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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
- 48
- 49
- 50
Chapter 49

"I trust that you are intelligent enough to not try to escape."

As if Hermione didn't have enough reasons to be angry at him, Voldemort threw down that simple sentence and a mocking smirk before Disapparating, leaving her all alone in a foreign room.

Still fuming, she sat down on the only bed in the room with her arms crossed over her chest.

That—that arrogant, idiotic, sadistic, evil git! She couldn't believe that she had started to miss him the moment she set foot back into the future. What was there to miss about him? Harry had made the right choice. The world was much better without someone like him.

Though now, Hermione had another reason to hate Trelawney. The old fraud had to go on and on, insinuating about "The Chosen One." That was why everyone believed that Harry had to be the one to vanquish Voldemort. Perhaps Trelawney fancied Voldemort, too? Was that why she chose the nicest person out there for the so-called prophecy? Voldemort would never get the proper amount of torture he deserved when the one who defeated him was Harry.

After coming up with various creative ways to off Lord Voldemort, she finally calmed down enough to take in the details of the room she was in. It was most likely Voldemort's room, if the color scheme of the room was anything to go by. She could hardly suppress a snort as she looked at the dark green sheets covering the canopy bed that she was sitting on. Trust a Slytherin to be original.

Then again, said Dark Lord also named a certain Horcrux "Nagini," so the lack of creativity wasn't too surprising at all.

Upon remembering the reptilian Horcrux, Hermione glanced nervously around, wondering if she were still around in this new timeline. If she were, Hermione hoped Voldemort had remembered to keep her locked up somewhere.

On the other hand, he would probably think it amusing to watch his pet snake chase after Hermione, almost exactly like what happened back in Godric's Hollow, except this time, she wouldn't have a wand.

After minutes of searching and not seeing even a speck of snakeskin in the room, Hermione returned her attention back to the finer details of the room.

Dark green drapes were tied to each of the posts of the bedframe with silver cord tassels. Bedside tables stood on either side of the bed with multi-branched candelabras on top of them. The bed itself was huge, for a lack of a better word. It was much larger than any bed Hermione had ever seen, and that caused her eyes to narrow for a split second. It had better be because he slept with his pet snake. If it were because of some other witch, Hermione sincerely hoped that Nagini was, indeed, alive in this timeline and either swallowed her owner or strangled him to death.

Opposite the bed was a dark, polished wood desk with a comfy-looking armchair right behind it. Numerous piles of parchments, a bottle of ink with a quill in it, and a single unlit candle sat on top of the table. Though the urge to go through his things was strong, Hermione knew that without her wand, touching his stuff would be synonymous to a death wish.

Two glass-paned doors led to the balcony, to the right of the bed. A third dark-colored wood door stood a small distance away from them, though Hermione had no idea where it led to. On the other side of the doors leading to the balcony were numerous dark oak bookshelves, unsurprisingly filled with books. At the far left corner of the room was an unlit fireplace filled with logs, flanked by even more bookshelves. Two armchairs sat in front of the fireplace, complete with a mahogany-colored table in between them. On top of the table was a silver-colored tea set, and in front of one of the armchairs was a rather tall pile of books.

Her eyes lit up upon noticing the amount of books in the room. She really, really wanted to sit down and read through every one of them. Of course, she knew that most likely, they contained contents about the Dark Arts and such. Right before she'd gone on her "camping trip" with Harry and Ron, she had read through a couple of books pertaining to the Dark Arts. The amount of books she could find that contained significant and useful information about them was minimal, and she could not help but feel downtrodden because of that. Not that she wanted to learn and delve into the Dark Arts, but as gruesome as some parts were, there were some interesting theories and spells in some of them. Additionally, the headache that was developing because of the excess amount of memories appearing in her mind might go away if she read some books.

Or perhaps she could find something about time travel in Voldemort's collection. After all, he seemed unsurprised by the fact that they were time travelers. So maybe he did some research about it while they were gone. After all, even if he did manage to get things out of Salazar Slytherin before he killed him, she doubted Slytherin would've been willing to tell Voldemort a whole lot of information.

Therefore, without further ado, she hurried over to the bookshelves and started picking out the ones she wanted to read. Once her poor arms neared the point of breaking from the amount of books on top of them, she hobbled over to the table in front of the fireplace and carefully placed them on top of it. Heaving a sigh, she sat down in the armchair and picked up one of the books.

Before she could turn to the first page, however, her eyes were caught by a peculiar-looking object, lying innocently next to the stack of books that was originally on the table. It was a golden scarab, about the size of a Galleon. In place of where the eyes should be were rubies, and an unknown turquoise-colored gem decorated the wings. Forgetting about the possibilities of curses being placed on the items in Voldemort's room, she stretched her arm across the table, picked it up, and examined it. From what Hermione could see, there was nothing special about it. Nonetheless, it was almost an instinct, something that struck a person before they could really think it through, and Hermione knew that there was more than what met the eyes with the scarab.

There must be magic involved.

"Should've known that it was impossible for you to sit still," a mocking voice broke through the silence, causing her to jump in surprise.

Turning her head around, Hermione found Voldemort staring at her, amused.

"I thought you would've seen this as the perfect chance to go through my things," he said.

"I prefer my limbs attached to my body, thanks," she answered dryly, causing him to chuckle. After giving the scarab one more look, she stood up and held it up, showing it to him. "You've gone into Nefertiti's tomb."

Voldemort raised a non-existent eyebrow. "I thought you were worried about your appendages."

Hermione looked exaggeratedly at her legs and arms. "Well, they appear to be perfectly intact at the moment."

Amusement flashed through his eyes, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Curious how out of all Egyptian figures, you would say her name."

"Wouldn't it be a bit pointless to evade my question and play these silly games with me right now, Tom?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, too, and holding the scarab firmly in her hand.

He went over and sat down in the other armchair. Propping his head up with one hand, he gazed at her, though he remained quiet.

