Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 54
- 55
- 56
Chapter 55

For two days, Tom and his Knights did absolutely nothing.

Well, they did have an occasional meeting, and of course, Hermione had no idea what they discussed during said meetings. However, she would've thought that they would've done something more physical, such as sending a couple of the Knights out to find out news and information. They didn't even practice dueling as much as she thought they would.

Of course, their nonchalance—or at least, pretense of nonchalance—meant that sneaking away from Slytherin's cabin was near impossible. Every time she looked out the window, she would find future Death Eaters chatting a small distance away from the cabin. She'd gone out a couple of times, just to check if there was some kind of loophole in their surveillance, but to no avail. He'd brought with him at least twenty Death Eaters, and they took turns patrolling the area, leaving no space unattended.

Therefore the three Gryffindors resorted to discussing in details about how they would get away once they've gotten the Elder Wand in front of Tom. This, of course, sent Draco into panic mode. Initially, he would make comments about how and why he didn't think certain ideas would work. The next day, however, he ended up sulking in the corner. Not that his anxiety lessened. On the contrary, he got more and more tense as the hours slipped away, and in the end, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione mutually agreed that it would be too telling for Tom to see him. So, he was almost always staying in the room he was sharing with Harry and Ginny.

Hermione never talked about it, since she didn't want to put something else on the others' minds, but she was also worried about Nicholas's safety. Though she hadn't gotten direct confirmation from Tom, she was a hundred percent positive that he had used Nicholas as a scapegoat for Dietfried's death. That was not something Hermione could sit back and let slip by. She had to dosomething to save the innocent, Ravenclaw heir, but she had no idea how to do so without getting information from Tom first. Not to mention didn't exactly think that walking into Nurmengard would be a sane idea to begin with. Therefore, she decided to spend most of her time thinking about how to get the Elder Wand first.

Just when she thought Tom and his Knights were not going to action at all, Hermione woke up alone in the room one day, and the side of the bed she was not sleeping on still held some warmth, indicating that it had been vacated not too long ago. Alerted, she quickly got up and went over to the window.

There were no Knights standing outside.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins, but she knew better than to jump at conclusions. She rushed out of the bedroom and checked each and every window. Though she had expected it, the feeling of defeat still welled up when she couldn't find any signs of Tom's Knights outside. However, she quickly quashed that feeling down and hurried over to the room where Harry and the others were staying in. Without bothering to knock, she threw open the door and went over to shake each of her companions.

"Wake up!"

"Whasdamadder?" Draco asked groggily.

"Wake up! Tom and the Knights aren't here anymore. I suspect they've gone to meet with Grindelwald," she said frantically.

That news caused Harry to immediately sit up in his makeshift bed and put his glasses on. "What?"

"I've checked all the windows … I should've suspected that they were going to do something today when he didn't bother to argue with me last night," Hermione said, blaming herself for letting that detail slip by.

"No wonder we had a good night's sleep last night," Draco muttered as he ran his hands through his hair.

"We need to go after them," Hermione continued as if she hadn't heard what Draco said. "They can't have gone too long ago. If we go right now, we might be able to catch up to them—"

"Granger, pray tell how we're going to catch up with them. They must have Apparated out of here, and by the time we figure out where they are—"

"We'll go to the village. Again. If they're meeting with Grindelwald, there's bound to be traces of information about where they're going," Hermione said.

"Um, you're forgetting that we're not exactly welcomed there, Hermione," Draco pointed out.

"And you're forgetting that Grindelwald would've taken everyone and anyone who followed him. He saw Tom duel the other day. Any doubt he'd had about Tom's skills would've gone down the drain. He's not going to want to risk a chance facing such an opponent. What if Tom's Knights attacked him at the same time? He's an formidable dueler, but he's not stupid," Hermione replied. She turned towards Ginny. "Ginny—"

"I'm going with you," the redhead immediately said, standing up.

"But your injuries—"

"—are much better," Ginny finished for her. "I'm doing fine, Hermione. I've taken the last of the potions yesterday, and you don't see any of the wounds anymore."

"But what if we get into a fight? What if—what if the injuries need some more time to heal?" Hermione asked.

"Riddle never said time was required after I finished taking the potions," Ginny reminded her with a grin. "Not to mention that if we do get into a fight, it's about time for me to show them that my dueling skills can be worth a few Knights and Grindelwald followers." She raised her eyebrows at Hermione. "You do remember that Luna and I did fight alongside with you against Bellatrix Lestrange during the last battle, don't you?"

"Besides, we're not going in to fight with any of them. We're just looking for a chance to get the Elder Wand before Riddle does," Harry added.

"Yes, and I'm sure that'll be a walk in the park and not end without a fight of some sort," Draco muttered. He cleared his throat, catching their attention. "You … you're sure I can't stay behind?"

"Of course you can," Hermione said offhandedly, obviously surprising him. "But do remember that you will have no way of knowing where we're going after we get the wand, and I'm sure Tom wouldn't have any problem capturing you and trying to lure us out with a certain little ferret. And be assured that we're not coming back to save you."

Draco grimaced.

Before he could talk, however, Ginny added, "And if you decide to stay somewhere other than this cabin, I'm sure Riddle will have such a hard time searching you out. No, you don't have the tell-tale white-blond hair of the Malfoys, nor a rather conspicuous Dark Mark on your left forearm. And you obviously speak German, making you blend wonderfully in this country. Not to mention that we're not even sure where the fight is taking place. Perhaps you'll conveniently cross in the path of Riddle and Grindelwald while they're dueling for the wand."

After those thoughts sank in, he gulped and said, "I … I guess I'll go with the three of you. Perhaps you'll need back-up along the way."

"I'm sure," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Now, first things first, we should check if Tom placed up any wards on the cabin to prevent us from leaving."

"And how are we going to break through said wards?" Draco asked with a defeated sigh.

"We'll get to that. First, we have to look for the signs," Hermione instructed.

Experiences from previous "adventures" had taught them that there was no such thing as being too careful. Therefore, before they went out, they simultaneously remembered to grab some food from Slytherin's magical compartment before heading out. They circled around the cabin, searching for signs, before meeting up at the front door again.

"Nothing on my side," Harry said, which was echoed by everyone else.

"Apparently, he didn't see us as threats enough to ward us in," Ginny said, raising an eyebrow.

"Or he hadn't thought that we would try to get the Elder Wand, given that we're going up against both him and Grindelwald if we do," Hermione deducted. "And he wouldn't think that we would dare to get seen again. Grindelwald wants to use us to bring Meinhardt over to his side against Dumbledore, and he knows we don't want to do things that might harm Dumbledore."

"What are we going to do now?" Harry asked.

"We'd have to Apparate to the village now," Hermione said.

