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

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Warning: Severe Deathly Hallows Spoilers in this chapter! I used some direct quotes from it, so everything you recognise comes from that book and the brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling (bows deeply, lots of hem of robe kissing), I on the other hand do not own a penny or thought from it (too bad).

Masters of Manipulation

Chapter Six

He was going to drown, there was nothing left, nothing he could do, and the arms that closed around his chest were surely Death's…

'Are you mental? Why the hell,' panted Ron, holding up the locket, 'didn't you take this thing off before you dived?'

Harry could not believe it. There before him stood Ron, the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other. He had just saved Harry's life by diving into the pool after him. Harry didn't dare to blink with his eyes, afraid Ron would disappear in a flash like Hermione had only hours ago. He looked at the sword in Ron's hand. Finally, they could destroy that damn Horcrux.

Harry had to admit Riddle put up quite a fight. But in the end, Ron was able to overcome the taunting, sneering voice and the obvious painful images Riddle had shown him, trying to stop Ron from killing him. He had been unsuccessful. Ron had, eventually, swung the sword and stabbed the locket, destroying the bit of soul that was in it. Harry felt Riddle might have had a chance of survival had he not made Ron furious by visualising a Hermione who kissed Harry. However, these exact images were what made Harry's next job incredibly difficult. He had to tell Ron that Hermione had vanished, and how.

'What!' Ron yelled, 'and you let go of her!'

'I couldn't hold on, mate. She was yanked right out of my hand with so much force I've never felt anything quite like it. Besides, she was doing the Apparation, not me.'

'Oh! So now this is all her fault!' Ron shouted, angry.

'That's not what I meant!' Harry shouted back. 'I meant that without a proper working wand, I could not take control over the situation and stop whatever it was that pulled her away from me. I'm lucky I didn't get Splinched all over the place.'

Ron, who had lost two fingernails due to Splinching, calmed down a bit, and finally asked: 'Where do you think she is?'

'I have no idea,' Harry said, sorrowful.

'He's got her,' said Ron softly, 'Voldemort's got her.'

'No!' Harry shouted defiantly.

He knew this was not the case. He would feel it, wouldn't he? If Voldemort had Hermione, he would be the first to know. His scar would burn with joy and excitement, and he would see what happened. He would see Hermione through Voldemort's eyes. That thought made him sick to his stomach, and he wished he hadn't brought his friends along for the ride. Hermione could have been safe.

'I haven't seen her,' he finally told Ron. And he remembered some of the things he had seen through Voldemort's eyes lately.

'Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Gregorovitch. He knows… he always knows. Who was the thief, Gregorovitch?'

'I do not know, I never knew, a young man – no – please – PLEASE!' A dreadful, terrifying scream that seemed to last forever, and then a burst of green light ending the sound permanently.'

That had been his last recollection of Voldemort's actions. Besides the whole Godric's Hollow incident and the memory of Voldemort killing his parents. Voldemort's Occlumency towards Harry always dropped whenever he was feeling an extreme emotion. Catching Hermione… Surely that would be emotional enough to trigger Harry's connection to him, and even if it wasn't, Voldemort might still drop his Occlumency on purpose to show Harry he had his friend. He couldn't have Hermione; he just could not have her…

Ron's quiet voice interrupted Harry's thinking.

'You don't know this for sure. You can't be certain he hasn't got her. His Death Eaters could have taken her prisoner for him. He doesn't have to be around,' Ron said, docile.

But his eyes were looking hopeful at Harry, as if he wanted Harry to set him straight. To tell him he was certain Hermione had not been taken by Lord Voldemort. To provide him with clear evidence Hermione was safe, but Harry could not give Ron this security anymore. He wasn't certain himself. And when Harry did not provide Ron with the correction he so desperately wanted, Ron added injury to pain.

'You said it was a book by Salazar Slytherin, surely you should have realised it came from him. I can't believe you two didn't trash that book right away. I would have burned it to a crisp.'

'Well, you weren't around,' Harry replied scornfully.

Harry immediately felt sorry for his comment, when he saw Ron turn pale and noticed the guilty expression upon his face. Ron felt as bad, if not more, as he did about Hermione's disappearance. For a short time they stared at each other in silence, when suddenly…

A dash of silver light, a crash, a beaded bag fell down, a book flew through the air, and there she was, crouched on the floor between them, emptying her stomach. Hermione Jean Granger had reappeared back in 1997.

'Hermione!' Harry and Ron shouted in unison. They both dove down and hugged their friend senseless.

