AN: This fic was written for the Tomione Fest 2018! We had to choose a prompt and then write a story. Simple!
My Prompt: "An obliviated Hermione Granger finds herself in 1944 with nothing but her wand and her knowledge of magic. Brilliant yet innocent, the strangeness of her character and her circumstances pique the interest of one Tom Riddle. However, things change when she gradually finds herself confronted with fragments of her past memories."
This story was a lot of fun to write and is my first attempt at humour in fanfiction. If you laugh, we need to be friends because you get me. Some of you won't find this funny, but that's fine, I hope you enjoy the story regardless.
Don't expect anything serious or dark, just a light-hearted bit of fun about what might happen if Hermione was thrown back in time and lost her memories.
Enjoy!
~~~~0~~~~
"Shit, fuck, bloody hell", Hermione shouted landing sprawled on a soft rug.
The dizziness made the room spin like she was on a derailed rollercoaster. Clutching her head she screwed her eyes shut and willed herself not to vomit.
"You swear like a sailor", a voice to her left, or was it right? spoke up.
"Urgh," Hermione rolled to her side and lost whatever was in her stomach and projectile vomited on someone's leather shoes.
"Lovely. And impeccable manners too," the voice said with disgust, and the vomit vanished.
"Where am I?", Hermione voiced weakly after she was sure she wouldn't vomit anymore.
"How did you get into my room?", the person asked ignoring her question.
The dizziness abated a little and Hermione took stock of the room. It looked like a bedroom. It had a four-poster bed dressed with emerald green furnishings, an ornate dark wood dresser, wardrobe and study table. She glanced at the person who stood over her. He was tall, dark-haired with light gray eyes. And wearing Slytherin robes. Hogwarts then. Wait, what? Hermione wracked her brain to see what she knew of this Hogwarts… nothing. Just the name. What the hell is going on?
She started to panic and her breathing became shallow and quick.
The boy nudged her with his shoe.
"How did you get into my room?", he asked again, clearly not impressed with her lack of an answer.
"Urgh, I don't feel good," Hermione said just before she blacked out.
~~~~0~~~~
Hermione woke up on some starchy sheets to voices around her.
"Mister Black, thank you for bringing her here, do you know what happened?" a soft deep voice somewhere near asked.
"No sir, I heard a noise from the common room and I thought it was coming from my dorm room. I went to investigate and found her in my room swearing and then she threw up on my shoes, mumbled something and then I think she passed out sir", another voice said.
"Okay, Mister Black you may leave and we will investigate what happened", the other voice said.
There were footsteps that sounded like they were leaving and another pair sounded as they were coming closer. Hermione tensed and kept her eyes closed.
"You can open your eyes now my dear."
Hermione cracked open one eye and blearily saw a figure sitting next to her bed. Rubbing both eyes with the back of her hand to hopefully take away the metaphorical cobwebs, she looked again at the figure. He was old and wrinkled, dressed in a strange jewel-toned dress dotted with golden stars. Looking in his eyes, she instantly felt calmed as the blue twinkled down at her.
"Hello my dear, do you know where you are?"
Hermione slowly shook her head, still staring into the blue eyes.
"You're in Hogwarts and I'm Professor Dumbledore. No one seems to recognize you, so you can't be a student. Can you tell me your name?"
Hermione started to panic again. What was her name? Far in the recesses of her mind, a word stood out to her.
"Hermione."
"Well Hermione, do you know how you ended up in the Slytherin dorms? And where have you come from? You've got a small concussion, so you'll have to remain in the hospital wing overnight, but other than that you seem to be in good health."
He reminded her of her grandfather. Wait, Dumbledore… she knew that name. But from where?
"No, I don't know sir."
"No matter, we will get to the bottom of it. The headmaster is on his way and we will try to work out where you've come from."
He gave her a reassuring smile that kept Hermione from panicking further.
After a few moments, an even older man came waddling into the room. He didn't take a seat, but stood to look over her with worry, and was anxiously wringing his hands.
"I wasn't expecting a transfer student, and especially one a few months into the new school year. Which school are you from?"
"I think Hermione is a bit overwhelmed at the moment Headmaster, maybe if we come back to tomorrow when she is recovered from her head injury that would be more prudent?", the man, Dumbledore, asked kindly, but Hermione could sense his under-hand manipulation of the event.
