Unbeta'd so please excuse any mistakes.
Title: A Snakes Redemption
Summary: Harry Potter is now wanted, dark wizards are running hogwarts, her father is being held for questioning, or in other words, is being tortured for information by said dark wizards, and Voldemort is on the rise. So when Olivia Bennett finds a time turner in her compartment on the way back to Hogwarts for the year, she makes a choice that could change the world. She's going to save Voldemort, she's going to save Tom Riddle.
Pairing: OC/Tom
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter One
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Kings Cross lacked its usual warmth and happy atmosphere, muggles walked around oblivious, as usual, but kids no longer rushed with smiles to platform nine and three quarters, nobody marveled at the magic of going through a brick wall, nobody marveled at anything. The amount of sorrow this brought to me was staggering. Being muggleborn, I'd always been a bit of a nerd in the wizarding world, simply enchanted by every single insane artifact, and I had reason to be, I'd never, in a million years, expected magic to be possible.
And yet it was, and I still, to this day, remember my first time in Kings Cross. I had butterflies in my stomach and I ate chocolate frogs with my new friends as we chatted about magic and which house we'd be sorted into, all of us brimming with happiness.
Now, death eaters stood at every corner, ready to devour any sign of what they considered weakness. Actually, I'm almost one hundred percent sure they were looking for the infamous Harry Potter. He was five years ahead of me, but he used to help me with certain labs in Slughorns Potions, last year, that is. He wasn't the only wanted 7th year, there was also Hermione Granger, a muggleborn like me, and Ronald Weasley, a ginger boy who came from a family of purebloods.
They were, as Slytherin's so often referred, The Golden Trio. They found trouble in every corner but never ever, or well, rarely, suffered the consequences. Though I could never really be bitter about it, maybe it was my Hufflepuff heart, but I knew they were doing it for the greater good. I mean, all the events had led to this, the school being taken over by Voldemort's lackey's and my ex favorite teacher, Severus Snape, who had in fact, been working with Voldemort all along, and killed Headmaster Dumbledore.
Though most of the Slytherin's had also unofficially joined up with the death eaters, I mean, no one dared say it to their face, but it was obvious.
"Mudblood, get moving or I'll have to punish you for delaying the train" speaking of death eaters, I whirled around, my slightly frizzy, thick blonde hair practically slapping my shoulder. This was one I hadn't yet seen, his hair was brown and scruffy, and his narrow green eyes matched his narrow mind.
I frowned and bit back a sarcastic retort and bent down to pick up my trunk and my familiar. Pebbles flicked her tail back and forth, and had her canines turned down in a silent snarl as she stared up at the stranger. She curled up in my arms but her gaze never left the mans. It was odd, but I didn't have time to focus on it. I had to go before I gave him a reason to curse me.
The last thing I needed was my cat to start picking fights with wizards who used Crucio like it was a light charm.
My eyes searched the station for my usual friends, Tabitha Burkweiz, and Samuel Campblen, but I knew I wouldn't find them. They came from pureblood families who knew all about the death eaters and Voldemort, and withdrew them from Hogwarts. The only families allowed to withdraw their children were purebloods, and even then, they got a pretty rough time over it. If a muggleborn family even tried, they were killed.
It couldn't be ignored, just for doing what they were supposed to do, muggleborns were tortured, but to ask to leave the school, the death eaters took great offense to that. Though I suppose, in their mindset, muggleborns have the privellage of going to their school, and to deny that privellege is an offense greater then spitting on Voldemort himself.
I resisted the urge to crack a smile.
Spitting on Voldemort.
Ha.
Pebbles keened out a soft meow as I shoved my way into the nearest empty compartment. I couldn't be too worried about leaving school, because soon, the death eaters would go through all the students and pull out the muggleborns to make sure we didn't have any wands. They took those away too. Said that we were lucky to study there, and that we should have to earn the privilege of getting to do magic.
