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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
- 44
- 45
- 46
A/N: Many thanks to MaraudersWolf for beta-ing this chapter! Special thanks to Nerys for going over the logic and FLOW. Huge thanks to those of you who read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: Aviendha, Fleur K., Lady Miya, Tourniquette, andSarahLuvsZombehs!

Review replies can be found here: http://serp-replies.livejournal.com/15214.html

ATTENTION: This is the last time A/N's will be found at the beginning of the chapter. From the next chapter on, all A/N's will be at the end of the chapter. Only disclaimers and important notices (such as translation of certain words) will be at the beginning of the chapter. :)

~-0-~

Chapter 45

Getting away from Tom proved to be a hard feat, since he seemed rather adamant in finding out what Slytherin's letter said. Once she was safely within the confines of her room, she opened the letter and read it with Ginny.

Since you are reading this letter, I trust that you must be somewhere away from the prying eyes of my heir. However, if the disgusting deficiency of your unfortunate bloodline decides to show its ugly self under the most inappropriate moment and you decided to open this in front of him, be assured that nothing that you've read (and will read) in this letter can be extracted by him or anyone else, unless you willingly disclose this information. Though your heritage tells me otherwise, I trust that you will not be so ridiculously stupid as to tell him.

"Biased old primate," Ginny hissed, realizing that Slytherin was addressing Hermione.

The victim, on the other hand, snorted. After years of practice with Draco and his insults, Slytherin's words could not possibly arouse any emotions from Hermione.

On the twenty-second of this month, this letter will turn into a map, and you are to travel into the forest with your time-traveling friends to the place where I had met with my heir. I shall give you the objects that will take you into the Chamber when you return to the future and will protect you from further assaults by the person who had sent you back in time.

"That's three days from today," Ginny commented, a frown appearing on her forehead. "Why would he need three days?"

"No idea." Hermione stared at the end of the note. "To prepare the spell, maybe? After all, Tom made us wait, and that spell was created by Slytherin, too."

"Right," Ginny said mockingly. "Such a brilliant spell it was, which blew up in our face and nearly got us killed. I still have bruises from that accident."

Hermione bit her lower lip, wondering if she should tell Ginny something that had been nagging her since the first day they'd arrived in Germany. Taking a deep sigh, she leaned a bit backwards, away from the letter.

"To tell the truth …" Hermione started.

Ginny looked away from the letter and at her.

Hermione heaved a sigh and continued, "I'm having doubts in regards to if Tom's as innocent as he pretended to be."

Ginny gazed at her in surprise. "You mean … you think he might've messed up on purpose?"

Hermione nodded slowly. "I've been thinking about it for days already, and I can't figure out how that could've escaped his notice … the fact that the eclipse might interfere with the spell. Though he can be careless at times, we had been talking about the eclipse for weeks. Even if the spell hadn't been tested under special circumstances before, he would've taken some precautions beforehand. Runes were involved in the spell, and since we each had a different section, I don't know what you or Draco had to carve. He could've easily altered something to cause it to happen."

"But why would he do something like this? He hasn't killed Harry and Draco – thankfully – so what's his purpose? Do you think he might've known that Slytherin's living in this area?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I doubt he knew Slytherin was here. Perhaps there was something else he wanted … there must be something else he wanted. He couldn't have wanted to travel here with us just because he suspected we were up to something. It just doesn't make sense."

"Grindelwald!" Ginny suddenly said.

Hermione stared at her. "What?"

"Grindelwald," Ginny repeated herself. "What if he wanted to come here to meet Grindelwald? Grindelwald's the Dark Lord of this period, isn't he? Maybe Riddle wanted to come here and see if there was something he could gain from him."

Hermione paused, and after a moment of thinking, she said, "Maybe … but it doesn't make sense for him to work under a Dark Lord when he wants to become one himself. Grindelwald was more active in central Europe and Voldemort wanted to take over England most of the time, so it would be strange for Tom to want to seek Grindelwald out."

Ginny nodded, the frown on her forehead deepening. With a sigh, she said, "Let's hope whatever he's planning, it won't affect the future too much. We are returning home in three days after all."

Hermione let out a heavy sigh. "Let's hope."

