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Somewhere in Time	By : serpentinred Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 64471 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 51
- 52
- 53
Credits: I've used a line from an episode of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat, so kudos to him. Cookies to those who can guess which line it is (and no, that doesn't include you, Nerys, because you already know).

Shameless pimping: Chapter 2 of the Outtakes is up for those of you interested in finding out more about the wacky timeline.

~-0-~

Chapter 52

The four time travelers soon realized that defeating Grindelwald and getting the Elder Wand were easier said than done. For one thing, they had no idea how to find Grindelwald.

"Why don't we just let Grindelwald's followers capture us and let them bring us to him?" Draco asked sarcastically one day.

His question was met with glares from the Gryffindors, and he quickly learned to just sit on the side and listen rather than make suggestions. Nonetheless, the snide remarks could not be easily controlled. Therefore, it wasn't strange for the discussions to turn into childish fights—verbal and, sometimes, physical—between Draco and Harry. More often than not, Ginny and Hermione were the only ones who were seriously trying to develop plans.

"The easiest way will probably be to follow Riddle's footsteps. You said that he defeated Grindelwald in 1950, so if we are able to find out where he is, we would eventually find Grindelwald, too," Ginny said, ignoring the two boys who were now using chairs as barricades and pebbles and dry grass as ammunition.

It was disconcerting, to say the least, when they had found out that they had landed in February of the year 1950. Draco had been most disgusted when Hermione Summoned the German newspaper from the dustbin next to one of the houses. It gave them an idea about when they were, though it did not make them feel any easier. After all, 1950 was the year that marked the start of Tom's progressive rise to power and also the year in which he had gotten the Elder Wand from Grindelwald.

"Yes, but we have to get to it before him. If we go to Grindelwald when Riddle does, we risk letting him know who got the Elder Wand. That's the last thing we want because I'm certain he's going to try to get it from us afterwards," Hermione said.

"Good point." Ginny nodded. A frown appeared on her forehead. "But that means we've reached dead ends. How else can we find Grindelwald?"

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "The worst thing is that this timeline is completely different from the original one, so we have no idea where Grindelwald should be now." She let out a cry of frustration. "Ugh, this is going to be difficult."

Ginny clasped her hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll work out something eventually. Perhaps we should start from the beginning again and look through the options. Maybe we'll get some other ideas from them."

It wasn't until nearly a week later before they actually encountered a new spark of chance to their plans. None of them were fluent in German, and the villagers, in general, seemed antagonistic towards foreigners. It would have been both stupid and dangerous to attempt to buy food from the people living there, especially when the closest town to Slytherin's cabin was the town Dietfried had lived in.

"I'm betting that Ernsta would be more than happy to spread the story that we were the ones who killed her husband," Ginny commented when Hermione brought that up.

Since they were in the middle of a snow-covered forest, meals became one of the hardest things to get taken care of. They ended up "borrowing" food from the villagers with much help from Harry's invisibility cloak. Hermione initially insisted on leaving some Galleons on the tables of whomever they've taken food from.

"It's only right that we give them something in return for providing us with food," she said.

"Yes, but wouldn't that let Grindelwald and his people know that we're here?" Draco asked. "And I doubt the villagers here use Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. They probably have their own type of gold, and the innkeeper only took your gold last time because wizarding bars and inns never have a problem with gold as long as it’s legitimate money."

In the end, though it made her feel bad, Hermione had to agree to his points.

They usually went during the night, so that it would be easier for them to hide and then Apparate back to Slytherin's cabin. As a precaution method, they also went in pairs.

Today, it was Harry and Draco's turn. Hermione had initially protested against it, since they seemed to be constantly in some kind of banter with one another. However, both of them promised to keep their snarky comments and wands out of sight until they returned to the cabin. Hermione had no idea what took over her and made her agree, since the moment they disappeared under the cloak and went out the door, she started to feel anxious about it.

"Don't worry about them. Both of them had gone through the war against Voldemort, and after all these insane adventures, they've learned to be somewhat cooperative with one another," Ginny reassured her.

Nonetheless, after one hour later and still no sign of them, Hermione became even more worried. Even a frown had made it onto Ginny's face.

"They're probably just being cautious, and it snowed last night again, so it's probably harder to make it back here," Ginny murmured.

Hermione desperately hoped that that was the case, and both she and Ginny let out sighs of relief when they saw the boys run through the door, panting.

"What took you so long? Where did you go?" Ginny asked as she rushed over to Harry and helped relieve him of the sachets of food in his hands.

"Grindelwald … I've heard them … them speaking his name," Harry said, out of breath, as Hermione went over to help Draco with his bags.

The two girls shared a look before Hermione said, "But it's not all that strange, is it? I mean, he was at the height of his power before he was defeated in both the original and the wacky timeline. It couldn't be so weird to hear his name being spoken amongst the villagers."

"Yes, but we've … we've heard people talking about … You-Know-Who," Draco panted.

Hermione's eyes widened and she stared at them. "What?"

"Voldemort, they were saying something about Voldemort in the village," Harry replied, his breathing slowly returning to its normal rate.

"No …how is that possible? He shouldn't be here," Hermione said.

"Yeah, but you said that he defeated Grindelwald in 1950 in the wacky timeline, didn't you?" Draco pointed out.

"Yes, but …" Hermione trailed off in her words.

