Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Somewhere in Time	By : serpentinred Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 64471 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 33
- 34
- 35
A/N: Yup, you can thank Nerys for this super quick update. Excuse any grammatical errors you find, and I will repost this when I get it back from my beta. Special thanks to Nerys for looking the chapter over for logic and flow. Many thanks to those of you who read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: Lady Miya, Aviendha, bluelagoon, and Abyss!

Review replies can be found on http://serp-replies.livejournal.com/

~-0-~

Chapter 34

After checking every possible place in Hogwarts where Riddle and Hermione might be, Harry and Ginny decided to check the Slytherin common room again, much to Draco's dismay.

"But we checked there already," Draco pointed out.

"And we should check it again," Harry remarked firmly.

Without leaving room for argument, the two Gryffindors turned on their heels and marched towards the dungeons, disregarding what Draco was sputtering about.

A million things that could go wrong with this plan came to Draco's mind, but the only thing he could do was follow them. He swore it had nothing to do with wanting to know about Hermione's safety. Well, okay, perhaps he did want to know if Hermione was safe and sound, but confronting the Dark Lord just did not seem like a smart—or sane—move.

Therefore, Draco was tempted to run into one of the empty classrooms as they got closer to the Slytherin common room. However, that was nothing compared to how he felt when he saw Riddle, standing in front of the wall that led to the common room and staring at them coldly. That vicious sneer on his face was so reminiscent of the future Lord Voldemort that it made shivers run up and down Draco's spine.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry immediately demanded without introduction.

"Pardon?" Riddle asked ever so casually, though his eyes remained cold as ice. Momentarily, he glanced at Draco, who shrunk as much as he could into the shadows.

No more Cruciatus Curses thrown this way please.

"Where is Hermione?" Ginny hissed.

Draco had remembered correctly: Ginevra Weasley could be scary when the moments called for it.

"Oh, you're talking about ... Miss Granger?" the Dark Lord asked "kindly," a cordial smile curving his lips upwards.

Merlin's pants, this did not sound good for Granger at all. Draco distinctly felt as if ice had been dropped into his stomach upon hearing the Dark Lord's words.

Poor Hermione. I will remember to bring flowers to your grave when it's your birthday. Then again, when's her birthday? Will have to remember to ask Evans or Weatherby after all this ... if the Dark Lord allows me to live that is.

Draco swallowed and took another inconspicuous step backwards, keeping a rather clear distance away from Pothead and Pumpkin Junior.

"Quit playing games, Riddle. Where's Hermione and what have you done to her?" Harry asked, taking another step forward.

"Now, now. Aren't we being a bit too presumptuous here?" Riddle questioned him patronizingly. "Who'd ever given you the idea that I was the one who had anything to do with ... what happened to Miss Granger?"

Evans and Weatherby shared a worried look.

"Where is she?" Harry asked one more time, his fingers inching towards his wand.

Draco could clearly see that Ginny already had her hand in her pocket and knew that she would draw out her wand soon.

"Where's who?" Tom asked, feigning innocence.

In one move, Harry's wand was out and a hex was thrown the Dark Lord's way. The latter stepped to the side, allowing the curse to fly pass him. Casually, and almost tauntingly, the Dark Lord turned his head slightly towards Harry and brushed off a speck of imaginary dust from his shoulder.

"Not that I've assumed intelligent moves on your part, Evans, but even this is way below my expectations. Attempting to curse the Head Boy right in the middle of the hallway? Tsk, tsk, tsk," Riddle reprimanded.

His eyes held an unspoken dare directed towards the three of them, and Draco's eyes flashed towards the now vacant wall. Perhaps he could subtly make it there and enter the common room before all hell broke loose? That sounded like a wonderful plan to Draco.

"If you don't tell me where Hermione is, I won't hesitate on trying it again, and I assure you, this time I won't miss," Harry vowed.

By now, Ginny's wand was out too, and she was rolling it between her fingers.

It was already two against one. Draco was pretty sure they would not need him to help them, since it would be against their "let me suffer to save everyone" Gryffindor spirit. Nope, he doubted the two of them would really care if he went inside the Slytherin common room first.

He was just ... checking to see if Hermione were in there or not.

"Oh?" the Dark Lord asked simply, his eyes darkening considerably with a mixture of laughter and wickedness. A glint of calculating, that went unnoticed by Harry and Ginny, flashed through his eyes before cold impassiveness shrouded his features. "Dare I say that with Hermione no longer around, your threat is nothing more than an empty one?"