"Oh yes of course. We will come back tomorrow when you have recovered," the headmaster agreed with a resolute nod.
Dumbledore rose from his seat and offered her another kind smile, "Get some rest Hermione, tomorrow we will sort out this unusual situation".
All Hermione could do was nod as her thoughts turned to her predicament. Where the hell was she? Why couldn't she remember even her last name? Why couldn't she remember anything? The only thing so far she had managed to grasp was her first name, the name Hogwarts and Dumbledore.
An elderly woman bustled over with a small bottle of something in her hand.
"This will help your head, and this will help you get some sleep", she said uncovering another bottle from her pocket.
Hermione tried to ask what they were, but the woman dressed like Florence Nightingale stuffed one bottle up to her mouth and tipped the liquid in. Taking a deep breath after swallowing, Hermione tried to once again ask what was going on, when the second bottle got pushed to her mouth and another liquid entered, making her swallow again.
"There we go, you'll be fine in the morning. Goodnight my dear", the woman said and left.
The room started to get darker as Hermione realised it was her eyes slowly closing. Soon she was fast asleep, not even able to dream about who she was or why she was in a strange place called Hogwarts.
~~~~0~~~~
The feeling of someone coming near her meant her body woke her with a jolt. Hermione quickly sat up to see the man called Dumbledore take the chair he occupied last night. Oh, it's morning, she registered vaguely seeing the sun's rays pass through the large windows along one side of the stone room she was in. She glanced to the left and saw more beds, similar to the one she was currently laid in. Still in the hospital wing then.
"Good morning my dear, how are you feeling?", Dumbledore asked softly.
"I'm feeling much better sir, just a little confused", Hermione answered quietly. Understatement of the year, she snorted internally.
"We found this in Mister Black's room. I bet you're happy to be reunited with your wand," he said passing her a stick.
Hermione took it and furrowed her brow. Was this a joke? Why was he giving her a stick? But the minute she touched the wood, an indescribable feeling of power and happiness washed over her. It felt like magic.
Dumbledore must have noticed her confusion as he asked, "Hermione what can you tell me about where you came from?"
"Nothing. I can't remember anything", she voiced in panic.
"Don't worry my dear, we will get to the bottom of it".
He kept saying that, but Hermione was beginning to think that no one could. Maybe she was naturally a pessimistic person. Actually, what kind of person was she? With no memories, her view of self was empty. Was she kind, caring? Was she nasty, cold? Was she prone to anger or more laid-back? The questions bounced around her head until she started to feel dizzy again.
A hand laid softly on her arm, jolted her back to the present.
"Hermione, we will find out what happened to you," he reassured with blue penetrating eyes that seemed to look into her soul. She felt a pressure in her brain and blinked, as well as moving away from his hand that he had left on her arm. Something was telling her not to make eye-contact any longer.
"Hogwarts will always help those in need. You will stay here until we can reunite you with your family, or find out where you are meant to be."
They were kind words, but Hermione once again sensed this Dumbledore wasn't giving her a choice.
"Do you remember how old you are?"
"17", Hermione answered automatically.
"In that case, we will put you in 7th year. I have here the sorting hat to see which house you will be sorted into. Don't worry, it's just a hat which will decide which of the four houses you will fit into based on your personality. We have Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. Good luck my dear", he said as he raised a dusty brown hat from his side and placed it on her head.
"Ah Miss Granger, you're early", a gravelly voice in her head said. Hermione yelped and nearly toppled off her bed. Somehow the hat remained on.
"You are still brave, and clearly still reckless to have done this."
"Done what? Do you know who I am?", she asked back in her mind.
"Of course I do, but I can't tell you. You have a purpose here and I can't interfere. Good luck Miss Granger."
"GRYFFINDOR!", it roared out loud.
Hermione jumped and took off the hat to pass it back to Dumbledore.
"Oh lovely, you are in my house. I'm head of Gryffindor," he said happily.
"Miss Granger."
"What was that my dear?"
"The hat called me Miss Granger."
"Another mystery solved. That will make it easier to track down your previous school record and contact your family", Dumbledore replied even happier.
"I will fetch you some spare robes and show you to your rooms before giving you your class timetable. I've arranged for some breakfast to be brought to you. You'll probably miss the 1st period, but I'll make sure you have a map to get to your 2nd lesson before I let the Head Boy know you are joining the year." His face darkened for a second when he mentioned the Head Boy, but Hermione didn't know what that meant.
