Loyalty Across Time

by ChickyGirl

Two siblings, a brother and a sister, closer than ever were ripped apart by space and time, but they made a promise to each other and nothing would keep them apart. Severus/ Hermione/ Tom

Story: Loyalty Across Time

Word Count: 17,145

Summary: Two siblings, a brother and a sister, closer than ever were ripped apart by space and time, but they made a promise to each other and nothing would keep them apart.

Pairing: Severus/ Hermione/ Tom

Warnings: Will become somewhat of a polyfic though not much explicit detail- only mentions, so no lemons. Sorry for those who like them, I do very much but don't have much expertise in that area :) I don't have a beta so bear with me if there are any mistakes!

P.S. - Somewhat of incest, in this world anyway...

A/N: More stories to come! Please read my other story Heart of the Monster I would love some reviews on it and this one… thank you for reading my Lovelies!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns these amazing books, I just tinker around with her characters.

Enjoy!

~.O.~

1 . The Past and a Loss of Identity

Hogwarts, The Great Hall, 1943

"I'm going to go to bed," a girl whispered in the boy's ear who sat beside her dressed in silver and green. Looking remarkably similar to her in the way that they had the same cold grey eyes that only held warmth for each other, both with the dashing looks that could get anyone to do anything they want them to.

"I'll be up in a while, love," the boy said, his eyes melting from the frigidness of staring down, but not outright glaring, at the wandering eyes of the boys who often kept their eyes on his sister too much for his liking.

Chucking, the girl gave the boy a swift kiss right beside his mouth to be platonic siblings, finally making everyone avert their eyes from the odd couple.

"Try not to kill anyone tonight Tom, Dumbledore is already growing suspicious enough of us without every boy who talks to me disappearing."

Smirking, Tom just kissed his sister's hand and turned back to his dinner saying, "Yes, Ma'am."

Still smiling as she walked out of the Great Hall, ignoring the whispers and 'hidden' glares coming from around her, her petite body was pulled forcibly into a dark alcove in the hall.

"I'm sorry Hermione, you will only make him stronger in the years to come," Hermione heard a familiar voice whisper in her ear, as she realized she was incapacitated; her head going fuzzy with and an uncomfortable feeling in her navel as her last thought was "Tom," feeling her heartbeat start to increase in rare panic along with the one she has always been able to feel in her twin, his voice echoing her name in her head.

Her body ultimately giving under the insistent pull of the darkness, all that as left was a life-like silver necklace of an emerald eyed snake slithering in and out of the eyes of a skull, a tiny black lavender flower nestled in the grinning mouth.

2. A new Life

London, 1979

"Isn't she beautiful?" Diane Granger asked her husband, in her arms a wrapped pink bundle containing a beautiful little girl by the name Hermione Jean Granger.

"She takes after her mother," Mr. Granger told his wife, who looked up at him with an adoring smile, then back to the curly haired babe cradled to her hospital gown covered chest.

As the babe involuntarily gripped the man's finger, his eyes teared up just a bit. "She's our little miracle Jean. The gods gave us a little girl."

"She's going to be extraordinary Mark," she said, as her newborn's eyes opened to reveal the most breathtakingly smoky colored eyes she had ever seen. "Absolutely extraordinary."

.~O~.

Hermione Granger was indeed going to become extraordinary, as her parents had always told her would be, but at this moment in time she didn't think it was a good thing. She never felt as if she really belonged, not even with her parents who loved and adored her to the ends of the earth, but she couldn't help but feel as if something was missing. As if the life she was living wasn't meant to be, as if there was someone missing from her waking life.

The only time she didn't feel this was when she dreamt. She dreamt of another life, one where she lived happily no matter the unhappiness around her. One where a boy lived with her, a boy who she felt she belonged with no matter what. He talked to her in her mind whenever the other children ridiculed her for her bookishness and oddness when she woke to her reality, he loved her, and he was the only thing that felt real.

3. A Little Too Close

Wool's Orphanage, 1937

Hermione didn't like sleeping alone, not at all. The orphanage blankets were scratchy and didn't offer much warmth, the lumpy mattress was not comfortable, and no other girls would be bunked in the same room as they were all scared of her. What she really wanted was her brother's warmth and scent surrounding her.

Silently stepping out of bed, her little feet carried her shivering body covered in only a thin white nightdress to the door down the hall and slipped inside, closing the door behind her as to not alert the matron she was where she wasn't supposed to be. Inside a pale, skinny boy similar to her lay wide awake, also not accepting sleep without his twin wrapped with him in warmth. Slipping into bed with her brother, Hermione immediately stopped shivering as he wrapped his arms around her, her legs around his, and an unnatural warmth filled the air around him as their magic recognizes it's twin.

"Better love?" the boy asked into his sister's mass of chestnut-brown curls, her head bobbing slightly, and tucking her face into his warm chest, finally allowing the sandman to pull them under.

"I don't like it that they separated us, Tommy," she muttered sleepily into his chest as he kissed the top of her head and tangled the hand not around her waist into the mass.

Night turned into day, and the siblings didn't awake until a plump unpleasant woman pulled them both out of bed, screeching that it was indecent for siblings to be sleeping in the same bed at the teenage age they were at. Taken outside, the siblings were whipped until they promised to never do it again, although they would never admit they most certainly would.

"I'm sorry I didn't wake up earlier 'Mione," Tom said, carefully pulling off the thin dress away from the dried blood on his sister's back, making her hiss in displeasure.

"I could have woken up too Tommy, it's not your fault," she said, straightening in the yellow light of the bathroom, now naked except for her white cotton panties.

Turning to unbutton her twin's nightshirt and pull it off him, not at all uncomfortable being naked in her twin's presence, or at his wandering eyes. Reaching up as he was a good half foot taller than her already, she put a hand on his now bare shoulder to help pull his arms out of his sleeves, him not flinching a bit at the slight sting of the cloth separating from his open wounds. Turning him around, her hands rested lightly on the top of his shoulders, calling forth on the advanced magic they shared, running them lightly down his back, he shivered the wounds knitted closed before Hermione's eyes.

Angling back to where she was standing in front of him, Tom grabbed her hips, careful of the whip marks that had managed to wrap around them, he lightly kissed the corner of her mouth as her arms twisted around his waist.

"I should have healed you first, love."

"They don't hurt that much anymore. There's just throbbing."

Pulling her closer to him to where their bare chests were compressed together, he healed her back much in the same way she did him. His large hands warmed her spine from the frigid air outside, and his chest warming her pebbled mounds of flesh.

As their arms wrapped more securely around each other, Tom made her a promise he had every intention of keeping until a man who claimed to be of the 'light' took her away from him. "I will never let anyone hurt you again Hermione. For as long as I love you, I will always protect you; and I will love you until after death. That is a promise."

Looking up into her brother's face, her twin, her hands cupped his face and brought their foreheads together.

"Do you promise me always Tommy?"

"I promise you always, love."

4. The Heir

She never told her parents about the voice in her head, even though she knew it wasn't natural for a voice to be in a one's head telling her to stab her bullies with the teacher's scissor's. Or when she started to understand what snakes.

"Prrettyyy human. Prrettyyy girl. Prrettyyy warm ssskinn to crawl around." Hermione heard a voice on the ground say in the backyard garden one day while sitting plucking the petals off a full red rose.

Looking down, Hermione saw a small black scaled snake with light blue-grey belly lifting it's head, sticking it's black forked tongue out to her.

"Look my love," Tom whispered in her head, "he likes us. They always like us."

"Hello," the girl said to the snake, holding out her arm for it to crawl up.

"Nicceee girl," the snake hissed crawling around her arm.

~.O.~

"Look at all the shops Tom!" Hermione said excitedly, pulling on the hand Tom was holding onto in the direction of one of the book stores. "So many books!"

"I'm sure Hogwarts will have plenty of books my love," he said, smiling indulgently at his twin, pulling her in the direction of Ollivander's Wand Shoppe.

"Ohh, twins," a man with blonde hair all about his head said as soon as they walked in, "I've just the thing. Haven't had twins in a while."

The twins glanced at each other then back to the man who they assumed was the owner, Ollivander, who was busy opening long thin boxes from seemingly random places. Hearing him cheer in joy, the couple turned back from observing the shop.

Two wands were held out in front of them, Tom taking his in his right hand and Hermione in her left as they still held hands in the middle.

Ollivander explained the making, "13 and ½ inches for the boy 10 and ½ inches for the girl, outer beech, with a phoenix feather core from the same-" he broke off to stare in wonder at the magic that flowed from the two wands.

Shiny dark silver magic flowed from Hermione's wand and amber gold leaked from Tom's, coming together to form a snake like form of magic that admitted sensual magic as it flowed around Ollivander's head, peaking it's tongue out to flick him on the cheek. Yanking his head away from it to stare awed with a flicker of fear at the two standing before him, both looking decidedly calm at the advanced magic they did, he hastily pushed them out stating they were both free of charge.

Stepping out into the sun they smirked at each other and wrapped their arms more securely around each other, pushing through the bustling street towards Knockturn Alley. Making their way into the pet shop, they looked disinterested at the shaggy cats, ruddy owls, and oozing toads until their eyes stopped right at the only animal they were interested in. A nest of snakes. A medium sized red mother slay curled by the glass in the sun, along with many of her offspring piled atop each other. These were also not what caught their eyes. A slightly larger silver-grey snakelet lay curled up away from her brothers and sisters, keeping to the shadows in the moist damp. Feeling like she was being watched, the wee one raised her head and made eye contact her the ones she knew were going to be her new owners.

"I want to name her Nagini, Tom," Hermione said as she caressed their new familiar against her cheek as Nagini made a hiss of pleasure as Tom also reached to touch her adoringly.

"As you wish my love," he replied, kissing her temple, leading them to get fitted for their new school robes.

