Chapter 26

Tom Riddle rose early the next day, as was his custom, despite the small amount of sleep that he had gotten the night before. Truthfully, he really did not feel the need to sleep too much. Between night patrols, which he had every other night as Head Boy, and the other. . . activities which kept him awake long hours into the morning, there was simply not enough time for sleep. Additionally, the need for sleep was always a perpetual irritation to Tom. After all, he had things to do, and sleep was taking up valuable time that he so desperately needed.

After carefully tying the tie of his Slytherin Hogwarts uniform, Tom slid on his black robes and opened up the door to walk into his living room. A smirk curled onto his lips; the Granger girl was still fast asleep on the bed that he had transfigured for her the night before. She lay curled up in his emerald green bathrobe, her bushy hair falling across her rosy cheeks, her shoulders moving slightly as she breathed deeply.

As quick as the smirk came, it melted into a frown. What was she hiding, this girl? She was such a bad liar, and yet she managed to keep some great secret from him. Sure, she wanted to kill him; that was obvious from almost the first moment that he met her. But why? Why would she have a cause to hate him if she did not even know him?

Unless, of course, she did know him. It was entirely possible that he had already altered the timeline and somehow, this Hermione girl had come to hate him and transferred to Hogwarts to kill him. It seemed unlikely though; he thought that he could only alter events from the present moment on, not further in the past than he had traveled. Tom sighed, running a hand through his hair; honestly, he did not really know how many things he could change through time travel, and not knowing bothered him. Sure, Nagini's visions were a tiny glimpse of the new timeline in his future, but what if everything just ended up the same in the end? Wasn't that a theory, after all? That time was cyclical?

No, of course he didn't believe that. That was entirely absurd; of course if he changed a past event, corrected a past mistake, the outcome would change. There would be no way of knowing beforehand what the outcome would be, but Tom could fix it with another simple time travel. Unlimited mistakes, unlimited chances to fix them. His flicker of doubt removed, Tom straightened his robes before stepping over towards the sleeping girl in his living room, his smirk returning. Time to have some fun. He leaned down close to Hermione's ear,

"Good morning, Hermione." He said in his smoothest voice. Hermione's eyes flew open and she jumped in surprise before looking up at him and, predictably, scowling,

"Good morning, Tom." She hissed, irritated. She sat up, running her fingers through her impossibly messy hair. Tom eyes followed her movements with interest,

"You know, you don't have to try and fix yourself for me, I know that not all of us can wake up looking like angels." Tom said with a delicate sniff, deliberately keeping his voice controlled but careless sounding at the same time. Hermione scowled at him again and he fought the urge to laugh at her most amusing expression.

"Like you ever look like an angel." Hermione quipped back.

"What do I look like, then?" Tom asked her, his eyebrows knitted in concern.

"A prat." Hermione replied simply, and this time it was Tom's turn to scowl. He noticed the triumphant smirk that graced her lips and resisted the urge to make it disappear. He would let her think that she had bested him for a little while at least. She suddenly turned her head and he followed her eyes over to the clock, "You're an early riser." Hermione commented upon seeing the early hour. He shrugged,

"So are you, usually." Tom replied simply, walking around the transfigured bed to sit down in his armchair next to the fire. Hermione ran her hand through her hair again, a nervous gesture perhaps, and Tom decided to remain silent. Eventually, she broke the silence, standing up and clearing her throat awkwardly,

"Well, I should get going then. I need to go back to my own dormitory to get ready for the day." She commented, picking up her clothes that she had folded neatly on the edge of the bed the night before. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking down at the green bathrobe wrapped around her body. A smirk crawled up to Tom's lips as he enjoyed her discomfort,

"You can just wear it down to your dormitory and return it to me later." He offered and Hermione nodded quickly,

"Okay, I'll do that. Thanks." She said softly, but then whipped her head over to look at him, her eyes narrowing a little bit. She was obviously irritated with him. . . again. Really, Hermione wore her emotions so outwardly, sometimes Tom secretly supposed that she should be in Gryffindor, "Why did you make me stay here last night?" She demanded. Tom raised his eyebrows,

"I didn't make you do anything, Hermione." He replied innocently, and it was mostly true. It wasn't like he threatened her if she didn't stay, he just made it quite clear that he wanted her to stay, "Maybe that's a question you should ask yourself. Why did you stay?"

