Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 24
- 25
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A/N: Review replies can be found at: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/15639-review-replies/

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Epilogue

Nineteen years later

Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The leaves on the Whomping Willow were turning all kinds of red, brown and gold colours. Every now and then the tree shook itself to get rid of some of the bothersome leaves. 'Perhaps they were itching,' Harry thought as he walked toward the castle he had once considered home.

Seeing Hogwarts had always been a wonderful, comforting feeling for him. He looked at the Gryffindor Tower and remembered all the fun and joy he had while staying there. He also remembered the pain that same castle had brought him.

'Harry!' his former Professor shouted, excited.

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall stood in front of the castle's doors, waving joyously to him. Her hair had turned a light shade of grey. Harry wouldn't be surprised if his son James was responsible for several of them. James did take after his namesake, and he was so unlike Albus Severus who was far more serious and who, according to Ginny, had his father's worrying nature. His children meant the world to him, and he thought of his beautiful girl Lily. She was so much like her mother. He missed them already, and they had only parted moments ago. Lily had stamped her feet in fury when she realised she and her mother were not going to Hogwarts with him, but were staying in Hogsmeade instead. Harry understood why Ginny had not wanted to come, and he had promised Lily that he would take her to Honeydukes later. Ginny had given him a stern look at hearing this obvious bribery, but Lily's face had lighted up, so his wife had let it go. She probably remembered how hard it was to be the last one still at home with your parents.

'Harry, it is so good to see you again.' Minerva grabbed his hand and shook it vicariously. 'I trust your journey over here was fine?'

'It was alright. We Apparated over.'

'Oh.' Minerva looked around, obviously searching for Ginny and Lily.

'They went shopping, but Ginny and I hoped you could join us for dinner at the Three Broomsticks later on,' Harry said.

'I'd loved to. So, are you ready for this?' Minerva asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

'I think I can handle another guest lecture, even if it is to my son's year. Besides, I hear you found an excellent new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor,' Harry said, smirking.

'Yes, I believe so,' Minerva said. 'The last one was pretty horrible, wasn't he?'

'Well, when it comes down to bad teachers, my vote still goes to Gilderoy Lockheart,' Harry said, chuckling. 'I think no one can beat the incident with the Pixies.'

'Don't remind me. I still have nightmares about that man and his autographed pictures,' Minerva said, and she shuddered.

'So, tell me, do I have to worry about any lack of discipline in this DADA-class?' Harry asked, amused.

Minerva snorted. 'I sincerely doubt that.'

'Coming through! Look out!'

An enormous Mimbulus Mimbletonia hovered toward them. The grey cactus-like plant with boils instead of spikes had grown tremendously over the years. Professor Longbottom was levitating it sideways through the corridors; otherwise it wouldn't even have fitted. Harry and Minerva stepped into a doorway to let the humongous thing pass, and Neville let out a shout of joy when he saw his friend. He hugged Harry and started chatting about how the Mimbletonia had grown and that it, unfortunately, no longer fitted in his own quarters. But Neville was quickly interrupted by several anxious shouts. One of the boils had fired on the other side of the plant and several students were covered in puss. Neville swiftly made his way over there and relieved them of the disgusting stuff.

'See you at dinner, Harry!' he shouted, while making a bit more haste to get the plant to the greenhouse.

Finally, they reached the DADA-classroom where the fourth years were residing. 'Good luck with James Potter and companions,' Minerva said deviously. She obviously was enjoying herself a lot.

Harry grinned. 'I think I can handle my own kid, Minerva. Just because you lot let him get away with murder, doesn't mean I will.'

But it turned out Harry did not have to handle his own kid. The new DADA-teacher beat him to it. He had introduced Harry to the class and just when Harry noticed his son's movement, so did the Professor. He swooped over there and confiscated whatever Weasley joke shop item James had planned on using. Harry grinned inwardly when he saw James looked utterly disappointed for not having been able to disrupt his father's lecture. The Professor whispered something to James. Harry saw that his son started to snicker, and James looked at the Professor with delight in his eyes. Harry had a firm inkling he knew what was said.

