A/N: Hello to all!
To redDaeth: Thank you! I also have an addiction to fanfiction that I just can't get enough of... God bless you too!
To Nacanaca: Thanks! ;) I love making new stories! And I'm totally in love with your stories, too! Update soon!
The next day, I walked to my lessons with Tom's diary in my pocket. I swallowed nervously as I passed Quirell with Ron and Harry either side of me. We had figured out who Nicholas Flamel was. I could feel Quirell's lingering glare on my back. It was potions, first. I had sped through the lessons and the revision in record time, but it wasn't long when Snape asked- I mean ordered- to talk to me again.
" Hermione Riddle, could you stay behind for a minute?" He made the question sound more of a command. I nervously nodded. Soon, the class filed out of the door. I went to Snape's desk where his greasy head was bent over the paperwork.
" Yes, sir? You wanted to talk to me." I said, impressing even myself by how calm I sounded. He slowly looked up.
" Do not distract me when I'm marking the paperwork." He drawled. I nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god he wasn't kind to me like before. That would have been infuriatingly awkward.
Especially since he tried to kill my little brother- I mean, Harry. He finished his work off and then straightened the pile of papers. " Miss Riddle, would you care to tell me why you were so distracted this lesson?" He asked, raising a bushy eyebrow. I swallowed, self consciously putting my hand on my pocket, where my brother's diary was situated. He stared at my hand. I swallowed.
" Nervous tick. We've got exams coming up, sir, and I haven't studied." I lied. He glared at me.
" Do not lie to me, Riddle." He growled. I hiccupped.
" I mean it, sir." I replied. He scrutinized me for a second. Then, I realized what he was doing. I threw my mental shields up high. Like with Quirell, I used fire, water, ice, false memories, anything just to get him out. Yet he still ploughed through all of those.
" You make quite an expert at Occlumency, Miss Riddle. Who taught you this?" Snape commented. I swallowed.
" That remains a riddle." I replied. He raised an eyebrow.
" And quite a riddle it remains. You are a mystery, Miss Riddle." He added. I bit my lip, fiercely putting up a particularly painful false memory.
" And I plan on keeping it unsolved." I stuck my chin up. He smiled. Oh my god, pigs can fly. Snape actually smiled!
" A diary. It's something about a diary." He said. I growled.
" Sir, that is personal and confidential information. If you choose to play a game, then use my other memories." I replied, though I knew that he would just try harder. Just as anticipated, he didn't listen. He smirked.
" My, my. And it's Slytherin green! Who knew that Griffindors liked green!" He taunted. I narrowed my eyes at him before I turned around, wondering why I hadn't run away before.
" Sir, I'd prefer it if my life were to remain untouched. Do not attempt to delve deeper or you will find the consequences... rather frightening." I threatened. He didn't leave my mind. I kept the fact that I came from the past and my relations to my brother under lock and key, in the strongest safe of my mind that I could conjure. Snape was getting desperate, I knew that. He was worried for the school. Oh, wow. Now cows can lay eggs! He was worried for Harry Potter's safety! I was about to use the excuse that I had a lesson next, but I realized it was lunch. He could keep me in here for as long as he liked- and the only thing I could do was protect my mind with my life. But my defences were getting weaker and weaker. I wished Tom had taught me some more of Occlumency. I could sense him getting snippets of my life. I could see myself with my face blurred being thrown onto the floor, my shoulder being ravaged by Darrel. I could see a red- hot prong being pressed onto my shoulder as I screamed, my face out of sight. I could see a hand coming and colliding with my cheek, I experienced being crucio'ed again, I could feel the love for Charlus springing up again. I was thankful that the memories went so fast that the faces were blurred, always blurred. Just then, they began to slow. Snape was getting closer to the truth, he was getting closer to finding out who my brother was and about my past. So I did the next best defence I could only resort to in an emergency. I promptly fell unconscious.
I awoke in darkness. Where was I? Oh, yes. My life was about to be ripped apart due to Snape and his nosiness. Oh, ha! Get it? His nose- oh, forget it.
