Excerpt:

“Did you run here?” She prods the base of their cauldron with her wand, as Step 1 in their textbook instructs. Purple flames roar into life with a wave of heat. “It’s not like you to be tardy.” 

“Got caught up,” Riddle replies, irritatingly vague, and then he peels his jumper off in one smooth motion, breathing an imperceptible sigh of relief.

She doesn’t question his lacklustre explanation, but instead stares at the blackboard hard enough to melt a hole into it.

Slughorn is impressively lax when it comes to uniform whilst brewing; and, yes, it is generally a great mercy that they are permitted to shed their cloaks, jumpers and ties in the heated fug that sixteen brass cauldrons boil up in a windowless, airless room.

Not that she was caught unawares, Hermione tells herself primly.

They make their way silently through the steps of the potion, her nerves settling as the brewing becomes more and more layered in complexity.

It’s just - she’s never seen Riddle so much as unfasten his cloak -

“D’you think this was one of Hagrid’s favourites?” Riddle mutters under his breath, interrupting her thoughts. His hands skillfully mince pickled Flobberworm bowel, mashing the threadlike structures into a fine paste.

“You’ll upset Hagrid with talk like that … although I’d wager some cultures consider this a delicacy …” 

A look of genuine disgust crosses his face. Hermione presses her lips very tightly together, swallowing any outward sign of amusement. “Oh, don’t be upset. I can get you another Flobberworm.”

Riddle wrinkles his nose at her, and cleanly flicks the intestinal pâté from his knife into their bubbling cauldron. “If you’ll recall from second year Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid was very insistent on Flobberworms having distinct personalities. Insensitive of you to suggest they can be so easily replaced, Hermione.” 

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a non-comprehensive selection of fics in progress that make me want to hide in the loo away from my responsibilities to read as soon as a new chapter drops.

no descriptions. no spoilers. click and be thrilled.

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A Nest of Vipers by hioangeost

Altered State by Ginnyruin

Alpha Bits by bunnystealsyourcarrots

An Equivalent Exchange by piquant_eye

Best Laid Plans by yuwoo

Elementary, My Dear Granger by DreamingOfAndromeda, Poppyhall

Endless Night by cassidyblackwrites

Entropy by Mechanical_Orange

Förgätmigej by januine

Hinterland by NoFootprintsInSand

Holy Terrain by fleabagshair

Indelible by garfunkelworld

Infinite Spin by seollem

Jörmungandr by honeyskeleton

Lady Selwyn by matchapuff

Madam Granger by cherry_cup

Miðgarðsormr by xXAonoNYmouSPXx

Nothing Like the Sun by orphan_account

(I'd wait a thousand years)

Secret Games by uncontrollableranter

Seven Years by adslady

sweet dreams, little dove by SanguisDominia

take the bit between your teeth by but_seriously

Taking Over Me by Anonymous

(this fic has held my whole heart and ass ransom)

The (Slughorn's Potions) Office by JaninaThroughTheFandomWorld101

The Department of Magical Law Enforcement by devdevlin

the price of water by peppershark

The problem with wanting by HelAndNiflhel

(french language)

The Thrall by LovelyVillain

unlikely (not impossible) by nimbus2003

Untouchable by Phantom_Fish

Verso by virennia

Synopsis:

“I think we should fuck,” Hermione states calmly, barefoot, resting one hand idly on her distended belly.

Tom does not choke on his tea through sheer force of will, but it is close. 

Or: Tom, Hermione, and the Entirely-Platonic baby pact.

Excerpt:

Returning from the downstairs bathroom, he overhears the mother in the kitchen. 

“- He’s very tall.” 

“Mum.” Hermione sounds exasperated. 

“Handsome, too.”

“Yes, I’ve been told. By half of the Weasleys, it would seem.”

“And clever enough to keep up with you?” 

A snort. “His only redeeming feature sometimes.”

“Is it serious?”

Tom lingers by the door, curious.

Silence. Then -

“Yes,” Hermione says firmly, quietly. “Very serious.”