"You've found out about the secret chambers of her tomb from Ernsta?" she pressed on, deciding to get straight to the point.

"And you've found out about it from Dietfried," he said instead of answering.

She narrowed her eyes. "What, exactly, were you trying to find inside?"

"Nefertiti was a witch," he said.

"That's not the answer to my question, and I doubt you've gone there just to find out if she were a witch or not," she snapped.

He sighed overdramatically. "You've wound me, Hermione. Haven't you realized that there's a hidden researcher inside me? Haven't you—"

"Unless your name is not Tom Marvolo Riddle," she cut in.

He smirked, which caused her to roll her eyes instead.

"Your given name then," she added, tapping her feet on the floor impatiently.

He eyed her for another second or so before he glanced away towards the bookshelves. "Nefertiti was an extraordinary witch, it would seem. There were and are many treasures in her tomb that others had failed to find." He paused, and a frown appeared on his face. "It would seem that she had done it on purpose. There is some kind of magic—spells, traps, or something of the like—in every single room, almost as if she had placed some sort of guardian down there."

"Guardian? But … didn't you say that it's magic?" Hermione asked with a frown on her face and sank down into the armchair again.

He was not looking at her straight in the eye, so she could not tell if he were lying or not. Additionally, there must be a reason behind why he was telling her all this. However, the strangeness of what he was telling her allowed her to push those two things to the side for the moment.

Limitations were rather vague when it came down to magic. However, Hermione knew for certain that it was impossible to create living beings. Portraits, statues, and drawings could be produced, and they could be magicked to speak and interact. However, they still lacked certain qualities of an actual living creature.

Inferi, on the other hand, though created from corpses of a human, could not possibly be labeled as living.

Nonetheless, the way Voldemort was speaking made it sound as if there were a living being down in Nefertiti's tomb.

"Yes, but that magic seems to have the ability to detect who and what comes into Nefertiti's tomb. With that knowledge, it would almost pick and choose what to give you," Voldemort answered, the crease on his forehead deepening. "According to Ernsta, Dumbledore and Dietfried took everything that they thought were worthy out of the tomb already. However, when I entered the tomb, other things were revealed to me."

Rising from the armchair, he walked over to his desk. It appeared that Hermione's hunch had been correct. He did place some kind of spell over his possessions, since he first waved his wand over one of the drawers before he opened it, took out a book, and went over to where Hermione was. If the cover were any indication of its age, then the book was very, very old.

"This is what you've gone into Nefertiti's tomb for?" Hermione asked with her eyebrows raised as she stood up.

Voldemort shot her a look. "Of course not, but this is one of the things I've found in there."

Hermione took the book from his hands and flipped through the pages. That only caused the scowl to reappear on her face.

"It's all in hieroglyphics," she said exasperatedly.

"Not all of it," Voldemort contradicted. "There are words, symbols that aren't hieroglyphics. For instance, these over here—" He pointed out a couple of symbols on the page Hermione stopped on. "—are not hieroglyphics."

"What are they then?" Hermione asked.

"I've searched through different books. Apparently, these symbols do not exist in history," Voldemort answered.

Hermione stared at the page in front of her. "But it's written in here. How is it possible?"

"I've came to the conclusion that it must be some kind of hidden code, and I'm still in the process of deciphering it," he replied.

She looked at him in surprise. "You know hieroglyphics?" she asked.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Somewhat."

Hermione gazed at him. She had a feeling that he knew more than he was letting her believe. That meant that he probably deciphered more than he was willing to share, but since the book was technically his possession now, she had no reason to press on.

Again, the question of why he was telling her all this confused her. Perhaps he wanted her to go down to Nefertiti's tomb, too? If she did find something down there, fat chance she would be telling him. She had no doubts that he would find some way to nick it from her.

After flipping through a couple of more pages, she reluctantly handed the book back to Voldemort. He carefully placed it in the drawer before locking it up.

A soft knock on the door interrupted them, and seconds later, Professor McGonagall entered the room. She cast a quick look at Hermione before she knelt down, though she seemed unsurprised to see her student in Voldemort's room.

"My Lord," she said, "Ronald Weasley is at Hogwarts and asks for permission to see Miss Granger and the others."

Hermione felt her stomach do a flip-flop upon hearing the name of one of her best friends and boyfriend—well, former boyfriend.

What was her relationship with Ron in this timeline? The memories she had been getting and was still receiving gave her enough information to come to the conclusion that they were still friends. However, she did not know if there were something … further in between them. She couldn't possibly be still dating him with Voldemort in power, could she? Honestly, she doubted Voldemort would allow that to happen. His reaction back in the forties when he found out she had a boyfriend was enough proof. But he didn't come into power until three years ago, so perhaps he didn't have as much of an influence over her life.

Then again, the Potters and the Weasleys were following Voldemort, so it was also possible that she had met him at a younger age. When had she started to fancy Ron in the original timeline? She honestly could not remember. If it were before Voldemort came into power in this future, could she still be dating Ron?

She felt her head become twice its size with the number of questions floating in her mind, and her heart was now beating at a much faster rhythm than usual. Therefore, she nearly missed it when Voldemort spared her an indecipherable glance.

"Is that so?" Voldemort asked softly.

His expression did not make Hermione any calmer. It was almost as if Voldemort knew about the relationship between Ron and her. What was he going to do with Ron? Was Ron safe?

No, if he had known about Ron and her, he wasn't one to wait. He would've done something already, and if he had done something already, Ron wasn't exactly stupid and wouldn't dare request to see her and the others.

Therefore, she recomposed herself and raised her eyebrows at him, waiting for his decision. She wondered what he would do. He wanted to keep Harry and the others trapped inside the Room of Requirement, so was it possible for him to let Ron see where they were right now?

Yes, he would probably do that because—Hermione had to stop herself from rolling her eyes—he was the Dark Lord and could do whatever he wanted to do without explanation. Most likely, he would let Ron see them separately, in order to have something to hold over each person's head. Well, except for Draco, but of course, Ron wouldn't want to see him anyway.