"Reckon Grindelwald's Apparition wards are up?" Harry asked with a grin.

"I doubt it. Tom did rip through it effortlessly enough, and I don't think Grindelwald would be keen to let his potential enemy to show off again," Hermione said.

"Ernsta's house then?" Ginny asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Back shed might be a bit more appropriate," Hermione responded, equally amused. "According to Grindelwald, the Fiendfyre Curse did quite a bit of damage to it. Even if they'd somehow fixed everything, I don't want to arrive at a place and immediately have the old hag scream in my ears."

"Hm, good point," Ginny said.

"But wouldn't Grindelwald put some kind of ward around Dietfried's house? Would he try to prevent us from going there again?" Draco asked.

"Possibly," Hermione replied with a frown. Then her expression brightened. "So we'll Apparate to a small distance in the forest behind Dietfried's house. From there, we'll test to see if there are any wards."

"I'm really, really starting to feel that I'm the only sane one out of the four of us," Draco muttered right before they placed Disillusionment Charms on themselves and spun on the spot.

Once they arrived at the forest, their original plan to search for wards came to an abrupt stop when they took in the scene in front of them.

"Merlin's pants …" Draco muttered, his eyes wide with horror.

"I guess we wouldn't have to worry about wards any longer," Hermione said shakily.

Blood stained the snow as if someone had taken a paintbrush and splattered it randomly over the area. In some places, rags decorated those blots, though they were hardly noticeable, since they, too, were drenched in blood; at other spots … they'd rather believe that the chunks that they saw were snow rather than something else. Various trees had been cut through their middles, and their corpses dug into the inches of snow in front of them while others had branches dangling dangerously from them, threatening to impale anyone who crossed beneath them.

"This is like a butcher's shop," Harry murmured.

"Anyone fancy a steak now?" Draco joked uneasily, which earned looks of contempt from the three Gryffindors.

"Let's go," Hermione said, walking forward.

They took care not to step on anything as they crossed the area. The metallic stench of blood wedged and barged its way into their nostrils, making it difficult to breathe. The only relief they got was from the occasional drafts that rushed past them, but those were few and far in between. In the end, Draco grabbed a corner of his cloak and stuffed his face into it, though Hermione had no idea if it were to block out the smell or because he was feeling nauseous.

"Do you think Ernsta would really still be in the house now? I mean … they've turned the forest behind her house into a battlefield. I really don't think she … I don't think any sane person would stay in there," Ginny pointed out as they trudged through the snow.

"With her personality, I doubt she's going to go along with Grindelwald's followers, especially if they're dueling," Hermione analyzed. "If we can't find her in the house, we might find her elsewhere in the village."

"Yeah, and I'm sure that's going to be such an easy task to do," Draco said with a muffled voice, which was ignored by the other three.

Although they were pretty positive that any wards constructed by Grindelwald would have been torn down by Tom now—and that belief was reinforced by the fact that there were stains of blood on the walls of Dietfried's house—Hermione, Harry, and Ginny still ran several tests to make sure of it. After all, they couldn't know for sure if Tom had placed any wards of his own on the house. Once the tests came up as negative, they entered the house as quietly as they could. The horrible sense of déjà vu washed over them as they crept up to the door leading to the kitchen.

The inside of the house was generally unharmed; it seemed like most of the fighting had taken place outside. That, at least, meant that there was a higher chance of Ernsta staying inside the house to avoid getting harmed.

Taking out her wand, Hermione waved her wand and muttered under her breath, "Homunem revelio."

Indications showed that there was someone in the room Tom had stayed during their last visit to Germany. However, it appeared that Ernsta wasn't the only one there—there were two people in that room. They slowly and quietly made their way towards that room and withdrew their wands. Once they were at the door, they shared a look with one another before Harry pushed open the door.

The young man sitting inside the room immediately sprang up to his feet, guarding the person lying in the bed.

It took a moment, but Hermione then realized that the person in the bed was Paulos Meinhardt, and the young man was none other than Meinhardt's son. Before she could say anything, he swished his wand through the air.

"Finite Incantatem!"

The spell hit them before they could step aside, and they were more than glad that he hadn't thought of cursing them first—perhaps because he was worried that they might've been his comrades.

"You … you're that girl from three days ago," Meinhardt's son said, his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Yes … my name is Hermione," she replied before looked at the man on the bed. "Herr Meinhardt … is he getting better?"

Meinhardt's son glanced at his father for a second before shaking his head. "They've stopped the curse from spreading, but they couldn't find the cure for it yet." His eyes snapped back to the four of them and he demanded, "What are the four of you doing here?"

She bit down on her lower lip, not sure how to say this without seeming as if they were out to help Tom. However, before she could think of something, Harry stepped forward.

"It's going to seem like we're trying to help Voldemort, but we're not," he said. "I know you're not going to believe whatever we tell you, but I just want to say that I wasn't lying that day when I said we had nothing to do with Dietfried's death. If we'd known that Dietfried was going to die that day, we would've tried to stop it, just like what we want to do right now. Regardless of who—Weknow who's going to win today, and if we don't somehow try to stop the duel between Grindelwald and Voldemort, more innocent people are going to get killed. We're just trying to help."

Meinhardt's son stared at them for a while, presumably digesting what Harry had just said.

"How are you going to stop them? You couldn't have possibly gotten away from Uncle Gellert the other day if Hermione hadn't used the Fiendfyre Curse," he said. "Not to mention you needed Lord Voldemort's help later on that day or else Uncle Gellert would've captured you. How are you going to stop the two of them or help anyone at all?"

They knew that he was simply analyzing the situation to them. They had no idea if it were because their sincerity had proved their innocence or he was being kind to them because Hermione had extended that friendliness beforehand, but there was not a trace of condescension when he spoke to them.

"You also do realize—I haven't spent too much time with Lord Voldemort yet, but if I am correct, he has some qualities very similar to Uncle Gellert. Both of them wouldn't hesitate in joining forces with one another to duel the four of you once they realize you are a threat to them," he added.

Draco's whimper was drowned out by Hermione's reply: "Yes, we know that. But … you don't understand. There are some things that we just can't let come to pass … we'll never be able to live with ourselves if we do."

"You might die in the process," he said. "They will not hesitate in killing you if you stand in their way."

A grimace appeared on Hermione's face. "Not if we can help it."

Meinhardt's son scrutinized her again, and seconds later, he said, "They've gone through the forest to the other side, towards the river give or take fifty kilometers away. I'm pretty sure they should be dueling there, since there's a clear area near that part of the forest."

A smile appeared on Hermione's face, for somehow, she knew that he wasn't lying to them. "Thanks."

Right before they left, she turned towards him again. "I'm sorry, but what's your name?"

He looked at her, and then a faint smile appeared on his face. "Geoffrey."

"Thank you, Geoffrey, for everything."