'Get off me,' Hermione said weakly, 'You're making it worse. Ohhh…'

And she threw up again. But right now Harry and Ron did not mind getting sprayed with a bit of vomit at all. They were so relieved to see her, alive and well, that she could have covered them in manure for all they cared. After a while, Hermione stopped vomiting and pointed towards her bag, breathing heavily.

'Invigoration Draught, red bottle,' she queasily said, while Ron was holding her tight in his arms, planning to never let go again.

Harry stood up and ruffled through the bag. He handed her the bottle and after she had taken a sip of the potion, the colour returned to her face and her brown eyes began to sparkle again. She ran her sleeve past her forehead to wipe off the sweat, making Ron and Harry noticed her arm.

'What happened to your arm?' Ron asked, shocked, upon seeing the large burn mark that covered her entire left arm from top to bottom.

'Long story,' Hermione stated coolly, and she turned her head around and checked out the area she had landed in. She noticed Salazar's book and she quickly grabbed it. Her eyes still darting around the environment, she pushed it underneath her sweater and asked: 'Where am I?'

'The Forest of Dean,' Harry answered. 'You just disappeared three hours ago. What happened? Where have you been? And why are you dressed in Slytherin robes?'

'I just disappeared? So it's still December 1997,' Hermione concluded. She stood up and pulled out her wand. Her head swung back and forth in an attempt to investigate her surroundings again, like she was missing something or someone. 'You didn't see anyone else?' she asked nervously.

'No,' Harry said worried, 'just you.'

His eyes started darting their surroundings as well. He locked eyes with Ron, who seemed equally worried about Hermione's behaviour.

'What's going on, 'Mione,' Ron asked. 'Why have you pulled your wand out?'

'I didn't exactly travel alone, Ron,' Hermione said anxiously.

Ron pulled out his wand too. 'Who was with you then?'

'Vol –'

'Hermione, no!' Ron shouted and he aimed his wand at Harry's face. A bang, a burst of white light and Harry's face swelled up rapidly.

'-demort,' said Hermione.

'The name's Taboo!' Ron bellowed, as loud cracks sounded all around them, and five wands were pointing straight towards them.

Hermione had no idea they had Taboo-ed Voldemort's name. How was she supposed to know? She was stuck in 1944 after all. No one informed her of this. And now, because of her little slip up, they had been taken to Malfoy Manor, the base of his operations. But the main thought that kept rushing through Hermione's mind, while Greyback was practically salivating over the prospect of getting permission to bite her, was… where on earth had Mini Voldemort gone to? Hermione knew she had the book, so where was Tom Riddle?

They were dragged in front of the Malfoys. Lord Voldemort obviously wasn't in, and Lucius was eyeing Ron and Hermione with clear excitement before turning to face Harry, who looked absolutely horrific with his face disfigured like that.

'Well Draco?' asked Lucius Malfoy, sounding avid. 'Is it? Is it Harry Potter?'

She noticed Draco wasn't too keen to move forward. He probably didn't want to be in the vicinity of Greyback, and he seemed scared, even reluctant to look at Harry. 'I can't – I can't be sure,' said Draco, to her astonishment.

'What about the Mudblood, then?' growled Greyback.

Narcissa moved towards Hermione and she sharply said: 'Yes, yes, she was in Madam Malkin's with Potter! I saw her picture in the Prophet! Look, Draco, isn't it the Granger girl?'

'I… maybe… yeah,' Draco answered hesitantly, moving away from them.

'But then, that's the Weasley boy!' shouted Lucius. 'It's them, Potter's friends. Draco look at him, isn't it Arthur Weasley's son, what's his name…?'

'Yeah,' said Draco again, his back now turned towards them. 'It could be.'

The door opened and she came in, the bitch from Azkaban. The sound of her high shrieking voice punctured Hermione's eardrums painfully. And then, they started arguing, the lot of them. About who would take the credit for the capture of Harry Potter, about who would press their mark and summon the Dark Lord, about who would be rewarded, and with what.

'Pathetic,' was all Hermione could think, 'glad I don't have to rely on idiots like that to get the job done.'

Hermione sincerely hoped they would kill each other and be done with it. She saw Lucius's hand move towards the Dark Mark on his arm…

'Stop!' shrieked Bellatrix. 'Do not touch it! We shall all perish if the Dark Lord comes now!'

