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Somewhere in Time (Outtakes)	By : serpentinred Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 7579 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Note: I forgot to mention that since this isouttakes, not all the scenes posted in here might fall into a specific chronological order. Some scenes will be skipped and just mentioned along the line. After I'm finished with the specific arc that I have mind, random scenes might or might be added to this thread. This is basically just for fun after all, and not really outlined like the main story. :)

~-0-~

Somewhere in Time – Outtakes Episode 2

Hermione stared at the door for a moment, her hand hanging in midair, almost as if she were about to knock. However, something was stopping her. For some inexplicable reason, she felt … anxious. She shouldn't feel this way. Professor Riddle had already said that he just wanted to talk to her about the latest essay.

Well, yes, she did write something in there that would have guaranteed this meeting, but she had no idea why she suddenly felt so uneasy.

Taking a deep breath, she brought her fist in contact with the hard redwood door and knocked three times. Seconds later, that signature smooth voice of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor drifted into her ear, slightly muffled by the barrier separating them.

"Come in."

Dropping her hand down to the brass knob, she turned it, pushed open the door, and entered the office of Professor Tom Riddle. The first thing she noticed was how neatly organized everything was. Now, Hermione prided herself to be an orderly person, but with Riddle's office, it was almost like an obsession. She could almost bet ten Galleons that she couldn't find a piece of parchment out of line.

"Good evening, sir," she said when she came to a halt, some five feet away from his desk.

His indecipherable eyes left the parchment he was reading through and landed on her. Though it had been a couple of weeks since she had first seen him, she could not help but wonder as she gazed at him.Hagrid and Snape both have coal-black eyes, but how was it possible that Riddle's eyes appeared much darker than theirs? Strange.

Clearing her throat as well as pushing away the random thoughts going through her mind, she spoke, "You've asked me to drop by to discuss my latest homework assignment."

"Ah, yes," Riddle answered, his lips curving into a smile. "Please have a seat, Miss Granger."

After giving him a slight inclination of her head, she sat down in one of the two armchairs in front of his desk.

"In your essay, you've mentioned one of the spells that I've cast a few weeks ago," Riddle said, leaning back against his armchair and lacing his abnormally long fingers together.

That was when she noticed how peculiar the stone on his ring was. She couldn't really tell what kind of stone it was, but it seemed like something along the lines of onyx.

Thankfully, she still remembered to answer while keeping her eyes on the peculiar ring.

"Yes, the spell that you had used when I was dueling you, during our first class," she answered.

"I find it hard to believe that you would find it difficult," Riddle said, a hint of amusement entering his voice.

Finally, she tore her eyes away from his hands and looked at him. "I've tried to research it after our duel, but I couldn't find anything pertaining to invisible spells. The closest thing I've found was suggesting the use of natural elements, such as the wind, but it's clearly not what you were using during our duel."

"No, it's not," he conceded.

"And I asked you about this during class that day, but you didn't answer the question completely," Hermione continued.

Riddle raised an eyebrow. "I thought I did."

"You just said that it took a certain amount of experience and magical competence to place enough energy behind the spell," Hermione argued.

He appeared amused by her words. "Isn't that the truth with most of the higher level spells?"

"Which is why I said it didn't answer my question," she said.

"I recall that I've also said that some spells can't necessarily be learned from books," Riddle said.

"Two weeks ago, when we were practicing spells to use against yetis," Hermione replied and recalling that day.

She could hardly control the corners of her lips from quivering from silent laughter. She remembered clearly how Draco nearly crumpled down in fear when he found out that they would be practicing spells on real, live yetis.

"You're saying that the spells can't be found in books … then how can I possibly know how to perform that spell?" Hermione asked exasperated.

"You rely too much on books, Miss Granger," he said, instead of answering her question.

She blinked several times rapidly. "Well … I … This isn't about that. I can't possibly just run around creating my own spells."

"Why not?" Riddle asked instead. Swinging out of his chair, he walked over to where Hermione was and picked up her hand. "I'll show you."