How could Tom be here now? How could he be here? She knew that Tom must have sent them to someplace where he could find her easily, but time travel was never accurate, or else she most likely wouldn't have been stranded in the middle of a forest when she arrived back into the past. If Tom were here, in Germany, right now, that meant …

"We can't possibly be at the brink of when Tom gets the Elder Wand, can we?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Draco, Harry, and Ginny gazed at her, frozen on their spots.

"Don't you remember when he'd gotten the wand?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shook her head. "The books I've read only gave a general overview of what happened because …" She paused and took a deep sigh. "... because everyone who had witnessed what happened died, except for Tom."

"And I doubt he's going to tell the whole world about how he'd won," Draco said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Why not? If he had killed me during the battle at Hogwarts, he probably would've arranged something like an interview with The Daily Prophet."

"That's not funny, Harry," Ginny lightly chided, though the corners of her lips quivered with amusement.

The thought of Lord Voldemort sitting down and answering questions to a news reporter was both disturbing and funny, and Hermione had a hard time holding back laughter.

After a light chuckle left her lips, she cleared her throat before saying, "I think Draco's right. We don't know what happened during their battle, and there might be some things he wouldn't want outsiders knowing. For example, he could've tortured Grindelwald for information about the Elder Wand and the Hallows, which would give him a reason to kill all witnesses. He wouldn't want other people knowing that information, too."

An uncomfortable feeling settled at the pit of her stomach at the thought of all of the people who died on that day. It was also unnerving to know that her counterpart in the wacky future admired someone like Lord Voldemort. Well, yes, she herself did fall for Tom Riddle in the forties. However, she still knew right from wrong, and if Tom were to do something that was immoral, she still wouldn't approve of it. Hermione had a feeling that the other her would've thought of ways to explain away every single evil thing Voldemort had done and would do. That, in and of itself, made her feel ill.

"So what should we do now?" Ginny asked, tilting her head to one side and her face thoughtful.

Hermione and Harry shared a look with one another. Perhaps it was the years of fighting against Voldemort together, Hermione had the feeling that Harry was thinking along the same lines she was. Therefore, she gave him a nod to which he answered with a smile.

"We go into town tonight, under the invisibility cloak and Disillusionment Charms," Harry said.

Draco's mouth dropped open, and he started to protest vehemently, telling them the cons of doing such a thing. However, the three of them had mutually decided to shut his words out.

"What if we get caught by Grindelwald's followers? Have you even read about what they did to people while Grindelwald was in power?" Draco continued to say while they sat down on the floor and took out the food they had brought back.

"I'm sure it's a lot worse than what the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who did in the original timeline," Ginny said wryly.

That shut Draco up for a while, but not for long. Soon, he started giving them other suggestions, ranging anything from looking for Dumbledore first to hexing Riddle in the back after he got the Elder Wand.

"Potter here can do it. I mean, he already killed Riddle in our original timeline, so he has the highest chance of succeeding," Draco said.

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione pretended to not hear a thing he said, and once they were finished eating, they started to get ready for their self-given mission.

"Are we really sure we want to do this?" Draco asked as Harry stuffed his invisibility cloak into one of the sachets Hermione had Transfigured from pebbles.

"I think we might need to take some of the leftovers, too, just in case," Harry suggested.

Hermione nodded before she answered Draco, "It's our only chance of finding Grindelwald."

"But how do we know if they're going to be there tonight? The villagers could be just talking about them, and since all of them speak in German, we wouldn't know what they were talking about," Draco pointed out.

Hermione smiled grimly as she stuffed her bag with a bottle of water and some leftovers. "I have just the plan."

"What kind of plan?" For some reason, Draco seemed even more afraid now.

Hermione took a deep breath and started explaining. "Everyone speaks German in that village, and none of us speaks that language."

"That's what I was trying to tell you for the whole time," Draco said, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"But you're forgetting about one person. There is one person in that village whom we know definitely speaks English," Hermione said with a triumphant smile.

"What? Oh …" A look of realization dawned on Draco's face. Then, he frantically asked, "Wait. You're thinking about ..."

Hermione's grin grew bigger and her eyes twinkled with merriment. "Yes, Draco. We are paying Ernsta Kaufmann a visit."

~-0-~

Hermione knew that if Draco had any other choice, he would not have gone with them tonight. As it was, the three of them were the only people he could trust. After all, he did not have the security of the Malfoy's vault in this time period, and they were all stranded in Germany. He was not exactly in the position to run off on his own. Nonetheless, he would've chosen to stay back in Slytherin's hut if Hermione hadn't "kindly" reminded him that no one was staying with him, and if Grindelwald's people were to find him there, he would have to fend for himself.

Both Hermione and Draco knew that the chance of that happening was infinitesimally small. However, she knew that he wouldn't want to take that chance, and she was proven right when minutes later, he placed a Disillusionment Charm on himself while muttering under his breath ways their plan could go wrong.

"You know, if you jinx us again, Draco, I will torture and kill you before Grindelwald does," Ginny said as she disappeared under the invisibility cloak with Hermione, "and trust me when I say that the new timeline had given me a lot more education and experience with torture spells."

Hermione could almost imagine him gulp and turn pale from Ginny's threat, but since he was currently Disillusioned, she could only sense his discomfort from his decision to cease talking.

"Our mission is to get to Dietfried's house," Harry's voice said from somewhere next to Ginny. "Once we're there, we'll send a message with Slytherin's pendant. Hermione and Ginny, the two of you have to be the ones to check, since you're under the invisibility cloak. When you get the message from both of us that we're in the house, place Silencing Charms over the house."

