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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
- 23
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Masters of manipulation

Chapter twenty-four

'She can't be dead. She promised to come back. She promised!' Harry shouted it at his Transfiguration Professor.

Minerva shook her head. 'Grindelwald killed her, Harry. I was there. I saw it happen.'

Harry shook his head. He looked at the body that lay only a few feet away, the dead body of Lord Voldemort. Harry had always been worried that Hermione would be killed because of him. That Lord Voldemort would kill her for helping him. And now he had to listen to someone telling him that Gellert Grindelwald was responsible for that. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. He looked sideways to Ron and Ginny. Ron was nailed to the floor and Ginny was looking from McGonagall toward Harry not believing what she heard. And then he saw Hagrid, and Professor Sprout, and he felt a huge temper rise inside of him.

'YOU KNEW, YOU ALL KNEW!' he screamed at them and McGonagall. 'You could have stopped her. You could have told her not to go. She could still be here. She did not belong there; she never belonged there.'

His last words were barely audible. And Harry buried his head in his arms, not knowing what to do next, unable to think about how to deal with this dreadful news. He needed Hermione here, because he did not know what to do. A pair of soft arms wrapped around him. It was Ginny.

'Harry.'

He could hear she also had a hard time dealing with this news. That she tried to remain strong for him.

'She told me she would be back, Ginny. Hermione promised me that she would help me deal with these.'

He pulled a beaded bag out from underneath his sweater and picked out three volumes from its contents, Love of Mankind, Infinity in Space and Mind over Matter. The books were glowing softly, giving of a mixture of yellow-black, bronze and gold lighting to the place around them. Minerva stared at the books in horror.

'That can't be,' McGonagall said, horrified.

She pulled out her wand, ran over to Lord Voldemort and kicked him, before grabbing his wrist, checking for a pulse. She dropped it after a short while, content that he really was dead after all, and stared at the books.

'Dumbledore said the power of the books would be destroyed on the very day that Tom Riddle would die. He said that was the reason Hermione sacrificed herself. Those books aren't supposed to still be active. They aren't supposed to glow after the two people who could master them have passed away,' said Minerva furiously.

But now certain things began to make sense to Harry. Things Hermione had done, and things she had told him when they had spoken in that abandoned corridor. Harry stared at the three glowing volumes in his hand. Hermione had said that he needed to destroy them, but how? He did not even have the other one. Hermione had only given him these three. She had never come back from her search for Riddle and Slytherin's book. He looked up at Minerva.

'Where is Salazar Slytherin's book?' Harry asked in a demanding tone.

'I don't know.' Minerva said apologetically. 'We never found Helga's and I thought Eternity in Time had gone lost in the fighting, because Riddle did not use it to bring her back. He really went over the edge, you know, after Hermione died.'

'He was already a sick bastard before he met Hermione. Don't you dare blame her for this,' Ron hissed, while his arm waved towards the corpses that were still very visibly everywhere.

'I wasn't,' Minerva said, appalled at the notion. 'I know what he was like before she arrived, but I also saw how somewhere down the line he changed, slightly. I never fully understood it, but I think Hermione did. She wouldn't explain it properly to me, but I know it had something to do with this Blood Bond they shared. And the moment she was gone, he changed back to his old self. It was horrible.'

'Oh, I know all about this Blood Bond he forced on her, so...'

'Ron,' Harry said, warningly. 'Stop, Hermione…' But Harry could not finish the sentence. He felt it wasn't his secret to tell. He knew Hermione's relationship with Tom Riddle was a bit more complicated, but she had only told him, not Ron. 'Hermione would not want us to argue,' he merely said instead.

'Professor, she told me I had to be the one to deactivate the books,' Harry continued. 'Riddle had to have had Eternity in Time when they left here for the last time... If it has gotten lost after that… You need to tell me what happened. I need to find that book, for Hermione. So she did not die in vain.'

McGonagall told him everything that happened, but when she came to the part where Grindelwald had launched his Killing Curse towards Tom Riddle, Minerva became silent. Harry realised she did not know how to break this news to them, but somehow he knew what Hermione would have done.

