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Masters of Manipulation	By : Nerys Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 28506 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 21
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Masters of manipulation

'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have trice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives …the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …'

Chapter twenty-two

'I love you.'

Hermione practically crumpled the piece of parchment she still held in her hand in shock, when she heard the three words come out of the mouth of the most unlikely source ever. She didn't know what to say and how to react. Her heart made a somersault and every part of her physical being wanted her to respond affirmatively to him. This truly was a dangerous moment. Sure, she had feelings for Tom. She was attracted to him and that, no doubt, brilliant mind of his. She adored arguing with him. She cared for him, but love? She knew what that felt like and she just wasn't certain.

'I don't know what to say,' Hermione hesitantly whispered.

Her cheeks flushed out of embarrassment. Tom stared at her intensely.

'I don't know how I feel,' she continued honestly. 'Everything is so mixed up due to our Bond. I don't know anything anymore.'

He kissed her, very softly this time. Hermione closed her eyes and responded. She wrapped her arms around him. Tom deepened the kiss. She sowanted to be with him as their bond made her heart jump out of joy due to their physical contact. But Dumbledore's words nagged in the back of her mind.

'Tom feels those emotions through his bond with you. They are not his own, Hermione, remember that. It is essential that you keep that in mind.'

And she pushed him away.

'We can't do this,' said Hermione softly, and she shook her head. 'We just can't. We don't know how we really feel.'

And she looked Tom straight in his eyes. He merely gazed at her, before he caressed her hair and kissed her on the forehead.

'I can wait,' he stated calmly. 'You will always be mine, Hermione. The sooner you realise that the better it will be for everybody involved.'

He helped her up and they looked around the Room of Requirement. It had changed into a yellow-and-black study chamber. The Hufflepuff Banner on the wall and the humongous, stuffed badger on the desk were a dead giveaway to whom this chamber had once belonged. Hermione looked around puzzled. What had happened? The last thing she had seen in this Room was the destruction of two Founders' volumes, but they were both lying on the ground a few feet away from them. She looked at Riddle questioningly.

'What did you do?' she asked curiously.

He pointed to Godric Gryffindor's book on the ground.

'I asked that book for a place where you would be all right,' Tom stated casually. 'And it took us here.'

Hermione looked at the chamber. Would Helga's book be here somewhere? She saw Tom was thinking the same thing, and they both started searching the place but came up empty-handed. Hermione tried a Summoning Charm without conviction and, as she expected, nothing happened. She pulled the crumpled parchment out of her pocket and looked at the other three volumes on the ground. Tom watched her as she ironed it out to check the contents. They read the first page. It dealt with life and death, and the different shapes and forms it beheld.

'This is a page from Helga Hufflepuff's book,' Hermione said thoughtfully.

'So it would seem,' agreed Tom. 'It was glowing before you came to life again.'

And he looked at her meaningfully. A brief flash of greed darted visibly through his eyes, but then, it was gone again. Hermione eyed the parchment suspiciously. It could not have been responsible for her survival. The Blood Bond made certain she could not be killed by Salazar's book. So why had it been glowing? What had it done to them? She remembered very clearly Helga Hufflepuff's area of expertise was controlling human beings. Had that parchment been around them before? Was that why they had sometimes lost control and done things against their own nature? Was it the reason for their mind losing moments?

Tom was watching the room again. 'Maybe we shouldn't be looking for a book, but for pieces of parchment,' he added thoughtfully.

They searched the place again, but the only piece of parchment, they eventually held onto, was the one Hermione had snatched out of the sky, before it could vanish. Hermione looked from the three other Founders' books to the piece of parchment in her hand. If she added this to her Tracker, she should be able to locate Love of Mankind easily. But how could she possibly get rid of Riddle? And where was her beaded bag? It contained the rest of her Tracker after all.

'Are we still in the Room of Requirement or did Infinity in Space take us elsewhere?' she asked Riddle, while she pocketed the parchment again.

'We did not move,' he replied.

'So our stuff…,' she said cautiously, 'is in some other shape or form of this very Room. I need my bag.'

'Why?' Riddle asked suspiciously.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. 'I just do, Riddle. There is no need to snap at…'

But her final word got overpowered by a different voice that echoed throughout the castle. It was high, cold, clear and seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.