"Okay," Hermione and Ginny murmured.

With that, they set off into the dark with Hermione and Ginny staying behind to get rid of any and all footsteps in the snow, just in case. The three Gryffindors didn't worry too much about Draco running off on his own for the same reason why he had decided to go with them in the end. Thankfully, like the town Meinhardt lived in, this town had not set up wards against Disillusionment Charms either.

When Dietfried's cottage came into view, Hermione suddenly remembered that they had forgotten to talk about the possibility of protective wards around Dietfried's house. Yet, she did not dare to whisper something to Harry, in fear that there might be spies around the village. However, it appeared that her worries were unfounded because the moment they reached their destination, a barely noticeable flash of light hit the door, and Hermione could tell that it was Harry testing for wards.

At that moment, Slytherin's pendant turned hot against her skin, and Hermione and Ginny pulled out their necklaces. Placing it on their palms, the same message appeared in Harry's scrawl: Meet in the shed.

Quietly, Hermione and Ginny maneuvered towards the back of the house where the shed stood. Once they were inside, Hermione quickly took out her wand, slipped it underneath the edge of the cloak, and flicked a few spells around, making sure that there was no one else inside. Once she saw that the only ones who had appeared were Draco and Harry, she pulled the invisibility cloak off herself and Ginny.

Harry quickly took out his wand and placed Silencing Charms around the shed.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"We don't know if there's someone else in the house," Harry pointed out. "If we just walk in there and if there's other people in there …"

Hermione nodded, her forehead creasing into a frown.

"So what are we going to do?" Ginny asked.

"How about we just … go back to the cabin and think it over some more? Perhaps we can think of a better plan," Draco suggested.

"No," Hermione said determinedly. "We have to get in there and get answers from Ernsta tonight." Rolling the wand between her fingers once, she then looked at them again. "Stay here for a moment."

Without waiting for them to speak, Hermione pulled the invisibility cloak over herself and walked out of the shed. Taking care to cover her footsteps along the way, she kept going until she was in front of the house again. She took a deep breath before she pointed her wand at the front door.

"Expulso," she cast, her voice hardly louder than the sound of the winds howling through the trees.

However, the force of the spell was the direct opposite of that. The spell rushed towards the wooden door and blasted it into pieces and caused the walls of the cabin to shake. She could hear a frightened scream erupt from somewhere inside the second floor of the house. Moments later, a barely-dressed young man around the age of twenty appeared at the doorway with Ernsta. A satisfied smile appeared on Hermione's face; she was positive that there were only two people in the cabin now.

Several neighbors peered out from the windows to see what had happened. A couple of them, upon seeing Ernsta and the young man, pulled their draperies together with disgusted expressions. Hermione assumed that it was because of the "scandalous affair" the woman was having.

Ernsta's frantic eyes peered into the dark, trying to find what had caused nearly the whole front side of the house to collapse. She then spoke rapidly to the young man. Hermione could not understand what she was saying, nor did she care. She just needed the bloody woman to get back into the house again. After what seemed like ages, Ernsta finally waved her wand at the broken pieces of the door and slammed the door shut behind her and her lover.

"What did you do?" was the first thing Ginny asked when Hermione reentered the shed and took off the invisibility cloak.

"Just checking to see who else in the house," Hermione answered. "Apparently, there are only two people in there, so we don't have to worry."

"Two people?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ernsta Kaufmann and her lover," Hermione replied, her lips curving upwards into a smile.

Ginny snorted. "Let me guess, a young wizard?"

"Right on the money," Hermione answered.

"Dietfried would turn in his grave," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "You would think that she would be a bit more inconspicuous."

"I don't think that's possible for her," Hermione said wryly. "Let's go."

The four of them, with Harry and Draco under the Disillusionment Charm again and Hermione and Ginny under the invisibility cloak, slowly made their way to the back door that they knew led directly to the kitchen. Once they were in, Hermione and Ginny quickly placed wards and Silencing Charms around the house. As a precaution, they also added a ward on the fireplace, in case someone was to Floo in from somewhere else, before Hermione put away the invisibility cloak and Harry took the Disillusionment Charm off himself.

"Just for precautionary reasons," Draco said, though the three Gryffindors were positive that there were other reasons for him to keep the Charm on.

They quietly but quickly made their way up the stairs. Hermione glanced at the other three—or rather, Ginny, Harry, and where Draco should be standing—and after a nod, she threw open the door and found the occupants both in the bed. Before Ernsta or the young man had the chance to scream, Harry had already Stunned the young man and Ginny had already magicked their wands into her hands.

Ernsta's frightened eyes glanced at Harry before landing on the two girls. If possible, she appeared even more scared.

"Wha—what are you doing here?" she squeaked, pulling the blanket up to her chin. "I wasn't—I wasn't the one who ordered for your arrest! Paulos—Paulos Meinhardt decided that my husband's death must have—have something to do with you!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the woman, suddenly understanding why Tom got such a kick out of scaring people. It really gave one a giddy feeling when the person in question was such an annoying witch.

"Oh? So you are saying that you have nothing at all to do with the rumors being spread around the village?" Hermione asked, plastering a fake smile on her face.

Ernsta stared at her before gulping. "I—I—"

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "And don't give me the rubbish that you had nothing at all to do with Dietfried's death. We all know that you must have had something to do with it."

