The Slytherin Locket – Chapter 2

By phantomhivess

Close your eyes.

The soft, soothing voice was trying to lure her back into sleep, but Hermione began blinking her eyes open. She began uncontrollably twitching her body, as if she was trying to re-gain the control and stop her inner voice from speaking.
Breathe.
Taking a huge gulp of oxygen, she sat up in an alarmed state. She looked around and analyzed her surroundings, coming to a conclusion that she wasn't in Azkaban anymore – she was in Forbidden Forest. As Hermione began remembering the events that took place a few hours ago, she slowly stood up from her spot. She remembered how Malfoy decided to "break her out" of her cell and use a time-turner. But now she didn't even know where she was, or what year it was. Talking about Malfoy, where was he? She looked around frantically and she wanted to scream for him, but she knew it wasn't a good idea.

"He didn't even give me my wand back…" Hermione mumbled, as she let out a long, drawn-out sigh. Technically, she wasn't completely defenseless; she knew quite a few wandless spells and her magic has become stronger than it was in the past.

A black, skeletal, bat-winged horse interrupted her train of thoughts, as it appeared in front of her. She let out a gasp, since she recognized the creature from one of the books she read while studying at Hogwarts. Hermione took slow steps towards it and she raised her hand to pet him, but he avoided her by jerking his head towards a different direction. The Thestral analyzed the witch for a few minutes, and when he finally considered her harmless enough, he let out a happy grunt.

"How funny, I never believed Harry when he said that Thestrals pulled the carriages from Hogsmeade Station…Now I finally see them myself." Hermione was talking to herself again. It became her habit in Azkaban to stop herself from becoming trapped in her head. Hearing her voice reminded her that she was still alive and sane. But how sane did she manage to remain, that was the real question.

"Could you help me locate a person in the forest, please?" She questioned softly, as she slid her hands through his fur. The Thestral seemed to understand her, and he nodded his head in agreement. Without wasting another second, he began walking towards North.

When Hermione asked a Thestral for help, she never told him to bring her to find five-cloaked figures in the forest-opening. As she turned around to throw a questioning glance at him, he seemed to disappear into thin air. Why did he decide to bring her here? Without wasting time, she ducked behind a bush nearby to make sure nobody saw her. She glanced out of her hiding spot, trying to analyze the scene in front of her. The people were wearing loose black cloaks that covered most of their face, but she could still make out some features. There were about four of them, so if anything happened, Hermione could take them on.

Wait. There were only four.

When she came here, there were five people – where did the fifth person disappear?
"Would you like to enlighten us about your identity, and the reason you are intruding upon our meeting?" Even though the stranger's words were spoken with cold formality, his voice seemed strangely melodic to Hermione. She could listen to him for hours and never get bored of it. She turned around, expecting someone to stand behind her, but there was no one. Then she realized that the question wasn't directed at her – the cloaked figure was speaking to a person laying in the middle of the four people. As she craned her neck to get a better view, she caught a glimpse of platinum blond hair, and she instantly knew what was going on. Draco landed on the meeting of these people.

Fuck. What was she going to do now?
"I-I'm a student of H-Hogwarts, and I was supposed to collect some…herbs for my assignment." Draco was stammering, as the dark figure pushed the tip of his wand towards his throat. When the stranger heard his answer, he threw his head back and let out a chuckle.

"Such a well-constructed lie, though I believe you were following us here." He replied sarcastically, as he began trailing his wand over Draco's body, "Are you one of Dumbledore's agents?"

Draco almost choked on his own saliva, as he began frantically shaking his head, "What the fuck? Of course not! I wouldn't be that old cretin's spy-"

"Cruciatus."
Only one word was uttered, and he started screaming and trashing under the roaring pain. He was placed so many times under this curse by Voldemort, but he would never get used to this dreadful feeling.

Hermione covered her mouth, trying to surpress her gasp. Forgotten, gruesome memories that she locked away started resurfacing, and her breathing became fast and uneven. All she could hear was Draco's screaming and pleading, and she clutched her head tightly, as if it would make the his screams stop.

"Accio wand!" Her words surprised her, but she didn't try to suppress them. A vine wood wand slid out of Malfoy's pocket and with a lightning bolt speed, it appeared right in her hand. She felt the familiar warmth of magic, and she slashed through the air happily. It didn't go unnoticed by the strangers, though.

"Abraxas, I believe you can take care of the problem." The same dark voice that Hermione grew to like spoke with a tint of authority.

"Yes, my Lord." The figure bowed towards him, and he took his hood off, showing his blond hair. Hermione suddenly came to a realization – it was Draco's grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy, who was probably a student in Hogwarts at around 1940s. That simpleton, halfwit dolt made them land in 1940, about fifty years ago into the past.

"Confringo!" Hermione shouted loudly, as she pointed the wand towards the cloaked figures torturing Draco. A huge explosion took place in front of her, and she hoped that Draco was alright. Her calculations and analysis was always right – the spell wouldn't touch him.

"Not so fast, girlie." A voice behind her taunted her, as if he was provoking her. She whipped around quickly to come face to face with an eighteen-year-old boy, who had short, thick, shining black hair, strong jaw, and heavy-lidded eyes, which seemed to see right through her soul. A boyish grin was playing on his lips, as he winked at Hermione.

"I've been watching you ever since you got here." He replied casually, while playing with her locks, "Don't worry, I'll make sure not to manhandle a pretty girl like you. Name's Lestrange, remember it." Before he could finish his sentence, Hermione pointed her wand at him with a shrug, "Sorry, Lestrange, but I think you're the one who's getting manhandled today."

Lestrange's eyes widened in alarm, as he realized what she was about to do, but he didn't have enough time to react.

"Alarte Ascendare!" Hermione shouted, and Lestrange was blasted high in the air. Then she quickly started running towards the place where Draco was laying, as Lestrange's and Abraxas's friends seemed to disappear. But she knew they were probably somewhere around this area, waiting for the right time to strike. Dark, onyx eyes followed her movements throughout the forest, and a smirk appeared on his thin lips.

"My Lord, would you like us to…?" Avery trailed off, as he appeared next to the Dark Lord.

"No, let them go. I'm sure we'll be seeing them…soon." Tom Riddle said quietly, as he stared at the brunette girl helping up the blonde imbecile from the grass.

"But my Lord, are you-"

"Are you going to question my commands, Avery?" His malicious gaze was redirected at his follower, as he gripped his wand tightly in his hand.

"O-Of course not."

Hermione Granger apparated away to Hogwarts grounds with Draco Malfoy in 1942, October 7th.

Feedback is appreciated. Do you like the story so far? What suggestion would you give me?