In Broken Time

Chapter 14

Even though Hermione was already a skilled Occulmens, she struggled to keep her memories at bay as Tom continued to penetrate her mind. She could feel her early memories of Diagon Alley seeping through, but none where important enough to affect her identity or mission. She pushed further and further against his force, but he was too strong. Hermione desperately held onto the most important memories she could scavenge in her mind.

It seemed that he had enough of the resistance as he finally withdrew from her mind. Their eyes met. His eyes were cold and Hermione had the idea that he was quite suspicious of her. Hermione returned his cold glare and said nothing when she walked away from him, her black coat swishing behind her. She was seething about the sudden invasion of privacy, but she wasn't completely surprised. Future Dark Lord after all.

He seemed to not have gotten her intended message when he followed her to the back of the store, effectively cornering her. Hermione's chestnut eyes narrowed, her face turning into one of annoyance when she beheld him. "What? Back for another round of privacy invasion?" Her face morphed into a sneer.

"I merely wanted to know if I could trust you. Seems that I have to be a bit weary of you now." His face was still cold and emotionless.

"What do you mean?! Invading my mind is the complete opposite of what you should do if you wanted to earn my trust! If you're talking about how I defended myself against you, any sane person would defend their memories!" Hermione exploded.

"Your defense was rather strong, albeit I did see some rather interesting memories seeping through." Hermione's eyes narrowed to slits, her sneer widening even more at his statement. "Like?"

"The ginger and black-haired boy...Who are they? Surely you wouldn't have left them behind in France?" He gave her a curious look.

Hermione inwardly thought 'I may not have left them, but they left me so I could kill you.'

"Merely family friends who were murdered for standing up for the right thing." Hermione answered her gaze hard and steely. "Interesting..." He drawled, his head cocked to one side studying her. "So, have you found the whereabouts of any of the artefacts I seek?"

"Bulgaria. I have heard by word that Ravenclaw's diadem has been rumored to be in a Bulgarian forest, although no one knows which forest."

"Then I suppose we better get going to Bulgaria. You're coming with me. I'll figure out something tomorrow to let our employers know that we won't be coming to work tomorrow or possibly for a whole week."

"But they won't just let us go like that! They need our help to run this damned shop! At least one of us needs to stay back." Hermione spluttered, her mind scrambling to find a way out of going with Riddle.

"Well then I hope it won't be too much trouble to cast another of your convincing Imperiuses. You will come with me seeing as you will be the one to lead us there." His usually smug and playful eyes turned stone cold as he demanded for Hermione to leave with him. Hermione shuddered under his stare and nodded submissively at his order. "Fine. But I demand you tell me what your intentions for them are."

"I assure you my intentions are good. I just need them for...observation. I'm studying them. I find them rather fascinating." Riddle stared at her directly in the eye as he outright lied to her. "I should hope so." Hermione whispered, her gaze not faltering one bit.

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Hermione had taken one step out of her room at the Leaky Cauldron before slamming into a broad chest who she knew to be Tom Riddle's. The previous day they'd arranged a meeting spot in front of her room since they were both staying in the same building. They both clutched their respective briefcases, both consisting of mainly books.

"If you don't mind me asking, how will we get there?" Hermione queried.

"I thought you would've known already Black! How unlike you," he darkly chuckled. "By portkey of course. How else?" He said matter-of-factly.

"Well where is the portkey?"

"You'll see." Tom led her to the outskirts of Diagon Alley and pointed out their portkey which was a black umbrella under a wooden bench. They both took one end of the umbrella and spun away to Bulgaria. 

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All rights belong to J.K Rowling and WB.

Hello I'm back! I realize that this is a short chapter, but it is necessary for the upcoming ones that I am currently in the process of writing. I apologize for the very long wait but lately I've been very busy and I've kind of lost motivation to write. I will continue to write and update, but just not consistently. Also thank you for all the votes and reads! They have given me heaps of encouragement.

As always thank you for reading and please leave a vote!