'She stepped in front of it,' Harry said calmly, to the utter distress of the two Weasleys that were present.

'NO!' Ron shouted angrily. 'No, she would not have done something that stupid.'

Harry nodded. 'Yes, she would have. Hermione understood Time better than anyone else, Ron. She stepped in front of it to prevent a major temporal catastrophe.'

Harry looked at Voldemort's dead body, and the answer struck. 'The book is still here! Riddle could not use it to bring Hermione back, because the book was beyond his reach. Tom Riddle still has it.'

Now, everyone was looking in confusion at Harry.

'Harry,' Ginny said hesitantly, 'you just said Tom Riddle could not use the book because he still has it, but if he has it, how can it be beyond his reach?'

'Time,' Harry said triumphantly, and he hugged Ginny effusively. 'It is Time, correcting the error. I can still save her!'

And he looked at the three glowing books in his hands. 'But how,' he mumbled, 'Hermione said she could never truly master Salazar's book, but I could. And she dropped my blood on this one.'

And Harry stared at Infinity in Space. 'Why this one? Why not on the one from Rowena Ravenclaw? She just gave that one to me? What is so special … The Blood-Binding Charm she used!' he shouted.

Hermione had created a small bond between him and her, so he could activate Gryffindor's volume. But she had made sure the Charm's full capacities would not come to turn on him by taking his blood without his permission. However, Harry did not understand how this all could possibly be of assistance. The three books were active. Sure, they were glowing in his hands. It was a definite sign that he was their master, but he didn't know what to do with them. He had no idea how they could help him find Eternity in Time.

'I don't have the knowledge on how to use these three, Hermione,' Harry spoke out loud. 'You should have told me the theory on how to activate them, how to use them.'

And he started pacing the Great Hall.

'I'm holding the answers in my hand. I know I am. I need a place to think. I need Salazar's book to come here in the Great Hall, so I can fix things that went wrong. I know how to use Time, Hermione, you explained that much to me, but I don't know how to use the others without you. I need you here, Hermione!'

Harry dropped the books to the floor in shock when the leaves of Infinity in Space suddenly started turning violently, until they reached a predestined page. For a second the book merely glowed, and then, Mind over Matter's leaves were turning, until they also stopped at the centre page. Finally, Love of Mankind did the same. And all three books lay still for a spit-second. A dash of gold, bronze and yellow-black simultaneously flew across the Great Hall, blinding everyone in its path, beckoning home their brother volume.

The answer came quickly. A silvery flash occurred. Everybody in the Great Hall froze with the exception of Harry. He stared around in confusing. Another silvery flash and Harry stared in horror at the scene that appeared visible before his very eyes.

Dumbledore shouted. A yet of green light flew from Grindelwald's wand and travelled straight towards Tom Riddle. Hermione swirled around in front of him and the curse hit her dead on, straight in her chest. Harry heard Riddle's desperate scream as Tom caught Hermione's lifeless body in his arms before it hit the ground. And the scene froze up, like a movie set on pause.

'No, no, no,' mumbled Harry as he walked towards the frozen scene of the past in front of him. 'I'm supposed to prevent this, Hermione. You can't still be dead. You can't.'

'Death is merely another state of being. Miss Granger understood that.'

Harry looked up. A plump figured woman with gingery red hair and blue eyes approached him. She wore a long black dress with yellow accents and a yellow scarf.

'Who are you?' Harry asked, curious about another unfrozen presence.

'I'm Helga Hufflepuff. And it's an honour to meet you, Harry James Potter. Miss Granger told me so much about you. She was convinced you would succeed and I guess she was right, for you are the true Master of Manipulation. You're The Chosen One, the master who would act responsible with this kind of power over others, for only the true master would know not to use his manipulative skills.'

'I can't be,' Harry said, stunned. 'I don't know how to use the books and I don't have Eternity in Time.'

'Ah, but you do, my boy, you do,' Helga said.

Hufflepuff walked over to the frozen scene. She bent over, reached underneath Tom's sweater and pulled out Eternity in Time. She smiled to the dead girl in Tom's arms.