Voldemort turned towards McGonagall. "Allow Mr. Weasley to wait inside the Gryffindor tower."

"Yes, my Lord," McGonagall answered.

Once McGonagall left the room, Voldemort faced Hermione again and held out his hand. Lying innocently in the palm of his hand was her wand.

"You might need this if you are planning on a … long chat with Mr. Weasley," he said, amusement etched on his face.

Hermione's face hardened. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"However you want to take it, dear. I just recall some of the more … idiotic things Mr. Weasley is capable of accomplishing and saying which may require the help of a hex to rectify," he answered, the corners of his mouth curving upwards into a faint smirk.

At that moment, she found someone who would serve as a better target practice than Ron, and conveniently enough, that person stood right in front of her.

"He's my friend," she hissed, snatching the wand from him, "and I doubt—I know for a fact that that didn't changed in this timeline."

Though she admitted that there were some parts of Ron's personality that were … controversial, that didn't mean that she would allow others to say something bad about him. He was still one of her best friends, and she already felt guilty enough for cheating on him. The least she could do was defend him when the situation arose.

Especially when he wasn't the one being the git.

Voldemort didn't say anything; however, the smirk on his face spoke more than words, and that made her almost reluctant to hold onto him to Apparate to Hogwarts. In the end, she gave in to the chance to see her friend and the possibility to save Harry and the others from being trapped inside the Room of Requirement. Once she was at Hogwarts, perhaps there was some way in which she could help Harry, Ginny, and Draco.

Therefore, she pushed down the urge to hex him, pocketed her wand, and grabbed onto his arm.

She glanced at him when he did not Apparate them. An indecipherable expression was on his face, yet his gaze was serious and cold, resembling that of wild animals warning unwanted visitors off their territories.

"Do remember that I have the ability to keep Ronald locked up without any reasons or explanations to his parents, so if he knows more than necessary about anything that I deem inappropriate for him to know …" he trailed off, leaving the threat hanging in the air.

Hermione felt a flame of anger jump up, and before she could stop herself, she said, "And what is that supposed to mean? How am I supposed to know what to say and what not to? If you're so worried about every single word that comes out of our mouths, then what's the point of letting us see him? You might as well lock us up for the rest of our lives."

She supposed he was warning her against telling Ron what happened in the original timeline, but she wasn't too sure. In addition to that, she would estimate that she had received less than half of the memories she was supposed to have in this timeline, so how would she know if Ron could be trusted or not? Yes, though she now knew that she had become friends with Ron and Harry during Hogwarts in this timeline as well, she had no idea how loyal Ron was to Voldemort. If she told Ron something, she had no idea how long it would take before Voldemort found out. Besides, she knew for certain that, regardless of the timeline, Ron would never become a master in Occlumency, so it would be all too easy for Voldemort to use Legilimency on him.

The smirk reappeared on Voldemort's face, but he did not answer. Instead, he turned on the spot, and Hermione felt the uncomfortable tug at her navel.

"Hermione! Oh … er …"

Once the nauseating feeling of Apparition passed, she looked up and found the familiar face of Ron Weasley smiling rather awkwardly at her. The moment he noticed that there was someone else there, the expression was immediately replaced by respect and hints of fear.

"My Lord," he murmured, kneeling down.

Although this was not the first time it had happened since she came back to the future, Hermione still found it awkward and strange. A good part of her mind still clearly remembered how every person she had met so far had fought against Lord Voldemort, not beside him.

Additionally, that expression on Ron's face when she arrived in the Gryffindor common room made her a bit uneasy. It almost proved that things were nearly like what had happened in the original timeline, and that, in and of itself, already made Hermione's head hurt.

Voldemort barely glanced at Ron. "Come along."

Without another word, he turned around and led the way out of the Gryffindor tower, much to Hermione's surprise. Was he really allowing Ron to see Harry and the others? She had thought that she would've had to badger him before he would allow that to happen. Wasn't he afraid that she might think of some clever plan to help them out? Or did he think that she was incapable of doing that?

Her eyes slightly narrowed at his retreating back, but her thoughts were put to a stop when Ron stopped right next to her, giving her a lopsided, apologetic grin.

"Hermione …"

Before he could say a second word, Voldemort turned his head slightly and looked at them from the corner of his eye.

"Do I need to repeat my words twice, Ronald?"

"No, my Lord," Ron immediately said, his face turning several shades paler.

He then clamped his mouth shut and followed Voldemort out. Hermione heaved a sigh and followed, thoroughly disgruntled with the situation in front of her. Throughout their whole walk through the hallways, Ron did not say another word to Hermione. However, that made the atmosphere even more awkward, since he kept shooting hopeful glances towards her. For once, she was glad of the authority Lord Voldemort had over his subjects. At least she had some time to think things over before she had to face Ron and … well, his affections. She did not want to just blurt out to him that she had fallen for someone else and could not be with him any longer. It would hurt him too much, and their many years of friendship would definitely be over once that happened. Besides, she was the one who had cheated on him in the first place, so she was the one at fault. She did not have the right to hurt him any further.

She mentally thought of different ways of how to speak to Ron, but each one seemed even crueler than the previous one. By the time they reached their destination, she still hadn't thought of a way to explain things to Ron and she was faced with another problem: How was she going to get Voldemort to let them speak in a different room?

Before she could say something, he opened a door that previously wasn't visible to her on the wall leading to the Room of Requirement. He must have added that function while he was setting up the limitations, which was why he could see the door but she couldn't.

He turned towards Ron and Hermione and gestured towards the door, as if he were a host welcoming them.

She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to one side, causing him to raise a non-existent eyebrow.

"I thought you wanted to chat with your friends," he said.

"Why can't we chat in a different room?" Hermione asked.

Ron pulled on her sleeve, silently warning her. She, however, was not looking at him. Instead, she kept gazing on Voldemort. A flash of laughter passed through his eyes when he noticed Ron's motions, but he did not comment on it.