'I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight.'

Hermione's eardrums whistled after Lord Voldemort's voice had silenced and she stared at Riddle in fury. She picked up Eternity in Time from the ground and poked him in the chest with it.

'You've used this damn book again!' she hissed. 'Are you so desperate for Time to get a hold of us?'

Tom looked at her in utter confusion and held up his palms in denial. 'I have not touched that book once since it resurfaced after exploding. I've only used Gryffindor's. What could I possibly gain by travelling through time and coming over to Merlin knows when, Granger?'

She pushed Slytherin's book in his hands, but she calmed down a bit after she felt his confusion inside of her. He wasn't lying.

'Just get us back from when we came, Riddle,' Hermione bossily ordered, 'pronto.'

And she collected Mind over Matter and Infinity in Space from the ground, while Tom was hissing something to Salazar's book. Riddle held on to Eternity in Time and was watching her suspiciously, while she came back towards him holding on to both volumes. Hermione stopped right in front of him, but he merely stared at her.

'What?' Hermione asked, confused.

He took a hold of her before answering. 'Nothing.'

Tom hissed at the book. A short, silvery burst and everything appeared the same as before. They looked around in confusion. Was that all? Had they really travelled through Time? It surely did not feel like the other times.

'How do we know if…' But Hermione did not finish that sentence, and she told the Room of Requirement she needed to know the exact time and date.

It was 31st of December 1944 at ten o'clock in the evening. She wanted to walk away, but Riddle kept his arms around her and was eyeing her suspiciously. 'Why did you want to leave, Hermione? Why did you not try to find out exactly when we were? That sounded a lot like your day and age to me.'

'I don't remember hearing you shout like some maniac towards a castle,' Hermione answered indignantly. 'Besides, we have unfinished business to attend to.'

He let go of her, so Hermione turned around and walked towards the exit.

'Where are you going, Granger?' Tom asked sharply.

'Out,' she replied briskly, and she turned to face him with the two volumes in her arm. 'I already told you I need my stuff and there is nothing here anyway.'

'And why do you have this sudden desire to leave a room that obviously belonged to Helga Hufflepuff? It's the best lead we've got and we might not be able to return here once we leave. Or is there something you're not telling me?'

Hermione weighted her options. He was already suspicious of her motives. And she needed to use the magical force inside Ravenclaw's volume to finish the Tracker. She also needed the piece of parchment from Helga to make it more effective. Tom was never, ever going to let those two objects out of his sight; now that he could read and master them. Besides, he had found out everything else that she had tried to keep hidden from him, and she had this strong sense of urgency flowing through her, like this could not wait any longer, like she had little time.

'I know a way to find Love of Mankind, but I need my bag to finish the device,' she eventually said, hoping it was the right choice.

'Love of mankind?' Riddle questioned, frowning.

'Helga's book,' added Hermione, upon realising he did not know the title to the volume.

A red gleam shortly became visible in Riddle's eyes, and Hermione felt his fury for a second, but he restraint himself quickly. 'I see,' he said shortly.

They left Hufflepuff's chamber silently. After the door closed behind them and disappeared into the wall, Hermione started passing it trice. The door resurfaced and they entered the Room of Requirement in the state they had last seen it in, namely in shambles. Suddenly, everything changed and was whole again. Hermione was surprised, until she saw Riddle's nonchalance at the change and she realised he probably had asked the Room to mend the furniture non-verbally.

He tossed Eternity in Time on the table and picked up her beaded bag. Hermione dumped the two other volumes beside it and held out her hand. Tom handed her the bag. But the moment she had taken a hold of it; he grabbed her by her wrist and violently spun her around, until she clashed into him with her back. Before she had time to respond or do anything in defence, his wand was pressed against her throat and his other arm was holding her tightly around her waist. His hand was locked around her wrist like a wrench.

'You wouldn't be planning to betray me, now would you?' Tom quietly whispered in her ear.

She closed her eyes when he followed the lines of her neck with his wand to underline the threat. Hermione knew he could not kill her due to their Bond, but there were way too many other, also not so delightful, options still at his disposal.

