Chapter 8
One late night in early October, an angry Hermione sat in her bed with the curtains closed. She was angry at herself because she seemed to be forgetting the task at hand as the days passed her by. Remembering to take notes on Tom's actions and the way he said words was easy enough. Granted, he was on her mind for most of the days she had been there. She told herself that thinking about Tom was alright because he was the only reason she was in this time period. Thinking about him during Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, or DADA might not be acceptable, but she found herself doing this. Her journal had almost become and ode to Tom Riddle. Staying on task was one hard part and remembering that this was not a vacation was another. Over the month that she had known him, he had crept out of his shell from time-to-time and Hermione enjoyed his company. He was almost like her; so consumed with his studies. Though, he was also consumed in ruling over the Wizarding world, and Hermione was not. They were very much alike, but had very different goals.
The time-turner was in her hands. She wondered if she could visit her friends now. It was painful, the way she missed them. It was like being away from your parents for the first time. Sleeping was difficult because she missed them so much.
There would be no tutoring during the day that awaited her. Hermione felt a sick, unwanted sadness in her. This was wrong; this wanting to be around Tom business. She knew it was. It was worse than the year that she had had a crush on Draco Malfoy. Draco had never killed anyone, and yet neither had Tom. But Hermione thought Draco was too much of a coward to kill anyone. She knew Tom would eventually kill people and feel no regret.
When she finally did fall asleep, she had a dream in which she fell in love with Lord Voldemort and Harry was fine with it. Only in her dreams…
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"Jane! Hello? Jane, wake up!" Rebecca poked at Hermione.
Hermione pulled the blankets over her head, "I'm ill!" This was a lie, and the first excuse that popped into her head, but she was tired.
"I don't believe you, Jane. We have that test today, you can't miss it. Get up, you lazy bum," Rebecca prodded.
Rebecca's voice was getting extremely annoying by this time, so she gave in and sat up. Sometimes in the morning normal things were really annoying. "What time is it?" Hermione asked.
"It's about seven o'clock. You usually get up before then, so I decided to wake you."
Hermione thought for a second. "Do we actually have a test today?"
"No," Rebecca smiled. "I just knew it would get you up."
She got up to get ready when Rebecca said, "What's that?"
Hermione looked at her bed and saw a dull gold chain, tiny little broken glass pieces, and a small collection of sand. It was the remains of her time-turner, which she must has crushed while sleeping. "Oh no! Oh-no-oh-no-oh-no!"
"What's wrong? What is that thing?" Rebecca asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's my—" She couldn't tell Rebecca. Hermione could not risk what the result might be in the future. "It's my very special necklace. A friend gave it to me," she lied. Hermione was in too much of a panic to cry. She tried to stay calm; she had to talk to Dippet. She had to find another way, or fix it if possible.
Hermione did not want to think about the broken time-turner on her bed. In Potions, though, she could feel the heavy tears build up in her eyes. What if she was stuck here? What if she never saw Harry, Ron, Ginny, or her parents every again? It was not until Professor Slughorn came over to see if she was alright when her tears decided to break free.
"Miss Rowley, what's wrong? Would you like to go to the bathroom to clean yourself up?"
Between sobs she managed to get out a 'yes' and took off out of the class. She decided to go to go to Dippet's office instead of the bathroom. He might have some ideas about getting back. And if she didn't, her nervous breakdown would advance from Could-Get-Better to No-Chance-In-Hell-Of-Ever-Being-Normal-Again.
When she reached the office, she said the password quickly and knocked on the door.
"Come in, come in," Dippet said.
"Professor Dippet, something horrible has happened," she told him after she entered.
"What? What happened, dear? What's your name again…?" The old headmaster looked up at her in an apologetic manner.
She nearly screamed at him. "I'm Hermione Granger! From 1996, don't you remember?"
"Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes. Now, what happened?"
"My time-turner broke! How am I going to get back home? Can we fix it? What can I do, Professor?" she cried.
"Sh, sh, sh. Calm down, dear. How did it break?"
Hermione felt stupid and aggravated. Who cares how it broke? She told him anyway. "I fell asleep with it in my hands… I must have crushed it."
"Don't worry. There is a potion, rather complicated, but can return you to your time. It will take several months to brew… Do you think you can do it?"
"Yes. I can do it. Will it be in Moste Potente Potions?" she asked.
"Moste Potente Potions? What's that, dear?" he said, confused.
This made her laugh. I guess it hasn't been published yet. "Oh, nothing, just a book from the future. Do you know what book it would be in?"
The headmaster walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a book. "Say, aren't you supposed to be in class right now?"
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Hermione decided to ditch the rest of her classes and meals (if necessary) and to brew the potion in the Room of Requirement. She was sure just about no one knew it was there; therefore, it was the perfect place. She took a spare cauldron that Rebecca conveniently had and the book when she went up to the Room of Requirement.
