Quick Recap From Last Chapter:

She looked back up at the, folding her hands in her lap. She knew now what she must do.

"Can you," she began slowly, all eyes on her, "Can you all keep an extremely important secret?"

Chapter 7: Sharing Time

Gabe blinked, Fritz's eyebrow's furrowed, and Luci gave an incredulous laugh, "Of course we can,"she replied,"That is after all, the point of this entire meeting."

Hermione chewed on her lip prudently. Sheonly hopedthat they would take her seriously, "I don't think you are going to believe what I am about to tell you. But it is of the utmost importance that you believe me, do not doubt me, and do not question me for anymore information than what I tell you. But first, can you swear to me on each of your lives, and for the sake of all that is good that you will never, ever tell anyone about this conversation of your own free will?"

Fritz chuckled, "Alright that's a bit melodramatic…" his voice trailed off as he noticed that Hermione's face remained solemn, showing no hint of humor whatsoever. Turning to his friends he gasped, "She is serious!"

"Do you swear?" Hermione repeated the question, resisting the urge to get up and run away. All she knew was that the sooner she got this over with the better.

"I swear," Gabe raised his right hand with a half-smile, a poor attempt to lighten the mood in the room.

"I swear too," Fritz nodded. All eyes turned to Luci, the infamous school gossip. If anyonewas a liability, it was her.

"What's everyone looking at me for?" she asked, crossing her arms crossly, "Alright, I promise not to tell."

"I'd like to see that," Fritz muttered, but Luci's keen ears heard him perfectly, and she glared at him.

"Would the old couple in the peanut gallery please shut up," growled Gabe. Fritz's jaw dropped in surprise, and Luci's eyebrows shot up so high they almost reached her hair line. Both blushed furiously and looked down at the floor in silence.

"Look, if you're not willing to be serious about this, then I really don't want to talk about it," commented Hermione, trying to keep back the frustration in her voice. It angered her that they could be joking around at a time like this.

"Oh, we'll shut it now," said Luci softly, "Go on, please."

Hermione nodded and began slowly, "Well, I guess the best way to start is to tellyou the story from the beginning. It took place, right here in Hogwarts, in a time very far from now. All around Hogwarts and the wizarding community of England was in chaos, at war with a very evil wizard, not that different from Grindelwald. He sought out to 'purify' the world of mudbloods, and to kill anyone else who stood in his way. He was good at it too.

"Fourteen years he had disappeared, was gone from the face of the earth. We thought him dead. We were wrong.

"Several of the members of the resistance were ambushed by this wizard and his followers. I was among the members of the resistance. We were lucky, the wizard was forced to retreat, but not before leaving us all wounded and the death of a good friend of mine. It was a rude awakening, but finally, the general public was in denial for longer. Now, everyone knew he was back and highly dangerous," Hermione paused as she tried to think of the right thing to say. It was strange telling the story, as if it had happened to someone else, and not her.

"The following year the evil wizard, now exposed by the resistance, no longer needed to hide. He murdered and caused havoc for wizards and muggles alike. Worst of all, the leader of the resistance was murdered. It was dark times for the resistance, but we were not completely without hope." Here Hermione paused, for thinking about Harry made her homesick again.

She closed her eyes tight as a tear threatened to fall. By now she was lost in her own little world, almost forgetting the three other occupants in the room. It felt good to tell her story, to talk of the life she had been forced to ignore for the past month. Suddenly she found herself saying more than she should have.

"He was one of my best friends, and he was only a student, a seventh year, but he was stronger than most, and braver. He had the will to kill the evil wizard, it was deep in his heart, and it was his destiny, what he was born to do. The odds weren't completely against him, as he had escaped the clutches of the evil wizard more times than any before. But he was still far weaker.

"He, another friend, and myself went all over Europe, in attempt to weaken him. We almost did it, too. However, before we could finish our work, I got deathly ill and had to return to Hogwarts. A week later there was another attack onthe school- there was just too many… and they had allies now too, all sorts of magical creatures… and the blood, so much blood… My two friends had to come back, they had loyalty to the school… and then, then one of them was dead… my best friend, dead…" tearsbegan to fall down hercheeks unnoticed as she remembered Ron's body on her lap, dead and cold. She had never really had the chance to mourn him properly, and now that she had the chance to really think about it, the sorrowalmost overwhelmed her.Almost, but not quite.

"There was nothing to do but run. I, I had to do something! And you have to understand that I never meant to… I had no idea… I only thought that it would help, I just didn't know how, I wasn't in my right mind," she stopped to catch her breath, only just realizing that she had been hyperventilating, "I went to the Room of Requirements, in hopes that it could help me to defeat the evil wizard. I opened the door and I, I woke up and here I was. Years away from my own time period, in the body of Odessa Todd, not knowing what I was supposed to do, or even how to get back."