" Excuse me, please do not insult my appearance." Snape drawled. I felt my breath hitch.
" Where am I?" I asked. There was a prompt silence.
" When I viewed some of your memories, you fainted. Somehow, you entered my mind. I don't know how you did it, but I won't let you out until you tell me what I saw." He warned.
" Where is... my body?" I asked. I shuddered. It sounded too much like I was referring to a corpse. Snape gave me a flash of how I looked like through his eyes. I swallowed. He was cradling me in his arms, shaking my still form. I could see his lips forming the same words, calling my false name over and over again.
" Hermione Jean Riddle. The girl who was a mystery. A riddle. Never to be solved. I will keep your secrets up here, I promise." He commented with sincerity in his voice. I swallowed.
" If I told you that I had... I don't know, the Dark Lord as my brother, would you believe me?" I asked, basically telling the truth. There was a pregnant silence. Then, Snape's laughter filled the empty darkness.
" He- Who- Must- Not- Be- Named? As your brother?! That's the most preposterous thing I've ever heard!" He exclaimed. I gave a bout of relieved laughter.
" Yeah, that was... a practise." I breathed. Snape was suddenly silent.
" You were abused." He deadpanned. I swallowed.
" Yeah."
" By the orphanage. You're a half-blood, not a mudblood." I winced. " You had a twin brother. You were forced to do the housework since you were four. And from what I can tell, you have definitely attended Hogwarts before." He said. I swallowed, hard. " You also came from the past. Your face and your brother's face were always blurred when we looked through your memories. And you're certainly older than you look. From what I can tell, your name is NOT Hermione Jean Riddle. And you do not look like this. I'm guessing you've used a glamour potion?" He left the last sentence as a question.
" Yes." I sighed.
" Take the glamour off. Show the world who you are-"
" And get arrested by the ministry?! Me just being here would tick them off!" I exclaimed. " No way am I taking the glamour off!" Snape sighed.
" You are right."
" But I don't find the glamour comfortable. I take it off once in a while. Once, I got caught by Ron and Harry and I had to take that memory away. It hurt to do that, but they didn't have their full trust with me at that time." I added. Snape nodded.
" Getting too accustomed with using glamours will alienate you from your true appearance." He warned me. I nodded.
" I know." I replied. Just then, I saw a bright light overtake my vision. I wanted to squint, but I couldn't. I saw strands of jet black hair. " Harry? Tom?" I was uncertain of who it was. Just then, my vision gained clarity and I saw Snape, looking confused.
" Tom?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded. I was rather uncomfortable with the way he was holding me. I still felt like a corpse. I sat up.
" Tom was my twin brother." I explained, blushing slightly. Snape nodded. Eh. I'll be a little more efficient with the way I saw people. I saw Snape as an overly protective father. Snape gave me look that said 'Explain'. I gulped and looked away.
