Don't Repeat History

Don't Repeat History

By Clairvoyant Snake

Chapter 4~1^st of September, 1942

...She unconsciously began rubbing her forefinger along the length of his palm.

He smiled upon noticing her fingers that played with his and asked her with a surprisingly gentle tone, "Will you be my girl?"

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Her eyes flew up to look him straight in the face.

His hypnotizing eyes bore into Hermione's brown gaze and she felt herself scowling before she could stop herself. She shook her head and again faced him, but with more confidence in her eyes that made certain he knew she was being totally serious with him.

"No." Came the simple response from her mouth, so naturally it seemed as if the very world was agreeing with her judgment skills.

His eyes shone a brilliance and then as soon as it appeared, it once again disappeared without a trace. So, broke his fragile heart have I? Good on him. He bloody well deserves it, the miserable git, Hermione told herself, and honestly, she tried to believe it, but so far those words remained well...words; and held no real significance in her mind. She mentally shook herself before her keen sense of reason and sensibility threw themselves out of her already dissipating mind.

No. I cannot fall for him. He is bloody Voldemort! I cannot, I *will* not!

Tom, oblivious to the mental struggle occurring across from him inside her mind reached out for her other hand and with his free one, clamped it over both of hers. He smiled wryly and looked on her with slightly shy eyes before speaking to her in what she deemed as a calm composure only housed to screen his true self.

"Tori, it's alright if you don't want to right now." Hermione couldn't help but notice he enunciated 'right now' with an air of arrogance that screamed that he for sure knew she would cave in, given time. Bloody hell, I really need to dissuade him from becoming much more interested in me then he already has!

He continued, "But just know that I'm always here for you and I will, regardless of your saying the contrary, continue to try to get to know you better." Ha, as if I'll let you! And you might as well have said, 'I'll continue to haunt you'...you already do in my time...

Just the very thought of her time and what the boy-man sitting across from her would do in the future chilled her to the core. Knowing that he would be the demise of many good families in her time; that he would be the murderer of her best friend's parents; the murderer of a fellow classmate, made her want to cry and then wallow in her sadness.

She wanted to pity herself for her unfortunate luck at having the very person she would first meet to be the one that would cause so much turmoil -so much pain to her and her friends.

However, she told herself with a heavy heart that nothing could be done at the moment and in the near future if she continued along that train of thought, as reassuring as its presence to serve as a reminder to her it had proven.

"Tom, I promise to keep an open heart regarding any possible relationship with you," she told him callously and with her toes crossed. He nodded as a form of acknowledgement and released his grip on her upon recognizing her tone of voice. She unintentionally gripped harder when his hand began to slip out of hers. He smiled knowingly, and she grimaced at her unwitting mistake. So much for keeping my promises to myself!

***

All too soon, the train came to a stop and Hermione peered out the window for her last time. Oh how glad she was about not having to cross the bloody lake anymore!

She kept unconsciously searching for Hagrid's gigantic presence to greet the newcomers, and was slightly disappointed with herself upon forgetting what time period she now occupied. Then she remembered.

Hagrid would be a student this year.

The year he was to be expelled from Hogwarts.

The year Tom Marvolo Riddle discovered, and opened the secret chamber and unleashed the horror within. Oh how bloody lucky I am... She sighed and really hoped to get out of this world before *that* event occurred.

Her curiosity overcame her, and she nudged Tom for his attention, which was unnecessary, seeing as his undivided gaze was upon her constantly.

"Tom, how will we get to Hogwarts?"

"Oh," he pointed at the abundant boats floating on the lake, riding the waves that sent churns into Hermione's stomach. She always did hate those cruises her parents forced her to go on as a child.

Tom's concerned gaze fell onto her scared face and he comfortingly snaked his arm around her shoulders.

This only made a few girls from various houses around them gasp, some even whispered behind their backs, and behind muffled conversations.

Hermione, out of natural response turned to look those gossiping girls in the eye and spoke in a chillingly cold voice, devoid of humor.

"So, think you can talk about me behind my back? I would tell you to stop your nuisances, but I fear your brain has already been cut apart from your ridiculous selves for so long that you may have forgotten how to use it. May I recommend hiring a tutor for proper etiquette towards fellow peers?" She added after a few excruciatingly amusing minutes of silence that hovered over the previously annoying girls, who all now had their mouths gaping wide open at how uncensored 'that girl that got Tom's attention' was.

No girl in their time was so openly nasty with anyone, and especially not in the presence of a man; that was considered extremely tomboy-ish and unstylish indeed. Now all the annoying girls proved to Hermione was a comic relief for what she wished she could always say to Lavendar and Parvati, not to mention all those other annoying female presences that constantly ruined Hermione's mood in her own time.

Tom's expression was priceless.

He had tightened his arm around her shoulders and then when she turned to face him, she saw his face go from a wide-eyed grin to take on the most admiring gaze she had ever felt directed towards herself. She was struck with the sudden realization that he now would definitely NOT leave her well enough alone. Especially since she seemed somehow to contain the ability to form scalding retorts.

This was a trait Tom would most likely appreciate, and Hermione scolded herself for not realizing that before the words took on a life of their own and ran out of her vindictive mouth. Of course she recalled the remark, 'At least they [as in Gryffindor Quidditch players] didn't have to buy their way onto the team' that she had once used on a sneering Draco Malfoy back in her second year.

Hermione felt she had come a long way from her previous retorts, and now was the first time she had actually given a cruel blow to someone's feelings instead of conscience. This was definitely something she could learn to live with, and live with harmoniously at that. As long as her point got across sufficiently.

"Let's go, Tom," she raised her nose in the air a bit and with a flip of her hair, she and Tom made way for a boat that sat only two. She sat in the front and he sat in the back of her. "You do know that these boats row themselves, don't you? Or wait, you wouldn't. Not if you haven't gone here before. So, where are you from and which school did you attend prior to Hogwarts?" Tom asked her as they adjusted themselves in the boat and waited for the other students to organize themselves into the proper boats.

She gulped, thought fast and an answer shot into her head as easily as if she were born to lie. Oh lookie Mum! I'm a regular fibber now! You should be so proud of me Ron and Harry! her mind added in with a mental roll of the eyes.

"My family live all over the world. My parents are divorced; one lives in America where I attended Salem Witches School of Magical Studies, and one parent lives in France where I went to Beauxbatons for a year or so. I usually switch back and forth, but this year they decided to let me decide and I chose Hogwarts to spite them."

She had chosen her words well, for it satiated Tom's curiosity.

As the other boats were finally filled up and ready to depart the shoreline, Hermione braced herself for the oncoming waves of nausea that would overtake her soon. Her hands gripped the sides of the boat tightly, causing them to turn white; she closed her eyes and breathed in a regular 'in' and 'out' that she self-taught herself from previous experiences.

Tom grew concerned for her, and responsively wrapped his arms around her so that she would lean back onto his chest and relax. She did so, unknowingly complying with his wishes, and spent the next ten minutes wrapped up in his arms without a care in the world except to get off the boat as soon as humanly possible.

At long last, the boat touched the shore opposite their departure area and she felt so woozy and disoriented that all she could do was lean back against the strong body behind her.

"You O.K. doll?" Tom's voice resounded from his throat and sent heavenly shivers through her spine. It was then that Hermione realized he truly did care about her, and he was not just plotting some way to manipulate her into doing what he willed. She let herself go, finally, and opened her eyes to the fact that every girl's eyes were on her and Tom, and she felt a warm blush crawling up her face at the thought that she was now officially 'the luckiest girl in Hogwarts'.

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TBC...