Ginny drew a sharp intake of breath, and then she quickly whispered to Harry, "He's probably trying to distract us into thinking that something happened to Hermione. Don't—HARRY!"

Her last word came out as a scream when Harry fired two spells, one right after the other at Tom. The "victim" calmly stepped to the side and avoided the impact.

Finally, Riddle's hand went into his pocket and pulled out the infamous yew wand. Twirling it idly between his fingers, he cast a condescending look towards Harry and Ginny.

"I thought you said you weren't going to miss?" he asked mockingly, his eyes trained on his wand. "As I've said, empty threats, and that was the best you could come up with, wasn't it, Harry? How surprising to see you in our Defense class. If I were the one administering your test, you would have undoubtedly received a 'T' from me, guaranteeing the fact that you would never step foot into an N.E.W.T. Defense class."

As the Dark Lord spoke, Draco slowly edged towards the wall. One step ... two steps ... three steps ... four steps ...

"This is ... surprising, to say the least, from someone who is supposedly from Durmstrang," Riddle continued. "Your school was known to place heavy emphasis on dueling magic, and with the war going on there ... If Hermione hadn't been around you, you probably would've perished, wouldn't you? Although with your ridiculously dreadful reflexes, I'm surprised her help worked at all. Pity that there is no Miss Granger giving you advice about what spells might work in a proper duel anymore."

While Riddle was speaking, Draco finally made it to the entrance of the Slytherin common room. Although it struck him as sickeningly hilarious how Riddle was praising a Muggle-born witch while demeaning the one who actually defeated him, Draco kept in mind not to dwell on that and especially not snort out loud right now. His arse was still in pain.

He muttered the password to the wall and scrambled inside, thankful that the Dark Lord was as talkative as ever, therefore giving him the chance to discretely take cover first. What he was not prepared, however, was to find Hermione standing right in front of him as the wall sealed up behind him.

"Hermione? What are doing here? We thought you were—" he asked in surprise, a feeling of relief washing over him upon seeing that she was safe and unharmed.

"Take down the wards first. I'll tell you everything later," Hermione said hurriedly.

"Why aren't you—If you can't take down the wards, what makes you think that I can?"

"I don't have a wand," she replied through gritted teeth.

"Why don't you have yours?" Draco asked, confused.

"Because the Heir of Morons took mine," Hermione answered. "Now can you stop the chitchat and let me out before they kill themselves outside?"

Once the wards were down, Hermione pushed him aside and made a beeline for the exit. Mumbling about ungrateful witches under his breath, Draco followed behind her, and a scream erupted from his throat when he saw a yellow spell collide into Hermione right when she stepped through the hole.

"HERMIONE!" three different voices yelled as she crashed down to the floor.

~-0-~

"This is outrageous," Madam Pomfrey muttered as she bustled around the infirmary, shooting glares at Harry as she tended to Hermione, whom had her face contorted in pain. "I've heard of inter-House dueling, but to curse your own House-mate—"

"It was an accident," Harry argued as he glanced worriedly at Hermione who let out another soft groan of pain.

"And who, exactly, were you trying to jinx with the Conjunctivitus Curse?" Madam Pomfrey demanded, placing her hands on her waist.

Harry momentarily looked at Tom, who was standing beside Hermione's bed, watching the whole situation unfold in front of him indifferently. However, something sparked in Tom's gaze when Harry's eyes met with his. A wordless battle went on while Madam Pomfrey's mouth snapped shut in irritation. Muttering about "troublemakers" and shooting another glare at Harry, she strode to her cabinet and took out several bottles of potions.

"Will she get better soon, Madam Pomfrey?" Tom asked, never looking away from Harry.

"I should be able to let her out by Sunday morning," the school nurse answered with a sigh. Madam Pomfrey then swirled around and looked at Harry warningly, causing the silent battle between the two young men to cease for the time being. "I need to visit Professor Slughorn to retrieve certain potions. If I detect any signs of dueling in here, you will have me and Professor Dippet to answer to. Do you understand?"

Harry opened his mouth, probably to explain that it was not completely his fault, but upon seeing that look on Madam Pomfrey's face, he closed it again and nodded.

"Good," she said in a clipped voice. She then turned towards Tom and said in a milder voice, "Do look after her for me, Tom."

A mixture of outrage and disgust appeared on Harry's face when he heard her words. Once she left, the staring match between Harry and Tom began again, each of them unwilling to avert their eyes first.

"Not bothering to put up the act anymore, are you, Riddle?" Harry broke the silence first.