The time travelers knew they didn't have much time to lose, so they immediately rushed down the stairs and out the back door.

"We'll never get there on time. It's fifty kilometers from here," Draco said.

"We'll need to borrow brooms. There were a couple of them inside the back shed, more than the last time we've been here. Some of Grindelwald's followers must have had some trouble Apparating and decided to use brooms instead," Harry said.

"So you're saying that there's even more followers of Grindelwald than last time now?" Draco asked, alarmed.

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that, Draco. Tom might've gotten rid of a few of them already," Hermione answered as they marched towards the back shed.

"Yeah, and we might be next on the 'get rid' list," he said in a tiny voice.

"We'll need to get there as soon as we can," Harry said to Hermione, "so it'll be best if you fly with me instead of on your own."

Hermione was more than happy to agree with him; at least she wouldn't have to keep reminding herself that they weren't flying at a particularly high height now.

The three Quidditch players hurried into the back shed and each grabbed a broom, Draco more reluctantly than the other two, and once they were outside, they each mounted their brooms. After Hermione got on behind Harry, she wrapped her arms around Harry's waist.

"Full speed ahead," Ginny called out before the three brooms shot forward into the forest.

~-0-~

If Harry had any doubts about what Geoffrey had told them, it was definitely washed away the moment he saw the increase of blood and damage as they headed in the direction they were told. The scene they had seen earlier was nothing compared to the amount of bloodshed they saw as they got nearer and nearer to their destination. Once they heard sounds of dueling, they stopped, hovering in midair and trying to determine where the sounds were coming from.

"We'll have to find one of the Knights. They'll know where Tom and Grindelwald should've gone," Hermione said.

As they floated over towards the sound, each of them took out their wands, and Draco made it a point to stay some distance behind Harry and Ginny. Finally, they caught sight of a familiar white-blond head of hair hiding behind a tree while others were dueling farther away.

"Three guesses who that is," Harry snorted while Ginny giggled, despite of themselves.

"The similarities are awfully striking at this moment," she said, glancing at Draco askew.

While a blush found its way to the ferret junior's cheeks, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione jumped off the brooms and hurried over to where Abraxas was hiding.

"Abraxas," Hermione hissed when they got near enough.

The Slytherin swirled around, his face paler than usual. "Granger … what are you doing here?"

"Where's Tom?" she demanded.

"I thought—he said that you wouldn't be coming with us," Abraxas said.

"Where. Is. Tom. Don't make me ask you a third time," Hermione said warningly.

She didn't have time for his babbling, and if she didn't get the Elder Wand in time, she knew precisely who she would use as target practice for the years to come.

"He was dueling with Grindelwald minutes ago," he answered, perhaps a bit frightened by the way Hermione was rolling the wand between her fingers now.

"Which way did they go?" she asked.

At this, Abraxas paused, perhaps wondering if it were a good idea to let people know where his Lord had gone. His eyes flickered over to Draco, who was still hovering in midair on the broom. Under the joined pressure of gazes from the three Gryffindors, Draco gulped.

"Just tell them, Gramps," he said.

Abraxas scrunched up his face. "I'm not that much older than you now, Draco."

Draco shrugged, a smirk appearing on his face. "Well, that doesn't change the fact that I'm still biologically your grandson." His expression then turned serious. "They … might be able to help Riddle out. I mean … we're all doomed if old Grindels gets the upper hand. So, can't you just tell them where he's gone?"

That seemed to make sense to Abraxas, since he nodded and then pointed in a direction to the left of where the Knights and the followers of Grindelwald were fighting. Without further ado, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione jumped on the brooms and headed towards where they were directed, and true to Abraxas's words, they soon caught glimpse of three figures dueling in a clear area covered with snow.

"I thought it was only Riddle and Grindelwald," Draco said, horrified at the possibility that there was someone else there.

"The history books of the wacky timeline never mentioned a third person," Hermione said, wide-eyed.

Though there was a niggling feeling at the back of her mind as she watched the ongoing fight. From where they were, she could only see different colors of spells flashing through the air and couldn't see the faces of the three duelers clearly. However, she had an idea who that third person was, and her suspicions were confirmed as they got closer and closer to the dueling trio.

It was Albus Dumbledore.

The feeling that a rock was lifted from her heart gave Hermione a heady feeling, and she would've shouted out of relief if she weren't worried about Tom's safety now. What if Dumbledore and Grindelwald decided to call it a temporary truce to get rid of Tom together? She didn't want to think of what might happen after that.

"Well … this is quite a messy duel," Draco commented.

And Hermione had to agree with him. As they got closer to the three most powerful wizards of the century, it became clearer to the time travelers that there was not a specific arrangement about who was dueling whom. At any given moment, it would seem like Grindelwald was helping Dumbledore duel Tom; then, he would turn around to help Tom attack Dumbledore. Of course, there were also moments when Tom and Dumbledore seemed to be striking Grindelwald at the same time.

Flashes of different color—red, green, blue, brown, yellow, purple, white, orange, and variants of those shades—flew through the air, but hardly any of them managed to hit their intended targets. If they were under any other circumstances, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and even Draco would have to admit that it was breathtakingly magnificent to watch the epitomes of power and magical competence duel one another.

"Much more impressive than when you dueled him, Potter," Draco said once they stopped at where they deemed as a safe distance. "No Expelliarmusesso far."

"Maybe that's why Riddle hasn't been defeated yet. And you might want to say that a little louder because I'm sure Riddle didn't hear you yet," Ginny said, though she couldn't take her eyes off the duel.

Draco didn't bother to answer her because he, too, couldn't look away from what was unfolding in front of them.

However, little did they know, Draco's words had just triggered a change in history yet again.

Snow swirled upwards around Voldemort, Grindelwald, and Dumbledore as they cast spell after spell at successively increasing speeds. The grace with which the three wizards moved around one another was astounding, almost as if they knew precisely where their opponents would move next—it was almost as if their moves were choreographed. Shield Charms were erected before hexes could hurt their victims but were ripped down just as quickly the next second. Trees cracked and crashed down as curses impacted into them, and the number of stumps on the snow-covered grounds continuously grew in number.

Suddenly, Grindelwald waved his wand effortlessly through the air and the frozen river came to life: the ice on top of it rose up at a fast speed and right before their eyes, transformed into what looked like a Chinese fireball. Hermione had no idea what it would do next because before it could attack anyone, Tom flicked his wand, and the Fiendfyre snake reared and struck the ice dragon, successfully melting it. Not a second had passed before Dumbledore slashed his wand; the water zipped towards him, but before it hit him, it flowed upwards and took the shape of a phoenix. The bird immediately shot towards the snake, and both the fire and water disappeared the moment the two "animals" clashed.