He waltzed out the room, leaving Hermione to ponder everything she couldn't last night. What did she know? Her name- Hermione Granger. Where she was- Hogwarts which was clearly a school. Her age- 17. A little bit about her personality- brave and reckless according to the talking hat. And she recognised the name Dumbledore.
She turned the stick in her hand. Why did Dumbledore call it a wand? Why did it feel like magic? Surely magic wasn't real. Surely…wait the hat talked to her and looked into her mind. That was magic, wasn't it? Maybe she was in a coma somewhere and this was just in her head. Maybe she was dead?
Her thoughts were interrupted when a plate of food suddenly appeared on her bedside table, as if by magic.
Her brain was aching, so she decided to just concentrate on getting through the day, or maybe whatever dream this was.
After finishing off the plate of toast, fruit, and cup of tea, she noticed some clothes were on the end of her bed. Hermione reached over and pulled up a warm woolen jumper, a white shirt, a black blazer with a strange crest showing a lion, a simple gray pleated skirt, thick woolen knee-high socks, a red and gold striped tie, and a pair of black leather Mary Janes.
She looked down and realised she didn't even know what she was wearing. She had on a plain white nightgown that draped down to her toes. She could feel she was wearing underwear at least, so that was reassuring. She couldn't have arrived in this, so where were her clothes?
The old woman from last night bustled in.
"Oh you're awake," the woman waved a stick over her and gave a happy nod, "If you go into that bathroom over there you can freshen up and get changed into your uniform, my dear".
Hermione nodded and decided not to ask what everyone was playing at while she was dressed in a nightgown- a very old-fashioned nightgown. She wanted to be dressed if she needed to make an escape.
Hermione made it to the bathroom and did her morning ablutions. After splashing water on her face, she remembered she didn't even know what she looked like.
Hermione stared into the mirror. She had wild brown curly hair that was sticking up in all directions, giving her the appearance of having been electrocuted. Her eyes were big and brown muddy colour, but on closer inspection seemed to have flecks of gold in them. Her lips were pink and pouty, she had freckles across the bridge of her nose and slightly over her cheeks. She looked pale and had a heart-shaped face with a little dainty nose. Overall she looked young and innocent. Her reflection frowned, oh right that was her.
Feeling stupid she looked down and took stock of her body. Short, maybe 5 foot 2, flat stomach, small to medium breasts, long legs (for her body at least), narrow waist and slightly flared hips. What shocked her the most was the litter of scars on her skin. She had a pink starburst scar that started at her sternum and ran through her cleavage to her right hip. There was also smaller white scars scattered around her body, but most shocking of all was a word crudely carved into her forearm.
Mudblood
She didn't know what that meant, but the way it was carved suggested that it wasn't just some tattoo she had gotten willingly, but something that was branded onto her in violence. She suddenly had an image flash in front of her of manic black eyes surrounded by black curly hair, that looked even wilder than her own.
Hermione clenched her hands around the marble basin of the sink and took deep breaths.
A knock at the door made her jump.
"My dear, Professor Dumbledore is here to show you to your rooms before class," a woman's voice came through muffled by the door.
"I'll be just a second," Hermione replied, throwing on her gifted uniform.
A couple of minutes later she emerged to see Dumbledore talking in low tones with the old woman.
"Miss Granger, will you follow me?", Dumbledore asked waving an arm to the door.
Hermione nodded, thanked the woman and followed Dumbledore out the great oak doors into what looked to be a deserted corridor.
"The 1st period has started so you won't see any students about- unless they are up to no good," Dumbledore answered her unspoken question with a smile.
They walked along a few more corridors until they reached a staircase. Hermione was transfixed by the portraits surrounding the grand staircase. They are moving! This must be a dream, she thought.
"Here we are. This is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Every month we change the password so make sure you remember it. Acid pops," he said to a portrait of a fat lady sitting in a chair with a glass of wine. She turned her eyes to Hermione excitedly.
"A new lion Albus?"
"Oh yes. Can you look out for her as she is new and very confused at the moment?"
"Of course, anything for you Albus", she replied batting her eyelashes.
The portrait swung open and they both stepped into a large round room, which was dotted with chairs, desks, and sofas. A hearty fire was spluttering in the corner and the overall feeling it gave Hermione was cozy. Home, her mind supplied. She had been here before.