"I have no idea what kind of 'act' you are talking about, Evans," Tom answered, his voice harsh and bordering on being deadly, "but I certainly do not see the point of spending more time than necessary on you."

It must have struck Harry as funny, since he suddenly snorted. If her eyes were not painful, Hermione would have rolled her eyes, too. After all, Lord Voldemort spent a large chunk of his time trying to do Harry in.

"I could say the same about you, Riddle. I'm not the one who's strutting around, pretending to be nice," Harry bit back.

"I wasn't the one who hexed Hermione, Evans," Tom replied, his stare hardening ever so slightly.

"That was an accident," Harry retorted through gritted teeth, though a look of guilt dawned on his face. "You know perfectly well who that spell was intended for."

Tom's lips curved into a cold sneer. "I wouldn't know, would I? Your aim is so horrid that you could have been aiming for Mr. Malloy over there."

"Will the two of you lower it down already? I'm already having a headache here and the two of you just keep going on and on nonstop," Hermione finally spoke up, clutching on to her head.

Harry's alarm was quickly replaced by annoyance when Tom pulled Hermione's hand away from her face.

"Don't touch her!" Harry growled.

A sarcastic grin appeared on Tom's face, though he did not answer. Instead, he gazed at Harry challengingly, as if he was daring Harry to hex him right there in the infirmary. Instead of pulling out his wand, Harry stomped over, grabbed Hermione's arm, and pulled it out of Tom's hand. Tom's eyes slightly narrowed, and he reclaimed Hermione's wrist immediately.

As they continued on with their childish feat, Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes. Walking over to Hermione, she picked up the hand that was not being fought over for, and asked softly, "Do you feel any better at all, Hermione?"

"I would feel loads better if those two idiots would just drop my hand and stop pulling it around," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

Immediately, her hand was dropped on the bed. The corners of Ginny's lips slightly twitched before she asked, "What about your eyes?"

Hermione hesitantly nodded. "It's not as painful as it was when the curse first hit me."

Her words caused Harry to look away from Tom. "I'm sorry, Hermione. The curse wasn't meant for you."

"I know, Harry."

"I seriously didn't mean to—"

"I know, Harry. You didn't mean it, and I'm not going to blame you about it, so stop feeling guilty about it," Hermione sighed.

She was more worried about what might transpire while she was staying in the infirmary. Tom was definitely going to find ways to provoke Harry. If anything happened, Ginny was definitely going to side with Harry. Draco was probably too scared to take sides. So, there was basically no one to stop Tom and Harry from dueling.

"As long as you stay away from her when you're casting spells," Tom added viciously.

"This wouldn't have happened at all if you weren't anywhere near her in the first place. The best thing would be for you to stay away from her. Permanently," Harry retorted.

And they just proved her point right then and there. Hermione seriously did not want to think about what might happen in the next two days.

~-0-~

Surprisingly, neither Harry nor Tom landed themselves in the infirmary for the next two days. Perhaps it was due to the return of the other students—and thus, rendering private duels nearly impossible—but both of them managed to keep their wands stowed away. Still, it was hard for them to speak without throwing nasty comments to each other whenever they found the opportunity to do so. In short, they were driving Hermione nuts.

Tom finally gave her back her wand on Saturday, while Madam Pomfrey was watching over her, making sure she drank every last drop of the disgusting potion she had to take. Therefore, Hermione did not get a chance to hex him for snitching her wand for such a long period of time.

After Tom left the room, she immediately pestered Harry for his wand so she could cast Priori Incantatem on her wand, just to be sure Tom had not done any illegal curses with it. For a while, she panicked because she could not remember if the spell that came up was the one she had cast, thoroughly alerting Harry and alarming him even more when she would not tell him what happened. Although she was rather anxious about this, she did not want to worry Harry, too. So, she tried other spells on it, determined to check if Tom had placed some kind of dark curse on it. However, no results came up. Since Tom would probably never tell her the truth, Hermione was left with restless nights, wondering if he had used it to harm another fellow classmate.

As Madam Pomfrey had promised, on Sunday, Hermione's eyes were fully healed, and she was finally allowed to leave the infirmary. As she walked back to her dorm, the voices of people speaking down a deserted corridor caught her attention. Now, normally Hermione would not be so nosy as to listen on to other people's conversations, especially when they were so obviously private. With the rest of the students back in school, common rooms could no longer be trusted to hold secrets within its walls. Students usually opted to use deserted classrooms, corridors, or other areas to exchange what they did not want others to know.

She quickened her footsteps to get away before the speakers noticed her. However, her brain registered that the voices belonged to Alphard and Cygnus Black.