" My birth name was Tia Marge Riddle." I wanted to Occlude him, but whenever I even thought of it, he glared at me. Snape looked lightly puzzled. "I was born to Merope Gaunt with my twin brother. We were born one minute apart, but also a whole day apart." I explained. "Tom Marvolo Riddle was my twin brother. He was born at 11:59 at 30th of June and I was born at midnight at the 31st of June, 1927." Snape looked absolutely shocked at the revelation that the Dark lord was, in fact, my twin brother. "We grew up together in an orphanage. We looked identical apart from our genders and the length of hair we had. We were very close. We never argued. I was the one who had to do the chores whilst he was locked up in his room all day. He was neglected. I was abused. When we got our Hogwarts letters and once we returned for the summer holidays, the abuse got worse for me, since according to muggle superstition, witches were worse than wizards. In our first year, Voldemort came to my brother as his dark side. I even talked to Voldemort through my brother. On to our second year, I found out that my brother wanted to become immortal using horcruxes. I blamed his friend- Aquarius Malfoy- for it. I foiled their plan, but in chain reaction, my brother ended up distancing himself from me since Voldemort could have taken Tom over at any time and harmed me. At our third year, I agreed to open the Chamber of Secrets in my sixth year with Voldemort through a blood promise out of fear. I thought he hated me and Voldemort used that to use me against Tom without my knowing. In my third year, I fell in love with Charlus Potter. But at the end of the year, our relationship met an abrupt end because his parents had already arranged a marriage for him to continue the Potter bloodline." Snape listened on. " In my sixth year, Tom made me horcruxes out of fear that his dark side might kill me one day. It went wrong, however. I became a cold, heartless killer. An abomination. I murdered Myrtle and almost immediately Voldemort had dominated Tom. When I opened the Chamber of Secrets, I was petrified and proclaimed dead after I laid in St. Mungos for a month. A few hours before, I was given the counteracting potion from Dumbledore. I had made a glamour potion without knowing it in my first year when I had unintentionally let a drop of my blood fall into the potion. Tom had placed the horcrux that contained my emotions on me and I channelled them through and into me. I plucked a hair from my head and allowed a drop of the potion to hit it and there was a perfect copy of how I looked like only seconds before," I continued. " I adventured out of my ward and found a time turner. I played with it for a few minutes until I was unintentionally sent fifty two years into the future. And now I'm running away from my brother who is- apparently- sixty one years older than me. Creepy." I commented, shuddering a little at the end. " And now, I'm in Gryffindor. You wanted to know why the sorting hat wanted to place me in Slytherin? It was because I was a Slytherin. I demanded to go to Gryffindor to protect the grand child of my ex- lover. I can't change their marriage, though, because I see Harry Potter as a brother. I wouldn't change him for the world." I turned to Snape, eyes wide. " And that's what scares me. Both sides- the light and dark- hold the two people I hold most dear to my heart. My biological twin brother and Harry. And one day, I'm going to have to choose one side. Professor Snape, I may be a mere teenager, but if you tell anybody you will have to face the anger that both me and Voldemort share." I threatened. Eyes wide, Snape nodded. I smiled. " Good."
Months later, Ron, Harry and I were under the invisibility cloak. I had my half of the cloak stuffed down my robe pocket. We reached the forbidden corridor, where 'Fluffy' was guarding the trap door. There was already a harp at her feet. I knew who was under there.
It wasn't Snape.
It was Tom.
I had a spare change of clothes in my other robe pocket, too and a vial of the glamour potion with Hermione's hair stuffed down it like polyjuice potion. Snape had told me about the defences down there in exchange for a few of my memories in his pensieve. What he wanted them for, I had no idea, but I was too happy to go and help Harry. After all, Snape had also told me that glamours often faded once physical injuries or prolonged use of potions appeared. So, if it did fall away, I have to make an effort that Voldemort didn't see my face in the case I should need to help Harry and I needed to change my clothes. I couldn't bear to remove more of Harry's memories, so I needed to be careful.
" Well, there you are," Harry said, quietly. " Snape's already got past Fluffy." A few moments later, Harry had a flute to his lips. He wasn't really playing a tune, but it seemed to work.
" Brilliant work, Harry." I complimented quietly under his half of the cloak. Harry had already hopped down the hole. He passed me the flute before he leapt and I began to play. Ron went soon after Harry gave the all- clear. I stopped playing after Ron went down and then launched myself into the trap door soon after. I landed on a plant- like mossy thing. Fancy that.
" We must be miles under the school!" I exclaimed, amazed.
" Lucky this plant thing is here, really." Ron commented. I looked down and examined the plant before my eyes widened and I struggled out. I managed to free them soon after. After a few comments were exchanged, we journeyed onward and with each step it made me feel more and more like I was walking toward death.
We entered an amazing room, lit overhead with flying birds. After we talked a little, I realized that they weren't birds.
" These birds... They can't just be here for decoration." I said. Harry watched them soar high above our heads.
" They're not birds!" He exclaimed. " They're keys! Winged keys! Look carefully. So that must mean-" He looked around. " Yes- look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!" He pointed at the broomsticks lined up against the wall.