Talking about everything that had happened was not always pleasant, but it was not an entirely bad thing either. Harry loved telling others about his friends. How clever and brave they had been. How they always had been there for him, always. And he told his son's class every heroic thing Ron and Hermione had done, until it was finally over. He felt the jolt of pain in his heart at remembering that day. The day Lord Voldemort died. The day he heard about the death of his best friend, Hermione Jean Granger. He remembered the excruciating pain he had felt when Minerva told him she had died in 1945, killed by another Dark Lord on a date that predated her birth. Only a few people in the Great Hall had understood Harry's desperate, anguish scream. Everybody else was happy that Lord Voldemort was gone. Only the people who knew, who had been around, who had watched her fall; only those people realised why Harry wasn't happy. Why it still wasn't over and done with.

And he remembered the choice Helga Hufflepuff had given him. It was no choice to begin with. He could never have let Hermione die and certainly not under these circumstances. His mind dwelt back to the events in the Great Hall that day.

'How do I save her?' Harry asked Helga.

But the Founder merely vanished when he spoke those words, and the book he held in his hand, suddenly, became too hot to hold onto. Harry dropped it and stepped back, watching the leaves tear apart from the leather binding and vanish into the realm of the afterlife. And a flash of darkness – of utter blackness – occurred, followed by a flash of the yellowiest light Harry had ever witnessed. It lighted the Hall so ferociously that it was more blinding than sunlight, and he had to cover his eyes until it was gone. But when he looked up again, he witnessed the most peculiar event in history.

'Protego,' Dumbledore shouted; but it was pointless, the curse in question had no defensive measures.

'Avada Kedavra,' Grindelwald said.

A jet of green light flew from Grindelwald's wand and travelled straight toward 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 he caught Hermione's body in his arms before it hit the ground. Another yellow flash and the scene splintered in two, and suddenly, there were two Hermione's and two Tom's…

Harry saw that one of those pairs became less focused, disappearing into this strange mist together with Grindelwald and Dumbledore; while the other pair became more substantial, until there was only one Hermione and one Tom; and the scene moved on...

Tom clutched onto Hermione for life. Hermione took a deep breath and started to cough… It was in that moment Harry ordered the four glowing pages in his hand to vanish into non-being.

He remembered clearly what happened next. The uproar, that occurred amongst those who recognised Tom Riddle. Fortunately, there weren't that many. So, he was able to shush them and he got everybody who knew - including Hermione and Tom - out of the Great Hall and into the Head's Office as soon as possible. There, the arguments started. They were all shouting at him - all except for Tom and Hermione who seemed rather confused at the moment. Eventually, it was Hermione who caused everyone to shut up.

'What for Merlin's sake is going on?' she asked. 'How did I get here? I was … am… Grindelwald killed me! Harry, what did you do?'

'I'd like to know that too,' Riddle said, amused.

So, Harry told them the whole story. Well, almost the whole story, he left out the part of the four still very active pages. And, of course, he did not inform Riddle of his mastership; but he explained that all four books were destroyed, and he told a half truth by telling everybody present that he had used the power of those four books to get Hermione back. At which point everybody's eyes darted, puzzled, between him and Riddle.

'Oh, Harry,' Hermione said, sighing.

It was obvious to him she understood what his dilemma had been, and she was shaking her head in clear disagreement of his choice. However, he also noted Riddle was staring at him with – was that gratitude? – in his eyes for saving Hermione; but it was gone the moment Ron spoke what was on everybody else's mind.

'We all understand you saving Hermione, but why did you have to bring that - that one too?' Ron said, waving his hand dismissively at Riddle.

'Because we are bonded for life,' Riddle answered calmly, and with a sly smile on his face.

Harry had to grab Ron to prevent him from strangling the Slytherin right there where he stood, but Ron calmed down upon realising something.

'Surely, with the destruction of those books came the destruction of the Binding Charm that lingered on those pages. So, after Harry destroyed those books that bond ceased to exist,' Ron stated certain.

Hermione's cheeks flushed red at hearing Ron make a correct assumption under different circumstances.

'Forgot to mention a little detail to him?' Riddle said softly, but loud enough for Ron to hear; and he eyed Ron rather smugly, while he said it.

