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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
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Chapter 9

As they covered more area in Hogsmeade, Harry gradually became more anxious.

"Harry, you have to keep a clear head," Hermione warned as they traveled into a small alley that led to the outskirts of Hogsmeade.

"It's been nearly two hours already," he muttered to himself, eyes darting towards any signs of movement.

She furrowed her eyebrows, not knowing how to calm him down. They traveled further and further away from Hogsmeade until Hermione pulled Harry back.

"Harry, that's the Forbidden Forest," she cautioned.

He looked towards the forest and frowned as well.

"We might as well try it," he said boldly as he headed towards the forest.

A few moments later, they found Ginny lying on the forest floor. A sense of relief and fear washed through Hermione at the same time.

"Ginny," Harry whispered.

He immediately ran up to her and knelt down beside her, followed closely by Hermione. Ginny's face was extremely pale and her lips had a bluish tinge.

"Ginny … Ginny …" Harry continued whispering, not daring to shake her lest it worsened her condition.

Hermione ran over and checked the girl's pulse.

"We have to get her back to Hogwarts as soon as possible," she advised quickly with a worried expression.

Harry tenderly lifted Ginny.

When they returned to Hogwarts, they immediately ran up to the Infirmary. Madam Pomfrey looked up from her patient, momentarily stunned by the disturbance Harry and Hermione had caused. When she saw Ginny, however, her expression changed to one of worry.

"What happened to her?" she asked.

The franticness of her voice, luckily, did not extend to her skills as she quickly and calmly checked Ginny's condition. She then hurried to the cabinet and started to pull out different bottles of potions as quickly as she could.

"We don't know," Harry answered as fast as he could. "We found her in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. She was lying on the forest floor."

"Do you know why she was there?" Madam Pomfrey questioned as she poured different amounts of potions into a goblet.

The two Gryffindors were a bit concerned to see her hands slightly shaking at this point.

"No," Hermione shook her head. "She disappeared about two hours ago—"

Madam Pomfrey looked up sharply

"—and we didn't find her until twenty minutes ago."

The frown on Madam Pomfrey's forehead deepened as she continued to pour more potions into the goblet.

"I hope this will work," she uttered in a low voice.

Hermione's eyes widened as Harry rushed over to Madam Pomfrey's side.

"Ma … Madam Pomfrey … what … you … Ginny …" he stuttered.

Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips together as she concentrated on the potion without answering him.

"I'm just wondering who would use such awful magic on her," she suddenly commented after a moment of silence.

Harry and Hermione looked at her.

"I'd thought that Miss Granger's boils would be the worst condition I'd be seeing this year. If my diagnosis is correct, the Dark Magic that was used on Miss Weatherby had to be administered by someone with great power and knowledge. I'm not even sure if Miss Weatherby can make it past Wednesday."

Both Hermione and Harry blanched at this information.

"But … but you have to … you have to save her, Madam Pomfrey," Harry pleaded.

Madam Pomfrey finally gave him a look of sympathy.

"I'll try my best. If there is no change in her condition, we will probably have to send her to St. Mungo's," she replied with a sigh as she returned to Ginny and, instead of feeding the redhead the medicine, used her wand to cast a mist over the redhead's body.

Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and held on to it.

Hermione took a hard look at Ginny and slammed her fist on the table next to the bed. Harry remained unshaken, his eyes trained on the young woman lying in front of him.

"This was not supposed to happen. This was not supposed to happen," Hermione repeated to herself as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

She resolutely walked towards the door before she was pulled back by Harry.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, his eyes slightly glistening from unshed tears.

"I'm going to … I'm going to …" The words got lost in her mouth as she closed her eyes.

She threw herself in the nearest chair out of frustration and opened her eyes, trying hard to fight back tears. Both of her hands were rolled into fists and her eyes landed on Ginny. She gritted her teeth to stop herself from running straight to the Great Hall to hex Tom. There were no doubts in her mind that he was the one who had done this to Ginny.

Harry closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, a haggard expression on his face. His shoulders were slumped in defeat. He inhaled loudly, as if even breathing was a difficult feat for him. The frown on his forehead deepened with each passing second.

Silence surrounded them, heightening their anxiety and helplessness. The steady breathing coming from the direction of the motionless redhead was the only thing that gave them hope that there was still a chance that Ginny would smile at them once again. At the same time, it also alerted them to the fact that they had accidentally stepped into an unmapped territory, one that was filled with unknown dangers.