"What's wrong with the Room of Requirement?" he asked in return.

"You know precisely what's wrong with it," Hermione answered, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

"Hermione," Ron hissed beside her.

"Aren't you afraid that someone might overhear whatever secrets you and your friend might want to talk about?" Voldemort asked.

The hint of sarcasm in his voice did not go by unnoticed, and Hermione was further convinced that someone had sold their secret about the future to him in the forties. However, she had no idea if it were Joseph, Gareth, Alphard, or more than one of them. Each one of them had different reasons to betray them. Could the time-travelers have been surrounded by more enemies than they had known? She doubted Voldemort would tell her the truth.

Hermione forced herself not to think any further. For the time being, she could not investigate about it any further after all.

"We're at Hogwarts, which is supposedly under your control. I would think that the security should insure that we have one hundred percent privacy," Hermione answered, a faux sweet smile plastered on her face.

Ron made a noise that suddenly reminded Hermione of the ones Draco used to make wherever Lord Voldemort was concerned. From the corner of her eye, she could see the panic and worry on his face.

"Ronald, why don't you go in and meet with your friends? I'm sure they would have plenty to talk to you about," Voldemort suddenly said.

Though his tone of voice was pleasant and courteous, it was clear that this was a command and not a question. However, before Ron could pull Hermione in with him, she grabbed his arm instead, forcing him to stay in spot with her.

Irritation flashed through Voldemort's face before he pulled a blank façade over it. "Granger, trust me when I say that just because I've been lenient with you in the past, it doesn't mean that it would always happen. The only place where you will be meeting your friends is in there and nowhere else. If you don't want to, then we can just call this whole get-together off. It's your choice, and do not try my patience." He then snapped his head towards Ron, who was looking on at their interaction with a mixture of emotions across his face. "Go in."

Indecisiveness appeared on Ron's face, but in the end, his loyalty to Hermione won over the side that wanted to follow Voldemort's order. He did not want to abandon Hermione when he believed that she might be in danger. That made the guilt that had been gnawing down to the very core of Hermione's heart gain even more momentum, and she heaved. She could not let him suffer for her sake.

Nonetheless, before she could open her mouth and tell Ron to go in, a cold, hard glint passed through Voldemort's eyes. With a flash of his wand, the two of them flew through the air. A scream erupted from Hermione's throat, followed shortly by a yell from Ron. Just when she thought about bracing herself for the pain, she had landed on top of something soft. She cracked open an eyelid and found herself sitting in an armchair.

Ron, on the other hand, had a less comfortable landing. With a grunt of pain, he pushed himself off the floor with a grumpy expression on his face, though he did not dare to look towards Voldemort.

The room itself was simple enough and strangely reminded Hermione of Salazar Slytherin's house, complete with the wooden chairs and table. The only thing that was missing was the cage the time travelers had been locked in for three days. There were a total of three doors, not counting the one she came through, and she assumed that they led to the toilet and bedrooms.

"Grand entrance there, Granger," a familiar, Slytherin-ish drawl came from behind her, and she recognized it as Draco's voice.

When did he get changed back into a human? She would have to remember to ask later. Right now, she glared at Voldemort instead, who was leaning against the wall with smirk on his face and lazily twirling the wand between his fingers. It then occurred to Hermione that he must have made the door invisible to the occupants of the room, which was why Harry, Ginny, and Draco hadn't even thought about walking out of the room when the door opened from the outside.

"Remember what I've told you, Granger, and do enjoy your chat. No one else will hear your conversations," he said before exited through the wall.

Besides you, Hermione added mentally.

He must have also added some strange function that would allow him to know what they talked about in the room. There had to be some way around that, and Hermione was determined to find it. She would get her friends out of the Room of Requirement if that were the last thing she did.

"What are you doing here?" Ron's voice brought her out of her reverie.

He was staring at Draco as if the latter were some kind of vermin. Though Hermione wouldn't be too surprised if that were exactly what Ron thought he was.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked in return.

"That's none of your business. Hogwarts is no longer under your parents' control. Do you think you can strut around like you own this place?"

"So you're saying that your parents own Hogwarts now? My, my, no wonder things are starting to fall apart," Draco sneered, flicking his finger at one of the chairs.

In a flash, Ron's wand was out and pointed towards him.

"Ron, no!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm.

Harry and Ginny, on the other hand, seemed like they were having a hard time deciding if they wanted to help Ron or Draco.

Ron stared at Hermione in confusion. As seconds passed, that confusion slowly turned into frustration.

"What are you doing, Hermione?"

Hermione glanced at him with uncertainty. How should she word this without letting him see it the wrong way?

"It's … a long story, Ron. Perhaps you ought to sit down, and we'll explain—" Harry was explaining.

"He's my friend," Hermione blurted out, deciding that speaking the truth would probably be the best way to go.

"He's what?" Ron stared at her in disbelief.

"I know it's hard to believe and everything, but—" Hermione started to say.

"Well, you've got that right. Do you know what you're doing? He's Draco Malfoy!" Ron yelled.

She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Draco spoke up instead. "I think she knows who I am."

"Nobody asked you, Malfoy," Ron said, while Hermione shot Draco a warning glance.

Draco shrugged his shoulders, leaned into the armchair he was sitting in, and placed both feet on the table.

"Have you gone mad? Or did his father cast a Memory Charm on you?"

"I know this is hard to believe, but … Draco's not really such a bad person once you get to know him," Hermione said, ignoring the raised eyebrows from Harry and Ginny while Draco looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Ron stared at her, stunned. "But—but it's Draco Malfoy! Draco Malfoy!"

"And what, exactly, is wrong with me, Weaselbee? Afraid that people will realize how poor you are economically and mentally in comparison to me if I became their friend?" Draco bit out.

Hermione shot him another warning look while Ginny's jaw hardened, almost as if she were considering hexing him herself.

"I would keep my mouth shut in current conditions, Malfoy, unless you've forgotten where you are right now," Ginny said, her tone dangerously calm.