I need a safe place to secretly brew my potion. I need a safe place to secretly brew my potion. I need a safe place to secretly brew my potion. She thought as she walked past it three times. Then, there was the door to the room she needed. When she opened the door, she found a desk, a chair, a shelf full of ingredients, and some potion books. With haste, she went in and shut the door behind her. The potion would take at least four months. The book had a warning, that if you did something, even one little thing, wrong, you could be off a year or two. She had faith, maybe too much faith, in herself that she could do it perfectly.
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"Why did you start crying in Potions?" Rebecca asked her at lunch the next day when they sat at the Slytherin table. Tom looked up to hear the answer.
"That necklace I broke this morning. It meant a lot," Hermione answered.
"Ooh. Did a special boy give it to you?" Naomi asked with interest.
Hermione smiled and decided to have a bit of fun with this. "A man gave it to me."
Benjamin did a wolf whistle, which made Hermione laugh. She was not lying. Dumbledore was an old man.
"You shouldn't cry over a broken necklace. You're a witch. Reparo would have fixed it," Tom said, as if it were that easy. Like, duh!
"Reparo wouldn't fix this necklace. It was magic," Hermione said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"What did it do?" Rebecca asked her.
Hermione smiled at her. "It brought me home." Again, not a lie. The way she said it sounded corny, but it made Rebecca and Naomi sigh like they were watching a romance film, even though they probably never have.
Tom scoffed at this. Hermione wanted to shove his face into his plate full of food. It was important to her. How dare he scoff?
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Tom had been late to tutor Hermione the next day. She had to wonder why. So she asked.
"I was caught up with something," he said shortly.
Hmm. Caught up in something like figuring out how to kill muggle-borns? A likely answer… Hermione thought. "What sort of something?" she pressed.
"A private something," Tom said sternly.
All she had to say was: "Oh."
A while later, when they had not been working, she asked, "Would you consider us friends?"
"In a sense of the word, I guess I would," he answered.
Hermione smiled. Then she wanted to smack herself. Being friends with the soon-to-be Dark Lord was not exactly a great thing. It was like being a Death Eater. Why did it make her smile? Being a Death Eater is not a good thing, Miss Granger!
"What do you plan on being for Halloween?" she asked him. Dippet had said something earlier about a Halloween Ball.
"I wasn't planning on doing anything," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Hermione's eyes got wide. "Why not? Halloween is a great holiday!"
Tom smiled a little. "Maybe I'll be a vampire."
"You're certainly pale enough to be a vampire. We can give you fangs and everything!" Hermione was getting excited now, which was never really a good thing.
Tom's smile faded. "I was joking."
"It would be fun, Tom. You can be a vampire and I—" she was interrupted by Tom.
"You could be a vampire too."
"I could! Then we could go together and everyone would be shocked and—"
"I was joking," he said again.
"It would be fun!" she insisted again.
"I'll think about it."
Hermione was so happy. Halloween was always her favorite holiday when she was little and it still was. With a bright smile on her face, she leaned over to hug Tom. When she did, he awkwardly patted her on the back. But she quickly pulled away. That's it, Hermione. Hug Lord Voldemort, your friends will understand. Become his best friend while you're at it and when you return you can join his side! Splendid idea, wouldn't you say? But hugs were custom to her. Hermione hugged Harry and Ron all the time, and nothing was ever thought of it.
"I'd say we're done here. Let's go meet up with everyone else," Tom said.
And so they left, side by side walking down a corridor. Hermione felt weird around Tom for some reason. "Did I pop your bubble?" she asked awkwardly.
"Excuse me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hermione decided to reword her sentence. "Did I invade your personal space when I hugged you?"
"No. I'm not used to being hugged, though. It was a bit strange."
When the two reached their friends, Avery asked how the studying went. Just like every other day when they had tutoring sessions. Hermione ended up asking them what they wanted to do for Halloween.
"I was thinking that we'd all get drunk and end up sleeping outside in our costumes," Abraxas joked. At least, Hermione hoped he was joking.
"I want to be a muggle nurse for the Ball," Naomi said.
Rebecca laughed. "You just want to wear a tiny dress so You-Know-Who will notice you."
Most of the friend's looked confused. "Who is 'You-Know-Who'?" Hayden asked.
Naomi gave Rebecca a look that said 'If you tell them, I'll hex you straight into next Tuesday.' So Rebecca only smiled and said, "A lady never tells her friend's secret."
"I like Abraxas' idea," Terrence said.
"Oh yes, great idea Abe. Imagine, waking up to an angry werewolf who wants to tear you limb from limb, but you're still so wasted that you can't move," Tom joked with a smile on his face.
They all either laughed or smiled. Things were funnier when Tom said them. Maybe because he scarcely joked or because he was the leader of the pack.