Ron took a menacing step forward and Harry felt he was fortunate to be able to intervene before things turned incredibly ugly in there. Then, the debate about what to do with Riddle started. Hermione sat down and was still shaking her head, while Harry noticed Riddle seemed very amused by the current situation. It was quickly decided by everyone else that they would get Riddle thrown in Azkaban for all the crimes he had committed, but the Heir of Slytherin snorted loudly at that option.

'What crimes?' Tom shrewdly asked. 'Didn't Potter just kill the one responsible for all of them? Do tell, how are you going to explain to the wizarding community that I'm Lord Voldemort when his very dead body lies downstairs for everybody to see?'

Hermione made a kind of "you-could have-seen-that-one-coming-a-mile-away" motion with her hands, causing Tom to wink at her affectionately, which ensured the fact that Harry, once again, had to restrain Ron from doing something extremely unwise to the utter amusement of a certain mister Riddle. Fortunately, Hagrid had noticed Harry's problems and took a hold of Ron, making it impossible for him to attack Tom Riddle anymore.

But Riddle's statement had enlightened everyone in the room of the huge problem they were facing. So when, yet again, another debate rose, Tom simply sat down next to Hermione, smirking towards Ron's reddened face. Ron said something in Tom's direction that could not be heard over the voices of the others, but Harry had an idea to the contents since he recognised the green monster that currently haunted his friend. And he was very glad that Hagrid was holding on to Ron; especially, when Tom started whispering something in Hermione's ear, like none of the debates about his future concerned him the slightest. Harry saw Hermione shrug in response and she whispered something back that, apparently, was entertaining, because Riddle grinned widely. Eventually, Hermione got tired of the arguments and dealt the final blow to any ideas of incarcerating Riddle.

'Every barrister in the world will want to take his case. You can't possible expect to ever convict him of anything; even if you could convince people he is who he is, which will be extremely hard, because I doubt anyone wants to believe that. It will be Fudge all over again. And let's say they do believe you, you can't convict someone for crimes he hasn't committed, yet,' Hermione said simply.

'He killed Myrtle, his father and his grandparents,' Ginny stated firmly.

'Prove it,' Hermione responded. Upon noticing that everyone – except for Tom and Harry – watched her bemused, she explained the trouble with that. 'Morfin confessed to the murders. He was trailed, convicted of them, and he is dead now, which means you can't show his memory was altered. And Myrtle doesn't know how she died; plus, his diary is destroyed, so you have no proof there either.'

Tom smirked and added something else to the mix; 'Even if you can prove I was responsible for Myrtle's death, so was he. I'd love to hear which one of us did it.'

Everyone stared at Tom in horror and disbelief; Hermione was back to shaking her head at Harry – the look on her face clearly indicated she thought he had made a foolish decision. Tom was now on a roll and he continued smugly; 'Did you kill the innocent one, Potter? Because if I'm Lord Voldemort, then who was he? Perhaps the Ministry should prosecute you? Tampering with Time, eh, Potter. And I wonder… if the Authorities feel for some reason that I should not exist in this era, then … how will they feel about Miss Granger being here? Hmmm… I think I'm going to enjoy this trial business an awful lot.'

'There is always another, faster way to solve this problem permanently,' Ron said menacingly.

Sometime during Tom's speech Hagrid had let go of Ron, who now eyed Riddle even more threateningly. Tom assessed the situation and took on a very leisurely posture in the couch he sat on. He spread his arms out wide and mockingly said; 'Bring it on, Weasley.'

Ron drew his wand. Hermione jumped between the two in fright, while Harry grabbed a hold of Ron's wand-arm quickly.

'No, Ron!' Harry and Hermione yelled simultaneously.

Riddle smirked behind Hermione's back, not having moved an inch.

'You – you… You're actually protecting him?' Ron shouted to Hermione.

'They'll send you to Azkaban, Ron! You can't just murder someone, you know!' Hermione replied. 'Remember what happened to Sirius.'

'That's Voldemort!' Ron yelled, and he waved his free arm in Riddle's direction.

'No, that's Tom Riddle,' Harry said, and he pretended not to notice Tom quirked an eyebrow at that statement.

