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Masters of Manipulation	By : Nerys Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 28506 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Chapter Five

'Bad things happen to wizards, who meddle with time,' the thought flew through Hermione's mind as she stared at the obvious proof of that statement, the motionless, bleeding body of Tom Marvolo Riddle. He had been trying to get information about the future and was promptly hit by a giant chandelier. A nervous giggle escaped her mouth. The man, who would become the most feared wizard of all time, would now go down in the history books as the Head Boy, who died by dropping a chandelier on his head. Ron would be so proud. She hadn't been more than two weeks in the past and she had already succeeded in having the Dark Lord kill himself. He was dead, wasn't he? She poked the body with the wand in her hand, Voldemort's wand. Riddle still had hers in his pocket.

'Riddle?' she asked tentatively.

Another poke. Nothing happened. 'Shit.'

She grabbed Tom by his shirt and shook him violently, but that only caused her to rip his shirt apart and get sprayed with his blood. He wasn't coming to and he really appeared not to be breathing. Her first aid lessons came back to mind. Her parents, being health professionals and all, had insisted she take lessons from a very early age on. So Hermione checked for a pulse. It felt weak and faint, but she was relieved it was still there. Though, if the bastard wouldn't start breathing soon, that joy would end in a hurry. One does need oxygen to keep the heart pumping, and she so wasn't considering doing that. No way. Never ever would she.

'RIDDLE! BREATHE!' Hermione yelled frantically, and she grabbed him by his shoulders and started shaking him again. 'I should not have sent that boy back downstairs,' she thought. 'He could have gotten help.'

Though, she wasn't sure on how to explain the current situation, but still, she needed assistance. So she yelled towards the dormitories that she needed help, but no one came. 'I might as well do something about those wounds,' she thought desperately, anything to stir her mind away from the not-breathing issue at hand.

She raised Tom's wand and traced it over the deep wounds the chandelier had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; she wiped the residue away from his face and chest, and repeated the spell. Now, the wounds seemed to be knitting. After she performed it for the third time, she was happy with the result. Though, he would need to take a Blood-Replenishing Potion to get well again, and some dittany to avoid scarring. And … he needed to start breathing.

'Riddle! Come on!' she shouted, followed by another session of useless shaking.

His chest moved. Startled, Hermione dropped Tom, raised his wand, and jumped back, away from him. Black mist arose out of his mouth, like he was exhaling his fragmented soul out of his lifeless body. Hermione took another step back. A loud crack filled the room and she noticed the stone in the Gaunt Ring had broken in half. A black vapour began emanating from it, curling around the mist that was coming from his mouth, blending together.

'This is not supposed to happen… Dumbledore's supposed to destroy the Horcrux in the Gaunt Ring. This Horcrux still existed in my time.'

It was when the thought hit her. 'Time! Let's hope this works,' Hermione thought, and she raised Voldemort's wand and uttered the spell: 'AccioEternity in Time.'

Later on she would wonder if the book had come so easily to her when she summoned it, because she was covered in Riddle's blood, because she was using his wand, or maybe because of both, but it came nevertheless. The book flew right into her hands, but now what? She did not know how to operate it. She flipped through the pages of Salazar's book hoping for some kind of divine inspiration. She remembered Godric's book activated when she stated what she needed. It was worth a try.

'I need to undo his death. I need this ring to remain intact. I need Riddle to keep breathing and stay alive. I need him to stay unconscious,' she added quickly, while thinking 'just to be on the safe side'.

A dash of silver light flew through the room, and everything appeared to be frozen in time for a moment, but then the black vapour sped towards her. 'Protego!' Hermione yelled in fear.

But the black vapour flew past her shield like it wasn't there and punched right into her chest. The pain from the impact made her drop the book and crash to the floor on her knees, crossing her arms in front of her chest. For a few moments her breathing was erratic and her pulse sped up to dangerous heights, but then, it all calmed down and everything appeared to be normal again. She looked up, when…

'Now, this certainly is unusual,' she heard Tom say.

