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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
- 36
- 37
- 38
A/N: Many thanks to catcachoo (from PI) for beta-ing the chapter! Special thanks to Nerys for looking over the chapter for FLOW and logic. Huge, huge thanks to those of you read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: Lady Miya, mirrorofrapture, Rena, bluelagoon, TassanaBurrfoot, and Hungry fan fictions' fan!

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

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Chapter 37

Joseph and Gareth stared at them, half in suspicion and half in shock. Upon seeing their gazes, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Though they were not particularly disturbed that they were overheard since these were people they somewhat trusted, this was certainly not the way they had imagined it would happen.

Draco, on the other hand, turned pale. "Why didn't you cast that ... that whatever spell around us?" he hissed at the three Gryffindors.

"I thought everyone was outside, playing with the snow, and won't be returning so early ... and I hadn't foreseen that we would've gotten into an extensive chat about this matter. I thought we were simply going to discuss about the deal with Tom," Hermione hissed back, twisting her fingers together. "Besides, why didn't you ward the room?"

"Me? It's not my common room, Granger," Draco countered.

"So now it's entirely our responsibility now? Get real, Malloy," Ginny huffed, rolling her eyes at him.

And then, they all fell silent again, the unsolved problem in front of them making them uncomfortable. If it were possible, Hermione did not want to tell Joseph and Gareth too much about what happened because it would undoubtedly complicate things. They really did not need Tom trying to corner them again, too.

"What happened?" another voice spoke up behind Joseph and Gareth, and Alphard walked into view. Apparently, Joseph and Gareth had not bothered to close the door behind them. "What about the future? Are they in here? Oh, hello. Do you want to join us in the snowball fight outside? The other Houses are—"

"Just a second, Black," Gareth interrupted him, not taking his eyes off the four time travelers. "The four of you were joking, right? You were just trying to trick us."

Hermione nibbled on her lower lip. She did not want to be the one making the decision. Even if they did pretend that they were joking around with them, she doubted they were going to let things go. From the looks on Joseph and Gareth's faces, they were already making connections between the stranger things they had done with the idea of them traveling back in time from the future.

"Joking about what?" Alphard asked.

"Look ... just forget about this, alright? Pretend you've never heard us saying anything at all," Draco pleaded.

"What's going on?" Alphard demanded, clearly not about to give up because of Draco's words.

"They were saying something about going back to the future," Joseph replied, still not taking his eyes off the four of them. "And something about ... Lord Volmort ... or something. I've never heard of that name before ..."

Alphard's expression froze, and he gazed at the four of them in alarm. Suspicion built in his eyes with each passing second. "Lord Voldemort?"

"Yes, something like that ... how did you know?" Joseph asked with a frown.

Very slowly, Alphard spoke, "I've heard Cygnus mention that name before. Accidentally, of course, since it seemed like some kind of ... secret among the Slytherins closer to Riddle. Cygnus wouldn't tell me who he was referring to, but it’s pretty obvious who it is." His gaze on the time travelers hardened. "The four of you ... you're not ... are you ..."

"We're not his followers, if that's what you're thinking," Harry said angrily, taking a step forward. "And we never will be! We're—"

"Harry!" Hermione screeched, successfully stopping him from continuing.

"Followers?" asked Joseph in disbelief. "Riddle is gathering followers? What is he trying to do? Become the next Grindelwald or something?"

Hermione, Ginny, and Draco shared a look—Joseph had no idea that that was precisely what Tom planned to do.

"I wouldn't be the least bit surprised," Alphard scoffed. "Him and his perfect charade ... innocent, kind orphan disguise ... I'd always known that he had some kind of hidden agenda going on."

"Now that's unfair, Black. Some people ... are just naturally nice," Gareth opposed, frowning. "Just because you've had some misconceptions about him doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to try and become a Dark Lord."

"Weasley, just because he helped you before doesn't mean he's a nice bloke either," Alphard retorted.

"Sorry, Gareth. I'm with Black on this," Joseph piped up. "Even Dumbledore doesn't trust him. I've told you this many times already."