~-0-~

To prevent Harry and Draco from worrying too much, Hermione and Ginny decided to keep their conversation a secret for the time being. Besides, Hermione doubted that the boys could come up with an answer anyway. When it was nearly time for lunch, the two of them traveled downstairs and was met with a strange scene – or at least, strange to Hermione.

Tom was sitting in one of the armchairs, his expression indecipherable as usual. The strangeness came from Nicholas. Instead of his usual happy-go-lucky demeanor, his face was set with certain harshness to it, as if he was angry about something.

Hermione and Ginny stood at the doorway and shared a look with one another, unsure about whether they should step into the room or not.

Once his eyes landed on Hermione, however, Nicholas's face softened.

"Hello," he greeted them.

They gave him an uneasy smile in return, and Hermione could not help but feel that Nicholas's smile was strained. After his greeting, he fell silent, which was also strange, considering his usual chatty personality. His eyes remained on Tom, but once in a while, they would dart over to Hermione.

Without warning, Hermione's cheeks burned, as she wondered what Tom had told Nicholas. Before she could ask what had happened, Dietfried appeared and announced that lunch was ready.

If anything, the tension in the air increased once they arrived at the dining table. Instead of sitting at his usual seat, Nicholas approached Ginny, who was sitting next to Hermione with a smile.

"Do you mind if I change seats with you, Miss Weatherby? I would like to sit next to Hermione so that we can chat more easily," he said.

Ginny exchanged a quick look with Hermione but dare not look at the person who was already sitting on the other side of Hermione.

The corner of the redhead's lips twitched upwards before she answered, "We'll just move one seat over." She then shared a look with Harry, who was sitting next to her.

"Thank you," Nicholas said. He then turned over to Hermione. "It's a bit difficult chatting across the table. It almost seems as if we're forcing others to listen into our conversation, so I figured it might be easier for me to sit next to you."

"Er …"

Hermione had no idea how to reply to him, and the fact that Draco was shaking with laughter on the other side of the table did not help much. A cross between worry and amusement was etched on Harry's face. However, none of this seemed to affect Nicholas, who sat down with a bright smile.

"I'm going to collect information about the creatures in the forest tomorrow again," Nicholas announced, catching everyone's attention. His eyes, however, were on Hermione. "Would you like to go with me?"

Hermione blinked before a faint blush appeared on her face. For some reason, though he was doing something pertaining to the field he worked in, it sounded almost like he was asking her on a date.

Draco suddenly snorted before turning it into a cough. He held up his hand, indicating that he was okay. His eyes then met with Hermione before they flitted over to her right, causing him to cover his mouth again and duck under the table.

Hermione's heart jumped, realizing that the look on Tom's face due to Nicholas's question must have been what Draco found funny.

"I … er … we … Harry, Draco, Ginny, and I still have some things to do, since we might be returning … to Hogwarts soon," she replied.

A crestfallen expression appeared on Nicholas's face.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about it, Hermione. If you really want to go, we think you deserve the break. After all, you've been the one doing most of the work," Harry commented offhandedly.

Hermione stared at him, but before she could say anything, Ginny piped in, "We've got the rest covered. So if you really want to go, it's fine with us."

The repetition of "if you really want to go" made it obvious that if she said anything else, it would be because she did not want to go. However, it was also clear to Hermione that Nicholas's feelings would be hurt if that were to happen, and the hopefulness on his face made Hermione guilty.

She cast a quick look at Tom and could not stop a shiver from running down her spine. She had underestimated his displeasure in Nicholas's proposal. His jaws were clenched together, and the hand he had placed on the table was rolled up into a fist. Hermione had no doubt that the fingers of his other hand were curled around the base of his wand. Black fires burned in the depths of his slightly narrowed eyes, and what Hermione feared was the fact that if they could cause harm, the targets would include Harry and Ginny, too.

Before she could tell Nicholas that she really could not make it tomorrow, a corner of Tom's lips curled upwards. Draco, who had reappeared from under the table, stopped laughing when he saw that chilling smile.

"That sounds quite … interesting," Tom said, his voice not betraying a hint of his fury. In fact, the coldness on his face receded until it only remained in his eyes. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I joined in then, would you, Mr. Lockhart-Lovegood?"

Nicholas froze, thrown off by Tom's question. Ginny shifted in her seat, worry and discomfort written all over her face.