'Riddle?' Hermione asked, puzzled, and she looked at the still body on the table. His mouth had not moved and he still appeared to be very much dead.

'What were you thinking, Evans?' An amused voice spoke inside of her.

Her shock at realising exactly where Riddle's voice came from was quickly replaced with anger. 'Will you get the Hell out of me!'

'Oh, believe me Evans, I, who have never wanted to die, can honestly say that I'd rather be dead than be stuck inside the likes of you,' Riddle sneered.

'Well, what are you waiting for then? Feel free to die right away,' Hermione retorted in an equally sneering tone of voice.

'Hmmm, I wonder…,' Riddle said. And Hermione felt herself move up from the ground and walk towards the table, but she didn't initiate it.

'What do you think you are doing? Stop that, Riddle,' Hermione said angrily.

'Just checking something,' Riddle cheekily said. 'Pffftt…, Evans, I suppose healing wounds isn't your forte,' he stated, while looking at the knitted wounds on his body through Hermione's eyes.

'What's the matter, Riddle? Afraid your fan girls will walk in the other direction when they see your pretty face has turned into this? Besides, you only need to take some dittany to avoid scarring,' Hermione added; she felt somewhat insulted from his comment.

'Ah! So you do think I'm cute.'

'I said no such thing.'

'I can read between the lines.'

'Perhaps you should learn to hear the lines first.'

'You know there is a good reason as to why all those girls like me, Evans. Care to find out?'

'Could we focus on the issue at hand?' Hermione growled, frustrated with the contents of the current conversation.

Tom chuckled.

'Riddle,' Hermione stated warningly.

'Fine… fine… I don't want to be in here any longer either, so what did you do?'

'Excuse me?'

'What. Were. You. Doing. That. Attracted. My. Soul. To. Go. Inside. Of. You?' Riddle repeated, emphasising on every word like he was speaking to a four year old.

'You did not do that yourself?' Hermione asked, surprised.

Riddle sighed. 'Would I be asking if I had, Evans? You can be really dense at times.'

'Well, I'm not the one, who got themselves killed by dropping a chandelier on their head, Riddle. So I guess you really are top of the line in everything,' Hermione said, vengefully.

'Watch it, Evans. You don't want to find out just how many unpleasant things I can do to this body, while I'm stuck here,' Riddle said softly.

'Is that a threat, Riddle?'

Another sigh. 'Am I ever going to get an answer to that question or are we going to stay like this for eternity?' Riddle said, exasperatedly.

'The book, I summoned Salazar's book and I…,' Hermione thought for a moment.

'Well?' Riddle asked impatiently.

'You were dead. Your soul was coming out of your body. Then there was the ring and I…'

'What do you know about that ring?' Riddle said angry.

Now, Hermione sighed. 'Gosh, I wonder. What could there possibly be for me to know about that Horcrux!' she stated sarcastically, but she continued before Tom could respond. 'So I thought I needed to undo things and make sure you remained alive, and I was holding the book at the time, and then, there was a flash of silver light, after which you attacked me.'

Tom turned Hermione's head to see Eternity in Time, which lay a few feet away on the floor, closed. 'Brilliant, Evans,' he mumbled and started walking towards it.

'Riddle!' Hermione yelled, outraged at him for simply using her body without so much as consulting her on its movements.

He halted his forward motions. 'Look Evans, I'm just going over there to get the book, turn back time and undo this rather nasty experience for the both of us, if you don't mind.'

'You can, at least, say what you're planning to do before doing it. I like knowing where I'm going,' Hermione said grudgingly.

'Fine, I'm going…'

'Yeah, you just said that,' Hermione interrupted his mocking response. It remained quiet for a while, and getting irritated by Riddle's lack of response, Hermione said: 'Are you going to move or what?'

'I wasn't sure I was allowed anymore,' he haughtily stated.

