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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
- 37
- 38
- 39
A/N: Many thanks to catcachoo (from PI) for beta-ing the chapter. Special thanks to Nerys for going over the chapter to check for flow and logic. Many thanks to those of you who read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: Lady Miya, Rena, Nerys, bluelagoon, mirrorofrapture, and Aviendha!

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

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Chapter 38

The next two days were gone before Hermione knew it, and soon, they found themselves sitting in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. The boisterous group of students contrasted greatly with them, and for some reason, the cheerful and noisy atmosphere only made them more anxious. As the time to meet Tom slid closer, they started to become even more fidgety.

What if Tom gave them the wrong spell even after they gave him answers to the first three questions? What if he did something to the spell, making them end up in some strange, dangerous zone? They then remembered that Lord Voldemort would not do things that were not beneficial to him. If he gave them the wrong spell, he would never get the other two answers.

The common room always seemed to clear out slower than usual when they needed it to be empty. Therefore, Galahad and another fifth-year boy naturally had to stay up way past midnight playing a game of wizard's chess before they retired to their dorms. Though they still had another three hours before they had to meet Tom in the Forbidden Forest, they had to sneak upstairs to the Room of Requirement first, since Draco was waiting for them there.

After making sure that there was no one else in the common room, Harry took out his invisibility cloak and pulled it over Ginny, Hermione, and himself. The hallways were mostly empty, except for the people who were patrolling. When they were near the Room of Requirement, they nearly cursed out loud when they saw Hogan the caretaker tidying the portraits hanging there; they were worried that Draco might get impatient waiting for them and come out of the room. Thankfully, that did not happen, and after waiting for nearly an hour, Hogan finally hobbled away.

"Took the three of you long enough," Draco muttered when they entered the room.

Although he tried to look calm, it was obvious from his mussed up hair and slightly frantic gaze that he was just as worried as the three Gryffindors.

"We could leave you up here and let you head over to the Forbidden Forest on your own without my invisibility cloak," Harry snapped.

"Stop," Hermione ordered before Draco could open his mouth and counter what Harry said. "We're all worried now, and the two of you are not going to take it out on one another. We still have two hours to go. You, Harry, should practice on what you're going to say, and the rest of us should be thinking of what other questions Tom might ask before we get sent to Germany."

Slumping down into one of the couches, Harry ran his hands through his hair while Draco paced in front of the fireplace. Ginny sat down beside Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder, silently supporting him.

After another, in Hermione's opinion, pointless practice session (since the questions asked and answered were nearly the same ones from their previous practices), it was finally time for them to make their way down towards the Forbidden Forest. There were less patrolling prefects and professors at this hour of the night, which they were grateful about. They slowly crossed over Hogwarts ground, Hermione taking care to cover their tracks in the snow with a well-placed spell. Once they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Harry pulled off the invisibility cloak, and they each pulled out their wands.

"How do we know where to look for him?" asked Draco. "The forest is huge. He could be anywhere."

"Perhaps we should stay on the trail," Ginny suggested.

Hermione shook her head. "I doubt he's going to do that. It would be far too easy for someone like Professor Ferns to catch him while she's looking for some plant or other samples in the forest."

"But didn't they say that it's dangerous to go off the trail?" Draco pointed out, his face paler than normal. The lack of proper lighting made it hard to see, but Hermione was pretty sure she saw his body shiver slightly against the night air, and it was certainly not from the cold.

"We're going into the forest, Malloy. How safe did you reckon it would be?" asked Harry.

"Why did we promise him to meet in the Forbidden Forest?" Draco whimpered. "Couldn't we've just met in Hogsmeade or something?"

"It's hidden from prying eyes," answered Hermione simply. Muttering a soft "Lumos," she took a step forward. "Let's go. We only have fifteen minutes left before three."

Though she had attempted to look brave, she could not help the hair from standing up on the back of her neck. The forest seemed quieter than normal; there was not even the occasional hoot one would hear from a lone owl while wandering through the forest at night. As they trekked deeper in (which was made harder by the abundant amount of snow on the ground), the only source of light they could rely on was the tips of their wands. The moonlight was completely hidden by the trees and the snow that piled up on their branches, and the spaces between trees became narrower as they continued inwards.

"Oomph!" Draco grunted when a pile of snow crashed down on him as they climbed over a particularly narrow passage between two trees.

Uncontrollably, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny snickered as the usually immaculate blond became even more disheveled.

