Authors' note: We know it's been forever since our last update – sorry! We started this chapter in April, and then got caught up in finals for a while. THEN we had to move back home for the summer before we started writing again. Unfortunately, that chapter was awful, and we had to scrap it completely. So, finally, here is the new and improved Chapter 8!
And just to let you all know, Chapter 9 has been written also, and will be posted in the next week. Updates will definitely come quicker now that it's the summer – we promise!
One more thing: Thank you SO MUCH for the reviews. They really inspire us to keep going! Also, thank you to our anonymous reviewers, who we can't respond to otherwise. Your constructive criticism is great, and we really keep it in mind when we're writing.
Disclaimer: As you know, we own nothing.
Bottoms Up
Hermione paced up and down a corridor, trying to calm her nerves. Every once in a while she would stop and peer expectantly out a window in hopes of seeing Tom enter the forest. Finding nothing suspicious, she would sigh and then turn away to pace some more.
It was sunset, and she had been at this for the better part of an hour. Hermione knew that watching the grounds wasn't the most brilliant plan of action, but at least it gave her some time to figure out how to follow Tom unnoticed. Unfortunately, she would have to follow him closely if she were to get a glimpse of his horcrux, because she couldn't remember the exact location of the clearing. This would certainly be dangerous, and he would probably spot her, but at this point, Hermione didn't care. She had nothing to lose; why not try to be useful?
Perhaps she should just run into the forest right now, while it was still light out. Tom was probably already in there; he hadn't been present at dinner. He had disappeared as soon as they returned from Diagon Alley. Then again, he was often missing at meals, so this wasn't too suspicious…. She paused, and looked out the window again. As before, there was no sign of Tom, or any unusual activity around the forest. She could only see Hagrid, meandering around the pumpkin patch, probably enjoying a bit of the lingering sunlight. Hopefully, he would move inside before she had to slip into the forest, or she would have to think of a way to distract him.
Hermione was about to move away from the window and start pacing again, when she did a double take, staring at Hagrid in surprise. He was walking straight towards the forbidden forest. She groaned. Hagrid never went into the forest at night! Why did he have to pick tonight to change his routine? She'd have to stop him, or he'd probably get hurt; if not from Tom, then from some other dangerous nocturnal creature.
She ran outside, and tried to wave him over as she approached. "Hagrid!" she called. "Hagrid – wait up!"
He looked briefly over his shoulder at the mention of his name, and then continued walking in the direction of the forest. Hermione caught up with him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked.
He swatted her hand away. "Er, nothin' – nothin's the matter, Hermione. I just forgot ter take care o' somthin' before. Don' worry 'bout me."
"But Hagrid, it's getting dark out. I'm sure whatever you need to do can wait until tomorrow morning," she persisted.
"Really, I'm fine," he said, walking faster, "why don' yeh go back inside?"
Hermione groaned. Why was he being so difficult? "Hagrid, I have to insist that you stay out of the forest tonight – it's dangerous in there!"
This time Hagrid stopped and turned around, glaring at her. "Hermione… go now," he growled in a low voice. He stood staring at her for a moment, hatred etched into every line of his face. He looked haggard and irritated beyond belief. Something was obviously wrong. Hermione opened her mouth to say something consoling, and perhaps coax him back towards the castle, but on second thought, closed it; this was not a Hagrid to argue with. So she simply continued staring in shock as he turned on his heel and stalked into the forest.
She stood like that for another minute or so, not knowing if she should run in after him or go get help. Hermione shook her head. No, she'd have to think of something else. So she started pacing again.
"Great," she muttered to herself. "Just great. Hagrid's in danger, I'm probably in danger… I can't stop Riddle from doing anything or I'll mess up the future…." She walked through the dewy grass, nervously twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "I'm walking in the middle of the field, so he can probably see me, if he's not already in the process of making the horcrux…. And on top of all that, I'm talking to myself."
Eventually, her pacing wore her out and she sank into the soft grass, resting her head between her knees. "Oh well, I tried…." she said dejectedly. Hermione sat with her eyes closed, listening to crickets chirping and the birds calling to one another. The evening would have been so peaceful if she hadn't been so worried.
Suddenly, she heard a noise in the distance. She picked her head up and tried to determine which direction it was originating from. It was too loud to be from the forbidden forest; in fact, it sounded to be closer to the castle, as if coming from around the greenhouses.
Hermione got up and walked cautiously towards the first greenhouse. She could hear it clearly now; something was definitely making a lot of noise, though she couldn't see what it was. Quietly, she lit her wand and pushed open the greenhouse door. The noise grew exponentially louder, and she could now hear that it was a muffled screaming. Hermione pointed her wand towards the floor, and after a moment of searching, found the source of the commotion; it was Hagrid.
Hermione gasped, and ran over to his body lying in the far corner of the room. He was thrashing wildly around, though he didn't seem to have control of his hands or feet. "Hagrid!" Hermione cried out as she leaned over him. "What on earth happened to you?"