5. An Expected Visit

Hermione stared at the long white bearded figure perched across from her on her parent's white faded couch. She didn't know how to feel, she didn't know what she was feeling. He looked at her with warm eyes, but there was a sort of cautiousness behind the twinkling in his blue eyes. He had come to tell her and her muggle parents she was a witch, a magical witch. She hadn't outright been told by Tom, only given few memories that hinted at extraordinary things,but one of this man ripping her from the person she loved most in the world stood out against the others. He said they had to pace themselves with her memories of them being different from everyone else, wizard and muggle alike.

She was going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Headmaster Dumbledore assured her parents she would be in safe hands, but she didn't feel comforted at all. She was unsettled, as if he knew something about her, but it wasn't possible; there was something in his twinkling eyes that made her uneasy.

"Calm yourself, love," Tom placated in her ear. "I will take care of you."

"You're in my head Tom," she told him, despite the warmth driving the dread in her stomach away with his words.

"In a way," he chuckled, "But not in a way. You will know soon, but not too soon. We would not want him to think we have anything to hide, would we?"

"Everyone has something to hide Tommy," she told him, watching Dumbledore about to depart, shaking her parent's hands.

"I will see you soon Hermione, I just know you will love Hogwarts," he told her, reaching out his hands to shake her's, rearing back a bit when she gripped it a little too tight than a girl would for her age, who are normally shy, and her eyes flashed into one's' older than her years for a moment.

"Yes, headmaster," she said, smiling politely at his reaction. "I'm sure I will."

Dumbledore left with a wary air about him, only slightly palpable. Seeing he had very real a reason to be on his toes around the girl so similar to the one that had disappeared so long ago. Hermione's parents cooed over their miracle baby, once more knowing she was going to be extraordinary.

.~O~.

Platform 9 ¾, 1991

Three weeks after Albus Dumbledore appeared on her doorstep, Hermione boarded the Hogwarts Express on her way to the castle which she had so many dreams of. Looking for a compartment, she found that she had the same warmth growing in her chest as she has when she talks to Tom, "Follow it, 'Mione." he told her in her head, "He is important." She did.

Stepping outside a compartment with a red-headed boy with dirt on his nose, and a boy with messy black hair covering his forehead, she opened the door and asked to sit there as all the others were full. They let her.

That day Hermione Granger made herself friends with Ronald Weasley, and Harry Potter. That day, Hermione Granger's life changed, for she didn't know it yet, but Harry Potter would eventually lead her towards the one person who truly loved her. No matter how twisted that love had come to fruition.

6: First Time

Hogwarts Express, 1938

"I don't like how that man looked at us Tommy," Hermione said to her brother, looking out to the new blurred green landscape the train sped past in the bright daylight; she liked trains, they were big and powerful, and nothing could stop them. Thoughts were swirling around her head, making it difficult to focus on one thing.

"I know love," he told her, setting his hand on her thigh as he read a book with the other.

Concentrating on the heat of his hand through her new school robes, she looked at his profile. Shadows from outside cast onto his pale skin, his wavy hair perfectly styled with only a piece hanging down into his stormy grey eyes so much like her that made him look so attractive to her, and so charismatic to others who didn't have the strength to resist his charm. His hand tightened on her leg fractionally as a smile tilted his lips slightly upward that told her he knew she was watching him. Standing up she took the book away from him and set it on the opposite seat of the compartment, and she sat herself with her legs draped over Tom's horizontally and wrapped her arms around his neck as his enveloped her waist.

"They won't allow us to stay together," she told him, her voice breaking as Tom set his chin atop her curls and rubbed her back. "What if we don't get into the same house?."

He lifted her chin with his fingertips and gave her a smile that instantly calmed her raging emotions.

"Trust me love," he smirked, "We're too alike to not be." Tom assured her with a kiss to the forehead and tickling her ribs lightly.

Giggling softly her smile brightened, and she looked up to her brother with shining eyes. "Promise."

"Promise." He said, and she tucked her chin under his chin again, waiting to go to the school where hopefully no one would try and tear them apart from one another.

7: Sorting Hat

Great Hall, 1991

Hermione already knew what seeing the castle would feel like. Home, but not. It was home to all of the many years of memories her and Tom spent together, other than the orphanage, yet, it was the place she had been ripped from her twin, and where the man that did that was now headmaster. She felt cold warring with warmth take root in her stomach, old memories bombarding her as she passed the familiar sights of the castle corridors.

"Sorry love," Tom told her in her mind, knowing it was much to take in but was necessary for her to be prepared to keep Dumbledore away from their secrets. Harry gave her a questioning look as she stumbled on air as they came to a stop at the steps leading to the wooden doors of the entrance, she just shook her head and smiled as Minerva McGonagall gave the first year opening speech of houses and the Sorting Hat.

For once in her life, as much as she hated it, she was glad to be in Gryffindor. The house that warred with her original one, and seemed to be even more so in this day and age. She was glad to be friends with the boy that contained a piece of her brother's soul in him, if only to feel the warmth she didn't often feel anymore. She would miss the cold air of the dungeons, and have to deal with being surrounded by gold and red and being hated by her old house, but none of that would matter when she found a way to be reunited with her brother while under the ever watchful gaze of Albus Dumbledore.

8: Professor's First Impressions

Severus Snape. He is a dark man, anyone could see that by the way he dressed, and acted, and by the subject he favored from the very start of meeting him. The people around him never thought to look beneath the glares and the snark, especially those who knew that he had been a Death Eater. But I know better than to just someone by what others thought, or by the way they look. Tom taught me that better than anyone. Harry didn't trust him, accusing him of anything and everything going bad in the castle, especially of trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone Dumbledore had been guarding.

Then there was something about Professor Quirrell, everyone saw him as a cowardly teacher that faints while running from trolls; Hermione saw something in his eyes. Steel was hiding behind stutters, he was hiding something, something that would get him killed if anyone ever found out, and it's very possible it had something to do with the same warm feeling she tends to get around Harry. It wasn't possible, but somehow it was.

One day after class, Hermione had bumped into Quirrell as he was in a hurry to leave, and it clicked. The burning sensation almost burned her alive, so much more than she was used to from Tom, and Quirrell felt it too. He had a look on his face, one Hermione had never seen before, she had wanted to hug him, but protecting him would be enough.

"Give up on the Stone. Harry's getting closer."

The next day he was gone, with no explanation he disappeared off the face of the earth with only a note to Hermione…

I will come back for you.

Other than the broken pieces of his soul, he still lived on, and he was still connected to her, and her him.

9: Chamber of Secrets

The next year, the hope was heightened even more when Lucius Malfoy gave Hermione Tom's journal with a sneer.

"Here, Mudblood, the pages are charmed. Only the person with the other book will see the messages, use it sparingly," he held the brown object out to her, the golden letters of Tom's name shining in the dim light of Flourish and Blotts.

Hermione ran her fingers over them, feeling the pulsing of the soul inside, "Is he safe?"

He had a certain look in his eye as he attempted to walk away, "I don't know what you mean, girl."

She grabbed his arm, a fine burning sensation spreading through it, a rattled look spreading across his face, "Is. He. Safe?" The book pulsed even more insistently as her magic sparked at her fingers.

"Y-yes," he had aimed to steer clear from Hermione that day.

~.O.~

The first time she sat in her bed and wrote in it, she was transported into a ghost like Chamber of Secrets, Tom's soul keeping his body alive recognizing her and bringing her to him in his dreams.

Looking around her, Hermione saw a black and white chamber with a long walkway with snarling snakes leading to a large statue of Salazar Slytherin's face. Hearing shuffling behind her, she pirouetted on her heel and gasped, her hand flying to cover her mouth, along with the sob that threatened to escape; the thirteen year old Hermione came face to face with her fifteen year old twin.

"Hermione," Tom said, his face glazed over as if in a trance while staring at his twin.

"Tommy," Hermione whispered, her hand reaching out to touch his face, but knowing it would go right through, and it did as the sob broke through without her control.

"My 'Mione," Tom said, his voice cracking as he stepped closer to her and hovered his hand over her cheek. "My 'Mione," his voice was soft, as if not believing she was here in front of him. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

His face broke further as it contorted to anger and sadness warring with one another. "How long has it been?" he asked, his hands curling into a fist and turned his body away from her, Hermione only seeing his tense back.

"50 years Tommy," a tear fell down her face as she remembered the day she was taken from him. "It's been 50 years."

"50 years," he repeated still turned away. "Was it him?"

"Yes."

Suddenly he spun around and stared at her smiling a bit with one corner of his mouth and asked, "Do you remember when I made this first Horcrux, love?"

Smiling softly as she watched him pace in front of Salazar's head, almost seeing the gears twisting in his head. "The parts that I was awake for."

Instantly, in-between them both appeared ghostly copies of themselves at fifteen years old talking to the large snakelike dragon with shark-like teeth sticking out of his mouth, porcupine needles like a mane around his neck. Almost as soon as it was gone, there was a shrill girlish scream from the sink's opening to the chamber, a golden glow shining around Tom as he fell to his hands and knees and ghostly Hermione turning him on his back, a look of panic on her face.

"I hated making that one," the black and white Tom said to her, his eyes still stuck to the scene in front of them as the golden glow transferred to Hermione and she fell to the ground beside Tom. "I couldn't feel you until you were awake again."

"The same thing happened to me, Tommy," Hermione said, walking around to stand by at watch at his side, "I thought you were dying."

Hermione woke with a gasp to Tom hovering over her and he grabbed her round the waist as she fought to get breath until she was half in his lap.

"It worked," apparition Hermione said in an echoey sort of voice,. "It worked Tommy!" she gasped a laugh as Tom landed a hard kiss to her lips still laughing as the scene vanished in white steam and thirteen year old Hermione looked to Tom who was already looking to her with a wistful expression on his eyes and on his lips.

"I wish I could touch you again," he repeated his earlier gesture of hovering his hand by her cheek.

Hermione smiled sadly and dropped it as a thought occurred to her, "We won't be able to see each other again like this." It wasn't a question.

His hand dropped, "No. The body I possess is too weak, I will soon have to find another."