With that said, he pulled her out of the chair, disregarding the gasps coming from her. Her eyes wide, she first stared at the back of Riddle's head before ogling at the hand that was holding onto hers right now. For some reason, it made a warm feeling rush up to her cheeks, staining them red.

"But—but—" Hermione stammered, at a loss of what to say.

By this time, they had walked out of Riddle's office and out into the hallway.

Oh, Merlin. If one of the students saw this, she was so dead. She wildly swiveled her head around, making sure that no one was seeing this. All the while, she could feel her heart speeding up. As for the reason to that … she didn't dare to think about it.

"—and to think that you have some common sense and logic. After all these years, and you're still relying on books instead that intelligent mind of yours," Riddle was saying, though Hermione had a feeling that he was talking to himself rather than her.

If possible, his compliment made the redness of her face deepen in its shade, though she had no idea what he meant by "after all these years." She hadn't known him since September, so how did he know that she relied on books for most of the eighteen years of her life?

Finally, they reached their usual Defense classroom, and after a closing the door behind them, Riddle pulled her over to the middle of the room. Twirling her around, he released her hand and placed his hand at the small of her back. He pulled out his wand and pointed it to a place a small distance away from them, and with a small wave, a boulder the size of a table appeared.

"Take out your wand."

"What?" she asked, confused. She thought he was going to show her.

"Take out your wand," he repeated.

When she failed to follow his instructions, his hand slipped into her pocket, took out her wand, and stuffed it into her hand. Grasping onto her hand with his own, he lifted it up until it was at eye level.

"Now," he said softly, his breath brushing against her earlobe and making shivers run down her spine, "I want you to concentrate your magic. It's your magic. You're the one who's controlling it, not the other way around. The incantation of the spell is Invisi Expulso, not that that's any important—"

She thought she heard sarcasm in his voice. However, her brain was much too occupied thinking about how close he was to her right now. The hand that wasn't holding on to her wandarm was firmly pressed against her waist, and his lips were far too close to her. If she were to turn her head ...

She stopped herself from thinking any further. He was just teaching her how to perform the spell. She shouldn't let her mind drift towards that way. She wasn't Lavender or Parvati.

"—The important thing is that you concentrate on making the spell invisible. The wand movement is exactly the same as when you're casting Expulso," he finished off.

Yet, he still did not step away from her. It made it much harder for Hermione to concentrate on the spell-casting, but half of her mind did not want him to move away.

No, wait! What was she talking about? Of course she wanted to move away. She would be betraying the Dark Lord—No, no, no! Ron, not the Dark Lord.

Hermione closed her eyes tightly, as if she were trying to squeeze those thoughts away.

"Ready?" Riddle asked, and she felt another shiver run down her spine as his voice resonated around her.

He was just teaching her a spell; it shouldn't feel so bloody intimate.

"Cast the spell."

However, she did not move. With her mind all fuzzed up as it was right now, she knew that if she attempted to cast the spell, she would mess up anyway.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I … I'm still not prepared."

He chuckled. "Well, I've already noticed how insecure you are about your abilities. Your self-doubt is pretty much unfounded, Hermione. You are a talented witch." The hand holding her wandhand strengthened its hold. "Concentrate on the spell."

His hand then guided her through the swishes and flicks, and when the spell erupted from the tip of her wand, she felt it rather than saw it. Seconds later, the spell collided with the boulder and smashed it into pieces. Hermione stared at what was left of the boulder and couldn't say a word.

~-0-~

"You would think that after getting nearly blasted into the wall by Snape, Lockhart would've given up on the dueling club," Ron chortled as they made their way towards the Great Hall, where the dueling club would be held.

"Well, perhaps he needs his daily fix of getting properly beaten up," Harry joked, earning a snort from Ron, as the two of them, once again, ignored Hermione's death glares.

"Let's just hope that he'll at least get some brains knocked into him today," Ron said cheerfully.

"It stopped for two years already. I wonder why he brought it back," Harry mused out loud.

Ron shrugged. "I wonder if he's gotten an assistant today." He then counted off with his fingers. "Snape never got invited back after second year—I reckon it's because Lockhart knows that it would let people know how rubbish he actually is—who did he ask to do third year again?"

