Vulnerability

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Hermione PoV

"Hey. Hey! Look at me." Hermione tried her best soothing tone. She was trying, hopelessly, to get Riddle's attention. "Hey, it's okay. Everything's fine now." Personally, she found this fruitless and unnecessary.
Why was she calming him? He'd saved Ron after all. But still, for some godforsaken reason, he looked like he'd just been abducted by an alien and then sent back to earth after experiencing mortifying things.
Hermione remembered that one story her mom always told her to make her stay in bed at night. It was abou- Hermione, focus!
"Tom," she tried calling his name. It didn't taste so good on her tongue, but still she repeated it. "Tom!"
"What...what did I do?" he asked blinking rapidly and turning his head to look at her.
Finally! A reaction.
"I- I don't know," she frowned. "But...you saved Ron!" She tried for a cheery tone this time.
He nodded slowly, however the pensive look didn't leave his face.
His eyebrows were furrowed and he was breathing heavily. Suddenly he groaned loudly, clasping his head in both hands and shuttinghis eyes tightly.
Hermione jumped backwards, almost stumbling onto the leafy ground.
"Wh-what is it? What's happening?" she asked quickly. He was freaking her out. One second they're talking (him a bit monotonously) and the other he's almost ripping his hair out while crying out in agony.
"Tom, what the hell is wrong?" she almost screamed at him.
"S-something's wrong!", he said between heavy heaves of breathing.
Oh really?
"I-it's like... It's like something is trying to get out-" he managed to say hoarsely. He staggered around until he reached a bark of a huge tree and used it as support.

When it was clear he wasn't going to continue, Hermione pushed, "Getting out of where?"
Riddle didn't answer. He was bent over, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, still leaning on the tree with his back. Hermione couldn't see his face, but she could still hear his heavy breathing.
"T-Tom?"
Suddenly his heavy breathing slowed and his body became limp.
"Tom!"

****
The Golden Trio -Hermione honestly only used that with a silent scoff following it- were huddled around Riddle's unconscious figure.
"What did you say happened again?" Harry asked looking up from said unconscious Riddle at a frustrated Hermione.
"I told you, he was just freaking out about his what he did, when suddenly he started groaning and holding his head like it was about to explode. Then, he went to this tree and collapsed all of a sudden!" She glanced at Riddle. What had happened to him? He had been just fine two minutes ago - aside from the breakdown, of course.
"He said... He said it was like something was trying to get out of... out of somewhere. He didn't continue," she added as an afterthought.
"I still think we should just leave him here to rot. It's kind of poetic, don't you think? Tom Marvolo Riddle died a tragic death after saving an innocent ginger from harm. Said ginger couldn't veal the sight of him, so he left him to be consumed by his like. Savage, wild animals!" Ronald finished dramatically.
Hermione and Harry were giving him their trade mark 'Stop-this-unnecessary-bullshit' look. 
He sighed and stood up. "Well, we can't wait forever. Just take him with you if you can't survive a day without his peaceful presence, but we have to keep going! The rest of this Death Eater's friends will be here any moment and I'm not anxious to meet them".
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but Ron's right." Harry stood up and levitated Riddle's unconscious body next to him.
"What about the spell?" Hermione asked, but Harry waved her off.
"We'll figure it out later. I doubt it's important."

Hermione was worried, but followed her friends to the Apparition spot nevertheless.

****
A hooded figure was looking out the window with a body lying on the ground next to it. A blond man was cowering behind the hooded figure.
"M-my Lord?"
"Yes, Lucius?"
"Wh-what spell was that?"
"You should know that by now, Lucius!"
"Forgive me, my Lord. I am not as talented with nonverbal spells."
"Well, of course you aren't."
The hooded figure turned around and its hideous visage was visible for the first time. Its face was sickly pale and instead of a nose it had two slits for breathing. Its red glowing eyes had wrinkles around them as the owner of the face was smiling, showing off horrifying yellow and black teeth.
"It's a spell for those who intend to hurt me or anyone I find remotely useful"

****
Tom PoV

Tom woke up shaking and shivering for the second time this day. 
His whole body was sweaty and he felt like if he had the possibility of drowning himself in a freezing lake, he would. 

"How can you be okay with all this?" Tom heard Hermione shout from outside the tent.
Tom wondered what that was about. Staggering a bit on the way to the exit, he thought he'd push the thoughts of what the hell happened to him for later.
"I found a way to test him. It's gonna be okay, believe me," Harry was saying when Tom stepped out of the tent.
"Test whom?"
"Oh, Tom!", Hermione exclaimed "How're you feeling? You gave us all a bit of a scare back there."

Back there? 

Tom looked around. They weren't in the forest anymore. Instead, all around them were mountains and dunes everywhere and, funny enough, what looked like a freezing lake.
"Where are we?" he asked, shuddering slightly. There was a huge difference in the weather, too. And he thought the forest was cold!
"It's a place Ron used to visit with his family. Said it was safe," Harry shrugged. "We had to leave before more Death Eaters came"
Something tugged at the very back of Tom's mind.

"Death Eaters?", he muttered looking at his feet while trying to warm his arms with his hands. When he looked up at Hermione was glaring at Harry.

"The Dark Lord's followers," Hermione informed him earnestly, ignoring Harry's frown.
The Dark Lord... Part of the dream (it felt more like a déjà vu) came back to him. The pale, noseless Lord and the blond servant next to the unconscious body.
"Anyway, we have more pressing matters at hand... Harry?" Hermione jarred Tom back.
"Oh, yeah. Okay. Look, Tom. What I'm gonna tell you now is a mind-blowing phenomenon of magic." Harry stated.

Hermione looked at Harry with raised eyebrows.

"What? I'm not totally clueless, you know!" he told her and for a moment they seemed at ease. Tom didn't understand what was going on. He also didn't understand how he could ever have been part of this pack. They all seemed so close, they seemed to understand what the others meant from just a look. He blamed it on his memory - lack thereof actually - but inside, he knew it was more.
"So, as I was saying: brilliant phenomenon. Extremely evil, but brilliant. You're probably not gonna believe me...but here we go." Harry brandished something from underneath his jumper. It was a locket. It was ancient. It had a capital S made out of emeralds on the front and the name 'Slytherin' carved in the back. For some reason Tom felt the urge to grab it out if Harry's hand. 
He shouldn't have seen it, it was supposed to be hidden. The dreadful headache returned

"This is a horcrux. Part of Voldemort is in there!"

A/N
Hello my lovely readers,
I have many things to say.
First off: Thank so so much for all of your votes and reads and comments (please keep 'em  coming, they make my day).
Second: Don't be worried about me. God didn't strike me with a Better-Editing blessing. I owe it all to my beautiful, crazy bff aiwainaah. I'd die without her. Without the beautiful hufflepuff too el0010 (she made the cover btw).
Third: Sorry for delay. Seriously, I'm running out of excuses. But if anyone forgot what happened last...Please, you'll find the last chapter to the left :) ;)
Forth of all: Excuse the change of tradition concerning the chapter titles.
Last but not least: Bye bye, love you all :* .

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