Professor McGonagall intervened and ushered them into the backroom of the Head's Office, so they could discuss matters more privately without interruption. Tom smirked at that, because it was obvious McGonagall meant without him jabbering his mouth off and upsetting the others. Harry agreed with McGonagall; and they all left the main office, leaving Tom and Hermione behind. Something Ron was not at all in agreement with, but Hagrid had simply lifted Ron up and carried him into the next room, making it impossible for him to push the matter any further.

Harry felt very uneasy about Tom Riddle's calculated responses. Had he made the wrong choice? But he had also seen the glances Riddle had thrown in Hermione's direction, and it was obvious to Harry he loved her. He really needed the others to understand. Things could turn incredibly disastrous for Hermione if the Ministry would get involved. He hoped he wasn't becoming overly Dumbledorish by trusting the power of love and giving someone a second chance to redeem himself when they all - though some of them grudgingly - accepted his decision.

So, Harry walked back into the Head's Office alone. When he arrived, he was glad he had made the others wait. Because he found Riddle on the couch on top of Hermione, kissing her like crazy; and he noticed Hermione was not unresponsive to this. She had her arms wrapped around him. Harry felt he made the right decision after all.

He coughed, and the two of them froze on the spot. Riddle moved of Hermione quickly, but he couldn't hide the fact from Harry that he had to withdraw his hands out from underneath her shirt. And they both stared at him rather sheepish and flustered, while Harry told Riddle that he would be escorted to Twelve Grimmauld Place to stay there for the time being.

Harry called upon Kreacher and the House-elf arrived immediately. Kreacher was still carrying a much budged up pan. It was clear it could no longer be used for cooking since it, no doubt, was used to smash in the heads of many Death Eaters. Kreacher's head swivelled sideways across the room in clear anticipation. His huge eyes lingered greedily on Tom, because he was the only one the elf was unfamiliar with.

'Does Master Harry need me to hit anyone?' Kreacher hopefully asked, and he raised the pan ready to strike.

'No, I think we're all done in that department, Kreacher, but I need you to take two guests to Twelve Grimmauld Place.'

Kreacher beamed into the direction of Hermione and Tom. Clearly, having guests over was just as much fun as hitting a wizard over the head with a cooking utensil. 'House guests, wonderful! Kreacher would feel honoured to escort Mistress Hermione Granger to his Master's home.'

'Thank you, Kreacher, but I can't come just yet,' said Hermione. 'I'm going to have to talk with Ron first.'

Riddle snorted, but stopped when Hermione glared at him. So, he left with Kreacher to the Black residence on his own. Harry remembered clearly what Hermione said to him when they were alone afterwards.

'This is your solution, Harry? Locking him up at Twelve Grimmauld Place? You do realise he still has his wand on him? If he feels like leaving, I doubt Kreacher will be able to stop him. And this way you're basically inviting him into your house. Do you have…?'

'You were kissing him; yet, you disagree with what I've done?' asked Harry, interrupting Hermione's rant slightly irritated.

'He is rather hard to ignore, Harry. I thought you, of all people, would understand that,' Hermione replied coolly. 'This should have been over. Now … who knows?'

'But Hermione, Time would have erased him, because he felt love.'

'Time was wrong, Harry. Time tried to correct what didn't need correcting at all. He was still very much Lord Voldemort.'

Harry shook his head. 'I don't believe that. I can see the difference between him and the other Tom Riddle. He truly loves you, Hermione. I can tell. I've been in his mind so many times.'

'I'm not his keeper, Harry, nor do I intend to be. Yes, he can feel love now. But there is a good reason that door in the Ministry remains closed at all cost. In the wrong hands love can truly be the most destructive force in the universe.'

'Potter. Earth to Potter, are you there?' a familiar voice asked.

Harry shook from his reminiscence and looked straight into a pair of dark eyes who watched him rather amused.

'I believe we have a class filled with fourth years who would like to hear the answer to that question before we all die of boredom, Potter,' Professor Riddle whispered, smirking.

Harry chuckled, and he calmly whispered back; 'Never had a daydream before, Riddle? I'm sorry to hear that.'