" But there are hundreds of them!" I replied. Ron craned his head and looked at the lock on the door.
" We're looking for a big, old fashioned one- probably silver, like the handle." He reported. I nodded. We all ran to the broomsticks and got one each. We hopped onto them and tried to catch the keys, but they dived and jumped- any movement to move away from us. I sighed.
" That one!" Harry suddenly said. " That big one- there- no, there- with the bright blue wings. The feathers are all crumpled up on one side!" He yelled. Ron went at it, but promptly crashed into the ceiling and nearly fell off his broom. " We've got to close in on it!" He shouted. " Ron, you come at it from above, Hermione, stay below and stop it from going down- and I'll try and catch it. Right. NOW!" I zoomed upward and Ron plunged down whilst Harry went straight at it. He caught it against the stone wall with a sickening crunch. Ron and I both cheered Harry on. We all landed on the floor and Harry rammed the key into the lock. Once it clicked open, the key fluttered up, looking very battered indeed. " Ready?" he asked, quietly. Ron and I nodded. And Harry turned the door handle.
We walked into the pitch black room and immediately, the lights clicked on to reveal an amazing sight. We were on the edge of a chessboard, just behind the black pieces. The white chessmen had no faces. Ron suggested playing our way across.
"How?" I asked.
" I think... we're going to have to be chessmen." He replied. Ron began instructing us. I went to where I was allocated to. Soon, we began to play. As much as I hated to admit it, I was in danger twice and Ron pretty much was our life and death. Soon, he realized he had to be taken by the opponents.
" NO!" Harry and I exclaimed. Ron turned to us, angry.
" That's chess!" He snapped. " You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me. That'll leave you free to check mate the king, Harry!"
" But-"
" Do you want to stop Snape or not?!" Ron exclaimed. I bit my lip to stop myself from telling them that Harry's parent's murderer was actually lurking about. I didn't want to trust Snape with confidential information about my life, but I had to.
" Ron-"
" Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the stone!" He yelled. " Ready? Here I go- now, don't hang about once you've won."
Harry and I went to the next room as an impressively disgusting smell invaded our nostrils. In front of us, whilst I shuddered, was a troll even bigger than the one that Harry had taken down. Thank Salazar it wasn't awake, though. We stepped over one massive leg and then made our way to the next door. We held our breath. And then, we opened the door.
It wasn't frightening at all. But, like I've said several times, looks are deceiving. There was a table with seven bottles.
" Snape's." He said, grimly. " What do we have to do?" He asked. We stepped over the threshold and almost immediately, a purple fire sprang up behind us whilst in the other doorway, a black fire sprung up. We were trapped.
" Look!" I exclaimed. I ran to a small paper scroll on the table.
Danger lies before you, while safety lies ahead,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will help you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number holds only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting in line,
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you with your choice, we give you these clues four,
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide,
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either side,
But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides,
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right,
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
I cracked a huge smile.
" Brilliant!" I exclaimed. " This isn't magic- it's logic- a puzzle! A lot of the greatest wizards didn't have an ounce of logic- they'd be stuck in here forever!" I rambled onward until I reached a conclusion and immediately, I felt myself cripple. Only the smallest bottle would get one of us through- and it had to be Harry. I watched with dismay as he drank it and leapt through the black flames. I swallowed. Nothing would get past them unless mortally wounded. And even then there would only be a slim chance of surviving. But then, I thought of Harry, being stuck there with Voldemort ready to kill him and I steadied myself.
" I would die for both of you." I whispered before I shrouded myself in the invisibility cloak and ran into the flames.
I was spat on the other side, charred, weak and trembling. With weak arms, I lifted myself up and off the ground. I was alive! The invisibility cloak slipped off me and I suddenly felt woozy. Why was I suddenly so tall? I stared into a mirror, opposite me in the distance. My glamour! My wavy black hair looked tousled and horrible, my face was streaked with charcoal. Ugh, I looked disgusting. But my reflection moved. She produced a vial of my potion and then she slid it into her pocket, her green alert eyes darting to two figures on the side. I also moved my eyes toward them and I saw Quirell. With Harry. I swallowed and felt a weight on my pocket. I, frowning, put my hand in my pocket and felt my hands close around my potion. I took it out and had a swig of it. I suddenly went shorter and shorter until I was the same height as I was moments ago. I licked my lips. I ran over, keeping to the shadows. Neither Voldemort nor Harry saw me.