Her dark eyes were fixed on the Snatcher, who held the sword of Gryffindor in his hands, as she spoke those words. Apparently, the sword was supposed to be in the Lestrange's vault, and she was freaking out at the concept that Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger might have been in there. She was freaking out, because her vault contained another item of value to the Dark Lord, namely the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. And if the trio had got the sword, then they might have got that one as well. Bellatrix Lestrange did not tell them this, of course, but from her anxious muttering, Hermione could put two and two together. So Hermione figured out there was a Horcrux hidden in the vault; the fact that it was Helga's cup, she would find out later.

'Do it! You have no idea of the danger we are in!' Bellatrix's violent shrieking drew Hermione's attention back to her again.

Lestrange looked frightened, mad. And Greyback and his men were ordered to take the trio to the cellar. Well, not all of them. Hermione was the exception. Bellatrix wanted her to remain behind. Hermione could feel the despair come from Ron when he started shouting: 'No! You can have me, keep me!'

Hermione swore that some day she would get back at that witch when Bellatrix hit Ron hard across his face and told him that if his girlfriend died under questioning, he would be next. Ron was screaming out Hermione's name, when he and Harry were dragged off towards the cellar. After everyone left, she was alone in the living room with Miss Nutters and the Malfoys. Draco was sent away as well, to his own relief. And Hermione took the time to examine the room more thoroughly. She noticed the Malfoys had a chandelier hanging at the ceiling.

'Now that would be ironic,' she thought upon remembering another chandelier incident from a couple of months ago.

And she realised it was just her and a bunch of overgrown loonies. And she knew what was going to happen, but Bella would be in for a ride. This wouldn't be the first time Hermione Granger was on the receiving end of the Cruciatus Curse, and hers could not possibly be worse than his. Not by a long shot. So, her mind was racing, thinking of a cover story to tell Lestrange about the sword, when the first Crucio hit her.

'I was right. This isn't nearly as bad as when he did it,' Hermione thought triumphantly.

She realised that even at age seventeen, Tom Riddle's powers were far greater than those of his Death Eaters. You never had to wonder why he was the Puppet Master pulling the strings. So even though Bellatrix Lestrange's Cruciatus Curse was still a very painful experience, Hermione was able to keep thinking, unlike when he did it. So she gave a nice performance. She screamed, she pleaded, she cried, and she told Bellatrix a whole lot of bullshit. So when the three of them managed to escape the clutches of their enemies, Lestrange thought the sword was a fake and the Horcrux secure. But now, Hermione knew its location…

So when she had shared that information, while they were all sitting in Bill and Fleur's living room, Harry took charge of the situation and Hermione felt so proud of him. He had matured so much. She realised she had not noticed it before, probably because they were always around each other, but being away from him for so many months made her see the difference between the boy he once was and the man he had become.

They were discussing on how to retrieve the item from Gringotts when, suddenly, Ron remembered. He noticed Hermione's burned arm again, when she took of the sweater in the very warm living room, and that reminded him they still had no idea where Hermione had been and what had happened to her. Her disappearance had been pushed to the side due to all the horrible circumstances that happened after her return, but now it came up again. So she told them everything that happened. She told them every little detail of her life with Tom Riddle in his last school year. When she was finished, the boys were staring at her with horror in their faces.

'So now we have to worry about Horcruxes, Hallows, and a bunch of Books that will make him invincible?' Ron asked, clearly overwhelmed by it all.

'And a second Vol… Riddle,' Harry added, quickly stopping himself from saying the name upon remembering the Taboo. 'Any thoughts on where he could be, Hermione?'

Hermione shook my head and she said: 'I don't know what happened. I'm not the one operating the book, so I don't understand why it remained with me, when he obviously has travelled elsewhere.'

'So if I understand this Time-Travel-Thing correctly, then wherever Tom Riddle has ended up, he is stuck there,' Harry said eyeing her intently.

She nodded her head. 'As long as he doesn't have this book,' and Hermione pointed towards her sweater where the book remained hidden, 'he is.'

'Good,' said Harry.

Ron and Hermione looked at him in astonishment. Ron spoke first. 'How in the bloody name of Salazar Slytherin can the existence of a second You-Know-Who be good?'

And it dawned upon her when Harry smiled knowingly. She had not thought of it sooner, because it had not been a problem for her during her days in the past, since she was not born yet. But Riddle was at risk of running into himself, and he had no means to escape his predicament. She had the book. Hermione realised Harry must have remembered what she told him when she used the Time-Turner in her third year.