Which makes it even more private. So run along now, Hermione. It's a discussion between brothers and none of your business, she reminded herself.

"—The Parkinsons love Tom. You know that, Alphard," she suddenly heard Cygnus's more unfamiliar voice say quietly.

As much as she wanted to kick herself, his name caused her to stop in her stride. Her ears perked up, determined to catch every word Cygnus and Alphard might say.

Especially when she now found out that the conversation was about the family of cows and him.

"That doesn't necessarily mean he would accept their proposal. He doesn't like her too much, or so it appears," Alphard replied. He paused. "He seems more ... interested in Hermione."

Cygnus snorted, as if he found Alphard's words funny, causing Hermione to slightly narrow her eyes in annoyance.

"Granger is probably considered 'interesting' to Tom, but I doubt she will be useful to him for what he wants to achieve," Cygnus evaluated. "The Parkinsons, however, can ensure him power."

"So you're saying that in the end, he might accept the marriage proposal in exchange for power and influence," Alphard concluded.

Marriage proposal ... MARRIAGE proposal? Hermione fumed, clenching her hands into fists before she remembered Tom telling Iris off the other day in the hallway.

So perhaps he was not interested in Iris at all, or the power and influence that came with the name ...

She mentally rolled her eyes at herself. Who was she kidding? They were talking about Lord Voldemort here. Of course he wanted all those things. However, she had never heard about Lord Voldemort getting married ...

Ah, but nobody knows if Tom Marvolo Riddle had gotten married or not … But Dumbledore would've told Harry back then if Lord Voldemort had gotten married with a cow.

"Tom hasn't said for sure yet," Cygnus replied delicately, breaking off Hermione's train of thought. "Abraxas brought it up a couple of times during our meetings already, but he hasn't given us an answer yet. He is probably weighing his options. I mean," he heaved a deep breath, "the marriage has more pros than cons. The Parkinsons have a lot of connections in the Ministry. The Minister himself was rumored to be childhood friends with Mr. Parkinson, so Tom ..."

"So you think he might consider their marriage proposal?"

Cygnus laughed gently. "I don't see why not."

Hermione's eyes slightly narrowed again. Although Dumbledore had not told Harry, it might be because he had brushed it off as something trivial, not worthy to be mentioned. After all, the Parkinsons weren't as influential during her time as they were now ... or perhaps it was something done in secret? Whatever the reason was, if Tom Marvolo Riddle was considering on accepting the proposal, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

And Hermione Granger could very well prove that Lord Voldemort was not the only scary person in the world.

~-0-~

Hermione had nearly forgotten how noisy the Great Hall could be when all the students were back. Nonetheless, it could still be considered mellow during breakfast, when a couple of students here and there decided to sleep until the first class. The four House tables were back in place, and Christmas decorations had long been taken down.

If anything, Hermione had been mildly surprised about the fact that the rumors between Tom and herself had not resurfaced with the return of the rest of the students. Not that she was not grateful for the peace of ears and mind, but she did find it somewhat strange.

Sliding into her normal seat, she grabbed a piece of toast and started to butter it up when Harry, Ginny, Joseph, and Gareth sat down in their respective seats next to her.

"Good morning, Hermione! I thought you were supposed to be released from Madam Pomfrey's Kappa-like grips yesterday," Gareth said with a grin on his face.

"I was. I just visited the library afterwards to get some books," Hermione replied, a small, secretive smile lingering at the corner of her lips.

"Oh? Find anything interesting?" Gareth asked offhandedly.

Very interesting books, indeed. Precaution does go a long way after all.

"Of course," Hermione answered just as casually but did not elaborate.

"Did you read the Daily Prophet yesterday?" Joseph changed the topic altogether, a rather concerned expression on his face as he leaned towards them.

"No, I haven't. What happened?" Hermione replied.

"They've somehow found out that Dumbledore's gone to Germany, and they're saying that he's gone missing," Joseph answered.

A similar frown appeared on Harry, Ginny, and Hermione's faces upon hearing the news. Though they already somewhat have a plan to look for Dumbledore, it was still disturbing, now that the Daily Prophet had published it. Then, it occurred to Hermione that that must be the reason why students no longer speculated the relationship between her and Tom.

"Did the professors say anything about it?" Harry asked.

"No, but they do seem rattled about it," Gareth remarked, glancing at the staff table.

Hermione had no idea if it were her imagination, but despite the professors' efforts to maintain casual expressions, there did seem to be an ominous cloud hovering above the staff table.