Ernsta's eyes widened, and she gaped at Hermione before her face turned ash-grey. "Wha—what are—are you talking about?" Ernsta asked shakily.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "As if I would be so stupid as to not know that Dietfried's death was what you and Tom were discussing. You'd forgotten to act angry at us when we barged into this room. Any normal person would've suspected that we'd had something to do with Dietfried's death, except someone who was in on the plan."

Ernsta seemed to have noticed her mistake, and her eyes widened. "I—I just—just thought that—that it was impossible—since—since you were clearly—clearly nice to Dietfried—"

"Oh, stop talking rubbish. The greatest benefactors from his death are you and Tom," Hermione said, though she had no idea what Tom was getting out of this. She just knew that he wouldn't kill a person for no reason at all. "And you clearly didn't marry Dietfried for his looks."

Hermione cast a condescending glance towards the young man who was Stunned on the bed next to Ernsta.

"What did Tom get out of this?" Hermione questioned her.

Ernsta stared at her for a moment before she opened her mouth. "I—I—"

"Don't even think about lying to me, Ernsta," Hermione warned, her eyes narrowing into mere slits.

"I—I really don't know. He just asked for a locked box that was inside my room—"

"Your room?" Hermione screeched. "Why was he in your room?"

"He—he wasn't in there—he—he somehow—knew that—that—there's a strange—locked b-box in—in my room—I don't—don't even know what's—what's inside it—b-but he seems interested in—in it," Ernsta stuttered.

Hermione stared at her until she was sure that the older witch wasn't lying. It seemed like she could only find out the answer from Tom.

"Very well then," she said. She tapped her wand slowly on the palm of her hand and eyed Ernsta for a moment before she took out the bottle of water she had packed and threw it onto the bed. "Drink it."

Ernsta stared at the bottle with a frown before glancing back at Hermione.

"Do I need to repeat myself? Or do I need to give you some incentives to follow my directions?" Hermione asked casually and pointing her wand towards the woman.

Without hesitating, Ernsta shakily reached out and picked up the bottle. She gazed at it before looking back at Hermione. "Why should I fear for any tortures if you are going to kill me?"

"I didn't say I was going to kill you," Hermione replied. "As long as you do as I say, I do not plan on letting you die tonight." She tilted her head. "And might I remind you that I do not plan on standing here the entire night."

Suddenly, someone tugged her sleeve, and Draco's voice sounded next to her. "Um … Granger?"

"Not now, Draco. I'm busy," Hermione replied softly, keeping her eyes firmly on Ernsta as the woman took a tentative drink out of the bottle.

"You don't understand though …"

"Not now, Draco. Later," she repeated herself.

"What do you want?" Ernsta asked, still eyeing the bottle warily every now and then.

"I want you to answer all my questions truthfully. And without delay if you do not want the poison to travel throughout your body. I'm afraid that by then, an antidote wouldn't help you," Hermione answered.

Ernsta immediately jumped up from the bed with the blanket still clutched to her chest and shouted, "You said you weren't going to kill me!"

She immediately tried to force the water out of her body but to no avail.

"It's not going to kill you, unless you decide to act stupidly," Hermione said coldly.

"You said you weren't going to kill me! You promised you weren't going to kill me!" Ernsta wailed.

Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly, enough, however, to stop Ernsta from shouting. "I will keep to my promise if you cooperate. Now if you can just sit down, I need answers, or do you indeed want to die?"

Ernsta sat down at the edge of her bed, still sobbing quietly and tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Is Grindelwald coming to this town?" Hermione asked.

Ernsta stopped her crying and ogled at Hermione. "How did you—"

"Answer the question," Hermione cut in.

Ernsta swallowed and nodded. "But—"

"Is Voldemort going to come here?"

Ernsta nodded, sniffling.

"Why are they coming here at the same time?" Hermione questioned her.

Ernsta paused and bit her lower lip, uncertainty crossing her features. "Months ago, Gellert's followers came here. None of them talked about it straight out, but there were hushed whispers about someone called ‘Lord Voldemort’ challenging the powers of Gellert."

Ginny snorted. "Sounds like something he'd do."

Hermione could barely stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"Some of them guessed that when Gellert comes here again this year, Voldemort will try to defeat him," Ernsta said.

"Again? So Grindelwald visits this town every now and then?" Harry asked, surprised.

"No," Ernsta answered, shaking her head. "He only visits annually."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

Ernsta bit her lower lip, and Hermione tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. Ernsta must have noticed, since she immediately answered, "He says that he's here to visits Dietfried's grave, but to those of us who know him well enough, we know that he's here, trying to get Meinhardt on his side."

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione glanced at one another. Things seemed to be even more complicated than they had first anticipated it to be.

After asking Ernsta a couple of more questions, they Stunned her and placed her on the bed with her lover to prevent them from Apparating away. The four time travelers then went downstairs to the living room. Hermione, Harry, and Ginny each took a seat, but Draco paced in front of the fireplace.

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" he muttered.

"It would help if you just sit down instead of walking back and forth in front of us," Ginny replied dryly.

"Weaselette, are you not worried at all?" Draco asked, but stopped in place.

"About what? You fainting from the dizziness induced by your pacing?" Ginny asked in return.

"Grindelwald and Riddle both in town, Weaselette. And we're in the year 1950. That means that this duel will be the one where Riddle gets the Elder Wand. I don't know about the three of you, but I still find Grindelwald scary with or without the Elder Wand. That means that you're basically poking two sleeping dragons in the eye. I admire your courage; I should like to admire it from afar," Draco said with a shiver.