Pebbles curled up on my feet, weaving in between my legs, and having grown up with sensation, I reached over towards my trunk. Among the clothes and books, was a small piece of wood. My wand. Which yes, I had brought. I'd rather take a beating then go without it. Its handle had long, wave shaped, marks, that ended at a rough ring, and then elongated into a rather bumpy bridge. Hornbeam with dragon core, twelve and three quarter inches, reasonably supple.
My hand shot down to a familiar bruise on my hip from where they'd kicked me. Such a muggle fighting style they used sometimes, and I'd of mocked them, if I hadn't been choking on my own blood.
Suddenly a glint caught my eye. Pebbles held something shiny in her mouth and I furrowed my brow, where on earth had she gotten that? I'd only just walked in the compartment. None the less of my confusion, I reached down to pull it out of her mouth, despite her growl, and could only gaze in awe.
Sure, having my wand would get me the cruciatus curse a couple times, but that was a soft pat on the wrist compared to what they would do if they found me with this. This changed everything.
It was golden and looked exactly like it had in Artifacts First Years Probably Shouldn't Know About by Felificy Liffmant, a book I'd bought on my first trip to Diagon Alley. A time turner, and like its name told, it could turn back time, take you to the future, the key to time travel.
The Ministry held them all, and when the death eaters took over, I'm sure they destroyed all of them. Except for, well, this one, obviously.
It was surreal, holding it in my hand, the time turner, just a circular piece of gold with numbers on it, it didn't look like it actually did anything, or maybe that was my inner muggle thinking, but either way, I could do something with this.
So many thoughts ran through my head, I could go back and save my cousin from losing his leg in that car crash, I could go forward and find out who died, and what happened, and then prevent them, I could tell my six year old self not too show my grandpa that I could turn his greying hair pink and prevent his heart attack, I could fix so many things.
The sound of banging, yelps, and shuffling echoed outside my compartment. Shit. They were already rounding up the muggleborns. If I was going to do something with this, I had to do it fast, this was my one shot to fix things, and I didn't have time to think. My eyes shot over to my trunk and a name written in red caught my eye. Staring back at me, was a mock biography written about Voldemort rising from the depths of the harsh muggle world and rising to rule the world, most of it was rubbish, except...except for the dates.
Maybe I could...
"Wandcheck, muggle-blood!" a familiar taunting voice echoed, followed by the sound of a harsh banging. I didn't have time to think, I couldn't sit there and think carefully about the consequences, If I planned on saving everyone, I had to do it now.
So I spun the dial,
August, 1939
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It was like a breeze was passing, the banging stopped, and Pebbles shoved her face between my ankles, hissing angrily. I stopped the time turner on the correct date, and the breeze halted with a sudden start. My whole body seemed to sag just a little forward and I coughed out a gasp of air.
It wasn't like the books described it, they described it as an swooshing sensation all throughout your body, they made it sound at least slightly pleasant, when in fact, the feel of time travel gave me an ache in my chest, and a flushed feeling of blood rushing to my cheeks.
Nothing seemed to have changed in the small compartment, other then Pebbles behavior, and the breeze, everything was pretty much the same. Until I looked closer. The scenery behind the drapes of the window had changed.
So It had worked.
A soft tap on my door startled me, who would I see when I opened it? That obviously wasn't the usual bang of a death eater coming to check on a muggleborn. At least, I highly doubted it was. I hastily shoved the time turner into my back pocket before moving to open the door. Pebbles leapt up and took my seat.
As I slid open the compartment door, I began to realize exactly what I'd done. I was in the past, If I thoroughly searched this train, I would find Voldemort. A shiver ran up my spine at the thought.
"All the other compartments are f-full?" I was met with a nasal voice. There was a girl with large, rounded, black glasses and wide glassy eyes, she was pale, and she had long shiny hair that cascaded down her back. I recognized her, which shouldn't of been possible, but I knew her. She meant something to the timeline, but what?