"Thanks for helping," Draco muttered sarcastically. He pulled out his arm and wand from the snow with some difficulty and cast a spell on the surrounding snow, melting it away.

"You're very welcome," replied Hermione just as mockingly. When she turned around, she noticed some light shining through the trees and branches just ahead of them.

Apparently, Harry must have seen the same silvery glow, since he said, "Perhaps that's where he wanted us to meet him? I don't think we've reached the other edge of the forest with just fifteen minutes of walking."

Deciding that the only way they would know was to find out, they gradually trod over the snow, testing each area to make sure there weren't any roots sticking out to trip them. When they finally came into the clearing, they were surprised by what they saw in front of them. Not the fact that Tom was already leaning against a tree and watching them with mild amusement written on his face, but more because of the environment they had walked into.

It seemed as if someone had taken a large circular stamp, placed it right in the middle of the forest, and declared that no trees should be planted there and no snow should fall there. The grass that remained behind was a darker shade of green, obviously because it had been only recently crushed by the heavy weight of snow on top of it. The snow must have been taken care of by Tom, but Hermione had no idea if he were the one who'd gotten rid of the trees, too. Her eyes then got caught by the glass-like spheres that hung on trees surrounding the clearing. The light emitting from them was a silvery white instead of the usual gold of candlelight or fire, almost as if the moonlight that was absent tonight had been trapped inside those spheres.

"Right on time," Tom commented when all four of them made it through the crack between the trees.

When they did not answer, Tom pushed himself away from the tree and sauntered up to the middle of the circle.

"What are the questions?" Harry spoke up.

"Tsk, patience is a virtue, Evans," Tom said silkily, twirling his wand between his long fingers.

"We know as well as you do what we want from each other. I prefer to get this over and done with," Harry answered.

Tom's lips curved into a faint smile. "Our feelings are mutual, but we do have two hours. If you are ... cooperative, I daresay, the questioning will be over in a matter of minutes, and we will have more than sufficient time to set up the necessary elements needed for international traveling." He paused, looking pointedly at Harry. "With that said, do refrain from interrupting while I'm questioning."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up, confused in regards to his request. Well, she knew that he loved to hear himself talk, but even from him, this was a rather strange request. However, seconds later, she knew why he warned them about interruption.

Slowly, as if on purpose, he walked up to Ginny Weasley, and disregarding the shocked and confused expressions on everyone else's faces, he spoke.

"How do I defeat Evans's wand?"

Ginny stared at him, stunned, and Hermione had the urge to scream out for her to avert her eyes, but it was already too late. A smile—cold, victorious, and pleased—appeared on his face as Harry and Hermione rushed forward towards him. Before they could touch Tom, however, a wand was pointed directly at Harry's chest.

"Step back, both of you," said Tom coldly, never taking his eyes off Ginny. "I won't hesitate cursing Evans if you take another step forward."

"Get away from her, Riddle," Harry fumed, his eyes flashing. "We've promised to answer your questions—"

"And that's exactly what I'm doing. We've never specified which one of you I could ask for answers from," Tom interrupted Harry's words, his smile broadening. "Now, step back, Evans. We don't have all day."

Hermione watched in horror as fear began to dance in Ginny's brown orbs. The knuckles of Ginny's fists had turned white, and her freckles stood out even more than Hermione had ever seen them. It almost seemed as if doom's day had arrived for Ginny as guilt and horror flashed through her face.

"Harry can answer the questions better than Ginny since it's his wand," Hermione spoke up, trying to convince Tom to question Harry instead.

"I think Miss Weatherby is doing just fine, Hermione," answered Tom, casting her an amused glance before looking back at Ginny. "Do watch over your friend there, Hermione. I would rather get this done without having to hurt anyone."

His smile turned vicious, and Hermione was positive that he would more than welcome the chance to hex Harry. That thought in itself made her grimace out of worry, and she pulled Harry back by his arm.

It was obvious that the timeline had officially been changed by ridiculous amounts. Lord Voldemort was not supposed to know about the Elder Wand until fifty years later. Unless ... she could chance a Memory Charm? Tom did have his eyes on Ginny and his wand pointed at Harry after all.

"Where do I find this Elder Wand?" Tom asked Ginny, who had not spoken a word throughout their whole interaction.

Moments later, he raised an eyebrow at what must have been Ginny's thoughts. In fact, he seemed somewhat amused. Taking a step away from her, he lowered his wand arm and looked at Hermione.

