Refugees. . .and a Muggle!

The Fat Lady swung open and Hermione stepped through. The common room was crowded with students hanging out for a final time before Christmas Break. Most of the students would be leaving tomorrow which both sadden and lightened her heart.

Ignatius Prewett, Kathleen's cousin, saw Hermione entere and waved for her to join him and Lucretia. Ignatius had barely spoken a word to Hermione when she first arrived but after the death of his cousin, he seemed to be making it his mission to become Hermione's older brother. What is with ninteen-forties men and trying to act as brothers?

"Are you going home tomorrow?" greeted Hermione.

Ignatius shook his head. "I've decided to spend the first half of the break with my aunt and uncle."

Lucretia wrapped her hand in Ignatius's. Lucretia was a Black but she was much more like Sirius than any of the other Blacks. Something that Hermione was secretly glad of.

"That's good."

"Try not to spend too much time in the library while we are away." Lucretia's voice was light and bell-like.

"I promise," not to tell you.

"This will be a splendid chance for you to spend time with your grandfather," said Ignatius in his big-brother tone.

"Have you decided on what you are getting him?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm heading into Hogsmead Saturday to look. I'm thinking about finding him a book." Hermione still didn't know too much about Dippet but she had learned of his fondness toward books, art, and poetry.

Lucretia frowned. "That sounds impersonal."

"The only thing that I really know about him is his love for things of art," admitted Hermione.

Ignatius shifted in his seat to pull Lucretia closer to him. "You should ask Riddle. Out of all the students, Dippet tends to spend a great deal of time with him."

Hermione bit her tongue to keep from shouting profanities at the idea of asking Riddle for help. She didn't tell anyone about Riddle's involvement with Kathleen's death, especially Ignatius and Lucretia, for fear of the same fate being thrusted upon them. "I'll think about it," said Hermione instead.

.... . . ....

Hermione woke to a cold, snow covered Saturday. She really should have went looking for a present for Dippet a lot sooner.

She sat in the carriage curled up in her jacket. She was rather envious with how the cold did not seem to bother the Thestrals that pulled her carriage.

When the carriage came to a stop, Hermione jumped out and gave the Thestrals a pat on the head. Their black, leathery death-like skin still creeped her out but not as much as it had when she had first seen them.

Hermione walked around Hogsmead for a bit before going into the bookstore. She meandered through the aisles, caressing every book she saw. Unfortunately, she did not know which books he already owned.

As Hermione was leaving, a quill and stack of parchment caught her attention. Hanging from the quill was a phrase that she had heard Dippet use on many occasions and the parchment had several pictures of wizarding national monuments printed on it. She paid for the quill and parchment and left the store. Maybe she should find something else for Dippet as well. The gifts she bought seemed a little impersonal to her.

After walking around for several more hours, Hermione gave up and left for Hogwarts. She took the secret passageway back to get out of the cold. She loved Winter and snow but it was starting to snow quite heavily and she was becoming cold.

Once Hermione was inside the castle, she took off her ear muffs and shook her hair. The brown, curly tendrils took off flying in every direction.

"Come. This way."

The voice made Hermione pause. It was one that she didn't recognize.

"It feels good to be back."

Hermione crept down the hallway. She caught sight of men and women following behind Dumbledore. A particular guy caught her attention. He was tall and slender with blonde curly hair. The way he walked and spoke were quite weird. Green moved from the guy's jacket pocket to his shoulder. A bowtruckle!

Oh, my god! Hermione realized who the guy was.

She straightened her shoulders and lifted a foot to move forward. She may have disliked the book he had written but Newt Scamander was a genius and shed light onto the magical creatures around them.

A hand snaked around her waist and another covered her mouth. Whoever the hands belonged to pulled her backwards. She collided into something hard. She was able to move enough to spin around to face her attacker but no one was there. Suddenly, Riddle's head appeared out of thin air. He put a finger to his lips and gestured for her to be quiet. He then threw the Invisibility Cloak over her.