'You really don't want me to explain to you just how much loyalty means to me, Hermione. It would be unwise of you to forget who you truly belong with. I never relinquish what's mine; never. Do I make myself clear?'

Frightened, Hermione nodded slightly. Oh, he sure as hell made himself clear. It was crystal clear, probably more than he had counted on. Tom had no idea how much damage he did to his own cause, when he let go of Hermione after that. But his little show and tell made her resolve to stop him no matter what grow bigger than before, while she started to work on finishing the Tracker.

Now, Helga had stated that the books seemed to want to be together. Unfortunately for Hermione, this was not the case with the four pages. Three of them had no problem with being together. But every time Hermione tried to add Salazar's page, one of the others took offence and somehow managed to escape from the device to end up back on the table. And there was also the problem with getting Salazar's page to even go near the other three. Every time she tried to get that page inside the compass-like device, it would glow and push her hand in the other direction.

After an hour of tweaking, fiddling and tinkering with the protesting pieces of parchment, Hermione was about to give up altogether. She sat down and took a huge sip of the coffee Riddle had provided for her. She picked up Mind over Matter with a deep sigh and started rereading certain paragraphs of it. Maybe she had overlooked something? There must be a way to get those damn pieces of parchment into the Tracker.

Briefly, Hermione glanced at Tom, who had lounged himself comfortably in the other couch and was twirling his wand around absentmindedly. He had been twirling his wand around for the entire hour, while she was working on the Tracker, and Hermione did not like the fact that he kept it out in the open and visible one bit. Especially, since she had noticed the brief glances he had tossed in her direction.

She had read the entire chapter again when she came to the conclusion, she had done everything right. There was no other way to finish this. Those obnoxious pages simply had to be placed inside of it; but how? She sighed again and scratched her head, when she noticed Riddle was staring at her.

'Can I help you with something?' she sarcastically stated to his relaxed and lazy posture.

'I was just about to ask you the same thing, Hermione,' he replied blankly, 'you always scratch on your head when you run into a problem and don't know what to do next.'

She scratched her head again out of habit, and he merely grinned. 'Hand me the book.'

Abruptly, Hermione folded her arms over each other. If he wanted to order someone around, he'd better go fetch one of his mindless minions. She was so through pretending.

'There is nothing in here that explains why I can't get those pages in there, Tom, so there really is no point in reading it.'

'That's what you think,' said Tom, and he shrugged his shoulders. 'Maybe you've missed something.'

Hermione frowned. 'I don't miss things when I'm reading,' she stated with Riddle's arrogance.

'We'll see about that,' he said smiling. 'Accio Mind over Matter!' And the book flew in Tom's hands. He started reading the chapter, which Hermione had been going through, vigorously.

'Fine,' she said snappishly.

Hermione leaned over backwards into the pillows of the couch and took on the same lazy posture Riddle had found necessary to flaunt at her. She considered also twirling her wand around but decided against it, because she would, no doubt, let it drop and look like an idiot for doing so. After a while he put down the book, pulled out his wand, and started working on the device. Hermione lazily watched this and pretended not to care one bit whether or not he would succeed, but behind his back she was so hoping every page would make a run for it. She was not disappointed. At one point it looked like he had done it and he gave her one of his extremely smug, triumphant expressions; only to be laughed at loudly by Hermione when all the pages reappeared back on the table, three on one side of the Tracker and one on the other.

To Hermione's utter amusement, he too scratched his head and watched the unfinished device and the pages puzzled. 'It's supposed to work,' Tom muttered.

'That's what I said,' Hermione stated triumphantly, and she stuck her nose up in the air.

Tom glared at her, like he really wanted to wring her neck, and the pages moved a bit further apart. 'Did you see that?' Tom said, shocked.

And he looked back at Hermione, who had sat up and was watching the pages with interest. 'You don't think that…' she said questionably, and she shook her head. 'No way.'

'Do something annoying,' Tom demanded.

Hermione felt a burst of anger rise up inside of her. 'From the two of us, you tell me I am the annoying one, Riddle; me? How about you take a good look in the mirror and then…' But she halted her tirade and groaned when the pages moved further apart.

'HA!' yelled Tom victoriously, 'that's it.'