"Several Hufflepuffs were told off by Professor Ferns when she overheard them talking about the possibility of—" Joseph swallowed, as if it was hard for him to say what he had to say next "—the possibility of Grindelwald capturing Dumbledore."

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione exchanged a look.

"Professor Fireswish gave three Ravenclaws a month of detention for speculating on the probability of Dumbledore coming back alive," Gareth added.

"Nothing's going to happen to Dumbledore," Hermione said firmly, though her eyes were conflicted.

"We sure hope so, Hermione," Joseph replied without the same certainty as her. "We sure hope so."

Hermione nibbled at her lower lip, and her eyes suddenly landed on Tom. He stared back at her, faint signs of mockery written all over his face, as a single eyebrow quirked upwards. It was obvious how much he enjoyed the fact that Dumbledore had gone missing. In fact, he was probably wishing that Dumbledore would never make it back to Hogwarts.

Well, that was nothing new to her. However, the event did remind her that she needed to go back to the Chamber of Secrets, and it temporarily pushed the whole thing about the Parkinsons' marriage proposal to the back of her mind. Therefore, the first thing she did when she and Tom sat down in the Charms classroom was request for another visit to the Chamber of Secrets. She was more than glad that Harry had decided to walk with Ginny to her first class and that Draco was sitting a bit too far away from Tom and her to hear what they were talking about.

"And how do you plan to get away from your Harry, Draco, and Ginny?" Tom asked in a low voice, propping his head up with one hand.

"I could always say ... Oh!" Her head snapped up when she recalled something. "I can tell them that I have detention."

Tom raised an eyebrow at her. "Lying to your friends now, Granger?"

"Well, you've forbidden me to tell them about ... that place," she replied.

"Very well then," he said, picking his head up from his hand and proceeding to flip through the pages of his textbook. "Do give me the exact date. I will need to arrange my schedule around it to prevent an overlapping of events. Although ..." He stopped in his motions and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "... I suppose we can always go there at night instead."

A sudden rush of heat invaded her cheeks, and she blushed. On second thought, that did save her from the hectic work of thinking up stories to tell Harry and Ginny. After all, it was still hard for her to tell her friends lies. However, she was also worried that Tom might get the wrong idea. She really, really needed to go back there to find a way to travel to Germany soon to find out what, exactly, happened to Dumbledore. It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to read those rare books in there. Definitely not.

And it certainly had nothing to do with the fact that she would be all alone with Tom. Nope. Certainly not. She did not need more alone time with him at all.

Clearing her throat softly, she turned towards her textbook.

"Whatever ... works best for you ... I guess ... I mean, it's your place ... after all," she said in a low voice, when she saw Harry walked through the door.

She did not have to look at Tom to know that his smirk must be back in place.

As Harry made his way towards where they were sitting, Hermione straightened herself up and looked at anywhere but Tom, pretending that she had not been talking to him at all.

~-0-~

She should have been more suspicious about the way Tom acted. She should have guessed that there was something awfully wrong when he had not hunted down Harry while she was trapped in the infirmary. It became increasingly clear to her the moment Merrythought informed them that they were going to have class outside. Her suspicions were confirmed the moment Merrythought announced what they were going to do today.

The professor had brought them out to the Quidditch Pitch. Some kind of raised up arena had been erected there beforehand, and the students were advised to form a wide circle around it.

"For those of you who hadn't been in my class for the previous years," Merrythought began, shooting a kind smile towards Harry, Draco, and Hermione, "the class that follows right after the winter holidays is, in simpler terms, a test of your abilities to defend yourself during an actual duel. Basically, you will duel with at least one of your classmates. The winner will continue until he or she loses, and three points will be earned for each match won.

"Please bear in mind, once an opponent drops his or her wand, the match is over. Anyone who hexes an opponent who has dropped his or her wand will get a hundred points deducted from their House and detention for the rest of the year with Hogan. And remember: No illegal curses," Merrythought said, staring pointedly at Abraxas and Joseph. "Anyone who uses an illegal curse will get fifty points deducted from their House and detention with me for the remainder of the year. Is that clear to everyone?" She paused, waiting for an affirmative answer from each and every student. "Now, do I have a volunteer to duel with Tom?"

She smiled fondly at Tom.

Hermione glanced at him, momentarily wondering if he had manipulated Merrythought into letting him go first, so that he would definitely get to duel Harry. When she saw his expression, it became increasingly clear to her that he must have. That nonchalant mask on his face was not enough to cover the underlying satisfaction.