The Invisibility Cloak wasn't big enough for the both of them so Hermione found herself pressed up against Riddle. His hand snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Hermione was ready to pull her wand out and fight him. He saw her hand move and gestured toward Dumbledore and the others. She understood. He wanted to spy on them. Her curiosity outweighed her want to hex him so she obliged and stayed quiet.

It was difficult to move around underneath the cloak but far easier than it had been when she was with Harry and Ron. Though, it was probably because Riddle didn't try to fight for space as Ron had.

The two of them crept along as quickly and quietly as possible.

"It was quite generous of you to host us," said a foriegn woman. Hermione recognized her accent, placing her as a citizen of the U.S.

"Don't thank me. Thank our headmaster who agreed. He is willing to provide you with anything you need," dismissed Dumbledore.

"This is so cool. So, is everything, like, made out of magic?" The question came from a portly man with a twitchy mustache. His accent was the same as the woman's. What were a bunch of U.S. citizens doing here?

"Shh! Remember, you're not supposed to be here, no-mag," hissed the foreign woman.

Riddle glanced over at her with a questioning look. Hermione couldn't decide if she wanted to sigh or laugh. "He's a muggle born," whispered Hermione as quietly as she could. Riddle nodded and turned away but not before Hermione caught the blue in his eyes. "Muggles aren't that bad," she sighed a bit irritated.

"Whatever."

Hermione gritted her teeth at his flippant expression. She actually had to remind herself that she was with the Dark Lord.

Newt Scamander stopped following the others and glanced back to where the two of them hid. He started to turn away before he did a double take.

"Time to go." Riddle pushed on the middle of her back and forced her to turn around. The two of them walked quickly down several corridors before stopping to catch their breaths. Riddle peeled the cloak off of them and grinned at her. "I don't agree that they brought a muggle into Hogwarts but things seem to be getting interesting."

Hermione glared at him, catching the distaste in his voice when he used the word muggle. "Again, muggles aren't that bad," huffed Hermione with her hands on her hips.

"That's up to debate. Anyways, what do you suppose they are here for?"

Hermione wracked her brain for information on Newt Scamander. "I recognized the guy with the bowtruckle as Newt Scamander. I suppose they're here to take refuge from the war."

Riddle clenched his jaw and gave a tight nod. Hermione brushed it off as him still being mad that they brought a muggle into the school. "We have another matter to discuss." Hermione looked pointedly at the Invisibility Cloak.

Riddle looked at it then her and a sheepish expression crossed his face before it was replaced by a mask. "I found it on the ground the other day."

Hermione held her hand out for it. "It's mine, give it back." She almost winced with how venomous her voice sounded.

"Is it?" Riddle played indifferently. "I don't see your name on it." He made a show of looking at the inside of the cloak.

"It is mine, now give it back."

"No."

Hermione waved an angry finger at him. "You are going to give it back to me! I will not allow it to stay in your hands where you or your Dea-knights could use it for your selfish, evil plans!"

Riddle's face was filled with unmasked shock. "My knights?" Hermione realized too late her mistake. "I'll ask again, what do you know of my knights?" Hermione bit her tongue and shook her head. Before she knew it, Riddle had his wand out and pointed at her. "Crucio!"

Hermione fell to the ground writhing in pain. "Tell me, what do you know!"

Crap!

Hermione forced her mind not to go blank. She needed an explanation and fast.

"Abra-," Hermione forced herself to spit out the rest, "Abraxas."

The pain ceased. Hermione watched through half closed lids as Riddle lowered his wand. "You didn't spy on me?" Riddle's eyes fell toward the cloak which was still clutched in his hand.

"No." Hermione pushed herself into a sitting position on the floor. Damn, his cruciatus was much worse than Bellatrix's. "That," she pointed to the cloak with her chin, "is a memento from a friend. It's all that I have left of him," that and the map but she wasn't about to tell him that.

"Is it from that boy? The one you lo-like?" Why was he asking that? Hermione shook her head. "The one that was like your brother?" Riddle asked again. Hermione found herself nodding. Riddle was behaving strangely, even for him.

Riddle threw the cloak down on top of her. "Here." He turned to walk away but glanced back at her with a final warning. "I better not catch you spying on me."

Hermione watched as Riddle stormed down the corridor. What the hell was that?

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