Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Somewhere in Time	By : serpentinred Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 64474 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 39
- 40
- 41
A/N: Sorry for the delay ;). I just returned from a trip to Japan, which is why I didn't have as much time as usual to write. Special thanks to Nerys for looking over the chapter for logic. Huge, huge thanks to those of you who read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: Lady Miya, Devious, e-cam157, Rena, Angel1988, Abyss, Tourniquette, and Blacklabyrinth8.
Review replies can be found here: http://serp-replies.livejournal.com/10311.html
~-0-~
Chapter 40

Although Ernsta managed to cure herself of Ginny's curse, she still hid in her room and refused to come out afterwards. Therefore, Hermione and Ginny had to wait until Dietfried Kaufmann came home before they knew which room they could stay in—or if they would be welcomed at all after he found out what Ginny did to his wife.
Ginny refused to talk about what happened in the storage room and glared at Harry—who now had scaly, purple skin and green hair—when Hermione asked about it. Draco and Tom were both quite amused when they saw the color of Harry's hair.
"Great hair color, Evans," Draco snickered. "Always knew you were a Slytherin at heart. Perhaps we should get you a silver tie to go with it?"
Harry shot Draco an annoyed look before looking back at Ginny. "I didn't do anything, Ginny—"
"Which was precisely the problem," Ginny cut in. "I'm sure it's so very difficult to push away that woman."
"I did try to push her away," Harry argued, shooting a dirty look at Draco who was still guffawing at the side.
"Apparently, not hard enough," Ginny said dryly.
She was saved the trouble of having to explain to Dietfried Kaufmann, since Ernsta did not say anything to him when he returned. She seemed to realize that other things, including her less than proper movements towards Harry and Tom, would come out of the bag, too, if she were to tell. So, their host remained oblivious to what happened when the girls arrived through the fireplace.
Dietfried was quite a bit shorter than Paulos Meinhardt and appeared frailer looking with his hunched back and hollow cheeks. In contrast to Meinhardt's immaculate clothes, Dietfried could have passed for a common villager. In fact, if Draco hadn't mentioned it, they would not have known that Kaufmann was much richer than Meinhardt.
"And how do you know?" Hermione asked in a low voice as they sat at the dining table while Dietfried prepared their dinner.
"Abraxas mentioned it the other day when we were talking about … er …" Draco trailed off, casting an unsure glance towards Tom.
Tom raised an eyebrow and took a drink out of his glass. "The Parkinsons' marriage proposal?"
Draco did not answer, and Hermione could not help but perk up her ears at the mention. She had yet to find out his reaction to what the Parkinsons were offering.
"Talking about the Parkinsons, whatever happened to Melantha Parkinson?" Harry spoke up, looking at Draco with a frown on his now regular-colored face. Although Ginny was still treating him rather coldly, at least it seemed that he had apologized enough to receive the counter-curse. However, his hair was still an attention-catching bright green.
Taking a sip out of her own glass, Hermione managed to keep a mildly interested face on at his question.
"Horned," Draco replied.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Horned?"
"As in horned," Draco said. "She has … something like pimples on her face, but there are tiny horns on top of them."
Harry scrunched up his face in disgust. "Who would do something like that to her?"
"If you ask me, I think it's the same person who cursed Iris, since the trigger seems to be …" Draco trailed off again and cast another look at Tom.
As if on cue, both Harry and Draco's eyes landed on Hermione, who picked up a piece of bread and buttered it without saying anything.
Instead, Ginny spoke up. "You still haven't said why you and Malfoy mentioned that irritable woman."
"Well, you saw the, er, flirty side of her already," Draco said with a smirk. "There's more to it."
"More to it?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.
Before Draco could answer, Dietfried returned with plates and plates of food levitating towards them. After a delicious but tension-filled dinner (the highlights including less than kind staring contests between Ernsta and Ginny), they each returned to their rooms.
