Chapter 2
Hermione, cliché that it was, looked into the mirror and assesed her looks. Brown, arm-pit length hair that frizzed one hell of a lot. Quite a square jaw, and an up-turned nose. Her eyes were brown, and on the larger side. Normal eyebrows. A few pimples here and there – the small devils hadn't disappeared after her teens.
What she now had to do was create a Glamour that she'd be able to apply and take off very easily. And so, she set to work.
Her hair? Oh, this she'd wanted to do for a long, long time. She quickly cut of half of it, so that it ended just below her jaw. Then she straightened it out a bit – but there were still a few waves here and there. And then, she turned it dark blue. She smiled brilliantly into the mirror when she saw the change.
She made her jaw a bit softer, her chin a bit pointier. She straightened out her nose and made it a bit longer. Her eyes she turned a dark blue matching her hair. She made her eyebrows a bit flatter, and removed any pimples. If she could avoid the buggers, she would.
Then she commited the changes to her personalised Glamour spell – "Mutantur in vultus".
She said the words, and then exited her new room with her new appearance. She was staying at Hogwarts, and had a room all to herself. What luxury!
On she went, down to the entrance hall. There Severus stood waiting for her in his oh-so-charming Death Eater robes. They were on their way to an inofficial meeting with Voldemort himself! Severus had sent 'the Dude' a message, explaining how the 'brainz' of the Golden Trio had appeared out of nowhere and begged for refuge with Dumbledore and Minerva, and how she'd then contacted Severus asking for him to take her to meet the Dude.
Apparently, the Dude had agreed to that. Of course, she wouldn't go and meet the Dude if she hadn't known that she'd get out of it alive and well. Or, she at the very least supposed that she got out of it well.
Severus raised an eyebrow at her when she got close enough.
"You know, we could make one for you too, if you'd like. Maybe get you a woman, eh?" She bumped his shoulder with her fist.
His face took on one of those 'I-can't-believe-that-you-just-fucking-said-that' expressions.
Not that he'd need one – Glamour, that is, he definitely needed a woman – since he looked fine, if you like tall, dark and mysterious. And who doesn't?
"Relax, I was just joking. Do you think the Dude will be in a good mood?"
"The Dude?" he ground out.
That silly-ness inducing potion that Fred and George had slipped into her tea still hadn't worn off. "Well, some don't like it when you call him Voldemort. And He-who-must-not-be-named is awfully long. And the Dark Lord implies that you'd have a certain amount of respect for him. So I've taken to calling him the Dude, at the very least in my head. Have you seen the Big Lebowski?"
"The Big... what? No, I certainly haven't seen it. What is it even?"
"Oh, stupid me! It's a movie! From 1998. Which is two years from now. Anyway, so the main character has the name Jeffrey Lebowski but is called the Dude and there's this other – "
"Granger." He looked terribly annoyed.
"Yes?"
"We have a meeting with the Dude in fifteen minutes. Are you certain that your occlumency shields are strong enough?"
"Oh, certainly. I learned form the best."
"Who?"
"You, dummy." She chuckled.
He just rolled his eyes. "And you are completely prepared for what you are about to encounter?"
"Yep. Future-me gave Mini-me the abridged version. We are to arrive, me with my Glamour on. The Malfoys are to be there, at the beginning. Then after a while it'll be just us and Voldemort. We'll have a lovely talk and reach some understandings."
He sighed and pinched his nose. "Very well." And then of they went, down the grounds of Hogwarts towards the entrance. When they were outside the schoolgrounds Hermione took a hold of Severus' arm and off they went.
They appeared again outside a terribly impressive mansion. Malfoy mansion. Holy shit, are those peacocks? There were white peacocks wandering about on the premises, picking at the ground.
They went inside and were led to a room by a House Elf. The door stood slightly open, and a light waft of flowers came from inside.
Where those roses? Because the air smelled distinctly of roses.
Severus opened to door for her, and in she went. Into hell. Was that Severus snickering behind her back? Alright, Severus never snickered. But she got the distinct impression that had he been a snickering type-of-person, he would have.
She stood in a large, open room. There was a floor-to-ceiling window open, letting in fresh air. There was clearly a rose garden outside. Inside there was also a rose garden, by the amount of bouquets to judge.
In the middle of the room were sat two large couches – one currently populated by the three Malfoys and one by the Dude himself. On the Dude's knees sat two puppies – one was licking his hand like there was no tomorrow – and there was a kitten crawling up the armrest on the Malfoy-populated couch.
Upon the table between the couches sat an array of cakes and teapots. Was that lemon meringue-pie? Her mouth watered, in spite of the... circumstances.