Hagrid continued making muffled shouts. "Oh, sorry," she said. He was obviously bound by magic. She muttered the counter curse and his limbs sprung apart. At the same time, his invisible gag disappeared, and he choked back a scream. "Thank you!" he gasped, embracing Hermione in a powerful hug. "I didn' think anyone would ever find me!"
Hermione patted him on the back and, out of breath, wheezed an indecipherable response. Hagrid quickly let go and smiled sheepishly.
"Right," she said impatiently, massaging her neck. "Now can you please tell me what happened?"
A worried look crossed his face. "Well ter be honest, I don' know," he explained. "I was sittin' outside, mindin' my own business, when all o' a sudden I heard someone come up behind me, an' then I blacked out. When I woke up, I was lyin' in here, all tied up."
"Wait – so you never went into the forest tonight?"
He shook his head. "No, o' course not. Why?"
Suddenly, Hermione understood what had happened tonight. "Polyjuice potion," she said. Hagrid narrowed his eyes, so she repeated herself. "Polyjuice potion is used to disguise one's self as another. Tonight, Tom Riddle used it to masquerade himself as you. He needed to get into the forest without anyone noticing…. You're always working in there, so it would be the perfect cover-up. Of course, he had to make sure the real Hagrid didn't make an appearance while he was walking around, so that's why he tied you up."
Hagrid stared at her, his mouth agape. "Why would he do all o' this?" he asked.
Hermione hesitated. Should she tell him the truth? This was certainly messing with time, but he would probably find out anyway. "Do you remember the other day when I saw him in the forest?"
He nodded.
"Well I saw where he was. He was in a clearing, working on a dangerous looking potion. I think he went back there tonight to finish it."
His eyes widened. "Really? D'yeh know wha' he was makin'? We should probably tell someone 'bout this."
"No!" Hermione said. "Er, well, not right now. I was thinking about following him tonight, to make sure he was doing something illegal, and then mentioning it to Dumbledore," she lied.
"I should go with yeh," he said, standing up. "Yeh'll get lost in the dark without me."
Hermione nodded. "That's a really good idea," she said. "I'm not even sure exactly where the clearing was in the first place." She described the area to him, and how she got there before.
Hagrid stared at the ground pensively, listening to her story. "I think I can find it," he said after she stopped talking. "I know the hill yeh're talking 'bout, an' the clearing shouldn' be too far from there. Should we go now?"
"Yes, I think now would be an excellent time to go."
xxxxxx
The two of them crept silently along through the forest, Hagrid leading the way, and Hermione lighting his path with her wand from behind. As they headed deeper and deeper into the woods, Hagrid seemed to become less sure of himself. He paused often and changed direction suddenly. Meanwhile, Hermione strained her ears to hear any sound of movement, and also continually cursed herself for trusting Hagrid to lead her off the forest trail in the dark. She wondered if they would ever manage to find the clearing.
To her surprise, they actually did. After half an hour, the forest began to brighten, and she could see a reddish glow reflecting off the trees. Just ahead was the clearing, in the middle of which stood Tom. They paused a few yards from the perimeter of the clearing, and Hermione motioned over to Hagrid, who was staring at the bubbling cauldron in the distance. He turned his head and followed her behind a large fallen log. Though it was a tight fit, the two managed to position themselves so they both had a decent view of the clearing.
Hermione could just make out Tom's figure standing beside the glowing cauldron. He was leaned over its edge, slowly stirring its contents. The light reflected from the potion bounced off the walls of the cauldron and hit his face, flickering across his sharp features. Hermione could see that he was excited; though his face was lined with tension, his eyes flashed as they gazed at his own handiwork. The sight sent chills down her spine.
As he continued stirring, he began to mutter incantations. Hermione couldn't make out any of the words – it was all nonsense to her. The potion glowed even brighter, like it had the last time, and emitted sparks all over the place. At this, Tom quickly pulled a glass bottle from his robes and filled it with the violently red potion.
Hermione held her breath – this was it! He was about to make the horcrux! She shifted upwards a bit to get a better look at the object, but still couldn't see it.
Indeed, Tom had nothing in his hands but the potion now. He studied it carefully then whispered a few last words before he bottomed the entire thing. At first, nothing happened. Then he seemed to go very still. His entire body tensed up, and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. His hand, still clutching the bottle, released its grip, and glass shattered at his feet.
Meanwhile, Hagrid was next to her cowering. Hermione glanced at him and saw that he was inching away; she hurriedly made a grab for his wrist, to prevent him from leaving her stranded with a very dangerous Tom Riddle.
She looked back at Tom, who was now showing some signs of life. His eyelids clenched shut and he began to breathe heavily. Then he stumbled forwards, and crouched towards the ground, clutching his chest. His body shook violently as he moaned in pain and tried to grab hold of something to steady himself. Then, as it seemed he couldn't control himself any longer, his head shot up and he looked towards the perimeter of the clearing. His gaze rested on the shadows where Hermione and Hagrid were hiding, and his eyes widened.
Hermione gasped: had he seen her? She didn't have long to worry over this, though, because at that point, Tom fell down his back, writhing all over. The potion was apparently working now, because his body started to glow red from the middle and spread outward. Then suddenly, the light extinguished and he lay still on the ground. His moans subsided, and he sat quietly, gasping for breath, before he rolled over and passed out cold.