'Miss Granger is a very smart witch. Rowena was very upset she wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw.'

'She would have been far more suited in my house, Helga, as her final year in Hogwarts already showed all of us. That little witch uses her brain far more for cunning and deceiving than for anything else.'

A black robed bald man with pale grey eyes and a long grey beard, which length seemed overly compensatory to Harry, walked forward. He eyed the scene before him and smirked. 'Such a nice couple, don't you think Mister Potter? I wonder how you are going to solve your little dilemma here.'

He took Eternity in Time from Helga and smiled at it affectionately, but Helga snatched it back out of his hands.

'That no longer belongs to you, Salazar.'

'Helga, darling, it will always belong to me, as you are very much aware of,' he smoothly said.

Harry noticed the striking resemblance in intonation between Riddle and Slytherin, but before he was able to say something, a third thundering voice bellowed through the Great Hall.

'Leave her be, Snakeface. You have no business to be here anymore.'

Salazar sighed, and his eyes rolled to the ceiling.

'On the contrary, Godric, I have nothing but business to attend to here. Those are, after all, two of my students,' he snidely said, and he pointed towards Riddle and Granger.

'That girl is a Gryffindor through and through, Salazar. I'm not even going to start a debate with you on that. So, you better leave her alone as well.'

'Godric, my man, you cannot collect all the women in the world for yourself. I've explained that to you a thousand times. Besides, I assure you, women don't find that sorry excuse you call bravery and heroism even the slightest bit attractive.'

'Since when have you become an expert on the opposite sex, Slimy? Last thing I remember was Julia fleeing your quarters, because you sucked at it.'

Harry was watching this ridiculous debate with astonishment. He noticed Helga Hufflepuff was staring at the two in annoyance when a soft hand was suddenly placed on his shoulder. Harry looked up, and an incredibly fair woman was giving him a kind smile.

'Do you mind if I borrow that wand of yours for a second?' the dark-haired woman with deer brown eyes asked him, smiling.

Harry did not mind at all, and he handed Rowena Ravenclaw the Elder Wand. He recognised her from the statue in the Ravenclaw Common Room. The kindness in Rowena's voice disappeared completely when she addressed the two quarrelling men in the centre of the Hall.

'Boys, BOYS! Why don't you both go sit in your respected corners and shut up, so Helga can explain the situation to Mister Potter.' And she raised the wand at them.

Both men stared at the wand apprehensively.

'Do you reckon that's the You-Know-What?' Salazar asked Godric.

'Yes, this is my wand, Salazar. So, you both best behave,' Rowena answered his question, waving loosely with the wand in his direction.

'Whoa,' Salazar said, holding up his hands on getting confirmation on the identity of the wand in question. 'Just take it easy, Rowena. We don't want any accidents to happen.'

'Yeah, Rowena, we were merely having a small discussion between old friends,' Godric added, also backing up. 'Nothing to get excited about, see friends.'

Demonstratively, he slammed his arm around Salazar's shoulders. Both men were grinning stupidly at Rowena, and Helga snorted.

'Good, well … then … Helga, be my guest,' Rowena said, giving Helga a nod, who returned the favour.

'Now, before we were rudely interrupted…,' Hufflepuff said, glaring at the two men who were still eyeing Rowena with caution, since she had not put away the Elder Wand. '…I informed you that you are indeed the one who masters all four volumes, which makes you the Master of Manipulation, Mister Potter. Use it wisely.'

Salazar snorted at Helga's last statement, but he held his comment in when he noticed Rowena was staring at him. Helga handed Harry the last volume he needed and she was watching him expectantly. Harry looked at the books. If Hermione would have been alive and awake, she would have told him that they were all glowing more brightly than ever before, but she was very much dead. So Harry remained unaware of this. Harry looked at his friend. She had asked him to place the books together and say some chant to render them powerless.

'I don't know the chant. Hermione never had the time to tell me,' Harry said, eyeing Helga Hufflepuff expectantly.