Although the Kaufmann residence appeared less well-kept than Meinhardt's mansion, it was still quite cozy and comfortable. It had two floors with a master bedroom and two guestrooms on the second floor and one guestroom on the first floor. The time travelers shared the two rooms on the second floor, with the girls in one room and the boys in the other, while Tom took the room on the first floor. Though both Harry and Draco were rather disgruntled with the arrangements ("Shouldn't Slytherins share the same room?" muttered Harry at Hermione's suggestion and fell silent when Ginny gave him a look), they both mutually agreed that it was better than sharing a room with Tom.
Figuring that Ginny might want some alone time with Harry, Hermione remained in their shared room when Ginny visited the boys' room. Shortly after Ginny left, the door opened after a knock on the door.
"Good evening, Fräulein Hermione," Dietfried greeted her with a kindly smile.
"Good evening," she replied with a similar smile.
"I just wanted to tell you that the bathroom is located directly across the hall from your room. If there's anything else you need, please do not hesitate to tell me," said Dietfried.
"Thank you so much," said Hermione.
"It's not a problem. After all, you are Albus's students. I must say, to come all the way out here to look for your professor … I'm sure he must be very glad to have the five of you as his students," Dietfried said.
Hermione had no idea how to reply to his words, seeing that "the five of you" included Tom, too, so she simply answered with a meek smile before asking, "Harry told me that you went out this morning to ask around if Professor Dumbledore had been seen after he visited you …"
"Ah, yes," Dietfried said. Entering the room, he sat down in the chair next to the door. "It appeared that he traveled directly into the forest on the north side of the village."
"And he never came back?" Hermione asked.
A frown appeared on Dietfried's face and he sighed. "Nobody had ever come out of that forest alive, Fräulein."
"Are you saying …" Hermione halted in her words, not daring to continue.
"No, no, Fräulein. I am worried, of course, but I have faith in Albus. He is, after all, Albus Dumbledore, and I am sure you know he is an excellent wizard. I doubt there are many things that can harm him," Dietfried answered, shaking his head. "I am simply worried that there might be some trap in there that's holding him back."
"But I thought Herr Meinhardt said that Grindelwald's gone into hiding," Hermione pointed out.
"Yes, Gellert's gone into hiding. Serves him right, too," Dietfried said, waving his hand and shaking his head again as if in annoyance.
A string of German followed, and Hermione could only sit quietly and wait until Dietfried finished his, what Hermione presume was, complaining. When he finally stopped, he shot Hermione an apologetic smile and continued with what he was saying before his rant.
"There are other people out there who envy and despise Albus because of his powers, Fräulein, so I wouldn't be surprised if others might want to harm him. But of course, if they were to trap him, I doubt they can do so for long."
"But it's been—"
"A month? Two months?" Dietfried cut in. He waved his hand again. "Bah! We were trapped for six months the last time we went to look for the—the tomb of Nefertiti."
Hermione had an inkling of an idea that Dietfried was about to say "the Hallows" and changed it at the last minute. However, she knew better than to press on further about the subject.
"The tomb of Nefertiti?" she asked instead before nodding slowly. "There are plenty of rumors that she herself was a witch, too, right?"
"Rumors, yes. Facts, no," Dietfried answered. "Nobody found any evidence about it because there isn't any left to find."
"So you're saying that she was a witch?"
"Must be," Dietfried replied. "When Albus and I entered her tomb, the traces of magic and nearly every magical object had been cleared out."
"Then it's not the work of normal tomb raiders," Hermione concluded.
"Intelligent young lady," he complimented her as a small smile appeared on his face. "No, not tomb raiders. Perhaps someone was afraid that people might find out that she was a witch."
"Then how did you and Professor Dumbledore know that she was a witch?" asked Hermione.
"Once magic is used, it is impossible to wipe away every last trace," Dietfried replied. "It was a strange signature, but it was there nonetheless, and till this day, Albus and I have not found out who could have done this so secretly and nearly completed it without a trace."
Then, he fell silent, and for a moment, Hermione wondered if Nefertiti had anything to do with the Hallows. But the Invisibility Cloak belonged to the Potters and the Resurrection Stone had been passed down the line of Gaunts … unless Nefertiti owned the Elder Wand before. It would make sense then, since the Elder Wand was a much sought after object. However, then Dumbledore should have known who broke into Nefertiti's grave.
