A/N: Hi! This is my first attempt at a TMR/MM fanfic. The ship was something I had been toying around with, and when the song "Only If For a Night" by Florence + the Machine came on today it seemed perfect. If you look up their birth years now, Tom is nine years older than Minerva and they would not have been in school together, but originally in canon that was not supposed to be the case, so please let it slide for the sake of the story.

Also! I am not abandoning my other story, or Bellamort in general. I just wanted to try this. I'm probably going to work a reference into my other story with this, even.

I do not own Harry Potter, that belongs to the beautiful and brilliant JK Rowling, nor do I own "Only If For a Night", which belongs to the beautiful and brilliant Florence + the Machine.

I was back a Hogwarts. My sixth year. I was walking out of a prefects meeting with my friends.

"Minerva!"

I turned around and saw Tom, a Slytherin prefect, waving at me. I willed myself not to blush. "Tom," I said. "How are you?"

"Come with me," he said.

"Tom," I said. "I shouldn't."

"Just for a moment," he pleaded. "What's the worst that could happen?"

I sighed. "Okay, Tom. Where are we going?"

He grinned. He smiled so rarely, and it always made me feel like I should do whatever he wanted.

"Outside."

We went and sat on the hill behind the castle, in an area that most people didn't frequent.

"Minerva…" he said, sounding nervous, although Tom was hardly ever one to get nervous.

"What?" I asked.

"Never mind."

"No, what?" I pressed.

He was quiet for a moment. I wondered what on earth was on his mind that had him so tongue-tied and… un-Tom-like.

"I'm the Heir of Slytherin," he announced.

I was probably supposed to be more impressed by that than I was. "Congratulations," I said. "Although reasonably speaking, that isn't really something that I should be congratulating you on. You certainly haven't done anything to make it so."

"I don't think you understand," he said. "All I've ever wanted was to be someone. All this power I have… surely it must be for a reason. And now I've found out why. I'm the Heir of Slytherin, Minerva! I'm going to do things to make my ancestors proud.

His cockiness always worried me. It was going to get the best of him one day, and then he was going to do something really stupid.

I rolled my eyes. "Like what, Tom? What are you planning on doing?"

"I don't know yet," he said. "But it's going to be big."

"Don't do anything stupid, Tom."

"Oh, I'm about to," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my heart racing with the abrupt shift of his mood.

"I'm about to kiss a beautiful, intelligent witch," he said.

And with that, his lips were on mine. It was… beautiful. Everything a first kiss should be, and I was glad I had waited, instead of sloppily experimenting in third year like the rest of my friends.

Of course, I couldn't let him see that. "Tom!" I cried reproachfully.

"What?" he asked. "Didn't you like it?"

"We shouldn't be out here," I said urgently. "We're supposed to be in our dormitories."

"No one's going to miss us if we're gone a few more minutes," he said carelessly.

I wanted to tell him no, but lying in the soft grass, kissing him, was far too nice.

We couldn't stay there forever, though.

"Tom," I said. "Tom!"

He looked over lazily at me. "Hmmm."

"We really need to go."

Suddenly, his face changed from the handsome young boy I had almost loved to the monster he was today. "I will kill you and everything you stand for."

I woke in a cold sweat. How could I have been so stupid?

Sure, I was young, he was charming, he was a good friend, and he had been devilishly handsome. But still. I should have known, somehow.

I was shaking, crying, knowing that a battle with Lord Voldemort was imminent. It was late, but I already knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. I was too upset.

It was time to take an old friend up on his offer. 'I'm here for you, Minerva. Anything you need. Anytime, I'll do whatever I can."

The headmaster was sitting up at his desk when I walked in.

"Minerva."

It was like he knew I was coming.

"Albus," I said. "This is embarrassing, but I… I had a nightmare. About… You-Know-Who."

Albus set his parchment down. "Is this relevant to something? In all the years I've known you to put much stock in dreams."

"No…" I said, suddenly feeling as shy as a student. "I don't, but this… it really threw me, Albus. He wasn't as he is today. We were students."

Dumbledore smiled sadly at me. "He was such a promising you man," he said thoughtfully. "And you know, there was a time when I thought perhaps you could be his saving grace. But I am more thankful that he wasn't your downfall."

"I dreamt about the first time I kissed him," I confessed, feeling once again like a child.

"Minerva," Dumbledore said sternly. "No one faults you for your romance with Tom Riddle. He was an attractive, charming, intelligent student. One of the few in your class who was your equal. Stop crying. What's done is done, child. It's not your fault you fell for him, nor is it your fault he grew up to be so Dark. He cannot love, and it has nothing to do with you." He handed me a handkerchief. "I know you will stand against him now, and that is all that matters to me."

I headed back to my own chambers, feeling like a child and a fool. I closed my eyes, hoping for a dreamless sleep.

I saw a snakelike face, and it morphed into the handsome young one.

"Oh, Minerva," Tom said. "What if I could have loved you? How different would this all have been?"

I kissed him.

Reviews are welcome! Let me know if you liked it. Or even if you didn't. Was Tom too out of character? I am really fascinated by him, but I'm always afraid I romanticize him too much. No matter how much I remind myself that he can't love, I always try to make him some sort of romantic hero. Constructive criticisms are always welcome! (So are blind adorations. :P )