Disclaimer: No one belongs to me. HOWEVER, this story does, and so does the idea of Hermione being called Kali, because, as far as I know, that is unique with my story.
Author's Note (READ): This is the sequel to Brides of Voldemort. It's not necessary completely to read that first, but this may be a little bit confusing for you otherwise.
Title: Brides of Voldemort – Through the Eyes of the Betrayer
Author: Queen Serenity
Fandom: Harry Potter
Chapter: Only

Look at me.

The girl staring back at me, she's so different.

If you'd told me a few months ago where I'd be now, I'd have denied it. I simply wouldn't have believed you one single bit.

But then again, time is relative.

It happened on Christmas Eve. What with the Voldemort threat, children that were Muggle-born were being kept safely at the school during Christmas break.

Other than that, everything seemed normal. Before we'd turned in for the night, we'd been doing normal things. Harry and Ron laying on their stomachs in front of the fire, playing Wizard's Chess, me reading a nice book in a plush armchair. Nothing abnormal.

But that night, I dreamed. Or had nightmares, it depends on how you look at it.

When I'd fallen asleep, innocently expecting dreams of perhaps presents or other things, the Dark Lord had been waiting for me. And I, I was completely aware in my dream. Completely lucid. The wave of fear that washed through me when I saw him step out of the darkness of my mind was all too real. And, somehow, I knew. He wasn't just a figment. This was indeed him.

And then he spoke. "You're the friend of Harry Potter. The intelligent one."

Wordless, I nodded.

"The mudblood."

Anger flashed in my eyes, and I bristled at the word he used. "Tell me something."

The question was visible in his glowing crimson eyes.

"A big part of your cause has always been purity of blood. So what I want to know it this: Do your followers know that you're nothing more than a half-blood?!"

This didn't evoke the reaction I wished of him. Instead, he just smirked. "Some of them know. And they know better than to question it."

And then, out of nowhere, I found that I was tied up, my hands above my head. Not chains of metal, though. Silk ribbons the color of blood that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get loose from.

And I didn't have my wand. This was a dream, but I had no control… and I didn't have my bloody wand.

And he had changed. He didn't look like his present-day snakelike self anymore, but rather like a boy about my age. Black hair, blue eyes, rather handsome and arrogant-looking. I knew, from how Harry had described him to me after second-year, that this was how he had looked as Tom Riddle.

He moved up to me, something unidentifiable in his eyes, and put his arm around my waist, pressing himself to me. His lips crashed against mine as he forced a hard kiss on me, his tongue poking through to savage the inside of my mouth.

In reaction, I bit his tongue, hard. I could taste his blood in my mouth when I did.

He pulled away, smirking. "This is going to be fun."

I felt myself trembling, and my voice came out as a broken whisper. "What… do you want from me?"

The smirk was still there. "What do I want? I want everything that you can give me. I want you to tell me everything you know about that pitiful Order of the Phoenix, I want you to tell me all of Harry's secrets, I want you to serve me."

I spat in his face. "Never!"

That annoying smirk didn't fade, not even as he wiped the spit from his face. "Never can be a long time, my dear."

I have to admit, my dark lord was right. He kept me in there, in the darkness of my mind, for years and years it seemed to me. Time stretched forever. And the things he did to me in that time… oh, I can't begin to describe. Often, he would inflict tortures on me, but just the same, he would inflict such pleasures on me as I had never before felt, so that even as I mentally screamed a denial, my body would rebel. Eventually, I even cried out his time on multiple occasions. Goddess, that hurt me the first time.

And sometimes we would have civil conversations, even.

"What is it that you want?"

My voice when I answered was hoarse, weak. "What do you mean?"

"In life. In general. What do you want?"

It didn't take me long to answer him. "To make a difference."

"You do realize, of course, that no matter how much you're able to help, you'll only be remembered in one way."

"Oh?"

"You'll be remembered as the girl that helped Harry Potter. The smart one. The dependable one. And, eventually, you'll simply be forgotten"

I had to admit, that hurt. Especially since I could see it happening.

He continued. "I could guarantee that wouldn't happen, you know."

"How?"

"If you came to my side, you wouldn't simply be another Death Eater. I guarantee you, your name would go down in history for the things you'd do, and the mark you would leave would never fade."

I had nothing to say to that.

(Another conversation, another time)

"Have you realized?"

"What?"

"Your friends, they don't really appreciate you. They simply take you for granted. Tell me, girl, would Harry and your other 'friend' have survived this long, if it was not for you?"

I found myself thinking back to first year, when I'd solved that riddle for Harry so he could go on to face Voldemort. If he hadn't made it through, then…

I stopped my train of thought. "Probably," I said.

"Is it I that you are trying to convince, or yourself?"

(Another conversation, at another time)

"There's one thing I've learned about you."

"What?"

"Your mind has an insatiable hunger. You're always wanting to learn more, and you're never satisfied with what you learn."

"What do you mean?"

"There's only so much they'll let you learn. The magic that really makes a difference, the really potent kinds, they're all forbidden. Magic you can never, ever have access to. There are so many things, girl, that I could teach you. Never would you find any restriction in what you could learn on my side. And there are many, many things that I and my followers could teach you that you could learn nowhere else."

I have no idea how long it took, but, like I said, I can tell you that it was like years and years.

Little by little, I began to see things his way. He'd been right all along, I just hadn't seen it.

They'd never appreciated me, my friends. If it weren't for me, then even if they hadn't been killed, they would have been booted out of school for failing their classes. I was the one who actually made them study, the one who loaned them my notes, the one who did research all the time when we needed it. I was the backbone.

I could learn all that was allowed, but that stupid Ministry of Magic had so many restrictions, I would never be able to learn the important things. I mean, sometimes they even cut out parts of Wizarding History that they didn't agree with.

But my parents… I would have to put a condition. I'd have to make sure nothing happened to them because they were Muggles. After all, it's them who taught me to learn all I could, to always remember that knowledge is power.

Finally, I smiled, and looked at him.

"What do you want me to do?"

And here I am now. Months later, and I am known worldwide. I am Hermione Granger, the Betrayer, Voldemort's sword, the one who killed the only ones who the Wizarding world had ever hope to stand up to… both Harry Potter, the Boy who Died, and Albus Dumbledore, the only Wizard who Voldemort ever feared.

My lord is the most feared Wizard in the world, and I… I am the most feared Witch in the world, closely followed by my friends, Ginny and Luna.

Voldemort is all the more powerful now. That was part of the reason he had wanted me in particular in the first place. There was ritual he found, one that would require the life-blood of Harry. The thing was, though, was that the one to take it had to be someone very close to him. Which meant that it had to be Ron or I. The Dark Lord pointed out to me, chuckling that Ron would never have been that useful to him, unlike me. And so I was the one who had delivered the dagger to him that I had used to kill Harry.

I have a new name now, though. I've left behind my old name, along with my old, weaker self.

It was my lord who gave me my new name. One he said was fitting. Kali, name for the dark Hindu goddess of Destruction and Rebirth.

Kali. I like it. As my Lord commands, I will help him destroy, and then… then we will rebuild things in the way my Lord wishes.

For now… now I am his, but now I am free.