The Dude looked up form the cute puppies in his knees and speared her with a red-eyed stare. "Ah, welcome. You must be the girl Severus has talked so much about. What was it your name was?"
Hermione looked at the Malfoys, who had turned around when the Dude began speaking. "Jane Blue, at your service." She used an American accent – after all, Jane was American. She also smiled – which honestly wasn't that hard to do when a kitten was crawling along the floor nearby.
There'd been a slight insinuation to the Dude's words. That insinuation had Draco Malfoy staring between her and Severus, who'd come to stand at her shoulder. She could only imagine what he must have been thinking – probably something along the lines of 'How the hell did Severus get a girl? And isn't she a bit young for him? And what the fuck is going on?'. Narcissa and Lucius kept their faces inconspicuous however, and simply smiled at her.
The Dude snapped his fingers and transformed the seating into something more reminiscent of a circle in which everybody got an armchair around a round table."Come, come. We won't bite!" exclaimed the Dude, a.k.a. as the Dark Lord. Severus laid a hand upon her shoulder to motion her forwards, and soon enough they were seated.
"Jane, what would you like?" asked the Dude.
She looked at the others – they were clearly eating, so there was no danger in her also eating. Was there? The pastries could always be spiked with veritaserum, but she had painstakingly built up an immunity towards lower doses of the potion. She smiled and said, "That Lemon Meringue-pie looks very, very good."
The Dude once again snapped his fingers and thus set down a plate with a slice of Lemon Meringue-pie in front of her. It was clearly a small trick to remind everyone of his powers, with or without a wand.
The conversation was stilted and wooden, and concerned only superficial things such as the newest fashion – on which Mini-Malfoy had a whole lot to say – and which part of America she was from. (New York, thank you very much. Yes, mother and father had this lovely flat nearby Central Park, just on the outskirts of the wizarding community in NYC.) Soon enough the Dude implied for the Malfoys to get lost and the only people left in the room were her, Severus and the Dude.
The seatings changed, this time without the snap of the fingers. "So, Hermione Granger. Please do show your real face."
She took of the Glamour.
"Severus' letter of recommendation intrigued me. Tell me, now. Why did you wish for this meeting?"
And so, the tale she spun for the Dude began. "You won the war." At this the Dude's face filled with a quiet sort of triumph. "I must admit that I'm not all that keen on living like a slave for the rest of my days. So I did what I could think of – I nicked a time turner and went here. I wish to make a deal with you." At this the Dude nodded for her to go on. "I will give you some key information in return for my own safety."
"And why wouldn't I just take that key information from your mind?"
At this she smiled triumphantly. "Well, you see – I am quite skilled at occlumency."
He narrowed his red eyes. "And how come?"
"Severus didn't want anyone to find out about our little deal." She could almost feel Severus' questioning glare. If she cared to look at him she'd probably just find a frown. Or nothing at all.
The Dude would've raised his eyebrows, had he had any. "Pray tell, what little deal is that?"
She shrugged. "When I left Hogwarts there weren't many options for muggleborns. I wished to further my education, especially within potions. Dumbledore had not yet found out about Severus' true alliances. We made a deal – Severus gets to fuck me, and I get an education." She tried to no avail not to blush at those words – hopefully the Dude would interpret the blush as shame at how low she'd supposedly stooped.
The Dude seemed to assess those words. "Interesting. And how far along are you in your education?"
"Two years."
"And what information would you be willing to give up, in return for your safety?"
"The date of the final battle. But in return for that I also wish to continue my education."
Voldemort nodded at Severus, and took his place upon the ground. For him to kneel on the floor must have been humiliating, and showed just how desperate he was for this information. Hermione took her place opposite him and clasped his hand when he held it out. She shuddered as she noticed just how cold his hand was.
Severus began the spell, and held the tip of his wand to their clasped hands. Hermione made her demand first. "Do you, Tom Riddle, promise to, to the furthest extent possible, prevent any harm from befalling me, Hermione Granger, no matter who or what is trying to harm me, why, or my age at the time?"
"I, Tom Riddle, agree, in the case that you, Hermione Granger, name the date at which the Second Wizarding War concludes. My agreement to protect you goes into action after you name the date, and not before."
"I agree." Two wires of flame sprouted from Severus' wand and wrapped around their hands. After a short while the brillance of the light started to die down, and within the minute they could disentangle their hands.
They both stood up. Hermione took a deep breath. "The date of the conclusion of the Second Wizarding War is April 30:th 2001."
The Dude seemed to absorb that information for a moment before he nodded and spoke, "You may now be off. Severus, I hope to see you soon again."
"Of course, my Lord."
They got out of there at a normal walking pace, though Hermione felt restless. She had, after all, just made a deal with the devil.