"He was going to ask McGonagall," Harry replied, unable to hold back a snicker.

"Oh right," Ron said, "remember when she turned his mouth into a pig snout? Mind you, she would've become my favorite professor if she didn't assign us three feet of parchment for homework that same day."

"Well, remember he then asked Lupin to assist him? And then, the year after that, Moody? Too bad the two of them didn't harm him enough to stop him from coming back," Harry added.

Harry and Ron continued to chatter on while Hermione walked a small distance in front of them, angry at them for the blasphemy they were speaking. Honestly, just because Lockhart was more intent in teaching them rather than showing off, Harry and Ron saw it as some kind of weakness in him. Unbelievable.

"Oh, look! Professor Riddle is here," Harry said excitedly before hurrying off to their Defense professor's side when they entered the Great Hall.

"Oh … well …" Ron said slowly, scratching the back of his head.

After what happened in their first class, Ron had always been cautious around Riddle. He didn't exactly dislike him per se, but he had always maintained a certain amount of fear and respect for their professor.

Harry, on the other hand, completely adored Riddle. He always stayed behind at the end of class to speak with Riddle and consistently talked to Hermione and Ron about how wonderful he was.

"I wonder if the Dark Lord taught him himself," Harry once said to Hermione and Ron.

It was a possibility. After all, Hermione had never seen someone master magic the way Riddle did, except for the Dark Lord.

A blush momentarily stained Hermione's cheeks as she remembered a couple of days ago when he had given her a private lesson about invisible spells. Mentally batting those thoughts away, she slipped up behind Harry, determined to look as invisible as possible.

"—next week. I thought about asking for permission to use the Quidditch Pitch this week, but Professor McGonagall told me that the Slytherin team already had the whole week booked," Harry was saying to Riddle.

A faint smile appeared on Riddle's lips. "That's not a problem at all, Harry. If you want, you may use it on Saturday and Sunday."

Harry's eyes turned wide and bright with joy. "Really?"

"Of course. I'll just inform Mr. Malfoy about it later," Riddle answered.

His dark eyes then slid over to Hermione, causing her to cringe. Involuntarily, she stepped backwards, hoping that Harry's figure could block her from view, which was a pretty fruitless feat, she realized later on.

"Miss Granger," Riddle acknowledged her.

Clearing her throat, Hermione stepped slightly forward. "Professor."

He waved his hand towards the center of the room, where Lockhart was standing on a stage had been constructed for dueling purposes. "I suppose you're here to see Professor Lockhart."

"I'm here to practice dueling," Hermione replied quickly.

She had no idea why, but she wanted to make that clear all of a sudden. Then again, Lockhart was the one assembling the club, so it wouldn't have been too strange for her to want to be here to see him. Besides, that was one of the reasons most of the girls were here anyway, wasn't it?

During her confusion, she failed to see the smile on Riddle's face momentarily slip into a smug smirk before he composed himself again.

"Is that so?" he asked, his expression turning contemplative. "I suppose it is a good place to practice invisible spells."

"Invisible spells?" Harry asked, looking between Riddle and Hermione curiously. Then, a look of realization dawned on his face. "Oh! The spell that you've used on the first day of class."

Riddle nodded his confirmation.

"I've hardly ever seen anyone use that spell before, although I recall the Dark Lord using it against Dumbledore during the fight at the Ministry. Did you learn it from the Dark Lord?" Harry asked.

"You could say that," Riddle said, a strange look in his eyes.

Harry's eyes widened. "Or did you develop it with the Dark Lord?"

Before Riddle could answer, Lockhart got up on the stage, dressed in emerald green robes and a wide smile on his face. Subtly, Riddle moved behind Harry, though it hardly escaped Hermione's notice that he was now standing right next to her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, can everyone see and hear me?" he asked, glancing around the room and winking whenever he made eye contact with the females in the audience. "Excellent. Now, for those of you who had been here for more than three years recall that we had a dueling club back then, and I have decided to bring it back." With that said, he spread his arms wide apart and waited for a round of applause.

The females, naturally, eagerly clapped their hands together while the males shared looks with one another.