Hermione felt wary of Dumbledore, so chose not to tell him. They approached a staircase to the right.
"This staircase leads to the girls' dormitories. As a 7th year, you will have your own private set of rooms. They will be right at the top of the staircase and you will find your name on the door. Here is your timetable. For now, I've put you in the core subjects until we find out your OWL results and get your transfer papers. Here is a map of the castle. Your next lesson is Defence Against the Dark Arts which I've marked for you on the map. After that lesson is lunch so you'll need to go to the Great Hall, which is here. I would escort you, but I'm afraid I'm already late to teach my own lesson which is Transfiguration. The Head Boy will answer any questions and show you around after your lesson. Go have a look at your room and get settled in. Here is a note to give to Professor Merrythought when you arrive late to her lesson".
While saying this Dumbledore had handed her three pieces of parchment that contained the map, the timetable, and the note. Why parchment and not just normal paper? Clearly, her mind had fanciful notions of old-fashioned writing supplies.
"Thank you, sir," Hermione said as she started on the stone stairs.
"No problem at all my dear", he said with a smile, sweeping out the common room.
Huffing a little after walking up god knows how many stairs, she reached a landing which showed ten doors. She glanced at some of the names as she looked for her own. McGonagall, Bones, Brown, King…
Right at the end, she found Granger, wrote on the great oak door in beautiful gold calligraphy.
Inside was a gorgeous dark brown dressing table, desk, four-poster bed, wardrobe and bedside table. There was a door to the left that housed a small bathroom complete with toilet, sink and shower cubicle. But it was the large bay window that made Hermione gasp. It looked out over an enormous lake, and a vast forest boarded to the left of it. On the desk was a pile of books that Hermione looked through curiously. She found a black leather postman bag, and loaded them all in, guessing they were for her classes today. Taking one more wistful look around the room, she stepped out with the intention of getting to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
However, the intention didn't result in getting there until much later. Having left the common room, she couldn't find a way to get up to the next floor as the staircases were going down. Dumbledore had helpfully written on the map that the staircases moved, but Hermione couldn't find the lever to activate them. In the end, she went down, through a corridor and went the long way to the classroom. Nearing the classroom, at last, she glanced behind her, feeling someone looking at her, and stopped frozen seeing a ghost floating towards her. The adrenaline kicked in and Hermione fled to the classroom door, hoping to find a teacher.
She pushed open the classroom door with so much force it slammed against the wall. She kept running forward until she reached the woman stood to face the class. She bent over wheezing, clearly I am not into fitness, and shouted out, "there's a bloody ghost in the corridor!".
"Oh was Peeves harassing you? Is this your class?", the woman asked a little confused.
"Oh," Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out Dumbledore's note to hand it over.
The woman who must be her Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Merrythought, she remembered, began to read. Hermione glanced around still breathing heavily at the students behind her. Half the class was wearing red and gold ties with the same lion crest on their blazer as her, and the other half were wearing ties in green and silver with a snake on the blazer's crest. Some of the students were looking at her with confusion, or shock and a group of boys at the back wearing the lion crest were laughing behind their hands. Her eyes landed on another boy near the front of the class with the snake symbol on his blazer. He had dark hair, that was stylishly brushed over his forehead, and looked wavy. He had his arms crossed, and when she looked at his face, she noticed a chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, and dark penetrating eyes. His face was blank, but his eyes gave away his curiosity.
"Miss Granger, please take a seat," the professor's voice drew her out her observations.
She quickly looked around and saw the only seat available was in front of the strange snake boy and next to a boy she did recognize. It was the boy whose room she had awoken in. He eyed her warily when she proceeded to sit next to him.
"Okay class, we have a transfer student with us for the rest of the year. Let's all make her feel welcome. Mister Riddle as head boy, can you show her around after class before you head to lunch?"
"Of course Professor", came the deep voice from behind her. Hermione whipped around to look at the strange snake boy, as he added looking at her, "it will be my pleasure."
Goosebumps erupted over Hermione's arms as she tried to break the eye contact. In the end, it was the voice of the professor starting the lesson again which caused her to turn back around.
"Today we will be practicing our dueling. Leave your books and bags, grab your wands and follow me to the dueling room", Professor Merrythought announced.