"I know that," replied Gareth as he scratched the wool jumper over his left arm, "and I do admire Dumbledore and trust his judgement most of the time. But all the other professors adore Tom. Isn't it possible ... isn't it possible for Dumbledore to be wrong every once in a while?"

Uncertainty tinged his words, and Gareth glanced at Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco a couple of times, as if he were seeking for an answer from them. The four of them, however, chose to remain silent. For once, each of them was waiting for the other to take charge and make a decision. None of them wanted to be the one taking the blame if anything went wrong in the end.

"Look, it was just ... a bad thought out joke. Just ... forget about it," Draco spoke up, running his hand through his hair out of nervousness.

However, that turned out to be the precise thing that opened the floodgate of questions.

"How did you find out the name Voldemort? If it was supposed to be a secret—"

"He didn't really turn into a Dark Lord, did he? Why would Dumbledore allow—"

"You've obviously attended Hogwarts before. That's why you don't knock into walls when you're going through the hallways. How did you—"

With a start, Hermione rushed over to the portrait hole and checked, making sure there was no one standing nearby. Shutting the entrance behind her, she ushered the three young men to where they were sitting before pulling out her wand and casting the Muffliato around them. The same mistake did not need to be repeated twice.

"You can't just go off shouting about it," Hermione chided them, slightly furious about how things were turning out.

She could not begin to imagine what would have happened if it were someone else who had overheard them. Thankfully, they were not in the Slytherin common room, so she did not have to worry about the information reaching Tom's ears. All in all, they should have been and would have to be more careful when it was just the four of them, now that the rest of the school was back. The topic of time travel managed to slip its way back into conversation much too frequently.

"Sorry," Joseph, Gareth, and Alphard immediately apologized upon seeing the scary look on Hermione's face.

Heaving a sigh, Hermione closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose, contemplating what she should tell them. How much could she tell them? She still felt ... awkward about changing the future. For a moment, she felt tired. It was almost like the entire balance of the future rested on the shoulders of the four of them. Perhaps she should take Draco's advice and stop worrying so much. But again, it led back to the possibility of Lord Voldemort winning the final battle …

"Is she ... alright?" asked Gareth carefully. "We meant it. We really are sorry for shouting about it right next to the portrait hole."

"It's not your fault," Hermione replied, sighing. She gazed into his sky blue eyes and gave him a weak smile. "I'm just trying to figure out how much we can tell you without ... without changing things that were supposed to happen and without the three of you thinking we're mental."

"Well ... I guess it makes sense," answered Joseph slowly. "The four of you don't speak with an accent ... although I've known some people from my childhood who'd chosen to go to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. But the four of you are so ... familiar with Hogwarts. We've seen the four of you duck away from Peeves and going through tapestries without second thoughts. At first, we didn't think too much about it, since Riddle memorized all the hallways and corridors within the first week of school, but when we heard you mentioning about going back to the future, it suddenly ... everything suddenly clicked into place."

"Not to mention they are not in Slytherin House, but they still know the name Riddle's using in secret," Alphard pointed out. He frowned. "But how is it possible? I thought time traveling was strictly regulated by the Ministry."

"We didn't do it on purpose," Harry quickly said. "We were sent back by someone else ... though we have no idea who did it."

"But why can't you go back?" Joseph asked.

"We don't know what method was used to send us back here," answered Hermione. "The only form of time traveling that is allowed by the Ministry with regulations is the Time Turner. Each turn only brings us backwards by an hour, not to mention there are limitations to Time Turners—"

"Which means Time Turners are out of the question," Draco cut in loudly, realizing Hermione was going to start giving them a thorough walk through about the limitations of Time Turners. "So we're stuck here until Dumbledore comes back."

"You're returning to the future after Dumbledore returns?" Alphard asked in surprise.

"Well ... we hope so," Hermione replied slowly. "That's only if Dumbledore comes up with a solution to how to send us forward in time. If not ..."

For a moment, they remained silent, while Alphard, Gareth, and Joseph digested the information that was given to them.