"I'm utterly surprised with how ecstatic you seem about this," Riddle whispered sarcastically to Hermione, whom had merely clapped twice before putting her hands down.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Excuse me?"

A sly smile touched the corner of his lips. "I thought that you would've been more excited about spending more time withGilderoy."

She turned her head a fraction of an inch to stare at him as her cheeks turned red yet again. How did he know that she fancied Lockhart?

It must have been Ron who had told him. The redhead never lost an opportunity to tease her about it, and she doubted he would this time.

And why was she blushing again? She was turning red far too often in front of Riddle.

Biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from replying, she turned her attention back to Lockhart.

"Many of you know me as the Divinations professor. However, some of you might recall that I was one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professors of this school," Lockhart continued to say.

"He wishes," Harry muttered beside Hermione.

Riddle clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder, and they shared a small grin with one another. Hermione wondered if the two of them had discussed Lockhart before in private.

"The only reason I had decided to become your Divinations professor was because I decided to let other youngsters have a hand in teaching the delicate subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts. After all, not many of you had the opportunity to face the dangers that I had," Lockhart said, staring straight at Riddle with a toothy smile. He then turned towards the students. "For further details, see my published works."

"And read rubbish? No thanks," Ron said under his breath.

"Yeah, we'll just ask Hermione if we're that desperate. She's read it at least twenty times already," Harry whispered conversationally to Riddle.

"Harry!" Hermione hissed.

"What?" Harry asked with an impish smile.

Not wanting to see what expression Riddle was sporting now, she snapped her head towards Lockhart.

"Professor Riddle had kindly agreed to helping me assist you in the grand art of dueling this year," Lockhart said. He held his hands up as if to calm the crowd down. "Don't you lot worry. You'll still have your Defense professor after this."

Harry let out a defeated sigh on the side and shared another grin with Riddle.

"Whatever should I do now? I suppose I should book an infirmary bed in advance," Riddle said to Harry in a low voice.

"You mean, for Lockhart?" Harry joked.

"Now, now, you know what a wonderful professor Gilderoy is. After reading all his wonderful books, I shudder at the mere thought of what might happen to me if I were to duel him," Riddle said, amusement laced throughout his voice.

"What he said he did, and only Hermione here would think that he's a wonderful professor," Harry said while disregarding Hermione's annoyed look. He smiled. "If Fred and George were here taking bets, I would've placed my money on you."

Giving Harry another smile, Riddle then made his way up to the stage while the females in the audience let out another sigh. Now that he was at a safe distance, Hermione allowed her eyes to run over him. He certainly was an eye-catcher, and it was not just because of the looks. There was a certain elegance in the way he walked, and the confidence that he exuded was probably second only to the Dark Lord. Hermione could almost bet that even if he didn't have his looks, he would still get people listening to and adoring him.

When he stopped some distance away from Lockhart, he tapped his wand rhythmically against the palm of his right hand calmly. Though most witches and wizards adored their wands, there was still some kind of distance there; with Riddle, however, it was almost like the wand was a part of his body, rather than a tool for magic.

"As you can see, when we are in a wizard's duel, we are supposed to stand a small distance away from one another," Lockhart said before turning to face Riddle. "Excellent, Tom, I knew you had it in you to become a wonderful dueler."

"Thank you, Gilderoy," Riddle replied, the hint of amusement becoming more apparent in his eyes.

For some reason, Hermione didn't feel reassured by the look on his face. It just … didn't look as kind as it should have when people smiled. It was almost like the lookCrookshanks had after accomplishing something naughty.

"And then, we bow to one another before we start dueling one another," Lockhart said before they bowed to one another.

While Lockhart took a dueling stance, Riddle returned to the casual position he was in before, except this time, he no longer tapped the wand on his hand. Instead, he ran his finger over the length of the wand, as if he were deciding what spells to use.

"Talatupulas!" Lockhart shouted as he waved his wand in the air.

The students stared at the empty space between Riddle and Lockhart, wondering if the latter had cast an invisible spell. Then, they realized that that couldn't be it. Though Riddle hadn't moved at all, he appeared unharmed. Slowly but surely, he tilted his head to the side, as if he had found something questionable about Lockhart. Unconsciously, upon seeing Riddle move, Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

Lockhart stood still for a split second before his mouth broke into a huge smile again.