For the first time during her speech, Hermione looked up to see the reaction of Luci, Gabe, and Fritz. There were mixed expressions of anger, surprise, and pity on their face, but it was mostly the second. Gabe tossed a worn bit of scarlet cloth at her. She realized that she must look like a mess, her face all red and puffy, tear tracts down her cheeks and all, and she smiled at him weakly.

He did not return the smile.

"You mean to say that you're some spirit from another time that's taken over Odie?" asked Fritz, almost accusingly. Hermione nodded slowly, very well aware of the dangerous glint in Fritz's eye.

"I don't believe it," declared Luci, standing up from her seat and turning to the two boys, "The whole thing is just bonkers! And if you believe this kind of story, then you're bonkers too!"

"No, she's definitely not lying. I've never known Odie to cry. In fact, she's been acting much different from her usual self, lately," observed Gabe. For a moment all was still when the three took what was going on.

Fritz savagely pounced at Hermione first chance he got, shaking her violently at the shoulders, "Get out! Leave Odie alone! I don't care about your stupid war, or your problems- leave my friend alone!" Gabe pried Fritz off of her, but not before giving a good punch to her left eye. Hermione breathed heavily, but did not cry out in pain, did not scream. She should have known something like this was going to happen. She deserved this, for the pain she caused them, she deserved it. Or at least, that was what she told herself.

Hermionestood up quietly, as she tried to remain as calm as possible, "You're right you know, I shouldn't be here.All I have to offer you is that I didn't know that this was going to happen, and I wish it didn't. Professor Dumbledore took my word for it, and I hope one day you'll believe me too. Odie isn't completely gone, she's there, inside my mind- or her mind, I can just feel it. Just know this, the sooner I know why I'm here, and accomplish whatever that is, the sooner I leave," Hermione said quietly. And with that, she swiftly turned to walk out the door, down the stairs, and into the common room. Luckily, no one noticed her in the common room as she made her way up to the dorms.

Not since first year had she felt so alone in Hogwarts. Even when she was at odds with Harry and Ron, there was Hagrid and Ginny- even Lavender and Parvati would talk to her sometimes. But here there was no one here, nobody at all.

And suddenly she felt very alone.


The next day their treatment was no better. Fritz, Luci, and Gabe continued to ignore her. They did not even acknowledge her presence- it was as if she was under Harry's Invisibility Cloak again. And her sudden status as an outcast drew attention to her- which only made things worse. She found salvation in her books, but she couldn't read too often either because that drew attention to her as well. She decided that she would attend the Slug Club dinner tonight- perhaps that would take her mind off of things. Sure, she doubted it, but either way she had to go.

There was also Tom to consider, not that things had really changed between them. He stuck to his Slytherin groupies, who probably feared him more than actually liked his company, and she kept to herself. As she had hoped, the detention in Charms hadn't changed anything between them. Or at least that's what she liked to think.

For now that she realized that Tom had never known real love, she found that a seed of pity had been planted in her stomach, and it refused to be reaped. It was only in her nature to want to help people, like with Neville in Potions. So she knew that she was only acting upon maternal instinct. Because no matter what, she always had to considered what Tom Riddle had done, and more importantly, would do. That was why she was here, wasn't she, because he had done many horrific things most wizards dare not dream of. She needed to stop him, not feel sorry.

"Odie?" a girl's voice asked shyly. Hermione jumped from her position on the couch in Gryffindor common room. It was just over a half an hour before she had to go to Slughorn's office, and since she had barely spoken with anyone that day, she had to admit she was at least a bit surprised.

It was Dorothea McKinnon, fellow Gryffindor duelist representative. A year younger than Hermione- or more accurately- Odessa Todd, the young redhead had cautious blue eye but an overall cheerful disposition. The girl radiated nervousness, and Hermione couldn't help but wonder why.

"Yes, Dorothea?" Hermione asked, and tried not to sound so solemn, so that she wouldn't let on about what had happened last night. The girl sat down next to her, large textbook in hand.

"Well, first off- would you mind going to Slughorn's little dinner party with me? I don't know anybody else Slughorn has deemed worthy of his company," she stated melodramatically, "In fact, I never thought I would be deemed worthy of his company, but I suppose that recent events might have changed his opinion of me. I didn't fancy going there alone, and since you have to be there anyway, so…"

"Of course!" exclaimed Hermione, and the redhead looked a bit taken aback, though pleased nonetheless.