"No one?" Merrythought asked with a frown. With a sigh, she looked at the circle of students who were staring at anywhere but her and randomly picked a student. "Why don't you come up first then, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco jolted in shock, but another voice crashed in.

"Me?" Abraxas squeaked, pointing at himself.

For a moment there, he resembled Draco so much that Hermione had to turn her head slightly towards the blond standing next to her. A suspicious blush appeared on Draco's face when he caught her looking at him.

After unsuccessfully trying to weasel his way out of dueling with Tom, Abraxas shakily walked up the stairs leading to the arena and stopped a small distance away from his Lord.

"Now, bow to your opponents," Merrythought instructed.

With an elegant move, Tom bowed to Abraxas, his expression impassive save the mild interest glinting in his eyes. In contrast, Abraxas did not dare to keep his attention off Tom. Perhaps he was afraid that Tom might begin before Merrythought said start, which Hermione found a bit stupid, really. Tom would not ruin his perfect Head Boy image for ferret seniors.

"Begin!"

A loud clunk followed Merrythought's words, and confusion stopped the low-toned chatter going on amongst the students. Everyone was either staring at Abraxas or Tom, trying to figure out the strange event in front of them. Nobody saw Tom cast anything.

Hermione blinked once before snorting rather loudly, causing Draco to flush even redder.

"Hush, Granger," he murmured.

Laughter danced in her eyes as she looked at Harry, who stuffed his hand into his mouth to muffle his laughter upon meeting gazes with her. Joseph was already audibly guffawing next to them.

Tom lowered his wand, tapping it gently against the side of his leg, as he looked at Abraxas with a raised eyebrow. Abraxas gave him a meek smile, and amusement threatened to appear on Tom's face but was carefully hidden behind a courteous mask.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Merrythought chided, a frown on her displeased face, and she immediately walked over to where he was standing. She picked up the wand on the ground and placed it in Abraxas's hand. "Don't be silly. If you purposely drop your wand again, I will have to deduct points from your House. And that goes for the rest of you, too."

"I don't blame him," Gareth whispered to them, his eyes never leaving the center where the two opponents were looking at one another and waiting for Merrythought to tell them to start again. "Nobody's beaten Tom in the past six years. Although ... he never goes up this early. Augusta and Joseph earned a good amount of points for our House in the previous years before they got defeated by Tom—a courteous move on Tom's part, I assume, so that other Houses would get a shot at House points. I guess all points will go to Slytherin this year then."

His words confirmed Hermione's fears, and she suddenly recalled something important. Without a word, she snatched Draco's wand and stuffed it into Harry's hand.

"Hey!" Draco stared at her confused.

"Harry's wand reacts differently towards Tom," Hermione explained as she stuck her hand into Harry's pocket, fished out his wand, and then handed it to Draco. "We can't afford to let their wands meet because Tom's wand hasn't recognized Harry's wand yet."

"And? I don't get this, Hermione," Draco asked.

"He wants to duel with Harry, Draco. Why else do you think he's up there now instead of later?"

Realization dawned on Draco’s face before a look of anticipation took over. It was almost as if he were looking forward to seeing either Tom or Harry—or maybe, it was the both of them—get blown to smithereens or fall flat on their faces, which caused Hermione to glare at him. Draco, noticing the look on her face, immediately cleared his throat and straightened his face, pretending that nothing had happened.

Just when Draco was about to say something, a squeak from the center of the stage and a flash of blue illuminating the field caught their attention. They looked up just in time to see Abraxas flying across the air over some students' heads and landing on the grass with his behind. Joseph let out a loud whoop.

"Excellent work, Tom," Merrythought commended. "That was a quicker victory than previous years." She glanced almost suspiciously at Abraxas who was standing up, his legs wobbly.

"I swear I didn't do this on purpose, Professor!" he immediately denied, shaking his head.

"Very well," Merrythought replied, tones of doubt still present in her voice. "Mr. Potter, since you enjoyed that so much, why don't you go next?"

"Bloody hell!" Joseph muttered under his breath, catching Harry, Hermione, and Draco by surprise. After all, they had never heard him using language like that.

"So, what's the deal about Harry and Riddle's wand?" Draco asked in a hushed voice after making sure that nobody was listening on to their conversation.

Joseph made his way to the center of the arena. Keeping their eyes on what was happening there, Hermione continued explaining.

"Harry's wand had already gone through Priori Incantatem with You-Know-Who's wand. It is already established in Harry's wand that You-Know-Who is the enemy, which causes Harry's wand to react strangely when he's dueling with You-Know-Who. However, Tom's wand hasn't gone through that yet."