Once the wand was lowered, Harry and Hermione immediately rushed towards Ginny to make sure she was alright. Harry stood slightly in front of Ginny, almost as if he wanted to block her from Tom's view.

"Unless you don't want to go to Germany, Hermione," Tom said sharply, causing them to look at him, "I suggest keeping your hand off that wand of yours. One attempt on using the Memory Charm on me, and I will consider our deal null and void."

Face expressionless, his dark eyes ran through the four of them before landing on the only other Slytherin there. He swiftly walked up to Draco, and before the blond had a chance to react, Tom grabbed his left arm and pulled up the sleeve. There was a collective sharp intake of breaths around them, and Draco turned even paler than he was before as the faint shape of the inactive Dark Mark got exposed to the cold air.

"Interesting," said Tom very quietly and slowly as a single pale finger traced the shape. "Mind telling me where you got this mark from, Malloy?"

Staring straight into Draco's eyes, a vile smirk appeared on Tom's lips as he dug his finger down into the forearm of Draco's arm. A yelp resounded throughout the clearing as the Dark Mark turned black, sinister-looking under the silvery glow of the spheres, and Hermione started towards them. Before she could take another step, Tom's wand was aimed in Harry's direction again.

"Disregard my warning again, Hermione, and we'll start the morning by taking Evans to the infirmary," said Tom coldly.

Harry's hand flew to his pocket, as if he was taking up Tom's challenge, but Hermione stopped him before he could withdraw the wand. As much as it made her feel helpless watching Draco in pain from the activation of the Dark Mark, there was nothing she could do without letting the situation end with a duel. Though with the four of them dueling Tom, there was a good chance they might win, they still needed him to take them to Germany.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tom finally dropped Draco's arm and walked back to the center of the clearing without a second look backwards. None of them could concentrate on what he was doing while he set up the spell to send them to Germany. Hermione rushed towards Draco and bent down next to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, staring at the shaking blond.

Ginny sank down to the grass, a slightly dazed look on her face before she covered it with her hands.

"Ginny ... Ginny, are you alright?" asked Harry softly, crouching down beside her, worried. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"What have I done ... Oh Merlin ... what have I done ... Oh, Harry. I'm so, so sorry," Ginny whimpered as she lifted her head from her hands. Tears leaked out of her eyes. "I didn't do it on purpose ... I didn't even know ... I hadn't prepared ... He just suddenly asked me, and I ... Oh, Harry." She ducked into Harry's embrace and cried into his shoulder.

"It's alright, Ginny. None of us knew he was going to ask you instead of me. We'd forgotten to limit the questions to me," Harry soothed her.

"No ... no ... it's my fault, Harry. I shouldn't have thought about the Elder Wand. What if he gets it now?" Ginny whispered.

The four of them looked in the direction where Tom was standing. Thankfully, he stood a good distance away, a distance with which Hermione knew he could not hear them if they whispered. He seemed to be surveying something in the skies as he occasionally flicked his wand in a different direction. Lime-colored jets of light would travel from his wand and disappear at approximately ten feet away from him. A strangely-shaped rock would appear over the spot where the light disappeared.

"We'll just have to prevent that from happening. We're going to Germany, aren't we? We'll have to get to Grindelwald before he does," Harry said in a low voice.

"He knows about Grindelwald, Harry. I thought about him when he asked me where the Elder Wand was," Ginny confessed, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"He may be a powerful wizard in the future, but I doubt Grindelwald would lose to him. After all, we have to remember that Grindelwald nearly took over continental Europe and only lost to Dumbledore," Hermione reminded them.

"Hermione's right, Ginny. Don't worry," Harry whispered, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "It took someone like Dumbledore to defeat Grindelwald. Riddle's not going to stand a chance against him."

"Yeah, Evans, it took someone like Dumbles to defeat Grindelwald. So ... pray tell, how are we going to defeat the Dark Lord of the forties?" asked Draco, his complexion still stark white.

It was clear that he was still unsettled by Tom asking him that question, and he was visibly shaking under the bright moonlight. Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know," Harry confessed, closing his eyes in defeat. When he opened them again, there was a renewed light of determination in them. "But we'll have to try. Even if it means ... defeat somewhere along the line, we'll have to try."

"Evans, we don't have Horcruxes like he does," Draco hissed, moving closer to them. "We could easily ... just die ... like that." He snapped his fingers to indicate what he meant. "Another thing is how do we know if he's really going to send us to Germany?"

