DRABBLES: A Backwards Desire, Acquiescence, It Ends at the Beginning (Tom/Hermione)
So I realized now that we've put up the reveal for the first fic exchange over at rarepair_shorts, I can post my drabbles to my journal now. :) (Mainly for my own archiving purposes.) Cross-posted here.
Pairing: Tom Riddle / Hermione Granger
Author’s Notes: Thanks to my beta, peskywhistpaw, for putting up with my shenanigans. :P These drabbles are AU. Written for mandya06.
Title: A Backwards Desire
Rating: G
Word Count: ~361
Summary: All she wants is some intelligent company…
Whilst everyone else is asleep, Hermione remains in the Gryffindor Common Room, alone, usually scrambling to finish assignments for the next day. With a timetable so full, it’s impossible for her to get even a wink of sleep.
But tonight she is idle. Her mind is still churning, though - when is it not? - and she wishes she weren’t alone with her thoughts. All she wants is some intelligent company; it would be nice to have a little intellectual banter from time to time.
Sighing, she rests her head on her hand, convinced she would have been better off in Ravenclaw.
***
The wall is bare, Hermione notices, remembering what Harry had told her of this place. She paces backwards and forwards and thinks fervently, I need to find the Mirror of Erised. I need to find the Mirror…
A door appears suddenly in the wall. Trying the knob, she enters the room successfully.
It is a great relief to her when she sees the Mirror. An inexplicable warmth, a surging of adrenaline and anticipation overcomes her as she sits cross-legged in front of it. She expects to see herself, older, as a high-ranking Ministry official, or sitting with the Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, or at the very least with her OWLs in hand, all marked ‘O’ for ‘outstanding’.
Actually, she sees herself, seated as she is, in the company of a handsome, tidy fellow, whom she has never seen before. She suspects he is a Ravenclaw, but it doesn’t really matter either way - for he is, as they say, the image of perfection: gorgeous green eyes, full, soft hair, and a smile so charmingly coquettish. Closing her eyes, Hermione pretends that he is actually standing beside her, that he is hers and no one else’s.
A hand grips her shoulder firmly. She spins around instinctively, apprehensive; with an excited jump she realizes it is the young man she sees in the Mirror. Impossible, she breathes, wondering at how the images in the Mirror can suddenly materialize.
“Come with me,” he says, his eyes hard yet twinkling. Eagerly, she obeys him as he takes her by the hand and leads her away.
Title: Acquiescence
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~171
Summary: “Don’t do it anymore, Tom, please,” she gasped.
Amidst the unintelligible screams of agonizing, excruciating pain, his high mithless laughter echoed in the chamber, rang in her ears. She couldn’t stand what he was doing to the poor man. She felt as though she were short of breath, asphyxiated.
“Don’t do it anymore, Tom, please,” she gasped. “Don’t hurt him, let him alone.”
Taking a moment to peer at her, Tom kept his wand level. “Crucio,” he said defiantly, and the man began convulsing again.
“Don’t, Tom. Don’t.” She was on the verge of tears, and she struggled to hold them back.
Again, Tom stopped torturing the man and turned his attention to Hermione. “Why do you concern yourself with this filth?” he asked, giving the man a contemptuous kick.
“Just… stop. Stop,” she whimpered, biting her bottom lip, trembling violently as she spoke.
He approached her, and stroked her chin with his cold, long index finger. Regarding her for a moment, he watched as a single tear betrayed her, and he decidedly pocketed his wand.
“As you wish.”
Title: It Ends at the Beginning
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~304
Summary: How is it worthy of his company? she wondered insolently, rocking furiously in her chair in one corner of the room.
What Hermione noticed, with restrained jealousy, was that Tom had taken to keeping that foul snake around. Nagini, he called it.
How is it worthy of his company? she wondered insolently, rocking furiously in her chair in one corner of the room.
It was a dirty, disgusting room, that, by the looks of it, had not been inhabited for years. It was the place of Tom’s ancestors, only Hermione did not know it. She would never make the connection, for her Tom was too beautiful to have come from such… humble beginnings.
Opposite her, in the other corner, Tom sat petting the snake in his lap, speaking to it in that low, hissing - Parseltongue. She wished he wouldn’t; she hated the sound of the tongue, and she hated that she could not understand it. She hated that he dared speak to it in her presence.
Look at me, she willed him.
The result was instantaneous. His eyes flickered up resolutely to meet hers, and not once did he break his gaze. Though, even from across the room, Hermione could see a shadow lurking behind those eyes.
In a swift, fluid movement he was up and standing before her. He released Nagini from his grasp; it fell to the floor with a thud, and hissing angrily, slithered out of sight.
Tom considered the girl in front of him. As he wondered what he should do with her, he twirled his wand absently between his fingers.
Hermione breathed in anticipation. A moment of silence passed between them. And then -
“I have no use for you,” Tom said carelessly, with an artless flick of his wand. He looked her up and down, flinching ever so slightly at the state of her appearance.