Hermione rolled her eyes and growled. 'If this situation is going to last any longer, I will have no other choice than to jump off the Astronomy Tower.'

'Feel free to do so, after I have vacated this body.'

'Stop snooping around my mind and undo this situation,' Hermione said bossily.

'Yes, Ma'am.'

Tom Riddle walked towards the book and picked it up. He started skipping through the pages, until Hermione made an observation. 'So I guess you didn't turn that one into a Horcrux as well.'

Tom looked up from the book with Hermione's head. 'Turn Eternity in Time into a Horcrux,' he slowly said, like he was considering the option. 'Now, there is a thought… Too bad that is not possible without destroying Salazar Slytherin's magic from these pages, which is necessary to retain this volume's Time-Travelling abilities, which I believe are rather useful. Besides, I don't need my soul in these pages, considering that the Blood-Binding Charm that's on them already gives me full control of the book in the first place.'

'The What?' Hermione said, alarmed.

'The Blood-Binding Charm,' Tom replied, pleased. 'Surely you realised, Evans, that Salazar Slytherin would have protected his book so that only his own blood could use it. Or did you think you activated it yourself?' A cold, high-pitched laugh vibrated through her brain. 'I got to say I do fail to see the point in why I would choose to send a Mudblood here, but I'm sure there must be a good reason for you to get the attention of Lord Voldemort, Hermione. So do tell, did you know what you'd be getting yourself into when you spilt your own blood on these pages, or is this a rather nice surprise?' he asked tauntingly. 'Because now, Hermione, we are joined at the hip. Blood buddies. Two of a kind. One step up…'

'I get the point, Riddle,' Hermione said through gritted teeth. 'Will you stop the idle chatter and activate the damn book so we can both have a life again.'

She felt this turn of events was most inconvenient. It was a good thing there weren't any mirrors present for Hermione to see her face in, because the sight of Riddle's smirk on her own face, after her reaction to his revelation, might have been a bit too much for her to handle at the current moment.

Tom returned his attention towards the book. He flipped forward to page 201 and started reading from it out loud. He was hissing in Parseltongue. Upon finishing, he turned the book to face his body. The leaves of the book started turning, a flash, and a silvery beam flew from the pages and lighted up the body of Tom Marvolo Riddle. 'You'll need to get ready to blast the chandelier out of the way, otherwise in a couple of moments we'll have to do this again,' Tom said to Hermione.

Everything began to move backwards. It was a strange sight for Hermione. She was standing there with his wand raised in one hand, holding up Slytherin's book that had a silvery glow to it in her other hand. And there was this other Hermione that was moving backwards, putting the book down again … checking out Riddle's body on the table … kneeling on the floor … black vapour flowing out of her … back into Riddle's body … Hermione shaking and healing Riddle … Hermione on the floor beside the table, the chandelier on top of Riddle and it flew back up...

'Depulso,' she cast.

The Banishing Charm blasted the chandelier away, crashing it into the wall of the Common Room. For a brief moment in time, there were two Hermione's, before the one without the book vanished into thin air. After which, Salazar's book closed.

'Nice one, Evans,' Tom said, contently.

Hermione looked down onto the table, and a smirk flew on her face when she saw Tom trying to get up again. An alarmed expression appeared on his face as he saw her point his wand straight at him.

'Stupefy,' she said with an utmost satisfied smile on her face.

Hermione was walking the corridor, her schoolbag in hand. She was re-evaluating the last couple of weeks with slight irritation. She had stupefied Riddle, had taken her wand back, had dumped his beside his body, and had taken both books with her. Only for him to get them both back within three hours, because for some reason, she had been unable to make it to her Secret Room with both books. It was almost like Eternity in Time did not want to go there.

However, she had found a way to retrieve the books back from him, and so did he in return…

It felt like the fates up above did not approve of the books being held longer than a couple of hours by one person, because it was unbelievable that every time she re-obtained them, Riddle would somehow be around to confiscate them back again. She saw his annoyed expression when he was trying to go through Salazar's and Godric's works, and she appeared around the corner, expressing her gratitude to him for handing her both volumes.