"So most likely, Professor Dumbledore is just withheld, but safe," Hermione said after no answers came up for the new questions in her mind. She doubted Dietfried would be willing to share information about the Hallows if she asked anyway.
"Most likely," Dietfried replied with a nod. He then stood up, and before he left the room, he smiled and reassured her, "I will ask the people near the edge of the forest tomorrow morning. For now, rest and don't worry too much."

~-0-~
"So you've noticed that there's something strange between Hermione and Riddle, too?" Harry asked Ginny as the two of them sat cross-legged on his bed.
Draco, half lying on his bed, rolled his eyes and drawled, "Evans, if someone as dense as you noticed it, then anyone in the world would. Well, perhaps except for Weasel King."
However, his jeers were met by unhearing ears as Harry stood up, anxiety written on every one of his features.
"Then what should we do? We should warn Hermione, shouldn't we? That should put her on the alert," he said.
"Give me a break, Evans. Granger knows who she's dealing with," Draco said, rolling his eyes.
"No, Harry," Ginny replied firmly. "We cannot handle this situation that way. If we do, we're only going to push Hermione further into Riddle's trap."
Harry stared at her. "You think he's doing this on purpose? That he's only doing this to use her?"
"I don't know, but I think we can assume so. It's Tom Riddle after all. There's no saying what he has on his mind. But one thing I can assure you is that if we reprimand her and become overprotective of her, restraining every one of her moves, we're only going to help Riddle and pester away Hermione. I've dealt with him before. I know how he operates, and he'll use each and every weak link that he finds in our friendship."
"But … but what if she really …" Harry stuttered.
"Fancies him?" Draco offered.
Reluctantly, Harry nodded.
"Then we're all doomed," Draco replied.
"And you'll get all the credit, wouldn't you?" Harry shot back angrily.
"Evans, would you please stop jumping at my throat and directly to conclusions without looking at the facts already? Do look at my situation right now and tell me how I'm better off if the Dark Lord gains someone like Hermione on his side," said Draco.
"Who knows? If you were helping him since day one, then you wouldn't have a problem, would you? Everything could have been an act," Harry bit out.
Draco fell silent, and for once, there were not any signs of humor on his face.
"Stop the fighting," Ginny ordered. "You're letting his tactics work. I'm sure he hasn't struck us with his worst yet, and we're already fighting instead of working with each other. We can't let this happen. And yes, Harry," she said when she saw Harry opening his mouth. "I think it's wise to trust Malloy in this situation. Riddle will not be pleased if he found out what the Malfoys did in the last battle, even if Draco were to help him now and cause chaos amongst us."
It was a warning, but it was also the truth, and both Harry and Draco saw it for what it was. The atmosphere in the room softened up, and Harry did not say anything to retort what Ginny had said.
"I think we can trust Hermione. Even if … if she does fall for Riddle, I doubt she would let that cloud up her morals. She's still going to make the right choices. I have faith in her," Ginny declared. "And I think you, Harry, out of all people should have the most trust in her."
"I do trust her. I just don't trust Riddle. I don't want Hermione to get hurt because of that git," Harry said heatedly.
"I know," Ginny answered with a grimace, "but the only person who can help Hermione now is herself, and I do think she's a strong woman. I mean … she even Obliviated her parents in order to prevent You-Know-Who from finding out what you, Ron, and she were doing last year. It's not something someone who's emotionally weak can do. It's going to hurt, but it's not something we can butt into without having horrible consequences."
Harry fell silent and then buried his face in his hands. "I just wished I knew what to do … I just wished there was something I could do."
"Er … perhaps you could write a book?" Draco spoke up.
Both Ginny and Harry looked at him, confusion written on their faces at his suggestion.
"What are you talking about, Malloy?" Ginny asked.
"Well, you know Hermione. When in doubt, check the library, if you wrote a book …"
And he promptly stopped in his words when the two Gryffindors shot him very annoyed glares. However, before either one of them could give him their two-cents about what they thought about him, a loud crash echoed throughout the house. The three of them took one look at each other and rushed to the door.