After another thirty minutes the lesson was over, and Riddle handed out homework assignments that were the cause of much moaning and groaning. Harry heard his son James complaining to his friends about the ridiculous amounts of essays they already had to write.

'Mr Potter, if you would have listened to what I said instead of sending notes to the female population in this class, then you would have realised that I did not require anyone to write an essay. I want to see some form of practical evidence in the next lesson that proves you lot have listened to the words of your father and found a way to use his experience in practise. Anyone who dares to bore me with an essay can look forward to some serious detention,' Professor Riddle said strictly.

James Potter was absolutely delighted when he heard this. And the students exited the classroom, chatting excitedly about what they were going to create. Harry noticed they were all very pleased with their new DADA-teacher.

'Don't feel up to reading twenty-five essays, Riddle?' Harry asked, amused.

'Twenty-five? If I gave all my students that assignment, it would be more like a million,' Tom said exaggeratingly. 'Besides, we both know essays don't show someone's true potential in this area of study.'

'Hmmm… Don't let Hermione hear you say that. I remember how very fond she was of writing essays. She always overdid the amounts of words required by tenfold,' Harry replied.

Tom sighed upon remembering. 'Why do you think I am not handing out essay-assignments in this class? Rose is even worse than her mother.'

'Oh yeah, Hermione is the only nerd Rose could have inherited that habit from.'

Tom narrowed his eyes.

Harry coughed to cover his laugh.

'Think you're funny, Potter?'

'Don't need to be. You are doing a fine job of entertaining me all on your own.'

'I have never been that lengthy in my…'

Harry roared with laughter.

'What?'

'You, not being wordy; hahahaha!'

Tom just stared at Harry, who had doubled over in mirth. Subconsciously, his hand tapped on the pocket his wand was in, while quite the number of extremely painful curses was being considered. Sadly, there were none he could get away with, so Tom folded his arms over each other and waited till Harry was done laughing.

'Speaking of entertaining others,' Harry continued. 'Did you see today's article in the Prophet?'

'The trash Skeeter writes is always hard to miss. "Salacious activities at Hogwarts! How Hogwarts Professor Hermione Granger is corrupting our children! Write the Headmistress to express your concerns!"' Tom snorted. 'She's got a bad case of envy if you ask me.'

'Envy?'

'That Hermione's biography of your life is selling much more copies than hers.'

'Did you know she came to my office to demand I arrest Hermione for breaking the International Secrecy Act?'

'What?' Tom laughed. 'You're joking.'

'No, I am absolutely serious. Rita was furious when I said that muggles consider Hermione's books to be children's fiction and that as such it is not a breach of the Act.'

'That must have gone over well.'

'Oh yeah.' Harry made a face. 'I am surprised you haven't heard her screaming about my favouritism to my friends. She was loud enough to be heard at the other end of the galaxy.'

'Well, then I will look forward to read the article about "The abuse of power Harry Potter, Head of the Auror Department, thinks he can get away with. How our former saviour turned villain."'

Harry nodded, grinning. 'I am sure Rita won't disappoint you. What was Hermione's response to the article by the way?'

Tom tilted his head. 'As someone who is not only Hermione's friend but also an officer of the law, do you really want to ask that question?'

Harry raised his eyebrows.

Tom snickered. 'Let's just say I believe Skeeter will think twice before writing another article about Hermione like that ever again.'

'Am I supposed to investigate matters here?' Harry asked, amused.

'Investigating this…?' Tom mused. 'That would mean you'll have to talk to Skeeter again, be in her lovely company for who knows how long.'

Harry opened his eyes wide and placed his hands on his chest in mock fear. 'That, Riddle, is without a doubt the vilest threat you ever made to me.'

Tom shrugged. 'I have my moments.'

'You don't say. Having to talk to Rita…' Harry shivered. 'I don't want to know that badly.'

'What don't you want to know?' Hermione asked.

Harry turned around and smiled when he saw his best friend standing in the doorway. After they hugged, Hermione repeated the question.

'What kind of crimes Hogwarts Professors are into these days,' Harry answered.

