Somehow, in between ruining my life and schoolwork, Tom Riddle had damn near perfected his stellar reputation amongst the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was clever, quiet and handsome and subconsiously everyone found themselves in his favour quite often before realising. After all, who wouldn't love a high achiever from a humble background? He was cunning in a very subtle way, knowing exactly the method on how to coerce people to get his way in anything he desired.

The worst thing to realise, watching all of this taking place was knowing that I was his desire too. Or so he told me. I didn't know exactly if he was lying or not. You could never be certain with Tom, because he would say one thing and mean something else.

Trusting him was a fools move.

Before the holidays began, I was doing very well at my schoolwork despite all odds. I figured if Tom could destroy my life and still get impeccable grades, then so could I. Not that I had ever been a stranger to succeeding academically - I had always recieved excellent feedback from all of my teachers, yet it made me feel disturbed having to share my hard earned glory with Tom Riddle, the soon to be mass killer. And if Tom felt the same about me, he kept his feelings to himself.

There were several occasions during classes where we would both win prizes for the outstanding quality of our potion brewing or our assignment work and he would give me the odd stare, sharp and appraising, but soon I grew unconcerned about his reaction toward me. The more bullshit of his I was forced to endure, the more I loathed having anything to do with him.

It was like a switch in my mind had turned off. I cared about him once, and now I couldn't give less of a fuck. I had come from the future to fix the past. I didn't come here to get fixated on someone with a God complex.

The back and forth, the repeated behaviour of not knowing what Tom wanted from me - I just didn't have time for it anymore. I was sure that even his latest declaration of feelings for me was nothing short of a lie. Who was he to play these stupid games?

We were now walking back from the Hogs Head together. We were the only two Hogwarts students in our year in Slytherin that had wanted to stay for the holiday break now that term had finished. The rest had scattered, preferring the company of their family and friends as opposed to be being trapped at school forced to endure more of Tom Riddle and I didn't blame them.

As I walked, I tried to focus on the sound of my boots crunching through the winter snow, and not at the tall and formidable enemy walking alongside me on my left.

"You know what's great about these holidays?" Tom said, turning to me with a wicked smile.

"What?"

I honestly couldn't see anything good about the situation at all.

Tom turned, his demeanor relaxed and calm like someone well aware they had the upper hand of a situation.

"Well, it will be just us." Tom exhaled. "And you know what that means?"

I'm going to die.

"I could chance a guess," I put on my best thinking face. "No interferences from other students while you torment the shit out of me?"

"Close." Tom said seriously. "But no. Have another guess."

"I don't want to guess." I said coldly. "I just want to go back to School and be left alone."

"I thought I already told you, Hermione. I'm too involved with you to ever leave you alone." Tom stopped walking, staring me dead in the eye.

"The holiday break will mean we will spend a lot of time with each other. I get to find out more about you. And you get to find out more about me."

"You never reveal anything about yourself." I said coldly. "What are you suddenly now deciding you want to tell me? Because you can tell me right now."

I stood back, holding my arms wide. "Fire away, I'm all ears."

Tom raised an eyebrow.

"You should really drop the entitled little princess act. In this life, there are hardships everyone must face before they can learn what true power and success is. And look at you... you're going to throw away a perfectly good opportunity to learn something new because you would rather harbour a grudge against me. Is that what you really want? Because I suggest you consider very carefully how you'd like to word what you say next."

I thought carefully for a moment, my unresolved emotion constructing webs of venonous sentences in my mind.

"You know, as tempting as your offer to spend more time with you is, I would rather spend time in my own company. I don't trust you, Tom. You're a backstabbing, lying psychopathic jerk who gets hard at the thought of cruelty and causing suffering to others. So do me a favour and get lost."

"I hate to break it to you sweetheart but Hogwarts isn't an open area. It's a closed off ground. I know every hidden passageway in this school. There is nowhere you could go where I couldn't find you."