The clink of dishes being stacked by hand is the only sound he can hear for a while. He debates interrupting -

“Hypothetically, how do wizards even get married? Do you sacrifice a goat? Dance around a bonfire naked -”

“MUM!” 

i love love love the omega hermione and hermione polyjuiced as astoria works! will they ever be continued past the one chapter state? 😭 i feel so many emotions and would kill to know what happens next AHHhhhhh

also what about synchronicity and gryffindor red? i saw in the below post that you do know if you're gonna continue (which is good!!), but do u hav any rough ballpark dates we, your loyal readers, can expect?

also, do u have any tomione recs maybeskimilar to your writing style or just ones you enjoy? 😂 gotta tide things over as we wait with bated breath....

you're in luck, anon! I've written many a shopping list in my time. I even have a google sheets hyperlink on my phone's front page (so that I or any member of my household can update, at their convenience), with different columns dependent on one's journey around the supermarket, i.e. "fresh", "storecupboard", "frozen". no need to thank me for this life-changing hack.

Excerpt:

Hermione wasn’t quite sure from which well of deceit she had managed to draw up her latent acting ability.

Throughout her school years, she had never needed (or rather, managed) to be a particularly convincing actor. Of course, she had managed to trick Umbridge, but she attributed that more to the failings of a desperate despot than through any great thespian success of hers. She had barely scraped by as a Polyjuiced Bellatrix, and still winced at the recollection of trying to wheedle information from inside Borgin and Burkes … Books, and indeed, cleverness, had been quite sufficient for her, thank you. 

But perhaps a single harrowing year on the run and being dropped fifty years in the past with a psychotic mass murderer necessitate a change, she mused over her cooked breakfast one dreary and overcast morning.

… Speaking of the devil.

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thank you!!

hello! and thank you!

yes, I do know 👀 

you are too kind anon, and far too effusive with your praise! I'm still pretty new on the tomione street corner, but those I have met have been such a kind and welcoming group. the mud and blood server is good for writing advice, chit chat, and generally being inspired.

something I've tried to do in gryffindor red is to utilise the wider cast, which (hopefully? maybe?) allows for the tom/hermione dynamic to shine through. one thing I will praise jkr on is how distinctive a lot of her characters are - it helps me, because I'm not a professional writer and can't world-build so beautifully like many of the talented writers in this fandom. hogwarts is my free sandbox where I get to smash people together like barbies (and sometimes pull their legs off).

all this to say: I'm certainly not the best for writing advice and technique (@peppershark takes that crown imo), but regarding dialogue, I suppose I try to speak it aloud in my head, to make the speech sound more natural. the one talent I have is chatting shit, I guess.

do you find it easier to write hermione as a character /tom as a character/ their relationship dynamic in gryffindor red or synchroncity?

do you have a work that you enjoy writing more? or a specific mood that you write each in?

ooooh sorry; I've really been sat on my inbox. thank you anon! glad you've enjoyed.

hermione's probably a shade easier to write, because we have more of her personality from the books. I must say, I have to work quite hard to get into her mindset, depending on the fic. hermione pre-book 5/6/7, to me, is quite a rigid, goody-two-shoes, teachers' pet, craving approval. this isn't derogatory! just a point that sometimes I struggle to show her character growth in an organic and interesting way.

tom's ... yeah. I like to keep some mystery about him in my fics, because canonically, there's more that is unknown.

the dynamic between the two fics you name is fundamentally different, because of the circustances the characters meet.

gryffindor red: same-age 1990s AU, growing up together, a different political landscape. they've had time to get used to one another, in one way or the other. before their 5th year, hermione's (purposefully) not had much to do with riddle. the fic kicks off with riddle revealing who he actually is in a most unpleasant way.

synchronicity: time travel fic, seventh year hermione-on-the-run unceremoniously dumped back in time. this is peak 1940s britain, with all of its prejudices, that naturally grate on our modern girl. the relationship is different, because she *knows* who tom riddle is, and how he feels about her ... or does she? maybe? who knows (I know).