Her hand copied his dropped movements, "Our Basilisk is asleep. He will be ready for our call."

He started to fade in front of her eyes, and smiled as his voice echoed out to her, "I love you, my girl."

Hermione fell back on her golden sheets and sobbed into her pillow, knowing that she wouldn't see her brother for many more months, or possibly years. She knew though that no one, no one would get in her way to bring him back. It was only a matter of who would give him the push he needed, and it seemed that the next years after this, their knights would do all the pushing for their master and their unknown Mistress.

"We'll be alright my love," Tom told her in her head, "As long as we have each other, we can get through anything," watching as a dark mark came to life of Hermione's left forearm, a lavender nestled in the mouth.

10: Bad Memories

Hogwarts Express

She never thought that dementors were scary, she had only been by them a handful of times when Tom had decided they had needed them as allies. Sirius Black escaping Azkaban had brought them here, and you could feel the air turn to ice. They were tall, willowy, living shadows with the ability to suck all the happy memories from you, making you relive the worst one you've had in all the years you have lived. But for some reason Hermione was the first to be seen in the compartment, and she was the one to relive a memory of anger instead of fear, a feeling and thoughts she hoped she would never feel or ever think again.

Wool's Orphanage

Summer, 1942

Hermione walked down the dark dusty hall of the orphanage dragging her hand along the wall, alone as Tom was meeting with their knights when she heard giggling coming from a cracked door she had just passed; a girl saying her brother's name made her freeze in place just outside.

"He was so good," a girl named Sara giggled from inside, her voice always having grated Hermione's nerves, she was tempted to leave until she heard the next words out of the girl's mouth. "He felt so good, Dawn. It was like he had done it forever."

The other girl, Dawn, giggled to her friend, "It was about time you got laid. I'm just surprised you got Tom! He's never away from his sister."

Sara made a sound of disgust, "She's such a whore Dawn. She never leaves his side, it wasn't even that hard to get him to screw me once…"

Hermione stopped listening, and her whole body turned numb at the realization that Tom, her Tommy, had sex with a girl, and didn't tell her. There have been many times that they had sex with someone else, but they had always told each other before they had done it and who they did it with if they decided to. He didn't tell her. That's what hurt the most, and at that thought, anger flooded her body. He was the only person that could hurt her in any way possible, he was her weakness, and she hated it. She hated that anyone had an advantage over her, but she would never trade him for the world, no matter how vulnerable he made her.

Already having a plan in mind, Hermione opened the door just a bit more and cast the imperius curse towards Sara, her and Tom having cloaked their tracker long ago, whispering in her head as she sits bolt upright from her relaxed position on the bed.

"Tell Dawn you are going to look for some food," Sara robotically tells Dawn, "walk out the bedroom door, go down the stairs, walk into the woods and make sure no one sees you."

Sara does as Hermione tells her, her movements automatic as she stops short in the hallway to avoid a boy going to his room, continuing on outside with Hermione following her the whole way with her wand tip lighted sightly. As they tread half a mile into the forest, Hermione blended in completely in her ankle length black lace trimmed dress, only the small amount of skin at her face, hands, and tops of her feet glowed in the darkness.

"Stop," she said out loud, binding Sara's hands and ankles with invisible ropes and pushed the blonde girl roughly to the ground as she took the imperius off her mind.

Hermione relished in the fearful look she girl cast around her as she struggled against her binds.

"What's going on? What am I doing here?" she cried.

Hermione ignored her tears and straddles her waist, wrestling her arms to the ground above her head and laughing as she cries out for help.

"Scream all you want, girl," Hermione licked the side of her neck where she had cut herself, feeling her shiver in disgust, her little grapple for power already making her grow tired as her energy weakened. "No one will hear you."

"Please, why are you doing this?" Hermione sighs, growing bored as she summons a blade and aims it at the girl's jugular.

"Did you enjoy fucking my brother?" she asked, watching the girls eyes widen in fear just as she feels an all encompassing warmth spread throughout her body as a familiar voice speaks from in front of the two girls.

"Are you jealous, love?" Tom asks as he leans against a large tree in an all black suit and tie, his hands casually in his pockets and a smirk on his lips.

Seeing him brought all the anger back that she had previously felt, slapping the dagger on the ground and earning a cut on her palm, she stalked up to her twin and slapped him across the cheek, smearing a trail of blood across.

"You son of a bitch," she her voice shook with fury. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" she asked, hurt now entering her voice as his stormy grey eyes darkened to match their hair.

Unexpectedly she was thrown to the ground next to Sara as the girl cried out and tried to wiggle away from them, Tom's hand wrapped around Hermione's throat, caressing it more than squeezing.

"Why did you want to date Jason?" his was voice calm, but Hermione could tell fury lay beneath it.

She narrowed her eyes at him as his hands wandered down to graze her breast, down to her hip, then to wrap around her thigh which her painfully squeezed and could already feel bruising. Sara's whimpers filled the forest around them, echoing off the trees as they increased when Tom wrapped Hermione's leg up around his hip.

"To get him to quit following me around Tom," she didn't even feel angry with him anymore as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and brought his forehead down to hers; feeling his breath against her lips she closed her eyes. "He means nothing to me. People were talking, we needed to keep up appearances, they could separate us. They may be muggles, but they know where to hit us where it hurts."

"They are nothing 'Mione. I promised you no one would take you away from me," his eyes bore into her's as his anger dissipated. "We promised each other."

She said nothing, only tilting her head to kiss him gently, only breaking away when they heard Sara start up again. They both turn their heads to see Sara staring at them with revulsion.

"You're both sick!" she screamed at them, tears pouring out of her blue eyes, making her cheeks flush.

"Yes we are," Tom said, pulling Hermione to stand back up above the bound girl. Hermione grabbing the jewel encrusted dagger from the ground and knelt by the sniveling girl.

"If love is sick, then we are diseased beyond help," she told her, just as she slices the girl's jugular and watched her gasp as her life blood seeps out onto the ground beneath her.

Tom pulls her up and grips her hips as she holds her mouth in front of his, allowing a golden glow, a piece of her soul, flow from her into Tom, bringing them both to their knees still clinging to each other. Unlike when Tom made his first Horcrux, Hermione's was filled with coldness, and despair, their bond forcibly severed once more, soon to return with an even more all consuming warmth. But not without sending them into depression before granting them the gift of feeling everything the other feels as if they themselves are experiencing it.

Hermione gasps Tom's name as she wakes, finding herself laying on the cushioned bench of the compartment, Harry, Ron, and Professor Lupin hovering over her. Her face was wet and she knew it was going to be flushed and blotchy if she looked in a mirror, and she was shivering.

Lupin gave her a piece of chocolate and smiled at her, "It's medicinal. Eat." Harry asked how she was doing and she started sobbing, having relived the feelings along with the memory, she was exhausted.

"Are you okay 'Mione?" Ron asked, worry lining his face as well as Harry's, Lupin looking slightly uncomfortable sat next to her.

Hearing the name, she sobbed harder and grabbed the closest person to her, which happened to be Harry. Having another piece of Tom's soul made her feel calm, no matter that it wasn't truly him, yet that realization made her even more sad.

"Who's Tom Hermione?" Harry asked over her shoulder.

She pulled back and smiled at him, wiping her tears away, "No one Harry, just someone I used to know." She didn't see Lupin flinch at the name.

11: Exceptional

Hermione's year had continued on, and it seemed as if she were cursed to find everything horrible in the castle and have it turn on her so rip her from the bliss of knowing each day pulled her closer to her twin. Her worst fear stood right in front of her in the form of a boggart- Tom's walking corpse telling her she did it to him, she let him die by leaving him. As she cast the spell, she felt herself shivering as she vaguely heard Professor Lupin say she could leave early, looking unsettled himself. Harry steered her towards the Gryffindor common room. She was tired, and she wanted her brother, but she was at a dead end with finding someone she could trust to help him and be her right-hand man, Lucius Malfoy may be somewhat trusted by her brother, but she didn't know him. And that made her wary. Hermione wasn't going to lose her hope though, for later that year, she found exactly who she would trust her and her brother's lives with. The one man she had previously thought might come in handy, Tom had written when she had told him of her plans...

Excellent idea, love

Severus Snape. A man who lost the woman he loved to his childhood bully, a man who was scarred by his family-hood way before that, and a man who had run to the Death Eaters in search for a family, the place he truly belonged. Hermione knew he was the one the instant she saw his eyes filled with hate at Sirius Black, and fear of Lupin once he set foot in the shrieking shack... on a full moon. Hermione saw the teenage boy hiding behind the snarling lined face that stood holding Black at wand-point.

"I trusted you!" Harry yelled to Lupin, "I trusted you, and all this time, you've been his friend!"

Lupin's face was sympathetic, "Harry-" he began, not getting a chance to explain as Severus barged into the room and everyone stared, unmoving at the two men staring each other down.

Severus came up to Sirius with his wand pointed at his neck, his face filled with unconcealed loathing, "I could do it you know. But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you. They say a Dementor's Kiss is the worst thing to have happen to you. Your soul taken away, not being able to feel anything, stuck inside your mind."

"Severus, please." Lupin tried persuading him just as Hermione saw Harry's wand move up, but was too late to stop him from rendering Severus unconscious with a well worked Expelliarmus to the chest.

In the chaos, Scabbers jumped out of Ron's hands out to the base of the Whomping Willow, bringing along everyone except Hermione and the groaning Severus all proceeding after him. Hermione approached Severus on the broken bed raining dust everywhere, wary of how he would react to help.

Crouching down next to him he noticed her and scowled blackly, seeing he was about to tear her a new one she interrupted, "Are you alright?"

The lines between his brows became more prominent, "Yes Miss. Granger, I am fine, but when we get back to the castle-" he tried to get up as Hermione moved back to give him space, wondering how she was going to go about bringing up this conversation; he grabbed his leg suddenly as he tries to stand, grinding his teeth together.