"I'm sure I'll find somewhere." I said stiffly.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Tom smiled.

Around us, snow began to fall from the sky but still we stood there, mere feet from each other, staring one another down. The cold was making my nose start to run, and I had half a mind to run away, ditch Tom and nestle on a cosy perch by a roaring fire.

"Try and hide from me." Tom said silkily. "I dare you. No matter where you go, I will find you easily enough. And when I do, I won't be happy. Do you still want to take the risk? Would you like to play your hand, and experience yet another loss?"

He looked at my shabby appearance pointedly. Over the past few weeks I had been losing quite a lot of weight due to stress and forgetting to eat. I looked and felt like a barely contained disaster, and the fact Tom had just brought that to light made me feel oddly insecure.

"How about I strike a deal with you." I said, an idea bursting to mind. "Tomorrow I will find a place in the School where I believe you won't be able to find me. If you do find me before midnight tonight, I will be complacent and... hang out with you."

Tom smiled widely, appearing as though he had seen at least 5 loopholes in my plan.

"The Room of Requirement is out of bounds." Tom said, watching me closely. "As is your dear friend Professor Dumbledore's office."

"Fine, then." I snapped. "While we're at it, let's just cross out every hidden room at Hogwarts as well. Are you happy now?"

"Indeed. Because it appears as though you do want to be defeated by me once again." Tom laughed, a empty, hollow sound . The wind howled around us, bitingly cold, even Tom's pale face was flushed. "I'm starting to see a pattern here," He said, tone edged in amusement. "Tomorrow is going to be fun. And once again, your losses are outweighing your gains."

I noticed his eyes darkening ever so slightly.

"I think you should refrain from the stream of maliciousness until the end of the day tomorrow, when you realise you were wrong."

Tom's eyes shone very brightly, sparking to life with the thrill of the challenge.

"If you lose," He said quietly, "I get to do whatever I like with you."

"Oh, so if I lose this stupid little test I get raped? The deal is off." I stepped back, my boots crunching in the snow.

"Calm down, that isn't what I was intending to do." Tom snapped.

"Are you sure? You've done it before. And it isn't like everyone knows you for your moral compass." I said flatly. Tom stepped closer to me.

"I couldn't- I wouldn't ever hurt you again." His hand reached out and brushed my cheek and I flinched. "Soon enough the feeling I feel towards you will be reciprocated and you will want me back."

"Tom pull your mind out of the damn gutter. I'm never going to want you. End of story!"

"We'll see." Said Tom.

"What?"

"MISS GRANGER! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN ARE YOU DOING STANDING OUT THERE IN THE SNOW?"

Standing at the door of the Great Hall appearing deeply stricken at the sight of me was a teacher I'd never seen before.

"You're really in it now." Tom commented unhelpfully.

"What, so they can't see you out here with me?" I snapped. "How is that fair? Pick on the woman, why don't they."

"That teacher is a woman." Tom pointed out. "So it isn't sexist."

"Okay then, fine. She's a woman. I still think it's unfair to yell at just one of us when we are both doing the exact same thing." I said, starting to trudge toward the teacher moodily, "We are both out here in the snow. It's not as if you've cast a disillusionment charm."

"Every teacher in this School loves me."

Tom said matter of factly. "I've established a bulletproof reputation here to ensure that I could continue on my path to greatness without coming across any obstacles. I couldn't afford to have anything tarnish my name, after all I have done... People in this School appear to have a hobby of sabotaging others by word of mouth. They just love to talk..."

"Yes, they certainly do." I said shortly, thinking about the ordeal with Tom and that Hogs Head waitress. He certainly had a lot of time to talk to other women, didn't he?

"We'll be in shortly." Tom called in a carrying voice. "Let's go. The last thing either of us need is Professor Pickerell mouthing off."

"Professor Pickerell?"

"She's the temporary stand in for History of Magic."

"Right but what happened to Professor Binns?"