"Really?" she questioned, "I mean, ever since that time when I was in second year and you in third, and I embarrassed you in the Great Hall… why, I thought you hated me! I mean, well, most people do…" her voice trailed off again, her eyes fellto the ground as she fidgeted with the pages of her textbook.

"What do you mean?" Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, "Why would I hold a grudge so long? And why would people hate you?"

Dorothea looked her right in the eye, it was her turn to be surprised, "You know, my parents?" she said as if that was supposed to answer everything. Hermione noddedas if she understood, although she had no idea what was going on. She supposed it was the usual pureblood frenzy.

"Well, the real reason I'm here is because I've heard you've also been studying for the dueling competition and I wanted to ask you since questions. You know, since I'm only a fifth year I haven't gotten to any NEWTs level spells. I'm borrowing a book from the library to help me with my studies. But, you see I'm having a lot of trouble with the Repetition Hex; do you think you could help me?"

Hermione took the aged textbook from the other girl's lap. In her own time, the Repetition Hex was considered to be a lesser form ofthe Dark Arts, seeing as the hex forced a wizard to keep repeating the last thing he did. The length he would have to endure this was determined by how much power was put into the spell. Looking at the cover, she saw that it was indeed a NEWTs Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. Although she had learned back in sixth year never to trust a book by its cover, she doubted Dorothea or any Gryffindor wanting to have anything to do with the Dark Arts. Besides, as she looked through the yellowed pages she saw that the other spells in the textbook looked safe enough. Hermione smiled despite herself, if she was not mistaken (and she usually wasn't) she was becoming quite paranoid.

"Well, the Repetition Hex is difficult in both pronunciation and wand movement. The phrase, identidem is spoken twice, and first pronounced eye-dent-eye-dem, and then eye-dent-ee-dem," Hermione read the blurb about the spell aloud, "The student should practice speaking this phrase without a wand prior to utilizing the spell."

The girl nodded. "Eye-dent-eye-dem, eye-dent-ee-dem," she said slowly and carefully.

"Good," Hermione said encouragingly, "But you'll want to learn how to say it faster, if you expect to use it in a duel."

Dorothea smiled nervously, "Alright then. Eye-dent-eye-dem, eye-dent-ee-dem. Eye-dent-eye-dem eye-dent-eye-NO-ee-dem. Eye-dent-ee-eye-dem, no, that isn't right! Ugh, I'm hopeless, aren't I?" She groaned and accepted defeat quicker than Gryffindors were usually prone to.

"You need practice," Hermione said simply, "For now, I guess we best be off, if we want to get to Slughorn's little club on time." She closed the textbook and put it down on the table in front of her, "Do you want to take this upstairs?"

Dorothea shook her head, "No, I don't think anyone will be taking this." Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in response to what she assumed was disregard for books. She just hoped for Dorothea's sake that the current librarian was as strict as Madam Pince.

They made their way to the office in companionable silence. Hermione, who had beenquiet for the better part ofthe day, was tired after the sudden conversation, and Dorothea seemed to understand that. But Hermione began to realize that when she was silent, her mind tended to dwell on some not so pleasant things. So, as much as she didn't want to, she had to say something. The silence was like a poison, and if she didn't break it she'd go insane.

"So do you like Potions?" she asked the younger girl, trying to find anything the two of them could talk about while knowing just about nothing they had in common.

"Potions… I like it, even more so than dueling, but don't tell anyone that," she said cautiously, "But Professor Slughorn, well he's a different story, no offense. What I mean is well; he's just a tad bit..."

"Judgmental," Hermione finished, knowing perfectly well what she meant. Dorothea nodded, confirming Hermione's suspicion that Slughorn hadn't changed very much over the years. "Are you ready?" she asked as the approached Slughorn's office.

"As I'll ever be," Dorothea gave a weak smile and opened the door.


Jessi Brooke: Well, that was a weird place to stop, but this was on the verge of becoming the longest chapter ever, by about five hundred words, so I cut some of it out. High school is an evil place, and I'm starting to hate my middle school guidance counselor for convincing me to do all honors… Anyway, thank goodness for fanfiction, or I'd go insane!

FanFictionFantom- Thanks!

Sarklover826- Yup, it's sharing time for Hermione.

404-Cliffies are evil. But I just found out they are much more fun to write than to read evil grins

HeirOfGryffindor10- keeps going

Mrs. Skywalker- Yup, most Tom/Hermione fans seem to be Draco/Hermione fans first. I was one of those weirdos who went the other way around, but I still prefer Tom with Hermione.