"Let me help," Hermione told him, bending next to him again and ignoring as he protests.

Putting a hand where he had grasped, she called upon her magic, concentrating it to flow neatly through her hand to his leg. Severus was astounded, he didn't know what to think when the pain had receded. This girl, this girl who he had grown to dislike immensely for being friends with Potter and being an insufferable chit, was healing him with magic she shouldn't possess, as well as doing it willingly. Growing groggy, he felt faint and almost fell back on a board if Hermione hadn't caught him and lowered him softly down and sat next to him.

She apologized, "Healing another person other than my brother usually has some side effects."

"You don't have a brother," he slurred, far les imitating now that he isn't scowling at everything that walks, the air absent of his frequent tongue lashings.

Smiling slightly, Hermione brushed a piece of hair out of his closed eyes, sadness filling her when he flinched away slightly but allowed her to brush her hand down his cheek, "Of course I do. It's a secret."

He slowly rolled his head to look at her, his eyes hooded, "What is your brother's name?"

Hermione watched his face for any sign of emotion, "His name is Tom. Tom Riddle."

Severus stared at her, and stared, until a flicker of fear entered his eyes, "You look like him, before he came back, but that's not possible. She disappeared 50 years... ago…" his eyes were confused, but thoughts were swirling in his mind, the connections adding together. Dumbledore's wariness of her, the girl's familiar name, her appearance.

Hermione grabbed his left arm and rolled up the sleeve to expose the faded dark mark, "Are you truly loyal to him Severus, or are you loyal to the man who allowed Lily to be murdered?" He tensed up at his former love's name, and if Hermione hadn't been holding onto him, she wouldn't have noticed. She smiled before he could say anything. "He was never meant to be like this, we were never after power. We just wanted to be together, forever. It seemed though that people were constantly trying to tear us apart, including the man who claims to be on the side of the light but had more darkness in him at the time than me and Tom." Sadness overcame her as she traced the mark's outline, "We may have killed people, but it was never for fun. It was necessary, never let a body go to waste. He never would have turned out this way if I had been with him." she paused for a moment as tears gathered in her eyes, looking to Severus who stared at her as if making up something in his head. "We were never meant to be apart for this long, we always lost our minds a little bit if we were even apart for a day."

"You aren't like him at all, are you?" Severus asked Hermione, sitting up as the effects of being healed weared off.

Her mouth lifted a bit, "Not how he is now, no." she hesitated, "Does he hurt you?"

"Yes." Severus wondered why she cared, she may not act like the Dark Lord's sister, but she was in all ways but attitude at the moment.

Her face fell again, "If you had a choice, Severus, would you choose to be free of your masters? Of my brother, of Dumbledore, of all magical obligations? Would you be loyal to the person who would free you to make your own allegiances to who you want to, not out of any compulsion but your own will?"

Severus' mind stopped, not even wanting to contemplate the possibilities of a masterless life. It was too good to be true. He looked to her with a hidden vulnerability, searching her innocent seeming face that looked so much alike her brother, yet so different. He made up his mind. "Yes. I would."

Hermione's face lit up as if he told her he would give her the stars; lifting his arm to her lips, she kisses the mark that was never meant to bind someone to another person, but was meant originally as a sign of devotion. Severus' body radiated warmth from her mouth touching his skin, he had never felt the kind of emotion as her energy warmed him to his dragon hide encased toes. Hermione pulled back, watching as the Dark Mark turned pitch black once more with the addition of a blooming flower. Severus could feel deep in his gut that he made the right decision.

"You are part of our family now," Hermione said, helping him stand finally, "You won't have to worry about Tom anymore. I'll deal with him."

"He is still truly alive."

"Yes. He is."

A howl breaks through the creaks and groans of the shack, and they know exactly who and what it is.

"Lupin," Severus growls, the fear reentering his eyes no matter how hard he tried to contain it.

"Damn it," Hermione said, "Harry and Ron are out there."

As they emerged from the base of the ground of the Willow, they saw Lupin make the final changes of his transformation into lycanthropy and Sirius transforming into his animagus form as well and lunging at Remus. Severus and Hermione both run in front of a scared Harry and shaking Ron who was once again holding Peter Pettigrew in his rat form; Hermione could feel Severus shaking as his wand lifted and sent a nonverbal sleeping charm at Remus, causing Sirius to whimper slightly and turn to Severus with his mouth foaming, thinking he had cause harm to his best friend. He lunged, and Hermione stepped in the way at the shocked gasps of the two boys behind her, only to get bitten on the thigh and knocked back into Severus who held her up as everything went dark.

Hospital Wing

Hermione was taken to the hospital wing as Sirius put Remus back into the Shrieking Shack, Harry and Ron then taking him, as well as Pettigrew, to Dumbledore under the invisibility cloak. Madame Pomfrey was bustling around Hermione's bed who had a pillow under her new bandaged thigh.

Severus was sitting beside her bed, looking at her with an indistinguishable expression, "Why would you do that? Why would you risk yourself for me?" his deep drawing baritone uncharacteristically quiet and low.

She smiled at him as she could hear Madame Pomfrey muttering to herself in her office, drawing his left arm into her lap she caressed his newly darkened arm through his frock coat.

"This mark, Severus, is a symbol that will forever connect us together. It is a sign of your love and loyalty to me, as well as protection on my part; when I offered this chance to you, I was offering a wardship to you. My reincarnated body may be young, but I still have my mind." she said to his face that showed so much vulnerability that he never has shown to anyone; she felt like weeping as he asked himself why she chose him, why he was so special to this one girl who may have well saved his life.

As if she read his thoughts, she raised a hand to his cheek, "You're life is very special, and if anyone has ever seen the real you and not the snarling mask you put up everyday, they would see it too. That is why I chose you, Severus. You were a man, sentenced to death at a very early age by joining my brother, and then Dumbledore. I would never ask you to do anything I would not do myself, or do anything to you that I myself would not take."

He brought himself together, looking at this small girl that held so much power in more than her wand, he kissed her knuckles. "Thank you."

She smiled at him, and she asked him something she knew very well he could refuse but wouldn't.

"Will you help me bring my brother back, Severus? My brother, not Lord Voldemort, but the man he used to be before he was taken from me?"

He knelt on bended knee, bowing over her hand, "Yes, my lady. I swear to you that I, Severus Snape, will do anything in my power to bring back your brother."

12: Mystified

Early in the day the Quidditch World Cup was scheduled to take place, Hermione felt something tangible in the air, and was not a bit surprised when her Dark Mark grew warm. There was chaos everywhere, and Hermione loved it; tents caught fire, people screaming, smoke and fear in the air. It had been a long time since she had felt like this. Death Eaters in long cowled robes and bone masks caused panic to seep into the air; everyone she was with had disappeared while she was in the same spot she was in when she first caught wind of screaming, just enjoying the smell of blood in the air. Suddenly, it was quiet. Everyone had either disapparated or used a portkey to leave, immediately surrounded with wands pointed at her.

"Well aren't you a pretty little girl?" a hairy werewolf-man by the name of Greyback told her, smiling at her with a pointed tooth grin.

Hermione was not impressed with her brother's new followers, she smirked at him, "I'm older than I look."

"We'll see about that," Greyback growled as he started towards her, some of the other Death Eaters chuckled raspily.

"She is off limits," came from a cowled figure beside Greyback, "The Dark Lord forbids her from being harmed."

Greyback turned to the man, growling out as the hair on his arms stood up like an animal in danger, "You sweet on the Mudblood Malfoy? The Dark Lord didn't give us any rules."

Hermione pointed her wand at him as the others murmured their agreements, more chuckles raised around her as she raised her left sleeve, and immediately stopped as they saw what lay etched into it, whispering as they knew it wasn't a traditional Dark Mark. She brought it up to her lips and kissed it, summoning Severus to her as she knew he was on another part of the ground where the fires blazed brighter; he came to her in a mass of black shimmery smoke.

"Severus," she greeted him as he lowered his mask, and went on one knee and kissed her hand. "Did you do well?" she asked, as if they were not in the middle of dangerous and confused Death Eaters.

"Yes my lady," he replied, "Do you wish for me to call them off?"

She smiled, "Yes, my dear. Please. Send my brother my regards." She kissed his cheek as the other's masks disappeared from their faces.

At those words the Death Eaters disapparated in clouds of black, fear of their Lord outweighing their curiosity as Hermione raises her wand in the air and yells, "Morsmordre!" and in a green light, the dark mark appears in the sky, and Hermione is captivated. This is how Harry, Ron, Mr. Weasley, and the Aurors found her, mystified, staring up into the sky with a craving in the pit of her stomach.

13: The Only One For Me

Ron was an idiot, Hermione had already known that, but he had just demonstrated it once again in Severus' class. He was once again whinging about not having a date for the ball, when he asked something incredibly insensitive and stupid.

"Hermione you're a girl, right?" he said, immediately getting another hit on the head from Severus for talking he would think, but Sev's reason was different. "You want to go with one of us?" Harry just shook his head and buried his head in his notebook, shoulders shaking.

"Very astute, Ronald," Hermione huffed, finishing her sentence and standing, "And no Ron, I was already asked." she gave her papers to Severus who looked surly as ever.

Hermione grinned at him, glad her back was to the class, "Are you jealous Sev?" she already knew the answer from their bond through the Dark Mark.

He ignored her teasing as he pretended to look through the work on his desk, "Who are you going with?"

"Harry asked me. Save me a dance?"

He looked up to her still smiling face, his grimace melting, "Of course, my Lady."

Passing the boys, Ron's mouth was gaping unattractively. Guess Harry told him.

~.O.~

"Do you remember our Yule Ball Tom?" She didn't, but she will not be used as a last resort to some bumbling teenage boy, no matter if they were friends.

"Yes I do, my love," he chuckled, "They all talked about us that night too, more than usual."

She laughed outloud, glad that she had spelled the curtains around her bed, "I also remember how you reacted to Abraxas when he tried to ask me to it."