"Stop it." Hermione said, turning her back on him and beginning to walk towards the door. Now, Tom was genuinely confused,

"Stop what?" He asked, standing up and taking a few steps after her.

"Trying to confuse me and make me say something just to make you feel better." Hermione snapped turning around and jabbing her finger into his chest, "I am not the keeper of your over inflated ego, Tom." At this, Tom laughed, smiling down at her and reaching out to pull one of her curls playfully,

"Don't worry, Hermione; I don't want your flattery. I get enough of it from everybody else." He teased, and he could tell that Hermione was fighting the urge to grin herself.

"I will return your bathrobe an hour." Hermione said diplomatically, turning her nose up in the air before leaving his room without another word. For a moment, Tom just stood as he was, reaching up and absent-mindedly touching the place where Hermione's finger had been poking him in the chest. She really did detest him.

No.

Something about that statement was wrong. Perhaps Hermione hated him, but there was something more than that, more than just a reason to hate him. Oddly enough, Tom got the feeling that Hermione didn't exactly hate him as a person. . . she hated the idea of him. He sighed in frustration, once again back to the original question of "why?" How could she hate the idea of him, the idea of some kind of emerging or future lord of the world, when she did not even know him?

Tom could have smacked himself in the head; she could hate him, of course, if she did know him. What if Hermione Granger was time traveling as well?

Slowly, the pieces began to fall into place; how she knew about the Shrieking Shack, why she changed her last name, how she knew about Hogwarts already even though she pretended that she did not on her very first day at Hogwarts. What if Hermione Granger was time traveling and returned to the past to destroy him?

It was a very possible scenario, but with one slight issue; the extreme complexity and difficulty of mastering time travel. Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort, as he liked to think of himself, only had just managed to figure it out, and even he had received some help. Did this witch really manage to figure out the secret at only seventeen – possibly eighteen – years of age?

No; it was impossible. Hermione Granger was intelligent, but she was not that intelligent. If it had taken him several years with help to figure out how to time travel, there was no way that Hermione could do it on her own. Satisfied with the explanation, Tom crossed the room to pick up his book off of the shelf.

As he sat down to read, however, he had difficulty pushing a sense of uneasiness from his mind and the mental image of Hermione Granger wrapped up in his bathrobe.

* ' * ' *

Hermione walked quickly down the stairs, praying that she would not run into anybody while only wearing a bathrobe. . . Tom Riddle's bathrobe at that. Thankfully, Tom had woken her up so early that none of the other students were stirring outside of their dormitories yet. Now, all she had to do was slip into her own dormitory, take a quick shower, and give Tom back his robe. Simple.

"Hermione?" Nagini whispered as Hermione opened the door to the dormitory. Hermione winced a little before carefully shutting the door and walking over to her own bed, barely daring to look at the girl sitting up in the bed beside her own,

"Erm, yeah, it's me." Hermione replied, quickly stuffing her clothes in a drawer and fetching clean clothes.

"Where have you been all night?" Nagini asked slowly, and finally, Hermione turned her head to look at the girl. Nagini's eyes were carefully inspecting Hermione and the green bath robe she was wearing. Clearly, Nagini knew exactly where she had been. Hermione sighed,

"Nagini, it's not like that. . ." Hermione started to say, but she meekly trailed off as Nagini raised her eyebrows.

"Oh really? You're gone all night and you come back wearing his bath robe?" Nagini snapped, her voice getting a little more intense. Hermione pulled out her wand, quickly casting a silencing charm around them for fear of waking the other girls in the dormitory,

"After we brought you back down here, we went back up to his quarters and chatted for a while. I slept up there in his living room because of the late hour. That is all, I swear." Hermione said in almost a pleading voice, but even to her own ears the words sounded like a lie. Nagini scoffed,

"I am not an idiot, Hermione." She said, crossing her arms.

