Out of Time

Day One

Hermione was excited. She finished her breakfast quickly and headed to the library to get a head start. She wanted to have everything ready when Tom arrived. She had put a lot of work into this study guide. She hoped he wouldn't be arrogant like the other students in their year.

She heard his quiet footsteps and turned to see Tom. She smiled brightly and then felt stupid. He eased her awkwardness by flashing back a smile.

"Good morning, Ms. Granger." He said taking the seat next to her.

"Hermione, please." She corrected.

"Hermione." He repeated.

"They didn't have a copy of the curriculum from the 40's so I had to guess a bit about what was taught. If you want to look over this outline of the study guide you can mark off anything you already know about." She told him and handed him the parchment she had.

Tom scanned the page quickly, "May I?" he asked motioning to her quill.

"Please." She handed him the quill and blushed when his fingers brushed her hand.

She watched as he marked through a few things.

He handed back the paper and quill, smiling. She looked at the page, good, he knew majority of the basics, of course any events and things after the 40's was still on there. Good, she could work with this.

"Perfect, what subject would you like to start with?" She asked.

They worked steadily until lunch. She was amazed, this boy was brilliant. She didn't have to explain anything more than once. She didn't think this would take a full week, 2 days maybe, 3 at the most. The thought made her proud and a little sad.

"Would you like to go to lunch?" he asked.

"You go ahead, I don't like to be in the great hall any more than necessary." She confessed.

Tom was looking at her, intently. "Do you just skip lunch?" he asked frowning slightly.

"If I get hungry I just sneak into the kitchens and the house elves will make me something." She said blushing. His stare was intense.

"That sounds wonderful, let's do that. I don't think I can handle being stared at any longer." He told her as he stood up.

"Okay." 

She looked up at him, she smiled and stood as well. She put all of their work in her bag and left it with the librarian. She couldn't believe he wanted to eat with her. She felt she should warn him.

"Tom, I wanted to let you know that I'm not very popular, I have very few friends. You may get a bad reputation hanging around me." She could feel her face burning with embarrassment as she confessed this.

He laughed. "Hermione, I would like very much to be your friend." He said to her.

"Even if I am a swotty Mudblood." She blurted

He flinched at her confession. She wanted to cry. She knew he would be like the others.

"Sorry, I am not used to ladies spouting such vulgarities." He said. The news had startled him, she was very smart and talented, and He didn't expect her to be a mudblood. These were different times, he supposed he could work around her unfortunate heritage.

She covered her mouth, "I am so sorry, I didn't think, I only recently learned the word."

"Never mind that, Hermione, I am still your friend. Now show me to the kitchens, please." He smiled.

She smiled back and grabbed his hand, pulling him down the hall. Tom wasn't one for touching. He preferred personal space. Her hand was warm, and skin soft. The tips of her fingers slightly callused from writing. The feeling wasn't unpleasant, he supposed.

They made their way to a large portrait and he watched as she tickled the pear, almost instantly the door swung open. He followed her inside and was amazed at the busy kitchen full of house elves.

There was a small table and chair set to the side of the room. He followed her and waited for her to sit before sitting as well. As soon as they sat, food began to appear on the table, just like in the great hall.

"See, a somewhat quiet lunch." She smiled at him.

They ate in comfortable silence. Hermione deep in thought about the handsome boy across from her. He seemed almost too good to be true. Tom watched Hermione and decided he would mold this brilliant mudblood to fit his needs. She would be an asset for sure. Poor girl was so starved for human attention. He could give that to her.

"Are you ready to go back and study some more?" He asked her.

She looked at him, "Sure."

They both stood to leave. He watched as she thanked the elves, then followed her out of the room.

They walked back to the library and resumed their study session. Hermione noticed they were nearly halfway through her material.  She had to slow this down, it was only day one.

"How was it at Hogwarts when you started?" she blurted out.

Tom looked up from the book he was reading and smiled. He placed a scrap of paper to mark his page and turned to face her.

"Much the same as it is now, I suppose, I haven't been around the grounds to check it all." He told her.

"We could remedy that. I could take you around." She offered.

"That sounds brilliant." He said, watching her grin widen.

They put away their things and decided to meet at the entrance hall in 10 minutes. Hermione rushed to put her things up. She relieved her bladder and rushed back to meet Tom. His trip was much shorter. He made his way to the dungeon and put his bag away. He took his time getting back, knowing Hermione had to run to the Gryffindor tower and back.

He still arrived before she did. He was surprised to see her running down the hall. She was only 3 minutes late. He was impressed.

"Sorry, its (breath) a long (breath) run." She said breathing hard.

He smiled, "There was no hurry." He said as he led them to the doors.

The sun was extremely bright. The pair found themselves squinting, until their eyes adjusted.

Having caught her breath, Hermione had an idea.

"Tom, you give me a tour of the grounds, and if anything has changed, I will let you know."

He smiled at her "My pleasure."

They walked and she listened. He had a wonderful voice. Hermione was surprised that not too much had changed since he had went here before.

"And down there is the grounds keeper's hut. I believe his name was Ogg." He told her.

"It's still the grounds keeper's hut, but two years ago Ogg retired and Rubis Hagrid is groundkeeper now." She told him.

That was surprising. Tom didn't know they would hire the half giant oaf. "Interesting, I went to school with him." He told Hermione.

"Really? That's odd." She said laughing.

He looked at the girl walking with him. She had a strange sense of humor. They had covered most of the grounds, and they could see other students starting to walk around.

"Class must be out now, I guess we should get inside." Hermione told him.

He didn't say anything, just changed their path to one back towards the school.