"Well, that's what all of us want to know, isn't it?" Hermione answered, a frown marring her features. "We'd have to take the chance. Let's just hope that he still wants those last two questions."

They all fell silent, each immersed in their own thoughts. What Hermione had not mentioned was the nagging feeling she had after she heard Tom's questions. There was something ... off about the whole questioning session. It was almost as if ... he knew something he was not supposed to. For a moment, Hermione wondered if they had been betrayed. Tom had been badgering her about where they were from since the first day they arrived. Yet, the only thing he asked about was the wands. And the fact that he had only addressed the questions to Ginny, who was one of the two people in their group who did not know Occlumency ... The whole thing just struck her as weird.

She wanted to think that out of the three, she could probably trust Joseph, but with recent events, she had no choice but to suspect all of them. Alphard, Joseph, and Gareth each had something that made Hermione suspicious, and she was afraid that the more she thought into it, the more things she would find wrong with them. Another thing she could not brush aside was the possibility of having more than one traitor. What if there were two or, even worse, three people working to fish information out of them?

Saying that Hermione was confused would be an understatement, and it made her restless. If there were a traitor among them, Tom would now know much more about the future than was safe. She was more than glad that a few crucial things were kept out of conversation last night, but if Tom now knew that they were from the future, she doubted he would give them a break. He would use all means to get the information that they have.

Hermione nibbled her lower lip, worried. She glanced momentarily at Ginny. From the latter's expression, Hermione could only guess how much information Ginny had given Tom. However, it just did not feel alright to ask her right now, when she had already broken down and seemed like she was on the verge of breaking down again.

The silence was finally broken when Tom called out towards them. They turned around, and Hermione could not help but blink twice when she saw the set up. A ring of strangely shaped rocks still surrounded Tom, but a ball of flame hovered on top of each of them. Each rock emitted a faint yellowish light, combining with the bluish glow of the flames before reflecting towards each of the spheres hanging on the tree. Each of those spheres then projected a white colored light towards the air above where Tom was standing and connected at one single point.

They were hesitant about entering into the confinements of the strays of light, especially Draco and Harry. However, after Tom raised an eyebrow at them, Hermione inhaled deeply and stepped past the rocks on the floor before Harry could stop her.

A mocking smile appeared on Tom's face. "Seems like there's only one Gryffindor among the crowd."

"It really has nothing to do with courage," Hermione retorted, raising her eyebrows at him. "It has more to do with the untrustworthy company we're in."

Amusement replaced mockery, and he chuckled softly before his expression turned serious. "Runes need to be carved onto each of the rocks you see on the floor. I need three of you to help me carve them into the rocks or else we might run out of time."

In the end, Draco, Ginny, and Hermione found themselves with pieces of parchment, indicating what runes to carve. Hermione had been worried about Ginny's condition and if her emotions were stable enough to finish the job. However, in the end, Ginny managed to put on an expressionless face while Tom told them which rocks they were supposed to take care of, and they each set off to work, with Harry standing near Ginny, just in case she broke down again.

There were a total of twelve rocks on the floor, and Tom, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco each had to take care of three. Tom warned them against using spells to carve the rocks, since they had been made out of magic. Using spells on them would alter the magical properties, so instead, they were handed three chisels with which to carve the runes with.

When they were finally finished, Draco plopped down on the grass and wiped the sweat off his forehead while Hermione and Ginny rubbed their slightly soring arms.

"We should get inside the circle of rocks. It's nearly time," Tom spoke up, rolling down his sleeves.

"Wait a second. We?" Harry asked, staring at Tom suspiciously.

His words caught everyone's attention, and their eyes immediately flew over to the Tom, whose lips were slowly curving into a faint smile and eyebrow rose.

"Of course, Evans. I recall I happen to be the only one who knows how this whole traveling spell works—"

"You're not planning on traveling to Germany with us, are you?" Harry cut in, his voice hostile.

"I still want my last two questions, Evans. If you stay in Germany permanently, I doubt that would happen," Tom answered smoothly.

"Then just give us the book with the directions! We don't need you coming along with us," Harry countered.

"I'm afraid that that's not possible," Tom replied, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm not going to rip pages out of a rare tome just for you, Evans, and neither do I feel like sharing the other spells in the book with you." His smile turned sarcastic. "Of course, if you don't want to go to Germany anymore, I wouldn't have a problem with that."

Harry's hand twitched, and Hermione immediately pulled on his sleeve to prevent him from cursing Tom on the spot.