"So it's true? Tom ... he'll become a Dark Lord?" Gareth asked in a hushed voice, breaking the silence.

"Yes," Harry answered before Hermione could stop him.

"Harry!" she hissed. "Tom knows Legilimency, remember? If we tell them too much about this, he's bound to find out before next week!"

"Legilimency? What's that?" Joseph asked out of curiosity.

Sighing again, Hermione mentally cursed the gods for allowing this to happen. As if life at Hogwarts in the forties were not complicated enough to begin with.

"Is that even legal?" Joseph demanded in horror after she explained to him what Legilimency was.

"But ... wouldn't he know already? I mean, couldn't he extract the information from your minds during class or in the hallways?" Alphard asked.

"Well, Harry and Draco both kind of know Occlumency, which can block out Legilimency attacks," Hermione explained, scratching the back of her head. "Ginny's not in our year, so there's no worries there unless he decides to corner her in the hallways."

"What about you then?" Alphard pressed on, concerned. "You're in nearly every single class with him."

"I try to avoid looking at him in the eyes. You need eye contact ... most of the time for Legilimency to work," Hermione said.

"Isn't that a bit risky though?" asked Joseph disapprovingly. "Why don't you just learn Occlumency, too?"

"You need a Legilimens to help when you're learning Occlumency," answered Hermione, not feeling very inclined to tell them that she did try before and progress was not as satisfactory as she would like it to be.

"Did the wand thing happen to you before, Harry? It is your wand, isn't it?" inquired Gareth, eying Harry curiously.

The latter looked at Hermione, seeking permission from her first. Nibbling her lower lip, Hermione nodded hesitantly.

"It's Harry's wand ... but we really can't tell you more about it, or else it's undoubtedly going to change too many things in the future." She paused before continuing to speak, "The three of you best watch out how you react around Tom the next time you see him. He's ... too perceptive to let small gestures pass, and we don't want him to target the three of you for information next."

"I ... I'll try," Gareth answered, his freckles still rather prominent against that sickly color on his face, while the other two nodded.

"Hold on," Alphard suddenly spoke up, gazing at Hermione. "If you ... well, knew so many things about Riddle and what he would become in the future, why did you disappear with him during Slughorn's party?"

Harry's jaw dropped open, and he flew up on his feet. "You disappeared with Riddle?"

Hermione cringed slightly out of guilt when she recalled what, exactly, happened that night. "Well ... ye—"

"What did he do? Did he hurt you? He didn't Cruciate you again, did he?" Harry asked frantically, worry etched on every feature of his face.

"Cruciate her? Again? You're kidding, aren't you, Harry?" Joseph demanded, appalled. "He's using the Unforgivables on fellow students? Already? This is getting out of hand then. Why didn't you tell the professors?"

"Now you've done it," Hermione muttered at Harry. In a louder voice, she addressed the three young men, "Our whole point here ... well, I really have no idea, exactly, why we were sent back in time. But we're not supposed to change the future. Tom's supposed to leave school and become the Dark Lord. If we tell on him ... according to the history we know, that's not supposed to happen."

An uneasy silence fell over the group, and the frown just would not disappear from Joseph's face. Apparently, he found that information overly disturbing.

"Look, don't worry about it. It's not like I don't know how to protect myself if he wanted to curse me," Hermione tried to console them.

"Yeah, Hermione knows how to knee him really, really well," Draco added, snickering.

"Draco!" Hermione sighed out of exasperation. It seemed like he would never let this topic slide.

"Knee him?" questioned Joseph, blinking his eyes in confusion.

Draco squiggled his eyebrow at him, and a look of realization dawned on Joseph, Gareth, and Alphard's face. Then, the tense atmosphere broke down as everyone, except Hermione (who scowled), broke down in laughter.

"I would've given you ten thousand Galleons to see that," Joseph said as he gasped for breath.

"Count me in," Draco spoke up, wiping away a single tear from the corner of his eyes. "If you ever decide to do that again, we demand to be told ahead of time, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head.

When the laughter finally died down, Joseph turned towards Harry and said, "So ... you must be a Potter."

