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"Hermione Granger, you can't be serious!" Ginny gasped as she stood with her friend near the bathrooms in the Hog's Head a few days later.
"I told you, it's Hermione Riddle," she insisted, blushing slightly when her husband smiled over at her from where he stood talking to Harry Potter, of all people. She couldn't help but wonder what the two of them had found to talk about.
"So you're telling me that you married Tom Riddle? The Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort himself?"
"You don't have to put it like that, you know," Hermione grumbled as their two men rejoined them.
"Hey, Hermione, you didn't tell me Tom liked Quidditch," Harry complained as he arrived at her side.
"Oh, well, he didn't tell me that," she answered. "Since it's not quite as important to me as it is to you blokes, the topic didn't really come up."
"I'll bet I know what did," Ginny chuckled into her ear.
"What's that, dear?" Harry asked her sweetly.
"Oh, nothing, Harry, nothing at all," she answered innocently.
Harry grabbed her around her middle and started to nibble her ear.
"Say, listen, we could all go back to our house for dinner," Tom suggested, much to the surprise of Hermione's two friends. When he saw their expressions, he blushed slightly. "Unless you don't want to be seen with the notorious Dark Lord, of course."
"Tom, we're already standing with you in a very public place," Harry mentioned. "It would be sort of stupid to worry about going to your house to avoid being seen if they already saw us here, don't you think?"
"Sorry, I'm not used to being infamous yet," Tom chuckled as he drew his wife into his arms. "I didn't give much thought to anything but this little lady right here when I made my decision to come here."
"I can't get over how romantic that is," Ginny sighed, and cast Harry a look that clearly said she wished he'd be just a bit more romantic himself.
"Hey, Tom, you and Hermione need to have a huge row already, so my woman can see that you're just as human as the rest of us men," Harry told him. "You can't give women everything they want, you know. Otherwise they'll all get it into their heads that the rest of us would have to do it, too."
"Sorry, can't help you there," Tom answered as he gazed at Hermione with a secret smile. "I enjoy giving her what she wants way too much to give it up."
"Gods, you're disgusting," Harry scoffed good-naturedly. "First you're the most evil bloke I know, and now you're the nicest? Do you have to do everything in such extremes?"
"Maybe he's bipolar," Ginny suggested with a giggle.
"What is bipolar?" Tom asked uncertainly.
"It means you have a split personality," Harry said, shaking his head at his fiancée. "I guess it gives you mood swings and makes you either really happy and confident, or really sad and suicidal."
"Boy, that does sound pretty close to the mark," Tom answered with a look that said he intended to find out more about it. "So, what do you say? Our new house elf still needs a few cooking lessons, but the food is edible, and the company would be pleasant."
The two exchanged a look, and then Harry said, "I guess we'll go, then."
"Great!" said Tom enthusiastically. "Hermione tells me you grew up Muggle, too? Do you know any card games, Harry?"
"Tons of them," he said, and the four young people Apparated away together, leaving Aberforth Dumbledore staring at the place they'd just been standing, still looking like he'd just seen a ghost.
Kingsley Shacklebolt was still shaking his head when he received an owl from Headmistress McGonagall which was, in his opinion, long overdue. In a hesitant script, the woman started off by wondering if he had taken leave of his senses, and finished with permission to send the two young people to her at their earliest possible convenience.
"Minerva, what it must have cost you to agree," he whispered to himself as he went to retrieve parchment of his own.
Tom and Hermione Riddle:
I have received word from Minerva McGanagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts, that you are to go to the school at your earliest possible convenience and settle the matter of your education. I trust that this meets your expectations, and I hope to hear that both of you passed with flying colors in the near future.
Kingsley Shacklebolt, Acting Minister of Magic
Having written the missive and sent the waiting owl on his way, Kingsley decided he could really use a drink. And here he'd thought that life would get easier once the bloody war had ended.
"So, Hermione, what sort of plans have the two of you made?" Ginny inquired as they all sat around a table with a deck of cards shuffling itself as they talked. "I mean, you can't mean to just sit around your house all day doing nothing, can you? You're both much too adventurous for
that."
"I'll have you know, my dear girl, that Hermione and I have been quite adventurous of late," Tom told her with a small smile, trying not to laugh and spoil the effect.
"I have no doubt of that, Riddle," she told him with a chuckle. "But one can only endure so much sex before they want to do other things as
well."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," he commented as he winked at his wife. Hermione turned crimson as she looked at her hands. "I rather thought that was the best part of being married."
