dark// tom riddle⚡️

ii

   The term for this year was slowly coming to an end as the holidays were right around the corner. Two weeks before Christmas and New Years, Harry was having a particularly real dream about Arthur Weasley getting bit by a snake and not just any random snake, it was the snake of Voldemort; Nagini. Hermione, on the other hand, who was also experiencing a nightmare but not a gruesome as Harry's. Instead, she was dreaming about the boy who had been in her dreams for the past few months. Tom Riddle. Hermione wracked her brain to try and find out who this boy was and why she was dreaming about his presence but nothing worked. She couldn't even go to the library to do some research about this boy because of the heavy workload she experienced in fifth year and every time she wanted to talk to Harry or Ron about it, it would always slip her mind or Harry and Ron were both busy with their own things. 

   The next day, Hermione woke up to a pecking sound at her windowsill. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and opened her window to let in the gray owl. The fresh, chilly December breeze blew through her window right into her room but Hermione was too focused on opening the letter which contained a familiar script, Minerva Mcgonagall. 'I wonder where she went that could have been an emergency.' Hermione pondered for a minute, only to have that thought wiped away as she read the beautiful loopy print. Hermione's heart sunk. Her two best friends were hurt and she hadn't known the second it happened. Part of her was mad that she wasn't told the minute it happened, but the other part of her just wanted to see Harry in the hospital wing since Ron and Ginny were gone to St. Mungos to see their father. The bushy haired girl grabbed a black robe and put it over her pajamas, crumpled the note and put it in her robe pocket, grabbed her wand, and ran to the hospital wing. What she forgot to do was close the window in her dorm and no one noticed a small tawny owl, the same as the one that delivered a letter to Dolores Umbridge, creep into her room and place a small gift parcel and a letter on the middle of her bed.

   Hermione made it to the hospital wing a few minutes later, panting. She slowly opened the creaking door and peeked inside only to find the only patient was Harry and no sign of the busy nurse. Hermione creeped inside the wing and shut the door behind her quietly. She observed that Harry was lying on the bed like he was dead. He wasn't moving, the only thing that was moving were his eyelids as they blinked. His eyes were staring up at the boring, white ceilings and his hands lay near his waist. 

   "Hello Harry." she whispered as she neared his bed, grabbing a stool to sit down.

   "Hey Hermione." he whispered back, his voice raw and eyes trained at the ceiling. 

   "H-How are you feeling?"

   "Magnificent." he muttered sarcastically. 

   "Harry, I'm not joking." she whisper-yelled sternly. 

   "Neither am I, Hermione." he replied back, turning his head to look at her now. His bright emerald eyes dull and there were dark circles underneath them which made them look even duller. He reminded Hermione of the boy from her dreams. She was just about to ask Harry if she knew who Tom Riddle was but was interrupted by a new, third voice. Dumbledore.

   "Mr. Potter, I take it that you are doing alright?" he asked softly as the two teenagers looked to the owner of the voice, "Hello Ms. Granger. How are you this fine morning?"

   "Very well, and you sir?"

   "A bit gloomy because of this weather, but in all, I'm doing just fine. Thank you for asking." he smiled at her as she stood up, dusting off her dark robe. 

   "I best be off, I should get ready for breakfast." she nodded curtly at Dumbledore and waved goodbye to Harry who just gave her a weak smile, like it pained him to do so and she left the hospital wing. She hoped Ginny and Ron were doing alright and thought of writing a letter when she got back to her dorm, but was rudely tripped over by none other than, Draco Malfoy.

   "Malfoy, what was that for?" she looked at him coldly, he looked different. He seemed less cold, if that was even possible. His features seemed kinder than the last time she saw him and his silver orbs had a softer look in them, instead of his usual look of arrogance and over-confidence. 

   "I-I'm sorry." he stuttered as he rubbed the nape of his neck. 

   'Did Draco Malfoy. The Draco Malfoy, stutter?' Hermione asked herself, genuinely confused. 

   "Here let me help you up," he said reaching out to grab her hand, usually she would have refused but this Draco Malfoy looked sincere and kind so he grabbed his hand. She felt a type of shock, not the kind that you got from friction, no this was a different type of shock. She could feel it run right through her veins and up to her brain where the shock finally disintegrated and was left with a scene in her head. A scene of the same boy who appeared in her dreams many times at night and herself, but she looked more beautiful. Her hair was tamed and not as frizzy as it was and her face hadn't any worry or stress lines. She looked young, although she seemed the same age as she was now. She looked free, free from war. She just looked free. Draco and Hermione's hands were still intertwined with each other and she was so distracted by the scene  in her head that she didn't notice that Draco's usual silver colored eyes were slowly turning into a vivid green and that his pale skin was turning to a light tanned one and likewise that his platinum hair was turning a dark brown. Draco didn't seem to notice either until he broke his gaze away from her beautiful honey colored eyes and looked down to notice his hand color changing. He abruptly let go of Hermione's hand and noticed that his light tanned skin was going back to the pale one. He sighed in relief that he was changing back and that Hermione didn't seem to notice. On the other hand, Hermione snapped back into reality. Her eyes focused to the dim lighting and she noticed that Draco Malfoy had a arrogant smirk on his face. 

   "Like the view, huh Granger?" he smirked. Hermione wanted nothing more than to punch his smirk away, again. She didn't want to lose anymore brain cells talking to the dumbwit that is Draco Malfoy and she stormed off into the direction of Gryffindor tower. 

   'Stupid Draco and his relationship with Hermione. I wish the Slytherins had some of a relationship with at least Hermione.' The man in Draco's body thought. The man sighed inwardly, if people other than his closest members knew that he had a heart would no longer see him as a Lord but only as a coward hiding underneath some fake identity. Not even the Lestranges knew, and they were his most loyal servants. He yearned to be with her again, he wanted to feel the touch of her smooth skin on his. He craved her. His heart was with her, whether she knew it or not, she was holding his heart in her hands. One wrong move and she would crush his heart. He had to win her back and he knew just how to. 

   After all, he was in fact Tom Marvolo Riddle.