"Potter, come back here! What did you see?! Tell me the truth!" Quirell shouted.
" Let me speak to him. Face to face." Came a high pitched, hissing noise. With a shudder, I realized that the creature was Tom.
" Master, you are not strong enough!" Quirell exclaimed.
" I have strength enough... For this..." Voldemort hissed. Harry stayed rooted to the spot. Quirell turned on the spot and an ugly, paper white, snake-like face was on the back of his head, red slits for eyes.
But the eyes were what confirmed to me that he was, indeed, Tom.
Not knowing what to do, I tugged at my bushy hair. What do I do?! Just then, I saw Voldemort bring out a wand. Oh, no. Don't you dare. Before I even registered what I was doing, I ran in front of Harry. The killing curse rebounded off by the blood promise we did, but some of it hit the blood shield so hard that it broke through and the blood promise was severed.
Never do blood promises with Lord Voldemort.
He's a very tricky man.
I, once again, awoke in darkness. Everywhere was foggy. Once the fogginess started to clear, I saw the darkness was because I had my eyes closed. I forced them up, blinking against the sun light that filtered through the windows. I groaned. The hospital wing? Again?! I turned around and got the shock of my life. Snape had been watching me in my sleep! That wasn't half creepy!
" I trust you are quite alright, Tia Riddle?" He asked. I looked down at my hands. Instead of the small hands of Hermione Granger were the pale, skeletal hands of, well, me. I swallowed.
" Has anyone seen me, sir?" I asked. He shook his head.
" I saved you after you recklessly went under the trap door which was obviously being guarded by a ferocious creature." He explained. Suddenly, he went loud. " What on Salazar were you thinking?!"He demanded. I shrugged.
" Saving Harry. From my brother." I replied, rubbing my arm. " I'm reckless, yes, but at least he wasn't hit." I said. He sighed.
" You've damaged your glamour. Now you and Harry have got something else in common." He grabbed a hand mirror on the bed side. I turned to the other side. I smiled, again. There was another pile of get well cards, written in the same handwriting but they were made from Ron. Snape turned around. He offered a plain hand mirror in his hands. I grasped the hand mirror and looked at my reflection. I was the same, if filthy. I frowned. " Look closer." Snape ordered. I did as he asked. I dropped the mirror and it broke into pieces. On my head, matching Harry Potter, was a thin but almost undetectable lightning scar." Seven years of bad luck for you, then." He muttered. I didn't pay attention. If my glamour was hit with the most power in the killing curse... I swallowed.
"Sir?" My voice was shaky to my ears. I swallowed again. He turned to me.
" Yes?"
" Where's the potion?" I asked. He pulled the drawer out and, inside it, was the glamour potion I had made six years ago. I breathed a sigh of relief and drank a little bit of it. It wasn't a painful transition, but it was much more comfortable. I rolled my shoulders and leaned on my bed. Snape passed me the biggest shard of the mirror. I gratefully took it. My glamour was- as I thought- hit hard. The lightning scar was much more detectable. Oh, no. People will think that I had some creepy obsession with Harry. But then, I supposed, nearly everyone does. " Sir? Can I see Harry, please?" I asked. He nodded.
" Be careful, though. You both have been out for three days." He warned. I nodded and then swung my legs over the bed and slid down. It was a little wobbly, but I was still walking. Harry just had a conversation with Dumbledore and the headmaster left. I walked over to Harry. " Harry? Are you alright?" I asked. He jumped and then turned to me. He immediately relaxed.
" 'Mione." He said. " Yes, I'm fine." He said, not meeting my eyes.
" Harry, are you sure? You've just met your parent's murderer." I asked, gently.