So ever since those two blasted books were around her, she had been unable to go to Godric's Room and read the volumes on the shelves. Minerva had found a few interesting things on Blood-Binding Charms. She had found out that was the cause of the manipulation Hermione had been feeling whenever she was around Salazar's work. However, now that Hermione was aware of that, she was far more resistant to it. It startled Hermione how similar it was to wearing the locket. Unfortunately, Minerva had been unable to find more information on how to send Hermione home. And Hermione wanted to check the shelves herself. She had faith in her former professor, but she had her own system of going through books. Perhaps Minerva was overlooking something?

After one night of nothing but frustration for not being able to get to read the books in the Secret Facility herself, Minerva had suggested to give the two Founders' volumes to her for safe keeping, so Hermione could go and read. But Hermione did not want Riddle's attention on her future Transfiguration Professor, so she declined the offer.

Minerva did, however, keep a close eye on her and Riddle, but since she was only one person, she could not be around all the time. The books changed hands so often it looked like a bloody tennis match, with the books acting as the ball. Currently, the ball was in Riddle's corner, and normally that would have meant that Hermione would have tried everything to regain the books from him, but not this time. Hermione was sick of it. She was on her way to her Secret Room to pick out a book she was able to read, instead of the two Founders' volumes. She hoped Riddle would choke on those two books, because she was beginning to doubt he was able to go through them undisturbed as well.

'Lemon Drop.'

The door appeared and opened, and for the first time in weeks, Hermione was back in her private chambers as Minerva had teasingly called them. She dumped her bag on the floor and went straight for the bookcases on her right. She was dubbing between a thick one carrying Ravenclaw's name and one by the hand of Gryffindor, when she noticed the little book hiding behind the others on the shelves. It must have fallen backwards being pushed there by the other more massive volumes. Curious, she picked it up, and upon reading the name on the cover, she became even more curious.

There were many volumes on the shelves from the other founders, but this was the first one she found that was written by Helga Hufflepuff. It was small, and could not contain more than ten pages, but Hermione was thrilled to find something from a poorly underestimated party. She opened it and started reading. It appeared to be a journal of some kind.

My name is Helga Hufflepuff. I'm deemed to be one of the greatest witches of my time, one of the four, who founded Hogwarts. I'm also the biggest fool in the universe.

Surprised, Hermione read the sentence again, but it really said what she thought she had read in the first place. Helga Hufflepuff, obviously, did not have a high opinion of herself. Hermione continued reading. Helga told her how she and the others had founded Hogwarts. How Gryffindor had used his knowledge to control space to build the castle. How Ravenclaw had used hers to add all the magical objects necessary. How Slytherin had manipulated time to ease their job. Salazar had stopped it when Godric needed to put in a large amount of effort to shift large spaces, and he had made time move backwards when they were unhappy with the outcome. And Hermione read how Helga Hufflepuff had controlled other humans to prevent detection, and how she, eventually, used this power to find every magical child on earth in order to populate the school.

'Control others? Sweet Salazar, Helga Hufflepuff knew how to utterly control another human being!' Hermione's mouth stood ajar at this fact and she looked slightly appalled at the pages. She knew this knowledge must have been the foundation of the Imperius Curse. Would Helga Hufflepuff, of all people, have been the creator of that curse? Someone who valued friendship and loyalty above all? Hermione just could not believe it and so she read on.

Helga explained how she had found the knowledge containing the human condition, and had used it to protect mankind, all magical beings and the school. She had created the Hogwarts' scroll that detected the birth of a magical child, and she was the true creator of the wards surrounding the castle that gave Muggles the illusion it was not there, or made them remember they had urgent business elsewhere.

Enthralling the human condition means you shift their focus to fit all your needs.

As Hermione read that sentence, she realised Helga's control over others was far more powerful than the Imperius Curse, and she was beginning to doubt her first assumption that Helga had created the curse. Because if she had been, wouldn't the curse possess more force? Be unbreakable?

