Here is a new update! Thank you to my lovely reviewers! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Keep reviewing and reading!
A ragged breath ripped through my chest as I bolted upwards. I felt myself sitting on a soft mattress with my fingers clenched around a long sheet. I kept my eyes shut tightly clenching my fists even tighter. I imagined I was sat in Ginnys bedroom and when I opened my eyes I was be in the Weasleys burrow and this would have all been a really really bad dream.
Mrs Weasley would be down stairs making breakfast,warm pancakes that flew from the pan to the honey, Ron and Harry would still be asleep (of course) snoring and dribbling and Fred and George would be playing quidditch in the garden. I breathed in deeply and imagined the smell of bacon and toast filling my lungs. But that didn't happen. Instead I smelt the clean sterile smell of the hospital wing. I opened my eyes.
I was back in the hospital wing. Back in 1944. Then I remembered what happened. I was in Dumbledores office and...and he walked in. Lying in the bed opposite me sitting upright and completely still was the one thing I dreaded...it wasn't a bad dream this was real life Hermione... a young Voldemort sat staring. He was sat deathly still, looking at me up and down. His mouth was tilted in a subtle snarl and his dark eyes were arched and his eyebrows low. Then I remembered what I did to him. I had attacked him. I looked down to his neck to see a constellation of purple blue and yellow adoring his throat like a necklace. I looked back up to his face. The looks of hate and anger had slipped and he was looking to his right. I quickly turned my head to to see an approaching Dumbledore.
"Ah, miss Granger you are awake! Oh and as are you Mr. Riddle." He said looking between us both. " I'm sure Tom would like an answer for why you...jumped on him..." he said looking unsure as to how to put that. "As you know Tom, Miss Granger has been through a lot and I'm sure this act of...violence was due to her destressed state!" He said looked over at Voldemort hoping he would take the bait.
"Of course sir" he said looking back towards me, his eyes narrowing.
He didn't buy it. Of course he didn't.
"I'm extremely...sorry for what I did." I said my teeth gritted and eyes narrowing too. I wasn't going to let him make me feel sorry about anything. No little dark lord is gonna make me feel like a silly school girl.
"Well! You will both be able to leave in about half an hour! After your injuries and the sleeping charms clear up!" He smiled. What on earth was he playing at! " I will go and sort out your books and talk to your new housemates about your arrival to avoid anymore...altercations..." he winked at me and walked away.
I watched Dumbledore walk out of the room, and as the door clicked shut I turned to face Voldemort.
He was no longer scowling. He was just staring. Looking blankly into my eyes I could see something there, behind his emotionless facade. Curiosity maybe? Or maybe it was low bubbling anger. I decided that I wasn't going to let him make me squirm.
"What are you looking at?" I said sneering at him.
His eyes opened widely in shock. "Is that anyway to talk to some you have just tried to strangle?" He said cooly.
"I appologised didn't I?"
"You didn't mean it. I'm not stupid Miss Granger" he said absentmindedly reaching to his bedside table taking up a glass of purple liquid. He gulped a mouth full and winced at the taste. As he did the bruises on his neck lessened slightly.
"Nasty stuff. Need to take it slowly or it will make you terribly sick" he said placing it carfully back on the table.
"Yes, indeed it is" I found myself replying. Then I stopped. Did I...was I making small talk with the dark lord!? I felt my shoulders lift in a small sadistic laugh. Oh this is a strange strange day.
"Why are you laughing" he said staring at me one again.
"You know what? I really don't know!" I said laughing again. "That sleeping charm has messed with my brain!"I laughed again.
He tilted his head slightly to the side looking completely perplexed. "Has Dumbledore told you who I am." He said sitting upright.
Oh little boy you don't know the half of it.
"I know what you saw." I said leaning over to by table taking up a glass of water. " I know you were one of the students who was taken on that trip to my time. And I know you saw me dueling. Very very dangerous of your ministry. You would have never gotten away with that in my time. Taking students into the future! What did they think would happen! Awful things happen to wizards who meddle with time...maybe that's when they learnt their lesson..." I whispered the last bit to myself before taking a sip and then draining the entire glass.
"Thirsty?"
"Considering I haven't eaten or drank anything in days you could say that." I hovered my hand over the glass charming it to fill up with water once again.
"Wandless magic?" He asked looking slightly surprised.
I scoffed. " you saw the type of conditions I was in in my time. You need to know that sort of stuff if you wanted to survive." I wasn't going to give him anymore information about what he had seen for obvious reasons but I couldn't help but think he was being extremely polite.
"For some who has just been strangled you are extremely calm." I said sipping my water looking up over the rim of the glass.
"I am not one for grudges Miss Granger." He said smirking.
I scoffed into my glass spitting out a bit of water. I chocked slightly coughing, patting my chest. What a liar. If I didn't know him already I would have believed him...no wonder he was a master of manipulation...
"Well I'm glad!" I said spluttering. "Thank you your highness for your acceptance of my apology." I said sarcastically. I sneered again and opened his mouth to say something venemous.
Just then the healer walked in holding a freshly ironed skirt and blouse.
"Here you are Hermione dear. Fresh clothes! Your uniform is in your room for when you are ready. And Mr Riddle please drink your bruising draft swiftly before the quidditch players come in! I need to clear the beds! Hermione dear you can change behind the curtain after you are done one of your house mates will be out side waiting to escort you around the castle and to your room to rest! Drink up Mr Riddle!" She said shoving my clothes into my arms and walking over to Riddle.