" I said I'm alright!" He snapped. I sighed and sat on the chair beside him. Just then, Luna walked in as though she were in a trance.
" Luna?" I asked. She turned to me.
" Yes- Wow." She sounded awed, but she was still her dreamy, crazy self. I raised an eyebrow.
" What?"
" You- you look like Harry!" She said. I lifted another eyebrow.
" You mean the scar?" I asked. That got Harry's attention. I blushed. " Has anyone got any foundation?" Harry turned to look at me. The scar was bleeding, slightly, but I was older than them, so I could hold in the pain for a little longer.
" You've got my scar!" He exclaimed. I swallowed.
" Yes, and now everyone's going to think that I've got a creepy obsession with you." I deadpanned. He shook his head.
" Dumbledore's making an assembly to inform people of what we've done. Everybody thinks that I performed the killing curse on Voldemort!" He snickered. I let a small smile grace my lips.
" You couldn't hurt a fly." I replied, quietly. His smile dropped.
" Yeah. But I will have to kill Voldemort someday. I wasn't told. I just have this feeling." He added. I swallowed. He wouldn't kill Tom... Would he?
When we were allowed out of the hospital wing, Ron immediately came.
" Harry! Hermione." He hugged Harry. Ron and I were friends, but a bit on awkward terms.
" Hi." We said at the same time. I scratched at my bushy hair. Ron seemed to notice the scar.
" Oh my-"
" Ron." I said, firmly. He gulped.
" You've got his bloody scar! What the hell did you do?!" He exclaimed. I shrugged.
" I just deflected Voldemort's killing curse before it could reach Harry." I explained, hesitantly.
This wasn't good. People were suspicious.
We walked to the Great Hall. Ron, Harry and I were just in front of the double doors.
" Ready?" I asked. They grinned at me.
" Yep. Let's make it dramatic. Pretend we're hexing each other and run across the halls- make it look like we fell apart. Just make sure they're not real hexes." Harry said. I smirked. We burst into the hall, interrupting what Dumbledore was saying. I ducked under a fake hex Harry had sent hurtling my way. I sent a harmless firework spark toward Ron and he ducked. We were all screaming insults at each other, running along each table. I was next to Slytherin and then I went in front of the Great Hall, Ron and Harry soon joining. The results were hilarious. The whole hall was shell-shocked into silence. Then, an uproar began. I, in between Ron and Harry, put up both of my hands and they high fived me. We all laughed. Dumbledore even had a twinkle in his eyes, not even bothered that we had distracted him.
" So, I trust that you three have organized this? All of those weren't real hexes..." Dumbledore said, stunning the hall into silence. We all nodded. He continued with his speech, putting his hands on Harry's left shoulder and on Ron's right. " These three children had surpassed all of the tests brought up before they could wrench the philosopher's stone out of Voldemort's grasp." There was collective gasps around the room. I rolled my eyes. Dumbledore used his wand to gently move my french fringe out of the way, making my new scar visible to everybody. I went pink under all of the stares around the Great Hall. " Miss Riddle had nearly died defending Harry Potter. She had jumped in the way of a killing curse and, miraculously, survived. Which brings us back to the topic- Miss Riddle, who performed this blood charm on you?" Dumbledore asked. I swallowed. I wanted to correct him and tell him it was a blood promise, but my lips moved against their own accord.
" My brother." I replied, shakily. Dumbledore eyed me for a minute. " He died..." I gulped. " My brother died." I added. I squeezed the little black box in my pocket. I still hadn't found out what it was. The feeling that surrounded it was a dark sense of foreboding. But my mind kept going back to what I had just told Dumbledore.
And it was true. Tom Marvolo Riddle had died. But Voldemort lived.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the long chapter! :) I have some bad news to break, though. My mother decided to give my laptop to my grand mother on the day of our departure because apparently, 'I'm spending too much time on the internet'. * Sigh*. The nerve of her, sometimes. I'll try and update as soon as possible- and perhaps even quicker in England; if my sister lets me use her laptop...
Pretty please review!