Hogwarts

Outside the Great Hall, 1943

Hermione's back was digging into the stone of the deserted hallway where Tom had his hand around her throat.

"If he even asks you to dance, I will kill him." he told her, his eyes darkening.

She smirked up at him as his hand tightened momentarily, tilting her head to the side and kissing her neck.

"I would expect nothing less, love," she gasped out as his hand bruised her hip and his lips trailed over hers. "You know you're the only man for me, Tommy. I could never love anyone more than I love you. Maybe just as much as you."

He pushed her harder against the stone and laughed, gently kisses her as his grips loosens, "As long as he doesn't get in my way, I won't have a problem."

~.O.~

Great Hall, 1995

"You look lovely, my lady," Severus told her as he danced with her to a slow song, his face blank but she saw a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

She grinned at him as he twirled her in her dark green dress that fell around her in layers of soft silk, "Thank you, Severus. You can can me Hermione you know?" he gave her a look, she laughed, "In private." she looked down to her dress, "Harry didn't like the color very much, but you Slytherin's seem to be drawn to me in this color." he huffed out a laugh, she curtsied as he bowed to her when the song ended and walked back to Harry who ultimately asked her to be his date; noting a certain blond eyed pure-blood whose' eyes had followed her for the duration of her dance with her knight.

"Why were you dancing with Snape?" Ron asked, sounding disgusted as Harry handed her a cup of cold pumpkin juice.

"Professor Snape, Ron," she told him, taking a sip of her drink, "and students were encouraged to dance with the professors. You heard Professor McGonagall."

He shuddered, his face contorting, "No thanks, once was bloody well enough for me."

She laughed at him as Tom makes his presence known once more, "Do I have competition, my dear?"

"I stand by my words, Tommy." Her eyes were once again on Severus in his dashing Slytherin green dress robes she had convinced him to wear.

"I will hold you to that."

14: Back to Life

Triwizard Tournament

Hermione had gotten gotten a message for the first time in a while.

Tonight

She felt the stir in the air, much like the one during the World Cup. Tom's voice raspy with excitement echoing in her head, giving way to an older version of itself, "Done."

"Done," Hermione repeated out loud, looking to Severus who was already looking to her, giddiness growing in her belly as the crowd's cheers around her grew to a roar as Harry appeared holding Cedric Diggory's body in a flash of blue light from the Triwizard portkey. Hermione knew he was dead as soon as she saw Harry try and cling to the body as Dumbledore stood next to him; it took the crowd a few moments, and as if a switch was flicked, a horrific silence descended as Mr. Diggory wailed. Hermione had felt her arm grow warm, and a presence made itself known to her, for the first time in 50 years.

"Together," it said, "Together again. Tonight."

"Tonight," Hermione agreed, toning out the screams of the people around her at Harry's words.

~.O.~

Godric's Hollow

Lord Voldemort was resurrected in a flash of swirling smoke, his weak and withered human body he had been possessing elongating, strengthening, connecting itself once again to it's other half. To Hermione.

The next series of events would forever change how the world works. It will forever be changed due to the actions of one man, one man who had thought he was doing good but had inadvertently made the most powerful wizard in a century even more dangerous. All due to love, the world will burn soon enough by the actions of two people who'd have killed themselves than be parted.

~.O.~

Hermione's mind lingered half way in the middle of darkness and light, as her soul had for many years before. Even in sleep she felt different. She felt whole. Her mind couldn't rest, gears were turning, plans were in the making of the future. It was glorious chaos after Harry revealed Lord Voldemort was back; the air was filled with denial, and fear, and a father's sadness for his murdered son. Her brother was back from the brink of death- her mouth tilted up at the thought of him even during sleep, making her look even more innocent than she really was.

Suddenly, a sun melded itself above her, grass under her bare feet as a white lace dress with flowing sleeves folded itself, translucent in the light. Her brother stood in front of her, clad in his new body that just wouldn't do..

"Tommy!" Hermione gasped, and before she knew it she was engulfed in the phantom like warmth that would have been Tom.

"Hermione," Tom said in her ear, arms wrapping around her small body half the size of his and buried his face in her shadowy riot of curls.

Pulling back, Hermione stared at her brother's new body inspired by Nagini's venom in the potion that had resurrected him. She caressed his face gently, feeling the essence of heat upon his cheek, "What have you done to yourself, my love?"

All Tom did was put his hand up to her face and attempted to trace every sharp angle and commit it to memory once again. Heat was flaring up from their bellies to snake out to all parts.

"Are you ready Tommy?" Hermione asked him, smiling a smile she had never shown to any of her friends in her new life.

In answer, he leaned down to softly press his lips to hers and pleasure filled both of their beings. Hermione moaned as Tom tangled a hand in her hair, and a shining golden light surrounded their bodies even brighter than the sun. Tom felt like he was on fire, and by extension, Hermione as she moaned out loud in the waking world as well. Light turned to darkness, and then everything was still. The flowers, the birds, the trees. Everything stayed still except the two heart beats beat in sync as snake like Lord Voldemort, turned into charming and handsome Tom Riddle.

~.O.~

Hermione woke gasping, surrounded by red velvet sheets, sitting up in bed as she still feels her twin's heat surrounding her. She had her Tom back, and she was going to do everything to stay with him this time. Twisting a now black wavy curl around her finger, she tested her connecting with her brother. Closing her eyes, she imagined what her magic looked like and it came to her- glimmering gold waves, spinning and dancing in darkness now with a silver that seemed to revolve around her magic that had not been their before she was reunited with her brother. She smiled as she heard the whispers of her brother's thoughts that would forever remain in her head, three words were louder than the others, and they only made her even more happier for she hadn't heard them from present day Tom in years.

"Soon." His voice echoed fleetingly through her mind.

"Very soon," she repeated to him, watching the waves of magic dance even more enthusiastically with their words and mounting emotions, relishing in the enjoyment she knew he felt with having his old body once more.

15: Together Again

Not very long after Hermione and Tom were reunited in their dreams, they were reunited in reality.

Hermione didn't think that she and her brother would see each other for the first time like this, especially not through the eyes and body of Harry Potter's body. Hermione already knew that her brother had lost a bit of his sanity along the years she was away from him, but she didn't think that he would do something as blatant as this. The Department of Mysteries was a tricky thing; prophecies were tricky things. They were what got her Tom on the verge of death once, and they were going to threaten his life again as well as expose them both.

"Come back to me love. Do it for us. We will always find our way back to each other, no matter what. We've been through too much already to have them win. We will be together again," Hermione knelt on the ground with her hands on Harry's chest, Voldemort inhabiting his body fighting for control of will. She touches his face as those smoky eyes in that pale gaunt face looked at her through the boy-who-lived. "I will always be here, waiting. We promised always."

Suddenly as if a shock went through her body, as well as Harry's, heat flooded them both and Tom's eyes bored into her's as he rasps through a combination of his and the boy's voices, "Always." Dark smoke lifted out of Harry's body, and all Hermione was left to see before she fainted was green floo's springing to life and screaming steadily getting closer.

This was going to be a hell of a thing to explain later.

~.O.~

Malfoy Manor was actually very pretty, if not a little… large and overdone, but the gardens were lovely. Hermione absolutely loved all the pretty colors and types of flowers with so many different hidden meanings, to those who knew where to look. Violet and pink asters, different colored gladiolus, and iris lined the light walkway and no doubt had a little help from magic to help grow in the crisp Wiltshire air. Entering the spaciously dark ballroom on the arm of her loyal comrade, Hermione brought several unfriendly reactions and wands pointed to her from the people seated along the long mahogany table as well as a growl from more than one, and an admiring one from the commander.

"Silence!" Tom said quietly, his deep voice not having to yell to garner attention. Many sat back, only a few still mumbling their disagreements and inquiries at a 'mudblood' being at a Death Eater meeting and was met at the end of a stony glare instead of the usual green flash.

"Thank you, Sev," Hermione told Severus as they both stood only a few feet from the end of the seated people.

"Are you sure?" he asked, placing a kiss to her knuckles.

Hermione chuckled putting her hand on his face, stroking her thumb on his cheekbone, and urging him on the take his new place a few seats up from his original to her brother's right, "Go on."

Severus sneered at the eyes that followed him as Hermione looked around the dark room, slowly walking her way on the right side and dragging her small hand along the large black clad shoulders as the respective owners flinched, and suddenly the room became quiet. Meeting Tom's sharp gaze Hermione's lips turned up at the corners and it softened. Stopping behind a young man with slightly long platinum blond hair with her hand on his tense shoulder, hissing interrupted the silence followed by her feminine chuckle that also turned into a hiss. In a swirl of black, her body transformed into a long slim jade boa constrictor that wound herself around a still Draco Malfoy's neck and shoulders and nestled against his cheek until he relaxed; with a nod from his Lord ran a pale hand along her back as she went to wind herself with Nagini slithering up to Tom. Passing the various Death Eaters Hermione hissed at a few she didn't particularly like, tying herself around her brother's torso with her daughter until she was comfortable to turn back into her human self. Kissing underneath his jaw, Hermione felt a kiss placed her onto black waves as his arms went around her trim waist, she her hands around his neck and bottom between his thighs in a very familiar position and looked to the bewildered Death Eaters.

As Tom begins the meeting, Hermione strokes Nagini on her head as she hissed on her breast and looks on to study the dark knights. They are loyal, but only by fear, she would have to change that. Her eyes are drawn to Severus directly in front of where she sat and she smiles as she notices he is already looking at her. Next is Draco, he will be next to come around, his mother will follow, and Lucius may be possible once he sees his wife and son follow. Many of the people at this table may be possible once they see the differences between herself and Tom; fear may inspire loyalty without question, but love inspires loyalty in the most life threatening circumstances, and unlike fear, they will stick with you throughout it all without the thought of betraying you.

"This is my sister," Hermione heard Tom say through her thoughts, "you will treat her as if she is me, when all actuality she is and you will cater to her every need and protection rather she asks for it or not. She will be your Lady as I am your Lord, but my needs will be met second to hers. She is above me in everyway possible where we both are concerned."