Wands? Oh, the stick. This was going to be interesting, Hermione thought.
Hermione grabbed her stick that she had put in her bag, and rose from her seat and joined the rest of the class in a vast empty room through a door to the right.
She stood at the back, leaning against the stone wall and twirled the stick in her hand.
"Hey I'm Darcy, so you're new huh?", a deep voice to her right said, as Hermione jumped and dropped her stick.
Flustered she bent to pick it up and turned to the boy stood next to her.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger."
He raised his eyebrows and gave her a charming grin.
"Nice to meet you, Hermione Granger. Which school are you from?"
"Erm… I don't know."
He looked confused and glanced behind him to a group of boys looking on with interest, all of them wearing the lion crest like him.
"Oh. Why?"
"I don't know," Hermione answered frowning. Great, they probably think I am insane. Well if this is a dream, it doesn't really matter, so she decided not to care.
"Okay… you want to partner up?"
"Sure", Hermione smiled and followed him to an area to the left.
"No lethal spells, no unforgivable spells of course, and no spells that will seriously hurt your partner. Anything else is okay. Begin", the Professor said from the center of the room.
Hermione saw students bow to each other. Was this some form of martial arts? Did she know martial arts? Probably not after being winded walking up the dormitory stairs and running from a ghost.
Darcy bowed and Hermione copied as he stepped back and raised his stick. A red light shot out of the end of it and Hermione yelped, jumping to the side to avoid it.
What the fuck?
He waved his stick again and a yellow light came shooting towards her. With not enough time to dodge, she closed her eyes and waited for impact. When none came, she opened her eyes to see a translucent bubble surrounding her.
"Wow you didn't even raise your wand or say anything", the boy said looking at the bubble in awe.
"10 points to Gryffindor for a strong non-verbal shield spell Miss Granger", Professor Merrythought said coming to stand next to her.
Hermione's shoulders relaxed slightly. She wasn't dead. Or maybe she was. Who knew?
She caught the eyes of the snake guy, Tom Riddle, her mind supplied, and noticed he was looking at her intensely.
A bit unnerved from the attention from most of the class now, she turned back to Darcy.
"I want to see you duel back now Miss Granger", the professor smiled kindly back at her.
"Oh yeah… okay".
Duel? So like fencing maybe? Hermione stood so her body was facing the side, turned her head and held her wand out like a sword. She felt ridiculous, but she noticed some of the students adopting a similar stance.
Not knowing what the hell she was doing, Hermione breathed deeply as Darcy got ready.
Thinking about not stabbing the boy, the professor did say not to seriously hurt her partner after all, she thought about making him slip on something and pinning him down.
A light blue light whizzed out of her stick that turned the ground to ice, and as Darcy tried to keep his footing, a brown light shoot out her stick which made a thick rope wrap around him. He lost his footing and crashed to the ground covered in ice.
"Very good Miss Granger, another 10 points to Gryffindor", the Professor said with a smile, "non-verbal and very fast too. You have the making of a great Auror".
Not knowing what an Auror was, Hermione just nodded and looked dazedly around the room. Other students were making lights come out their sticks after shouting something like Latin. What the hell was going on? This was definitely the strangest dream she had ever had.
She noticed the snake boy had similarly defeated his opponent by knocking him to the floor, but his partner looked to be out cold.
"Okay class, very good. Next lesson we will be looking at shield spells specifically, so read chapter five in your books in preparation. You may all leave for lunch now", the professor said seeing to anyone that was injured.
Darcy had managed to eventually free himself from the ropes and approached Hermione.
"Hey, that was brilliant. Do you want to sit with me and my friends at lunch? We can show you around?"
"Oh I have to speak to the head boy, but I'll sit with you at lunch thanks", Hermione replied, still a bit dazed.
Darcy glanced behind him at the snake boy- Riddle. I really have to stop calling him the snake boy in my head.
"Okay, be careful around him. Something is not quite right with that slimy snake", he said with a frown.
Someone else who called him a snake boy! Now she didn't feel as bad.
"Thanks, I think I'll be fine though. He's head boy, right? So I doubt he's like some evil psychopath", Hermione said with a laugh.
Darcy laughed with her, "yeah I guess you're right. See you in the great hall then." He left to join his friends with a small wave and smile.
"Miss Granger", a deep voice came from behind her.