Almost everyone's eyes were on the duel in front of them, waiting to see what would happen next. Lord Voldemort, Gellert Grindelwald, and Albus Dumbledore hadn't seen it coming either, since they were concentrating on their opponents and hadn't even deemed it possible that someone would dare to interrupt their duel.

A vine wood wand slashed through the air just before the three wizards could attack again.

"Expelliarmus!"

As if in slow motion, everyone watched as the Elder Wand slipped out of Gellert Grindelwald's hand and flew through the air as the second darkest wizard in wizarding history stumbled backwards from the sheer force of the spell. The fact that there was someone out there who could make him stumble backwards would've shocked him in any other situation. However, the fact that he was no longer the master of the Death Stick stunned him even more, and his bright blue eyes followed what used to be his wand through the air until it fell into an open hand.

Hermione Granger had become the master of the Elder Wand.

~-0-~

It had been a week since the legendary wand had fallen into their hands. Yet, they did not feel any safer, now that the most powerful wand was in their hands. On the contrary, they felt that things had never seemed more dangerous. Of course, that also meant that their accommodations were less than desirable. This, of course, thoroughly annoyed particularly one person.

"A trolls' cave. We've been living in a trolls' cave for a week already," Draco moaned as he buried his face in his hand and leaned against the wall that he had spent hours just the day before trying to magick away the stains.

"Feel lucky that we're not thrown into Nurmengard or Azkaban already," Ginny said darkly as she handed out the rations they had brought with them from Slytherin's cabin.

For the past few days, the three Gryffindors put up with Draco's moaning and complaining because they knew that the running and hiding was not the only thing bothering him. It started off on the second day since they've escaped with the Elder Wand, and it continued to get worse: Draco's Dark Mark burned. They've tried everything they could find on it, including potions they had snitched from Slytherin's cabin, but unfortunately, none of it worked. So, they allowed Draco his grumpy, little episodes.

"We should be happy that Riddle hadn't thought about this place yet," Harry said, recalling how they had escaped from what almost became their graveyards.

The moment Hermione got the Elder Wand, she immediately ran towards the brooms, an action which was mimicked by the other three time travelers. Luckily, Tom and Dumbledore started dueling again—each of them probably presumed the four of them were on the other's side. Grindelwald, on the other hand, seemed to realize that without a wand, things could become overly dangerous for him, so he immediately Disapparated from the area.

The moment the four time travelers got on the brooms, they quickly flew as far as they could. Throughout their whole escape, Draco kept on muttering "You are completely mad, Granger, mad I'm telling you" while Harry and Ginny remained silent. They had no idea where to go, and Hermione didn't specify, so the three controlling the brooms kept on going in a single direction to get as far away from the Dumbledore and Riddle as they could.

They had no idea how far they had traveled before Hermione ordered them to land, but once they were on the ground, she immediately instructed them to Apparate to the trolls' cave where they'd first met Nicholas Lockhart-Lovegood. There, they'd stayed for two days already. Thankfully, they had taken a good amount of food from Slytherin's cabin this time, since they realized that it would be far too dangerous if they stole food immediately after they'd escaped. However, their supply was slowly running out.

Therefore, after they finished eating, Harry and Draco slipped under the invisibility cloak and went out to look for food.

"We're extremely lucky we haven't lost the invisibility cloak throughout all this time," Ginny said with a sigh of relief. "Can you imagine if we didn't have it with us?"

"I think we're just plain lucky throughout this whole trip," Hermione answered. She smiled. "Perhaps Tom was right when he said Harry was abnormally lucky. Nothing has gone completely wrong so far."

Ginny nodded and smiled, too.

"Anyway, I think this is a better time than any other," Hermione said, shifting her body slightly so that she was facing the redhead.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, confused.

"The transfer of the ownership of the Elder Wand," Hermione replied.

Ginny stared at her for a whole minute before she said, "Hermione, Harry's not here right now."

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "I've thought about in the last two days. Tom's not exactly a stupid person—well … right now. Can't say the same for forty-seven years later when he tried to kill Harry using the same curse that hadn't worked a gazillion other times before."

Ginny snorted at this.

"But as it is, he's … not exactly stupid yet. So, if we thought about transferring the ownership to someone else, I doubt he wouldn't think of the same thing. The thing is, he might also realize that the first person I would transfer the ownership over to is Harry. He would never in a million years think that I would transfer it over to you—I'm not saying that you're weak, Ginny, quite the contrary to that. That's why I trust you with the ownership. I know you'll never give it to him. The best thing about this plan and the most crucial part of it is that Tom knows you're afraid of him, and he knows how protective we are of you."

A frown appeared on Ginny's face as she thought over what Hermione had said. In the end, she nodded. "You're right. Additionally, he knows that the two of us don't have any Occlumency skills and if he happened to rummage through my mind, he'll immediately know that I'm the master of the wand. He would never think that we'll take the risk. This is the best way. So what should I do?"

"Er …" Hermione stared at the wand sitting in the palm of her hand. "I suppose you're supposed to just snatch it away from me. I don't know … I suppose I should put up a 'fight' over it … and then you're supposed to … oh, for Godric's sake, why did Death have to do something so complicated? Can't I just say something along the lines of 'I want Ginevra Molly Weasley to have it' and get this over and done with?"

"Hm …" Ginny said thoughtfully as she gazed at the wand.

She shared a look with Hermione, and without a warning, her hand shot out and grabbed hold of one end of the wand.

"Give it here, you … you … oh, I don't know, Riddle's pet!" Ginny yelled playfully.

"Oh, no, you don't, you … you little … er … little minx!" Hermione called back.

"Oye! I've only had three boyfriends before," Ginny argued, all the while trying to pull the wand from Hermione, who was half-heartedly trying to hold onto the Elder Wand.

"Yeah, well, that's what you get for calling me Riddle's pet," Hermione said as she blew a raspberry at Ginny.

"You are though," Ginny said with a snort. "Everyone at Hogwarts knew how Riddle favored you over all the other students."

"That doesn't mean I'm his pet though," Hermione said as a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Well, now that we know what happened between the two of you in this time period, I would say you are, Hermione dearest," Ginny said teasingly as the two of them continued to roll around the floor.

And that was the scene Harry and Draco came home to. Once they've pulled off the invisibility cloak, they couldn't help but stand there for a few minutes, watching the two growling and laughing girls in shock.

"Er … what are they doing?" Draco finally asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I would like to know, too," Harry replied before the two of them went over to break the two girls apart.

As Harry and Draco each held on to one of them, the two witches took a look at one another and started laughing again. Amidst all the confusion, Harry and Draco did not notice that clutched inside Ginny Weasley's hand was the Elder Wand.

~-0-~

"We'll have to find a new hiding area soon," Harry said as they sat around in a circle around a burning fire.