Before Hermione could signal for Harry to not say anything, he smiled and nodded.

"And you're definitely a Weasley!" Gareth exclaimed, pointing at Ginny, who beamed at him.

"We're not supposed to be giving this information out!" Hermione whispered rapidly at her fellow time travelers, but she was, unfortunately, ignored by the overexcited and curious ancestors of her friends.

"You can't possibly be a Malfoy. Since when did Malfoys get along with Potters?" Alphard said, surveying Draco.

"I never said I was getting along with Scarhead here," Draco sighed, rolling his eyes. "It's called temporary alliance."

"But isn't Abraxas Malfoy a close friend of Tom?" Gareth asked, looking at Draco curiously.

"As if he really thinks of any of them as his friends," Harry scoffed.

"Harry!" Hermione hissed. If he weren't sitting so far away, she would have stomped on his foot already to stop him from giving out what might be time-changing information.

"And that doesn't stop poor ferret boy here from getting Cruciated by their Lord," replied Ginny mockingly.

Hermione threw up her hands in the air in defeat before burying her face in them. If she went back to a changed future, she was so going to throttle every single one of them for not listening to her.

"Ferret boy?" Joseph inquired, his eyes widening in amusement.

Before Draco could stop them, Harry and Ginny launched into a full explanation of where the nickname came from, causing Alphard, Gareth, and Joseph to laugh heartily. They chatted for a while longer, and Hermione had to keep stepping in to stop the conversation (at times, unsuccessfully) when she felt that too much information was getting divulged. Near the end, she felt that another warning was in order, since it seemed like Joseph, Gareth, and Alphard were having a bit too much fun with this whole situation.

"I can't mention this enough times, but honestly ... don't tell anyone about this. We ... probably already changed bits and pieces of the future already, but we don't want to do it more than necessary. And if Tom gets this information ..." she trailed off, worry etched on her face.

"Don't worry, Hermione," Joseph reassured her. "We hardly have any contact with him anyway." He then grinned and elbowed Gareth. "Although you just officially killed Riddle's image in poor Gareth's heart."

Gareth turned red. "I just thought he was a nice bloke. Merlin knew he was going to turn out ... to be something like that ..."

"Nobody could have known unless they traveled back from the future," Joseph remarked, winking at the four time travelers. "But the way you were ranting and raving about Riddle, Gareth, if I hadn't known that you fancied Delphine, I would've thought that you liked him."

"That's it, Potter! You've gone too far!" Gareth yelled in mock anger, jumping to his feet and brandishing two pillows in his hands. "Get up and fight, you scoundrel!"

"Is that a challenge, Weasley? Well, I'm going to give you a good kicking like you've never known before!" Joseph jeered, grabbing two pillows and waving them at Gareth like wings.

A look was exchanged between the two of them, and before Hermione knew what they were going to do, pillows were pelted through the air, successfully hitting Draco, Harry, Ginny, and her in the face. Yells erupted in the common room, and if someone were to enter at that moment, they would have thought that war had broken out.

"That's what you get for ruining our epic snowball fight, villains!" Gareth's voice could be heard over the ruckus that was going on while Harry, Draco, Ginny, and Hermione grabbed pillows and scrambled behind sofas and armchairs.

Soon, a full blown pillow fight broke out with Alphard joining Joseph and Gareth's team. It went on until it was nearly time for Hermione to go to her Ancient Runes class, and for once, Hermione regretted the fact that the fun had to be cut short.

As she walked to the classroom, even though she knew she had to face Tom and tell him their decision, she could not wipe the grin from her face.

~-0-~

After informing Tom that they had come to a conclusion and would like to talk to him about it, the only thing Hermione could do was wait.

"Are you sure Evans can do this without proper Occlumency training? We're all doomed if he finds out we're attempting to lie to him," Draco whispered as they walked through the hallways.

"It's the only choice we have," Hermione replied, trying to push away the nervousness growing in her.