I signed getting up slowly. I waved my hands and shut the curtains around me. The skirt I had to wear was below the knee and a boring blue colour. I charmed some flowers around the hem to jazz it up a bit. After wearing dirty old clothes for 6 months I think I deserved a bit of luxury. When I was changed I transfigured my hair into a half up half down pony tail and curled the ends. I felt so clean and so nice. The clothes smelt so fresh and my hair was smooth and tidy. I couldn't wait to have a shower...
I moved the curtain aside and saw Riddle had drunk some more of his purple potion and the bruises were fading.
" It was nice talking to you. Perhaps we will share lessons together." I said curtly walking towards the doors.
As I reached for the door handle he spoke.
"I'm sure we will. Hermione." I didn't look back.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
I spent the remainder of the day with a Griffindor girl called Sarah Macmillan. She was one of the girls who had seen my display at the battle of Hogwarts and although at first she seemed apprehensive she seemed to warm to me fairly quickly. She didn't ask questions she didn't hover when I wanted to get used to my new room and be on my own and she didn't seem scared of me. Dumbledore had told me that all the students had seen me use a killing curse but he had obviously explained why I did...or threatened them really really well not to mention...
Sarah had quickly shown me around the school, as some of the classrooms were in different locations than they were in my time. One of the greenhouses was a duelling room for their sparing club and the older students in defence against the dark arts and the potions classrooms were out of the dungeons and near transfiguration. Everything else was pretty much the same, bar the teachers and the students. They were all more formal and anyone who bumped into us was polite and well dressed. No jeans in sight just long skirts and knee high socks. But I kinda liked it! The girls all had long curly hair styled in 40s updoes and pinned on spirals.
Although those 5 students knew about what had happened to me, most of the others students were told I was involved with the war with Grindlewald and the muggle war, which was fine with me. No one dared ask, as Sarah seemed to be quite head strong in saying that no one was to ask about the war or she would kill them. It's nice to have a new friend...after being stuck with Ron and Harry for 6 months, some girl company was nice and sometimes Ginny and her boy problems grew tiresome.
Now I was laying on my bed. Fully clothed staring at the ceiling. My arms were rested across my stomach and I could feel my heart beating slowly. I moved my hand up to my chest and felt it steadly beating against my hand. The unmistakeable sign of life, blood pumping through my veins, air entering and leaving my body, keeping me alive. In a way I was lucky. I wasn't stuck in the war and I wasn't dead. It was really as black and white as that...but then I thought of Ron...
His scruffy ginger hair, his kind eyes and loving smile. I thought of Harry and wether he was alive...And for the first time entering this timeline I cried. Cried for the ones I'd lost, cried for those who had suffered and I cried for myself. Selfishly and wholehearted cried for myself.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
In woke up the next morning still in the clothes I had worn in the day with Sarah. I sat up slowly stretching out my stiff shoulders and neck running my hands though my hair...well almost through my hair. I sighed and walked towards the bathroom briskly. I couldn't wait to get a shower...
As I entered i noticed it was stocked with shampoos and soap already. I turned to face the mirror and was shocked by what I saw... My hair was sticking up at odd angles and my face was red on one side from where it was being laying harshly on my hand. That wasn't out of be ordinary, until I looked closer...My face was tear stained and puffy. My eyes were black and blank...not only did dark rings of tiredness cloud underneath my eyes dragging your attention away from my brown eyes but one was blood shot and ripped where I had been hit by a piece of rubble earlier on the day I left Hogwarts...well left my time at Hogwarts...couldn't that healer woman have fixed this? I looked awful! Well maybe it did give a little more substance to my story and my now bad ass image. I laughed at myself faintly.
I needed to eat...after being trapped and hiding in Hogwarts for days on end food was hard to come by. When I had been with Ginny for a day or two we had managed to raid the kitchen for some bread and juice but that was about it...
I shed my clothes and looked at my thin figure in the mirror before quickly looking away in disgust. I was thin and my skin was deathly white. I jumped into the bath that I had started to fill a few moments before.
As I sank into the warm water and signed audiably as my heavy weight and sore muscles were lifted away from me and I just lay there floating in the water. I closed my eyes and submerged myself holding my breath. The silence and warmth was comforting and I stayed there for as long as I could. As I surfaced I began to wash my body and hair, scrubbing the blood from my fingernails painfully.
After around an hour I was convinced that no blood from my friends lingered on my body and I reluctantly emerged. I wrapped a white fluffy towel around myself welcoming the soft feeling and walked back into my room. i went over to the large trunk at the end of my bed and found it was full of clothes and shoes. Finally I can wear something other than boots and jeans. After admiring my clothes I looked at the clock...shit Sarah would be here soon to take me to breakfast. I quickly changed into a new skirt and blouse that hid my tiny frame and fashioned my hair into a half pony tail with a ribbon. It was nice to look...nice for once. I giggled to myself. And just as my stomach rumbled there was a knock at my door and a small voice.
"Hello Hermione! Are you ready for breakfast!"
I looked in the mirror once more and adjusted the buckles on my shoes...
I was ready for this new old life...
A/N another chapter down! Hermione is one tough cookie I assure you! And as for Tom this politeness will not last... keep reviewing lovelies!