Madam Pomfrey hurried around the room, occasionally checking on Ginny to make sure that Ginny's condition hadn't changed. Harry and Hermione remained where they were, absorbed in their own thoughts.

"You … you can't let yourself get hurt, too, Hermione," Harry quietly said, breaking the silence and bringing Hermione out of the seemingly safe haven of her mind.

She bit her lower lip, a promise right at the tip of her tongue, but something stopped her from saying it out loud. Waves of feelings threatened to overwhelm her, intimidating her and stripping her of her feeling of security. She wanted to lock herself up, away from those emotions, away from all the fears, away from all the threats that surrounded them, and stay in the peaceful haven in her mind. If only she could be sure that he didn't have the key; if only she could be sure that Tom Marvolo Riddle was not yet skilled in Legilimency.

The feelings of shame, disgust, and regret joined the other emotions when she recalled how she had felt gratitude towards the monster who was sitting, unscathed, in the Great Hall.

"I …" Hermione closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I have to keep reminding myself … who he is … It's just so … hard when he's acting so … normal … and when he looks like that."

Harry remained quiet, swallowing and digesting her words slowly and thoroughly.

"He's very convincing," he finally commented, placing a hand on the end table beside him to support himself. It was almost as if he had suddenly aged ten years within the last thirty minutes. "I don't … I don't want anything to happen to you as well, Hermione. Ginny … Ginny …"

Hermione's eyes flew open and she declared with a voice stronger than how she felt, "She's going to be alright." She looked out of the window and narrowed her eyes. "She's going to be alright. Nothing will happen to her. In a couple of days, she will be the Ginny we knew again. She's going to be giggling while we tell her jokes she missed and …"

Her voice trailed off, remembering that she had all her classes with Tom Riddle.

How was she going to face him?

How could she sit down in the same classroom with him and stop herself from cursing the Heir of Slytherin right then and there?

One of her best friends was lying in the hospital wing with Death waiting just around the corner with his scythe, ready to snatch Ginny's life away and all she could do was nothing.

She wanted to curse the professors for letting this happen to someone as innocent as Ginny. She wanted to travel through time, find Slytherin, and get rid of him before his descendant could be born. She wanted to shake the awful man who left Merope Gaunt, leaving her to die in heartbreak without a chance to teach her son how to love someone. She wanted to hex the person who sent them back to a time where they were so unbelievably … helpless.

And vulnerable.

"Yes ... in a couple of days," Harry murmured, breaking her train of thought. His eyes were fixed on Ginny, as if she was all he could see.

"We'll have to stick together," Hermione reminded him, a frown settling on her forehead and the wheels of her mind turning. "We can't let him catch us alone again or one of us might end up … here."

He clenched his jaw and nodded, his eyes noticeably dimming as he continued to look at Ginny.

"I never thought he would … do something like this with Dumbledore around. With Dumbledore watching him," he whispered.

Hermione closed her eyes again, heaving a sigh and leaning into the chair she was sitting in.

"He opened the … You-Know-What … I don't think he really cares if Dumbledore's keeping an eye on him or not," she deduced bitterly. "As long as he doesn't get caught in the act, that is."

Harry laughed humorlessly.

"Then I guess I should start searching for a suitable graveyard for us, shouldn't I?" he concluded before a string of curses escaped from his mouth and he buried his face into his hands.

~-0-~

Taking a deep breath, Hermione walked into the Muggle Studies classroom. In the other classes, she did not have to sit anywhere near the Heir of Slytherin, saving both of them a lot of drama. In this class, however …

Her eyes skimmed across the room, trying to find a potentially available seat. She knew there was a seat up near the front of the room, but that was dreadfully close to where Augusta was sitting and Hermione had no desire to listen to snide remarks throughout the entire lecture.

With heavy footsteps, she made her way toward her usual seat. She piled up her textbooks in front of her, hoping that it would lower the chances of seeing or being noticed by the Head Boy. Unfortunately, even though she could pretend to not see Tom, the same could not be said for him.

"Good day, Miss Granger," he greeted her, sitting down directly in front of her.

Abraxas slouched into the chair beside him, casting a condescending look towards her as he did so.

"Hello," she answered rather stiffly, trying hard to push the image of Ginny lying in the Infirmary bed out of her mind and ignoring the blond.

"I hope Miss Weatherby is doing well," Tom remarked, his eyes sweeping over her face and taking in her expressions.

Lies …

Her hands tightened their grip around her textbook as she imagined stuffing it down Tom's throat. At least Abraxas had better sense than to defy his Lord too many times in a month by speaking out of turn, so she did not have to put up with him.

