Title: The mystery of the well-known

Pairing: Hermione Granger & Tom Riddle

Genre: Romance, Suspence, Drama, Angst

Summary: Hermione's hit by two curses at the same time and she has no idea what curses are those. She's sent back in time to the times of Tom Riddle. She confides in Dumbledore, who agrees to help her. But until he finds something, she has to stay at Hogwarts as a student. It will be an eventful year. But you should know, Hermione has a lot of secrets she'd been keeping from most of the people. And there are secrets, much bigger and more important, that she finds out during her trip that will change her life and her way of seeing things forever. As an independent and strong witch, she has to make choices. But what kind of choices will they be?

Notes: Italic writing is flashback and something like this 'text' are Hermione's thoughts. It's not hard to tell, but just so you know =]

Disclaimer: I'm sure you know it, but to be clear, I DO NOT own Harry Potter in any way. I only own the plot of this story, which I invented by myself.


Sighing, Hermione fought the urge to just fall asleep. She still had so much to do. She's always been expected to be perfect and she's always been trying to comply. She was doing pretty well.

Little Hermione Granger sat in a high chair at the side of a hospital bed, her legs dandling above the ground as she looked at the person in the bed, her vision blurred with held back tears. She heard a cough coming from the bed, so she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at the person.

'Hi 'Mione! What's up?' said the person.

'Hi Nat! Better say what's up with you. Explain yourself! I've been terribly worried about you, you know!' she was very relieved that he was okay, angry more at herself for not being able to do anything to help him than at anything else.

'Whoa! I'm barely alive and yet you accuse me of being careless. Sometimes I think you're too spoken out for a four-year-old and for your own good.' Nat said in a mock hurt voice.

'Says who! I've heard you were just as spoken out in my age as I am. And you haven't really changed.'

'I've matured a bit, don't you think?'

'Well, maybe only a bit. At last it was only thirteen years ago that you were my age.'

'But I'm sure I wasn't that sarcastic when I was your age!'

'I wouldn't be so sure about it,' said a femenine voice coming from the door.

A man and a woman were standing there, looking tired, but relieved and holding each a cup of coffee.

'Mum! Dad!' Nat smiled happily. 'You're here!'

'Where else would we be when our son got almost killed? Do you think we would just send our daughter to keep you company?' the man accused him. He was quite tall, with short, dark brown hair and honey-coloured eyes.

'I didn't know you think so little of us, Nathaniel,' said the woman as the corner of her mouth lifted up into a little smile. She was quite short, but her figure was very nice. She had long, blond hair and dark blue eyes.

Nathaniel just smiled broadly. He himself was tall, had very dark blond hair and chocolate eyes.

The girl named Hermione was quite short for her age, with bushy brown hair and deep chocolate eyes.

'We're so glad you're okay! But what happened?'

'I dunno,' Nat admitted, his smile fading a little. 'I was coming back from school very late, you know, that project that just needs to be done quickly. Te street was deserted, the last person turned into the other street and I was left alone. Then I felt pain, a lot of pain, as if my skull was being split into two and I collapsed. I've no idea what would've caused it.'

'That's strange... Probably someone just hit your head with a baseball or something like that... I see no other explanation. And there are so many hooligans lately, it's really dangerous even at day, not saying about night...' Mr Granger looked pensive.

'You're right dear, that's probably what happened. You should've called us, we would've fetched you up,' Mrs Granger said regretfully.

'Don't worry 'bout that anymore. It's already happened, we can't change it. It's my fault, I should've been more careful, but I was so tired, I didn't wanna go the longer way, so I went that one. I should've known, but you know how it is, you always think that kinda thing would never happen to you...' Nat blushed slightly.

'No, it's not your fault, it's ours...' Mrs Granger trailed off and Hermione took that chance to say:

'It's no one's fault and bro's already said we can't change it even if we want to. Just next time we'll make sure to be extra careful and now it's no use to be blaming yourself, it won't make things better.'