Hermione jumped to her feet and watched the pieces of parchment with a murderous look in her eyes. She had enough of these Founders and their manipulations. If she ever was going to run into one of them after her death, they'd better start begging for mercy, because she was planning to get even with them really, really badly.

'I can't believe it. I'm not going to be manipulated by some stupid piece of paper,' Hermione said angrily.

It remained silent in the room after her statement. Hermione was thinking: 'to blazes with that Tracker and any other dreadful glowing item.' She scooped up the four pages with one hand and the unfinished device with the other, when Riddle took a hold of her hand that held on to the four pages.

'Just hold on to the pages,' he said thoughtfully, 'it might just do the trick if we do this together.'

And he moved her hand that held on to the four pages towards the device. Hermione planted the Tracker down on the table and they placed the pages in there together. Riddle pulled out her hand, and simultaneously, they jammed the lit shut. And held it shut with their hands as if that would prevent the headstrong parchments from escaping again. They both watched the Tracker with anxious eyes, but nothing happened.

'Did it work?' Hermione softly questioned; almost afraid that if she said it out loud, the four pages would escape from the confinement of the small box.

'It looks that way,' Tom responded equally quiet.

They reluctantly removed their hands and watched the tiny white box anxious, but nothing exploded and the pages remained in their confined space. They sighed simultaneously, which caused them both to snort at the same time.

'I never thought four pieces of parchment could be this much trouble,' Tom said grinning.

'I'd never thought I'd ever say this; but the day, that I don't have to see a single piece of parchment related to any Founder ever again, will not come soon enough,' Hermione added forcefully.

'I couldn't agree more.' Tom snorted, and his next statement proved to Hermione he was thinking the same thing as her. 'It seems we have to work together in order to get Hufflepuff's book.'

'So it would seem,' said Hermione. 'So it would seem.'

Hermione picked up Mind over Matter and added the magical power to the Tracker. It became active immediately. The needle on the compass started spinning and stopped in a specific direction. A location and a date appeared on the little blackboard on the top of the box.

Ravenclaw Tower Staircase in between sixth and seventh floor; May 1st 1998, 10:15 p.m.

Tom picked up Eternity in Time, while Hermione grabbed her beaded bag and pulled out two vials of Invigoration Draught. They both emptied a vial, even though their latest Time Travel had not made them sick. 'Better safe than sorry,' Hermione thought.

She looked at the two other Founders' volumes and moved towards them.

'What are you doing?' Riddle asked when she walked away from him.

'I'm not leaving those here unsupervised, Riddle,' Hermione answered, and she dumped both volumes in her beaded bag.

'I believe they will be quite safe here, Granger.'

'I'm sure you believe they will be quite safe here; but I'm not leaving those books behind, so you can return here with Salazar's and Helga's and leave me stranded in 1998. I need some insurance, Riddle,' Hermione snapped at him.

And she reached out to pick up the Tracker as well, but Tom grabbed a hold of it before she could reach it.

'Fine,' Tom responded equally snappish, 'you hold on to those two books, and I'll take Salazar's and this Tracker of yours.'

Hermione was not at all happy with this arrangement, but it was obvious from the look in his eyes that it was nonnegotiable. He pocketed the Tracker before hissing without drawing in breath towards Eternity in Time.

'Are you coming, Granger?' Tom asked smirking, and he held out his hand.

Hermione took a hold of him. Another hiss, a dash of silver, and they got thrown straight into the Ravenclaw Common Room. As Hermione and Tom scrambled back onto their feet, footsteps hurried away from the scene and a series of loud bangs came from the other side of the Common Room door. The door did not buckle though. And Hermione heard a male voice shout.

'Alecto! If he comes, and we haven't got Potter – d'you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? Answer me!'

Hermione looked around and saw that Tom was watching a witch, who was lying on the floor unconsciously. Hermione frowned and checked the room again. She did not know that her eyes darted over Harry and Luna underneath the Invisibility Cloak. Harry had been stopping Luna from shouting towards Hermione by holding his hand over her mouth and shaking his head, since Tom Riddle was standing there as well.

'May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?' The familiar voice of Minerva McGonagall came from the other side of the door.

'Trying – to get – through this damned – door!' shouted Carrow.