"We'll probably encounter Grindelwald before Tom does. At least, I hope," Hermione said with a frown.

"And how is that supposed to be better?" Draco asked, his voice a pitch higher.

"Unless you want Riddle to know that we've gotten the Elder Wand, Malfoy. I have no problem letting him think that the master of the wand is you," Ginny said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Draco snapped his mouth shut, but he quickly opened it again. "Why can't we look for Sparkly Eyes first anyway? He might be here, too, seeing that Riddle's on his way here."

"Because we don't know where he is right now," Hermione replied with a sigh. "If he's at Hogwarts, we can't Apparate across borders. If he's in Germany, we have no idea where he's staying at, since things clearly are not working out between him and Meinhardt now. We're not about to run around the country searching for him."

She thought she heard Draco mutter something like "But it would be safer," but she decidedly ignored it. Instead, she turned towards Harry and Ginny.

"I think we'll have to use a different approach to this. Dueling him for the wand is completely out of the question, since, well, he's only second on the list of the most feared dark wizards in history because of Tom," Hermione said.

A strangled laugh left Draco's mouth upon hearing her words.

Still ignoring him, she continued, "Grindelwald is an accomplished wizard and dueler, so he will probably notice if we use Disillusionment Charms on ourselves. The only way we can get close enough to steal the wand and even try to Stun him is with Harry's invisibility cloak." She then frowned and looked at Harry. "But then again, you've said last time that Dumbledore saw through the invisibility cloak, right?"

"I think it wasn't because he could see me through the cloak. I think it was more likely because I was a bit careless and in a hurry to get to the Mirror of Erised, and I did throw off the cloak immediately after I got into the room. I must have been leaving clues that someone was breaking into that room, which was why he was stationed there that night: to find out who was going into that room," Harry admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Hermione nodded. "So, the invisibility cloak it is. However, we can't let Grindelwald know about the cloak, since he would undoubtedly want to take it from Harry. Therefore, we need a distraction."

"A distraction? As in, you mean, a target practice for Grindelwald?" Draco asked, alarmed.

"Are you offering, ferret?" Ginny raised her eyebrows at him.

"I'll—I'll be the backup, thank you very much," Draco answered.

"As in the one who Stuns Grindelwald while we grab his wand and run?" Ginny asked humorously.

"Yes—No! No, you'll need someone as a look out. You know … someone in the dark, watching out if there are people waiting in secret to ambush us," Draco said.

"Or the one who can get out of the line of fire as soon as possible," Harry added wryly.

"Anyway, I don't think Draco will be a good distraction. His fear would show too much, and Grindelwald would definitely know that there are others," Hermione said, followed by a pause. "I'll be the distraction."

"No!" Harry and Ginny both shouted at the same time.

Hermione held up her hand. "Let me explain. If, for some strange reason, Riddle finds out that we have the Elder Wand, he would be wary in trying to get it from Harry. Therefore, the best person to become the master of it is Harry."

"But we can't let you be the distraction. We just can't. You're Muggle-born. Grindelwald's not going to even hesitate in hexing you," Harry argued.

"As if he would hesitate when he sees Ginny or you? Like Draco had said, there's basically no ways to tell if you're Muggle-born or not, so—"

"Then how did his followers know that you're a Muggle-born?" Ginny pointed out. "We still haven't figured that out yet, and we're not letting you put yourself in that kind of danger, Hermione. I'll be the distraction."

"No!" Harry and Hermione both yelled this time.

"Let me guess, Potty will be the next to offer, and the two of you will go berserk and scream 'No,' too," Draco muttered on the side, rolling his eyes. "Gryffindors and their damned so-called valiance. Draw straws or flip a Galleon if you can't get yourself to come to a solution."

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny shared a look with one another, and they had to agree that Draco's suggestion was probably the best idea. Harry ended up drawing the shortest piece of the three pieces of dry grass that was used. Though Ginny and Hermione were unhappy with the outcome, there was nothing they could do about it.

"Do you reckon Ernsta will know when Grindelwald is coming?" Ginny asked, once that was settled.

"She probably should know," Harry answered with a nod. "We should've asked her."

"Well, it's never too late, since she's just upstairs," Hermione said with a grin.

With that, the four of them went to Ernsta's room again. This time, Draco didn't bother with the Disillusionment Charm. Instead, he opted to stay slightly behind Harry. He was most likely hoping that Ernsta wouldn't remember to mention his name if she were to go to the German Aurors after this.

After reversing the Stunner, Hermione asked, "When is Grindelwald coming?"

"You—you still haven't—haven't given me the—the antidote. What if—what if the poison kills me?" Ernsta whimpered.

"Answer my question and I will consider giving you the antidote," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Either—either tomorrow—or the day—the day after tomorrow," Ernsta answered.

Her eyes were pleading for mercy. Hermione's response, however, was a wave of her wand and sending another Stunner towards her.

A shiver ran down Draco's spine, and he stared at her carefully when she turned around.

"What?" she asked, frowning, as they walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. "Oh, and what were you going to tell me earlier when I was busy with the hag?"

"Did you even notice the resemblance between you and Riddle when you were threatening her?" Draco asked.

Hermione shrugged. "It works."

"Yes, but … it's not just similar to him. It was exactly like him, Granger," Draco said, and there was a twinge of fear in his voice.