Draco and he had just returned from their search for food, and they were now waiting for their dinner—the roots they had found in the forest surrounding the cave—to cook. Upon hearing his words, Hermione glanced at him.

"Why?" Ginny asked. "Someone couldn't have seen you … I mean, you have the invisibility cloak on, and Malfoy here certainly wouldn't be so calm if that were the case."

Harry shook his head. "They haven't seen me, but I think I saw Grindelwald's followers searching through the forest. They didn't come anywhere near this part of the forest yet. I think they were warned by the villagers about the dangers that supposedly are still here. Only Riddle, Nicholas, and we know that the trolls were killed by Slytherin already after all. But once they can't find us anywhere else, I doubt they'll leave these areas unsearched. They're kind of leaving this to the last resort."

Hermione nodded slowly, and her eyebrows furrowed. That meant that they would have to pack up and leave as soon as they can, preferably by today. However, where would they go? Most, if not all, of Germany were looking for them, and she was positive that no one would take them in. Nobody wanted to earn the wrath of Gellert Grindelwald for strangers.

"Do you think we should look for Dumbledore?" Harry asked her.

"Potter, have you finally gone mad?" Draco immediately asked.

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Ginny spoke up. "It makes sense. Dumbledore was our Transfiguration professor and he's the only one who knew that we came from the future. He's the obvious choice if we want to go to someone for help."

"Look, haven't you noticed that Granger hadn't immediately suggested to go looking for Dumbledore? Even Potter here didn't suggest it until today. You haven't even thought about the reason behind this?" Draco asked.

His words seemed to have made sense to Ginny, since she swiveled her head around, gazing at Hermione and Harry in turn.

A deep sigh was emitted by Harry, and he nodded, as if he agreed with what Draco had said. He looked at Hermione, and they realized at that moment that they had thought of the same thing, too, when they mutually decided not to search for Dumbledore at the beginning. The only reason they were having second thoughts now was because they had no idea what else to do and where else to run.

"I … It's hard to explain this. It's not that I don't trust Dumbledore. For Merlin's sake, he's the only one I trust in this time period other than the three of you," Harry said.

Draco's eyes immediately snapped over to him, surprised that Harry would say that he trusted him. Discomfort caused Harry to shift in his spot, and he pushed up his glasses with one hand.

"I'm not saying that you definitely won't betray us if it's a choice between your hide and ours, but I know that to a certain extent … we're in this together," Harry explained.

And to some degree, they were friends. Harry left that unsaid; it wasn't something that needed to be said. There were certain things that people couldn't go through without ending up as friends. For Harry, Ron, and Hermione, it had been the troll in first year, and the four time travelers had gone through much more than that. Even though they still had small quarrels here and there, there was a bond that invisibly connected each of them to another. In a sense, they were all they had left. Everything else had disappeared with their original future, the future that had been shattered into pieces.

Draco didn't say anything; instead he unconsciously rubbed where his Dark Mark was probably still burning. The sheepish, uncomfortable look on his face, however, was enough to confirm that he understood this as well as the three Gryffindors.

"However, as much as I trust Dumbledore, we don't know him that well in this time period," Harry continued.

"And even if Rita Skeeter is a dreadful woman, there are certain … things in that book that aren't lies," Hermione added carefully. "Dumbledore—well—he—he's not exactly immune to the power of the Elder Wand, especially not in the wacky timeline. We're not sure if he—he—"

"If he wouldn't want to become the master of the Elder Wand in this timeline for other purposes," Harry finished for her. He shook his head and sighed.

"But then we can just give it to him," Ginny pointed out. "Wouldn't that solve all the problems? I mean, both Grindelwald and Riddle are supposedly afraid of Dumbledore. So if the Elder Wand is in Dumbledore's hands, they wouldn't try to get it from him. Even if they do try, they would have a hard time. He is a powerful wizard."

"It's not that simple, Ginny," Hermione said grimly. "What if Dumbledore thinks that we have something to do with Dietfried's death?"

Ginny stared at her. "Why would he think that?"

"We've disappeared, Ginny, right after Dietfried's death. That, in and of itself, makes us suspicious. And Dietfried was killed by Tom. I'm pretty sure Dumbledore must know that by now, and he knows that we were here with Tom. It's incredibly easy for him to think that we came to Germany to help Tom. Why else were we here? He doesn't know us as well as he did in the original future, and I doubt he would believe it even if we tell him we were here to help him. Even if he is a master of Legilimency, he might think that we know Occlumency and had been lying to him the whole entire time."

"So you think that if we go up to him and give him the Elder Wand, he might think that it's another ploy?" Ginny asked, alarmed.

Hermione nodded. Hesitantly, she added softly, "And I'm not sure if he's the Dumbledore we know."

"Huh?" Ginny asked, frowning out of confusion.

Harry sighed. "It's been five years, Ginny. A lot of things could've happened in between, and the thing is, we don't know what these things are. This isn't the Dumbledore we knew from the original timeline; heck, it wasn't the one we knew from the original timeline since the first time we landed in the past, in 1944. We've been changing far too many things in the past for the Dumbledore we knew to happen.

"The Dumbledore we knew never got captured by Slytherin for months. The Dumbledore we knew never had to deal with four mysterious students disappearing on him after one of his friends got killed by one of his students. He isn't the Dumbledore who'd defeated Grindelwald and gotten the Elder Wand. We don't know if his personality is like the one we knew in the original one."

"Or if he has the personality from the wacky timeline," Hermione added, to which Harry nodded.

"Do you remember the Dumbledore from the wacky timeline?" he asked Ginny. "As much as we want to pretend that those things never happened, they did, and they're part of our memories now."

"Well, we've learned that minor changes in the past can cause enormous changes in the future," Hermione said. "But unfortunately, it also shows us what Dumbledore could potentially become. We can't base everything on what we knew from our original timeline anymore."

"Well, it didn't help that Voldemort killed Grindelwald after he got the Elder Wand," Harry said.

"I think that's actually what caused Dumbledore to crack down," Hermione replied. "Any history book from the wacky timeline you look through would tell you that Dumbledore and Tom officially started competing with one another after Grindelwald died. Dumbledore was literally doing everything in his power to stop Tom. But things weren't going his way. Tom apparently learned so much about our original timeline that he knew mostly what to do. People were swayed by Tom's agenda this time around, and the wacky Dumbledore hated it. He hated the fact that he hadn't stopped Tom when he had the chance to, which led to Grindelwald getting killed, and he hated the fact that most people were following Tom."

"To be honest … thinking about it in retrospect and comparing the two different timeline, there comes a point when I can't see the difference between Riddle and the wacky Dumbledore anymore," Ginny added softly. "The wacky Dumbledore was awfully ruthless in that timeline, immoral, at times."