"You can easily make a copy of the directions and lend it to us," Hermione pointed out, observing Tom's features.

What were his intentions? She doubted he cared about Dumbledore's health and well-being. Was he trying to travel with them to Germany to sabotage any possibilities of them saving Dumbledore? It sounded stupid even in Hermione's mind, but she wouldn't put it past Lord Voldemort.

He had done enough ridiculously stupid things in the future to warrant it.

"So you can make multiple copies of it for future references? I think not, Hermione," Tom replied.

"You're not going to Germany with us," Harry repeated himself.

In the background, Draco had already sat up straight, staring at Tom as if he were Death himself. Ginny's eyes were unblinking as she ogled in horror at the possibility of Tom traveling with them to Germany. There were a million things that could go wrong if he went with them, but Hermione could not think of a way to convince him to stay.

"You're the Head Boy. If you suddenly disappear for a couple of days—" she began to say.

"Which should be something that I worry about and not something that should concern you, Hermione," responded Tom. He casually looked upwards towards the skies. "It's nearly time. Unless you don't want to go to Germany, I suggest you enter the circle of rocks now."

Hermione had guessed that he was going to get other benefits from their arrangements, but it was certainly not this. It was rather apparent now that he did not tell them that he planned to go with them just so he could have his questions answered and not give them the time needed to prevent him from going to Germany with them.

Hermione shot a look at Harry, who had a furious look on his face. However, when he caught her eyes, he gave her a stiff nod; they did not have another choice. Together, with Ginny, they walked into the circle. Draco, on the other hand, stood up but took a step backwards. Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, stomped out of the circle, and grabbed Draco's arm.

"Granger, you're not really letting him come with us, are you? Convince him not to go with us, I know you can," Draco whispered quickly, refusing to budge from his spot.

"Does it look like he's letting us convince him? You should know him better than the three of us. Besides, the decision isn't even up to us," answered Hermione, shooting Tom another annoyed glance.

"But—but—" Draco stuttered.

"Just get in the circle," Hermione growled. "We don't need you giving us even more trouble for this trip."

"But—but—"

Ignoring his protests, Hermione tugged his arm with all her might towards the circle, which was made difficult by him not cooperating at all. Throughout the whole distance, he continued whispering to her the potential problems that would occur if Tom went to Germany with them.

As if she hadn't known that already.

When they were finally there, Draco stood between and slightly behind Harry and Ginny. Tom raised an eyebrow at him, amused, before he spoke.

"The spell only works during the new moon, which is why I've instructed for you to meet me here on the fourteenth. In approximately three minutes, if we've done everything correctly, we will be transported to the wizarding community near the Thuringian Forest, where you've told me one of Dumbledore's contacts lived," said Tom, looking at Hermione, who stood in between him and Ginny.

As if on cue, the yellowish glow of the rocks turned a sinister red, making it seem as if the rocks were burning, while the flames turned green. The spheres of light hanging on the trees started to swing back in forth, as though being pushed by huge gusts of wind. The runes carved on the rocks remained yellowish in color as they rearranged themselves. Gradually, they picked up speed until it became a whirlpool like blur. The point hovering above them started to pulse and grew brighter with each passing second.

Suddenly, Tom cursed, causing them to tore their eyes from the fascinating scene in front of them and turned towards him.

"Get out of the line of rocks immediately," Tom ordered, turning around to move out. Harry, who was standing on his other side, grabbed a hold of him.

"Why?" demanded Harry.

"Because there's an eclipse tonight," Tom replied, and Hermione was frightened by his tone of voice. There was a certain urgency in it, and she knew he was not kidding.

However, before they could make another move, all of the flashing lights surrounding them brightened intensely, forcing them to shut their eyes.

And then everything turned dark.

~-0-~

Her mouth formed into a silent "O" as she was propelled through the air, and for a moment, her mind went completely blank before fear surged through every single cell of her body. Then, she finally found her voice when she began to fall. A bloodcurdling scream erupted from her throat as she felt herself drop towards the ground at a fast speed.

"Oomph," Hermione grunted when she thrown into a pile of snow.

She remained still for a while, uncertain whether there were any broken bones from the impact. She hadn't heard any sickening cracks when she fell, so that was a good sign, and so far, she didn't feel any specific points of pain. So, she tried to push herself up, but found her muscles out of her control. It was as if someone took some kind of vacuum and extracted most of her energy from her. Disgruntled, she twisted her neck to the side with all the strength she could muster and waited for her limbs to listen to her commands again while mentally cursing at Tom Marvolo Riddle.