'Ahhh,' Hermione responded knowingly. 'Think Tom is up-to-something?'

'Me?'

'Just look at that innocent face he is pulling right now,' said Hermione.

'I've seen it before,' said Harry, not turning around.

'Alright, I'll take my cue to leave you two alone,' said Tom. He tucked his bag under his arm and kissed Hermione. 'I know better than to take you both on at the same time,' he said on his way out.

'Wow, a first,' Hermione said mischievously.

Tom looked over his shoulder; the question mark etched on his face.

'You learning from your mistakes,' she explained.

'See you around, Potter,' Tom said, ignoring Hermione to her joy.

'Aren't you coming to the Three Broomsticks tonight?' asked Harry.

'I wasn't aware I was invited,' Tom said, surprised.

'Well, I don't expect Hermione to have to come alone, even though you refuse to make an honest woman out of her.'

'Eh, it's not me refusing anything,' Tom replied, waddling his finger. 'I asked.'

Hermione groaned. 'Why is it that married friends always want others to make the same choices they did? My life is fine the way it is.'

'It could be even finer if you just said yes,' Tom added.

'Thanks a lot for bringing this subject back to his attention, Harry.'

'Sorry,' Harry said, but it didn't come out quite sincere enough to make Hermione stop glaring at him. 'So, are you coming?' he quickly asked Tom to shift the attention away from an obvious sore ongoing point of disagreement.

'You're asking me to have dinner with your family. Have you even discussed that with your wife?'

Harry's reddened face gave away the answer. Hermione sighed.

'Potter - Potter, you still are a lousy Occlumens,' Riddle said, while clicking with his tongue and shaking his head. He shared a look of understanding with Hermione before he declined the invitation.

'Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us,' Harry said, and he shook Tom's outstretched hand.

'I will keep that in mind,' Tom said pleasantly. 'I'll see you later?'

'Of course,' Hermione responded. 'I've already finished grading the students' papers, so I have a whole free evening.'

'Perfect.'

As Harry watched Tom Riddle leave the classroom, he thought about the strange turn events had taken after he had brought Hermione and Tom into this day and age, alive and well. A choice only a few people were aware of, because they had been able to keep it a secret, since Lord Voldemort's childhood identity was not common knowledge. Only Minerva, Rubeus, Ginny, and Ron still knew about it, beside Hermione and himself. Augusta and Pomona had died after some freak accident a couple of years ago and Horace had developed a rare form of wizarding related dementia.

Ron and Ginny still weren't happy about Tom being here. Harry knew that, but he felt everything was going to be alright. He and Tom had got pretty close during the time he stayed at Twelve Grimmauld Place. It had been weird being around Tom Riddle so much at first; especially, without getting constant flashes of his feelings and emotions. Their connection was completely severed due to the destruction of the Horcrux inside of him; but even though that might be the case, he could still see the huge difference between this Riddle and the other one.

And after all, Riddle had nineteen years to become Him again, and he had not crossed the line once. He truly had become a great wizard and an important addition to the wizarding community. He had even found a way to treat severe dragon fire burns. Something Molly Weasley was extremely pleased about. Harry remembered how he had to restrain Ron one more time when Molly hugged Riddle senseless after Charlie's injuries were healed with that smelly ointment. No, his reservations proved wrong. He made the right choice that day in May. Harry realised that if someone would have told him twenty years ago, that one day he would have no problem with Tom Riddle teaching his children Defence Against the Dark Arts, that he would have scolded them from here to the moon and back again. But it was exactly how he felt today, as the door of the classroom closed behind Tom.

'How did your lecture to the menace that is called fourth grade go?' asked Hermione cheerfully.

'Without any incidents whatsoever. But from what I read in his rapports, I suppose you're utterly grateful James didn't pick Arithmancy as a subject.'

'Actually, I think it is a mistake not to have him take such an important class. James could be…'

The door creaked and Harry and Hermione watched it open slightly. 'Are you sure your dad left?' asked James, grabbing the handle so Rose couldn't open it any further.

'I just saw him up the staircase to the second floor, and there isn't another DADA-class scheduled for the next hour or so,' Rose responded.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other silently.