~-0-~
Since Hermione had no idea when Ginny would return to their shared room and she did not want to interrupt the two of them—whether they were in a "Harry apologizing" state or in an "I have only eyes for you" state—she decided to go take a bath first. Before she reached the door to the bathroom, however, it swung open, and Ernsta Kaufmann appeared at the doorway, still wearing clothes that clung on to her figure like a second skin.
At first, she did not notice Hermione, since she was still looking backwards, her lips curved upwards.
"I am offended," she said in a teasing tone, followed by a string of German.
An answer also in German responded to her, and without looking, Hermione already knew who was in that bathroom. Immediately, the rage that she had subdued since that morning roared back to life, twice in strength, and she pulled out her wand, pointing it directly at that woman who had closed the door and had finally turned her head around.
"What were you doing in there?" Hermione asked, her voice quiet.
Perhaps it was her experience with Ginny or perhaps it was because Hermione looked simply scary at the moment, but Ernsta unconsciously took a step back, her large eyes widening, making them look disproportionate with the rest of her features.
"I … I was just … giving him towels," Ernsta stuttered, stepping to the side. She involuntarily shuddered when the tip of Hermione's wand followed her movements, never wavering away from her face.
"Giving him towels," Hermione repeated.
Ernsta nodded, and if Hermione were in a better mood, she would have probably found it funny how scared the woman was right now. It suited her a lot better than that disgustingly seductive look she always plastered on to her face when she was looking at Tom or Harry, in Hermione's opinion.
"The five of you just arrived this morning, and we hadn't had the time to place towels inside the bathroom for you. We don't have house-elves to do the job, so Dietfried asked me to bring some into the bathroom," Ernsta explained shakily, her eyes never leaving the wand that was pointing at her.
"And you found it decent to shut the door while you were placing towels in the bathroom?" Hermione mocked.
"He was undressing," Ernsta said quickly.
However, it only added more fuel to Hermione's anger. Narrowing her eyes, she walked up to the woman and stopped right in front of her face, causing Ernsta to cringe.
"If you touch Tom Marvolo Riddle, Ernsta Kaufmann, you can be assured that cockroaches and bedbugs will be the least of your worries, and I will make what Ginny did to you look like child's play," said Hermione, her voice as cold as her face.
Nodding as if her life depended on it, Ernsta scrambled back to her room and slammed the door shut behind her.
Hermione's gaze fell back on the door leading to the bathroom, and waving her wand, she opened the door, letting it ram into the wall with a loud bang before she lowered her wand to her side and walk up to the door.
Tom, who looked like he had just finished washing his face in front of the sink, turned his head around in surprise. When he saw Hermione glaring at him from the doorway, he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Thanks for knocking," he said.
She did not answer, though the fact that he was still wearing his pants somewhat lifted her mood upwards.
He turned his body around, leaned against the rim of the basin, and crossed his arms over his bare chest.
"Is this some kind of new hobby of yours, Granger? To watch me while I'm bathing?" he asked.
"What was that woman doing in here?" she asked, her voice still quiet. Tom's eyebrow rose
"You mean … Ernsta?" he asked. Propping his chin up with one hand, he looked at Hermione, humor apparent in his eyes as he waited for an answer from her.
"Who else?"
"She was just making sure that we are comfortable with our … accommodations," Tom replied.
She knew he was using that word on purpose, and she tried to convince herself to ignore his taunts. However, it was easier said than done. What he said on top of two incidents in a day involving Ernsta made her somewhat alleviated anger from that morning rise back to its previous level again.
"Funny how she just asked you when there are five of us," she said.
"Perhaps she found it much more comfortable to talk with me," he answered, stroking his chin with his forefinger.
"I'm sure she found it quite comfortable sitting on your lap," Hermione bit out, and her hand clenched and unclenched around her wand.
"Sarcasm doesn't become you, Hermione," he said lightly, dropping his arms to his side and walking up to the tub. Half-sitting on the rim, he placed a single finger inside the water, as if he were testing the temperature of it as his lips curved into a smile. "Did Ernsta falling on top of me really bother you that much?"
"No," she answered, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of having the last laugh.
"Oh?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the water and not looking at her at all. "Then it's rather strange how concerned you are about what happened between me and her."