Draco apparently felt the threat in her voice, since he opted to snap his mouth shut.

"Does the Dark Lord know about this? And Mum and Dad?" Ron demanded, glancing at Ginny and Harry before looking back at Hermione. "And they tolerated this? They tolerated this?" He gestured at Draco from head to toe. "I can't believe it. I'm going to see the Dark Lord about this."

"Ron, You-Kn-the Dark Lord knows about this," Ginny said, grabbing onto her brother's arm before he could storm out of the room.

Momentarily, Hermione wondered if he could even walk out of the room, since there were no doors.

He twisted his neck around and stared at Ginny. "And he didn't say anything about it? I don't believe this. What lies did Malfoy tell the Dark Lord? That he's going to spy on his Mum and Dad for us?"

"Something like that," Hermione quickly answered, seeing this as a pretty good cover up for the reason why Draco Malfoy was walking amongst them. Nonetheless, the fact that she had to lie to Ron did not dwell well on her conscience, and she felt her cheeks turn warm as she said the next words. "Well, he, Draco, that is, he decided that … the Order probably isn't going to win against us, so … it would be better for him to join us … instead."

Ginny seemed to have caught on to what Hermione was doing, so instead of correcting her, she nodded. Draco just stared at them with mild interest, as if he were not the cause of their problems.

Ron stared at Ginny and Hermione for a short moment, his mouth slightly open. Then, he snapped his mouth shut before saying, "This is nuts. There must be something wrong with you."

"There's nothing wrong with us, Ron," Hermione contradicted. "We know perfectly what we're doing and we're not under any kind of spells or curses—"

"Then why are you helping and befriending Draco Malfoy?" Ron yelled.

"You don't understand, Ron. We've been through quite a bit in the last couple of months, and … well, Draco's not such a bad person once you get to know him," Hermione said.

"And why would I want to get to know him?" Ron asked, his voice not lowering in the least. "I know him well enough already. He's a foul git who doesn't know any better, just like his father."

"Keep my father out of this, Weasley," Draco warned with his eyes narrowed as he stood up from the armchair.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it if I don't, Malfoy?" Ron sneered.

Hermione could see his hand rolling into a fist in his pocket, and she was worried that this might turn into a duel instead. So, she stepped in between them with her arms stretched outwards towards the two of them.

"Stop. This is getting stupid. Draco didn't come here to look for a fight, and Ron, you're here to see us because we've been gone for so long, not to duel Draco," Hermione said.

"That was before I knew you decided to become friends with this scumbag," Ron said, the tips of his ears turning red. Then, he seemed to realize that he had said something wrong and quickly added, "I still wanted to see the three of you, but not this idiot."

Draco snorted. "Idiot? The crow calling the dove black, Weasley. I'd like to see who the real idiot in this room is."

Ron stepped forward but was prevented from lunging at Draco because of Hermione.

"Ron—"

"I'll show him who's the idiot," Ron said through gritted teeth as Hermione tried to pull him back.

"Resorting to brute strength now, Weasley? Can find enough brain cells in your head to give a proper, verbal comeback?" Draco taunted.

However, he had already circled around his armchair and was now standing behind it. If things boiled down to a fight, he would undoubtedly use it as some kind of shield or something to hold off Ron while he went for his wand.

"Shut up, Draco," Hermione warned before she turned towards Ron again.

"Are you helping him or helping me?" Ron finally demanded and turned his head towards Hermione.

"I'm helping the both of you," Hermione said firmly. "This is stupid and getting nowhere. You're just wasting time doing pointless things—"

"So now I'm the one doing pointless things?" Ron pressed on.

"I didn't say it was just you," Hermione contradicted. "I'm just saying that this whole argument is pointless. Draco is my friend now, and I don't want the two of you at one another's necks every single time we meet."

"You still insist that he's a friend? After all the insults he'd thrown at us?" Ron asked.

"You were the one who kept insulting me throughout the entire conversation, Weasley," Draco spoke up again.

"Hush, Draco," Hermione hissed before looking back at Ron. "Do you actually think that if he were a bad person, all three of us would fall for his act so easily? Just give him a chance."

"Give him a chance? Give him a chance? He's a Malfoy, Hermione. Draco Malfoy, who had been calling you 'Mudblood' while we were still at Hogwarts. Don't tell me you've forgotten about that." He then huffed. "Then again, with the things you're telling me, I'm wondering if you've hurt your head or something during the last couple of months."

Hermione's face darkened. "And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

Ron didn't answer. Instead, he gave her a shrug and didn't continue elaborating his words.

Hermione mentally counted to ten in her mind. The purpose of this wasn't to get into a row; they were here because they hadn't seen one another for a long time. Additionally, she still had to think of a way to get Harry and Ginny out of here without Ron knowing what they were talking about. What should she do? And how should she placate Ron?

"Ron, try and get along with him. You'll notice that he no longer calls me ‘Mudblood.’ He's not really as bad as you, er, we've thought he was," Hermione said as patiently as she could.

Ron shrugged again, but Hermione knew that her words had fallen on deaf ears. That further strengthened her belief that she shouldn't let Ron know that Harry, Ginny, and Draco were actually almost like prisoners at the current moment. An awkward silence followed, and Hermione had no idea how to start up the conversation again.

"Why are you staying here instead of the Burrow?" Ron asked Ginny all of a sudden.

He was avoiding Hermione's eyes, and she had no idea if it were because he was still holding a grudge against her. She couldn't say that the whole argument was entirely his fault. After all, Draco did take a swipe at him a few minutes ago, too. Therefore, Hermione decided not to say anything about it, hoping that he would be back to normal after they've chatted for a while.

"Didn't … Mum tell you?" Ginny asked carefully.

Hermione then recalled Voldemort's words, and she hoped that they wouldn't say anything about time traveling. She tried to signal something to Ginny and Harry, but unfortunately, both of them weren't looking at her.

"She just said that the Dark Lord didn't allow you to go home with her." Ron's eyes went over to Draco again. "Is it because of him?"