'In that way, you can make people feel anything without touching them: love, hate, sorrow, pain, joy, life and even death itself.

'Holy Circe, the Cruciatus and Killing Curse! This knowledge is the foundation of all three Unforgivables!'

Hermione found this quite painful to read. This was not how she had envisioned Helga Hufflepuff at all. Salazar Slytherin, yes, but not this particular founder. But Helga had written down more. So Hermione read how the Founders, at first, had lived in peace at Hogwarts, teaching the children all about magic. How they had shared the knowledge they had. How Rowena had started pressing them to write it all down, because she did not want knowledge and wisdom to go to waste. And how four books were created: Eternity in Time, Infinity in Space, Mind over Matter and Love of Mankind.

'There are four of those books!' Hermione thought excitedly, before she remembered how much trouble she was already experiencing with the two she currently knew the whereabouts off. Somehow, that dampened her enthusiasm quite considerably.

'And then, in our youthfulness and arrogance, we made the biggest mistake of our lives. We should have stopped by merely writing down the knowledge, but we had to leave proof of its legitimacy. Proof to generations to come, that we weren't merely theorising, but had practical evidence. Proof of our power and our grandeur.

We decided to add the magical force to the books that would enable the reader to recreate the theory inside. If we hadn't have done that, if we hadn't been that foolish, others would not likely have been able to reach our results. After all, I could not control time; Salazar had no craftsmanship in creating spaces, etc.

But we did, the four of us cast the spell, adding our own magical abilities to our writings. And that made the four books, if placed together, the most powerful force on earth. We did not realise it at first, but we soon found out that the four books had a mind of their own. They were doing things, which none of us had initiated. They also had a tendency to want to be together. Somehow, they always ended up in the same room.

And then, it started… Slytherin started…He had written a book about the nobility of wizards. It was a book concerning wizarding heritage, the importance of pure-blood and it was utterly foul. Godric was furious after he read it. And the arguments started … over and over again, until one day when Salazar just left without a fight. We did not understand it, Rowena and I, Salazar leaving, abandoning his life's work, until Godric stormed in.

'He used my book!' he yelled, waving a letter from Salazar in his hand. 'He used my book to achieve his foul ambitions of cleansing this school of those he deems unworthy!'

And sure enough, we found that Godric's book was missing. Salazar had taken it with him, and he had already taken the first step in achieving his goals by creating a space to hold his pet Basilisk, using both Godric's novel and his own. He had gone back in time, when they were still friends, in order to create the Space that would become known as the Chamber of Secrets.

Fortunately, Rowena's and my book were still at Hogwarts. Salazar had been unable to obtain all of them, but we knew it would only be a matter of 'TIME' before he would complete his task, get all four books and gain control of everything.

So Godric asked me to do it. He gave me a cloak that used to belong to Salazar. I wasn't happy about it. I'd never used my powers in such a violent manner before. I would be attacking an old friend, but he would destroy all. I knew this, so I did it. I located his whereabouts, Apparated there, and made him hand me the books.

He had been expecting me, and it was Hell. He fought me tooth and nail. I tried controlling his body, making him simply want to give me the books, but somehow he was able to repel me. He laughed, and told me my heart wasn't in it, that I should join him instead. He was right; I could not use my full force on him. So I only had the more disgusting options left. I cried when he was screaming on the floor in agony. I killed him and brought him back to life and killed him again and again.

And eventually, he gave up… He handed me the books. His eyes were filled with hatred and he said he would repay me for what I did to him. I left Salazar where I found him, and brought Eternity in Time and Infinity in Space back to Hogwarts with me. Salazar told me his book would be useless to us, that he had encoded it.

'Only my true heir can use it!' he yelled triumphantly at my back when I left, alone.