"You don't say," Draco said with a shiver. "He used my parents as patsies to get the Longbottoms away and out of reach from the Dark Lord. There were so many times when Mum and Father could've died and he didn't so much as blink."

At this time, Ginny's shoulders slumped down and she let out a deep sigh. She obviously hadn't realized how complicated the whole situation would become.

"Then we can't go to Dumbledore." Then, she narrowed her eyes at Harry. "You—were you thinking about sacrificing yourself to explain to Dumbledore, Harry?"

She looked so dangerous at that moment that a sheepish, apologetic smile appeared on Harry's face, and he explained, "I just couldn't think of any other way to get out of this, Ginny." He sighed. "I mean … we're in Germany. Where are we going to run? There's only a limited amount of places we can go, and we don't know who we would run into the next moment. And I can't think of anyone here that we can run to. I—we can't live in the dark for the rest of our lives."

The four of them fell silent, the congested feeling of being trapped building up with each crackle of the burning fire. They quietly grabbed portions of the cooked roots and started eating, and only stopped to listen when they heard noises from outside. However, other than occasional drafts of wind howling in, sporadically leveling out the building warmth inside the cave, they had a reasonably peaceful dinner.

"Perhaps … we can stay in a Muggle area first," Ginny suggested after they've finished eating. "They probably wouldn't think about searching for us there, and Muggles are oblivious to signs of magic."

"No, that wouldn't work," Draco contradicted, shaking his head. "With Grindelwald's power over Germany, he could easily tell all of the magical folks to move out of Muggle areas for a while and then track for magical activities there. The only reason the Dark Lord hadn't done this in the original timeline was because he knew that there were too many magical folks supporting Potter. But nobody knows us here. They wouldn't want to risk their lives trying to save us."

"Perhaps we can find another cave for the time being then, once we're sure that Grindelwald's followers had checked that area out," Harry suggested. "We do have the advantage of the invisibility cloak. So, we can all put Disillusionment Charms on ourselves first and then hide under the cloak. That way, even if they do detect our presences and use Finite Incantatem on us, it wouldn't work."

After a moment of consideration, Hermione nodded. "That's our best bet as it is, but we ought to get rid of any and all signs that there had been someone here before. The less evidence they find, the higher chance of us evading capture."

The four of them quickly cleaned up the cave—or rather, they messed up the place to the best of their abilities back to the way it had been before. Conjuring the bones and mess left behind by the trolls back from non-being wasn't particularly hard, but erasing the magical traces on them was a problem. In the end, they could only hope against hope that Grindelwald's followers wouldn't find the mess suspicious and test them out.

As the other three time travelers were busy packing, Hermione gazed at her own wand and contemplated their situation. If, by any chance, they got pursued, their priority would be to get Ginny out of the place as soon as possible, since she was now the master of the Elder Wand. In order for that to happen, they would need to distract their pursuers. Anyone chasing after them would think that Hermione was their target, the master of the Elder Wand, so she might as well show them what they wanted. With a wave of her wand, she cast a charm on her own wand to make it appear like the Elder Wand.

After placing the Disillusionment Charms on themselves, they all got under Harry's invisibility cloak and made their way out of the cave. Trudging in the snow-covered forest was a hard enough task, let alone when they were all holding onto one another underneath a cloak. Additionally, they had to cover up their tracks in the snow. Therefore, after ten minutes, they were hardly fifty feet away from the cave.

"This isn't going to work. What if we meet Grindelwald's followers along the way? I doubt we can get away in time. We can hardly walk like this, let alone run," Draco said in a low voice, panicky.

"We need to encounter Grindelwald's followers, or at least, we have to see them without them noticing us," Hermione whispered back. "Once we're sure that they've covered an area, we can find a suitable place to stay."

"What if they check that place again?" Draco asked worriedly.

"Then we make a run for it," Ginny hissed. "Now would you stop talking! What if they hear us?"

Perhaps that made sense to him, since he did not answer, and they quietly crossed the snowy grounds.

Suddenly, they heard voices speaking in German, and almost reflexively, they stopped in their tracks. Perhaps they should keep moving, but the sounds of people getting closer and closer to them only made it harder for them to do so. They knew that the moment Grindelwald's followers detected their presences, they wouldn't be just surrounded by a couple of them—they would be hunted down by countless wizards and witches who were aimed at pleasing their master, and they wouldn't stop until they've subdued the four time travelers.

Therefore, their priority should be to move, but their feet seemed to be frozen to the ground beneath them as they grabbed onto each other with a death grip. Anxiously, they kept staring in the direction where the voices were coming from.

"We have to keep moving," Hermione said shakily in a low voice. "Now."

It almost seemed as if they had to use all their strength to move. In the end, however, they finally started moving again. Hermione continued to cast spells at the snow they had walked across, vanishing traces of where they had walked; however, the unease on top of the cold made it hard to keep her hand steady, and several times, she very nearly missed her mark.

A loud shout in German caused them to freeze again, and Hermione felt a tug on her sleeve. It was probably Draco, since he was standing next to her when they placed the Disillusionment Charms on themselves and slipped under the invisibility cloak. However, because they were Disillusioned, she could not see what he was trying to alert her about. She glanced around their surroundings, trying to find what he saw; it didn't take her too long, for merely ten feet away was a young man—sewn on his cloak, over the left chest, was the sign of the Hallows.

They knew they couldn't possibly move now; the young man would undoubtedly notice the moment they moved or when they used magic to conceal their footprints. They almost forgot to breathe while the young man moved closer and closer to them.

What if he walks right into us? Hermione couldn't help but think.

They were still solid, and the young man would immediately know that something was wrong if he got blocked by "empty space."

Tightening her fingers around her wand, Hermione slipped her hand underneath the cloak so that the wand was outside. It was a choice between the Confundus Charm and the Imperius Curse. After a short moment of debating about it in her mind, she made up her mind: She couldn't use the Imperius Charm, since it might be too obvious to people who were so accustomed to using the Unforgivables. The Confundus Charm, on the other hand, left less noticeable side-effects, so hopefully, that would go unnoticed by the other followers.

The spell hit the young man square in the chest, and for a short second, the young man's eyes glazed over before he turned to the left and started heading that way.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief, and she thought she heard her three companions do the same.

The nearest follower of Grindelwald other than the one Hermione had just Confounded was almost twenty feet away, so they didn't hesitate to see if anyone else would notice what Hermione had done. The longer they stalled, the more of a chance they would get noticed; so, they continued.

They had no idea how it happened, since everything was going completely fine with their original set up of Hermione vanishing the tracks and the others watching out where they were going. Nonetheless, with a yelp, someone—Hermione couldn't tell who it was—fell down, kicking her in the back of her knee and causing her to sprawl forward. A muffled "Mmph" left her mouth as she tried to hold back a yell, and at the same time, she distinctly heard the sound of someone wheezing, indicating that someone had gotten their wind knocked out of them.

