Tom clicked the lid shut on his trunk. After levitating it in the air, he walked down to the grand living room where the fireplace was located. His heart fell when he noticed the absence of a certain witch.
Ever since he told her his most kept secret in the hope of comforting her, Hermione had been eerily absent. She was never in the library, her room, outside, or in the dining room when he thought she would be. Tom would deny it to anyone who asked but he had been actively searching for the little witch. He was pretty sure that his secret had frightened her off and she was avoiding him, again.
"Tom," smiled Dippet. The old man stood in front of the fireplace holding a jar of floo powder. "Hermione will meet you on the platform before the train arrives. She's finishing up a last minute project." Tom seethed at his words. Dippet was in on Hermione's 'last minute project'. All Tom knew was that Hermione played the granddaughter card well enough to get Dippet to agree to help hide her from him.
Tom plastered on a smile. "Of course, sir." He grabbed a handful of floo powder and called out Platform nine-and-three-quarters. A pulling feeling tugged at his navel, sending shivers running across his entire body. When they stopped, he stepped out onto the bustling platform of the Hogwarts Express.
He loaded his trunk before he went to perform his duties. One of Tom's dreams finally came true, he was now the Head Boy.
Tom roamed around the platform making sure that students were behaving and answering any questions that students and parents may have.
"Gi-give i-it back!"
Tom turned from his current conversation with a pair of muggle parents who were curious as to what a life in the wizarding world could provide for their son. Snyde, a fifth year Slytherin, was holding a cage with a toad in it hostage from a student that Tom didn't recognize. "Daniel," breathed the parents behind him. So this was the mudb-muggleborn wizard that was their son.
"Snyde." Tom's commanding voice effectively stopped the young Slytherin and gathered the eyes of several onlookers. They were probably surprised to hear Tom's voice so fierce and commanding. He chuckled to himself when he saw some of his nearby followers flinch. "Is there a problem here, Snyde?"
The young Slytherin gulped. His golden-brown eyes flickered to Tom's before looking down. "No, sir."
"Then be helpful to this young wizard," Tom placed a hand on Daniel's cowering shoulder, "not a hindrance."
"Yes, my-sir." Snyde handed the boy his toad back with a glare. Tom sighed. He would have to work with his followers on their subtlety and teach them that mud-mugleborns were no longer on their list of targets. Curse Hermione and his silent vow to protect her. If she wasn't what she was, he would never be doing this.
He led the boy back to his parents and apologized to them on Snyde's behalf. Snyde will have a cruciatus awaiting him for their first meeting in three days.
After making another round around the platform, Tom decided to grab all the prefects for a quick rundown of their duties in the Head car.
The prefects from the four houses gathered inside the large car. Most were behaving while some, much to Tom's consternation were all Slytherins, were acting out and causing a ruckus. Tom pinched the bridge of his nose. He might very well wind up killing Hermione for leaving him to deal with all these ruffians by himself.
A knock on the door came before he could begin giving out orders. Tom opened the door to reveal a dishevelled Hermione. When she saw him, her face broke out into the most vibrant smile he had ever seen on her.
"Tom! I need to talk to you!"
"Can it wait till after the meeting?" Tom glanced at the gathered prefects behind him.
Hermione followed his gaze. "Isn't it a little too early to start dishing out orders?"
Tom looked down at his pocket watch. The train wasn't set to depart for another twenty minutes. "I think the meeting can wait a few minutes," smiled Tom. At this point, he would probably do anything she asked of him. It pleased him to see Hermione like this, it almost seemed as if she wasn't abhorred by the sight of him. He turned back to the prefects behind him, "leave."
Hermione groaned, pulling his attention back to her. "There are more of them, we'll leave." She made an attempt to grab Tom's arm but he brushed it off.
Tom watched as his followers ushered the other prefects out. "Who out numbers us?" teased Tom.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "That was rude to have your cronies do that. We could have left."
"Did you want to speak to me or not?"
Hermione's face lit up and she grabbed his arm. This time he did not fight it off. "I have been busy this past week and I really hope this works."
"So, you weren't avoiding me?" Tom kicked himself internally for how upset he sounded. Why did he always act needy in her presence?
Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him quizzically. "I wasn't avoiding you. I was doing research. Now, are you going to pout or let me finish?" Tom took a seat on the bench and gestured for her to continue. Hermione opened up her robes and pulled out a small potion bottle from the inside pocket. A dark green liquid sludge like substance was slushed around the inside the bottle when she shook it. "I'm not actually sure if this will work. I had to do a lot of research. I, of course, couldn't find what I was looking for but then I had the idea to make my own cure. I researched a bunch of potions that already exist and was really lucky that Dippet had some potions already brewed. I took different elements from various potions and combined them!" Hermione shoved the bottle in his face. "Take this." She shot him an expectant look.
Tom moved the bottle out of his face. "I'm not taking that. You still have not explained what it does."
A crestfallen expression appeared on Hermione's face. "Wasn't it obvious? No, I guess not. Hopefully, it's a cure for you."
"A cure? That's what you were doing all week?" Hermione vigorously nodded her head. "You weren't avoiding me?"
"No. I already tried that and it didn't work. No, after your story, I had an idea on how to help. Sharing that was hard on you and I could tell that you wanted to change. Hopefully, this potion will make it permanent so that you don't have to rely on me."
Tom stood up from his seat. One minute, he was feeling ecstatic that she wasn't avoiding him and now he felt like a bottomless pit. She basically just told him that she didn't want to be in his life. How was he supposed to protect his little witch when she despised him so?
"What if I don't want to change," growled Tom.
Hermione's eyes widened and her gaze flickered toward the locked door. "But I thought-"
"You thought. You didn't know for certain," interrupted Tom. "All you do is think. You never ask. Why would I want a cure if you're not-" Tom cut himself off before he said too much.
"If I'm not what," growled Hermione. Her hands were perched on her hips as she stared him down, even though she was much shorter than him and had to crane her neck up slightly.
Tom sighed and took the potion from her. Before he could say anything else, he downed the thick potion in one gulp. "There. Happy."
"Not if you're going to act like that." Hermione whirled on her heel and left Tom alone in the compartment.
How was it that he could be so good with words yet so terrible?