"Perhaps we should all go tomorrow then," Harry suggested, carefully monitoring Tom's face.

A touch of mockery entered Tom's smile. "That's a splendid idea, Mr. Evans. I trust that Mr. Lockhart-Lovegood here could definitely teach all of us a … valuable lesson about the creatures living in the forest," Tom said. His voice, though soft, thrummed heavily upon the hearts of every person present.

Nicholas coughed softly, catching everyone's attention once again. He seemed flustered by the outcome of things, and Hermione wondered if his nervousness had anything to do with the danger signals that were rolling off Tom like waves in the ocean.

"Wonderful … so we'll head out after breakfast?" Nicholas asked, trying hard to pull his lips back up into a smile.

"But wait … what about the trolls?" Draco asked fearfully.

"We're going down a route that I know already. The only reason I didn't know about the trolls was because I took a different route from the one I usually go," Nicholas explained. "If only I stuck to the same route …" His eyes dimmed, obviously remembering his dead comrade. A few minutes later, he recomposed his expression and said, "There are definitely no trolls there."

A murmur of consents came from the time travelers.

Tom's smile widened, yet it did not reach his eyes.

After the strained lunch, Hermione pulled Harry and Draco to her room with Ginny following closely after them. Once they were inside, Hermione put up the wards before whirling around towards them.

"What were you thinking? Did you realize what kind of danger you were pushing Nicholas into? Do you have any idea what Tom might do to him because of this?" Hermione screeched before turning towards Draco.

He held his hands up and gulped when he saw the furious look on her face.

"You," Hermione hissed.

"I didn't do anything," Draco immediately said.

"That's precisely the problem! You just sat there and … and laughed! As if you were watching some kind of comedy! Do you realize that what the three of you had done can lead Nicholas to his death?" Hermione ranted.

"We didn't know he'd have such a huge reaction," Harry said, an apologetic expression on his face. "No, really, Hermione. We didn't know … well … that he would care so much about …" Harry trailed off, his eyes larger than usual behind his glasses.

"That's not an excuse," Hermione fumed, her eyes blazing. "If anything happens to Nicholas, it would be all your fault, all three of yours! I can't believe you. As if I didn't have enough things to sort out before we return to the future."

Draco and Harry moved awkwardly in their seats while the guilty look on Ginny's face became even more prominent.

"Did the three of you forget who we're dealing with? It's Tom Riddle, not Ron Weasley. He's not going to just call Nicholas 'Nicky,' grumble about it, and then let it slide," Hermione continued. "He doesn't deal with his displeasure like normal witches and wizards do. He's going to do something extreme about this. I just know he will."

"We'll all look after Nick- Nicholas tomorrow then. With all four of us there, I don't think Riddle would do something to him, would he?" Ginny asked.

The doubt in her voice, however, spoke more than words. It was impossible for Tom to not do something.

"What do you think?" Hermione asked in return. "And I'm not just worried about Nicholas. The three of you had to do something to provoke him. I wouldn't even be surprised if he tries to do something to you –"

"Are you serious?" Draco interrupted her, jolting backwards in his seat. "But – but I didn't do anything. He can't possibly want to do something to me just because I sat there and laughed, can he?"

"And at whom were you laughing?" Hermione asked, plastering a smile on her face though there were no traces of humor in it. "You can't tell me that you were staring at Tom and laughing at Nicholas now, can you? No, he knows precisely who you were laughing at, and does it look like he would be pleased?"

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. The other three people in the room remained quiet, perhaps afraid that she might start reprimanding them again if they spoke.

"Whatever you do tomorrow, stay together. He's not going to be so rash as to try to take all three of you at once, especially when he knows that there's something strange between Harry and his wand," Hermione said, her voice slightly calmer.

The three of them murmured their assents, and they all fell silent again, each immersed in their own thoughts.

There were so many things Hermione wanted to say, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. At this point in time, she could only wish that everything would turn out all right.

~-0-~

In contrast to Hermione's mood, the sun shone brightly the next morning. There was not a speck of cloud to be seen in the skies, which was strange considering how it had snowed for the last couple of days. The white blankets covering the streets had not melted yet, indicating that there had not been any significant increase in temperature.

Dietfried was nowhere to be seen after breakfast again, so the group of them left after informing Ernsta that they would be out most of the day.