"No, but you are my friend. You have to believe me!" Hermione insisted, but Nagini stubbornly refused to respond, "Why do you care so much anyway? Earlier in the year, you were practically trying to force me onto him." Hermione added venomously.

"But you swore up and down that you were not interested, so I became friends with you. I thought that you were a good person, since all you thought about night and day was not Tom Riddle." Nagini replied heatedly.

"And all you think about is Tom Riddle." Hermione snapped in response, not thinking about the words before she said them. Nagini suddenly stood up from the bed, her wand instantly appearing in her hand, her barely contained anger beginning to seethe over,

"How did it feel, Hermione?" She said, her voice sickeningly sweet, "Having the leftovers?" Now Hermione stood up, her face flushing in anger, thankful for the silencing charm,

"I did not sleep with him, Nagini! I swear to you!" Hermione insisted once again, but Nagini laughed mockingly,

"Yes, you did. You fucked him last night without a care in the world, didn't you?" Hermione hand tightened around her wand, and she could practically see red,

"Shut up!" She hissed, "Do you really think that I would do that? That I await Tom Riddle's beck and call and would just crawl into his bed after everything that he's done?" Nagini's eyes suddenly snapped to Hermione's,

"Everything he's done? How would you know?" Hermione realized her stupidity and simply refused to speak for a moment, working to collect her thoughts,

"So, why did you decide to tell him my real surname, if we're supposedly such good friends and he's supposedly so bad of a person?" Hermione countered. Clearly, Nagini did not expect the tables to be turned on her so quickly. Her already pale face paled even more, and she couldn't speak for a moment,

"What did he tell you?" She demanded.

"That you're a Seer, and that you can see visions of the future." Hermione replied, "Such a happy coincidence, that Tom Riddle has a woman to look into the future for him and you have a man to warm your bed when you want it." Hermione spat venomously, turning on her heel and marching into the bathroom defiantly, "I'll be in the shower."

"We're not finished!" Nagini suddenly said, taking a few steps towards Hermione. Hermione stepped into the bathroom and looked back, raising her eyebrows,

"Yes, we are." She snapped before slamming the door in the girl's face.

* ' * ' *

Breakfast was one of the most decidedly awkward affairs of Hermione's life. Nagini pointedly sat on the other side of Tom, carefully ensuring to avoid Hermione's gaze and deliberately talking to everyone besides Hermione.

Personally, Hermione considered it to be silly, but she had to admit that she wasn't acting much better.

"So. . . I guess they got all of the commotion sorted out, then? Since we're having classes today?" Avery asked with a nervous laugh, desperately trying to dispel the thick tension that settled over the small group.

"It appears that the Chamber of Secrets was not opened again. The attacker, probably the same one who attacked our fellow Slytherins the other day, petrified the girl and tried to make it look like it was the monster." Tom lied smoothly, carefully taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"That's good." Avery said, nodding thoughtfully, "But why would the attacker want to attack some useless Hufflepuff girl?"

"Perhaps they were trying to convince everyone that the Chamber of Secrets Monster attacked the Slytherins as well." Hermione offered up carefully.

"That's impossible; the monster would not attack Slytherins. Not unless there was blood impurity in our House." Nagini said shortly, placing her knife and fork down on the table and standing up, "I'm going to go and study." She announced, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Rosier looked up in surprise,

"Nagini. . . studying?" He asked in confusion, and even Tom snorted a little into his pumpkin juice. Avery forced a smile,

"Have fun, Nagini. See you in Transfiguration." Avery said pleasantly, but Nagini ignored all of them and stalked off, clearly in no mood to be cheerful. Avery let out a low whistle as soon as she was gone, "Jeez, Blishwick, what did you do?" He asked, leaning forward a little in his seat. Hermione shrugged,

"We got into an argument. She'll be fine." She responded primly, placing her knife and fork down on the table as well. Tom raised his eyebrows,

"An argument? About what?" He asked. Hermione felt an urge to punch him,

"Oh, I don't know. Girl stuff, I suppose." She huffed, irritated by the bemusement in his eyes. Of course he knew what they were fighting about. Secretly, Hermione supposed that that had been his intention all along.