Hermione jumped and whirled around.
Snak- Riddle stood behind her watching her with what could be amusement.
"Oh hi, I'm Hermione Granger," she replied trying to calm her racing heart.
"Yes I know", he drawled back with one eyebrow raised.
Rude. I might keep calling him the snake boy, Hermione thought.
"I'll show you to the great hall, where we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since you're a Gryffindor you will sit with those in your house. You'll find them easy enough- just listen out for the loud talking and questionable table manners", Riddle said with a quirk of his mouth.
Rude. Hermione thought again.
He started walking back to the classroom and Hermione followed. She picked up her bag and hefted it onto her shoulder. Riddle quirked an eyebrow at her, looking at her bag.
"Why are you carrying that many books?"
"Oh I didn't know which ones I needed, so I packed them all for today", Hermione replied.
"I see", he replied and walked out the classroom.
Hermione ran to catch up and fell into step next to Riddle. He was really tall she noticed, and he walked with an easy grace. Unlike her, who seemed to stomp.
"Which school have you transferred from?" Riddle asked after a time.
Is everyone going to ask me that today? Hermione felt like pining a sign to her blazer saying "I have no idea where I'm from or what's going on". People might think she was crazy, but hopefully, it would stop the same question she would likely hear again at lunch.
"No idea, I've lost all my memories. I only know my name, age and that I'm at Hogwarts".
"Interesting," Riddle said glancing at her while narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.
They reached some massive double oak doors, and she stepped into a cavernous room which held four long oak tables covered in food. Students were talking loudly to their friends at their tables while eating. But the most remarkable sight was the unlit candles floating from the ceiling and the clear sunny sky above that. Her imagination really was something, she mused.
"I'll find you after classes this afternoon to show you around," Riddle said already walking to a table on the left.
Hermione glanced around and spotted Darcy sitting near the doors laughing with a group of boys. She approached and Darcy looked up. He jumped up and dragged her to sit next to him.
"Hey Hermione, these are my friends. That's Septimus, but we call him Sep. That's Citro, that's Harper and that's Tauren," he said to each boy in turn.
They each smiled as a hello to her.
"Nice to meet you all", Hermione said with a smile and began to load up her plate with sandwiches.
"How are you finding Hogwarts so far Hermione?" the boy, Harper asked.
He had black hair that was gelled perfectly in place and thick black square-framed glasses. His strong jaw and nose made him look very handsome and his eyes were a light brown.
"Oh it's beautiful, I'm a little confused by the stairs, but I'm sure with time I'll get used to the layout", Hermione smiled back at the boy with kind eyes.
"Oh yeah them stairs have made me late to so many classes. I swear they are so fickle. They only change when I'm in a rush and end up taking me to the wrong place," Harper said with a laugh.
Hermione had no idea what he meant, so she smiled back confused.
"What lesson do you have next?" the sandy blonde haired boy to her left asked.
His eyes were a deep blue that reminded Hermione of the ocean. Really what was in the water here? Every boy she had met so far was extremely good-looking. Well since it was her dream she assumed that being surrounded by handsome men was a plus. This could turn out to be a very good dream.
Hermione glanced at her timetable, remembering the boy was waiting for an answer.
"Oh Potions, double period. That's it for today".
"Great, me too. You can sit next to me if you want?" the blonde asked, Citro she remembered.
"Leave the girl alone Ci, you can sit with us instead", a black-haired girl a little further down the table called.
"Bones, you're just jealous you can't be my potions partner after I trounce you in grades every potions lesson," Citro answered with a wink and grin.
"Ha! Sure. No, us girls have to stick together", she reached over the table to shake Hermione's hand. "I'm Amelia, I'm a seventh year too. Don't let the boys bully you into sitting with them. They'll just distract you all lesson and get you in trouble. Trust me, they have got enough detentions, and don't need another partner in crime," she gave the five boys surrounding Hermione a pointed look.
Hermione laughed, "thanks, I'll sit with you Amelia, sorry Citro".
Citro gave an exaggerated pout and sighed, "fine, fine."
"Come on then, let's make sure we get a good seat", Amelia said rising from the table.
Hermione was stuffed after the four ham sandwiches she had managed to gobble down in between talking and followed Amelia and two other girls out of the great hall.
"This is Minerva and Aster", Amelia said gesturing to the other girls.