The walk to the forest was uncomfortably quiet. Even Nicholas remained oddly silent. Draco kept as far away from Tom as he could, and whenever he was forced to walk closer, he would stay right beside Harry, much to the Chosen One's annoyance. In Hermione's opinion, however, Draco was being silly; the person who should be wary about Tom's attention was Nicholas. Therefore, Hermione made sure to stay in between the two Founder heirs.

Little did she know that once they were inside the forest, that task would be much harder.

The dejected expression on Nicholas's face turned into one of enthusiasm after they passed through the first line of trees, and he started hurrying past places where there were no particular points of interest to him.

"Do you see the marks here? They must have been made by fairies," Nicholas said excitedly, pointing at little symbols carved into a tree.

Then, he continued to chatter on about fairies as he climbed through the snow, trying to find more traces of creatures. Thirty minutes later, Hermione was left panting and trying to keep her eyes on everyone.

Nicholas was disappearing and reappearing between trees a few meters ahead of her. Harry, Ginny, and Draco were trailing closely behind her. Draco occasionally cast looks of fear and caution towards Tom, who was mere steps behind them.

"Try and keep the leash on your raven, Hermione. He's flying all over the place, and I wouldn't be surprised if we lose sight of him soon," Tom called out, the quirk of his eyebrow upwards adding another inch of sarcasm to his words.

Hermione cast a quick glance towards Harry and the others. Harry gave her a reassuring smile back, which she returned before looking back at Nicholas. He was, after all, in a more vulnerable state than the three of them. At least Harry, Ginny, and Draco knew they had to be careful when they were dealing with the future Dark Lord.

Another hour later, half of Hermione's mind started considering Tom's suggestion. Nicholas was practically all over the place, and it was impossible to try and catch up with him. For a moment, Hermione wondered if Nicholas had merely asked her to come here for exercise. He would turn around, once in a while, to tell them what traces of creatures he had found, but before they could even answer, he would return to his hunting.

"This is becoming impossible, Hermione," Ginny said in a low voice beside her. "Even with Anti-Slipping spells, there's no way we can catch up with him if he continues to run off like that. Riddle's going to find a way to take advantage of that."

Hermione nodded in agreement as her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm. She turned around, alarmed, and her fingers quickly tightened around the base of her wand. When she realized it was Draco, she relaxed, but the frantic look on his face caused worry to increase again.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Riddle's gone." His eyes were wide, flitting through the trees as if he expected Tom to jump out any second and attack them.

"Riddle's –" Hermione's mouth snapped shut as she, too, quickly glanced around.

However, true to Draco's words, Tom was nowhere to be seen.

"When did he disappear?" Hermione asked.

"We have no idea," Harry spoke up, his wand out and at the ready. "I kept a Shield Charm up while we were walking, so I didn't bother looking back to see if Riddle tried to harm us. It was Malloy who realized Riddle was no longer behind us."

"Good thing Nic-" Ginny stopped in her words when she turned around to look forward. She swirled around. "Where's Nicholas?"

Hermione's eyes snapped to where she had last seen Nicholas. However, he, too, was nowhere in sight.

Shit.

They had to be kidding her. This had to be some kind of nightmare, created by her subconscious because she was afraid it was what would happen.

"What are we going to do?" Draco asked.

Hermione wanted to slump down in the snow and bury her head in her hands. Nonetheless, she knew that was not going to help at all.

"We'd have to try to find them," Hermione concluded after casting a quick Muffliato on their surroundings. She looked at Harry. "Harry, you and Draco follow our tracks back and check where Tom might have gone off on a different path. Do you have your invisibility cloak with you?"

Harry nodded and showed her the cloak, which he had hidden underneath his traveling cloak.

"Ginny and I will go and follow Nicholas's tracks," Hermione said.

"Wait – but what if Riddle catches us?" Draco asked, alarmed.

Hermione's nostrils flared, annoyed that they were wasting precious time when Nicholas could've fallen in Tom's hands already. "Fine! You and Harry follow Nicholas's tracks, and Ginny and I will follow Tom's tracks."

"Wait, no!" Harry protested, casting a quick glance at Ginny before looking at Hermione. "I'll go with you instead."

Draco paled.