'I still think we should go elsewhere,' said James, slightly apprehensive.

'Don't be such a wuss, Gryff.'

'Eh, Slyth, it's not your arse that is at stake here. I very much like all my body parts staying attached to each other, if you don't mind.'

'Nobody is here,' Rose said firmly, and she pushed the door open wide. The two teenagers froze on the spot.

'Professor Granger, dad…,' James said, shocked.

'Otherwise known as Mr and Mrs Nobody,' Harry joked.

'Don't you two have Charms right now?' Hermione asked sternly.

'We have to do a project together. We thought this classroom would be perfect to practise in,' Rose said without breaking a sweat, the perfect portrayal of innocence.

James quickly nodded, affirming Rose's statement.

'A project,' Harry said suspiciously.

'Yes, we need to do something new with a charm we've already mastered,' Rose replied before James had a chance to say anything.

'Well, then you better start practising,' said Hermione. 'Come Harry, we'll leave these two to do their homework.'

Harry frowned at Hermione, but he followed her out anyway when he saw Hermione's expression, warning him to remain silent. The door-handle in hand Hermione turned around to look at the two students, who were smiling in an obvious relieved manner. 'I'll look forward to see what you two have come up with tonight at eight, my office. I am sure you both will impress me or else…' and she closed the door without finishing the sentence.

'That – that was…,' Harry said, glancing admiringly at Hermione.

'Yes?'

'Snape-worthy.'

'I have my moments.'

'You don't say,' Harry said, walking ahead. 'Scary teachers this castle has.'

'Indeed,' Hermione said smirking; her eyes flashed bright red behind Harry's back.

Meanwhile deep below the castle of Hogwarts, Professor Riddle looked at the four books on the desk before him. He had secretly worked on them for ages now, filling the blank pages with his knowledge, making the additions he deemed necessary to avoid the flaws they had obtained in the past. Potter might have destroyed the originals, but his memory had always been rather exceptional and the theory was still very much imprinted into his mind.

Unfortunately, two of those books were still annoyingly incomplete. He had never been able to read more than a single chapter of the one, and the other he had never even held onto. But this lack in knowledge was something he planned to correct soon. After all, he did know someone who had read one of those volumes entirely and he knew where she had kept the original back in 1944. On a couple of occasions, Hermione had let little bits of Rowena's theory slip around him and he had recorded those bits too, but soon he would be able to obtain the real thing. Soon, Time would be on his side again. A sly smile made its way to his face.

It was fortunate that the other two volumes were finished ages ago. He had written them secretively almost immediately after arriving in Twelve Grimmauld Place, which was now nearly nineteen years ago. However, to bestow them with the magic, to get them to activate in the same manner as before, that had proved more challenging than he ever imagined. It had made getting back into Hogwarts a mission once again, because he realised that in this castle he would find the solution to his problems.

So, he had waited and acted like this disgusting, upstanding citizen of the wizarding community, until everyone around him was lured into a false sense of security. And he knew that, eventually, he would succeed in obtaining a position at Hogwarts, which would enable him to finally meet his goals. It had taken him longer than expected and a lot of intervening whenever McGonagall nearly found a suitable, competent teacher.

He casually swirled his wand around and a jet of gold hit the written pages. A second flick of his wand and a dash of silver hit the other volume before him. He picked it up and started flipping the pages with a concentrated frown on his face. It wouldn't be long now… Only a few more times and it would be ready. He was solooking forward to, finally, be able to drop this despicable façade and claim back the position that was rightfully his.

A short nasal "quonk", that resembled an old-time squeeze bulb bicycle horn, interrupted his concentration. He looked up from his book and checked out the green lit Chamber of Secrets, until his eyes fell on the toad. A broad smile spread across his features when he heard the evident crack of the chicken egg beneath it. Swiftly, he placed the book that bore a very familiar title back on the desk. On the cover, it said; "Eternity in Time by Tom Marvolo Riddle, based on the theory of Salazar Slytherin."

Yes, if there was one thing Tom Marvolo Riddle could agree with Joanne Kathleen Rowling upon, then it had to be the last three words of her epilogue.

All was well.

...
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Masters of Manipulation