A twisted smile appeared on Hermione's face. "Who said anything about me being concerned?"
With that, she turned around and was about to step out of the bathroom when his voice sounded again.
"Do kindly close the door behind you."
Gritting her teeth together, she answered, "Of course."
Placing her hand on the door, she took a deep breath, and then, with one swift move, she swung around and threw three consecutive curses at him, altering the direction of each one slightly, so that he was forced to throw himself on the floor to avoid them. The first two impacted the wall, and Hermione thought she felt the floor shudder upon the contact, but she could care less at the moment. The last one crashed into the tub, blasting it into pieces as the water poured all over the floor.
Without giving him the chance to get his wand, Hermione flicked her wand again, and the infamous yew wand flew through the air, directly into her open hand. Therefore, Tom had to duck away with each spell she sent his way. A couple of times, he tried to get close enough to her to grab his wand from her, but she wouldn't allow it. Every time he got within five feet of her, she would throw another couple of curses towards him, forcing him to move backwards again.
Logic be damned.
She would rather go through another one of Dolohov's curses than allow this prat to strut around with another victory. She was going to curse him if it were the last thing she did.
Later on, after Hermione calmed down, she would remember how Tom looked at the moment and giggle to herself. Lord Voldemort had probably never been in such an awkward position as he was right now. He was only wearing his pants, which was drenched from the water that was previously in the destroyed bathtub, while he half rolled around the floor, dodging the spells Hermione was throwing at him.
And that was the situation Harry, Ginny, and Draco found them in. All three of their mouths dropped open upon seeing Hermione throwing spell after spell at Tom. Although they could not see everything that was happening inside the bathroom, they could already guess from the water that was flowing into the hallway and the occasional hisses of pain from said Dark Lord.
"She's trying to get herself killed," Draco said, an expression of awe and concern on his face.
"He's going to kill her … he's going to murder her and throw her in the forest," Ginny whispered.
Harry did not—or rather, could not—speak. The look of horror on his face spoke enough words to make up for his silence. He was as terrified as he was worried. Knowing Lord Voldemort, Harry could not see any possibility of Hermione getting away with this unharmed. It was simply impossible.
"Sh-shouldn't someone stop her?" Draco stuttered.
Before one of them could do just that, somehow, Tom managed to sidestep Hermione's curses and grab her wandarm.
"Let go of me, you filthy, annoying, disgusting, irritating son of a howling banshee!" Hermione screamed as Tom got a hold of her other arm.
Ginny turned pale when she saw that furious look on Tom's face, and Draco gulped. Harry's hand flew to his wand, but before he could pull it out and save Hermione, Tom had already pulled Hermione into the bathroom.
Harry and Ginny didn't bother to waste the time looking at one another; they stumbled over one another, trying to get there in time to help Hermione out if necessary. Draco stayed one step behind him, but still moved forward, not wanting to miss the opportunity to take a run for it if need be.
However, the scene that met their eyes completely froze them in their spots.
Tom was towering over Hermione, who was pinned against the wall, and snogging her.
The door closed right in Harry, Ginny, and Draco's faces with a flick of the wands Tom had grabbed back from Hermione. When he finally pulled away, Hermione glared at him, digging her fingers into his arms.
"Let go of me, Tom Marvolo Riddle," she said through gritted teeth, not caring about how his eyes had darkened to dangerous levels.
Savage pleasure surged through her, making a maniacal grin appear on her face, when she noticed the slashes and cuts he had gotten from both her spells and pieces of the broken ceramic tub. Served him right, and no way in hell was she going to apologize to him for this. He was asking for it, regardless of what he did.

~-0-~
Harry, Ginny, and Draco stared at the closed door, finally coming back to their senses once the lock snapped shut.
"Alohomora," Harry immediately tried to cast on the door, concerned about Hermione's safety.
However, nothing happened, moving their anxiety up another notch.
"What are we going to do?" Harry asked, turning his head towards Draco and then Ginny.
Without a spoken answer, they all rushed down the staircase, looking for Dietfried; if there was anyone who could attempt to take control of the situation right now, it would be him. At least he was the owner of the house and could try to order Tom to open the door—the key word being "try."