She should have known that any "ingenious" plans Lord Voldemort came up with had to have some kind of glitch in them. If he had bothered to tell her that the new moon was required for the spell, she might have remembered to remind him that there was an eclipse today. But no, Mr. Tom I-Must-Devise-Plans-With-Ridiculously-Large-Holes-In-Them Riddle had to remain bloody secretive and throw them into this kind of bloody situation.

Not only did their attempt to go to Germany completely failed, but she had been thrown up into the air and dropped like a ragged doll (though, perhaps she should be thankful that it was not on harder surfaces such as cement). On top of that, she was still bloody sprawling in the snow without an ounce of energy left in her because of Merlin-knew-what. She could be certain that the others were also suffering from the same thing because she hadn't heard curses from Harry or whimpers from Draco yet.

She was most definitely going to hex the living daylights out of Tom Riddle before she Obliviated that and information about the wands from his mind.

After what seemed like an eternity, she gingerly pushed herself into sitting position and curled her fingers together to make sure that they were still in working order. Except for the numbness caused by the cold, there seemed to be nothing wrong. That made her slightly relieved until she took in surroundings.

Wherever she was, it was definitely not the Forbidden Forest.

The trees were distributed too far away from each other, and she could quite clearly see the slowly brightening skies above her. Though the ground and trees were covered with snow, much like the Forbidden Forest, it lacked the creepy, frightening feeling. No, Hermione Granger was positive that she was not in the forest she had come to know.

A renewed feeling of dread swept through her when she swiveled her head around and could not find any signs of her companions. The fast movement with which she was moving her head and eyes made a wave of dizziness wash through her again, so she was forced to stop. However, not looking and moving around meant that her mind had time to think of overwhelming questions: Where was she? When was she? What if Tom's spell somehow altered into a time traveling spell and sent her to some random era in time? She didn't know what spell Tom used, so how would she go back? What if Harry and the others got thrown into another time period, too? How would she ever find them again?

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten, trying to calm her rapidly increasing heart rate. At a moment like this, she had to keep a cool head and not allow herself to fret. It would only make matters worse. Perhaps matters were not as frightening as her mind was making them out to be. She should wait for her energy to return and search the immediate area for signs of Harry and the others before making an absurd conclusion. Hopefully, they were still in the same country and not some random place and time.

A few minutes later, she first gently shook out her limbs before attempting to stand up. Although her body still felt kind of wobbly and heavy, she managed to get on both of her feet.

"Hermione!" a distant voice called out, causing her to turn around.

However, the quick action triggered another wave of dizziness, and she had to steady herself with the help of a nearby tree. Looking towards the source of the sound, she found a familiar head of flaming red hair, very apparent against the pure white of freshly fallen snow.

"Ginny!" she called out, a relieved smile appearing on her face.

As Hermione had predicted, Ginny was also suffering from the fatigue she was going through, and it took both of them a very long time before they reached one another. After giving each other confirmations that they were unharmed except for the strange loss of energy, they found a smooth slab of rock and sat down.

"We're not in the Forbidden Forest," commented Ginny as Hermione conjured a small blue-flamed fire in front of them to keep them warm.

"No, we're not," Hermione confirmed, a frown marring her features. "To tell the truth, I have no idea where we are."

"Me neither," Ginny replied with equal grimness. "Although I hope we're lucky and find out that we're in Germany."

"Hopefully the Germany of 1945 and not some other time period," Hermione added.

With a heavy sigh, Ginny nodded. A short pause followed before she opened her mouth again, "Do you think the others are here, too?"

"I don't know ... but if they are, they either haven't regained enough of their energy to call out to us yet or they're too far away to hear us," Hermione theorized.

"I hope they're alright," Ginny whispered worriedly.

The frown deepened on Hermione's face, and she nodded. She had an inkling of an idea about what Ginny was concerned about. If, somehow, Tom ended up in the same area with Harry or Draco, the only thing that could occur was disaster. Hermione could not begin to imagine what kind of ruins Ginny and she would end up finding.

In the end, they decided to rest for a little while and regain their strengths before heading out into the unknown forest to look for the others. However, their search was fruitless, and they appeared to be the only ones in the immediate area. After a short discussion, they randomly chose a direction and began walking through the forest, hoping that they could come across some town to find out exactly when and where they were.

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Somewhere in Time