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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
- 4
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- 6
Chapter 5

For the next few days, Hermione did her best to evade the Heir of Slytherin, determined not to let any more information slip. Unfortunately, because they shared so many classes, completely avoiding him was next to impossible. That he seemed to be actively seeking her out did not help matters at all, of course, but when he did catch up to her, she kept her answers simple and to the point.

Ginny and Harry reassured her that it was not her fault when she told them what happened.

"I remember he could be very convincing when he wanted you to talk," Ginny had explained to her.

However, Hermione still placed some of the blame on herself. She should not have lost her temper so easily.

By the end of the week, the tempers of the trio were running high. In the time travelers' opinions, Tom Marvolo Riddle was asking to be hexed sideways. In order to prevent Ginny from facing him all by herself, Harry and Hermione had to run through half of the castle every single day they had Potions class.

Several times they arrived to find that Tom had beaten them there, and Harry invariably reacted poorly. He would glower at the Slytherin and speak without first filtering the words through his brain. Hermione understood how much Harry wanted to protect Ginny and how helpless he felt when he was not able to. However, it did not stop her from worrying that he was signing his own death warrant with his actions. Tom showed no sign that he even noticed Harry's behavior.

Hermione could not help but feel slightly confused by Tom's motivations. She was pretty sure that Dumbledore had mentioned to Harry that Voldemort was incapable of feeling love. From his actions towards Ginny, however, it seemed as if he had some interest towards her. Assuming that he did like the redhead, it was illogical for him to be nice to Harry. In the end, she shrugged it off as his scheme to dig up secrets from them.

Muggle Studies proved to be the hardest challenge to Hermione's resolution to ignore all things Slytherin. In addition to Tom Riddle, she also had to put up with a Malfoy ten times more annoying than the one who traveled back in time with them. The fact that he sat right next to the young Voldemort only made it more irritating. Throughout the whole class, she was forced to listen to his snide remarks about Muggles and Muggle-borns.

She could not comprehend why Abraxas Malfoy would take a Muggle Studies class if he despised them so much.

Perhaps the Dark Lord needed some of his minions with him in case someone tried to assassinate him.

Hermione allowed herself to immerse in a moment of silent giggles.

"It's obvious that there's no need for them at all."

The signature drawl of the Malfoys brought her out of her little amusement, and she glanced at Abraxas.

"Mr. Malfoy-" the Muggles Studies teacher, Professor Walker, started to say.

"The Muggle-borns will never understand the true nature of magic," the blond interrupted with distinct disgust on his face.

Hermione could feel her anger flaring up by his words.

"They should be kept in their world while we continue to live in our own," Abraxas said.

Don't attract too much attention, Hermione, she thought to herself.

"The Wizarding World will be much better off without Muggle-borns knowing about us," Abraxas continued, his arms crossed across his chest. "Why should we expose our world to them? They'll only bring danger to us."

"Funny how you think you know so much about Muggles and Muggle-borns when you don't even understand them," Hermione said coldly, eying him with contempt.

He turned his head towards her slowly and looked at her condescendingly.

"And how is that so?" Abraxas questioned her as if she were a child. He slowly stood up, a smirk plastered on his face, attempting to intimidate her with his height. "We are born into a society that had been saturated by magic. We are born knowing the wizarding ways, using the magic, and loving the power. On the other hand, Muggles and Muggle-borns fear it. They dread the magic that flows through our very veins, which is proven by the ridiculous witch trials that were held throughout their history. Tell me, how could they understand the beauty of it?"

"Many Muggle-borns and half-blood wizards and witches are some of our leading innovators," Hermione replied.

The logical side of her mind was telling her that she was attracting too much attention, judging by the number of heads that was turning around to look at her in awe. However, she was furious that he dared to bring their Death Eater bigotry into the classroom.

"That doesn't prove anything, Granger. It could be due to sheer luck or momentary ingenuity," Abraxas brushed off her argument.

At this statement, Hermione could feel her blood begin to boil. She could not believe that he actually discredited the work others had done simply because of their bloodline.

"It's pretty obvious that the wizarding race will die out sooner or later if everyone keeps to themselves," she replied much more heatedly.