"Tom," she admonishes him lightly, speaking for the first time while playing with the buttons on his dark green robes that look almost black. "Severus is capable enough to protect himself and me, and you know as much as I that I can protect myself."

He tilts her chin up with his large hand covering half of her neck and part of her cheek, his eyes flicking to Severus for a moment, then grey eyes meet stormy grey, "Accept it, love. Until they get to know you, they will fear me, and listen to me until they learn to love you and treat you like their queen."

Hermione was not at all surprised to hear that he knew what she was thinking, their connections allowing the other to hear at all times our thoughts. Putting her hand on his pale cheek, she smiled softly and leaned up to kiss the corner of his pink lips, "I know my love."

~.O.~

The Death Eaters were astonished, and that didn't happen very often. They saw their feared leader smile at the girl, let the girl touch him without killing her, let the girl kiss him and wrap her body around him sensually, he let her touch his feared overgrown familiar who allowed her touch her scaly body without biting her with her venomous fangs. The Dark Lord has never allowed anyone to get close enough to even have a chance at brushing his voluminous robes, and if they ever were they were met with the end of his dark wand and with the flash of a green light in the blink of an eye. Everyone had wondered why he had never sought human contact, at least in their presence, and now they think they believe to know why.

The girl.

His sister.

It was abnormal, unnatural, many purebloods had married inside their family out of trying to keep the bloodline pure, but never their immediate siblings. Ultimately though, it was not much of a surprise. There were stories, rumors of Tom Riddle having a twin long ago that had disappeared without a trace, stories of the charismatic girl passed on from the first Death Eaters to their sons and daughters. Stories of the loving girl who had treated them with kindness and protected them from her brother's wrath, as well as protecting him from himself, but when she was gone, there was no one to buffer their Lord's cruelty. There was no one to keep him from succumbing to insanity. The girl that was thought to be entirely to close to her brother was thought to be dead.

But here she was, the girl of myth was sitting on their Lord's lap, kissing him, and loving him, and touching him. Hardly anyone could believe it, but some dared to hope for the life their parents and their grandparents talked of. This girl, now their Mistress, may very well save them from death at the hands of their Lord; watching the smile they thought him previously incapable of spread across his face, they thought this with whimsical hearts as the small girl dwarfed by his sheer body size made their Dark Lord laugh lowly.

16: Suspicions

Hogwarts Express

"Hermione!" A tall lanky boy with messy black hair collided with the petite girl, almost knocking her over in laughter, "Where have you been?"

"Hi, Harry," she said chuckling as they boarded the train, her arm around his tall neck as he grabbed her small bag, "You know I've been in France with my parents, I just haven't had time to write to anyone I've been so busy."

"You could've at least given us a hint that you were still alive," he said giving her an admonishing look as she tried to not be annoyed.

"How've you been Harry?" she asked as she sat next to Ron in the maroon compartment giving him a light squeeze, smiling as his face took on an uncharacteristic blush. Harry took a seat next to Ginny, sitting closer than they had the previous years. "You still having the dreams?"

He got this little frown between his eyes that made him look adorable, Ginny put her hand on his knee as Ron tensed next to her but said nothing.

"Sometimes, but they're mostly bits and pieces, now it's more just feelings sometimes and emotions that aren't mine," he hesitated, Ginny's grip tensed on his knee. "He doesn't feel like he used to."

Hermione gave him a confused look, but knowing exactly what he meant, "What do you mean?"

"He… doesn't feel as erratic as he used to. He feels saner, or as sane as a Dark Lord can be."

"Well that makes sense, there's not as many raids as there used to be. What's so bad about it?"

"He's planning something 'Mione," Ron spoke for the first time since she stepped on the train, his long hair falling into his eyes boyishly.

"And so is Dumbledore," Harry interjected after a few moments of digestive silence, and Hermione's head snapped to him from where she had been lost in thought looking out the window. "He took me with him to see Horace Slughorn, an old potions teacher, Snape is taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts position."

"Professor Snape, Harry." Hermione said sneering, remembering the large biased irritating man, distracted again. Dumbledore doesn't expect Severus to live past this year Tommy, She reached out to her brother's mind. You already know everything I would kill him for, he will live, my love. The old man doesn't know he swore loyalty to you. "Do you know what?"

He frowned again, suddenly grabbing his forehead, looking out the door of the compartment to where Draco had just passed, "No, but he wants me to go somewhere with him later this year. What was weird too, his hand was turning black." he replied, continuing to look towards the empty hall.

Hermione's body went cold, "His hand was black?"

"Yeah, and there was a white spot on one of his fingers like a ring and the black branched out like the hand was shriveling up."

Hermione's jaw clenched, Get all the Horcruxes. Keep Nagini close and don't let her be seen by anyone other than Severus and Draco.

~.O.~

Hogwarts, Potions

Walking into potions and seeing Horace Slughorn where Severus should be was like an ice pick being rammed into ice, that certain crack and break you know is eventual. Something was going to happen that Slughorn being here was going to start, Hermione could feel it. Him being here was the certainty that Dumbledore expected Severus to not be back next year, he thought he would lay his life down for him in order to win this war. Hermione would not allow that to happen. Would not allow him to lay down his life for her, nor anyone else. Especially a man who deceives by pretending to be good, when in reality, he is the one to send people off to their deaths.

"Hello, Draco," she sidles up beside him as he gives an uncharacteristically soft smile a Slytherin wouldn't normally give a Gryffindor.

"My lady," he says looking at Slughorn's large frame wobbling up to the three steaming cauldrons, inclining his head slightly, Harry and Ron giving her questioning looks as to why she was talking to the 'enemy'.

"Does anyone what what these potions might be?" Slughorn starts, his ridiculous hat sitting atop his head as he just looks to the kids in front of him, nobody raised their hands.

"You know Draco," Hermione whispered quietly as Slughorn looked expectantly at them all, not at all like Severus who would be calling them 'utter imbeciles' by now, "Severus taught us these years ago."

"Miss. Granger," Slughorn called on her, interrupting Draco's retort, "Would you be so kind?"

Pushing down her irritation at his high voice, she took her place in front of the first cauldron, "Amortentia, said to be the most powerful love potion in the world. Supposed to be the one thing that can attract anyone you want to you with even just a drop." she said, distracted by the scent, not even attempting to pull away.

"And what does it smell like to you miss, Granger?" Slughorn asked, breaking Hermione from her trance when she heard something indistinguishable in his voice.

She met his eyes, saying the words that would cement her old professor's suspicions, as well as Dumbledore's, "Bourbon," Slughorn flinched, "mint," he fought not to take a step back, "and fresh falling snow." his mouth gaped open slightly, and he fought his legs to stay in place and not go running to the Headmaster.

Hermione turned on her heel to walk back next to a smirking Draco, "You just started something didn't you?"

"I sure did, lovie."

Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances behind the two, Harry holding a tatty old book with familiar black ink writing across the righthand corner.

~.O.~

"Albus," Slughorn's hand shook as he poured scotch into a tumbler, "You didn't tell me when I agreed to come back that I would have Tom's sister in my class."

"So it is her?" Dumbledore asked for once without that insufferable twinkle in his eye as he looked everyday his age.

"Albus what is going on?" McGonagall asked from her seat in front of the desk filled with trinkets, "Who are you both talking about?"

"Hermione, Minerva," Albus replied, "Hermione Riddle and Hermione Granger."

"She said the same words as the first time I set the assignment all those years ago," Slughorn chimed in distractedly, lost in his thoughts.

Realization dawned on her face, her body slumping back as she fought not to panic or faint, "How is this possible? She disappeared over 50 years ago."

Dumbledore runs a hand over his face, "I did something."

"What did you do Albus?"

He hesitated, "I made a spell that went wrong. It was supposed to make her into a different person, someone that would not help Tom. I guess it did, just in the wrong century, and from what Horace has told us she retains her memories from her first life. I thought it would keep Tom from becoming too powerful, but I was wrong, it only made him more unstable. The year that she was gone was the year that Tom made his presence known, the year that all those deaths occurred at the hands of the hordes of Death Eaters."

"Dear Merlin," Slughorn said, knocking back his drink.

Minerva sighed, "Oh, Albus. They were twins, she's the one that minimized the deaths. She is the only person who made him see reason, you didn't see it as much as I did; you were their professor, I was their classmate. She is more powerful than any of us, she has the power to control the most feared wizard since Grindelwald. You did this Albus, all we can do now is wait and see what she will do after being separated from the one person they both had."

"Just wait," he repeated, taking on the weary expression of a man who's lived too long.

17: Choices

Malfoy Manor

Tom's Chambers

"I don't want Draco to be involved in this Tommy," Hermione said one day, laying in a thin lace night dress in Tom's green silk laden bed.

"Why not, love?" Tom asked from his position at the mahogany desk, bent over doing paperwork pertaining to Ministry officials and bribes. "He has been trained to be one of our Death Eaters since birth."

Hermione sighed, sliding off the high bed her feet slunk silently in the black fur rug to wrap her arms around Tom's neck, looking over her shoulder. "Being raised into it, and choosing to become a dark wizard are two very different things."

Pulling back, Tom set down his quill and pulled Hermione down into his lap, nuzzling the underside of her neck, kissing her jaw. "We had made two horcruxes by the time we were his age."

She laughed softly against his lips, sinking her hands into his soft hair, "He will be my knight, I will put him in the Ministry and he can choose if he wants to be a part of the violence. He's just a boy, he wasn't meant to ravage..." she hissed, pulling his hair back roughly, making him chuckle huskily as she trailed her own lips down his jaw, hands bruising her hips, "the world like we are."

"Ravage indeed, dearie." Hermione squealed as she was picked up into the air.

~.O.~

Malfoy Manor Ballroom

Death Eater Meeting

"Will you Draco Lucius Malfoy be loyal to your lady, to do everything in your power to ensure her and her Lord Brother's essent into power?"