Draco's eyes slightly narrowed, though he did not say anything, most likely because he knew what kind of unfavorable conditions he was in right now.

"Not exactly," Ginny answered slowly, biting her lower lip.

"He wanted us to do something for him … the Dark Lord, that is," Hermione spoke up instead, having some difficulty calling Voldemort by that name. She hoped that her words were enough of a clue for the others that they shouldn't let Ron know too much about their situation.

Ron didn't look at her, and Hermione realized that he was still sulking because of their previous argument. Hermione bit the insides of her cheeks and crossed her arms over her chest. This was childish beyond belief. Fine, if he didn't want to talk to her, then she was happy to cooperate with him and not speak with him. Who cared if Harry and Ginny told Ron everything that happened?

"Yeah, he wanted us to do something for him, so he wanted us to stay at Hogwarts for the time being," Harry quickly added when he noticed the peculiar atmosphere between his two best friends.

"Do what?" Ron asked.

"It's a secret," Ginny answered when Harry failed to answer and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Ron's face fell upon hearing her words.

"Oh," he simply said. After a short pause, he recomposed himself and asked, "So what were you doing? The lot of you had been gone for more than a year, almost two years."

He kept his eyes on Harry, and Hermione had to admit that this hurt her a bit—well, quite a bit. She didn't see their argument as too big of a deal, so she didn't understand why he had such a big reaction. Perhaps he was holding some kind of grudge against her because they were gone for so long? But he did want to stay with her, even when there was the possibility of getting Cruciated by Voldemort right before they came into the Room of Requirement. So that meant that he still cared for her, didn't it? That thought made Hermione feel slightly better, and her anger slowly subsided.

"We were … traveling," Ginny answered vaguely.

Ron raised his eyebrows, expecting his younger sister to elaborate, but from the look of things, it became obvious to Hermione that the three of them had not thought of a story while she was gone. They probably hadn't even thought of the possibility of Ron showing up until it happened. All four of them had not thought it possible for Voldemort to even consider letting someone else speak with them. Therefore, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione shared glances with one another, though none of them said a word.

Their silence took its toll on Ron's patience, and his gaze became as harsh as his next words.

"Oh, so I suppose that that's a secret, too, isn't it?" he asked.

"Well … yes … sort of," Ginny mumbled, averting her eyes.

Harry was looking on a spot on the table as if there were something there that interested him. Only Draco seemed to be having fun with this whole situation.

Ginny's words finally made something snap in Ron, and his face turned red out of frustration.

"But Malfoy gets to know everything, doesn't he? Since when did the two of you become friends with him, too?" he demanded.

"We're not exactly friends with him," Harry protested and finally gazed at Ron again.

Nonetheless, after the words left his mouth, Harry scratched the back of his head, and Draco sent him a mocking look.

"But we're not exactly enemies either. We've … been through a lot with him, and whether the three … the four of us like it or not, we're comrades," Ginny explained.

Instead of calming Ron down, it made him angrier instead.

"Oh right, so now the four of you are comrades," he sneered.

"Ron, it's not as if we choose to be in this situation. Please be reasonable," Hermione finally opened her mouth again.

"So now I'm the unreasonable one?" Ron snapped, finally looking towards her. "When I'm not the one full of secrets? When I'm not the one who left two years ago without a word or a letter? When I'm not the one speaking as if I've been given some immensely important mission by the Dark Lord?"

"We didn't say it's something 'immensely important.' You're just putting everything out of context with your words. I've told you already that it's nothing important, but you just won't listen. And like I've said, we've never chosen to let this happen to us," Hermione argued.

Ron fell silent again and ground his teeth instead. Hermione heaved a sigh and went up to him.

"Please, Ron, we do want to tell you … but you know that the Dark Lord doesn't like it when we don't follow his orders," she said.

Her words seemed to have an impact on him, since Ron's face slowly softened as he digested what she had told him.

After a while, Ron sighed, too, and glanced at her. "You'll tell me what's going on once the Dark Lord says 'yes?'"

Hermione gave him a firm nod. Slowly, a smile appeared on Ron's face. Then, he seemed to have thought of something, and his face brightened.

"Do you reckon the Dark Lord would say 'yes' if I asked him? I mean, perhaps I can do the mission with you. I'll tell him that you didn't tell me anything about it, but maybe I can be useful for whatever you're doing," he said hopefully.

Hermione seriously doubted Voldemort would do that, but knowing that it would make Ron happy, she nodded and gave him a bright smile.

"Yes, maybe he'll let you," she answered.

As she had guessed, that caused a big grin to appear on his face. He then went on to talk about what happened while they were gone, since they couldn't tell him anything about their trip. A brilliant smile appeared on Ginny's face when Ron mentioned that he was now running the joke shop with the twins. It appeared that Fred was not killed in this timeline.

"And can you believe it? Lupin and Tonks gave birth to their second child last year," Ron was saying.

It suddenly felt like some kind of bizarre dream to Hermione again, one that she was reluctant to wake up from. Everything seemed so … right and happy. Many people whom she cared for were unharmed. It was a future she could have only wished for, but now, everything was laid down in front of her. However, there was also that feeling of unease in the back of her head, as if she were holding onto a piece of glass menagerie, and at any minute, it might fall out of her hand and break into pieces.

"And … well …" Ron said slowly, glancing at Hermione with a sense of shyness and uncertainty.

For some reason, that made Draco snort from his armchair. Hermione couldn't be bothered to send him a look; she kept her eyes on Ron instead and hoped he wouldn't go to the topic she had been hoping to avoid.

Unfortunately, the gods were against her.

"Mum wants to know when we are going to get married," Ron said, his cheeks a faint shade of pink.

Draco's snort became muffled laughter, and Harry and Ginny were both gazing at her. Hermione couldn't help but wish that they would be a bit more discreet in this situation. It was already quite awkward without them gawking at her. Though she knew they would be listening in on every word she spoke, it was even worse when they were outwardly staring.