"Excellent, Tom, you've realized that that was a fake spell," he said loudly.

Riddle raised an eyebrow. "I see."

A glint of nervousness passed through Lockhart's eyes before he composed himself and pointed his wand at Riddle again. "Serenupren!"

This time, a feeble yellow light left the end of Lockhart's wand. Riddle, on the other hand, still didn't move, and before the spell hit him, it had already dissolved into nothingness. As much as Hermione didn't want to admit it, she knew that Riddle hadn't even moved his wand yet; the spell itself had been too weak to hit its intended target.

Riddle stared at the place where the light had disappeared before glancing upwards towards Lockhart again. "Still testing the waters with 'fake spells,' Gilderoy?"

"Yes, of course! It's always a wise idea to use harmless or fake spells to check the abilities of your opponent first. Otherwise, one might underestimate their magical ability," Lockhart said. Aiming his wand again, he twirled his wand around again. "Turmuncunal!"

A puff of smoke blasted backwards towards Lockhart, and he coughed and waved it away with his free hand.

"Excuse me, my wand was a bit … overexcited. No worries. Ah, thank you, Miss Bones," Lockhart said as he took the handkerchief Susan Bones offered to him. When he was finished wiping the black stains from the smoke off his face, he turned back towards Riddle with a charming smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Tom. Do start firing spells. I realize that you might not be as experienced in spell-casting as I am, but that's what the dueling club is for: to polish our skills."

"Thank you, Gilderoy. Perhaps you can … evaluate if I'm performing these spells correctly," Riddle said.

A shiver ran down Hermione's spine upon seeing the expression on his face. Others might see it as a courteous smile, but to her, it was … cold … calculative …

Dangerous.

"Of course, of course, Tom! Go ahead and try them. I'll be more than happy to teach you a thing or two," Lockhart said.

Riddle's lips spread into a smile before he brought his wand over his head and slashing it downwards until it was pointed directly at Lockhart. "Talatupulas."

A grayish-black light left the tip of his wand and rushed towards Lockhart. Before Lockhart could even think about jumping to the side, the spell hit him straight in the chest. He catapulted through the air and landed a good five feet away from where he had been standing.

Harry immediately let out a cheer; even Ron let out a whoop of happiness. Riddle must have heard them, since he turned his head slightly and made eye contact with Harry before turning back towards Lockhart.

A small part of Hermione's mind wanted to check if Lockhart were alright, but an even greater part of her mind was concentrating on Riddle. This was so wrong. She should be cheering for Professor Lockhart, not Professor Riddle. Nonetheless, she couldn't move her eyes from him.

"He is so dreamy," Lavender gushed a small distance away from them.

"Do you reckon that I've cast the spell right, Gilderoy?" Riddle asked calmly as he brought his wand back to his side again.

Lockhart struggled to get up, but after much wincing and forcing a smile on his face, he replied, "Yes, yes. That was … rather well-done. Although there was still some … small errors in the wand movements."

"I'm sure there is," Riddle answered. "Perhaps those errors could be omitted with the second spell?" In a fluid movement, his wand was pointed at Lockhart again. "Serenupren."

This time, Lockhart managed to move his hand before the greenish-brown light hit him straight on the thigh. Time seemed to have frozen for a fraction of a second before soft murmurs erupted throughout the Great Hall.

"What happened? Did you see what happened to Lockhart?" Harry asked as he stretched his neck to see if any harm had been done to Lockhart.

"Riddle couldn't have missed, could he? But Lockhart doesn't look hurt," Ron said, tiny hints of disappointment in his voice.

As far as Hermione could see, nothing happened to Lockhart. He, too, was checking himself to see if any harm had been done to him, but to no avail. Riddle, however, appeared every bit as at ease as he had been since the beginning of the duel.

"Not to worry, Tom," Lockhart said as he looked back at Tom with an encouraging smile and a bit more bounciness in his words. "You're doing fine for someone this young and inexperienced. When I was your age, I couldn't even perform half of the spells I'm performing now—"

"Like that would be a big difference," Harry muttered, a frown growing on his forehead.