"Trust me, Granger." He leaned forward towards her. "There are a lot of families that consist of only pure-bloods."

"With some of their relatives married to people who are Muggles or Muggle-borns," she retorted.

"Who then got disowned," Abraxas sneered.

"Just because you don't understand why Muggle-borns are magical does not mean that they are inferior to you or do not belong to this world! I doubt that most people in this classroom are pure-bloods anyway," Hermione said.

He might be a whole lot taller than her, but she was not going to back down.

Abraxas looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"Of course we know that some people in here, such as you, are not pure-blood. My family, however, has been pure-blood for as far as you can go back," he declared haughtily.

"It's pretty obvious that your entire family had always been as biased as you are and refused to marry anyone except a pure-blood," she sniggered.

"Then who were you talking about?" Abraxas challenged.

"There's no need to bring up names to prove my point," Hermione said vaguely. In a stronger voice, she continued to say, "The point of my whole argument is that just because you're pure-blood, doesn't make you better than Muggles or Muggle-borns."

His grey eyes flashed dangerously while she silently challenged him. She did not believe that he could actually harm her, especially when they were in a classroom.

Suddenly, Tom laughed. Both of them stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Sit down, Abraxas," Tom ordered softly. "We still have a class to finish. Besides, you can't win the argument."

Abraxas opened his mouth but, perhaps believing it unwise to disobey his master, shut it again. Reluctantly, he sat down and sent a glare towards Hermione.

The young Dark Lord turned around and looked at her. "Well said, Miss Granger."

Hermione almost snorted but quickly changed it into a cough. Perhaps a certain someone's pet might attack her one of these days. She probably should start walking around with her mirror again, just in case.

Hermione allowed a small smile to appear on her face when she saw Professor Walker beaming at her. While doing so, she noticed Augusta staring at her from the front of the classroom. She looked back at her questioningly. Augusta raised an eyebrow at her and looked back at the professor.

Somehow, Hermione felt that there was a hint of a sneer underneath Augusta's expression.

Don't be foolish. It's Neville's grandmother you're talking about, she thought. Nevertheless, she could not get rid of the nagging feeling that the Head Girl was not too fond of her.

~-0-~

She confused him. No. A better phrase would be the four newcomers confused him, in particular, the bushy-haired witch. At first, when Tom noticed Hermione answering every single question in class, he assumed that she was quite intelligent. Although she was not as pretty as some of the other girls at Hogwarts, she had a kind of fiery passion around her that would attract the attention of others. After he tricked her into revealing some information about their little group, however, he was led to believe that his first impression of her was wrong.

Until her argument with Abraxas a couple of days ago.

Many of the things that came out of Abraxas's mouth lacked logic and proper research. Nonetheless, most people would be intimidated by the young man before they could challenge what he had said. Something about the blond demanded respect.

Hermione did not let Abraxas get the best of her. Not to say that she would lose to him in a wizard's duel, but if Abraxas decided to resort to Muggle ways of combat, Hermione would not have lasted a second. She still refused to back down and threw everything back in the blond's face, an act which was praiseworthy.

Tom's eyes fell on the blond who was sitting in the corner with the rest of his Knights. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, waiting for orders from their Lord. They knew better than to disturb him when he did not talk to them.

He was sitting on a couch in front of the fireplace. The fire burning there hardly added any warmth to the cold dungeons. Tom tapped his fingers gently on the armrest. A hint of a frown appeared on his face as his mind drifted back to the four newcomers.

They acted as if it were their first time here, but to anyone who had the slightest bit of common sense, it was obvious that they had been to Hogwarts before. No one could walk through the hallways without getting lost on their first days of school. The three of them, however, always chatted animatedly while they rushed to classes. It was as if they were so familiar with the school that they did not need to watch where they were going.

The problem the young Voldemort was faced with right now was trying to get information from them. Ginny always had the look of a basilisk's victim when he tried to speak to her. He could not help but smirk at the thought of it. It was as if she knew the things he was capable of doing.

The smirk disappeared as he narrowed his eyes. Maybe they did know more about him than they had led him to believe. He would have to find out how much they knew.