Harry must have heard it, too, since he said, "Don't be silly, Malfoy. Hermione wasn't even going to poison her for real. That bottle she threw at Ernsta, it was one of the ones we've brought home tonight."

"I know that, Potter. But still … it was frightening," Draco said slowly.

"I don't see how. If Hermione really wanted to go over to Riddle's side and help him, she wouldn't have suggested getting the Elder Wand before he does," Ginny said, shrugging her shoulders.

Draco seemed like he wanted to say something else, but in the end, he decided to keep quiet and only shot another wary glance towards Hermione. There seemed to be something else on his mind, but Hermione didn't have the time to mull over that yet.

She needed to concentrate on what to do about their confrontation with Grindelwald first.

~-0-~

The night came and went a bit too quickly, in Hermione's opinion. After giving Ernsta the "antidote," the time travelers had decided to stay in the rooms they had previously stayed in. No matter what Hermione did, however, she could not fall asleep, and she had a hunch that it was the same with Ginny, since she tossed and turned in her bed, too.

Hermione knew that she should get some sleep, especially if Grindelwald were to show up in the morning. However, the more she thought about it, the more flaws she saw in the plan. Why on Earth did they think it was a good idea to just confront Grindelwald, regardless whether or not some of them were acting as backups? And how could she possibly let Harry walk up to the second darkest wizard in the history of the wizarding world?

When she finally did fall asleep, morning seemed to have come too soon. It appeared that neither Harry nor Draco had slept well either, since both of them had dark circles under their eyes.

"Should've remembered to bring a Dreamless Sleep Potion with us," Draco muttered as they stalked downstairs.

"A bit too late to think of that," Ginny said as she slouched down into one of the armchairs. "How are we going to know Grindelwald's here anyway? It's not as if he's going to march in with an army and alert the whole town—"

The sounds of people marching echoed throughout the villages, passing through the walls of the house and reaching their ears. Then, it stopped, and Hermione could not help but marvel at the synchronicity—it sounded more like a trained army, rather than just a bunch of followers.

"—is he?" Ginny finished her question weakly.

"We should wake Ernsta up. What if Grindelwald wants to see her?" Hermione asked, her tone of voice unconsciously a lot lower than before.

As quickly as they could, they went up the stairs and into Ernsta's room. After they undid the Stunning Spell on her, Hermione kept her wand pointed at her and threw her the water bottle again.

"You're not—"

Hermione cut her off. "Yes, I am. Drink it and keep quiet about our presence, or else you'll die along with us."

Ernsta nodded slowly before taking a drink out of the water bottle. Somehow, Hermione felt uneasy about the expression on her face. If she had a second choice, she would have used a Polyjuice Potion and pretended to be Ernsta instead. However, in current conditions, they had no other options. Hermione was positive that Grindelwald would want to see Ernsta, seeing that he was seemingly here to mourn over Dietfried's death.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Ernsta shot Hermione a look, as if she were asking for permission to open the door. Reluctantly, Hermione nodded. She knew that it would be even more conspicuous if Ernsta didn't open the door. Once Ernsta was out of the room and down the stairs, however, Hermione turned towards the other three.

"We have to get out of here. I don't trust her, and I don't think she believes that she's poisoned any longer, or she's thinking that Grindelwald can help her find the antidote, and since they're speaking in German, we wouldn't know what she's telling Grindelwald. Draco, Harry, Disillusion yourselves."

"Why don't we just Apparate out of here?" Draco asked, his voice cracking.

"There might be a possibility of getting the Elder Wand. Now Disillusion yourself, quickly," Hermione instructed.

She then threw the invisibility cloak over Ginny and her, and as quietly as they could, they made their way down the stairs. She could hear the sound of people conversing in German, and when they reached the foot of the stairs, she peeked through the doorway leading to the living room. She mentally cursed when she saw three men, wearing the robes with the sign of the Hallows sewn over the left chest, standing in front of the entrance. Her eyes flickered over to the fireplace and found Ernsta standing close to a man with golden blond hair.

Hermione had no idea what she expected Gellert Grindelwald to look like, but this was definitely not on the list of possibilities. If she remembered correctly, he must be nearing seventy now and just two years younger than Dumbledore. Hermione had no idea if it was because of the way he held himself or was it because of that smile on his face, but he looked much younger, and he had a certain kind of charm to him that pulled people to him. For a moment, Hermione was reminded of Tom, though Grindelwald seemed much merrier.

Merrier, but by no means, less deadly.

As that thought went through Hermione's head, Grindelwald took out his wand and, with a wider smile, pointed upwards. An unknown spell left the Elder Wand and disappeared through the ceiling.

"I see," Grindelwald said.

His sudden switch to English startled Hermione, and she could feel Ginny stiffen beside her.

Ernsta answered something in German, and Hermione had a very good idea that the woman had just given the second darkest wizard in history confirmation that they, as in the four time travelers, were present in the house. Her suspicions were quickly confirmed by Grindelwald's next words.

"Now, now, Ernsta, we mustn't be rude to our guests. They would have no idea what we're saying if we continue conversing in German."

Grabbing onto Ginny's hand, Hermione tried to Apparate and was terrified to find out that she couldn't. Grindelwald must have put up the anti-Apparition wards with that spell.

"Take off your spells, unless you believe that we do not possess the knowledge to take it off ourselves," another voice spoke up coldly.