Should've learned from that time in Borgin and Burkes that it's not a good idea for too many people to maneuver under that cloak, Hermione couldn't help but think to herself, as bad as the timing was.

The disruption was enough to alert Grindelwald's followers; they had been watching out for any signs and sounds, and they've found their target. A symphony of "Finite Incantatem" echoed through the air, all aimed towards the same general direction, and when nothing appeared, the followers of Grindelwald tried again—this time in the same direction again but at different heights. Unfortunately, some of them hit their marks this time. The Disillusionment Charms the four time travelers had placed on themselves melted away, and the only thing that was keeping them invisible was the invisibility cloak and it couldn't cover all parts of them.

"Protego!" Hermione immediately cast around them, but she knew it could only block some spells.

If the Unforgivables were thrown their way, the Shield Charm would not protect them.

The four of them stood, back to back, warding off spells and casting curses of their own. Each of their hearts thudded heavily against their chests, worrying ahead of time about the moment when the Killing Curse would be aimed towards them.

"Get Ginny out of here," Hermione hissed at Harry, who was holding the invisibility cloak under his arm now.

"I'm not leaving you here," Harry answered through gritted teeth.

"You don't understand—" she said as she blasted another blond off his feet. "—you have to get her out of here. Now. Before Grindelwald, Dumbledore, or Tom arrives."

"They're targeting for the person who'd become the master of the Elder Wand, Hermione, and that's you. Didn't you notice how most of them are attacking you?" he asked.

Of course she noticed, and that was what she told Harry.

"But that's not the important thing right now," she added in an even lower voice. "You have to get Ginny out of here. The wand is with her."

She felt both Harry and Draco stiffen beside her.

"What's that in your hand then?" Draco hissed.

"I've cast a charm on my own wand to look like it," Hermione answered.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner—Hermione, you were supposed to transfer the ownership over to me," Harry growled.

"Tom would've thought of you immediately. He would've never thought that I would dare to give it to someone who we were always trying to protect from him," Hermione whispered.

"This is mad—we're not leaving without you, Hermione. We're getting out of this together," Harry said, slashing his wand through the air and blasting an enemy further away than before.

"Listen to me, Harry—you can't let Ginny or the wand land in their hands. They won't try to kill me," Hermione said.

"They won't kill you, but Grindelwald will. He's going to be desperate to get the wand back, and he's not going to hesitate in killing you, Hermione—duck!" Harry said, and the four of them ducked away from a particularly nasty hex that was shot their way.

"The moment they know Ginny has the wand, do you think you'll have a chance to get her away?" Hermione asked quietly.

Harry did not answer, but she knew that she'd stricken something in him.

"You have that chance right now. Their concentration is on me, and they're not going to realize the real master had gotten away. The moment Grindelwald appears and if he uses Legilimency on me, he will realize that the wand belongs to Ginny, and do you think he's going to let the two of you get away that easily?" she continued.

The frown on his forehead deepened.

"Where's the wand?" Harry asked Ginny instead.

"What?" Hermione asked, alarmed, though she did not dare to take her concentration off the people surrounding them.

"Over here," Ginny answered.

Hermione had no idea where "here" was, since she didn't have eyes behind her head. However, she still felt them shift behind her, and she immediately asked, "What are you doing, Harry? No!"

However, he wasn't listening. "Malfoy, look after Ginny."

And then, Hermione saw him from the corner of her eye: He was casting with the Elder Wand.

"Harry, are you insane?" she yelled just as a couple of Grindelwald's followers shouted something in German.

"Get Ginny away," he ordered, throwing a spell at one of their pursuers who'd gotten too close to them.

Hermione knew that the ownership of the wand was still Ginny's since Harry hadn't taken it by force. However, she had no idea if it were because Harry was the master of the Elder Wand in the original timeline or if she were just imagining it, but the spells he was casting with the wand seemed to be stronger.

"Harry, please—" she began to say.

"You said I was lucky. Now's the time to try out my luck," Harry cut in as he cast spell after spell at their attackers. "Get Ginny away. When I get somewhere safe, I'll use the necklace to alert you where I am."

Hermione bit down hard on her lower lip. She couldn't do this. She couldn't possibly leave Harry all alone on this by himself.

"Draco, get Ginny out of here," she said, making up her mind.

"What? Me?" Draco screeched as he put up another Shield Charm.

"Yes, you. Now. They're not sure who's the master of the Elder Wand yet, but they're concentrating on Harry and me. Our priority is to prevent someone else from getting their hands on the wand. Harry, concentrate on opening a road for the two of them," Hermione instructed.

"You're going with them," Harry insisted.

"Oh, no, you don't," Hermione snarled, casting a Stinging Hex at another of their pursuers. "We've gone through this argument already, multiple times. We're in this together, and that's how it's going to be until the very end."

He didn't answer immediately, and it almost seemed as if he had placed all his concentration on dueling Grindelwald's followers instead. After a while, with a sigh and a frown, he nodded.

"You can't expect me to leave without the two of you," Ginny immediately protested.

"You have to, Ginny," Harry pleaded as he slashed his wand through the air again to blast another follower away. "Please, Ginny. Just do as I say. I promise you, I'll make it out of this alive, but you need to get out of here first."

It almost seemed like she wanted to say something against it, but then decided against it. In a low voice, she said, "You better remain healthy and alive, Harry James Potter, or else I'll personally strangle you."

Harry and Hermione then shifted their positions, with Hermione watching out for Harry while he concentrated on opening a road for Ginny and Draco to escape.

"Now!" Harry yelled, signaling Ginny and Draco.

Ginny and Draco immediately bolted forward, shooting spells and curses along the way as Harry hexed away any of Grindelwald's followers that might try to target them. At first, some of Grindelwald's followers targeted Ginny and Draco. However, perhaps they felt that the Elder Wand was priority, since moments later, they placed their concentration back on Harry and Hermione.

"We'll have to start moving, too. We can't stand here forever. There's too many of them and they have back-up. Sooner or later, they're just going to attack us in rounds to tire us out and then capture us," Hermione said.

It was easier said than done, since their opponents came as Hermione predicted: wave after wave. Nonetheless, Hermione and Harry slowly made progress, and they were more than relieved to be correct in their assumption that most of their pursuers were targeting them instead of Draco and Ginny.

"Look out!" Harry suddenly yelled as a particularly bright blast of light headed towards them.

The two of them almost instinctively jumped to the side into the snow to avoid the spell. The hex exploded where they had been before, but both Harry and Hermione could not spare a glance at it because another spell hurtled towards them, forcing them to move again. Soon, they got farther and farther away from one another, and each time they wanted to move closer to one another, they would be forced farther apart.