"I do," he didn't hesitate.

Hermione put her red lips to Draco's bare left arm, and on it appeared the same image as the one on her's and Severus', the Dark Mark with the addition of the lavender.

The Death Eaters were mesmerized to witness the second of it's kind, The Knights, being made by warmth and compassion, rather than the agonizing pain that made the flowerless Dark Mark so similar to the Cruciatus curse. Looking to their Dark Lord, many thought that maybe things would have been different if she had not disappeared so long ago, maybe they wouldn't have become the violent creatures they were today. Seeing the utter open adoration upon Lord Voldemort's face, many were still taken by surprise as they thought they would never get used to the emotion so clear on the man that had tortured them all at one time or another. Maybe they could come to love him again, and idolized him before they knew what he did after they had taken the mark. But now, as they look even closer, they know that he is no longer the one that solely decides their decisions. The girl kissing the blond haired boy on the cheek is the one that truly rules them, and is more their Dark Mistress than he will ever be their Dark Lord again.

18: Secret Meetings

Gryffindor Tower

Quidditch was never a sport Hermione had liked, nor had Tom. It was just a bunch of witches and wizards flying around on broomsticks, dodging and chasing big and little balls. Although, the afterparties provided very good cover for clandestine meetings with potion masters that everyone called a dungeon bat; especially when the children were hooting and hollering at the red haired boy and annoying chit of a girl snogging at the center of said party.

Slipping away, Hermione made her way downstairs to a shadowed empty room overlooking the dark lake. Leaning against the stone wall, she closed her eyes and felt out for Severus' magic with her mind. Slightly caressing the strands, she waited for him to come to her. After so long apart, Hermione still felt the hole in her chest when she can not reach out and touch her brother's warm skin that never seems to get cold, so the other man in her life she was growing to love would do perfectly. Suddenly, she was enveloped in that same heat she had been fantasizing about, arms wrapped in soft black velvet resting on her ribcage underneath her breasts.

"You wanted me love?" his breath rustled her hair, his unique scent of potions ingredients and spices invading her senses.

"I wanted to be held."

"Happy to oblige, though I do not know how your Lord Brother would think of our embraces ."

She chuckled, "My brother already knows of our affections Sev, I don't keep secrets from him, nor do I want to. As long as we include him from time to time he won't get jealous." her arms went to rest in line with his, their fingers intertwining, "Do you have issue with that?"

"As long as it gives me you, I take issue from nothing."

The sounds of the party upstairs was suddenly amplified as someone opened the common room door, "You should go before someone comes looking for me." she said as she turned in Severus' arms. "Are you still coming to Slughorn's party? Tom will be using Cormac McLaggen's body to check on everything for himself."

"Wouldn't miss it." He drawled, kissing her on the corner of her mouth and disappearing in a twirl of billowing robes.

"Hermione?" She heard her name being called, an inky black head blending in with the shadows behind him standing up at the middle of the spiral staircase, "What are you doing down here?"

"Just wanted some alone time, Harry," she replied, snaking her arm through his, leading him back up the stones.

"Were you talking to someone? I thought I heard a guy's voice?"

"Nope, just me."

~.O.~

Slug Club Party

"You know," Hermione said while straightening Tom's collar, "I never liked blonds very much." Seeing Tom's smirk on Cormac McLaggen's face was very… unusual. Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by Slughorn wobbling up to them, slapping Tom on the back.

"You clean up good my boy," he said, the faint smell of firewhiskey on his breath. Looking to Hermione, he noticable flinched and back up a step as Tom took her hand, "Miss. Granger."

Hermione smiled with hidden glee, "Professor," she purred, watching as he nodded and fled to chug more firewhiskey, Tom steering her towards the drinks table. Seeing Harry hovering behind her brother she ran a hand down his chest, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Go check on how Draco is doing with the Vanishing Cabinet."

He smirked, "Yes, dear," he kissed her hand before sweeping away in a twirl of black robes that the real Cormac could never pull off.

"Really, 'Mione. McLaggen?" Harry asked her as soon as he was able, pulling her behind a sheer golden curtain that surprisingly offered more privacy than was shown.

"Yes Harry," Hermione chuckled, "Cormac asked me, and you didn't think to ask before he did when you didn't have an escort." Hermione felt Severus getting close, as well as the scent of herbs making it's way towards them.

He blushed as the incredulousness faded from his body, "Touche." Suddenly the curtain was pulled back with a snap, and there stood Severus in all his menacing ebony glory, decked out in slightly more formal robes with splashes of green stitching that Hermione had given to him as an early Yuletide gift.

"Potter," he spat, "Come with me," his eyes softened as well as his tone as Harry walked out with a huff, looking at Hermione, "As beautiful as ever, my lady."

Putting a hand to his jaw, running her hand down the slight stubble Hermione smiled, "Thank you dear." As her knight stalked towards her friend, a presence made itself known by wrapping his arms around her petite body, kissing just behind her ear on the spot that never fails to make her moan. "Everything going to plan, brother?"

"Absolutely," he replied, sliding his large hands that, even in polyjuiced form lost none of their sneakiness, into the hollows of her hips while drawing them back to feel the hardness of his erection.

Gasping lowly, as not to draw attention as heat flooded both their bodies, Hermione slid her arm around Tom's neck as if to keep him from moving away, drawing him up to hover just above her lips. "Severus knows that you are aware of our relationship," she purred, and Tom desperately wanted to capture the dark maroon lips just within reach, "Will love him for me, my brother?" she asked, her sweet breath flooding Tom's senses, knowing she could never gift him with a better present than the one she was now.

He met the eyes that matched his within every detail, tangling a hand in her voluminous curls he wetly kissed her neck, "As you will it sister." he met her lips in a flurry of passion as they sought to remain quiet and sequestered against the stone wall for the remainder of the party. "I would burn the world for you."

19: Cherished Promises

Malfoy Manor

Tom's Chambers

Christmas

The shapes of three people seemed to merge as one, lying in the bed of silk under an enchanted canopy of the full moon and stars that cast a light glow over the three lovers. Lying in-between her two men, Tom says they have a gift for Hermione, nodding to Severus on her other side.

Propping herself up on one elbow, she stared at the small velvet box he handed her, kissing her knuckles. Opening it to see a shining emerald teardrop, small snakes at each side and at the tip, her voice became watery . "Tom… Severus..." Severus pulled it from the velvet and pushed it onto her left forefinger, turning her hand and kissing her pulsepoint.

"This is our promise Hermione," he said, dark eyes smouldering.

"We promise to love you…" Tom continued.

"And cherish you…"

"And always stay by your side in the darkest of days."

Placing her hand on each of their jaws, "I love you both so much." she kissed the corner of their mouths, not knowing what to say to their joint declarations. Tom slid down her body, placing mussed waves upon her naked breasts, Severus his arm over her hip and Tom's shoulders, their large bodies about dwarfed her smaller one entirely when they lay this way.

Tom's and Severus' thoughts both begin wondering as he feels they comforting beat of his Hermione's heart slowing in her sleep, the weight of Severus' hand caressing Tom's shoulder, Tom's doing the same to Severus' pale hip.

Fifty years Tom had been separated from his sister, and every moment had been excruciating. Tom supposed he would have never turned out as feared as he was now though, and that was thanks to Dumbledore; as much as he hated to admit it. Hermione had always kept his head for him, when he got lost in his anger, Hermione was there to make sure he didn't do something that would cost him to be seen as anything more than the charming facade he had long since tossed aside. Now, he ruled by fear and intimidation rather than love and admiration, that is now Hermione's job. To gain the love of his Death Eaters; while fear motivates many people, love can be even more powerful to inspire infinite loyalty in the face of death, shown by the adoration on Severus' face now as he looked upon his sister's face. Staring up to his sister, Tom knows that he certainly couldn't resist her for long if he were his Death Eaters, she could be even more manipulative than him in the way that she could get anyone to do anything with just one look if they so much as liked her much less loved her.

For decades people had shunned Severus either by his appearance or the mark on his arm, denied physical and emotional contact. Not anymore; he had finally found his place in the world, with two of the most powerful people in it, and he knew that it would have never happened if he hadn't endured the hardships he had gone through. He, like Tom, would never let her go now.

20: Motherly Instincts

Great Hall

"He's hiding something," Harry suddenly said in the middle of Ron raving about Quidditch, Hermione having tuned both of them out smiling at Draco as he takes his seat at the Slytherin table, and to Severus who passes to the Head Table. "I can feel it."

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione said calmly, hiding her irritation with his incessant need to think all Slytherins were evil. "Just because he can be a right git doesn't mean he's evil."

"Why are you always defending him?" Harry asked, turning his anger toward her as he had every time she had said something to discredit his thoughts on the matter. "Do you like him or something? How can you? He's always calling you a mudblood and-"

She sighed internally, cutting him off, "I don't Harry, but you're giving me a migraine. Slughorn's a Slytherin, how come you trust him? Unless you found something in his memories to validate Dumbledore's suspicions?" she asked, but he was turned back towards Draco who was already leaving the hall.

"I'm going to follow him," he said, jumping up and trying to appear as if wasn't running to catch up with the blond haired boy.

"Harry!" Hermione called after him knowing he was ignoring her now, groaning in irritation she turned to the head table, catching Severus' eye. Follow us. He nodded.

Striding gracefully out of the hall after telling Ron to stay at the table with Ginny, Hermione followed the call of Draco's Dark Mark that acted as a beacon to her with it's distinctive magical signature. The hall was filled with with water, no doubt coming from one of Moaning Myrtle's fits. Lifting the velvet maroon robes she had taken to wearing like the other Pureblooded girls and older years, Hermione walked through the thin water leading into the girl's bathroom where Draco somehow ended up. Flashes of light filled the large dark space, along with two male voices throwing curses and hexes at each other, missing each one. Except the last one thrown by the boy with the scar on his forehead.