"—It's not a big deal to fail in performing spells. All you need is more practice. I will be happy to assist you, if you want. After defeating so many creatures, performing spells such as this is not a big …"

And suddenly, Lockhart trailed off. The rest of the students stared, and it took a moment before Harry, Ron, and Hermione recomposed themselves from their surprise. Right before their eyes, Lockhart's nose seemed to have grown an inch longer.

"I think I need new glasses," Harry muttered as he took off his glasses and wiped them with his robes.

"Well … this is … I suppose …" Lockhart said as he stared at his slightly larger nose.

Riddle continued to remain quiet, though a faint smirk seemed to be permanently printed on his face now.

"Not a big problem. I've heard of something like this before when I was traveling the deserts of Mongolia. A beautiful woman had attracted the jealousy of a powerful demon, and in order to ruin her beauty, the demon had cast a curse on her," Lockhart said.

Nonetheless, with each word he said, his nose continued to grow longer.

"So, whenever he talks, his nose will grow longer?" Harry asked.

Having heard his question, Riddle turned his head slightly to look at him and answered, "Only when he lies, Harry."

"Oh," Harry answered, his eyes shining with interest and glee.

"Let's hope that Madame Pomfrey doesn't know the counter-curse to this," Ron joked.

"So … did he lie about the story or about traveling to Mongolia?" Harry asked, moving closer to the stage.

"The story is definitely true," Riddle answered. "It has been written down in many books. I'm sure Miss Granger had encountered it before."

When his eyes landed on her, she immediately lowered her sight. She didn't really know why she did that, nor did she know what to say in the current situation. After all, Lockhart did try to use the spell on Riddle first.

"Perhaps you should take a trip over to the school infirmary, Gilderoy," Riddle suggested, turning his attention back to his opponent.

"It's not a problem, Tom. Just a small problem," Lockhart replied, though he kept his eyes on his nose, which embarrassingly grew longer yet again.

"Yes … quite a … small problem," Riddle answered slowly. "Then I suppose it wouldn't be too hard for you to … analyze the last spell." Without waiting for Lockhart to answer, he waved his wand. "Turmuncunal."

The bluish-purple light that left Riddle's wand sped towards Lockhart, striking him right in the face. Tentacles immediately began to grow out of his ears while his head suddenly seemed to have become some kind of deflated balloon. The only part that seemed to still retain some form of shape was his now overly long nose.

"Go, Professor Riddle!" Harry and Ron cheered next to Hermione.

"He's got to be the coolest professor," Seamus said excitedly next to Harry. "I thought Lockhart's had it the worst back in fourth year with Moody, but this … this is definitely topping that year."

"Do you think he's alright?" Hermione asked, though she still had her eyes on Riddle.

"Who? Professor Riddle?" Ron raised his eyebrows at her.

"Does it look like I'm asking about him?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Well, you were staring at him," Ron pointed out.

Without warning, her cheeks flared again. "Well, I'm just thinking that it's awfully cruel of him to do that to Professor Lockhart."

"It's Lockhart. Nobody cares. I rather have you telling me the advantages about spew than telling me this is cruel," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

"I care, and for the last time, it's not spew," Hermione said, her eyes blazing.

"Seems like those are rather useful spells after all, Gilderoy. On behalf of the students, I thank you for demonstrating them," Riddle said before he walked down the stage, amidst the cheers of those who disliked Lockhart.

When he walked past Hermione, he said in a low voice so that only she could hear him, "Seems like you'll have to practice invisible spells in private with me again, now that the dueling club needs to be stopped until Gilderoy recovers."

Hermione's heart sped up to his words, and she couldn't find it in her to look him in the eye. Therefore, she chose to keep staring at Lockhart.

"I need to go and see if Professor Lockhart's alright," she muttered before walking stiffly towards the Divination professor.

Unfortunately, since she didn't look backwards, she didn't see how Riddle's gaze turned cold upon hearing her words.