'Sometimes you scare me,' Mr Granger nevertheless smiled lightly, apparently proud of his daughter.

'Yup, you two are so alike, you can't deny you're siblings,' Mrs Granger smiled.

'Ehh, mum,' Hermione and Nat smiled as well.

'Hermione!' someone shook her lightly.

'Unghhh... What...' she looked up to see who was shaking her and she found herself looking at non other than Fred Weasley. 'Oh, Fred...' than she looked to the left and saw the identical face of George Weasley. 'George... Hi...' she said sleepily, rubbing her eyes of sleep.

'How is it you can tell us apart even when we've just woken you up?' George questioned incredulously.

'Special trick. Maybe one day, when I think you're good enough, I'll reveal it to you,' she smirked at him, seeing his annoyance mixed with curiosity.

'Aren't you just saying by that that you'll never tell us?' Fred raised his eyebrows.

'My my, maybe there is something about you being intelligent?' Hermione said sarcastically.

'There you go again 'Mione,' Fred sighed.

Hermione stiffend at his nickname for her. Fred realised it.

'You don't like the nickname?'

'No, not at all. On the contrary, I like it a lot,' Hermione smiled warmly and Fred smiled back.

'Good 'Mione.'

'You should go get some sleep,' George offered.

'So that you'll be able to prank freely?' she smirked again.

'Oh, but dearest, you need your beauty sleep. Not that you need to be more beautiful - you're already astounding, add to it your intelligence, brilliancy, skillfulness...' Fred was cut off by Hermione.

'Don't continue it if you wanna be able to have sex in the future,' she warned, earning a surprised look from both twins. 'But you're right, I should go to sleep, I'm sooo tired!'

'One of those days you're gonna die from overstudying, we tell you!'

'Okay, okay, whatever...' she waved them off as she picked up her books and bag and made her way toward girls' dormitory, but not before giving each of the twins a kiss on the cheek, their faces now bewildered. 'Good night, boys!'

'G'night 'Mione!' they called after her meakly.

'She must've been really tired and sleep-deprived,' commented George.

'I agree, dear twin o'mine,' Fred nodded eagerly.

Hermione fell asleep as soon as her cheek touched the pillow.

She heard a scream. But she knew nobody was screaming in her neighbourhood. She knew, 'cause she was aware of the fact that she had heard it in her head. The voice sounded frighteningly similar to that of her brother's. But he was at the hospital, under doctor's care, he should be okay, he must be okay...

She heard another scream, just like the one before and she knew her brother was not alright. She had no idea why she heard those screams, bu she needed to check on him, to confirm that these were only her nightmares chasing her even at day. But she knew it to not be true. Deep inside her she was scared like never before in her life.

One more scream. She couldn't take it anymore, she needed to do something, to help him. But what?


She ran into her small house, running through the hall into the living room where her parents were currently watching television.

'Mum! Dad!'

Their heads turned towards her.

'What's wrong, Hermione?' Mrs Granger asked gently.

But she didn't get to say anything, because phone rang. Mr Granger picked it up.

'Good morning! Yes, I am Frank Granger, his father. What's wrong?'

At that exact moment Hermione's insides twisted and she felt cold, then empty. So empty. Lifeless. Her heart stopped beating, After a few seconds it started pumping once again, the air filling her lungs, making her pant. The emptiness was dissapearing, leaving behind only fear. Fear of losing her brother. Actually, she was sure he was already dead, but the insecurity and those strange feelings overwhelming her felt so strange, she was frightened like never before. She didn't know why she trusted those feelings, they were brand new. As her breathing was becoming less ragged, tears slowly made their way into her eyes and out, onto her cheeks, dampening them, slidind slowly down.

Her parents didn't see that though. Her mother was looking at her father expectantly and he wasn't looking at anything in particular.

'Can't you... But... We're... Yes, I understood. We'll be there as soon as possible,' with that he ended the call.

