(A/N) Here is my first full length piece. Enjoy!

Love,

Jack

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."

-Jean de La Fontaine

Once upon a Time...

She couldn't tell how long she was in the rush of timelessness. It could have been five minutes or five days. She saw the colors and thread of time itself, and felt years whistle past her ears. Then, the funnel of the vortex began to expand. A speck of light could be seen at it's epicenter, coming closer and closer. There was not even time to cringe before she was painfully slammed into the hard ground.

Hermione was lying spread-eagle on the floor of a stone corridor. She started to sit up, but collapsed in a haze of pain. She stole a quick glance around and realized the stone corridor belonged to Hogwarts. At a loss as to what she should do, Hermione slid her body up the wall into a sitting position, and tried to organize her thoughts.

She could not think about where she had come from. No, that was too painful a memory to deal with, especially so soon. She could not plan what her next move was because she honestly hadn't the faintest as to where to start. With a dawning realization discovered she was stuck. Not just stuck meaning she was confused, but quite literally stuck, as in she was not exactly able to stand up.

She stared at the ghostly light flickering on the wall in front of her cast from a few torches lining the corridor. There were no windows near her to tell if it was night or day, but from the lack of students and the silence, she knew it was either night or mealtime. The cold air stung the numerous cuts that covered her body when a blustery wind blew around the corner. Hermione did not realize she was drifting off to sleep until a smooth voice above her made her jump about an inch in the air.

"What is going on here?" She cringed and slowly raised her head, somehow already knowing to whom the cold voice belonged.

The stormy grey eyes of Tom Marvolo Riddle probed her chocolate ones with a glare of suspicion. She used every shred of strength left in her to rise both painfully and shakily to her feet. It was all she could do to stay conscious. Hermione had a sudden urge to curse the unsuspecting boy into oblivion. Out of sheer instinct, her hand twitched toward her wand. Hermione prayed that her little slip would go unnoticed, but then again what could get past Tom Riddle.

Voldemort drew his own wand before she could even process what was happening. She had not even had time to wrap her head around what had just happened, making it impossible to just think. Hermione quickly followed suit, whipping her wand from the inside of her torn robes with her uninjured hand. With a dull sense of relief, she saw that it survived her not so smooth landing unbroken.

With a start, she reached for her chest in panic and felt for her time turner. In a pang of painful realization, she cut her finger on the edge of the now broken and useless time turner. She did not have long to process this before Tom reacted to the unanticipated hostility.

"Expelliarmus," she shouted, saying the first spell that came to mind.

"Protego," he countered before the spell had hardly even left her lips. She jumped to the side so that the deflected curse would not hit her as it rebounded off his shield.

Shock was prominent on Tom's face. Hermione realized that she had no chance of winning due to her injuries and extreme fatigue. She held up her arm in a sign of surrender. Obviously, alone in a dark corridor late at night with Lord Voldemort was not a situation Hermione had ever wanted to find herself in. Voldemort was not ignorant to the fact she did not lower her wand all the way.

"Y-you just took me by surprise is all," she faltered. He arched a dark eyebrow, but did lower his wand. His unwavering confidence was slightly unnerving.

Hermione suddenly realized how awful she must look. Riddle followed her gaze as she looked down out herself, and he let out an audible gasp. Her curly brown hair was tangled and matted with blood, and a deep gash ran the length of her cheek. Her wrist hung at an odd angle, and was obviously broken in multiple places. Her odd clothes were torn and smeared with blood. An assortment scrapes and bruises colored her exposed skin. She grimaced as she saw him take in her ragged appearance, fearing that he would jump to the worst conclusion. Well, she thought, his guesses are probably not even close as bad as the truth.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked tonelessly. She did not respond. It was one of those rare occasions when Hermione Granger could not think of a suitable answer. The conversation played out in her mind, and was something along the lines of 'Well, you're actually the future Dark Lord. Well you and your Death Eater pals raged war on Hogwarts. We were outnumbered, and your followers murdered all of my friends. I am alive only because they thought I was dead when because I was in a full body-binding curse. Now I have absolutely no one, seeing as you even killed my innocent muggle parents.' A single tear rolled down her gashed and bloody cheek. Hermione just turned and walked away, praying he would not follow. She had taken only a few steps before Tom easily caught up with her. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him. Whether knowingly or not, Riddle jostled her injured arm as he turned her, and she could not stop the gasp that escaped from her clenched teeth.

She turned to look at him in defiance, but what she saw caught her off guard. Memories of the battle came rushing back; Ginny being taken down by Bellatrix, Ron being murdered beside her by Lucius Malfoy; Harry being killed by Voldemort as his last fight finally ended in defeat. Her eyes closed, and she swayed into a dead faint. The image of her enemy, who looked so much like her now dead best friend, finally sent her over the edge into unconsciousness.

The sight of Tom Riddle carrying an unconscious girl through the corridors was certain arouse curiosity. Thankfully not many people were around to question him as he made his way toward the Hospital Wing, carrying the still nameless girl in his arms. Tom reached the Hospital Wing and kicked the door open. The young Madam Pomfrey gaped as Tom Riddle brought the still lifeless Hermione through the door. She quickly hastened him over to an unoccupied hospital bed. He laid her down gently on the creaking mattress. He noticed that she was extremely light, as if she had lost too much weight over much too short a time. He took one last look at the girl before he quickly turned tail and fled from the hospital wing.

As she slowly regained consciousness, Hermione heard a familiar voice saying her name from somewhere above. She blinked twice, and then opened her eyes to see none other than a young Albus Dumbledore peering at her over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "I believe you have a letter for me, Miss Granger."

(A/N) Ok people, this was extremely short, I know. Well, the first chapters always are. It gets better, I promise. I will update once I get five reviews to see if I should keep going. Alerts would also be lovely :)

Thanks for reading,
Jack