"Um … yeah … getting married," Hermione said slowly.

She kept her eyes on everywhere except on Ron, as if she were looking for some invisible form of help. Where was the stupid Dark Lord when she needed him? No, wait. That would be a bad idea. If he heard Ron talking about marriage with her, he would probably think of some creative torture method designed especially for Ron.

That thought was closely followed by another, and she wondered if Voldemort were in the room right now. That made Hermione's skin crawl. After all, they had no idea if the door were opened or not, since all they could see was a wall. He could have Disillusioned himself and walked in without them knowing.

"Hermione?" Ron called out when short period of silence passed. He gave her a look, obviously waiting for an answer from her.

"Oh … right … getting married," Hermione said, pushing her worries away for the moment. She took in a deep sigh, all the while thinking of what to say. "I … I think—"

"Oh!" Ron suddenly exclaimed, successfully stopping her from talking. "Do you reckon the Dark Lord can marry us?"

A choked noise came from Harry, and Ginny's eyes widened, but that went unnoticed by Ron. He was glaring at Draco instead, who was guffawing loudly now.

"What are you laughing about, Malfoy?"

"Ron, I don't … I don't think …" Ginny stuttered.

Her words were interrupted by Draco, who was wiping a tear away from the corner of his eyes. "Don't mind me, Weaselbee. Go ask the Dark Lord about it. I'm so certain he would say 'yes.' Just do it where I can see it."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ron asked with his eyes narrowed at the blond.

"He just meant that … it probably wouldn't be a good idea to bother him about these types of things … the Dark Lord, I mean," Harry answered quickly.

"Yes, he's so … busy, and I doubt he would want to know something like this," Ginny added.

A shiver ran up Hermione's spine at the prospect of secretly getting married behind Voldemort's back. She doubted he would take that very well.

"Come on, of course he would want to knows when Hermione's getting married. Mum and Dad always talked about how highly the Dark Lord thinks about her," Ron contradicted. He turned back towards Hermione. "So, when do you think will be a good time? They're predicting a lot of snow this year, so winter's probably not such a good—"

"Ron," Hermione interrupted him and successfully stopping him.

She knew what she should tell him; it was all in her mind. Nonetheless, when he stared at her with those sky blue eyes of his, she did not know how to say it any longer. It would hurt him too much if she just told him that she didn't want to get married to him.

"I … I don't think it's such a good idea to get married at such a young age," Hermione said in the end, a nervous smile on her face. "I mean … we're still so young, and we have so much more to do …"

"But we wanted children. A lot of children, so getting married early is good for us," Ron replied.

Draco snickered again, but this time, Ron simply ignored him this time.

"Yes, but … but we still need to serve the Dark Lord." An idea struck her right then. "And the Order members haven't been all captured yet. It will always be something that's at the back of our mind—"

"Yeah, but that's a long-time thing. We can just get married first and then concentrate on capturing the rest of the Order members," Ron said.

"Yes—No, but you can't expect me to run around when I'm with child," Hermione said, wringing her hands together. When Ron fell silent again, she sighed heavily and added, "You know that I do love you, Ron, but … but I'm just not ready to get married yet."

Much to her surprise, a flicker of anger passed through Ron's eyes, and with his voice harsh, he asked, "And how long do you reckon I would have to wait before you are ready?"

Hermione blinked and stared at him, not sure where his anger was coming from. "Ron—"

"Another year? Five years later? Or ten years later?" Ron asked, his voice progressively getting louder. "How am I supposed to know if this is just another lie? You seem rather talented in doing that."

The unfounded accusation took Hermione by surprise. "What?"

"Now I'm wondering how many lies you've told me throughout the whole time I've known you. Perhaps I should take a leaf out of the Dark Lord's book and learn Legilimency to prevent myself from falling into your traps again," Ron continued as if he hadn't heard what she said.

Draco let out a derisive snort and muttered, "Anyone can become a master in Legilimency then."

Ron seemed determined to pretend that Draco was invisible, or perhaps it was because he was keeping his concentration on Hermione. She did not know nor did she care. She felt anger bubbling up inside her again, and it was with all the control that she had for her to keep it from breaking loose.

"I have no idea what kind of traps you are talking about. If I've ever lied to you, it was definitely for your own good. Other than that, I would never—"

"Oho! The cat's finally out of the bag! So you've really lied to me before, didn't you?" Ron yelled.

"You're just twisting my words out of context again! I've already said, if I've lied to you before, it was for your own good!" Hermione argued, her voice getting louder as well.

"For my own good, for my own good, that's what you always say, but I suppose you're right. I wouldn't want to know every single detail of what you're doing behind our backs," Ron scoffed.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Hermione snapped.

Ron rolled his eyes and didn't answer. Hermione stomped up to him, tilted her head up, and glared at him.

"Ronald Weasley, you better explain yourself."

"And why should I? You have a hell of a lot more things to explain to me," Ron said.

Hermione's mouth snapped shut, and she felt her heart skip a beat. Did he know about what happened between her and Voldemort? No, that was impossible, or else he wouldn't have stayed by her side and went against Voldemort's commands. But then what was he talking about? He couldn't possibly be talking about what Draco was saying before, could he? About her and Lockhart? But that was impossible. Though she had been getting snippets of memories about her years at Hogwarts in this timeline, she did not, for once, saw anything that intimate with Lockhart. Yes, she did chat with him a couple of times after classes, but that was it. She never snogged him before.

"Nothing else to say? Well, that's a change. I still recall how loudly you argued with me two years ago. Cat's gotten your tongue? Or did you finally find pity in your heart to tell me the truth?" Ron sneered.

Shit. What did she argue with him about two years ago? She remembered clearly that they were arguing about Ginny in the original timeline, but apparently, that was not it in this timeline. This was probably also the reason why he was holding a grudge against her while they were arguing before. Something must have happened between her and Ron before she disappeared for the last two years.