Hermione and Tom looked at each other, while Professor McGonagall argued with Professor Carrow on the other side of the door.

'How come we ended up here? Weren't we supposed to land in the staircase?' Hermione asked Riddle, puzzled.

'The real question is how are we going to get there? Our pathway is obviously blocked by those two bickering idiots out there,' said Riddle, annoyed.

'Don't call Minerva an idiot,' said Hermione angrily.

'Fine, one bickering idiot,' Riddle replied, hoisting his shoulders. 'I wonder what happened here. I doubt she stunned herself.'

The door swung open and Amycus burst over the threshold, brandishing his wand. He yelled out of fury and fear upon spotting his sister sprawled motionless on the floor. 'What have you two done?' he screamed at Hermione and Tom, but he did not wait for a response.

'Oh, what's the Dark Lord going to say? Amycus shrieked, standing over his sister and smacking himself on the forehead with his fist. 'We haven't got him, and they've gorn and killed her.'

'She's only stunned,' said Professor McGonagall, watching Hermione and Tom with surprise written all over her face. 'I'm sure your sister will be fine.'

'No she bludgering well won't!' bellowed Amycus. 'Not after the Dark Lord gets a hold of her! She sent for him and he thinks we've got Potter! And that…!' he pointed towards Tom with his wand, 'is not Potter!'

Hermione snorted, and she was certain that the corners of Professor McGonagall's mouth twitched upwards for a second when Minerva replied to Amycus: 'No, I think it is safe to assume that is not Potter.'

Hermione took another stealthy glance around the room. Would Harry be here underneath his cloak? She really hoped he would have the restraint to stay hidden, otherwise Voldemort would know Harry would come here, due to Riddle seeing him.

'We can push it off on the kids,' said Amycus, crafty. 'Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll say Alecto was ambushed by those two over there,' and Amycus Carrow looked towards Tom and Hermione, 'and we'll say they forced her to press her Mark, and that's why he got a false alarm … he can punish them.'

Tom merely raised an eyebrow. 'I doubt your Occlumency skills will be sufficient enough,' he said coldly.

However, instead of paying attention to his master's words, Amycus was staring at Hermione, and suddenly, a dawn of recognition flew across his face.

'That's Potter's Mudblood!'

He raised his wand at Hermione.

'No!' shouted Minerva, and she grabbed a hold of his arm; sparks flew off his wand as Amycus spun round.

Swiftly, Tom drew his wand and lazily said: 'Crucio.'

The Death Eater flew through the air, screaming and writhing in pain, until he smashed into the bookcase and dropped to the floor just as unconscious as his sister. Tom paced towards the Common Room door.

'McGonagall,' he acknowledged and he nodded towards Minerva, who obviously was holding back the urge to draw her wand. 'Are you coming, Hermione?' Tom ordered, and he paced out of the room without waiting for her response.

Hermione sighed tiresomely. 'Sorry 'bout this,' she said to Minerva, waving her hand at the two unconscious Death Eaters.

But Minerva was staring at Hermione's bloodstained blouse and her face had turned pale at the sight of it. Hermione looked down upon seeing the worried look of Professor McGonagall. 'Oh, that's nothing,' she stated reassuringly. 'I merely had an argument with a book, but I'm fine now.'

Tom's head reappeared around the corner. 'Granger,' he said, irritated, 'I told you to come.'

And he disappeared again without waiting for a reply. Hermione growled and made a wringing motion with her hands, pretending Riddle's neck was in between them. She looked backwards in doubt. If Harry was here, then she really needed to talk to him. But she couldn't let Riddle see him, and she needed to be there if Riddle found Love of Mankind. So to McGonagall's utter confusion, Hermione waved hesitantly to the seemingly empty room and stepped through the door to follow Tom down the spiral staircase.

The book wasn't there. And what was even worse, the Tracker did not give them a new location. The needle on the compass was randomly spinning around.

'This thing isn't working,' said Tom.

'It should,' Hermione said questionably, looking around. 'It said the book was here.'

'Maybe someone moved it,' replied Tom. 'Or it moved on its own. We're wasting our time here.'

Tom grabbed a hold of Hermione and before she could protest, he hissed towards Salazar's book and they were on their way again. They landed in a dark, empty corridor.