It was then that Hermione realized that Paulos Meinhardt was also present in the room.

"Plan A it is," Hermione heard Harry whisper before he took the spell off himself, and she realized that he was talking about the plan to get the Elder Wand.

Their chances of succeeding had never looked so grim before, and Hermione had no idea why Harry thought it was a good idea to try out their "plan" now.

"And the other three people?" Meinhardt pressed on.

"They're upstairs," Harry lied, and Hermione hoped that he'd remembered to keep his Occlumency walls up because they really had no idea if Grindelwald knew Legilimency or not.

"Oh?" Grindelwald asked, rubbing his chin with one hand, as if in thought. "Should I assume then that one of them had thought it was a good idea to follow you under the Disillusionment Charm?"

He waved his hand towards somewhere left behind Harry, and a deep intake of breath was heard. Draco must be standing there.

"Come, come. Do take off the charm. You did have a wand to put the spell on yourself in the first place after all," Grindelwald said.

Thankfully, perhaps due to months and months of practice in being around Voldemort, Draco did not try to hide or hesitate when he heard Grindelwald's words. It would be unwise to try to fool the dark wizard. Hermione was suddenly grateful that Draco and Harry were the ones who were using the Disillusionment Charms because at least, both of them knew Occlumency to a certain extent.

"Now then, perhaps you will like to enlighten us in regards to why you are here," Grindelwald said amicably, his jovial blue eyes glancing between Harry and the now visible Draco. Nonetheless, the authority in his voice was evident.

"On Dumbledore's orders, most likely," Meinhardt said with a sneer.

"Professor Dumbledore has nothing to do with this," Harry said defensively. "He had no idea that we were coming to Germany. He has nothing to do with Dietfried's death."

Something flashed through Grindelwald's eyes upon hearing Harry's words. However, instead of getting worried, he leaned back into the armchair and watched on with the same grin on his face.

"Oh?" Meinhardt asked, a cold smile lingering at the corners of his lips. "Are you saying that you're taking full responsibility of Dietfried's death then?"

Harry stared at him. "No. I'm simply stating that this has nothing to do with Dumbledore. Neither does it have anything to do with us!" He quickly added. He paused. "It never had anything to do with us."

"He's lying, Gellert. Of course he's going to deny killing my husband," Ernsta said quickly.

"I'm not denying or lying about anything, and you know who killed Dietfried. You were in on the whole plot," Harry said angrily. "You probably even helped Riddle kill Dietfried."

Ernsta's face tensed, but then she widened her eyes and stared at Harry with what seemed like disbelief. "Are you saying—saying that I killed my husband for someone I hardly know? For a stranger I've only met for three days? Where is the logic of that?"

"It's not the first time," Harry retorted. "What happened to your previous husbands?"

Ernsta's face turned white before turning red, though Hermione had no idea if were from embarrassment or fear.

"This is—this is blasphemy—lies—How dare you say that of me? How dare you accuse me of such things?" she stuttered. Without warning, she buried her face in her hands, and the sounds of her loud sobbing filled the room.

"This is complicated," Grindelwald said. His eyes were on Harry, but Hermione had the feeling that he was watching Meinhardt's reaction instead. "This young man here says one thing, and dear Ernsta says another."

"It's clearly the works of Dumbledore," Meinhardt said harshly. "Leaving the job to others, not showing up until the last moment to clear up the mess so that he would seem like the hero—it's not the first time and I doubt it would be the last." He paused and glared at Harry. "And they do not have a reason for disappearing right after Dietfried's death. If Ernsta had had something to do with this, she wouldn't have stayed and waited for the Aurors to take her for questioning."

Hermione wanted to scream at, or rather, throttle Meinhardt. It was obvious that the German Ministry of Magic was under Grindelwald's control now. So how hard was it for him to make it sound as if Ernsta had nothing to do with Dietfried's death, especially when he wanted to turn people against Dumbledore?

Harry seemed to understand the predicament they were in right now, since his hand was inside his pocket, and Hermione was sure that it was grasping firmly to the handle of his wand. Nonetheless, the odds were completely against them. If she disregarded Grindelwald's followers, they still had to duel Meinhardt and Grindelwald, both of whom were excellent duelers.

With the anti-Apparition wards up, obtaining the Elder Wand today was no longer an option. In order for that plan to work, they needed a quick getaway so that they wouldn't need to deal with a furious Grindelwald and his followers.

Their other option was to run; the path leading to the back door was seemingly clear, unless Grindelwald had the house surrounded. Hermione hoped not.

However, once they started running, Meinhardt and Grindelwald would surely chase after them, and Hermione was sure that Grindelwald's aim would not be as poor as his followers.

As soundlessly as she could, Hermione pulled out her wand as the wheels of her mind turned quickly. She needed a distraction, something that would catch both Grindelwald and Meinhardt's attention while they made a run for it. It couldn't be too easy of a spell either, since they needed the time. For the first time, since they learned about the wacky timeline, Hermione was glad that she had Tom as a professor.

Raising her wand, she carefully aimed it towards the center of the room. She glanced at Ginny and mouthed "Fiendfyre" before flicking her eyes towards Grindelwald's followers. Ginny gave her a small nod, indicating that she understood what she needed to do. Once Ginny had her wand raised, Hermione turned her head back towards her target.

They only had one chance.

Throwing off the invisibility cloak, they both cast the Fiendfyre curse before grabbing both Draco and Harry.