'Was it from the hospital? What did they say?' Mrs Granger asked quietly. Hermione was in no condition to talk, something new to her. Her breathing came back to normal, but her senses went overload.

'We have to go there. It's urgent. That's the only thing they told me and I didn't want to waste time on arguing with them. Let's go!'

Mrs Granger only grabbed her bag, where were their documents, cellphones and keys.

After a few minutes they were driving to the hospital. There wasn't much trafic, so they made it quite quickly. Throughout the ride they didn't say a word to each other, each of them deep in their own thoughts.

When they arrived at the hospital, they immediately went to see Nat's doctor.

'Doctor, what's wrong?' Mrs Granger asked worriedly.

'Come in,' the doctor said, indicating to Nat's hospital room.

What they saw calmed them down at first. Nat was sleeping in his bed. But then, after a closer look, they were just plain terrified. He wasn't just sleeping. He was dead. He didn't breathe, his face was distorted with fear and pain. But there were no signs of something unnormal beside that. He looked like a stone figure. An angel that met terrible death on his path.

'What... What happened?' Mr Granger asked once he'd found his voice.

'I'm very sorry. We have no idea. When we checked on him, he's already been like that. It seems that he died from a heart attack.'

'But why does he look...' Mrs Granger searched for words, but to no avail. 'Like that?' she finished, not knowing how to say it properly. Or maybe not wanting to.

'We don't know that either. It's probably from the heart attack as well. I'm sorry to say that, but he died in pain. Well, of course you can see that... but...' the doctor trailed off, feeling seemingly uneasy about the whole situation and his knowledge or, in this case, the lack of it.

It still took some time for the news to sink in. Before that happened, they'd just stood there, unmoving, the only thing heard in the room was their breathing, echoing in the room they all wished they didn't have to be in.

Hermione woke up the next day feeling much more tired than before she went to sleep. The horrible memories kept coming back to her and she had no idea why. She wanted to forget about it, to not think. Of course, she didn't want to forget her brother, never! She promised to herself she'd never forget him and that promise was an easy one to keep. But she wanted to forget about the pain, fright, emptiness. Who'd want to remember things like those? But they never left her. Not even once.

'You gave us all a fright, you know,' Hermione smiled at her brother.

'Yeah, I know,' Nat looked sheepish. 'I'm sorry. I'll never do that again, I promise. But you promise me something too, okay?'

'What?'

'That you'll be wiser than I am. You won't do stupid things like I did. You'll be much more intelligent. Don't forget about it, Hermione. Your intelligence is your friend and your weapon. You'll be only wiser with time. Study a lot and be one of the most intelligent people ever!' he laughed.

'I promise.' Hermione smiled as well. Little did she know that was her last conversation with her brother.

Hermione knew her brother didn't mean for her to study day and night, but she felt that she owed him that. She promised him, that was like his last will and she wouldn't break a once given word. It wasn't in her style. So she studied. And she wasn't really surprised for the twins to point it out the next day (if only them and that one time!).

'Hey 'Mione, you don't look like you got much sleep last night. Told ya you need it, you said so yourself, and now you look even more tired and sleep-deprived. Bet you were studying again!'

She just laughed. 'I wasn't. I really went to sleep. It's just that I didn't sleep well...'

'Nightmares?' George smirked. But when she blushed his smirk vanished at one and his place took a slightly opened mouth. He didn't expect that.

'Next time if you have nightmares, be sure to come to us, we'll always help you more than gladly,' Fred wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but grinned nevertheless.

If you'd asked her, Hermione wouldn't be able to say whether the beggining of the school year went slowly or quickly. She was mostly lost in her own world, her memories haunting her more then ever, happy moments spent with her brother entertwining with that overwhelming feeling of despair, coldness, emptiness and lifelessness. She's never feeld like that before and after. She still wondered what it was. Now she knew that she was a witch, so it explained it but only a little bit. Even in this magic world there were some things that were impossible or at least not heard of. She's never heard of a case like that and she researched it. And the strangeness of her brother's death. It surely wasn't normal. She had a feeling it had something to do with magic as well, but she wasn't sure, so she decided to leave it be for a lifetime. She didn't want anyone to know about it. But it still unnerved her how she couldn't find anything.