Miss Weatherby had proven to be quite useless when it came to getting information, but Harry was even harder to communicate with than the girl. It seemed as if he had taken an immediate, inexplicable dislike to Tom. The boy appeared to be physically incapable of being more than civil where Tom was concerned. The courtesy quickly deteriorated whenever Tom talked to Ginny, and the boy would turn into a boiling pot of stew, spewing out scalding words and irritating comments.

He would have to be blind not to notice how Miss Granger would shoot glances towards Mr. Evans and nudge him when situations were about to get out of control. All in all, even if Tom was "kind" enough to forgive the boy for his comments, the three of them were far too mysterious to ignore. However, the boy's rudeness was downright infuriating and Tom did not fancy dealing with him at the moment.

He would have to find a time to question Abraxas about the new Slytherin. It was hard to see one without the other these days. Abraxas seemed to be quite fond of the boy, claiming that if not for the differences in surnames, Draco could pass for a Malfoy. Tom could see the logic since there were few differences between the two.

Draco, nonetheless, was much quieter than Abraxas. That was a quality Tom found extremely valuable. Perhaps he should order Abraxas to actually acquire it so he would not have to put up with the boisterous chats between him and Cygnus Black anymore. He found it difficult to read a book while the two of them chattered on nonstop. Honestly, they were worse than girls when it came to gossiping.

His best chance in finding out things about the newcomers would probably be the fiery little lioness. His problem, however, would be that Miss Granger insisted on using simple answers to his questions. If Tom wanted more information about why they were here and what knowledge they possessed, he would have to find a way to somehow irk her enough to start talking again.

That would probably prove to be an interesting challenge for him.

Although Tom never allowed his feelings to show, he was bored to death with the ladies that turned into a pile of mush at the mere sight of him. Hermione Granger was an excellent change to the boring routine he was used to in the past.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Lord Voldemort's face. It was going to be very interesting indeed.

~-0-~

Hermione ran her fingers over the book titles with a sigh. Although she had told everyone except Harry and Ginny that she was in the library doing research on a Transfiguration paper, she was actually looking for an answer to their time traveling. If Dumbledore did not know the answer to how they were sent back into the past, she doubted that the answer would be in the library. However, it still comforted her to be back in a familiar place.

She had been slightly surprised to see a younger Madam Pince in the library. The librarian was still awfully strict when it came to her books. Any "manhandling" of the texts or "riots in the library" would lead to the student being thrown out.

It took a moment for Hermione to reconcile this picture in her mind, but when she did, she mentally laughed at herself for forgetting the fact that Madam Pince had to have been young once.

The Study of Time Travels…Stories of Self-Acclaimed Time Travelers…The Possibilities of Time Travel…

Hermione let out a small sound of annoyance and frowned. Although she had known from the beginning that this was not going to go anywhere, it still irritated her. She glanced at the roped-off Restricted Section. Perhaps she should ask Harry for his invisibility cloak tonight so she could do some research. There was no homework due tomorrow so she should have time.

Hermione turned around to look at the bookshelf behind her but rocked back when she came face-to-chest with another person. He was so close to her that she was surprised that she had not felt his presence before she turned around. She looked up into a very handsome face with wavy black hair and dark eyes.

He could give Lockhart a run for his money. No, I'm not that much into looks. It's the intellect that's important. Hm … Scratch out that first opinion. He could easily beat Lockhart any day.

Then again, he looked somewhat familiar as well.

Hermione coughed lightly as it sank into her brain at whom she was staring. She took a step backwards and found herself backed up into the bookshelf. She could feel her cheeks rapidly becoming warmer.

There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's an established fact that he's attractive, the witch told herself.

"Good day, Miss Granger." Tom smiled as he took out a book from the bookshelf.

"Hello," Hermione answered a bit shakily as she walked to the other bookshelf and looked through the titles.

She felt that it would be too obvious if she just walked out of the library when she saw him. Therefore, she decided to stay a little longer before finding an excuse to return to Gryffindor tower.

"Never thought I'd see you here. It's Saturday morning," he commented as he flipped through the book in his hands.