Tom and she had arranged to meet after dinner by the lake, which gave them around three to four hours, including dinnertime, to get ready. As she walked to the Room of Requirement, she wondered why she had not asked for more time. At least, Harry would then have more time to practice on what he was going to say. Who knew if Tom were going to launch immediately into a questioning session? Another problem was they had not spent enough time speculating what questions Tom might ask. What if he asked a question and they had not thought of a non-time-changing answer for it?

Harry and Ginny appeared to be every bit as nervous as Hermione and Draco were. None of them knew if they could trick Tom, and the thought of getting caught lying kept haunting them thoroughly, disturbing their practice session to the point that Draco was already mumbling about getting buried in the Forbidden Forest. A couple of times, Harry ended up tongue-tied while he was reciting the answers to possible questions, which caused him to start pacing around the room out of frustration.

"We're going to succeed in this. I know you can do this, Harry," Hermione reassured him as well as herself.

"He'd better," Draco muttered on the side.

When it was ten past seven, they left the safe confinements of the Room of Hidden Things and headed down to the lake. Tom was nowhere in sight, but of course, they were early by nearly ten minutes. Anxiety settled in, and none of them thought to talk while the silence grated on their nerves.

Finally, at seven twenty-five, they saw a solitary figure briskly walk through the door leading to Hogwarts and stroll towards them. Hermione swallowed, and Harry's body visibly tensed. Ginny and Draco's faces both turned pale at the sight of the Dark Lord, and Hermione could hardly blame them.

"You're early," commented Tom when he stopped right in front of them, his presence even more foreboding than usual under the ghostly shine of the moonlight.

"We've made up our decision," Harry spoke up, cutting to the chase.

"Oh?" answered Tom, crossing his arms over his chest. "And?"

"Although we're grateful that you're providing us with a way to go to Germany, if we allow you to ask unlimited questions, it would be unfair to us," Harry said, his voice firm.

Raising an eyebrow, Tom inclined his head. "Go on."

"So we've discussed about it and felt that ... we'll answer a total of four questions for the spell to travel to Germany: Two before we go to Germany, and two when we return," Harry finished.

He stopped and looked at Tom, waiting for an answer. The latter did not answer immediately. He simply stared at each of them in turn, his dark eyes indecipherable.

"Interesting how you've discussed it and felt that everything was fair." Tom's soft voice was loud against the silence of the night. His face betrayed no emotions, and he gazed steadily at Harry while he spoke. "It is obvious that your concept of 'fair' is only limited to when things are in favor of you and you only."

"Four questions is already bordering on dangerous for us. If we allow anymore, we might as well tell you everything you want to know," replied Harry.

"Is that so?" Tom asked. A smile so faint it was nearly invisible appeared on his face. "Did you expect thanks for it then, Evans? As far as I'm concerned, you may very well go back on your words and never answer the last two questions."

"We're not Slyth—" Harry stopped in his words when he noticed that he was nearly including Draco.

Tom noticed where he was looking at and chuckled.

"Mr. Malloy may very well be Sorted into Gryffindor if re-Sorting was allowed," he said, his voice sarcastic. His expression turned collected again, and he proposed, "Three questions before you leave for Germany, and three when you return."

"That's far too many," Hermione spoke up immediately.

Tom's eyes slid over to her, his face still not showing any emotions. "You know that I won't settle for four questions only, Hermione."

Harry gritted his teeth and looked at Hermione, who was nibbling the inside of her cheeks. They had guessed that he would try to bargain the number of questions he got to ask. Now they were slightly regretting the fact that they had not started at a lower number. Though if they did, Tom would have probably turned on his heels and left.

"A total of five questions then," Harry said. "Two before we leave and three after we return."

"Three before you leave and two after you return," bargained Tom.

Hermione and Harry shared a look, and they knew that they would have to agree with it. Hoping they were making the right choice, Hermione watched as Harry nodded, sealing the deal.

"Fine," Harry conceded.

Tom's lips curved upwards, satisfaction settling over his previously impassive features.

"Very well then. I will prepare the spell for ... your trip to Germany." His smile took on an amused air, though they had no idea what he found funny. "We shall meet again three in the morning inside the Forbidden Forest on the fourteenth, and I will ask you my first three questions before ... sending you off to Germany."