Salazar snorted again. But Helga told Harry the wording of the chant to deactivate the books. Harry remembered it after three repetitions. And he knew he would do what Hermione had wanted him to do. So he fell to his knees and placed the books on top of each other. Harry was about to start with the chant when Salazar spoke up.

'You're actually going to let that boy kill his best friend without informing him about that, Helga?' he softly asked.

Rowena raised her wand. Salazar looked at Harry for help.

'Wait!' Harry shouted.

Rowena lowered her wand and shook her head.

'Don't listen to him, Harry,' Godric stated. 'He's a lying, conniving son of a bitch.'

'Oh, am I? And what are the three of you, then? Honest?' said Salazar viciously as the last word spat out of his mouth. 'You all are just like me. You used that girl for your Cause even though you very well knew she would never be able to achieve a full mastership. She could have undone the Blood-Binding Charm Voldemort had placed upon her if you would have supplied her with the right information, but you didn't. No, you provided her with the means that drew her in even further. We all are alike, the four of us. I'm just the one who isn't blatantly denying that.'

'I should have broken that pathetic, manipulative, little neck of yours ages ago,' Godric said threateningly.

'No, wait,' Harry said.

Salazar smiled triumphantly, but Harry did not address him. He looked at Helga Hufflepuff.

'Is that true?' Harry asked her.

Helga's eyes darted towards the still body of Hermione Granger. 'She understood our reasons, Harry. I never wanted her to get hurt. You must believe me.'

'So, it's true what Slytherin is saying. You used her,' Harry deduced angrily.

'Hermione Granger was stuck in the past with no means of escape. She would never be able to master Eternity in Time due to her blood-heritage. No matter how bright she is and how well she understood the theory behind time travel,' responded Hufflepuff.

Helga eyed the now shrugging Salazar with sparkling fury, but she continued her explanation to Harry. 'And without the power to truly activate Salazar's book she would always be dependant on Riddle to send her home. So, yes, I used her, because I knew she could do it. I knew she could lead the books away from his Heir and bring them to the Chosen One. And I was right. You have them. You can finish this, mister Potter, once and for all. I admit that things didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped. I never wanted her to die. That was Time roaring its ugly head,' Helga said sadly.

'But if I am this master you say I am, can't I change things?' Harry asked, puzzled.

'Yes, of course you can,' Salazar said impatiently. 'Don't listen to those idiots over there, Potter. You can still save your friend. You can turn things back. Use my book.'

'No,' Helga said, shocked. 'No, you can't do that, Harry.'

'But he can, Helga,' Salazar sneered, 'just because you don't want him too, doesn't make him incompetent of doing so.'

Harry eyed Salazar suspiciously. 'Why should I listen to what you say? Your little heir over there is responsible for the mess Hermione is in.'

'And you can undo it all, Potter. Just pick up my book and shift back through Time. It will be like she had never been there in the first place.'

Eternity in Time, suddenly, abandoned the pile it was on and flew right into Harry's waiting hands. The leaves started turning, until they reached the predestined page.

'Don't do this, Harry,' Godric said. 'Remember who's advising you to do this.'

'I have to save Hermione,' Harry said through gritted teeth. 'I have to.'

'Would she want you to?' Rowena asked wisely, and she watched Harry with kindness in her eyes as she handed him the Elder Wand back.

Harry watched his friend's dead body, and he remembered.

'No, Harry, you listen. We're coming with you. That was decided months ago – years really.'

'Didn't realise that Ron and I know perfectly well what might happen if we come with you? Well, we do.'

'Some things are worth dying for.'

'I trust you, Harry. I know you can do it. It was never me with the power to destroy them. You're the One, Harry. You'll have to do it.'

Hermione would not want him to do it. She wanted him to destroy the threat the books possessed. That was what she had asked him to do.

'And you can always do that after you resurrect her, Potter,' Salazar said.

But his tone of voice had lost the certainty it had before, and Harry heard how anxious he was. He heard how badly Slytherin wanted him to save his friend's life. And he just knew there had to be an angle.