Professor Binns had been the History of Magic teacher for so long I even had him as a teacher in my time, too.

"The whole situation is a joke." Tom explained without a single trace of emotion. "It's barely worth explaining."

"Humour me." I said dully.

"The story goes that last Wednesday Professor Binns told Headmaster Dippet that he was tired of teaching students who didn't want to learn. Dippet didn't want him to leave but it wasn't as if he could stop him."

"What the hell..." I muttered. "And here I was thinking Professor Binns liked his job."

I never had much to do with Professor Binns personally, I was always more attentive to the course work he assigned to us while in his classes instead of him.

"Yes, precisely. We all thought he liked his job. So you can imagine how offended Headmaster Dippet was." Tom said. "That ghost would've had numerous jobs when he was alive, and he's told Dippet that he finds Hogwarts not up to his standard. That is a rather cutting insult if you think about it."

"I think he'll come back," Tom continued reasonably. "I mean it's not as if he's got any other place to go. After all he is a fucking ghost, isn't he."

"Can't he just go to a graveyard or something?" I said thoughtfully.

"What is he going to do in a graveyard?" Tom frowned. "A ghost of his competence wasting away in some crumbling burial ground tending to fake flowers? I should hope not."

We reached the door to find the teacher smiling blandly at the pair of us, appearing three minutes away from a mental breakdown.

"I see you finally made it back." She said in a tight lipped voice. "Due to the underwhelming amount of students staying in for the holidays we are all going to be eating at the Slytherin House table."

"How many students are there staying in over the holiday break?" Tom inquired as we all walked inside.

"Ten all up. Four Gryffindors, the pair of you from Slytherin and four from Hufflepuff." She said.

Tom rolled his eyes.

"Could the Hufflepuff students not just eat at their own table? There's more of them than the rest of us."

Tom Riddle was notorious for thinking Slytherin was the elite House, and everyone else was inferior, particularly those in Hufflepuff. I figured that being told to eat dinner with them was insulting to someone like him. Professor Pickerell certainly wasn't the only one unimpressed.

"What, and have all four of our House tables in a mess because we couldn't be bothered to show interhouse spirit and eat together? I'm surprised at you, Riddle! Aren't you a Prefect?"

"I am a Prefect," Tom said, with the air of someone trying extremely hard to be patient, "However it isn't logical or necessary to all sit together just to avoid mess when all the while we have House Elves at this School whose job is to tend and care for both witches and wizards-"

"Actually," I interjected, "That very mindset is the reason Elves are still enslaved to wizardkind to this day. We can't seem to stop considering them as personal assistants that are born to cater for our every need!"

There was a silence.

I looked at Tom, as relaxed as he appeared his jaw clenched.

"Just- just find yourselves a seat." Professor Pickerell said in a resigned voice. We watched as she took off toward a group of Gryffindors.

"So you're an advocate for the Elves now?" Tom demanded, rounding on me. "Of course, I shouldn't be surprised should I? Any chance to stand with the oppressed minorities of the world and you're right in there with your loud opinion aren't you?"

"I've always been an advocate for House Elves." I snarled. "Not that anyone in this place actually gives a damn about House Elves. Look at you all! I bet you've never given it a second thought to who-"

"I think you need to eat something." Tom said suddenly. "When exactly is the last time you have eaten anything?"

"Food has nothing to do with this!" I said heatedly. "House Elves have been oppressed for centuries by wizardkind-"

"Can you two please," Professor Pickerell had appeared out of nowhere and was standing right beside us, "Take a seat, quit talking about Elfish welfare and start eating!"

"Certainly, Professor." Tom said, transforming into a gentleman right before my eyes.

"Hermione." He extended an arm for me to take.

As Professor Pickerell turned around he hooked an arm around my waist and half pulled, half dragged me off to the Slytherin House table.

"Hello, Tom." A friendly looking Hufflepuff student greeted. "How are you?"