~-0-~

Riddle stared at Hermione for a second before his dark eyes filled with undeniable hilarity. "I think I might have heard you incorrectly the first time, but you were saying that I am trying—"

"—to get on the Dark Lord's good side," Hermione said, a stubborn look etched on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. "It's obvious, isn't it? You're just bullying Malfoy to prove to the Dark Lord about how loyal you are to him."

Much to her surprise, instead of getting angry, Riddle chuckled at her statement, which caused her to stop talking and stare at him.

"Get on the Dark Lord's good side, you say?" he asked, the mirth dripping from every single syllable of his words.

"Yes," she answered stiffly.

"Get on the Dark Lord's good side," Riddle repeated, and for a moment, Hermione thought he had gone mad. "Now, why would I want to do that?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. What kind of a question was that?

"The answer would be obvious, wouldn't it?" Hermione asked. "The wizarding world belongs to the Dark Lord now. Most people—" She stared pointedly at him. "—knows better than to fight against our Lord, since it would be both stupid and pointless. Therefore, you want to get on his good side in order to—"

She bit down hard on her tongue to stop herself from demanding what in the world he was laughing about. Though she was confronting him, she did not want to be rude to a professor. The point of this was just to stop him from bullying Ron and Malfoy.

"You think that I'm trying to get on the Dark Lord's good side," Riddle muttered to himself as he shook his head. "For Salazar's sake, if I hadn't known you well enough, I would've thought you were somehow related to Crabbe and Goyle."

Oh, that was an insult if she ever knew one. Her irritation rose to new levels, and she doubted she could hold back her anger any much longer, even if he was her professor. However, his next words stumped her, somehow managing to freeze her wrath and replacing it with disbelief.

"I do not need to get on the Dark Lord's good side, Miss Granger," he said. A smile—was it a mocking one?—appeared on his face. "I will never need to get on the Dark Lord's good side. There's no one that the Dark Lord trusts more than me.

Hermione's mouth dropped slightly open at his arrogant declaration, and a derisive snort left her mouth before she could stop herself.

"Really? There's 'no one' that the Dark Lord trusts more than you? You have quite a bit of a confidence in yourself, don't you? What makes you think that the Dark Lord trusts you more than any other Death Eater? You're not the Dark Lord so how would you know what he's thinking?" she demanded.

Riddle raised an eyebrow at her and slowly walked closer to her. "Oh? So … are you saying that the Dark Lord trusts you more than me?"

Was that amusement in his voice? Well, he certainly looked smug, and Hermione suddenly had the urge to pull out her wand and hex him.

He's a professor, he's a professor, he's a professor, she repeated in her mind to stop herself from doing anything rash.

Besides, she doubted she could beat him in a wizard's duel.

"That's too arrogant of a statement to make," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Riddle stopped right in front of her, towering over her petite figure, before he lifted his hand and caught a lock of her hair between his fingers.

"Perhaps it is … but it is the truth," he said as he played with the strands of hair between his fingers.

Suddenly, Hermione realized that they were standing a bit too close, and her cheeks burned. Why hadn't she moved away? This wasn't exactly like her, to be off her guard. And why wasn't she stepping away now? Why is she letting him touch her hair?

Embarrassment casting a dark shadow over her irritation, she stumbled backwards and kept a safe distance between her and the professor. His eyes were slightly hooded, so she had no idea what he was thinking at the moment. She should reprimand him; his actions, him playing with her hair, were far over the line that remained between a professor and his students. However, the words stayed at her throat, and she could not bring herself to speak them.

Instead, she said, "I don't believe you." She paused and locked eyes with him when he finally looked at her again. "And … and I doubt the Dark Lord would trust anyone so easily. If he trusted you, we would have heard of you a long time ago. And … and mind you, if you were to abuse your power as a professor, I will have to report this to the Dark Lord."

"Oh?" Riddle asked as he took another step towards her. "And what if I am the Dark Lord?"

Hermione stared at him, shocked to the core, and then, realization dawned on her, freezing her insides. Riddle wanted to take over the Dark Lord's position. That had to be it. That was what he meant. This was … this was outrageous. She had to … she could not … she could not just stand here and watch him scheme against the Dark Lord. She would have to alert the Dark Lord about this.