Hermione stared in shock. What a violent spell! She never would have pictured the creation of a horcrux quite like that. But where was the actual object itself? She yearned to run over and search his body for it, if not to destroy it right then and there, then to at least know what it was.
However, she didn't dare do this. Tom had possibly spotted them, and Hermione didn't want to be anywhere near the forest when he woke up. She looked over at Hagrid, who was now pressed up against the side of the log and trembling. His eyes were wide and told her that he wanted to leave also.
She caught his gaze and, putting a finger to her lips, jerked her head in the direction from which they came. He understood, and the pair silently removed themselves from that area of the forest.
Once they were on the grounds again, Hagrid turned to her and whispered, "Hermione, d'yeh know wha' kind o' potion that was?"
She shook her head. "I told you earlier, I've never seen a potion quite like that before."
"Well maybe Professor Dumbledore will recognize it when we tell him. What d'yeh think?" he asked.
Hermione's stomach dropped. Hagrid was really going to rat out Tom after all; she had hoped he would forget to do so. Now Dumbledore would know Tom was up to no good, and would probably interfere somehow. Wonderful, she thought sarcastically.
"I don't know, Hagrid; he might."
xxxxxx
Hermione stood at Transfiguration professor's door and knocked nervously. Hagrid stood next to her, looking anxious; he probably couldn't wait to get back at Tom for causing his expulsion. She never would have guessed that Hagrid was the vindictive type.
After a few moments, the door opened, and out stepped a very confused looking Dumbledore. "Hermione? Hagrid? What brings the two of you here so very late at night?"
"Well, Professor," Hermione started. She looked at Hagrid, who was nodding her on. "Um… actually, can we step inside your office for a minute? I don't think it's a good idea to talk out here."
He gave her an odd look, but stepped aside to let them through, and motioned to two chairs. "Please sit down," he said.
After they did so, Hermione spoke again. "Professor, we saw something tonight that we thought you would like to know about." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, but she continued on.
"A few hours ago, I thought I saw Hagrid go into the Forbidden Forest. Soon after that, I heard shouts coming from the greenhouses, and saw that he had actually been tied up by magical bindings. We figured that someone had posed as Hagrid to enter the forest, so we decided to follow him." She paused, wondering how to phrase the next part of their story.
"It was Tom, Professor!" Hagrid interrupted.
That was one way to go about saying it.
She nodded in agreement. "We ended up finding the imposter, and it turned out to be Tom, who was brewing some potion I've never seen before."
Dumbledore looked at her curiously. "Did he see the two of you?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Hermione replied. "He was busy with his potion, and he passed out after he drank it."
"Hmm…." Dumbledore started to pace. "This is very interesting. And you don't know anything about the potion itself?"
"No, except that it was bright red."
"Well thank you for telling me this. What Tom did tonight sounds very illegal, and I'll make sure he receives the proper punishment."
Hermione groaned inwardly, while Hagrid smiled broadly.
The professor walked over to the door and started to open it. "You two should be off to bed. But," he paused, staring at them thoughtfully. "I should warn you that the forest is very dangerous, especially at night. Please don't wander off the path again."
They nodded fervently and walked out into the corridor. Hermione stopped and said to Hagrid, "You go on. I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore about something else." Maybe now she could actually do some damage control. Hagrid shrugged and then waved goodbye. "G'night, then," he said.
Hermione looked back at Dumbledore who was still standing by the door, wearing an amused expression on his face. "I suspect you know more about what happened tonight than you let on?" he suggested.
She sighed. "Yes, I think so."
They walked back into his office, and Dumbledore closed the door. Hermione looked up at him and said, "Please, Professor, you can't tell anyone about Tom. I know what he did tonight, and if anyone finds out or stops him, it will drastically change the future. I only told you about it because Hagrid insisted. You must understand how important this is."
Dumbledore walked behind his desk and sat down, staring wearily at his hands. "I had a feeling you were going to say that," he said. "In your time, no one knew about this incident?"
"No. Not until many years later. I messed up tonight; no one was supposed to find him, but I allowed it to happen. And I can't let this stupid mistake ruin the course of history," she replied.
"Of course not. Although I'm sure you're presence here is, inevitably, having some effect on the future. I'm afraid there's no preventing that, Miss Parks."
She nodded. "I know I'm bound to change some things, but this is a significant event in wizarding history. If some subsequent events don't fall into place, the future will be hugely impacted."
"Don't worry, Miss Parks; I won't say a word of this to anyone. Though we can let Hagrid believe I did," he smiled.
"Thank you so much," Hermione said, getting up. "This really means a lot to me."
After bidding Dumbledore goodnight, she left his office in high spirits. Perhaps she hadn't ruined the future after all! Now she just had to make sure that Hagrid didn't mention this to anyone else. Though why would he, if he believed Tom had already received a just punishment? Stifling a yawn, she returned to the Gryffindor Tower and decided that she would work things out with Hagrid in the days to come.