When Christmas came she got an invitation from Sirius to stay at Grimmauld Place. She quickly agreed. She and Sirius were on really good terms, what some of people did and some of them didn't know. Sirius was very intelligent and he liked to talk with Hermione about a lot of things, admiring her knowledge. He always liked to hear her opinion, respecting it, and to argue with her too, she was only sixteen, but very mature for her age. She always argued back, that gleam of determination in her eyes was what he liked. He liked lively people, especially after Azkaban, and she sure was lively as hell.

He sent her an invitation in a letter adressed to her, they corresponded too, but he mentioned to Harry to take her as well. Ron would be there that way or another, seeing as the rest of his family was staying there, but he and Hermione agreed they didn't want Harry to know about their closeness, they didn't really know why, but they thought it'd be better and Hermione didn't wanna come out of blue and ask herself into Grimmauld Place, it would look strange, so he told Harry he could take her too, knowing he'd do it more than gladly. Harry and Hermione were close, despite what it might've looked like, Harry relied on her opinion on various matters and though they often disagreed, they rarely argued seriously.

Hermione, Harry, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny arrived together at Grimmauld Place with the beginning of the winter break. Sirius welcomed them merrily, happy to have many good people with him. At last not lonely and sad.

Hermione was unpacking the things she brought with her in the room she shared with Ginny. The younger girl was currently visiting the boys' room.

Hermione heard a knock on the door.

'Come in!'

When the door opened, she saw a head with long, shiny black hair come in view. Then the rest of the peron came in as well.

'Sirius!' Hermione smiled.

'Yup, I wanted to see if you're not lacking something,' Sirius smiled back.

'Are you talking about the room or about me?' she raised an eyebrow at him.

'I'd never even think you could lack something in your amazing person.'

'Charming as always.'

'Only to those who are worth it,' Sirius's eyes sparkled with joy.

Hermione laughed, but both of them knew it was true. Sirius wouldn't compliment somebody who he thought wasn't worth it.

'Well, let's go down, the dinner's ready by now,' Sirius informed.

'Ah, right, now that I come to think of it, I'm hungry,' Hermione mused.

'Then let's go!'

They hurried down the stairs, laughing as they did. Hermione was so happy at the moment. She hasn't been that happy since Cedric's death. As she remembered this, she abruptly stopped laughing. Sirius noticed, stopped laughing as well and patted her shoulder.

'Don't worry 'bout it. You can't help it,' he said, deciding not to say too much, just enough to ler her know that she wasn't alone, that he knew and was always there to help her.

'Yeah, I know. But it still makes me feel bad. Anyway, thanks,' she flashed him a weak smile with he accepted with a smile of his own.

'Always there, princess,' Sirius made it a habit to call her 'princess' when they were alone, he said it suited her and liked to see her feel uneasy.

When they reached the kitchen, Hermione saw people she didn't quite expect to see. There, standing in the middle of the kitchen, were Lupin, Charlie and Bill.

'Sirius! Hermione!' they bellowed as they went to greet them. They hugged each other as a greeting.

Lupin hugged her, patting her on her back with a mixture of father-daughter and friend-friend relationdhip she always liked so much. He was a lot older than she was and very experienced by the life. She found it interesting to talk with him and looked at him with admiration.

Bill hugged her as well, pulling her up a little, seeing as he was so tall, laughing into her hair.

'We haven't had the chance to talk lately,' he said.

'Yeah, I know,' she replied, hugging him back just as tightly. He might've seemed cool and a bit distant from his appearance, but he was a very warm person. At first she found it strange that he actually came to talk to her, but then they talked on a normal basis. He was very bright and intelligent and told her she was too, despite her young age.

