If Voldemort was surprised at her sudden submissiveness, he didn't show it. He leaned away from her, lying back against the pillows again. Hermione waited for him to speak; she'd rather not be chastised again. She tentatively looked at his face and she saw his eyes were shut.
"I'm waiting, Mudblood."
She jumped at the sudden sound of his voice, then mentally scolded herself for her cowardice. She pondered where to begin for a split second.
"Well I dunno exactly what you want to know, but my parents are both Muggles and there really isn't a trace of magic in my family. It's kind of a mystery as to why I'm able to do magic, actually."
"And even more of a mystery as to why you should be so adept at practicing it," Voldemort murmured thoughtfully.
"Sorry? Didn't catch that."
"Nothing. Just keep going with your story."
"I met Harry on the Hogwarts Express when Neville Longbottom lost his toad-"
"Longbottom? The son of Alice and Frank Longbottom?"
Hermione swallowed hard, trying to fight back the tears. Voldemort had tortured poor Neville for hours, revenge for Neville killing Nagini; Voldemort's treasured snake.
"Yes, that was him. Now as I was saying, Ron Weasley and Harry were sharing a compartment when I went in to ask them about Neville's toad. We talked for a few minutes, but we didn't quite get along then. We really bonded after the incident with the troll at Halloween."
"Ah yes, the troll I told that miserable servant Quirrell to let in. He botched that distraction, but it was amusing to see the troll destroy parts of the school."
Voldemort's thin lips were turned upward in what Hermione assumed was a try for a smile. She smiled too, but for different reasons. That was the night she realized the strength of true friends and just how far she would go to protect them… the night she'd realized that Harry and Ron would be around for quite some time afterwards.
"We all had one thing in common from the start though," she continued. "We all loathed Professor Snape."
Suddenly Voldemort sat up, quickly climbing to his feet. Hermione stood in surprise; he had looked to be half-asleep.
"Mudblood, you will come with me. There is an urgent matter I must attend to."
Hermione's blood boiled at the notion of being bossed around. Her mouth opened to unleash a torrent of angry words, but Voldemort seized her arm.
"You know that your spiteful words will get you in trouble and now is not the time to test me," Voldemort snapped and with a crack Disapparated them both.
Voldemort's mind was racing. How could he, the Dark Lord, forget such an important errand as this? He pulled the Mudblood behind him and tightened his grip when she tripped over a large root.
"Must you be so slow?"
He felt the heat of her poisonous glare, but did not dare to stop and address her now. There was too much at stake. The end of the tunnel came into sight, but Voldemort didn't slow down. He was cutting it too close; it may not even work now… He felt the Mudblood's reluctance to go any further; she tried to squirm from his grip. Impatiently, Voldemort let go and she crashed down to the tunnel floor.
When he came into the room that he had taken refuge in during the battle, everything looked as though he had just left it. And there, in front of him, lay the thing for which had he sought for- the body of Severus Snape.
After taking the unconscious Hermione back to the Gryffindor girl's dormitory, Voldemort went immediately to his office. Snape's body lay on the floor next to Nagini's now empty cage. Voldemort quickly crossed over to it, withdrawing a small flask from his robes. He uncorked the flask, pouring the liquid straight onto the bite wounds that punctured Snape's neck.
If this doesn't work, my plans will be severely inhibited…
After a few moments, Snape groaned, his eyes fluttering, then opening all the way. Voldemort smirked in triumph, turning his back on Snape and walking over to his throne. Snape groaned again and sat up, rubbing his neck where the snake wounds had once been. He gazed at his unbloodied hand in amazement, then up at his Master.
"My… Lord?"
"Yes, it is I and no, you're not dead."
Snape got to his feet and withdrew his wand from his robes. He conjured up a seat for himself and sat, still glancing around him.
"How am I still here? In the Shrieking Shack, you and Nagini…"
"Nagini's wounds were truthfully not that deep, Severus. The most dangerous part about Nagini is her venom, which kills the victim within in seconds of puncturing the skin. In all honesty, you were actually dead. However, I keep an antidote close by at all times. I brewed it myself and it is the only thing that counteracts Nagini's venom. It must be administered within 48 hours of the victim's initial "death", but it will not work after that time."
"But why did you bring me back, My Lord? I thought it was your intention to have me killed so you could obtain the full powers of the Elder Wand."
"Yes, but you were technically dead, so once again I have cheated death."
Voldemort smirked smugly to himself, but Snape stiffened.
"And what of Potter, My Lord? Is he dead?"
"Yes, at long last," Voldemort said, getting to his feet.
Voldemort drew out the Elder Wand, regarding it slowly. Snape saw the change in his Master's mood and was immediately frigthened.