Flashes of different colors lit up their faces as Hermione spoke, and occasionally, they would hear Merrythought giving Tom compliments on the side.

"So big deal. Evans's wand can just randomly blast Riddle off his feet, and Evans can pretend that he's the one who did it," Draco remarked while Harry let out a groan on the side when one of Tom's hexes hit Joseph.

"The point is, I don't know what might happen—I'm guessing Priori Incantatem again—but whatever it is, Tom's not supposed to know about that yet. It's going to change the timeline, Draco," Hermione told him.

She abruptly stopped talking when Joseph's wand flew out of his hand and landed neatly at Tom's feet.

"Well done, Tom!" Merrythought praised.

A barely noticeable smirk appeared on Tom's face as Joseph picked up his wand before staggering back to where Harry, Hermione, and Draco were standing.

"At least you didn't have to be sent to the infirmary," Gareth joked as he patted Joseph on the back.

Joseph gave him a grimace-like smile. "Not that it's any less painful," he muttered, rubbing his side and wincing.

"The infirmary?" Draco asked in a higher voice than usual. "You're kidding."

"Actually, no," Gareth answered. "Last year, Mercurius Rosier got sent to the infirmary after dueling with Riddle."

As if on cue, Merrythought spoke, "Mr. Malloy, why don't you go next?"

Draco's jaws dropped open while Hermione's eyes widened, and she immediately grabbed his wand and stuffed her own wand into his hand. When she looked up again, she found both Merrythought and Tom staring at her strangely.

"We dropped our wands, and Draco accidentally picked up mine instead," Hermione quickly lied.

Merrythought seemed placated by her answer, but Tom raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know that he did not believe what she was saying. She quickly looked somewhere else, not wanting to give him the chance to pick up what was going through her mind.

Swallowing hard and taking as much time as he could, Draco shuffled to the middle of the arena. Hermione crossed her fingers, hoping that things would not turn out too badly for him. However, that subtle threatening air that accompanied Tom's smile did not help in alleviating her fears at all.

"Begin!" Merrythought called out.

Hermione did not have time to blink and Tom's first curse was already thrown Draco's way. Thankfully, Draco dodged out of the way just in time, while casting a Shield Charm in front of himself. The neon blue light streaked past where Draco was standing a few seconds before and went over the heads of people standing there. A subtle dark brown ray, the second spell sent by Tom, crackled against his ward, causing Draco to take another step backwards.

"Attack, Mr. Malloy," Merrythought instructed, shaking her head. "Constantly relying on defensive methods will not help you win this round."

Hermione glanced at Tom. His calmness contrasted sharply with Draco's franticness. With a certain indescribable grace and elegance, he lazily flicked one hex after another towards Draco. His eyebrow slightly quirked as if he saw something funny when they deflected from the shield Draco had cast around himself. He slashed his wand downwards to the side, brought it over his head, and then swirled it forward, releasing a streak of pale orange light. Right after that spell left the tip of his wand, he swiped his wand to the side, bringing it upwards as if drawing a circle and stopping when it was pointed towards Draco, and a burst of white light followed right after the first spell.

The pale orange light spread over the shield Draco erected before shredding it to pieces. The white light, which traveled a tad bit slower than the first spell, impacted into Draco before he had the time to react. With a yell, he crashed into the floor, and Hermione's wand rolled to his side as he fell unconscious.

Several gasps accompanied Draco's fall, and Merrythought immediately went over to his side. "Oh dear ... Mr. Malfoy, do you mind taking Mr. Malloy to the infirmary?"

Abraxas nodded and climbed up the arena. He first picked up Hermione's wand, stuffed it into Draco's pocket, and levitated his grandson to the infirmary. Hermione bit her tongue, realizing how suspicious it would sound if she asked for the wand. Her eyes then fell on Draco's unconscious face, and concern filled her heart once more.

"Did anyone bother telling Professor Merrythought that this is far too dangerous?" Hermione hissed at Joseph.

He cast a strange look at Hermione. "You're asking that after Hunting Day?" He paused. "If students wanted to complain, I would think that it would be about Hunting Day. I mean, at least students would not aim to kill each other."

Try telling that to Tom, Hermione thought exasperatedly to herself.

"Mr. Evans, please come forward," Merrythought called out.

Cautiously, Harry approached the center of the arena. Hermione's gaze flickered over to Tom, and she found that the carefree attitude with which he had held himself in previous duels had completely vanished. A shiver ran down Hermione's spine as Tom regarded Harry with a coldness bordering on cruelty, and she realized that the previous duels meant nothing to him at all. This was the duel he had been looking forward to.