Godric had asked me to bring the culprit back with me, because he wanted 'to kick his sorry arse' and destroy the Chamber of Secrets. But I couldn't. Salazar had been my friend. I had done enough damage. Unknowingly, I had become the inspiration for the Unforgivable Curses. Salazar would later in life create three of the most horrible curses, in my name, that somewhat resembled everything I had done to him that evening. I was thoroughly struck with grief because of that. It was the reason why I made sure that, except for one person, no one would ever again read the knowledge in my book. It is too dangerous for others to know. Human Nature has too many dark features to be trusted with that kind of power over its fellow Man.

However, the true nature and threat our books possessed had, suddenly, opened our arrogant eyes. We knew that we could not let something like this ever happen again. One person controlling all. The thought is horrific. We took Salazar's example and encoded our books as well, but I was not satisfied with the mere inscription. So one night I laid down all the books together, and I waited. Waited for the powers to mix, and for a brief moment, I felt it all; the power, the knowledge, the control. I was Master of Manipulation and I was in total control. It was an addictive feeling, dangerous, destructive. And I used that destruction to banish the powers from the books for eternity. That's when it happened. A jet of silver light flew around me, and I knew something went wrong. Suddenly, Salazar stood before me. He was an old man on the brink of death.

'I knew it would be you, Helga, trying to destroy the books forever, for eternity. I can't let all my hard work go to waste,' he said, and he raised his arms in the air, causing it to electrify with magic. 'When my true heir is born, eternity will arrive, and all will bow before him.'

Another silvery flash and he was gone. The books were drained of their powers and I was alone in a very cold library. Salazar had got his revenge. We had deemed we were safe from his time-tampering hands, since he had always been a rather lazy man and had, therefore, laid all his magical ability completely inside his book. So after I had obtained that book from him, he could no longer travel through time.

But we forgot he still had all the knowledge that lay beneath the pages of Eternity in Time, and he used that knowledge to travel through time on the day when the veil would open for him. On the day of his death, he would be able to go everywhere for a few moments, because time is irrelevant in the beyond. And so he appeared before me and was able to prevent the complete destruction of the books' powers as a dying man. I knew that once his rightful heir would be born, the books magical abilities would resurface, and with it, the threat of someone controlling all. I had failed. Make sure you don't, Miss Granger.

Hermione dropped Helga's journal in mere shock at the mention of her name. She stared at the tiny journal on the floor. Surely she was mistaken. Her name couldn't be in there. It was late. She was tired. She hadn't read it correctly. Slightly apprehensive, she picked up the book again and opened it. And sure enough, there it was … her name written down by Helga Hufflepuff.

'What the deuce?'

Don't be alarmed, Hermione. I'm not a seer. I'm not trying some form of control here. You can read this on your own merit and out of your own free will. This book is merely charmed to know the name of the individual, who is able to find its existence. You, my child, are the Chosen One, which means you have the power to stop Salazar's heir from achieving his lifelong ambition. I hope you will take this assignment and help me correct my failure by destroying the powers of the Founders' books.

If you are reading this, then, no doubt, you are already aware of at least one of the four books I previously referred to, and you must have seen its powers. Most likely you have one in your possession as we speak, probably the one whose House you belong to. Because that would be the volume you would have been able to activate, until now.

You will find that after you've finished reading this and if you decide to take on the assignment, you can activate and read the volumes written by Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor and myself. After the incident I had with Salazar, we discussed what happened and charmed our books in such a manner, that the reader of this novel becomes a true Master of those books immediately. You will only need to find them.

Salazar's work, however, is an entirely different story. For you will need to become a true Master of it. There is no doubt in my mind that Salazar will have gone through great lengths to protect the power of the books from being destroyed, and they can only be destroyed by those able to use them. He will have taken every precaution he could think of to prevent anyone else but his heir to be able to use his book and I can't help you there. You, and you alone, must find a way to get the knowledge inside, and use Eternity in Time. For only the real Master of Manipulation, the one who holds the knowledge and controls the powers of all four volumes, can obtain total control and destroy the books, so the threat they possess will be eliminated for good.