'Lumos.'

The corridor lit up and Tom looked at the Tracker that stopped spinning.

'Where have you taken us?' Hermione hissed as she looked at the Tracker as well.

'Back from where and when we came, Granger. I don't think it is wise for us to stay in a different time if we have no reason to be there.'

A new destination appeared on the Tracker. Fifth floor classroom below Ravenclaw Tower; May 1st 1998, 10:55 p.m.

Furiously, Hermione looked at Riddle. 'That's where we just came from.'

He grabbed her arm. Another hiss, a dash of silver, and Hermione crashed into a Hogwarts' classroom. But she wasn't on the fifth floor. She recognised the classroom immediately. She was on the second floor. And where was Riddle? Shouts came from everywhere, and through the windows, she saw that the castle was brightly lit. She ran out the door and hurried down the corridor towards the stairs. Perhaps he made it to the classroom on the fifth floor? She jogged across the corridors when she heard a horrible, strangled hissing noise. It came from Myrtle's bathroom. Hermione threw open the door.

'Ridd…'

Her jaw dropped when she saw Ron standing there, and the sink dropped down, out of sight, leaving a large pipe visible. The Chamber of Secrets had been opened. 'How? Why?' she muttered, astonished.

Ron swirled around. 'Hermione!' he yelled, and he hugged her like crazy. 'You're back! Did you see what I did? I opened it!'

'Yes, I can see that; but how?' and she stared at him questioningly.

'Harry opened the locket speaking Parseltongue. I just mimicked the sound he made back then, and voila! Sesame opens,' Ron stated proudly.

He held up Helga's Cup. 'Care to come down and help me destroy one of those?'

Hermione frowned, but then, it dawned on her. 'Basilisk Fangs! Brilliant, Ron!'

Hermione noticed he was positively beaming at her praise. She looked down into the dark pipe. She really should be looking for Riddle and Helga's book, but Harry had told her something bad had happened between Ron and the locket. He wouldn't tell her what it was, but it was clear to her that Ron had had a hard time destroying Riddle's soul-fragment. She could not let him go down there alone. If that Cup was going to put up a fight, then Ron might need her help; especially, if he was inside the Chamber of Secrets. No one would ever think to look down there for him if something went wrong. She looked up at the tall red head.

'Just how long have you been standing here trying to mimic Parseltongue before it finally opened?' she asked teasingly.

'You don't want to know,' said Ron, sighing.

'That long, eh,' said Hermione, smirking; and she jumped into the pipe.

The slide down took forever, and Tom Riddle hadn't been kidding when he used the words disgusting to describe the pipe. It really was very filthy. So, when she reached the end of it, she was covered in slime. She landed with a loud thud on the damp floor. Ron came sliding down right behind her with a broomstick in his hand. Hermione looked at it with apprehension. She hated flying.

'We have to get back up there,' Ron said apologetically.

'Yeah, I suppose,' Hermione accepted grudgingly. 'Lumos.'

The tip of her wand ignited and she saw the small bones and skulls that were covering the ground of the dark tunnel ahead.

'This must have been really scary when you both came down here to look for Ginny, and there was still a very much alive Basilisk slithering around,' Hermione said thoughtfully.

Ron merely nodded. It wasn't a pleasant memory. They walked along the dark tunnel. And while Ron told Hermione all what happened, after she left them alone on the dragon, they reached the cave-in. Ron snorted and told Hermione this was the place where Lockheart made his foolish mistake of using Ron's broken wand to try to Obliviate Harry and him. They climbed across the rocks and continued their walk. The two halves of the doors towards the chamber were still standing ajar and they entered. Ron looked relieved he didn't have to try to speak Parseltongue again.

Hermione looked around curiously. She hadn't been in this part of the Chamber of Secrets before. The place had an eerie green glow about it. As she stepped through the pools of water on the ground, she noticed that alongside the wide passageway there were large stone serpents that seemed to support the ceiling. In the distance a huge statue of Salazar Slytherin became visible against the chamber's wall and right before it lay the motionless coils of a humongous green Basilisk. To Hermione's surprise, it was still very much intact, even though it had been years ago since it was killed. Why hadn't it decayed at all?