"Hi, I'm Hermione".
"Hi", they both said one after the other.
"Seriously them boys will get you in so much trouble if you hang out with them. We basically get up to the same as them, but we're clever enough not to get caught," Amelia said with a wink and a grin.
They descended some stairs and walked along a couple of corridors when they came to a group of boys in green and silver waiting in a corridor. They looked over as they approached.
"No stupid buffoons to protect you this time Bones?", a blonde boy said with a sneer from where he was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.
"I don't need any boys with me to kick your arse Avery", Amelia quipped back.
The blonde, Avery, stepped forwards as an arm came out to stop him. Riddle.
"Let's keep it civilized shall we?", Riddle asked smirking at the blonde boy.
Riddle turned and stared at Hermione.
"Making friends Miss Granger?", he asked with a hint of contempt masked underneath a friendly question.
"Am I not meant to?", Hermione asked tilting her head to the side and raising her eyebrow.
Riddle quirked his mouth in some resemblance of a smile and replied, "of course, I'm just making sure you are settling in."
"Granger, is that a wizarding name?", a tall icy-blonde haired boy from Riddle's left asked.
Not knowing anything about names in a make-believe world, Hermione guessed; "sure."
"It's not one I've ever heard of", the icy-blonde asked suspiciously.
Riddle spoke up; "Abraxus you must have heard of Dagworth-Granger, the famous potioneer? Are you related to him Miss Granger?"
"Oh yeah, he's my uncle's brother's wife's… son?" Hermione said, hoping for the best.
"So your cousin?" Riddle asked.
Hermione's eyes widened slightly. Damm it.
"Yeah… cousin. Great guy, saw him a couple of months ago".
"He died two years ago", Riddle answered his eyes alight with amusement, clearly enjoying seeing her squirm.
"Oh yeah he was dead, I saw him at his…tomb," Hermione knew there was no way in hell anyone was believing this story.
"Well great talk, I'm going to go sit down", Hermione turned to open the door to her left and strode in without really looking. She whacked her head straight off a broom and kicked a bucket into the darkness.
"Erm Hermione, the classroom is on the right", Amelia shouted from outside the closet.
"Yeah I know I just like to sit and relax in broom closets. I'll see you in there", Hermione called back with her cheeks burning. Fuck it all.
After counting to hundred, Hermione left the closet to find the corridor thankfully empty. She entered the classroom and rushed to take her seat next to Amelia. Darcy and Citro were sat behind them, and Darcy leaned over to say in her ear, "you like broom closets hmm?"
Hermione's cheeks flamed red again and she tried to slump down in her chair.
"Welcome, welcome", a portly red-faced man said at the front of the class, "today I've been told we have a new student among us. Miss Granger will you please stand so I can have a look at you", he called out.
Hermione shot up and slumped back down in her chair just as quick. She could hear laughter coming from behind her.
"Oh right. That was a bit fast my dear, but never mind, welcome to Hogwarts. Are you related to Mister Dagworth-Granger by any chance?", he asked with a greedy gleam in his eyes.
"He is her uncle's, brother's, wife's son, sir", came the voice of Riddle across the aisle to her left.
The fat man looked confused; "Oh lovely, well I hope you are just as talented as your… relative in Potions", he exclaimed happily.
Hermione had a vague memory of making mud pies in her back garden as a child and hoped that potions were something similar.
"Today we will be making an invisibility potion. It's not as effective as a disillusionment spell, as it wears off typically after half an hour, but it's handy to have at hand if you're an Auror or someone needing to escape and haven't got enough energy to do the spell", the professor explained.
"Turn to page 465 and get started", he exclaimed happily clapping his hands.
Hermione got out a book that matched Amelia's and began to read the ingredients after finding the page. Newt legs, bat wings, flobberworm mucus… what the hell was this? It was something like she would imagine witches brewing. The opening scene to Macbeth came to mind…
" Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. "
Hermione picked up her book and carried it into the storage closet she saw other students going into to get the ingredients.
Inside was the stuff of nightmares. Jars filled with eyes and weird liquid. I basket filled with wings... another filled with spiky hairs.
Nope. Thought Hermione as she backed out the room and stumbled into a hard chest.
"Miss Granger, be careful where you're going", came Riddle's voice from behind her. He steadied her with his hands on her arms, and it sent, what felt like, an electric shock through her. He stepped around her and preceded to grab his ingredients. When he finished, he glanced over to her since Hermione was still stood frozen in the doorway.