When they reached the first floor, they found out why Dietfried had not appeared the moment Hermione shattered the bathtub; he was nowhere in sight, and try as they might, they could not find him.
"He's not home," Harry concluded. "He's not home."
The urge to curse out loud was overwhelming, and without a second word, he ran outside.
"What is he doing?" Draco asked, staring at the doorway through which Harry had disappeared through.
However, Ginny did not answer him. Instead, she went after Harry, so Draco had no other choice but to follow them. By the time they caught up with Harry, he had already broken through the Kaufmann's toolshed and was holding onto a broomstick.
"Wait here," Harry ordered. Without waiting for an answer, he mounted himself onto the broom and rose up in the air.
"Do you see anything?" Draco called out.
Looking downwards, Harry held his finger to his lips, signaling for them to keep quiet. As quietly as he could, he flew past the windows, looking for the one that led to the bathroom. When he found it, he hovered as close as he could to it.
Hermione was talking, but Harry could not hear a peep of what they were saying. Pulling out his wand, Harry was prepared to attempt another Alohomora at the window. Before he could, however, Tom glanced at him from the corner of his eye. With a flick of the yew wand, the window blurred, preventing Harry from seeing anything at all.
When he touched back to the ground, Ginny and Draco immediately ran up to him.
"Did you see anything?" Draco asked.
"Is Hermione alright? Did he hurt her?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know," Harry answered, running a hand through his hair. "He cast a spell on the window when he caught me looking, and I know Alohomora is not going to work on it."
"Merlin …" Draco muttered, scrubbing his face with his hands. "She's doomed. He's going to kill her. He's going to torture and kill her. I knew this was going to happen, I just knew this was going to happen. And I warned her about this …"
"Well perhaps you should have tried harder," Harry snapped.
"I've told you what was going on, but did you take my words seriously? No! You thought I was being ridiculous and told me off, if you don't remember correctly, that same day I got tortured by Riddle," Draco said, his cheeks flushed from anger.
"Would you two stop it already?" Ginny interrupted before Harry could say something. "We have to find a way to help Hermione right now, not try to guilt-trip one another. I've told you this already, or are the two of you so desperate to let Riddle get his way?"
The two of them fell silent, but Ginny's words did not stop them from occasionally glaring at one another, as if the other were the one at fault.
Nonetheless, even without arguing, they still could not think of a way to help Hermione except waiting for Dietfried to return.

~-0-~
After Tom set up the necessary wards to prevent Harry from entering the bathroom, he turned back to Hermione.
The witch in question looked right back at him with anger. There was nothing she liked to do better now than to poke every one of wounds she had previously inflicted on him, just to cause him more pain. Perhaps sprinkle some salt and chili over them, too, and if she could help it, throw a few more curses at him. However, it was impossible right now, since he had her up against the wall, and both wands were securely in the hand that was not holding on to her wrists.
A muttered incantation left his mouth, and a rope dropped down from the ceiling. Like a snake, the rope coiled around her wrists and tied them together before dragging her to the middle of the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded out of surprise more than fear.
He did not answer. Instead, he spoke again in that sibilant language which she did not understand.
And then, she felt it.
It appeared that the curse he had placed on her to prevent her from speaking about the Chamber had not been completely taken off her, and the snakes were now slowly moving again. She bit down on her lower lip, remembering quite well how painful it had been when the snakes' venom was in her body. She had no desire to go through that again, but neither did she want to apologize to him.
However, she waited for a while, and the snakes still did not bite down on her. Suddenly, she jumped when the snake slithered past a rather sensitive area around her waist while the other's tongue flickered out and touched that ticklish area right below her ear.
Conjuring an armchair, Tom sat down right in front of her, speculating her.
"I'm not going to tolerate your impertinence anymore, Hermione," he said.
"I could say the same exact thing," she replied, trying to stop herself from giggling.
The snakes seemed to know exactly what path to travel to make her feel the least comfortable, and in her opinion, this unable-to-scratch-itchy kind of feeling was loads worse than pain.