"I am so sorry to hear that. It's such a shame when friends get into arguments." Tom said with fake sympathy, and Hermione had finally decided that she had enough.

"I'm going to the library." She snapped, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder much in the same manner that Nagini had. Tom smirked, standing up as well,

"I'll go with you." He said simply. Hermione sighed, irritated, and turned on her heel,

"Fine. But you better keep up." She snapped, walking off briskly. Much to her dissatisfaction, Tom caught up to her easily with his long legs, that same irritating smirk still on his features. Rosier and Avery half-heartedly waved after them, still confused, and Wilkes remained absolutely silent.

"So, Hermione, what exactly did you and Nagini get into an argument about?" He asked mockingly, looking over at her and not bothering to hide his amusement.

"Shut up, you prat. You know exactly what we were fighting about. Ever since you decided to start putting me into awkward situations, Nagini and I-"

"Good morning, Mr. Riddle, Miss Blishwick." Professor Dumbledore suddenly said. Hermione stopped abruptly in her tracks, realizing that she had almost directly run into the Transfiguration professor from her lack of paying attention. Tom stopped beside her as well, all look of amusement gone and replaces by a careful mask.

"Good morning, professor. Can we help you?" He asked stiffly. Dumbledore nodded, his features soft, but all twinkle gone from his eye,

"Yes, actually. If you both have the time, I would like to meet with both of you in my office this morning. Immediately."

"Of course, professor." Hermione responded instantly, ignoring the look that Tom was giving her out of the corner of his eye. Something wasn't right here, and she knew that Dumbledore must have something truly important if he wanted to meet with both her and Tom Riddle.

"Excellent. Shall we?" Dumbledore asked politely before turning and walking towards his office. Hermione and Tom followed him, both of them exchanging confused glances and not saying a word. After a few minutes of walking in a heavy silence, they arrived in Dumbledore's office. Hermione and Tom both took a seat as Dumbledore walked slowly around to the other side of the desk and sat down, resting his elbows on his desk and looking intently at the two student sitting across from him.

"You must be wondering why, of course, I called you into my office this morning." He finally said, breaking the silence. Tom shifted a little in his seat, leaning back and studying Dumbledore's face, waiting for him to continue. Hermione remained stiff and silent, "I have received a tip from a student of the most alarming nature, and I need to know the truth from both of you." He continued firmly, his eyes shifting over to lock onto Hermione's eyes.

"What sort of. . . concern, professor?" Hermione asked slowly, her heart accelerating nervously.

"It was made aware to me that during the time Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Black were attacked, you and Mr. Riddle were no where to be found in Hogwarts or on the legal portions of the Hogwarts grounds." Dumbledore began, turning his gaze to Tom.

"There is more, then?" Tom asked, speaking for the first time in the office. Dumbledore nodded,

"I am afraid there is. I know nothing of the whereabout of Miss Blishwick during this time, but it was said that you, Mr. Riddle, were seen by the lake, trailing behind the two students." Beneath the desk, Tom's hand clenched, but his face remained perfectly smooth.

"Is that all, then?" He asked carefully. Raising his eyebrows a little, Dumbledore nodded,

"Yes, Tom. That is all." He affirmed, "But I am sure that you understand the seriousness of the situation, and the implication."

"I do perfectly, professor." Tom said evenly, "But it is indeed lucky that you called Miss Granger in here with me, since she can easily clear up at least part of this situation."

The use of Hermione's real surname had the desired effect on Dumbledore; his eyes widened the slightest bit in surprise. Silently, Hermione cursed Tom Riddle; of course he would try and make it look like she and Tom were friends by using her real name.