You do not have to be the one. You may choose not to. You can put this book back on the shelf where you found it and leave. And when you wake up tomorrow, you will not remember this. It will be like it was all a bad dream. However, if you decide to do this, to help me correct my error, there will be no going back on it once you've accepted the task. If you accept the task of destroying the books, then the chant you'll need to perform on them will appear beneath this script. Memorise it and then destroy this book after you're done. No knowledge must remain.

If you want to do this, if you accept this task, then write down the words "Yes, I accept." onto the page and I will thank you from the bottom of my heart when we will, eventually, meet.

Good Luck and Best Wishes,

Helga Hufflepuff

Hermione stared at the book for some time as she thought about her options. She really didn't have much of a choice here. She was trapped in the wrong time and Slytherin's book was the key to returning home for her. She couldn't afford not to remember any of this and one other thing was also certain in her mind. Tom Riddle couldn't be allowed to become Master of Manipulation. Lord Voldemort was enough of a problem without having the power to control all. She didn't want to imagine what he would do if he became omnipotent. So she picked up her quill, dipped it in ink and wrote down: 'Yes, I accept.'

The words disappeared into the page and a chant appeared in clear sight. Hermione read it a couple of times, until she was certain she knew it by heart. And with tremendous pain in her heart, Hermione threw Helga's journal in the fire and watched the book burn to a crisp. After having used the fireplace to burn a book, Hermione felt uncomfortable in Godric's Room. She wanted to leave the vicinity of her crime and put some distance between herself and what she had done. If someone would have told her that she would one day burn a book, she would have screeched and scolded them about the sacrilege of it, until they had apologised to her effusively. But here she was … a Book-burner, stuck in 1944 with the Heir of Slytherin, in a race for the control of the Universe. It sounded like a stupid television show to her.

Fortunately, the Heir was still unaware of this possibility, as far as she knew, anyway. And she'd better act quickly, before he became aware, because that would complicate matters severely. So Hermione exited the Secret Room on a mission. She needed those books back from Riddle, and she needed to find the other two. She needed to find a way to become Master of Eternity in Time, but how she was ever going to be able to achieve that impossibility was beyond her.

But first things first, it was now even more important than before to get the books away from Riddle. So she was on her way to the library, because that was where she had last seen Riddle and he probably had the books with him. However, she ran into an excited Minerva McGonagall on the way over there.

'I've got the books!' Minerva shouted.

'What?' Hermione asked, astonished.

Minerva opened her schoolbag and showed Hermione the two books. Hermione was shocked at seeing this.

'Why…how… what…? Are you crazy!' she yelled. 'Now Riddle knows you're involved! I thought we agreed that we would keep that a secret! How could you risk your own future and the future of those, who are depending on you?'

Minerva looked taken aback by Hermione's rage, so she tried to reassure Hermione by telling her what happened. 'He did not know it was me. I attacked him from behind. He probably thinks you hexed him. Sorry for that by the way,' said Minerva, and she handed Hermione the two books.

Hermione relaxed a bit at hearing those words and she placed the books in a hidden false bottom of her schoolbag, underneath her school supplies, before she said: 'Please, promise me you won't do it again. I would never forgive myself if something happens to you, because of what I told you. The books aren't worth it, you know. I'm probably going to lose them to Riddle in a couple of hours from now, anyway.'

'Okay, I promise. It was kind of fun though, seeing him go down. He hit his face on the table after I used the full Body-Bind Curse on him,' Minerva snickered.

'Sounds like fun indeed,' Hermione said snickering along.

But she did not tell Minerva what she had just learnt from Helga's journal. She feared that if Minerva knew, there was no way she would stay out of Riddle's way, and Hermione felt Minerva had jeopardised herself enough on her account. She did not think about what she had once told Harry when he was determined to do everything on his own, when he did not want to risk another's life.

'When are you going to realise we're all in this together, Harry.'
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Masters of Manipulation