For once, she seriously thought about Trelawney's prophecy. Were there any ways to prevent their fates from clashing? Did the two of them really had to battle to the end? Frankly speaking, Divination had always been a load of tosh to Hermione. She could not take it seriously, even after what happened between Harry and Lord Voldemort. To her, it was more of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and if Lord Voldemort had not been so intent on following through with trying to kill Harry by himself, the prophecy would have never come true. However, seeing the random events that churned their relationships, nearly forcing Harry and Tom to become enemies with one another, she was forced to reconsider the validity of the old fraud's prediction.

"Begin!" Merrythought's voice echoed through the Quidditch Pitch.

Yet, neither Harry nor Tom attacked. They stood, still as two boulders, and the rest of the students seemed to feel the tension between them. Everyone remained hushed, their eyes waiting for one of the dark haired young men to make the first move.

Hermione bit into her lower lip, extremely worried about Harry. She knew that he was an excellent dueler. However, Harry now had the disadvantage of using someone else's wand. It was needless to say that Tom was also an excellent dueler, and a couple of times during the last few duels, he had been using nonverbal magic. Efficiently.

She wrung her hands together, with Harry's wand in between them, wondering if she should have allowed Harry to fight with his own wand. But that would have risked letting Tom know about the strange connection between their wands, which would undoubtedly change something in the future.

Without warning, Tom and Harry moved at the same time. Bright yellow met with burgundy right in the middle of the arena, followed by a clash of purple and blue.

"My, my, excellent reflexes, Mr. Evans!" Merrythought muttered.

It was then Hermione noticed that the professor had a parchment in hand and was taking notes on the duel. Merrythought probably did not even notice that she was saying those commentaries out loud.

A loud crack brought Hermione's attention back to the duel that was going on between Tom and Harry. Flurries of hexes clashed with one another, and both duelers were throwing spells at one another had a fast pace. She hardly had time to see where one curse was going and another one would be fired. A few more minutes passed, and students began to murmur amongst themselves. Admiration for both the dueling skills of Tom and Harry were being expressed in whispers while more spells flew through the air.

Suddenly, Tom flicked his wand twice, and Hermione very nearly wanted to shout "Watch out" at Harry. However, before she had the chance to do so, the second spell Tom cast hit Harry straight on his leg, causing him to crash down to the floor. Yet, Harry refused to give up. Determination flooded those eyes behind the glasses, and kneeling on the floor on one knee, he threw another cyan-colored spell towards Tom, who stepped aside and cast a spell of his own.

"Expelliarmus!"

It happened like one of those Muggle slow-motioned movies. The irony of the situation might have made Hermione laugh if the conditions were different. However, a silent scream caused her mouth to drop open as she watched Harry fly out of the arena and fall far out on the grassy fields with a loud thump—it was even further than where Abraxas had landed before.

Hermione's first reaction was to rush over to see if Harry was alright, but Merrythought immediately ordered, "Everyone stay where you are."

The professor rushed over to where Harry was and crouched down. Hermione stood on her tiptoes, wanting to see if he was alright. A few seconds later, Merrythought helped Harry up and walked back to the wide circle with him. She then conjured a chair and demanded for him to sit in it.

"I'm alright, Professor," Hermione heard Harry insist.

"Just stay seated, Mr. Evans. Excellent work, by the way," Merrythought complimented, beaming at him.

The students then seemed to break out of their stupor and proceeded to give both Tom and Harry a round of applause while shouting compliments to each of them. Hermione noticed a couple of the female students looking at Harry with a different kind of gaze. It was, after all, not every day they found someone who managed to put up his own fight against Tom.

"I never knew Harry could duel so well," Gareth said to Hermione.

"He's one of the best duelers in our year," Hermione replied truthfully, a huge grin on her face.

And that was without using his own wand! Hermione was honestly proud of her best friend.

When the students finally settled down, Merrythought spoke, "Ah yes. Why don't you go next, Hermione dear?"

Hermione froze in her spot as the request rang in her ears like an alarm. She twisted her neck around and stared at Harry who had an equally horrified look on his face.

She was holding on to Harry's wand.

~-0-~

A/N: Serpent In Red is not available at the moment. Please leave your name, number, and a message, and she will get back to you when she is sure that the coast is clear. Thank you, and have a wonderful day. BEEEEEEP. *sweatdrop*
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Somewhere in Time