Taking one last look at him, Hermione spun on her heels and ran out of the classroom, failing to see Tom Marvolo Riddle's smirk turn into soft chuckles.

~-0-~

It was after she sent a message to the Dark Lord, asking to meet him, that she realized how utterly naïve she was. There must be a reason why Riddle had decided to tell her, or at least, hinted to her about his plans.

Didn't he say that the Dark Lord trusted him more than anyone else? That must be it. He must have thought that the Dark Lord would have no reason to believe her if she were to tell him about Riddle's plans to usurp him. How was she going to convince the Dark Lord that she wasn't lying?

As she paced around in front of the door leading to the dining room of Grimmauld Place, she started second-guessing herself. Could Riddle have been kidding with her? No, if he truly knew the Dark Lord that well, he should have known that this was not something that one should joke around about. The Dark Lord would not have pardoned him, even if he were the most trusted.

After a while, Molly and Arthur came out of the dining room. They had obviously finished reporting to the Dark Lord, and upon seeing Hermione, Molly gave her a kind smile.

"You may go in and see him now, dear," she said, touching Hermione gently on the face.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione replied softly before entering.

After the normal formalities of kneeling and waiting for the Dark Lord to permit her to stand, her mind decided to stop working; the only thing that she could see in her mind's eye was blank. Then, suddenly, a whole avalanche of ways to explain the situation to the Dark Lord came crashing down.

You can't trust Riddle.

He's trying to take over your place.

There's something wrong with Riddle.

He's not the right person for the job.

Aren't you worried that he might … abuse your trust?

Why is he teaching at Hogwarts anyway? Why haven't we seen him before?

A whole list, but none of them seemed like the right thing to say.

"You've requested for a meeting, my little lioness?" he asked, leaning casually back into the armchair he was sitting in.

"Yes, my Lord," she answered.

Her heart began to speed up again. She knew what question he would ask, but she had no idea how to answer him.

"What for?"

Before she could stop herself, she said, "Professor Riddle's a traitor."

The Dark Lord stared at her, and when she made eye contact with him, words started to fall out of her mouth as if she had prepared them ahead of time already.

"He knows how much you trust him, and he's preparing to somehow take over your place. He wants to be the Dark Lord himself. He told me so himself, and he … he knew that you wouldn't believe me because you trust him so much. But just two days ago, he told me, he asked me what if he were the Dark Lord, and I just knew he couldn't be possible kidding because it's not something to joke about …" she trailed off and bit her lower lip, suddenly at a loss of how to continue.

There was so much more she wanted to say to the Dark Lord, but she didn't know how to say it.

"So …" the Dark Lord said slowly, and her heart sank when she heard the hint of laughter in his voice, "you're saying that Riddle is secretly planning to become the Dark Lord himself."

"… Yes, my Lord," Hermione answered, and the feeling of dread continued to increase inside of her.

The Dark Lord didn't believe her. He really did trust Riddle. Oh, this was not good. This was not good at all.

"You don't … You weren't there to see him, my Lord. His tone of voice was so serious, and well …"

"I think you are thinking too much, Hermione," the Dark Lord cut in.

"But my Lord—"

The Dark Lord held up his hand, signaling for her to stop. Though reluctant, she managed to stop herself from talking—for a second.

"But—"

"And that's enough for that topic today, my little lioness," he cut in again, and this time, there was a sense of finality in his words.

She was then dismissed, and Hermione felt her worry slowly turning into despair. What was she going to do? If something happened to the Dark Lord …

No. She would not let anything happen to him. The Dark Lord was the hope for thewizarding world and the Muggle world. There had to be some way to prove to the Dark Lord that there was something wrong with Riddle.

~-0-~

A/N: The chapter is the un-betaed version. Special thanks to Nerys for looking over the chapter for logic and flow. Lots of thanks to those of you who read, faved, and alerted. Many, many thanks to those of you who'd taken the time to review: Fudge, HereToRead, SarahLuvsZombehs, somebody french, mekom, midnightermoony, kit, Alassea Malfoy, and iheartskittles!

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Somewhere in Time (Outtakes)