"I for one, Severus, would like to know how you managed to fool me for so long," Voldemort said slowly, raising his wand to point it at Snape's face.
Snape paled as he scrambled to answer Voldemort.
"My Lord, I had to help Dumbledore and Potter! It was the only way Dumbledore would continue to trust me, for him to tell me the things that he did! It was how I knew of the plan for Potter-"
"Oh yes, and what was this great 'plan', Severus? It almost succeeded, so it must have been a well thought-out plan," Voldemort sneered, not lowering his wand.
"My Lord, you know of the sacrifice Lily Potter made for her son and that was why he survived the first time you attempted to take his life?"
"Of course," Voldemort snapped impatiently.
"Part of your soul attached to Potter in Godric's Hollow sixteen years ago, My Lord and that was your seventh Horcrux."
"You know of the Horcruxes?"
"Yes, My Lord. I know all of them are destroyed now and so you are now mortal. How did you kill Potter?"
"He met me in the clearing where I had been waiting for him. It looked like he was refusing to defend himself until the last moment and he drew his wand and we formed the Priori Incantatem once more. This time however, his spell backfired and took mine with it, disarming him and killing him in the same moment. How is this relevant to the Horcruxes?"
"Ah, so Potter refused to lay down his life without a fight. Bloody idiot practically killed himself."
"Stop this nonsense and get to the point!" Voldemort roared.
Snape cowered back in fear and bowed his head.
"After you left the Shrieking Shack and before I 'died', I gave Potter my memories which contained my conversations with Dumbledore concerning the Horcruxes. Potter was supposed to let you kill him without fighting it and then the piece of your soul would leave him, making you almost mortal. Potter would be able to come back, ready to finish you once and for all, or so he thought. What happened to Nagini?"
"Longbottom killed her," Voldemort said bitterly. "Potter must have warned him about her."
"Then you are now mortal, My Lord."
"Yes, I supposed as much. It does not matter now; my enemies have either died, fled the country, or are captured. I will set about making more Horcruxes in due time. For now, I need to tighten my rule over the Wizarding World."
Voldemort turned away from Snape, pacing the floor in front of his throne. Snape watched him with wary eyes.
"I need to know if I can trust you again, Severus. I won't ever trust anyone the way I did before the war, but I have an important job for you if you are able to handle it."
Snape fell from the chair onto his knees. If what Voldemort had told him was true, there wasn't much room for traitors in the Dark Lord's new regime.
"My Lord, I have always been your most faithful servant."
Voldemort snorted in disbelief, but stopped pacing. He sat in his throne, his red eyes on Snape's face. He had to see Snape's reaction to his new plan.
"Severus, you have been Headmaster at Hogwarts since we took control of the Ministry. But now I require another service from you."
"Anything, My Lord."
"Yes, yes," Voldemort said, waving away Snape's devotion. "I will take over the running of Hogwarts from here on out. You will go to the ministry and act as a leader over there. From now on, Hogwarts will be the capital of the Wizarding World, not the Ministry. You will answer to me in all things."
Snape nodded.
"When do you want me to leave, My Lord?"
"Now," came the answer.
Snape got to his feet, still trembling from fear. He bowed to his Master and as was customary, began to back away towards the door. Voldemort turned away from Snape, making to go back into his bedchamber. Suddenly he stopped and turned to face Snape again.
"Severus? Tell me what you know of the Mudblood."
Snape stood, his face contracted with confusion.
"The Mudblood, My Lord?"
"Hermione Granger."
Snape's eyes narrowed; after everything he still held a deep grudge against Hermione for being Potter's friend. She helped to make his overgrown head even bigger than it already was.
"She's an insufferable know-it-all and has to prove that she's right every time. She can't stand being proven wrong. Most of the Gryffindors who knew her liked her well enough: they said she was pretty and unfailingly kind. It always surprised me how she and Potter managed to stay friends all those years."
Voldemort nodded, pondering the new knowledge he had just received. He turned away from Snape again, this time going into his bedchamber without a backwards glance. Snape stood in the door for another moment more, then sighing, left the office to prepare for his departure.
Voldemort sat on the edge of his bed, trying to figure out how he could incorporate Snape's knowledge of the Mudblood into his plan. Using Legilimency, he looked into her dreams once more. She was having a fitful sleep, tossing and turning from one nightmare to the next. She was seeing her friends die all around her and hearing the screams in the blackness of the night. Being the only one that was spared was unbearable to her, and she prayed for it all to end.
Intense dream for one so young… But then when I was her age I had killed my father already.