"Sectumsempra!" Dread filled Hermione as well as fear as she heard that word, seeing Draco fall to the water surrounding him. Blood seeped through the pristine shirt in seconds from the spell that Hermione knew had to have been from the potions book of Severus' she had allowed the boy to look through.

"Draco," she whispered dropping her robes, unaware of the water weighing them down feeling faint as well seeing so much blood on the crisp white shirt the boy wore. "Draco!" suddenly burst out of her mouth as she appeared beside him, her glowing hands hovering above his gasping chest as Draco's green eyes met her's, his white hand seeking out her's and holding tight.

"I - I didn't mean to," she heard, faintly from the boy who threw the curse, hearing as if she were underwater, "I- I didn't know what it did."

Hearing that last part and feeling Severus getting closer, Hermione's face transformed into something Harry had never seen before as he was filled with fear. "Go!" she growled, her eyes glowing red, anguish and rage filling her voice, "Leave!" she screamed as Severus made it into the bathroom and knelt next to his godson, beginning to heal him. Turning her attention back to the boy underneath her, her hands roamed over his wounds as well as Severus' wand, the echoing of his healing song and the glow of her healing hands filling the bathroom until Draco fell to sleep due to his blood loss and exhaustion. He never let go of his death grip on his mistress' hand all the while he was transferred to the hospital wing.

~.O.~

"He will be sentenced to detention for the rest of the year, with Mr. Filch."

"I want him expelled!" Lucius roared at Dumbledore, leaping to his feet as Narcissa sat beside his long legs, pale as a ghost. Hermione stood beside the window along with Severus as they stared down to the Black Lake feeling nauseous, although she knew no cause. Severus reached his mind to touch her's briefly, making her smile as McGonagall watched them from the beginning of the meeting as they had both come from Draco's side with identical blank faces, her expression one that was unidentifiable.

"I understand your anger Lucius," Dumbledore said calmly but uncomfortably, suddenly aware of Hermione's stare now boring on the side of his bearded face, "But it is impossible to have Harry expelled from Hogwarts."

Lucius was becoming an unhealthy shade of white, as opposed to someone normally turning red from anger he doing opposite. Waching him about to yell something else, Hermione spoke up, "Would you like to see Draco again?"

Everyone jumped and snapped their heads to where she leaned her hip against the stone of the wall, no one expecting her to speak up. Lucius' jaw worked as he stared at the insufferable man in front of him who stared at his mistress with a twinkle in his eye as.

Narcissa stood, grabbing her husband's arm, "Please." McGonagall could only stare in shock as a teenage girl made a Malfoy back down, Severus following behind them as a dark shadow.

"She cares for them," she told her old friend, knowing from the frown he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"She's not like her brother."

~.O.~

The small group walks in silence to the Hospital Wing, broken only by Hermione's voice when they came to a standstill as they saw a raven haired boy standing by Draco's sleeping form. "Get out." her voice commanded obedience.

Harry's head shot up, taking a step away from the wounded boy, his face displaying his guilt, "Hermione I-"

Her voice sounded not at all like her own, "Get out Harry. His parents would like to speak with him."

He looked behind her to Lucius who had calmed, Narcissa, and Severus who was staring at the boy with a look of utter loathing. "Why are you speaking for them?"
"That's none of your business," she hissed, walking up to him, "He is just a boy, Harry. He is not Death Eater. Use your head, he would have hit you with a least one of his curses with the intent to hurt if he was a Death Eater. Now leave."

21: Preparation and Battle

Hermione was still mad the next day when Harry had come to apologize. "Hermione will you please talk to me?" She said nothing to him, only continued to look out into the sun lightened Black Lake, watching the Giant Squid dance lazily with her arms crossed across her ribcage. "Right. You don't have to say anything. Dumbledore wants me to go somewhere with him to find a Horcrux, we're leaving right now and we'll be back tonight. I just thought you should know, I've already told Ron."

She still wouldn't look at him, and Harry didn't know why she was so upset over someone she hated. Or didn't as it turned out. He kissed her cheek and smiled at the side of her face sadly as he walked back up to the castle towards the Astronomy Tower. Hermione followed him with her eyes until he was out of sight and got up onto her feet, slightly off balance and dizzy; light on her feet as walked to the Hospital Wing for Draco.

"Wake up, love," Draco's eyes fluttered open as Hermione brushed his short hair off his forehead, taking a seat on the edge of the white mattress.

"Mistress," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes like a little boy with his fists and attempting to sit up.

"No, no," Hermione pushed him back down as he winced a bit. "You don't have to get up just yet. Will you be ready tonight?"

His eyes widened fractionally, "Already?" he paused, "I'll be ready, my lady."

"You're a good boy Draco," she smiled and grabbed his pale hand that shook slightly, "I'll not make you do anything you're not ready for darling," she gave it a squeeze, "I will be with Severus in the Astronomy Tower until nightfall, I would like to be prepared when Dumbledore comes back to Hogwarts."

"Why do you and the Dark Lord hate Dumbledore so much?"

"Because he took our lives from us love, sleep well." she kisses his forehead.

~.O.~

The students were rounded up out of their houses during the night, most with their robes over their pajamas and sporting confused and disgruntled faces as to why they were risen into the cold Great Hall. Upon his Mistress' orders, Severus told all Head of Houses to get them woken up, and that the Dark Lord was planning to attack that night. Later if you had asked any of the children what had happened, they would tell you was parts of a story, certain people tell of certain phrases, curses, or people that were there, but never the whole as many were either too young or to shadowed.

An unexpected person stood next to the Head of Slytherin House…

Hermione Granger, was what started the fascinating tale of a battle and the even more unexpected events to occur.

"Tom will be here within the hour, I'm sure Dumbledore won't be long now either." Hermione whispered to him as he nods and his eyes lift to someone behind her.

"Severus what is the meaning of this?" McGonagall asked the man, glancing towards Hermione who had just turned around.

"The Dark Lord plans to take hold of Hogwarts tonight Minerva, I had just found out this evening before initiating protocols," his smooth voice continued, ignoring the growing fear on the older woman's face, "I have already alerted the Order and Dumbledore, I hope they will be here by the time they attack. He and Potter had not sent a Patronus in response."

And then screams of the children in the back of the hall echoed, causing the teachers and the older years to pull out their wands, the younger ones following suit. Death Eaters had infiltrated the castle, throwing curses and jinxes at anyone closest them as Hogwarts teachers shot curses of their own, albeit non lethal ones but curses nonetheless, and then they were silenced.

"Enough!" a handsome young man clad in flattering black robes had entered the room, a calm demeanor in face of the cowering fear and sobs of the children in front of him. "Grab the teachers and stop messing around." The people of the school were shaken by the sheer power this man gave off, magic wise and voice wise. How could a man such as this command hundreds of Death Eaters who now also lined the entirety of the room, and was not Lord Voldemort?

The large gleaming familiar of this man and the woman standing beside the Potions Master wove a line straight through the hall, children yelping and cowering into their friends as they parted as if an invisible hand pushed them fluidly aside. The part everyone would remember was Hermione Granger, the resident know-it-all, book loving, curly haired girl only smiling as the snake slowly made her way up the hall; her graceful dance down the steps as her wand swung in a circle, starting from her head down to taper off at her waist. In a lovely bit of magic any of the girls would kill for, her shiny hair made it's way into a pretty chignon and her robes fanning out into a fitted lace trim dress as she swept fluidly to meet Nagini with her dark shadow following silently behind her.

"Darling!" she swooned, holding her hand to her hissing daughter, "Mother," she wound herself around Hermione's waist and neck.

A flash of blue came next, teachers ripped from Death Eaters, kids all surrounded by a shielding spell by Professor Dumbledore who had apparated onto the grounds with Harry Potter at his arm, only able to stand, watch, and listen to the battle that would surround them as Death Eaters trained their wands on the Order Members apparating in as backup.

Hermione's face turned dark as everything stilled, walking to the protected children, Order members eyed her with no idea how to proceed let her hold out her hand, "Draco." He let her lead him to Tom as she wove her arm around her brother's, Draco behind her, Severus to her left, Tom to her right.

"Attack," her cold voice rang, and curses flew, and the battle ensued.

The Death Eaters won. Casualties were made by anyone over seventeen, Albus Dumbledore succumbed to the afterlife at the hands of the Dark Lord and the Dark Mistress.

~.O.~

Malfoy Manor, Ballroom

3 months later

Hermione and Tom sat on their velvet lined thrones at the top of the ballroom dias, surrounded by snakes, eagles, badgers, and lions all dancing and barely dressed in celebration of having yet another reval. Dancing drunkenly, most people were high on the magic that was visibly sparking in the air, all except Hermione who's stomach, slightly swollen, rest upon her hips, and Tom and Severus who both only wished to get their wife to themselves.

"Do you like the world we have made, my Hermione?" Tom asked from his throne, ankle over knee in pristine black slacks, his bare muscled chest drawing more than enough attention from the women surrounding them, and a fair few of the men; staring as long as they dare lest his lace clad queen catch them and lose herself to hormones. Severus in much the same boat.

She smiled as she kissed his hand, "I love it, my love." Her eyes turned to Severus, who smiled and kissed her palm. "Do you like our world, my love?"

He smiled like he had never before, the weight of a master who used and abused him finally dead and able to lead his own life, knowing only Hermione would allow for him only the best. "A world with you by my side is utopia, my love," he replied in his deep baritone and helped her stand, finally tired of the festivities surrounding them, leading the way through the happily oblivious crowd, Tom lead by Hermione's hand as the other brushes Draco's bare shoulders where he stood pleasuring a red-head alongside Harry who was with his own.

Hermione now ruled a world that bowed down to her and her husbands, either in deep seated fear, or respect, but eternal loyalty.

Behind the trio followed their euphoric hissing familiar, "Family again. Family growsss. Together family sssafe. Sssafe now."

~.O.~

Thank you for reading! I love you all! Reviews are hoped for and appreciated!