienced, and Hermione assumed that it was partially because they were in Gryffindor. She only started to worry when she pulled Walpurga back up to the platform. Walpurga seemed to hate her from the get go, and Hermione didn't particularly want to aggravate her. Fortunately, Hermione won that duel as well. Her face went white when she pulled the next opponent from the hat.

Tom was glowering at her as he stepped onto the platform. It was as though she had personally offended him. He was radiating suspicion and distrust and malice. "Are you okay?" She whispered to him.

"No." He growled. Hermione raised her eyebrows, but bowed. Most people leaned forward when Tom only bowed halfway. That was a sign of disrespect, and it was intentional. He fired the first curse before her head was even up. Trained in combat, Hermione heard the wand as it slashed through the air, and she collapsed to the ground and rolled out of the way. As soon as she got to her knees, she fired a ripping hex at him, and smiled in grim satisfaction when his forearm was sliced. He proceeded to set her hair on fire (not really) and disarmed her while she scrambled to put it out. He turned to face the class, believing the duel to be over.

Then he got pegged in the back of the head by a rock. He looked around, shocked.

"You're throwing rocks at me?" He asked disbelievingly. She smirked and pointed at the wall, concentrating. Tom saw the cracks form at watched the stone break apart. Then he saw the rock flying towards his nose. He dropped, and Hermione dove for her wand. Tom kicked it out of the way. "Rictusempra!" He yelled. She broke out laughing and writhing on the floor.

"F..f…fini..te Incan..tatum!" She cried through her uncontrollable laughter. She leapt to her feet as soon as the hex had worn off and lunged for Tom, who was about to curse her again. She knocked him over, then rolled towards her wand to pick it up. She felt a jolt of gratitude when it was back in her hands.

Tom had gotten back to his feet and was making his way towards her. His wand movements suggested some sort of movement-locking hex, and she put up a locomotive shield.

"You didn't strike me as a rictusempra kind of person, Tom!" She called to him.

"I'm not."

"Don't change your battle strategy!" She yelled. That explained why he was catching her so far off guard. She had studied him in his natural fighting stance, then he had changed and thrown her off of her expectations.

"Fine then." And he hurled a boiling hex at her. She cried out in surprise and pain as her blood heated. She had been under this curse once before, and she knew to cast a cooling spell, even though the curse would last where the cool spell wouldn't. She would have to re-apply it throughout the duel.

"FUCK you." She snarled before hollering: "Serpensortia!" She grinned at the frown that spread across Tom's face. She knew he was a parseltongue, but no one else did, and it would only hinder him to reveal it now, especially after Myrtle's death. She however could speak a marginal amount of elvish, but it was just enough to know battle commands, and elvish was a universally known language (save among humans). "Eylack mahir!" She purred to the snake, which immediately coiled and struck.

The snake made contact with Tom's lower leg, pumping venom into his bloodstream. Tom growled in frustration and severed the poor beast's head. "Where the fuck did you learn that?" He hissed angrily. He could feel his leg numbing.

"That's surely none of your business." She grinned. "Expelliarmus." His wand flew out of his hand. But she suspected that was because his arm had already gone numb from the venom. 'Levicorpus' she thought, a grin still spread across her face. He was lifted into the air by his ankle. And then immediately dropped. Hermione frowned. Tom was murmuring under his breath, and she realized that he was re-purifying his blood. How he got down from her petty jinx, she had no idea.

"Diffindo." He growled as soon as he looked up. Hermione let out a small shriek as her blouse ripped and blood welled up from her newly formed gash.

"Relashio!" She yelled before continuing relentlessly. "Inflamare! Bombarda!"

Tom met her blow for blow, and both of their curses got darker and more dangerous. Blackburn looked steadily more and more anxious.

Then, at the same time Hermione yelled "Sectumsempra!", Tom yelled "Sectum Lacertus!" And both of them were knocked backwards, bleeding profusely, but still conscious.

"That's enough! It's a draw!" Blackburn hollered. Hermione staggered to her feet and fixed Tom's injuries, seeing as 'Sectumsempra' had it's own couter-curse, and Severus Snape had technically invented it twenty years later. Tom reluctantly returned the favor. He looked shaken. No one had ever come close to being his equal, and this girl was giving him a run for his money in everything he did. "You're both brilliant duelists, and you shall never be paired again. Or one of you may die." He grumbled.

"Good duel, Grauel." He whispered in her ear once they were sitting next to each other again. "Where you learned those combat skills…I would love to know, but knowing you, I probably won't." He smirked.

"You're right." She said gravely. "Thank you for not prying." She smiled softly at him.

"It's fine." He said, that smirk still firmly in place. It was a surprisingly attractive look for him, or so Hermione thought. She also wanted to stab herself for thinking it.

Tom was considering Hermione heavily. She was incredibly skilled and intelligent for a witch, and she had very nearly humiliated him. Part of him was seething, wanting to destroy her. Another part was so intensely curious about her knowledge and skill that he had to fight himself to keep from bombarding her with questions that made him sound obsessed. The final part was inexplicably attracted to this infuriating girl who had latched herself onto him with an iron grip, and then rivaled him in ever subject thus far. He muffled that last part out. Women were distractions and nothing but.

They walked to lunch 'together' which was really more of a coincidence than anything else, since they were both heading to the same place at the same time, and they weren't talking to each other at the time. Hermione sat across from him and next to Orion. Who had apparently drastically ruined his love potion and created a 'horny teenage boy' potion instead and tested it. He immediately started caressing Hermione's leg and suggesting that they go to his dormitory and do the horizontal tango.

A moment later, Orion wasn't sure if he would ever be able to suggest that particular dance to anyone ever again. The entire Slytherin Table burst out laughing at Orion and Hermione (save Tom, who just looked incredibly amused). "Orion, whatever possessed you to come onto a witch who nearly took out our best and baddest?" Abraxas laughed, slapping his companion on the back. Tom suddenly glowered at the blonde boy, who froze and stuttered his apologies. "I didn't mean to say that she would be able to, Tom, I just meant that that duel was wicked! I swear."

Tom shook off his irritation and gave Abraxas a tight smile. "No offense taken, Abraxas." He murmured before taking a swig of his pumpkin juice and standing. "I'll be in the Library." He informed them before sweeping away gracefully.

"I don't know why he ever tells us that. We can NEVER find him." Orion growled. "He's fucking amazing at hiding away in that place."

Hermione grinned. "He also seems very…bipolar. One second he's all charm and wit and the next second he's standoffish and a second later he's menacing, and then he's right back to charm and wit. It's rather dizzying."

Abraxas nodded. "He is subject to mood swings. You have to wait them out. He's charming and witty eighty-two percent of the time, and then the rest is subject to variation. He likes you, though, Hermione. I don't think he's ever offered to partner with someone in potions. He usually leaves it up for grabs."

Hermione nibbled her lower lip. The dark lord liked her. And she could almost say the same about him. Oh dear lord.