"Tom, I must protest," Harry admonished him. "You have reduced our Hermione to sitting quietly and blushing profusely at the drop of the hat. For shame. This witch is one of the boldest, smartest people I know, and you've gone and-and domesticated her."
Tom laughed at this. "Oh, no, trust me. Our little Hermione is most assuredly not domesticated. And as to our plans, I will be taking a position at the Ministry so Kingsley Shaklebolt can keep an eye on me, and Hermione-well, I guess we're not sure just yet what she'll be doing, but she definitely wants to have a job, don't you, my dear."
"Of course," she told them all. "Someplace with books."
"Of course," Tom chuckled, and the rest of them all laughed merrily.
"If somebody had told me a year ago I'd be sitting about playing cards with Tom bloody Riddle and actually enjoying myself, I would have told them they were mad," Harry mentioned as he shook his head. "I'm glad to know you'll get to be happy this time around, old boy."
"Yes, now that you killed me," Tom said with a wry grin.
"And don't think for one minute I won't do it again, if you do anything like what you did before," Harry added, becoming more serious for the moment.
"I don't doubt you would try, in any case," Tom answered as his smile fell slightly.
"Harry, you've wounded my husband's pride, I think," Hermione said softly. "He's not used to backing down from a challenge, and that was mighty close to being one."
"Oh, sorry, Tom, just a bit of bravado."
"Yes, of course," he answered, though his smile was no longer reaching his eyes. "Perhaps I'm just growing tired. We've been at this for hours on end. I've no idea what time it is."
"About time to take my fiancée home," said Harry circumspectly, and after they all hugged each other the two took their leave.
"I can see why we were rivals," Tom commented as he rubbed his temples.
"What do you mean, my love?" Hermione inquired as she came to rub his shoulders as well.
"He does like to monopolize a conversation-as do I," Tom admitted as he leaned back against her.
"I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose that's true," she agreed. "Both of you were boy wonders in your respective timeframes, weren't you? I hope that doesn't mean you're going to take opposite sides again?"
"Difficult to say at this point, isn't it?" Tom pointed out. "I'm quite certain he wouldn't like to know our plans for the Ministry."
"The Ministry deserves to be taken down a notch or two, at the very least," Hermione said. "They have not changed with the times, as well you know, and if they cannot change then they will have to be made to change."
"You're beginning to sound more like me every day," he commented as he watched her.
"Oh, you! It's simply that I agree with your assessment, nothing more," she said as she kissed the top of his head. "Oh, there's an owl pecking at the window."
Tom used magic to let the bird in, and read Kingsley's letter.
"Well, love, looks like we're off to Hogwarts tomorrow."
"It's about time," Hermione said with a smile. "I was beginning to think McGonagall wouldn't take us."
"Well, enough about tomorrow," said Tom as he grasped Hermione's hand and brought it to his pounding heart. "I'm much more interested in tonight at the moment."
"Why is that?" asked Hermione as her heart began to pound as well.
"Because I distinctly remember you promising to make it up to me if I was nice to your friends," he pointed out as he drew her into his arms and kissed her soundly. "Now I'm wondering, just exactly what did you have in mind?"
"I found a nice mirror today while I was out shopping," she mentioned shyly.
"Did you, now?" he asked with a great deal of interest. "And where is this mirror now?"
"Oh, nowhere special," she teased him. "Just at the foot of our bed."
"Hmm, perhaps we should go have a look at it," he said nonchalantly.
"Yes, perhaps we should."
Tom Apparated them there before she could say another word, and Hermione found herself posing right in front of it. His hands snaked around from behind her, unbuttoning her blouse as he watched her face in the mirror.
Hermione's eyes were smoldering with red-hot desire as they gazed into the mirror at his, and it was all Tom could do to take his time as he reached the last of the buttons and slid the blouse slowly down her shoulders. Her little moan of pleasure was his undoing, and he quickly turned her around, lavishing her with kisses as his lips sought the pert nipples still hidden behind her bra.
"Oh, yes, Tom," she whispered. "Fuck me right against this mirror."
"Not a bad idea," he agreed, and he removed the rest of their clothes magically.
Hermione was hot, wet, and ready when he grasped her around her pert derriere and slammed right inside of her, making her moan with pleasure. They almost knocked the mirror over as they fell against it, but Tom used a spell to hold it steady. Faster and faster the two pounded into each other as the room filled with their ecstatic cries.
"Come for me, love," Tom said with some urgency, and ever willing, Hermione complied. His hot seed pumped into her, making her impassioned screams even more potent as he joined her with groans of his own. "Mmm, damn, we got a mark on the mirror already."
Hermione chuckled. "Better leave it there," she teased him, and Tom heartily agreed.
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