In Broken Time

Chapter 9

Working in Borgin and Burkes was...fascinating to say the least. Occasionally she'd deal with customers, but mainly she cleaned the place up and helped Burke count the money at the end of the day. However, she did learn about some artifacts which was the part of the job that she actually liked the most.

Hermione was moving some boxes from the storage room out to the main shop when she heard the entrance door open. Hermione prayed that it wasn't Tom. She wasn't ready to see him yet, because when they would go back to school he'd surely corner her and demand answers for why she's working at such a shady place. She was supposedly a pureblood after all.

Luck wasn't on her side, as sure enough the devil himself strode through the store. Hermione immediately ducked behind the counter, hoping he wouldn't see her hair. Although it wasn't as bushy or curly as it was back in her early days at Hogwarts, she still had a lot of it. Instead her hair was now more wavy than anything.

Tom found Burke who was studying one of his artifacts by one of shelves. Burke just waved him off. "Black! There's a customer here!" Burke called as he walked away. Hermione froze. Dammit! Why didn't she imperio Burke to help her avoid him!

Hermione begrudgingly walked over to Riddle whose brows immediately rose at the sight of her. Obviously, he wasn't expecting her of all people to work here. She was one of the best students in Hogwarts after all!

"Yes?" Hermione asked Riddle, giving him an expectant look.

"Why are you working here?" His eyes narrowed.

"Why not? Thanks to my good old dad I'm disowned remember? I don't have an endless vault of money. Besides, everywhere else isn't employing and I get extra-credit."

"Right." He answered.

Hermione nodded her head up at him. "So what are you doing here?"

"Just browsing."

"Need any help?"

"Not particularly."

"So can I leave you?"

"No." Tom replied, giving Hermione an infuriatingly handsome smirk.

"What? You just said you didn't need any help!" What the hell was wrong with him! Why couldn't he just bloody let her go! She didn't have time for his questions.

"I suppose I do need your opinion and knowledge on a few of these items." Hermione rolled her eyes. From the corner of her eye she could see Riddle smirking again. "That's no way to treat a potential customer, Black. I could get hurt touching some of these things." Riddle tutted.

"Then don't." Hermione snapped.

"Why do you hate me Elora? I have done nothing but be kind to you."

"I don't." Hermione lied.

"Then why are you getting angry so easily, and why do you keep avoiding me at school?"

"I just don't want to talk. I have no intention to involve myself with you." Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"We'll see." Tom muttered, with an evil little smirk on his lips.

"What?" Hermione snapped.

"Nothing."

Hermione ended up walking around the shop several times with Riddle in awkward silence until he finally stopped in front the exit. "After all that you're buying nothing!" Hermione stated in disbelief. "What a bloody waste of time!" She continued.

"It seems that nothing here pleases my needs."

"What exactly are your needs?" Hermione had a nagging feeling that it had something to do with Horcruxes.

"I'm afraid that's none of your business. Your customer service is a 2/5 by the way." Tom gave Hermione one last smug smirk before walking out of the exit. Hermione was fuming. Borgin would have her head for wasting so much time that could've been used to persuade a potential customer into buying. Hermione sighed as she made her way back to the storage room. 

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Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter franchise.

Yay more dialogue. I'm sorry if this story is boring, because it's pretty much going nowhere, but at least Tom's in this chapter. I have no idea when I'm going to update again, but hopefully it'll be done within the next week. I might have to go on hiatus soon after this month so I apologize in advance. Also I'm thinking of writing another Tomione fanfiction or a Dramione fanfiction in the future. So stay tuned!

Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is welcome!