"I hope so, too," she replied, willing the frost on her face to melt and her expression to soften.

"I'm sure she'll recover soon enough," he continued, a look of sympathy on his angelic face. "Although I haven't known her for a long time, I do think that she is a wonderful girl and definitely not a person who should be inflicted with ill fortune. Certainly destiny could not be so cruel as to permanently harm someone who is so sweet and kind."

"I'm pretty sure she will get better. She's quite a strong-willed girl and I don't think she will break down any time soon," she answered through gritted teeth, mentally throwing hexes at the part of her mind that wanted to believe in his innocence.

The sincerity of his tone was so convincing that at times, she found herself believing his words, much to her dismay. It made her fully realize just how easy it was to fall prey to a beautiful serpent.

Deception …

She was reminded again of the time when she actually almost believed in him. The feeling of betrayal churned and swirled in her body, boiling her blood and rushing through her veins. Even though she had braced herself for the possibility that there was something behind his veneer of kindness, it still stung.

With that thought in mind, she mentally built up more walls, hiding behind them and securing away any unwanted emotions she might garner for the graceful snake sitting right in front of her.

He was scrutinizing her again, undoubtedly searching for signs that would give him answers he wished to know. This slightly comforted Hermione, giving her hope that he might not possess the ability to probe a person's mind yet. She was pretty sure that the four of them would have been hogtied and carried down to the Chamber of Secrets by his Death Eaters if he had already learned that they were from the future.

Pretense …

"Please send my regards to Mr. Evans. If there's anything I can do for Miss Weatherby, please do not hesitate in telling me," Tom said, a smile appearing on his face just as Professor Walker entered the classroom.

Hermione managed to plaster a smile on her face as she peered into his eyes before he turned around to face the front of the room. The picture replayed itself in her mind, displaying the same scene to her over and over again and sending a chill down her spine. Although the smile softened his features and lit up his face, it never traveled to the windows of his soul.

She realized that he was never truly concerned about Ginny at all.

His mocking eyes …

The care he had shown to the girl had simply been an act.

~-0-~

A few days later, when Hermione and Harry arrived at the Infirmary again to visit Ginny, Madam Pomfrey looked up from the patient she was currently treating and gave them a small smile.

"Miss Weatherby seems to be improving," she announced as the two Gryffindors approached the redhead still unconscious on the bed.

"Is she?" Hermione asked as the two of them whipped their heads around to look at her.

She nodded with a frown. "I don't know how that could be happening though. I haven't treated her with any new potions but her condition does shows signs of improvement," she replied as a faint smile appeared on her face again. "Perhaps she's just lucky."

Hermione and Harry looked at one another.

"I don't get it," Harry whispered to Hermione when Madam Pomfrey went to the back room to wash out her utensils.

"Me neither," Hermione answered. She shook her head. "Whatever happens, we can't let our guards down."

"Right," Harry nodded in agreement.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. This was proving to be a harder battle to win against Lord Voldemort than the one in the future. She would have to find a time to ask Dumbledore about his progress in searching for information about their time traveling. The sooner they returned to the future, the better.

~-0-~

Tom paced around in front of the fireplace with a frown on his forehead. He was very aggravated at the moment.

For the past few days, Hermione and Harry were always together. There was not a second they were separate from one another, except when they were in classes. They were obviously trying to avoid being caught alone.

What aggravated him even more was the fact that he had been making progress on his relationship with the little lioness—they had actually become civilized towards one another. That was, until the redhead had been injured. Now, he had to start from the starting point again.

Flames erupted in the fireplace, silencing the people in the common room. It took a moment for them to realize that it was not the work of house elves that had lit the fire. Some of them glanced uneasily at one another, not knowing what to do. They had not seen him this angry for a long time, but Tom was quite indifferent about what they were thinking.

Things were not working the way he wanted. He was getting nowhere and Lord Voldemort did not like not being in control. Since the day he came to Hogwarts, everyone in the school, except for a few Gryffindors, was charmed by him. Now he was being thwarted and it was just a group of newcomers. He looked away from the fireplace. They forcing him to change his tactics.

He narrowed his eyes and looked around the room.

"Abraxas."

The blond looked up before nodding towards Tom.

"I need to talk with your friend."

~-0-~

A/N: Many thanks to my betas, Lildaani, Noybate, Hajnalmadar, and matterhorn, and my wonderful readers!
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Somewhere in Time