'Blimey,' said Ron, upon seeing the remains of the creature. 'Can you believe how close Harry had to come to that thing in order to kill it with nothing else but a sword? Lucky for us we never had to see that monster alive.'

Hermione coughed and looked at Ron, puzzled. She had encountered the damn beast twice alive. Ron's cheeks flushed, and he mumbled an apology. 'Sorry, Hermione, I forgot you were petrified by it.'

'Lucky you,' Hermione sneered.

She felt her temper rise, and it worried her. She recognised the feelings and knew the Blood Bond she had with Riddle was becoming rapidly influenced due the vicinity of the Horcrux.

'Sorry, Ron, I didn't mean to snap at you, but I think we better hurry and get out of here.'

'Couldn't agree more,' said Ron, 'I'll get the fangs; here, catch.'

And he tossed something towards her. Out of reflex Hermione caught it. She immediately knew she made a huge mistake when she identified the item that Ron had foolishly thrown towards her. A jolt flew through her body, and the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff fell out of her hands and clattered to the floor. And everything turned black in front of her.

'Mione? Are you all right?'

She opened her eyes and had to blink a couple of times, before everything around her came back into focus. A pair of concerned blue eyes was watching her. 'Hermione?' said Ron.

'I'm fine, I think,' said Hermione questionably, and she took Ron's hand to make it to a seating position. 'What happened?'

'You just passed out when I was getting the fangs out of the Basilisk,' answered Ron, and he showed her the fang in his hand. 'Did that Cup do something to you?'

And they both watched the Cup that lay beside Hermione's knee apprehensively.

'Give me that,' said Hermione through gritted teeth.

And she practically snatched the fang out of Ron's hand. With a swift motion, she stabbed it into the Cup. A loud crack, Helga's Cup broke, and a faint scream flared across the Chamber.

'Wow,' said Ron, impressed. 'Remind me never to piss you off.'

He scooped up the mangled remains of Hufflepuff's Cup and helped Hermione back onto her feet. 'Let's get out of here,' said Ron.

'You'll need to take some fangs with you, Ron. For the Ravenclaw Horcrux,' she added, while walking towards the statue of Slytherin.

'Aren't you coming too?' Ron asked, and he eyed her concerned.

'Yeah, sure,' Hermione responded absentmindedly.

She was watching the statue intensely. She knew that behind it lay many more corridors and she wondered whether it wouldn't be wise to check those out. Riddle had been very keen to make sure she would not remember her way in there. And she remembered what he had said after she had claimed never, ever to want to come back down here in the first place.

'Oh, I don't know, Hermione. You can be incredibly stubborn when you think something needs done, even if it's risky and foolish. So I'd rather not take the chance.'

What chance? What was he hiding in there? She heard a couple of cracks and turned to see Ron standing with his hands full of Basilisk fangs. And suddenly, it came to her.

'I took the passageway towards the Chamber of Secrets from the Forbidden Forest.'

'Damn,' she said from the bottom of her heart. 'Voldemort has another way into this castle.'

'What?' said Ron, shocked; and the fangs clattered to the ground.

'There is a passageway towards this chamber from the Forbidden Forest, and it's probably inside Slytherin's statue. I'll have to find that entrance,' said Hermione.

'I'll help you look,' responded Ron.

Hermione swirled around. 'No,' she said forcefully. 'You need to go back up and help Harry. Make sure he keeps focused on Horcruxes once the fighting starts.'

'You're worried he will go into his save the day routine?' Ron asked grinning.

Hermione nodded. They eyed each other meaningfully.

'I don't like leaving you here,' Ron said, concerned. 'How will you get out?'

'Don't worry. I know there is another way out. So, I will be fine. Besides, Riddle won't harm me. He can't afford to,' Hermione calmly stated.

She wasn't even surprised how easy she was able to lie these days. 'Make sure Harry stays on track; and please, be careful out there, Ron.'

'You too,' whispered Ron towards her back.

Hermione turned, aimed her wand at the statue. 'Defodio!'

A tunnel dug itself through the statue, until it reached the corridor on the other end. She waved goodbye to Ron, who was busy picking up the fangs. A worried smile was his response when Hermione started walking into the statue.

'Lumos.'
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Masters of Manipulation