"O-oh, I'm sorry, I"ll explain, I mean, could I sit in this one, with you, and y-your um, cat?" she peeked over my shoulder, no doubt staring at the very lion-like Pebbles.
"Sure" I shrugged and stepped back, more focusing on finding out who she was then anything, and how important she was. Pebbles hissed and took my attention, as she darted out of the compartment, nothing but a black shadow, weaving between the girls legs and nearly tripping her, disappearing down the hallway.
The girl, whoever she was, seemed scared, she flinched, and began waving her hands "oh my god, I just l-lost your cat, oh I'm so sorry, I'll go find her, oh!" just before she sprinted after Pebbles, I shot my hand out and grabbed her wrist, a little rougher then I'd meant.
"Don't worry about it" I pulled back, frowning apologetically as she rubbed where (no doubt) a bruise would soon form "she always comes back, she's my familiar."
"F-familiar? What's the difference b-between that and a pet?"
She sure didn't know much for a bookworm. I shot a look down at the mound of books in her other hand.
"A familiar is a pet that has a soul that's been magically enhanced to connect to the witch or wizard that buys and cares for it" I sounded so monotone, at the time, but I'd heard the question way too often, and it drove me mad when people asked. I wasn't one hundred percent sure that she was a familiar, but when I'd bought her, the shop keeper told me that I'd made a wise choice, that not many pets were like her, I'd assumed she was crazy.
Of course, my opinion changed when Pansy Parkinson cursed her last year and I was hit by the effects too, that's when I researched Familiars, and found out.
I sat back down on my seat, and my eyes widened at the distinctive sound of a snap. Shit, shit, shit. The girl didn't seem to notice. She plopped down across from me and shot me a suspicious look.
"Who are you anyway? What house are you in?"
"You ask a lot of questions, I don't even know your name" I snapped back.
Instant regret filled my body at her crumpled expression, she withered and sat back in her seat, lips tight. She looked like she might cry, like...a kicked puppy. I was a sucker for puppies.
"I'm sorry, I'm really stressed, my name is..." after some thinking and a couple minutes of awkward silence, I devised an (admittedly bumpy) plan, "Olivia Bennett." Being muggleborn made it obvious that nobody else at the school would have the same last name, and Olivia was pretty common in England.
"I'm Myrtle."
Shock and realization flowed through every inch of my body. This was Moaning Myrtle! The ghost from the first floor girls bathroom at Hogwarts, she wasn't as annoying alive, I noted. She was going to die in a year or so, depending on what year she was in. Could I stop that? No. Certainly not, but...I could make her last couple living years more pleasant. With friendship. I'm not surprised I didn't recognize her, at first, she looked completely different with her hair down.
"You never answered my question.."Myrtle trailed off.
"My mom was a squib, so she moved into a little place outside of England and unregistered her bloodline from the Ministry when I was twelve, beacause I hadn't shown any magic potential, she figured I was a squib too, but on my 14th birthday I accidentally blew up all the lights in the house, and so, after some begging, she enrolled me, late, albeit, but yeah, I'm lucky."
It came out really fast, and it was rough, and not some of my best lying, but as a Hufflepuff I rarely came into situations like this. Myrtle was a Ravenclaw, she could've noticed, but if she did, she didn't say anything.
She merely smiled and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she was cut off.
A Gryffindor with a face covered in obvious charms, and long, curled, red haired, peeked her head in, grinning, with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
"You'll never see this again, hurry, Tom's just been attacked by a cat!"
You've got to be shitting me was my last thought before I rushed out of the compartment, Myrtle following suit. My cat had just attacked teenage, angst ridden, Voldemort in the past.
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Authors Note: So this is just the first chapter, not much happened, and I'm not too happy with it, but it needed to be written to introduce the setting, 'cuz I can't actually start the fic with her making out with Tom Riddle, though... I could, except then it'd be real shit.
Remember reviews are appreciated, but not mandatory.