Divide and conquer, was the thought that came to Hermione's mind. However, she didn't know how to stop them; right now, she could only concentrate on defeating as many of them as possible and keeping herself alive.

She had no idea how long she dueled; different cuts lined her body, but none of them were worrisome enough to stop her. However, her fingers felt numb, and she felt a growing ache on her back and arm. The only thing that kept her going was the adrenaline rushing through her body, but she didn't know how long that would last. One thing she did know though was that she had keep fighting as long as she could; that way, Ginny and Draco would have a higher chance of getting away.

She could no longer see where Harry was, but she knew he was alive, since the number of people surrounding her didn't seem to increase.

Her surroundings changed as she edged away, and soon, she found herself in a clear area, though the ground still had inches of snow piling on top of it.

Her pursuers were relentless, and just when Hermione thought she was going to fall over into the snow out of fatigue, the loud crack of Apparition resounded behind her and echoed through the air. Seconds later, a spell-created phoenix flew across the skies. As if on cue, Grindelwald's followers stopped their spell-casting the moment they saw it. Slowly, one by one, they stepped backwards, a look of cautiousness on most and expressions of fear on others. Then, they all Disapparated, leaving the area clear except for two people.

Hermione felt as if someone had dropped a stone inside their stomach, for she already knew who was standing behind her when she saw that phoenix. Additionally, with her knowledge of the histories of the multiple timelines, she knew that there were only three people who could strike this level of fear in people.

Even before she turned around, she knew that the person standing behind her had to be Dumbledore.

"Good evening, Miss Granger," he greeted her after she turned around to face him, though his piercing blue eyes were exceptionally hard.

"Good evening, professor," she replied, still panting from the rigorous battle she had just gone through.

Her eyes darted to the side, trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of one of her companions. Hopefully, they were safe.

"There is no need to call me 'professor' any longer, Miss Granger, for you are no longer attending Hogwarts," he replied conversationally.

She knew what and where this conversation would lead to, but she had no idea what was going through his mind right now. It no longer mattered if he would trust them; the more important question was whether or not they could trust Albus Dumbledore. Was he the same person they had known? Could she really trust him with the Elder Wand?

She did not know, so she did not open her mouth to answer him; instead, she waited for him to continue.

"I recall the day when I first saw you and your three companions, Miss Granger, quite well, actually," he said, so lightly that they could've been chatting over afternoon tea.

And don't forget the lemon drops.

She shook her head, finding it ludicrous that her mind found it appropriate to crack jokes at this time; she must be spending too much time with Draco and Harry.

"I can't say that I didn't find it suspicious when you were brought into the school with the injured Mr. Riddle, but I admit that your seeming sincerity convinced me that you were not associated with him," he continued.

The underlying message was clear to Hermione, and it was something she had already guessed: Dumbledore believed that they were helping Tom.

"I am greatly disappointed with you, Miss Granger," he said gravely.

"I've said it once, sir, and I'll say it again: We did not come to Hogwarts with bad intentions," Hermione replied.

"Perhaps not," he agreed, nodding his head, "but I trust that you have, by now, found out how convincing Mr. Riddle can be."

"As convincing as he is, I know what kind of person he would turn into," she answered, her hand tightening around her wand.

She'd never thought that she would attach the word "chilling" to Dumbledore. The wacky Hermione probably could, but that was a completely different feeling altogether. At the very least, Dumbledore had never looked at her the way he was right now.

"Indeed, I never doubted you knew, which was why it was … calculating on your part and your companions' to earn his trust in that way," he said.

Hermione's eyes widened, and she realized that he thought Harry, Ginny, Draco, and she had given Tom information about the future.

"Sir—"

"What is the relationship between you and Mr. Riddle, Miss Granger?" he asked, interrupting her explanation.

His question took her aback, and she couldn't do anything but stare at him. The color drained from her face when she realized that this was the one thing that had completely shattered Dumbledore's trust for them. However, as sick as it was, she couldn't bring herself to regret her decision.

"Imagine my surprise when I returned to Hogwarts, only to find my colleagues informing me the interesting interactions between you and Mr. Riddle," he continued, "which then showed me how short-sighted I was, a mistake I do not wish to repeat."

"I would never let anything sway my belief in what is right," Hermione finally said, though she knew Dumbledore would never believe her.

"Be that as it may …" he trailed off and stared at her for a short moment. "As I've told you, I do not wish to make the same mistake twice, Miss Granger. Forgive me for not trusting you with the ownership of the Elder Wand, and I must ask for you to relinquish it to me."

"I can't give it to you, sir," Hermione said, shaking her head.

She couldn't let Dumbledore know that the wand in her hand was not the Elder Wand. Perhaps she was influenced by the memories from the wacky Hermione or perhaps the logical part of her brain analyzed the situation far quicker than she realized, but she knew that she could not trust him with the wand. Not with the look he was giving her. It reminded her too much of the wacky Dumbledore, and she knew it was not a good sign. Letting him know that Harry and Ginny had the Elder Wand might put them in unnecessary danger and she would rather die than to let that happen.

Besides, she doubted Dumbledore would believe her at this point anyway.

"I cannot afford to let Voldemort's power grow, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said.

"I never planned on giving it to Tom," she said, enunciating each word as clearly and strongly as she could.

His eyes became colder, and Hermione felt her heart jump to her throat, and she was about to open her mouth to explain when, from the corner of her eye, she saw someone—a trio, to be exact—running towards them. It appeared that Harry had caught up with Draco and Ginny. Her mouth hung open, and though she kept staring in the general direction of Dumbledore, her mind was completely on her time traveling companions. She wanted to tell them to turn around and leave; they couldn't let Dumbledore notice that Harry had an Elder Wand, too. But she knew that opening her mouth and screaming across the field wouldn't make it any less conspicuous.

"Then you leave me no choice, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said quietly as he pulled out his wand, catching her attention again. "I'm sorry, but it's all for the greater good."

Another crack of Apparition resounded through the air just as Dumbledore slashed his wand through the air. Hermione turned her head, just in time to see the shocked expression of Tom Marvolo Riddle as a flash of green rushed towards her and hit her square on the chest.

On February 25, 1950, Hermione Granger died at the hands of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

~-0-~

A/N: *hides in a safe place and puts up all types of wards*

Many thanks those of you who read, add to alert, and faved. Huge, huge thanks to the following:

Beta: Nerys (plotline, flow), Marauder's Wolf (grammar)

Reviewers: m0nt, Alassea Riddle, BeccaS, Allison, blindfaithoperadiva, and Lady Miya!

Review replies can be found here: http://tomioneconvention.forumotion.com/t124-somewhere-in-time-affnet-version-review-replies
- 54
- 55
- 56
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Somewhere in Time