"Miss Granger, you say?" Dumbledore asked softly, but he was looking at Tom, not Hermione.

"Yes, Miss Granger. I assume we can all put away any pretenses in each other's company, can we not?" Tom replied, and Hermione fought the urge to stomp on his foot under the table. He was not speaking like a seventeen year old student – he was speaking like an adult. Did he want Dumbledore to guess his secret?

"I believe that we can." Dumbledore affirmed, much to Hermione's surprise, and he turned his gaze to Hermione, "So, Miss Granger, is there anything you have to say?" Hermione took a deep breath,

"Tom and I were indeed out of the allowed areas of the Hogwarts grounds. We were in the Forbidden Forest." Hermione admitted, making sure to keep her eyes trained on Dumbledore so that he knew her to be telling the truth. Why she was covering for Tom, she wasn't exactly sure, "Tom was with me the entire time, though. From the moment we left the castle to the moment we returned and discovered that the attacks had taken place." Dumbledore leaned back in his seat, folding his hands in front of him,

"I am inclined to believe you, Miss Granger, but I must ask: what were you and Mr. Riddle doing out of bounds in the Forbidden Forest?" Tom shifted a little into his seat, and Hermione understood; he would answer this question.

"There were rumors of a magical object of some kind hidden in the forest. We went to look for it, but we did not find it because we got. . . distracted." He said softly, hesitating the slightest bit at the last part of the sentence and clearing his throat.

"Distracted?" Dumbledore asked, lifting his chin a little bit.

"We ended up talking." Hermione cut in before Tom could answer, "And stopped searching for the rumored magical object because we were decently sure that it was a hoax." Hermione added, trying to stop the blood from rushing to her cheeks as she thought of her and Tom's passionate kisses in the forest that she still could not explain.

"I see." Dumbledore commented, continuing to look at Hermione closely, "Well, since the information is coming from a reputable source, I am inclined to believe you. I must ask, though; is there anyone else who left the castle with you?"

"Yes." Tom responded simply, "Nagini."

"Nagini." Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows, "And she did not go into the forest with you?"

"No, she did not." Hermione confirmed softly. After all, it was true; Nagini had not gone into the forest with them, and there was no way to prove that Nagini had stayed in the lake the entire time. Dumbledore leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk once more,

"What was she doing?" He asked seriously.

"She was looking for the same magical object we were, but she was looking in the lake. We were looking for Ravenclaw's Diadem, but it is most certainly lost." Tom confirmed.

"Did she come out of the lake when and walk back up to the castle with you?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"Yes, sir." Hermione confirmed. Dumbledore knitted his brow,

"Has Nagini been home recently?" This question was directed at Tom and seemed vaguely out of place.

"Not that I know of, but she was planning on going home over Christmas, I believe." Tom responded, seeming caught slightly off-guard by the question. Dumbledore sighed,

"I see." Dumbledore responded inexplicably, "I will share this information because I think that you need to know it in light of the allegations against you, and for no other reason than that. I request that neither of you take this knowledge beyond this room. I am trusting you as two of the most brilliant students that Hogwarts has ever seen to help myself and the Headmaster with this dilemma." Hermione looked up at him in surprise, and even Tom looked up in surprise. Dumbledore was. . . trusting Tom with something? "On the same morning that this allegation is referring to, Nagini came into my office to tell me of both of your disappearance during the same time that she was supposed to be in the lake. While Professor Dippet and I were looking for both of you – we feared that you had been attacked in the castle – Nagini returned to the dungeons. I do not know how she got back outside."

Hermione looked up in shock, but Tom looked collected,

"And I assume Nagini was the one who made the allegations against us? Told you that she was afraid to tell you the first time and that she didn't want to get us in trouble?" He asked, slight bitterness creeping up into his voice.

"That is accurate, Tom." Dumbledore said gravely, "It appears that someone is lying in this situation, and because of your word and Miss Granger's, I am inclined to believe that it is Nagini. I must ask you, is there anything you know that could confirm to me why?"