But when she hugged Charlie, there was something strange about him. They talked a few times, but Charlie was rarely home and when he came, he had a lot of things to take care of. She's never had any special relationship with him, but she liked him, he was a genuine person and she always appreciated that. This time, when he pulled back from the hug, he was blushing, grinning shyly. She had no idea why, but didn't have the time to think about it as Mrs Weasly called them for dinner. They all started talking and laughing, the food was great as always, the atmosphere so light and cheerful, even Harry looked happy. Sirius was beaming, having his closest people with him, all in great moods, made him see the sense of life. If they won, he'd have that practically each day. The thought made him see even more sense in his life and in fighting with the Order.

After dinner everyone stayed in the kitchen, still talking, but Hermione needed to use the toilet, so she excused herself and went for the said toilet. During het little trip she stumbled on something, making it fall. It was some kind of little table. She wanted to put it back in its place, but stopped when she heard a malice voice.

'Stupid Mudblood! Doesn't even look as she walks. Will never be as good as Purebloods. Oh, no! She will never be even good. She stole the power of the Pureblooded ones and she has the nerve to come into the house of my Mistress and destroy her favourite table. But Kreacher won't forgive it. Kreacher won't forgive it!' the small house-elf looked even more out of his mind than normally. The effect was doubled by his reflection in the mirror. Then he raised his small fist in the air and he was mumbling something. Hermione had a bad feeling about it.

'Kreacher, please, stop...' she said quietly, but she already knew it was to no avail.

'And she dares say Kreacher's name. The one that's served you since he can remember. Kreacher will teach her not to offend him and his family ever again!' he raised his fist even higher.

'Stop it right now, you filthy scum!' Hermione recognised that voice as Sirius's as he ran to the scene with his wand ready.

He cast a spell at Kreacher, who jumped to the side and threw his curse at Hermione. The spell Sirius sent bounced off the mirror and hit Hermione as well.

'Hermione!' Sirius was downright scared, not knowing what happened to her as she just dissapeared into thin air. That was something he's never seen or even heard of. What could've happened to her?

Hermione felt her back hit the wall, her eyes closed, and she fell to the ground with a loud thump, her whole body aching. She wondered why Sirius still hadn't come to check if she was alright or why was it so quiet - she was sure Kreacher wouldn't stop his whining. Maybe Sirius silenced him? But still, it was weird.

'Can I help you? Who are you?' she heard an unfamiliar, polite but only business-likely tone.

'Ungghhhhhh...' was all she managed to get out as she tried to open her eyes. When she did it, she wish she didn't try to open them at all. She found she was at Hogwarts. An unfamiliar boy (or rather a young man, she thought) was looking at her intently, his gaze calculating. He was a Slytherin, that much she could tell even without his green tie and Slytherin badge on his school robes. He was quite high, she would barely reach his chin. He had raven hair, the same colour as Harry's hair, but the man's hair were neatly composed, and dark green eyes, the colour also reminding her of that of Harry's, but Harry's were always full of emotion, giving him away even if he tried to hide his feelings. The man's eyes were cold and calcutating, measuring her, making her feel uneasy, something dangerous lurking within. He was pale, very pale, his skin smooth and it was strange how it suited him. He was also well-built. He was slender with hints of muscles under his shirt. He wasn't too muscled, but not skinny either. He was a fine example of a man, Hermione thought.

'I'm Hermione...' she started, but then she thought better than to say her full name, not knowing who the young man was and what was going on. 'Who are you?' she asked instead, hoping he wouldn't ask for her surname.

'I'm a sixth year Slytherin. My name is Tom Riddle,' the guy said.

At that very moment, Hermione thought she'd gone nuts or was dreaming, but apparently she was not, the man before her as real as he possibly could be. But if there wasn't anyone else at Hogwarts named Tom Riddle, and she was pretty sure there wasn't, seeing as there'd be loud about it, that meant...

A/N I hope you liked it. Please, review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't like about my story. I really appreciate the reviews, like most of the fanfiction writers =]