The picture is Tom Riddle.

***

HERMIONE'S POV

I lay in the Headmaster's office, and it was so familiar I felt as if I hadn't moved an inch.

Standing up, I brushed off the dirt from the floor and tried my best to look somewhat presentable. I heard a click at the door and an unfamiliar man strolled in, looking quite vague. He jumped at the sight of a 16-year-old girl he didn't know standing in his office.

"Ah! You must be the transfer from Beauxbatons, yes?" I nodded. "What was your name again?"

"Um... Hermione Gr - I mean, Hermione Argentum."

He scribbled the name down on a piece of paper which he then absentmindedly threw in the bin.

Congratulations, sir.

"Excellent! Now it is time for your Sorting!"

The Sorting Hat dropped over my head and immediately began musing.

“Hmmm…let’s see…ah, of course, you are kind, but I suspect Hufflepuff is not for you…you also have plenty of intelligence…you’d do well in Ravenclaw…but I don’t know if that would suit you properly either…ah, you’re a difficult one…you are brave, too…very brave…I suspect you would do even better in Gryffindor…but I don’t know if that’s quite right either…but you also have a mission and a strong desire to succeed, oh yes…such a strong desire to succeed, in fact, that you would best be put in…SLYTHERIN!”

I just sat there, stunned.

Me, a Slytherin?

I expected Gryffindor and would have accepted Ravenclaw…but Slytherin?

“Ah, excellent!” Dippet exclaimed. “But, dear me, how rare! You are a Hatstall!”

“What?” I exclaimed. “How long did the Hat take?”

He glanced at a clock in the room. “Six minutes and fourteen seconds, precisely. Now, I must take you to your Common Room to meet your fellow Slytherins!”

He led me down to the dungeons. We turned corners and I tried to remember the way, but I was having difficulty.

Finally, we entered the Common Room after Dippet said the password.

“Students, meet Hermione Argentum! She is a sixth-year who has just transferred from Beauxbatons! She has just been Sorted into Slytherin!” he announced to the group.

Most of the people who actually looked up appeared to be sixth-years.

I jumped when one girl looked up who looked exactly like Pansy Parkinson.

But this was the past, I reminded myself. This was probably Parkinson’s grandmother.

“Hermione,” Dippet continued, and I turned back to him, “meet the Prefects from your year. This is Narcissa Nott and this is Tom Riddle.”

He indicated a tall, blond girl and a pale-skinned boy with black hair.

Tom Riddle was a Prefect?

Of course he was.

I was surprised but pleased to see that Parkinson’s ancestor wasn’t a Prefect.

Tom Riddle was exactly the person I needed to get to know.

Get to know, and convince not to kill Harry Potter.

I definitely had some acting to do.

***

The next day, at breakfast, I sat by myself near the end of the table.

I had only narrowly stopped myself from walking towards the Gryffindor table instead.

I wasn’t going to sit next to Tom Riddle yet. Because if I did, the other girls would hate me and Riddle would think I was just another girl who’d fallen for him.

Anyway, there was no way I could sit near him, even if I’d wanted to; he was surrounded by fifth- and sixth-year girls. The way they were acting gave me the vague feeling that they were desperately in love with him, and the way Riddle was responding to them gave me the feeling he definitely did not return the sentiment.

Riddle glanced down the table at me and gave me something like a smile. I felt my face grow hot.

“Girls, meet Hermione Argentum. She’s a transfer.” Tom introduced me to all the girls surrounding him and every one of them glared at me.

All hopes I had of actually making some friends evaporated.

After breakfast, I headed to my first class, according to my timetable.

Defense Against the Dark Arts.

But just before I stepped into the classroom, the Parkinson girl walked up to me.

She gave me a fake smile. “Hello, Argentum. I’m Rosa Parkinson. I just wanted to say watch out. Because Tom is mine. Whatever you might think, he doesn’t feel any love towards you. Only to me, and me only.”

Wow, this girl was possessive. She strongly reminded me of Pansy Parkinson with Draco Malfoy.

I nodded. “Okay. I see.”

Her smile disappeared and she glared at me before entering the classroom.

“Now, you’ll all sit in pairs, boys with girls, so you can learn off one another. But we have a new student…alright, Miss Argentum, you can sit with the top student in our class…” the teacher told me.

I knew whose name was going to come out of his mouth as soon as he had finished speaking.

“Tom Riddle.”

Parkinson gave me a death stare as I sat down next to Riddle.

I was only at my first class and already the day was going badly.

Now I had to gain the trust of the future Voldemort and stop Rosa Parkinson from murdering me.

This was fabulous, just fabulous.

“So, Argentum, I don’t know what they taught you over at Beauxbatons, but here at Hogwarts you’ll learn much more important things…like never to trust a Mudblood,” Riddle advised me.

I tried to look as innocent as I could. “What’s a Mu – Mudblood?”

I could barely say the word, I considered it to be so horrible. But I had to pretend to be a girl who went to a French school and therefore had a different idea of what insults were actually insulting.

He stared. “Oh, a Mudblood is someone with non-magical parents or parents with non-magical parents. Filthy Muggle scum, essentially. Someone who does not deserve to be a witch or wizard. So, Argentum, judging by your surname, you’re not a pure-blood, but are you a filthy Mudblood or a half-blood?”

I tried to withhold my anger and annoyance at being spoken to like this. “Oh, me? I’m a half-blood. My father is a Muggle and my mother a pure-blood witch.”