Using his mind, he conjured up new images and inserted them into her dreams. Hermione thought that she was slipping from a nightmare into a new dream, instead of knowing the truth- that she was being fed images to fulfill Voldemort's dark purposes.
Hermione was walking through the silent Hogwarts grounds, her two friends walking at her sides. Her heart rejoiced at the sight of them alive and laughing with her once more. Suddenly the scene disappeared and she saw Ron and his ex- girlfriend Lavender Brown in a deserted hall before the war had started. She looked around her and saw the Burrow, decorated for Christmas.
She didn't see Harry, or anyone else, for that matter, so she walked right up to Ron.
"Ron, what's going on? What's she doing here?"
Ron ignored her, leaning in closer to Lavender, a smile on his face. Hermione's stomach seemed to sink to the floor as she realized what was about to happen. Ron's lips met Lavender's and Hermione let out a small scream of pain. She caught sight of a wizard calendar on the wall and moved in closer to see the date. It was Christmas Eve, the one where she and Harry had almost been killed at Godric's Hollow.
"NO!"
The dream went dark, only to show a barely lit forest clearing. Hermione saw Voldemort and his Death Eaters gathered on one side, Harry standing unarmed on the other side. She saw the smirk on Voldemort's snakelike lips; saw Harry's pale face and like the other dream, knew what was going to happen before it did. Voldemort raised his wand, and still Harry did not move. Right as Voldemort was about to curse Harry, Hermione saw the courage in Harry's face die as he whipped out his own wand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!"
Hermione couldn't catch what happened next; it had happened too fast. The next thing she saw was Harry's body on the ground, his vacant expression staring up into the heavens. Why had his courage failed? He knew that Voldemort had to kill him, so why did he deliberately defend himself?
"No," Hermione sobbed. Ron had betrayed her; Harry had not been the hero everyone thought he was. She couldn't bear to think badly of her late friends.
"No!" She shrieked, jerking upright in her bed.
She was shaking so hard that her vision was blurry. What the hell kind of dream was that? A movement by the door caught her by surprise and she flung herself out of her bed and to her feet. Voldemort moved into the rays of moonlight coming from the window, an amused smiled on his face.
"Is everything alright in here?"
Hermione glared at him, unwilling to admit she had had a nightmare.
"I- I'm fine. I just had a rough dream, that's all."
Voldemort looked down at her pale, miserable face, and felt a feeble stirring within him. He sat down on the bed, patting the space next to him.
"Well come on then, sit. You can get it all out, it helps sometimes."
Where did that come from? He asked himself.
Hermione paused for a moment, but her doubts and fears from the dream still lingered. She sat down next to the Dark Lord and poured out the entire dream to him. When she had finished, tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"What does this all mean? I wasn't there when Ron went home for Christmas, so how could I see what he'd done? And I wasn't there when Harry faced you, either. Am I… Am I going mad?" she asked, her voice thin.
Voldemort hesitated. Now was not the right time to tell her that he had shown her the dream, or what she had seen was all real.
"Maybe their ghosts were trying to tell you something," he said gently. "You are more powerful than you think, Hermione. Don't doubt yourself."
Hermione stared at him in shock as he got to his feet. Voldemort handed her a small flask that he withdrew from his robes. Mistrust crept onto her features as she took it and Voldemort laughed.
"It's for a dreamless sleep," he said, striding towards the door to the dormitory.
"Thank you," her small voice floated to him from the bed. "For listening."
Voldemort turned back to look at her. Hermione had a small smile on her lips, but it was shy and fleeting. Something burned in Voldemort's chest and he simply nodded. He nearly ran for the stairs, fleeing her presence and the infuriating pull she seemed to have on him. Once he had reached the portrait hole he stopped, his chest heaving.
Was he, Lord Voldemort, feeling? But no, that was impossible; he hadn't felt true emotion since he killed his father. He shook his head slightly, ridding himself of the tendrils of emotion that clung to him. When he continued on out of the Gryffindor common room, his face showed no sign of the conversation he had just had.
After she had made sure the Dark Lord had left, Bellatrix detached herself from her hiding place in the shadows. Her eyes burning with fury, she stepped closer to where the Mudblood slept quietly. She drew her wand out of her robes, determined to finish the girl off then and there. She refused to have anyone else hold the Dark Lord's affections other than herself.
The curse was on her lips when her Dark Mark blazed on her arm. Swearing under her breath, Bellatrix vowed to get rid of the Mudblood as soon as she possibly could.
"The Dark Lord is mine," she hissed towards Hermione's sleeping figure, stomping over towards the door.
Her dark aura seemed to seethe on even after she had left the room.
A.N.: Remember, reviews are much appreciated! Thanks for reading! :)