Tom ignored them.

"Sit down and fucking eat something." He snarled at me, pushing me into a seat. "You wouldn't be sprouting this nonsense if you were taking care of yourself. You're going off the fucking rails."

"There's nothing wrong with me. Look at this." I reached into my beaded bag emerging with a faded S.P.E.W badge.

"The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare." I declared proudly, showcasing it beneath the light from the hundreds of lit candles above our heads. "And," I leant in, "I founded it myself."

Tom reached over from his seat directly opposite and snatched the badge from me with lightning speed.

"Oh, what's that Tom?" The Hufflepuff student asked. Tom ignored them.

"S.P.E.W." He read aloud with a look of disgust. "Established 1994. Hang on... That's impossible."

"I must've gotten the date wrong." I snatched the badge back from him and plunged it into the depths of my beaded bag.

"Are you meaning to say you got the year you founded your own organisation wrong?" Tom said flatly.

"Yes, apparently I did." I said, pretending to be perplexed.

Apparently my imitation was passable because Tom dropped the topic. And then...

"Was there any particular need for the name of your... organisation... to sound like emesis?"

"Come again?"

"Emesis." Tom clasped his hands together. "The medical term for vomiting."

"That is simply a coincidence." I snapped. "The important thing to note is what it stands for, the-"

"Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare." We said at the same time.

"Excuse me." We both turned and looked at the Hufflepuff student. It was a boy with curly blonde hair and a friendly smile. "What is S.P.E.W?" He asked politely.

Tom looked daggers at me which I pretended not to notice as I launched into an in depth explanation. By the time I was finished, Tom looked ready to gouge out an eye with his fork.

"Are you done?" He demanded.

"Yes, I think so. For now." I said seriously.

"Great. Because if you keep talking about it I'm going to have every irrelevant fact I never wanted to know about House Elves tattooed across my brain." Reaching towards the centre of the table he took a plate and began helping himself to some roast beef.

"Well, if you can remember the name and important information to do with my organisation, surely you could remember to show more respect to House Elves-"

"STOP TALKING ABOUT ELVES AND EAT YOUR DINNER."

Two hands slammed down on the table to my left and I leapt out of my skin - Professor Pickerell was standing behind me, looking absolutely mutinous.

"Tonight I have to finish grading all the left over tests dear Professor Binns had not yet finished, and instead I have to remain here while you two waste my time. Apparently being asked to stay before walking out of the School before the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards subject had finished was simply too much to ask of an old ghost like him-"

"Two things." Tom cut across her. I looked over at him in shock but he didn't look the least bit concerned as he sliced his knife easily through a hunk of butter.

"Firstly, Professor Binns can't walk out of anything." He said, glazing the butter over a fresh piece of bread. "He's a ghost. Secondly, the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards is a subject taught to second years. Surely you would be more than competent to finish grading all the remaining work over a the space of a two week period, even if Professor Binns had not yet finished it off. How difficult could it be? The coursework for that age group is so easy that a even a dimwitted creature like a troll could do it."

The silence was so loud I could hear my own heartbeat hammering in my ears.

"I am going to report you to the Headmaster." Professor Pickerell said finally, her voice shaking in suppressed rage. "I was told to not leave you two unattended, but on second thoughts... How dare you speak to a teacher like that. Tom Riddle... Merlin, you really are a pathetic brute of a boy. I guess the students were right. To hell with you." She stormed off up the Great Hall, heels clacking loudly all the way.

Tom was quiet for a moment, appearing to be contemplating something with a very sinister look on his face. Then, standing up to his full height he stared down at me. He didn't look happy at all.

"Finish your meal. I will be back." He pushed back his chair and began to walk off.

"Hold on. Where are you going?" I said, but even as I asked the question I already knew the answer.

Tom paused, turning around to face me slowly.

"I just have to take care of something very quickly. Don't worry, I will be back before you know it."