"Fine!" Hermione growled, exasperated. "Harry and I will go after Tom, and – now what?" She glared at Draco who was tugging on her arm.

"Don't worry, Malloy. I'll protect you from your master," Ginny said mockingly on the side. "How about I turn you into a ferret if we catch a glimpse of him and hide you from his view?"

Without waiting for further disruptions, Hermione grabbed Harry's invisibility cloak and threw it over the two of them.

Thankfully, they were the only ones who had come into the forest that morning, so there weren't too many tracks in the snow. Nonetheless, it was still difficult, trying to wade through so much snow at a fast pace. By the time they found where there were tracks leading in a different direction from the one they had gone, both Hermione and Harry were already panting and sweating.

Harry stared at Tom's tracks with his mouth open. "How did – He was with us after this point. I recall Malloy looking backwards and moving closer to me." He pointed at a rock. "Nicholas said something about Mooncalves here."

Hermione nodded, recalling the rock. She had heard Harry telling Draco to "quit it and get some nerves" a small distance from here, too.

"We can't dwell on that right now. If Tom went off in a different direction from here, he would have plenty of time to –" Hermione stopped in her words and slapped her hand over her mouth.

"What is it?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Slytherin," Hermione whispered. "We've forgotten to factor in Slytherin. What if he's helping Tom? Then they could easily set up a trap for Nicholas –"

"Why would Slytherin try to harm Nicholas though?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but it's something we cannot ignore. We have to find them before something happens," Hermione spoke quickly.

She recast the Anti-Slipping spells, but before she could take a step forward, Harry grabbed her arm.

"Ginny and Malloy. If Slytherin is in on this, what if he harms them?" Harry reminded her, his voice frantic.

"Slytherin took the Unbreakable Vow with Ginny and me. He wouldn't risk his life to kill the two of them," Hermione replied.

"But still . . . What if he just disarmed them or something and let Riddle do the dirty work? We'd have to warn them." Harry looked in the direction Ginny and Draco had gone, concern etched on every feature of his face.

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek before making a decision. "Okay. You go and warn Ginny and Draco. I'll go after Riddle."

"That's too dangerous, Hermione," Harry immediately objected.

"We don't know what he's up to yet, Harry. I'm not going to be in immediate danger yet," Hermione reassured him.

"But what if he's doing something dangerous? What if he's doing something he doesn't want others to know?"

Hermione had to stop herself from mentioning the fact that Tom had already taken her down to the Chamber of Secrets before – she had no desire to activate the curse he had placed on her, especially under these circumstances. Letting her know that he was the one who had killed Myrtle was a huge risk on Tom's part, after all.

"I know how to handle him," Hermione said.

Harry stared at her for a second, not knowing how to answer that. In the end, embarrassment appeared briefly on his face and he said, "Er … yeah … I noticed …"

His discomfort had contagious effects, causing Hermione to shift in her position. "Right … so you follow Ginny and Draco. I have to catch up with Riddle, hopefully before he finds Nicholas, or rather, hopefully before he does something to Nicholas."

"Are you sure about this, Hermione?" Harry's forehead creased. "I feel unsure about this. I mean … you and him are … close, but what if –"

"I'll be fine, Harry. Just take the invisibility cloak with you and go," Hermione said.

Harry shook his head. "No, you take it with you."

"You'll probably need it. Who knows if you'll encounter Slytherin or not?" Hermione argued.

"But like you've said, he promised not to harm us. And besides, there's three of us. You're going off by yourself. Take the cloak with you, Hermione," Harry insisted.

After a while of convincing, Hermione finally conceded, and Harry went in the direction Ginny and Draco had gone off in, though not before reminding her to Apparate out of the place if things got too dangerous. Hermione reassured him that she would and then hurried after Tom.

The stall in time only made her more worried, and she feared what she might find at the end of her search. However, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw at the end of tracks.

Tom stood in the middle of the snow. The black cloak swirled around him like a dark cloud, and the cruel calmness on his face reminded her so much of the snake-man he would become in the future that she could not suppress a gasp from being constricted out of her.

Yet, her breath got caught and horror appeared on her face the moment she recognized the corpse that was lying in the snow at Lord Voldemort's feet with its eyes wide open.

Dietfried Kaufmann was dead.
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Somewhere in Time