"But unfortunately, you'll never be in the position to carry out the necessary punishments," said Tom.
Standing up from the chair, he circled around until he was standing right behind her. With a snap of his fingers, she was lifted slightly off the ground and her shoes and socks disappeared. Seconds later, the snakes started slithering across the soles of her feet. She rubbed her feet together, trying to get rid of that ticklish feeling but to no avail.
"And I can be very creative when it comes down to disciplining you, dearest," he said, "which, of course, means ways that are not along the same line as the Cruciatus Curse." He stopped in front of her and tilted her chin up with a single finger. "I doubt you could say the same."
Walking back to the chair and sitting back down, he flicked his wand again, and suddenly, on top of the feeling of snakes gliding across her skin, she started to feel another type of ticklish sensation. She frantically looked downwards and turned her head around to check her back, expecting to find bugs crawling over her body, but found nothing. That made her somewhat relieved, but her discomfort grew with each second that passed, and started to twist her body around, hoping that it would reduce the irritation.
"It's not going to work, Hermione," said Tom in a taunting voice.
Forcing out a short laugh, she said, "Is that the best you could do?"
Raising an eyebrow, Tom crossed her arms over his chest again and looked at her with amusement. "Do keep talking, Hermione. The longer you talk, the longer I'll keep you here."
"For your information, this is Herr Dietfried's house and not your room or the Chamber of Secrets."
He raised an eyebrow and a glint of humor entered his eyes. "Shouldn't you have remembered that when you were throwing random spells at me?"
A blush tinged Hermione's cheeks red, and she tilted her head upwards. "The things that were broken could be easily fixed.
A mocking smirk appeared curved the corners of his lips upwards, and he flicked his wand at himself, healing the wounds that had been inflicted on him. However, one particularly nasty one would not go away, regardless of what he did. He frowned as he examined the gash, and Hermione grinned, knowing it would not go away without a proper potion. To her surprise, the frown on his face turned into a faint smile.
"Dabbling with the Dark Arts, aren't we, Hermione?" he asked softly.
"Not so dark when compared to the person it was used on," she retorted, and one of the snakes flicked its tongue out at the back of her neck, causing her muscles to involuntarily twitch.
He leaned back in the chair and crossed his feet at his ankles. "Seems like you're enjoying yourself since you're still rather … rude. No matter. We'll see if that mouth of yours is still as sharp after fifteen minutes, shan't we?"
He had to be kidding her. She would like to see him hanging in the middle of air with the feeling of ants and snakes crawling all over him. Then again, he probably wouldn't find it bothersome, since he was used to snakes slithering around him anyway.
True to his words, he kept her there for fifteen minutes, until her body was completely out of her control and twitching almost in sync to the movements of the invisible ants. Now, on top of the itching, she had to put up with the soreness that was developing in all her muscles.
Doesn't he have better things to do than this? She thought to herself.
"Oh no. It's quite entertaining waiting to see what kind of strange angles your body can twist itself into while being under my curse," Tom said.
She had not forgotten that she should put up her guards. However, it was impossible to keep it up in her current condition. The itchiness was driving her insane, and she wanted nothing more than to scratch the places where the invisible snakes and bugs had crawled over.
After another five minutes, he finally flicked his wand, and the rope and the strange feelings on her body both disappeared. Stopping right next to her, he vanished the armchair before looking back at her.
"I'm giving you a warning, Hermione. My patience is waning. Learn your place before I'm forced to teach it to you," he said quietly before turning around and heading towards the door.
Despite the pain in her limbs, she still scrambled on to her feet and ran towards him. Hermione knew he did not have eyes behind his head, but he somehow managed to catch her arm before her fist made contact with the back of his head, and he swirled them around, slamming her hard into the door. The back of her head took the brunt of the impact, and she would have rubbed it if her wrists were not currently withheld by Tom.
"You are the most relentless, impudent witch I had ever known in my life," he growled.
"Deal with it," she snapped, her eyes blazing.
He did not answer, but the flame in his eyes indicated that his fury had just been pushed up another notch.
It appeared that they were going to stay in that bathroom for quite some time.

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Somewhere in Time