Before she could say anything else, Ron's eyes went over to Draco, and he eyed him from head to toe a couple of times. An exaggerated look of realization appeared on Ron's face, and then he turned back to Hermione.

"Oh, I see," he said, slowly crossing his arms over his chest. "He's another one of … yours, isn't he?"

"What are you going on about?' Hermione asked, confusion slowly overtaking the anger that was previously in her.

"And you kept going on about how I only believed in rumors, but now, I know that they're all true," he continued, disregarding her question.

Harry and Draco shared a look with one another before shrugging in unison. Ginny, however, had a look of deep contemplation on her face. Hermione almost had the urge to go over and ask her if she knew what her brother was talking about because it seemed like Ginny had gotten certain memories from this timeline that coincided with what Ron was talking about.

"You can't possibly believe in them," Ginny said slowly, proving Hermione's hunch correct.

"Oh, so you're taking her side, aren't you?" Ron asked angrily.

"Ron, I'm not taking anyone's side, but it's … it's Hermione. She would never do that," Ginny said.

"I used to think so, too," Ron said. He then looked at Hermione from the corner of his eye. "But it appears that we're both wrong."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione repeated herself, irritation quickly building up again.

"What do you see in Malfoy this time, Hermione? It can't be his looks because …" He examined the blond again.

"As if you look any better, Weaselbee," Draco retorted.

Ron's words became clearer now, and Hermione could feel her ire rise to unbelievable heights. Nonetheless, a part of her still hoped that he was not saying what she thought he was saying.

Ron didn't seem to care what Draco said, since he continued to speak as if he hadn't heard him.

"And everyone thought that older, useless, good-looking professors were the only type that you snogged. Apparently, Galleons had the same effect on you, too, doesn't it?" Ron lashed out.

His words caused an immediate uproar. Ginny and Harry both started saying something loudly and furiously while Draco stared at Ron as if he had three heads. Hermione felt the urge to hex Ron expand past her limits, and she would've done so if someone hadn't chosen that moment to interrupt their conversation.

"Care to tell me which professors in my school are considered, 'older, useless, and good-looking', Weasley?" a cold voice asked softly.

And suddenly, Ron's face turned into a sickly shade of green when he noticed who had suddenly appeared, leaning against the wall that led to the entrance.

"My—my Lord," he stuttered before dropping to his knees.

Voldemort pushed himself away from the wall and took a few steps forward.

"Well? Your answer?" he asked again.

"I—I—" Ron stammered.

"He's thinking Lockhart, my Lord," Draco spoke up instead.

Hermione had no idea when it happened, but somehow, he was kneeling on the floor, too. She could not help but find the situation in front of her strange, with Draco and Ron kneeling on the floor while she, Harry, and Ginny were standing.

"Did I ask you?" Voldemort snapped.

Draco paled and lowered his head. Unconsciously, Hermione stepped closer to him, worried that Voldemort might curse him.

"There's no point protecting your pet ferret, Hermione. I'm not in the mood to Cruciate him today," Voldemort said sarcastically before he concentrated back on Ron. "Well, are you going to give me an answer today, Weasley, or do I have to wait until the day Dumbledore sends me flowers?"

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione involuntarily snorted upon hearing his words, and Hermione could almost see the faint upward curve of Voldemort's mouth before he pulled his expression back into check again. Ron had not been affected by what happened; in fact, his body had started to shake by this point.

"It's—My Lord—I've—I've just heard—heard rumors—while—while we were back in Hog—Hogwarts," Ron stuttered.

"What rumors?" Voldemort asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

His red eyes landed on Draco before he glanced at Hermione. Suddenly, she felt her cheeks turn warm.

This was absurd. She was absolutely sure that regardless of what timeline it was, she would not snog Lockhart. Nonetheless, from the look of things, it seemed as if the whole student body had been spreading that story around, and basing on her "friendly relationship" with Draco before they traveled to the forties, she was sure that he must be one of the propagators of said rumor. Seeing Voldemort's reaction, he had probably heard about this rumor, too.

"Well … er …"

"Ronald," Voldemort said warningly.

"Lavender and Parvati were going on and on about how Parvati had heard it from Padma, who heard it from Seamus, who heard it from Dean, who heard it from—"

"Get. To. The. Point," Voldemort deadpanned.

"They said she was snogging professors in between classes to get high grades," Ron blurted out.

Everyone stared at him, though he did not know, since his eyes were on the floor, not daring to stare at his Lord in the eye.

Hermione felt as if a bomb had been dropped on top of her.

"You idiot, and you actually believed what they'd said?" Hermione asked angrily, stomping up to Ron.

"Don't call me an idiot!" he said angrily, lifting his head to stare at her. "I didn't say I believed them back then."

So what did he mean? He meant that he believed them now? Hermione's wandhand twitched, and she nearly pulled out her wand to hex the moron in front of her if Harry hadn't pulled her back.

"He's just lashing out now. He doesn't mean it," Harry whispered quickly.

Of course she knew, but his words stung. The numerous times when Harry and he had relied on her intelligence to get through things, and now he was using that kind of rumor to get back at her? This was ridiculous.

"Which professors?" Voldemort asked quietly.

Ron stared at him in confusion before remembering to lower his eyes again. "I—" He swallowed before answering. "Professor Lockhart, my Lord."

"And?" Voldemort pressed on.

As if on cue, a particular memory appeared in her mind at that moment, and she recalled who, exactly, she had been snogging in that classroom.

It was not Lockhart.

Oh shit.

"Ron, no!" Harry yelled, but he was a moment too late.

"Professor Riddle."

~-0-~

A/N: Huge thanks to MaraudersWolf for beta-ing the chapter. Special thanks to Nerys for looking the chapter over for logic and flow. Many, many thanks to those of you who read, rated, and especially those of you who reviewed: SARA, Fleur K., jasperluv1863, Ms Velvela, Lady Miya, somebody french, mrequecky, Aviendha, Lisa, and Ikuni Hattori!

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Somewhere in Time