"Would you like me to grab you yours?" he asked politely.
"Oh- er…yes, please. If you don't mind", Hermione stammered.
So much for being brave. The cupboard terrified her. Maybe this was a nightmare and not a dream, she thought.
Riddle grabbed her ingredients and walked to her desk to lay them down. He glanced back over his shoulder and frowned.
"There you go", he said.
"Oh- thanks", Hermione said finally able to unstick her feet and walk to her desk.
Riddle nodded and returned to his desk across the aisle. Hermione placed her book down and read over the instructions. Dice newt legs, ground down moonstone, cut bat wings… She had no idea what anything was in front of her. The bat wings were fairly easy to identify, but she had three different types of rock-like things that could be the moonstone. Great. So she was going to blow everyone up. Maybe that would wake her up. Hermione happily started to follow the instructions, hoping, and not hoping, the ingredients were the right ones in the right order. She worked methodically for an hour when the professor walked over.
"Oh Miss Granger, that looks perfect, let's test it shall we?" the professor then ladled out a small amount into a vial and handed it to her. Time to die and wake up, Hermione mused.
She tipped back the liquid and felt a shiver run through her. And so it begins.
"Brilliant, absolutely perfect. Top notch potion. 20 points to Gryffindor Miss Granger", he smiled jovially.
Hermione glanced down and couldn't see her body. She raised her hands and couldn't see them either.
God damm it. Clearly, she was not ready to wake up.
After a few more minutes the professor asked for everyone to bring their labeled vials to his desk and they were free to leave. He didn't ask anyone else to test theirs and seemed to forget Hermione was still invisible.
"Hermione?" Amelia asked looking to where she would have been sat, "Coming to dinner?"
"Yeah sure, I'll follow you," Hermione replied, secretly pleased she was invisible.
Amelia nodded and they both cleaned up their desk and got ready to leave. Hermione's floating bag gave away her position, but it was freeing for no one being able to see her face.
When they walked to the great hall, Hermione dumped her bag next to Amelia and told her she was going to the toilet.
Looking over to the Slytherin table, Hermione noticed Riddle and his friends quietly talking and something told her to investigate.
Checking that she was still invisible, Hermione crept over to the table of snakes. She couldn't find a feasible way to listen in without touching someone, as they were talking so quietly, so chose to put a knee next to Tom Riddle so she could lean over to tilt her ear towards them. He was the only one not sandwiched next to anyone else and seemed to have a gap next to him.
Slowly Hermione rested her knee on the bench and lent forward, stretching out her arm to the center of the table to lean. Just as she was about to make contact, her hand appeared in front on her. Hermione froze and hoped no one would notice a disembodied hand. Planning her stealthy getaway failed when she made eye contact with the icy-blonde boy opposite.
Fuck she was visible again.
The Slytherin table got eerily silent as they noticed Hermione lent over the table next to their Head Boy.
"Hermione, grab it and run", a voice from across the hall boomed.
Hermione glanced up and saw Darcy and Citro stood up grinning at her like lunatics.
Hermione quickly worked out what they thought she was doing. In the center of the table was a platter of delicious looking cupcakes. Granted they had emerald green butter icing on top, but they did look tasty. So Hermione heeded what her fellow Gryffindors suggested. She lunged forward knocking over someone's goblet, grabbed a cupcake and threw herself back off the bench. Pivoted and ran to the Gryffindor table, which welcomed her with cheers.
"Classic", Darcy laughed.
Hermione engulfed the cupcake like the cupcake conqueror she was, as she sat down, while those around her patted her on the back.
She glanced over at the Slytherin table which was scowling back at her, with the exception of Riddle, who had an amused smile adorned on his face.
Just as Hermione was about to take another bite of her claimed cupcake she was hit with a tidal wave of memories. Her as a child making things float towards her as her parents watched on amused but confused. An older woman coming to her door and telling her she was a witch. Arriving at Hogwarts and having the talking hat shout Gryffindor. A boy with black hair and a lightning bolt scar smiling at her. A boy with flame red hair and freckles moaning about homework. A castle in ruins.
The last thing she saw was bright red glowing eyes looking down at her with malevolent intent, as she crumbled to the floor and blacked out.