'You don't care about Hermione. She is a Muggle-born witch. She stands for everything that you despise, so stop pretending. You don't fool me for a minute, Slytherin. You have another agenda. If I do what you say, something dreadful will happen,' Harry said coolly.

'You're going to do what they want? After they've manipulated your best friend into the arms of your enemy,' Salazar sneered disbelievingly.

'No, I'm going to do what Hermione asked of me, because frankly, she is the only one in this Hall that I truly trust,' Harry replied.

Harry placed all volumes together and started chanting. When he was finished one last flash occurred and all the books disappeared one by one, until only Love of Mankind remained, but it wasn't glowing anymore. Shocked, Harry looked around him. The Founders had vanished with the exception of Helga Hufflepuff. And everything else was still frozen. Something must have gone wrong. Had he used a wrong syllable in the chant somewhere?

'You did everything right,' Helga answered his unspoken question.

She picked up her book and held it out towards Harry.

'You have a decision to make, Mister Potter. And I assure you it is not an easy one. You see, my book could not be destroyed by that mere chant alone, because its powers are currently in use. The only way to finish this is to render those forces to completion; then and only then alone will this truly end.'

'I don't understand,' Harry said.

'As you might have noticed the scene from the past has not vanished, even though Salazar's book is gone from this world.'

Harry had not missed that detail. He found it painful enough to watch.

'This is due to the way in which Hermione Granger died. She realised that her presence in the past was the reason behind Time suddenly perceiving a fatal error. The error Time had established as existing was that Lord Voldemort would not rise to power as he was supposed to, because of her presence around him. Miss Granger was smart enough to know that Time was busy correcting this error - meaning this sudden disappearance of a Dark Force - by ensuring Gellert Grindelwald would succeed where he failed the first time around,' Helga said.

'So Professor McGonagall was right. Hermione stopped Riddle.' Harry was utterly astonished.

'Yes, she did or so Time seems to think. I'm afraid I'm partly to blame for that or at least my book is.' Helga shook her head. 'That book definitely has a stubborn mind of its own, I can tell you that. After I asked Miss Granger to help us destroy the powers of the books, something out of the ordinary occurred, something I had not foreseen. You see, I never intended for them to get attracted to each other. I did not want Hermione to get anywhere near this Horcrux-making maniac. I just wanted to make sure the four books went to you instead of him, but Love of Mankind saw an opportunity and intervened. It manipulated Tom Riddle's feelings towards Miss Granger and vice versa. I was really concerned about this, because even though I know the Power of Love, I also understand the dangers of it. The destructive force it truly can be. So, I tried blocking the pages. But they kept vanishing back to the planet whenever Riddle and Granger were together and in some way susceptible to manipulation. And after Hermione Granger completed their physical bond with that Blood-Binding Charm I knew I had lost. And I was worried that we would lose this incredible young witch to the dark side, but I underestimated her. She, apparently, according to Time, had pulled him out instead.'

'And because she did, Time decided to kill Riddle and have Grindelwald succeed in taking over Britain,' Harry said, appalled.

'Yes, and Miss Granger realised that. She knew she had to give Time the correction it wanted, but not in the way it was planning to achieve it, because it would have become a disastrous situation if Gellert Grindelwald had taken over.'

'Hermione let Grindelwald kill her, so Tom Riddle would resurrect his alter ego Lord Voldemort again,' Harry said, sorrowfully. 'That's horrible.'

'Yes, and Time recognised the change in Riddle, the moment his Blood-Bond with Hermione ceased to exist. So when Time saw the correction it needed upon her death, it reinstated Grindelwald's downfall and it occurred almost similar to the way it had happened before.'

'By Dumbledore defeating him by and becoming the owner of the Elder Wand, reshaping history back to its original course,' Harry added. 'But why are they still here? What has all of this to do with your book?' Harry asked curiously.

'Grindelwald's Killing Curse hit Miss Granger, while Time was actively involved in the events, and while a true Master of Manipulation was already actively at the scene. And that one intervened in the events that took place. You see, Harry, all four books were in some way present along with Tom Riddle, Slytherin's Heir. And that gave him the opportunity to stop an event he never wanted to see happening, namely the death of Hermione Granger.'