Hermione shook her head, "I am not sure, professor. I am just as confused as you are." She admitted softly. Tom, on the other hand, looked at Dumbledore steadily,

"I only have an inkling." He said uncertainly, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, "But I will do my best to discover the truth of it." He paused, "But there is something that you need to know about Nagini."

"And what is that, Tom?" Dumbledore asked, leaning forward a little in his seat, his eyes fixated on Tom's face.

"She is an Animagus. An unregistered Animagus, that is." Tom said, "I think Hermione might be the only other person to know besides myself and now you. I only tell you this because it shows that Nagini is indeed an extremely potent witch, and possesses many hidden talents. She is not someone to be taken lightly, sir."

"Indeed she is not." Dumbledore confirmed gravely, "That is a serious issue, Tom. I am under obligation to report it to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but as I have not witnessed it first-hand, I have no proof of her being unregistered. It is an issue which I will have to think about. If I might ask, though, what is her form?" Tom did not answer right away, and Hermione hesitated as well, not sure where Tom wanted to go with this. Would he tell the truth or lie? What game was he playing here?

"A serpent, true to her House." Tom finally responded, and Dumbledore's face darkened,

"I see." He responded softly, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the office. He spoke again after a few moments, "I believe that you two should be off to class. My class, actually. I will let you two go first so that Nagini does not see that we have been talking. I suppose I should ask both of you to not say a word of this conversation to anyone."

"Of course, professor." Hermione replied instantly, still feeling uneasy. She stood up, Tom following suit,

"We'll be off, then." Tom said, turning his back, "Good-bye, professor." Hermione followed him out of the room, waiting until they walked a good distance away from the door until she looked up at him.

"What was that about?" She asked softly.

"Shh." Tom said quietly, grabbing her hand and pulling her into an empty classroom, casting a Silencing charm around them, "Isn't it obvious, Hermione? Nagini tried to frame me."

"Technically, she was telling the truth." Hermione pointed out, crossing her arms. Tom rolled his eyes,

"Well, fine, technically she was. But why? Why would Nagini be trying to get me in serious trouble?" He asked rhetorically, and Hermione could not come up with an answer. Neither could Tom, apparently, since he continued to look confused, "No matter. I got her back."

"Got her back?" Hermione asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"I've repaid her kindness of framing me. Dumbledore believes exactly what I want him to believe." Tom said with a shrug, sitting down on the teacher's desk in the empty classroom.

"And what is that?" Hermione asked suspiciously. Once again, Tom rolled his eyes,

"Think, Hermione." He chided, and she huffed in irritation. The flicker of a grin crossed his lips before he continued, "I let it slip to Dumbledore that Nagini is an unregistered Animagus, and that her animal form happens to be a serpent true to her house." He said, emphasizing the last part. It suddenly clicked, and understanding dawned on Hermione's face, her mouth opening a little,

"Tom. . . you can't just do that. . ." She said in disbelief. Tom smiled triumphantly,

"Yes, I can, and I did. Why wouldn't he believe it? Her animagus form is a snake, her family heritage is questionable at best, she speaks Parseltongue, an extremely rare gift, prominent in Salazaar Slytherin himself. . . who wouldn't believe that Nagini is the Heir of Slytherin?" Tom asked, his grin widening.

"You've already framed one person for opening the Chamber. Why would you do it again?" Hermione demanded, confused. Tom's gaze darkened,

"Because Nagini attempted to stab me in the back, and I do not forgive." He paused, "I never forgive, and I never forget. Those who hurt me pay. That, I promise you."

Author's Note: Chapter 26 is here at last! The past few weeks have been very crazy for me, so I apologize for the update time.

Hermione and Nagini's relationship is definitely starting to unravel the slightest bit, and Tom doesn't seem to trust Nagini any more at all. I think that you can look for some shifting allegiances in the next few chapters and, of course, the return of Malfoy, Lestrange, and Black.

Cheers!