Without waiting for their reactions, Hermione pulled Draco towards the kitchen, with Harry and Ginny closely behind them. They had taken less than ten steps before Hermione heard a low cry from behind, followed by Harry's horrified yell.

"Ginny!"

Hermione twisted her head around, and she heard Ginny's voice before she could see her.

"I'm alright. Keep going, Hermione!"

Hermione could hear the pain in her voice. However, Hermione knew that it would be too dangerous to stop. She was only thankful that whoever had harmed Ginny hadn't thought of using the Killing Curse.

At that same moment, Grindelwald shouted something in German over the chaos, though Hermione had no idea what. She could only hope that he had thought of the same thing she had and had forbidden his followers to use the Killing Curse in order to capture them alive for questioning.

When they were nearly reaching the back door, Hermione threw a spell at it, completely obliterating it. She could hear the screams coming from the direction of the living room, and for one absurd second, she wondered if the Elder Wand could be destroyed by Fiendfyre. It was probably better that way anyway.

Then, she wondered if the Fiendfyre could hold up Grindelwald and his followers for long, since Grindelwald did have the Elder Wand now. The good thing was that they had taken him by surprise, so perhaps they would need to get the fire under control before they could concentrate on capturing them. Besides, Grindelwald probably thought—and Hermione agreed with him—that it would be impossible for them to get away, since he already had the anti-Apparition wards up.

They ran into the forest behind Dietfried's house, and Hermione was glad that they hadn't taken off the anti-slipping spells from their shoes. Any second now, Grindelwald and Meinhardt might swoop down on them. Would the anti-Apparitions wards work against Grindelwald, too? Most likely, yes, and he would have to take them down before he could Apparate in front of them. However, he probably wouldn't want to risk taking down the wards, in fear that the four of them might Disapparate the moment they got the chance to.

All of a sudden, Draco stumbled down beside her, and a yelp of pain left his lips.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, glancing frantically backwards as she knelt down to check on him.

Dietfried's house was nowhere in sight, and they couldn't see any pursuers yet. Nonetheless, Hermione knew that they had at most a couple of minutes to spare. They hadn't covered up their tracks in the snow, so it would be easy to follow them.

"No …" Draco moaned. "Twisted … my ankle."

Hermione took out her wand and flicked it towards his ankle. "Does it still hurt?"

"Yes," Draco answered, his face scrunched up in pain.

She realized that he couldn't be lying because she doubted he would want to get captured by Grindelwald. Therefore, he must have broken something.

"You must have broken something," she announced with a frown, realizing that they couldn't fix it on the spot. She flicked her wand at his foot again, creating a cast around it. "Put your arm around me. I'll support you."

"Wait—what—No, definitely not, Granger," Draco said.

"It's not the time to pretend that you're courageous or something, Malfoy," Ginny chided.

She had her arm around Harry's shoulders, too, and it was then that Hermione realized that there was a long gash right down her right arm. The redhead's face was pale white right now, and Hermione quickly flicked her wand at the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding a bit.

"It's not working very well. I tried it, but the wound would just open up a few minutes later," Harry said, a deep frown on his face. "We need to get to a safe place before we can tend to it."

"Come on, Draco," Hermione said, reaching out towards him again.

"No, Granger. You hold onto Weaselette, and I'll let Potty hold onto me," Draco said.

"What's your problem now?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"If Riddle sees you carrying me like that, what would he think—"

"What's the chances of us running into Tom right now, you moron?" Hermione yelled in frustration.

"—and if we weren't trying to run away from the other dark lord right now, I would keep a ten foot radius away from you right now," Draco said, his face turning as white as Ginny.

"So nice of you to remember that there are people chasing after us," Hermione said sarcastically.

As if on cue, they suddenly heard a shout from somewhere behind them. Taking a glance in that direction, Hermione forcefully pulled Draco's arm around her and picked him up.

"If you're going to be difficult, I'll Full Body-Bind you next," she threatened.

They started running again, but it was a lot more difficult this time, since Draco was quite heavier than Hermione. There were many times when Hermione nearly tripped over herself, and the sounds of their pursuers getting closer and closer to them made her start to panic. The horrible sense of déjà vu washed over her, but this time, they couldn't Apparate out of here. Hermione didn't know if they could get out of this unharmed at all.

"We'll have to go faster," Harry muttered behind Hermione, and she knew that it must be because he could catch glimpses of their pursuers by now.

"Wouldn't Disillusioning ourselves make it harder for them to catch us?" Draco asked, his face scrunched up in pain.

"We don't have time to stall right now," Hermione said.

Suddenly, a sound similar to that of a clap of thunder roared through the air, and Hermione reflexively looked upwards, almost expecting to find dark clouds in the sky. However, the next second, she knew that the sound was not of natural causes. It was the sound of anti-Apparition wards being torn down.

Multiple cracks resounded through the forest, and figures in black appeared in front of them.

And for the first time in her life—not including the memories from the wacky timeline—Hermione Granger was almost glad to see Tom Marvolo Riddle and his Knights standing in front of them.

~-0-~

A/N: Many thanks to Marauder's Wolf for beta-ing the chapter. Special thanks to Nerys for looking over the flow and logic of the chapter. Huge thanks to those of you who had read and rated. Huge, huge thanks to those of you who'd reviewed: m0nt, mrequecky, Lady Miya, PinkPotter, Alassea Malfoy, Aviendha, and somebody french!

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Somewhere in Time