Riddle looked surprised. I knew why.

It was the same with him – his father was a Muggle, Tom Riddle Senior, and his mother a pure-blood witch, Merope Gaunt.

I hoped it meant I could get closer to Riddle.

Suddenly, Riddle frowned in concentration.

At the same time, I felt as if someone was probing around in my mind.

Quickly, I slammed down the barriers in my mind and Riddle looked confused.

“How did you –”

“Mr Riddle, please refrain from speaking during my classes unless you are answering a question. But since you are speaking, you may as well answer my question.” The teacher smiled fondly at Riddle.

Of course, Riddle answered it correctly and as a result, Slytherin House – my house, I reminded myself – was awarded 10 points.

You know, we’re sort of alike, Riddle and me. We’re both smart, sometimes know-it-alls. And we’d both do well in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin, an annoying part of my mind commented.

Shut up! I shouted at myself inside my head.

Riddle glanced over at me, smirking.

In a moment of terror, I realised the walls in my head ad evaporated and I hurriedly shut them down again.

“Riddle, would you stop that?” I hissed, 10 minutes later, when he attempted to invade my mind again.

He raised his eyebrows. “What am I doing that I need to stop, exactly?” he asked coldly.

I sighed and returned to my work. “Poking around in my head, that’s what!”

“Argentum, how did you know about Occlumency and Legilimency? Tell me!” he ordered.

I smirked, not even bothering to look up. “Maybe Beauxbatons isn’t as bad a school as you might think, Vo –”

I was interrupted by the teacher. “Miss Argentum, please refrain from distracting Mr Riddle, here, from his learning.”

“But he –” I interjected.

“Mr Riddle is a perfect O grade student and has never done anything wrong in any of my classes. Are you really about to accuse him of something? I thought not. Now, 10 points shall be taken from Slytherin, but I suspect your friend Tom here might be able to get them back for you…”

Of course, Riddle did get them back.

He gave me the usual smirk and then we returned to our work.

After the lesson, as I headed off down the corridor to Potions, I mentally gave myself a checklist.

1.Gain Riddle’s trust.

2. Convince him not to kill Harry.

3. Make him promise, somehow.

4. Return home to 1998.

So far, I hadn’t succeeded in the first part – in fact, far from it. To gain Riddle’s trust I had to first stop him from looking into my mind constantly.

And even that wasn’t going well.

I looked behind me. Riddle was now surrounded by Rosa’s gang – Rosa Parkinson, Narcissa Nott, Andromeda Black and Crystal Lestrange.

I was the only sixth-year Slytherin who wasn’t part of that group – there were only five of us.

Although that was more than back home; there, it had only been the three of us: Pavarti Patil, Lavender Brown and me.

When I reached the Potions room, I was startled to find my Potions teacher from back home standing there.

I was about to ask him if he had time-travelled too when I realised he looked considerably younger.

Of course! Professor Slughorn taught Tom Riddle too!I thought.

“Good morning, Professor,” I greeted Slughorn. “I’m the new girl – the transfer from Beauxbatons.”

He looked confused for a moment, then his face relaxed into a smile. “Ah, of course! Hermione Argentum, wasn’t it? Welcome! Now, let’s see…everyone else has settled down but Tom, how about you go and sit with him?”

I sighed. “Yes, Professor.”

I walked over to Riddle and the desk where we would be sitting. “We have to sit together again, Riddle. How do you feel about that?”

He glared at me and I made sure my mind was closed. “Ugh…but I suppose you feel honoured that you must sit with me again…” He almost smiled, I was sure of it.

Maybe I was affecting him more than I had thought…?

After all, I knew Tom Riddle wasn’t the type to smile.

“Come on, we must sit down now,” he ordered.

I sat down at the desk.

“Now, you should all know by now how to make the Draught of Living Death. Here’s a simple question: What are its uses?” Slughorn asked.

Instantly, both Riddle’s and my hands flew into the air.

“Aha! Our transfer!” Slughorn, exclaimed, delighted. “Well, let’s hear your answer, then.”

I quoted the latest edition of Advanced Potion Making. At the last second, I realised it hadn’t actually come out yet, but it was too late.

“Excellent! Take 10 points for a well-formulated response!”

Riddle glared at me.

After dinner, I went to the library to find a book to read.

I found my favourite book – luckily, it had been published in 1940, so it was in the library.

I was searching for a place to sit and had just rounded a corner when I spotted Riddle, casually strolling out of the Restricted Section.

I walked over to him. “Riddle…what are you reading?”

I had the feeling I knew exactly what this book contained information about.

Horcruxes.

I remembered that he had made his first Horcrux when he was 16 – his diary.

I didn’t know how long it was until he actually made it. I hoped it would be a long time.

I turned to face Riddle. “Because if it’s Dark Magic…”

He examined my expression. “Is there anything you want to tell me, H – Argentum?”

I felt my face go red at his scrutiny.

“What do you mean, Tom Marvolo Riddle?”

“How do you know my middle name?” he asked quickly, frowning.

“Oh, I know more about you than you could ever have imagined. All your secrets. Your future. I know what’s going to happen to you, Riddle,” I said mysteriously, and leaving him with that cryptic clue, I walked back to the Common Room.

He stared after me in shock. “What…?”

I hoped I hadn’t given too much away.

But the more trust I put in him, the more I told him about me, the more he would trust me.

Right?