"There aren't as many people at this time," Hermione replied. As an afterthought, she added, "And it's easier to think in the morning."

He nodded in agreement before turning his attention to the books.

She managed to steal a glance at Tom.

It was really no wonder why most of the girls liked him, she supposed. Good looking, tall, well-mannered … even when he frowned the way he was now, it did nothing to decrease his charm.

She found herself wondering what had transformed him into the Voldemort she knew in the future. Although Harry thought that it was because Tom ripped his soul apart, Hermione thought otherwise. From their past experiences with the Horcruxes, it was obvious that soul-ripping had nothing to do with his features or else each fragment should look exactly like the pale, snake-eyed version of Voldemort.

No, it had to be something else. The curious side of her really wanted to discover the answer, but she knew better than to risk her life on it.

"Rubbish," he muttered, drawing her attention back to the present.

He stuffed the text back into the bookshelf before running his forefinger past the titles for something else to read. She peered at the book he had been looking at.

Truths Concerning Salazar Slytherin: How Pure Was His Blood and Other Questions.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. She was pretty sure that Slytherin was most definitely a pure-blood and thus understood why Tom thought that the book was rubbish. However, she really wanted to grab the book and read the contents. Unfortunately, there was no way she could do that without alerting Tom. She glanced toward him and found that he was looking at her with an unreadable expression again.

Just as the prolonged silence began to irritate her, he opened his mouth.

"Theories about the most ridiculous things are accepted as long as they can somehow be supported," he explained softly, thoroughly surprising Hermione.

She had never thought that he would have bothered to give her an explanation.

"Although some of the theories in that book may be plausible in some way or another, they were mostly based on the authors' imagination and fantasies."

"A good foundation is required to build a strong theory," she commented.

Tom nodded with a grim look.

"Unfortunately, many of these writers do not bother to research their materials properly before publishing their books," he replied as he placed the book in his hands back into the bookshelf and looked for another one.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"Did you read that book?" she asked before she could stop herself.

He stopped in his motions and looked at the witch questioningly.

She gestured towards the book he had just returned to the bookshelf. "I meant the one that was just in your hands. Not the one about Slytherin."

A look of understanding dawned on his face.

"Skimming through the book would often let one know if the book is worthy of reading or not," he answered before returning to his search.

"Oh," she said softly as she looked back at the book that was in her hands and almost laughed out loud at the irony.

She had randomly picked out a book and it turned out to be The Unforgivables and History.

"By the way, the book in your hand holds no significant information," he told her suddenly without looking at her. "The Unforgivables: Detailed Information has a lot more information despite its boring title."

Trust him to know about those books.

"I was just curious," Hermione mumbled as she replaced the book.

He smiled in answer but did not look up.

For a fleeting second, she wondered why books about the Unforgivables were not placed in the Restricted Section. Then, she remembered that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was Dippet and not Dumbledore. In Hermione's opinion, the "Lord Voldemort" of the future was possible because of the professors during the 1940's. She found it a bit absurd that they did not detect anything wrong with Tom Riddle.

After mentally hexing the professors, she glanced at the book deemed rubbish by the "Model Student and Philanthropist of the Century" before taking a peek at him. He was reading the book in his hands but she could not tell if he was monitoring her motions or not.

Finally, she gathered up her courage and took out the book.

Hermione had read many books, some that were large enough to kill if thrown at someone. Even so, this particular book was a rather large one. With difficulty, she propped it up on her arm and ran her eyes over the front cover.

The emblem of Hogwarts was printed on the front cover with the symbol for the House of Slytherin highlighted. Apparently, the book was a compilation of essays. A list of author names was printed after the book title. The name that caught her attention was Mopsa Meadowes. If she remembered correctly, "Meadowes" was a surname of one of the members of the first Order of the Phoenix. She would have to remember to ask Harry when she returned to the Gryffindor common room.

Unaware that Tom was scrutinizing her, she opened the book to page one and started to read the contents.

~-0-~

A/N: Many, many thanks to my betas: Lildaani, Noybate, and Hajnalmadar.
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Somewhere in Time