kcstories: Right And Wrong (Hermione/Tom, PG)
Title: Right And Wrong
Author: kcstories
Rating: PG
Prompt Set: 50.1
Prompt: Now
Word Count: 670
Summary: "Walking down an empty Hogwarts corridor, the hollow sound of her footsteps confident and determined against the hard marble floor, Hermione doesn’t doubt that she did the right thing when she took the diary from Ginny." (Second year AU. GEN.)
Warnings: AU. Character death (of sorts).
Notes: The Potterverse is JKR's, not mine. This ficlet stands on its own and isn't part of the "Sound Of Silence" Arc.
Walking down an empty Hogwarts corridor, the hollow sound of her footsteps confident and determined against the hard marble floor, Hermione doesn’t doubt that she did the right thing when she took the diary from Ginny.
But at the same time, she also knows that keeping it for herself, rather than handing it over to one of the teachers straight away, wasn’t exactly the smartest decision she ever made.
And so for her current predicament, she only has herself to blame.
It’s no one’s fault but her own that he’s now roaming and rummaging around in her head too, picking her brains, plundering her mind for anything that might be of use.
She can’t deny that talking to Tom Riddle was intriguing at first. Intellectually challenging. Flattering, even.
He addressed her like an equal and he took her seriously despite her tender years.
He listened to her ideas, every single one of them. He soaked them all up, as if he literally absorbed them through the yellowed, crinkled paper, and the two of them would write back and forth for hours on end.
She realizes now that it was just his way of drawing her in before he finally showed her his true colours.
She honestly has to wonder today why she ever opened that book in the first place and why she still wanted to communicate with Riddle after she had witnessed with her own two eyes just how much the boy’s words had enthralled, enchanted, manipulated and almost corrupted Ginny.
Maybe Hermione wanted to prove that she could handle it, that she was stronger and so much more capable than a Pureblood witch, no matter what Malfoy and his cronies always had to say on such matters.
There isn’t necessarily a connection between wizarding heritage and magic potential.
It’s something she has to keep reminding herself of more and more these days, all because of Tom Riddle and his none too subtle efforts at undermining her self-confidence.
He’s now trying to turn her against her friends as well, and to her dismay, it’s almost working.
Almost, though not quite.
Because she’s not one bit like Ginny in that respect; little Ginny Weasley, who despite her outward bravado has many insecurities, and who also harbours a silly schoolgirl crush on a boy who regards her as a little sister at best and a terrible nuisance at worst.
Hermione, on the other hand, needs considerably less reassurance. Except perhaps on an academic front, but that’s something Tom Riddle no longer seems willing to help her with.
Not to mention that the theories he keeps preaching couldn’t be farther from the truth, but he won’t listen to argument, let alone reason. He seems unable to accept that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muggleborn witch, nothing at all.
“So much for being equals, then,” Hermione mutters bitterly.
And so much for their clearly one-sided friendship having a point too.
Here and now, she promises herself that no one will ever trick her like this again.
She has reached her destination.
She takes a deep breath, she nods to herself and she knocks at the door of the headmaster’s office.
She's not scared, not really. She knows that this is the only thing left to do. The only right thing. It’s what she should have done from the very start.
Tom Riddle is scary and dangerous. She thought so even before she had figured out precisely whose disembodied voice she was spending her evenings corresponding with.
At the sight of the diary, the old wizard looks genuinely surprised, at least for a moment, and all Hermione can think is, "This can't possibly be good if even Dumbledore didn't see it coming."
When the girl is gone again, sent on her merry way with words of thanks and a helping of colourful sweets, the headmaster shakes his head sadly. He picks up the diary and tosses it in the fireplace.
"Goodbye, Tom," he says and adds in a morose tone, “For now."
Author: kcstories
Rating: PG
Prompt Set: 50.1
Prompt: Now
Word Count: 670
Summary: "Walking down an empty Hogwarts corridor, the hollow sound of her footsteps confident and determined against the hard marble floor, Hermione doesn’t doubt that she did the right thing when she took the diary from Ginny." (Second year AU. GEN.)
Warnings: AU. Character death (of sorts).
Notes: The Potterverse is JKR's, not mine. This ficlet stands on its own and isn't part of the "Sound Of Silence" Arc.
Walking down an empty Hogwarts corridor, the hollow sound of her footsteps confident and determined against the hard marble floor, Hermione doesn’t doubt that she did the right thing when she took the diary from Ginny.
But at the same time, she also knows that keeping it for herself, rather than handing it over to one of the teachers straight away, wasn’t exactly the smartest decision she ever made.
And so for her current predicament, she only has herself to blame.
It’s no one’s fault but her own that he’s now roaming and rummaging around in her head too, picking her brains, plundering her mind for anything that might be of use.
She can’t deny that talking to Tom Riddle was intriguing at first. Intellectually challenging. Flattering, even.
He addressed her like an equal and he took her seriously despite her tender years.
He listened to her ideas, every single one of them. He soaked them all up, as if he literally absorbed them through the yellowed, crinkled paper, and the two of them would write back and forth for hours on end.
She realizes now that it was just his way of drawing her in before he finally showed her his true colours.
She honestly has to wonder today why she ever opened that book in the first place and why she still wanted to communicate with Riddle after she had witnessed with her own two eyes just how much the boy’s words had enthralled, enchanted, manipulated and almost corrupted Ginny.
Maybe Hermione wanted to prove that she could handle it, that she was stronger and so much more capable than a Pureblood witch, no matter what Malfoy and his cronies always had to say on such matters.
There isn’t necessarily a connection between wizarding heritage and magic potential.
It’s something she has to keep reminding herself of more and more these days, all because of Tom Riddle and his none too subtle efforts at undermining her self-confidence.
He’s now trying to turn her against her friends as well, and to her dismay, it’s almost working.
Almost, though not quite.
Because she’s not one bit like Ginny in that respect; little Ginny Weasley, who despite her outward bravado has many insecurities, and who also harbours a silly schoolgirl crush on a boy who regards her as a little sister at best and a terrible nuisance at worst.
Hermione, on the other hand, needs considerably less reassurance. Except perhaps on an academic front, but that’s something Tom Riddle no longer seems willing to help her with.
Not to mention that the theories he keeps preaching couldn’t be farther from the truth, but he won’t listen to argument, let alone reason. He seems unable to accept that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muggleborn witch, nothing at all.
“So much for being equals, then,” Hermione mutters bitterly.
And so much for their clearly one-sided friendship having a point too.
Here and now, she promises herself that no one will ever trick her like this again.
She has reached her destination.
She takes a deep breath, she nods to herself and she knocks at the door of the headmaster’s office.
She's not scared, not really. She knows that this is the only thing left to do. The only right thing. It’s what she should have done from the very start.
Tom Riddle is scary and dangerous. She thought so even before she had figured out precisely whose disembodied voice she was spending her evenings corresponding with.
At the sight of the diary, the old wizard looks genuinely surprised, at least for a moment, and all Hermione can think is, "This can't possibly be good if even Dumbledore didn't see it coming."
When the girl is gone again, sent on her merry way with words of thanks and a helping of colourful sweets, the headmaster shakes his head sadly. He picks up the diary and tosses it in the fireplace.
"Goodbye, Tom," he says and adds in a morose tone, “For now."