"Hermione my dear, we offer contraceptive potions to all witches just turned 17 in this castle, even the teachers get it!"

"And for the last time, I don't want or need it at all. and I don't intend to need it either!"

Hermione Granger was in for her yearly check up on her seventeenth birthday, and the conversation she was having with the resident medi-witch was absolutely ridiculous. Instead of prolonging her stay with unnecessary arguing she chose to make her excuses and get out of there as fast as possible.

"I really have to go now madam Pomfrey, the boys have probably thrown me a party and I wouldn't want to be late."

Poppy Pomfrey, knowing that a battle was lost, gave up and went into her office to write down the details of Hermione's check up in her medical journal.
Hermione almost ran through the halls on her way back to Gryffindor tower, that she didn't notice headmaster Dumbledore before it was too late.
"I am so sorry Professor, I didn't see you there"

"All is forgiven my dear, old as I am, I can still remember the excitement of my eighteenth birthday. Knowing that I was considered an adult and all that"

Hermione laughed at the mistake.

"I'm only turning seventeen sir"

The ever-present twinkle in the headmaster's eye increased 3 fold.

"I must be mistaken dear, then it couldn't have been you that as a third- year spent a whole year using a timeturner. I must be going now, happy birthday"
Hermione was stunned, was she really turning eighteen? Totally numb, she forgot to say goodbye to the headmaster, and even forgot where she was going. Aimlessly wandering around the castle, lead her to the main doors and without realising that she wasn't dressed for it, and that it was passed curfew, she left.

It was dark and cold, when next she was aware of herself. Somewhere in the middle of the forbidden forest she had found a lake and was currently sitting under a willow tree, watching the soft ripples on the surface. Instead of disturbing the calm darkness with a lumos, she let her eyes slowly adapt to it.

Getting a feel of the surrounding landscape, she saw that there was a lot of undergrowth around the lake; the only clear spot seemed to be were she was sitting. After having a closer look she clearly recognised a lot of plants that could be used as potion ingredients, some of them were very rare and she absently wondered if this was were professor Snape got his more unusual plants.

Looking up at the sky, she saw nothing but the tree tops, the weak wind swaying them in a macabre dance to obscure the sky, making it impossible to tell if it was a full moon. Realising that she had no way of telling if it was indeed a full moon, she started looking to see if it was possible to find her way back. All she saw was undisturbed shrubbery and grass, it was as if she had just appeared in the spot she was sitting, there were no footprints in the sand around her. Absolutely nothing gave away her presence to the inhabitance of the forest.

Suddenly she heard rustling in the deeper part of the forest, afraid of an animal attack she crept back towards the tree trunk, marvelling as the indentations in the sand where she had been sitting disappeared and the branches of the willow lowered to hide her existence and blurred the view of the clearing from her. Looking around her wooden sanctuary a small patch glowing rose-like flowers caught her eye, a gentle pull started and she barely stopped herself from sniffing at the blooms, recognising them at the last second as Angels Breath *.

The rustling increased and a creature entered the clearing, stealthily moving, the creature suddenly stopped. Hermione not being able to see through the branches leaned forward and made a small hole in the armour of her sanctuary to see what was happening. In the clearing a group of creatures had assembled in a loose circle and looked to be waiting for something.

As if turning a switch all warmth in the clearing dissipated, Hermione shivered missing the warmth that she hadn't known was there until it was gone. The creatures all bowed down in respectful terror, in the centre of the circle a creature stood tall in cold superiority. It was then she realised that the creatures were human. The man in the circle dropped his hood and all in the clearing gasped in wonder. Unruly black hair rustled against pale almost glowing skin, and ice blue eyes regarded the group with a coldness that froze the soul. Hermione had never seen anything so beautiful, and indeed the man in the clearing was a thing and not human, for he had no soul and no remorse.

"My loyal followers, I have called you too this place to share your news and tell me of the world around us. This was my plan, I have changed it to tell you of a new possible ally, for my most trusted spy to recruit"

As the creature spoke with such a soft voice that even the wind in the trees stilled, afraid to miss what was being said, he conjured an image of a girl with bushy brown hair and hazel eyes.

"As you all look at this girl, all you see is a mudblood in her seventh year at Hogwarts, you have all assumed that my interest in her is because of her friendship with Harry Potter, you are wrong.

Over a century ago an elven princess was borne between an elven prince and a pureblooded witch, believing that such a child was a disgrace to both worlds from which it came, the mother and child were outcast. Their magical ability was bound and their memory erased, they lived out their lives as mere muggles.

The halfblooded princess didn't age at the speed of humans, not even wizards. As a result she had her first and only child seventeen years ago and here she is.

As all wizards and elvenkin know, elven blood cancels out all non-magical blood. When the princess was with child, she was in essence creating a perfect replica of herself.

When she turns eighteen, her powers will blossom, and I want her as an ally before that."

The creature, she now recognised as lord Voldemort, looked as if he was about to continue by receiving reports from his inner-circle, but thought better of it.

"I must leave you now, we will assemble again when I see fit."

He observed his followers for a split second before vanishing into thin air. His followers seemed confused, looking at each other for confirmation before disappearing one by one.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief when the last death eater had gone, and made to leave the glade. She slowly stood up wondering about what had been said, not noticing that the willow tree seemed to grow taller with her, and took a step forward before everything went black.
The dark figure stood frozen between the trees when a movement by the lake in the other end of the clearing caught his eye, he had almost missed it, mulling over the news he had gained this evening, but still had enough of his wits about him to stun what he was sure would be a creature out to make a meal of a lone human.

Practical as always, he moved to see if he could harvest any potion components from the stunned creature, stopping in his tracks and cursing colourfully when he saw that it was not a beast as he had thought, but a girl.

He moved to her side to see if he could identify her and send her back wherever she had come from with a powerful memory-charm on top, he noted that as he was approaching, the willow tree underneath which she was resting seemed to bend down towards her in a protective manner. He kneeled beside her and hesitated before brushing aside the long wavy hair.

Resting in the silver glow of an Angels Breath, lay the closest thing to an angel he had ever seen, a tall slender girl, with pale flimsy hands and long dark curly hair, only part of her face was visible; small dark lips stood out against a pale delicate chin. On closer inspection he found that she was wearing a robe with the Hogwarts crest and that could only mean that she was a student, but he had never noticed such a beauty, and he sincerely doubted that any of the brats he was teaching could have changed into this vision of a seraph lying before him.

He considered simply levitating her back to the school, content in never knowing whom the girl was. But practicality once again won out, and he knew it would be too dangerous to levitate her when not all of the obstacles were visible before nearly walking into them. Still intent on not letting himself start an infatuation, he stared stiffly in front of him while bending down and picking her up, not looking at her at all on the way back to the school.

He stiffly walked into the infirmary, placed her on a bed and drew the curtains before laying down across the room and gulping down a vial of dreamless sleep. She would be long gone before he woke up the next morning.