'The danger one faces when running into oneself is enormous. Time has strange capacities. It is cruel and unforgiving, and it does not appreciate tampering. Time is like an entity of its own,' Hermione had said to Harry back then.

So if Riddle were to run into himself, then Time would act with devastating consequences for him. And without the book, he could not prevent Time from correcting the paradox. He would be thrown from existence, destroyed beyond remembrance. He would simply vanish like he never existed. Harry and Hermione looked at each other in mutual understanding. 'Could all our problems disappear so easily?' was all Hermione could think.

Ron was looking at them with confused eyes, so she explained it to him.

'But surely he would know that,' Ron said. Obviously, he found the second presence of a Voldemort still not something to be joyous about. 'He could avoid himself, couldn't he?'

'Not that easily, Ron. When I used the Time-Turner, I was constantly walking in my own shadow, tracing my footsteps. Simply, because Time does not like it when there are two of you present. It constantly tries to rectify the mistake.'

'So you mean Time will want to make him meet his other self?' Ron asked, stunned.

'That's exactly what Time will try to accomplish and it will succeed, if he is not careful.'

'Blimey, but … that means he will want his book back.' Now, Ron was eyeing her with sheer concern in his face.

'I have no doubt about that,' she said, laughing.

'Which means,' Harry added, 'we won't have to go looking for him. He will find us or he will find himself, preferably the latter. However, let's concentrate on the matter of the Horcrux in the Lestrange vault first, before they decide it will be safer elsewhere.'

Hermione saw from the look on Ron's face that he really wasn't finished with debating the issue concerning Riddle and Salazar's book, and what kind of danger that imposed upon his beloved, but he let it rest for now. And, eventually, they went off to Gringotts. They got into the Lestrange's vault, obtained the cup, and ran into heavy resistance when they were trying to leave.

'Thieves! Thieves! Help! Thieves!'

Several goblins and wizards were advancing on their position and they started firing hexes in every direction. Hermione noticed Harry was shooting spells at the chained dragon, breaking its cuffs.

'This way!' Harry yelled, and still shooting stunning spells at the advancing goblins, he sprinted towards the blind dragon.

She could not believe what he was planning to do. 'I hate flying,' she thought anxiously.

'Harry, Harry, what are you doing?' she asked, hoping to change his mind.

'Get up, climb up, come on.'

Against her better judgement Hermione climbed on behind Harry and noticed that the hard scales of the dragon did not provide any kind of place to hold onto. Ron hopped on behind her, and when the dragon moved up into the air, she knew they were all going to plummet to their death. The dragon dived towards the passage-opening and Hermione screamed in fear.

'We'll never get out, it's too big!' she yelled.

'Defodio!'

She recognised the voice that widened the passageway, but she did not believe it. The person, who owned that voice, jumped on the dragon too and almost succeeded in pushing Ron off the dragon completely. Hermione was just able to grab a hold of Ron's arm before he fell to his death. She felt two other arms grabbing a hold of her waist firmly, preventing her from tumbling down with Ron, and she heard his cold voice in her ear. 'You don't mind if I tag along, now do you Hermione?'

'Harry!' she yelled in panic.

Quickly, Harry grabbed a hold of Ron's other arm. He thought Hermione was losing her grip and that was why she screamed out his name. But Ron knew the real reason and his blue eyes fumed daggers at Tom Riddle, who sat behind Hermione, holding on tightly to her waist, while a blue-bronze leather book was resting in his hand.

However, Ron realised his angry glaring was not getting rid of the bastard and he started screaming at Harry to get Riddle. Harry merely eyed him as if Ron had lost his mind. He was still unaware of the new passenger on board the dragon. Furiously, Ron nodded his head towards Riddle's direction. Harry turned his head to face Hermione and the stowaway smirked at him.

'BANG!'

Another crack and they almost toppled over as the dragon rammed a way through the passage into the marble hallway. Goblins and wizards shrieked and ran for cover. The dragon went for the metal doors…

'I trust this is Salazar's book I am feeling underneath this shirt,' Riddle said to Hermione in a calm, serene manner, like he was riding the train to Hogwarts.

And she knew what would happen next…

'Hold on to Ron!' she shouted at Harry.

Hermione let go of Ron's arm the moment the dragon entered Diagon Alley and spread its wings to fly off into the sky. She heard the familiar hissing sounds coming from behind her. She heard Ron screaming her name. But a dash of bright silver light surrounded Tom Riddle and Hermione Granger, and a second later they were gone, back on their way to 1945.

xxx
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Masters of Manipulation