Turning, he followed Nagini’s path and exited the room without another word, without another curse.
Pairing: Tom Riddle / Hermione Granger
Author’s Notes: Thanks to my beta, peskywhistpaw, for putting up with my shenanigans. :P These drabbles are AU. Written for mandya06.
Title: A Backwards Desire
Rating: G
Word Count: ~361
Summary: All she wants is some intelligent company…
Whilst everyone else is asleep, Hermione remains in the Gryffindor Common Room, alone, usually scrambling to finish assignments for the next day. With a timetable so full, it’s impossible for her to get even a wink of sleep.
But tonight she is idle. Her mind is still churning, though - when is it not? - and she wishes she weren’t alone with her thoughts. All she wants is some intelligent company; it would be nice to have a little intellectual banter from time to time.
Sighing, she rests her head on her hand, convinced she would have been better off in Ravenclaw.
***
The wall is bare, Hermione notices, remembering what Harry had told her of this place. She paces backwards and forwards and thinks fervently, I need to find the Mirror of Erised. I need to find the Mirror…
A door appears suddenly in the wall. Trying the knob, she enters the room successfully.
It is a great relief to her when she sees the Mirror. An inexplicable warmth, a surging of adrenaline and anticipation overcomes her as she sits cross-legged in front of it. She expects to see herself, older, as a high-ranking Ministry official, or sitting with the Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, or at the very least with her OWLs in hand, all marked ‘O’ for ‘outstanding’.
Actually, she sees herself, seated as she is, in the company of a handsome, tidy fellow, whom she has never seen before. She suspects he is a Ravenclaw, but it doesn’t really matter either way - for he is, as they say, the image of perfection: gorgeous green eyes, full, soft hair, and a smile so charmingly coquettish. Closing her eyes, Hermione pretends that he is actually standing beside her, that he is hers and no one else’s.
A hand grips her shoulder firmly. She spins around instinctively, apprehensive; with an excited jump she realizes it is the young man she sees in the Mirror. Impossible, she breathes, wondering at how the images in the Mirror can suddenly materialize.
“Come with me,” he says, his eyes hard yet twinkling. Eagerly, she obeys him as he takes her by the hand and leads her away.
Title: Acquiescence
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~171
Summary: “Don’t do it anymore, Tom, please,” she gasped.
Amidst the unintelligible screams of agonizing, excruciating pain, his high mithless laughter echoed in the chamber, rang in her ears. She couldn’t stand what he was doing to the poor man. She felt as though she were short of breath, asphyxiated.
“Don’t do it anymore, Tom, please,” she gasped. “Don’t hurt him, let him alone.”
Taking a moment to peer at her, Tom kept his wand level. “Crucio,” he said defiantly, and the man began convulsing again.
“Don’t, Tom. Don’t.” She was on the verge of tears, and she struggled to hold them back.
Again, Tom stopped torturing the man and turned his attention to Hermione. “Why do you concern yourself with this filth?” he asked, giving the man a contemptuous kick.
“Just… stop. Stop,” she whimpered, biting her bottom lip, trembling violently as she spoke.
He approached her, and stroked her chin with his cold, long index finger. Regarding her for a moment, he watched as a single tear betrayed her, and he decidedly pocketed his wand.
“As you wish.”
Title: It Ends at the Beginning
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~304
Summary: How is it worthy of his company? she wondered insolently, rocking furiously in her chair in one corner of the room.
What Hermione noticed, with restrained jealousy, was that Tom had taken to keeping that foul snake around. Nagini, he called it.
How is it worthy of his company? she wondered insolently, rocking furiously in her chair in one corner of the room.
It was a dirty, disgusting room, that, by the looks of it, had not been inhabited for years. It was the place of Tom’s ancestors, only Hermione did not know it. She would never make the connection, for her Tom was too beautiful to have come from such… humble beginnings.
Opposite her, in the other corner, Tom sat petting the snake in his lap, speaking to it in that low, hissing - Parseltongue. She wished he wouldn’t; she hated the sound of the tongue, and she hated that she could not understand it. She hated that he dared speak to it in her presence.
Look at me, she willed him.
The result was instantaneous. His eyes flickered up resolutely to meet hers, and not once did he break his gaze. Though, even from across the room, Hermione could see a shadow lurking behind those eyes.
In a swift, fluid movement he was up and standing before her. He released Nagini from his grasp; it fell to the floor with a thud, and hissing angrily, slithered out of sight.
Tom considered the girl in front of him. As he wondered what he should do with her, he twirled his wand absently between his fingers.
Hermione breathed in anticipation. A moment of silence passed between them. And then -
“I have no use for you,” Tom said carelessly, with an artless flick of his wand. He looked her up and down, flinching ever so slightly at the state of her appearance.
Turning, he followed Nagini’s path and exited the room without another word, without another curse.