Only Time Can Tell

Chapter 23

Hermione's POV

   Walking into the familiar room was comforting. The kitchen hadn't changed. The warmth from the fireplaces, the smell of the amazing food, even the chattering of the House-elves working busily. I closed my eyes for a moment taking it all in. Taking a deep breath, my mind went back to Harry, Ron, and Ginny. I missed them so much. A silent tear rolled down my face as I felt a cold hand touch my shoulder. 

"Here." I turned and saw Tom holding an apple, "you need to eat something."

Reaching out for it, I nod my head.  I go and sit at one of the tables there and eat my apple. One of the house-elves came over to me with a plate of food. She handed it to me and stood there for a minute shaking. I looked behind me to see Tom glaring at her over his shoulder. Unbelievable. 

"Thank you for the food," I say turning to the house-elf. "What's your name?"

"P-p-p-poppy." She says, still shaking. 

"Well thank you Poppy for working so hard to feed us all." At the last part, I turn and glare at Riddle.  He just rolls his eyes and walks towards a cabinet. 

I turn back to Poppy to see her smiling from ear to ear as she walks away with a skip in her step. Smiling, I look down at my plate to see it's filled with pieces of bread, different meats, a variety of vegetables and fruits, and some sweets. There's no way I'm going to be able to finish all this tonight. I look for Tom but notice he's nowhere to be seen. Odd. But I brush it off and eat. After about 1/2 hour talking to the house-elves and eating a lot, Tom comes back. When he comes in we all stop and stare at him. Suddenly the house-elves are running around again, trying to seem like they weren't taking a break. 

"Goodbye Poppy. It was nice to meet you!" I say with a wave as I walk out the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see she's still smiling. 

As Tom and I walk out of the room, he's still silent. I notice a small cut on his cheek that I didn't realize before. I stop him in the middle of the hallway and grab his face. Pulling him to face me, I see his look of shock and surprise.  Pulling his face gently down towards me, I stand on my tippytoes to get a better look. I can see that there's something stuck in it, I just don't know what. 

"What are you doing?" I hear an annoying voice. Rolling my eyes, we both turn to see Victoria. She storms over to us and raises her hand to slap me. I close my eyes ready for impact when I hear a screech from below me. Slowly, I open my eyes to see Vic on the floor and Tom in front of me. 

"How dare you protect her like that!" Vic screams at Tom, bring the attention of a small group of Hufflepuffs to us.  

"You already caused her enough trouble, now get out of here." He brushes her off, takes my hand and starts to walk off. Still dazed by what just happened, it hadn't fully processed that he was still holding my hand until we were in our dorm. He notices me staring at our fingers intertwined. Dropping my hand, he goes into the bathroom.  

Toms POV

I quickly walk into the bathroom as I felt my face getting heated. I locked the door and turned to face the mirror. My face was Gryffindor red. I don't understand why! Why do I feel nauseous when I touch her. After about 3 mins, I start to take my clothes off, deciding to take a shower to clear my thoughts. I step in the warm, steamy shower I can feel the sweat from today slowly roll off my body. Thinking back to when I left while Hermione was in the kitchen. It was completely stupid what I did, but I needed to. To get revenge, I need to do it. There were still parts of the Blood-Sucking Bugbear stuck in my check and back. I think Hermione noticed the cut on my face, I tried to deal with the pain of its scratches on my back. The water stung but I just stood there, head down letting the water run over me. Thinking about her beautiful bushy brown hair, and her eyes that seem to be able to look right through me. With her smile that lights up my day. Ugh! What is this? Why does she consume my every thought? I can't focus on my greater goal. I need to be with her every moment of my day. What kind of spell did you put on me, Hermione Berks? 

I get out of the shower after 1/2 hour. I slip into my room and pull on some clothes. Slowly I peek out the door into the common room to see if she's there, noticing that she wasn't I leave and meet up with  Hunter and Jacob. 

***

"That's too good Tom!" Hunter says laughing, "You obviously like her!" 

He falls out of his seat in the back of the library laughing. I kick him but he continues to laugh. 

"It's not that bad. Honestly, do you feel butterflies in your stomach when you're near her?" Jacob asks.

"What? Why would I have butterflies in my stomach? I do not want butterflies in me. Someone get them out!" I say, very confused as to why Jacob thinks I'd get animals in my stomach when I'm near Hermione. Apparently, I said something very funny as Hunter just laughs even harder. 

Jacob gives a quick laugh as he explains, "The term 'butterflies in your stomach' is used when you have feelings for someone. It kinda feels like your stomach tightens."

"Oh, well then yes," I reply to him. 

Jacobs' eyes light up and he smiles.