'But I had three of the books?' Harry commented, confused.

Helga walked over to Tom Riddle once more and pulled out the Tracker. She opened it up and removed the four still glowing pages.

'Four pages from four books that if placed together can create the power to control the universe itself. Tom Riddle never knew what he truly had in his hands all along, while he used that device to try and track down my book,' Helga explained.

Harry looked at the glowing pieces of parchment in Helga Hufflepuff's hands.

'So you don't need the entire books?'

'You need the magical power of the four books placed together. These four pages contain almost that exact same magical force,' Helga said, glancing at the parchments. 'When Miss Granger thought of a way to track down my book, she was correct in assuming that the pages from the three other volumes would take her to mine. But when she found a fourth page, she merely thought it would help her track down my book quicker. She hoped it would make the Tracker more accurate. She never realised the threat she faced when she helped Riddle place those four pages together. Fortunately, he did neither. He should have, because he made a couple of miraculous saves that day due to these four pages.'

'But if Tom Riddle used those four pages to stop Hermione's death, then he has already achieved in becoming a Master of Manipulation,' said Harry, worried.

'Yes, but he doesn't know it. And that will, I hope, be enough to save all of us,' replied Helga. 'But we'll get to that problem later. There is more you need to know first. Now, Hermione used blank pages of the three volumes she had at her disposal.'

'So Riddle wouldn't notice a page was missing,' Harry added.

'Yes, but she did not know that the blank pages of our books contain all the magical force and information of the book they were taken from.'

Harry looked puzzled. This he did not understand.

'Mister Potter, can you tell me where vanished objects go?' Helga asked, knowing Harry knew the answer to that.

'Into non-being, that means everywhere,' Harry answered quickly, remembering what Professor McGonagall had said to the Ravenclaw doorknob.

'So if non-being resembles blank pages…,' added Helga, patiently.

'…then they contain everything!' said Harry.

'Yes, so Riddle had the complete force of the books from Godric, Rowena and Salazar at his disposal, and he had this little page from mine.'

She held out the page from her book to Harry, so he could read it.

'Chapter 25, How to Reverse the Dynamic State of Death,' read Harry out loud, and now he understood what Helga was trying to tell him. 'It is exactly the power Riddle needed. It's what he wanted done on the 23rd of March 1945. He wanted to reverse Hermione's state of death,' Harry said knowingly.

Helga nodded.

'And since, in a way, he was already a Master of Manipulation, he could. He didn't even have to know at that time that he was; he merely had to wish for what he wanted to happen and since that coincided with the magical force of my page combined with the complete forces of the three other books, it is what occurred. The power has provided him with the means to achieve it. And the pages have done it in a way that would elude Time itself, as you can see,' Helga said, while she pointed to the frozen scene in front of them.

'Now, you've lost me,' said Harry, confused.

'Riddle had already used Eternity in Time twice to change the course of history. Time has been trying to kill Miss Granger for quite some time now. In both cases Riddle prevented Hermione's death, only to find out that she died on another occasion. This was due to an eminent flaw in Salazar's theory. A flaw, that only gets neutralised by the use of all four books or in Riddle's case by the use of all four pages together. When he wanted Hermione to remain alive in the presence of the four pages, they provided him with the permanent solution, so Time would not come back to haunt Hermione. Her death in 1945 was imminently based on the temporal flaw that she was, waiting to be corrected. The only way to prevent that occurrence was if Time would not perceive a temporal error at all,' Helga explained.

'You mean if events would occur as they had,' added Harry. 'If Lord Voldemort would do what he was set to do without Hermione having been there. That way Time would not realise something was off.'

'Exactly, you're getting it,' said Helga, beaming. 'It's why the pages created an alternative second outcome. So Time could be fooled permanently. Hermione only appeared to have died that day in March. It was, shall we say, kind of a duplicate that took over the effects of the Killing Curse. However, in reality her real body has been sustained in this temporal vortex, waiting for the day Time would not take offence to her presence anymore.'