~-0-~

Hermione had no idea if it were because they had an impending "trip" coming up or the fates were just being mean to her. Nonetheless, the next couple of days had been nothing short of annoying.

In addition to having to put up with Draco (who kept going on about how they were going to get chopped up into little pieces and fed to the werewolves living in the Forbidden Forest), Harry continued fretting about how Hermione kept her disappearance from Slughorn's party with Tom a secret, and although he never voiced it out loud, Hermione had a feeling that he was becoming increasingly suspicious about the relationship between Tom and her. It made her uncomfortable, and she tried to stay as far as she could away from Tom. However, that was made difficult by the fact that Tom made it a point to annoy Harry by being intimately close to her in every single class they had together.

On Thursday, the morning was disturbed as usual by the owls flying in to deliver mail, and soon, everyone was either reading through their morning papers and letters or eating their breakfast while chitchatting. A loud sob suddenly echoed throughout the Great Hall, catching everyone's attention. Hermione turned around just in time to see Iris Parkinson covering her face, wailing and running out the door. Her younger sister, Melantha, quickly followed after her, all the while calling her name.

However, it was not Iris's reaction that surprised Hermione. Melantha had been known to be extremely protective of her older sister to the point of trying to curse Hermione while Iris was staying at St. Mungo's. She now had the strangest expression on her face—a mixture between glee and worry.

"What happened to her?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Who knows?" replied Ginny with a shrug. "Probably got rejected by Riddle or something."

Nonetheless, Hermione's question was soon answered right before Charms class began.

"Well, I heard it from Abraxas, who heard it from Augustus, who heard it from—"

"Just tell us what happened, Draco," Hermione interrupted him while Harry, Ginny, Joseph, and Gareth stared at him with utmost attention.

Shooting her an annoyed look for interrupting him, Draco began to talk, "She got a letter from her parents this morning. They—her parents, that is—never quite liked her as much as her younger sister, Melantha."

"How did you know that?" asked Joseph.

"It's no secret among us Slytherins. Besides, Iris doesn't keep it a secret either. Though Melantha's always rather nice to Iris—much nicer than how Iris is to her; I suppose that's why she got Sorted into Ravenclaw rather than Slytherin—Iris tends to mock Melantha behind her back," Draco replied.

"Backstabbing Slytherin," Joseph muttered, earning a dirty look from Draco.

"Watch it there, Potter," drawled Draco, his eyes still narrowed. "Iris tries to prove to her parents that she's better than Melantha, but from the looks of it, they don't really care. This morning, the letter from their dear parents demanded Iris to help Melantha."

"Help Melantha? Why would that make Iris cry?" Hermione asked, confused.

"You're going to love this, Granger," Draco said, smirking. "The Parkinsons want Iris to help Melantha persuade Riddle to marry her."

Hermione's jaws dropped open while Joseph and Gareth started snickering to themselves.

"No wonder Iris started crying," said Joseph, amusement making his voice slightly unsteady.

"I'm surprised she didn't go jump in the lake yet," Gareth added.

However, Hermione remained silent as her mouth slowly closed and her eyes turned contemplative.

"Melantha doesn't seem too opposed to that idea," Joseph pointed out, remembering that look on Melantha's face back in the Great Hall.

"Of course not," said Draco, rolling his eyes. "Ask any girl—" He looked pointedly at Hermione. "—if they would mind getting married to Riddle."

Harry followed Draco's line of sight and glanced at Hermione with a small frown on his forehead. However, she was hardly paying attention to their conversation, let alone see the gazes with which Draco and Harry looked at her with.

Shifting slightly in his seat, Harry heaved a sigh before chuckling. "Wait till they see what he looks like in the future."

The conversation was force to come to a halt with the entrance of the professor and Tom, though that hardly stopped Hermione from thinking.

It appeared that she had something to ... attend to before she left for Germany.

~-0-~

A/N: No cliffie this time. ;) *dances around happily* We're heading for Germany soon. Let's all hope for a ... safe trip, shall we? ;)
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Somewhere in Time