'You mean this can make Hermione alive again?' Harry asked, and he watched the four pages and Helga's book with wide eyes. 'But I thought you could not bring back the dead.'

'No, you can't, but you can bring back someone who has not died yet. Miss Granger did not exist in 1945, so there is no official record of her death. Not here on earth and not in the afterlife. Her death is perceived as a temporal error. It does not exist in reality. So while it would appear to the ones around her that she died in 1945, the page of my book was able to create this twin state of being and she has remained in this temporal vortex until today. You can end that.'

'How?' Harry said eager, but Helga held up her hand.

'There is a catch,' she said softly. 'And it contains these four pages and their true master. Now, you can use them, since you master all four books. But you won't be able to destroy these pages since they have already been claimed by Riddle. He is their master and he will be the only one who can destroy them. As you can see Miss Granger isn't the only one frozen in this temporal vortex.'

Harry looked at Riddle and Hermione, and he got an eerie feeling to where this was heading.

'Due to all those Binding rituals the two of them have engaged in, her life-force has become dependently bound to Riddle's and vice versa. If you end this by saving your friend's life, you will inadvertently also save his.'

'They tethered each other to life while the other lives,' Harry said, remembering what Dumbledore had told him about his Blood-connection to Voldemort. 'So if I save Hermione, Lord Voldemort will resurrect,' he added sadly, because he knew he could not do that. Hermione would kill him.

'No, if you save Hermione, the Tom Riddle over there will resurrect,' Helga said, and she pointed to the eighteen year old Hogwarts Head Boy who was holding Hermione in his arms.

Harry looked at the frozen scene before him.

'You mean the one Time perceived not to become a Dark Lord? The one who is actually capable of feeling love through his bond with Hermione?' He asked hopefully.

'Yes, that Tom Riddle. However, Harry, Time is not all-knowing. There are no guarantees he will not be or become him again,' Helga said.

'But he is bound to Hermione, and the only reason Lord Voldemort existed was because he could not feel emotions such as love. He did not understand them. If he can…'

Harry stopped talking. He felt torn inside. He wanted to save his friend. But could he truly risk it? How big was the change that Riddle would follow the same path again when he was able to feel what Hermione felt…? And he thought of what Dumbledore would have done. He had given Snape a second chance. Would he have done the same for Riddle?

Helga seemed to sense his dilemma, because she added the following concerns to the list. 'If you decide to do this, Harry, you must make sure Riddle never finds out he was the one responsible for this occurrence in the first place. He must never be aware of the true potential of these pages and they need to be kept away from him, because not even the best man in the world can resist their temptations. Do you understand what I'm saying, Harry?' asked Helga, concerned.

'Yeah, you mean I have to make certain Tom Marvolo Riddle doesn't realise he's actually Master of Manipulation in areas of life and death,' Harry said, tired.

'He's only that if he holds these four pages,' added Helga softly. 'They can be cleverly hidden.'

'Where?' Harry asked sarcastically, remembering very clearly Riddle's ingenuity in finding things that were supposedly hidden.

'Some place he will never dare to look, the place where his greatest fear resides,' answered Helga.

'Beyond the veil,' replied Harry. 'His greatest fear is death. So, you can take these pages with you?'

'Yes, and they will be quite safe there. He can't summon them through the veil,' she replied. 'However, if he faces up to his fears…'

'You said I had another option as well,' Harry said quickly, fearing the answer.

'You can help her move on,' Helga said calmly.

'You mean kill her!' Harry shouted.

'Technically, she will have already died if you choose that option. You merely extract her from the temporal vortex she is currently in. That way, she can finally rest in peace,' Helga said, sounding regretfully.

Harry started pacing the Great Hall. Suddenly, he moved over to watch the scene before him more thoroughly. He had not done it before, because the sight of Hermione's empty eyes was incredibly hurtful to him. But if he needed to make a choice, he had to be sure. Harry watched the face of his archenemy holding on to his best friend, and he made a decision.
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Masters of Manipulation