Disclaimer: The fact that I have to post one saddens me, but here it is: I don't own it. Now you've gone and made me sad!
Author's Note: If you guys have any brilliant ideas floating about that you want in here, let me know. I have some vague ideas but I need to fill in the holes. So review and share your "plot wolverines" (don't ask).
My computer and Word are working again. Hurrah!!
Chapter 10Reverse Fairy Tale
Hermione looked around her and smiled. She was in her room in the Gryffindor tower (the one she had been in before she travelled through time) and it looked exactly the same. It may have only been for one night, but it was good to be Hermione Granger again.
As she was poking through her trunk aimlessly, there was a squeal behind her. She turned to see one Ginny Weasley gaping at her happily. "You're back," she said eagerly.
"I'm aware of that, thanks," Hermione laughed.
Ginny looked at her oddly for a moment before continuing. "The boys are downstairs in the common room. We really missed you!" She kept up a continuous stream of chatter as they walked down the stairs.
Harry and Ron moved toward her quickly and hugged her hard. Standing near them made her think of Tom and the time that standing next to him made her think of these two boys.
Harry was studying Hermione quietly. Finally he leaned over and whispered, "In the spirit of Moody, I have to ask: you are keeping an eye on the slippery bugger, right?"
Hermione looked at him, smirked, and said, "Harry, I'm trying to stop him from becoming a dark lord, not trying to spy on him and then kill him."
"I think that would have been smarter," Harry muttered, wondering at this new smirk that Hermione had. She had never smirked before. Weird.
He continued to watch Hermione throughout the evening. She was more sarcastic and snarky than she had been before. It was not a huge difference, but Harry was becoming concerned. She was starting to act like Tom Riddle.
Finally, and predictably, Ron suggested that they go down to the kitchen and get some food. As per usual, he seemed to be convinced that he was starving to death. Everyone agreed to go to the kitchens.
En route, they ran into their least favourite person: Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, that is. He looked like he was about to make a rude comment when Hermione randomly burst out laughing. After meeting Abraxas Malfoy, it was impossible to take Draco seriously.
"What are you laughing at?" Draco spat.
Hermione smiled and asked calmly, "Have you ever had the dubious pleasure of meeting your grandfather?"
"Which one?" he asked, warily.
"Dear Abraxas," she responded with a barely stifled giggle.
"No. Why?"
"He was the biggest idiot until he did the world a favour and died."
"What do you know, Mudblood?" he snarled.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she taunted.
"You're nothing but a stupid mudblood. I bet that even your parents never loved you until the Dark Lord did us a favour and removed their muggle filth from the Earth," he taunted.
Suddenly the air began to crackle with magic. The hallway darkened and Hermione stepped toward Malfoy with a sneer on her face. "Come up with that on your own, you inbred ferret?" she snarled.
Ron, Ginny, and Harry were all gaping. This was not the Hermione they knew. And what was all the magic crackling in the air. Ron and Ginny wondered where she had learned it. Harry had a sinking feeling that he already knew.
Draco was gaping. The magic in the air was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his skin was crawling. There was a strange new light in Granger's eyes and he was fairly certain that it did not bode well for him.
"Get lost, Malfoy," she said with a sudden and frightening calm. He was smart enough to make his exit. Hermione took one deep breath and then turned to look at her friends with and shockingly happy look on her face. "Shall we go, then?"
Ron grinned while Ginny cackled gleefully. "That was awesome, Mione. I have never seen that ferret look so scared."
She smiled absently as they walked. She was wondering if that was something that she had picked up from Tom. Her magic had never been so powerful before. This was new and it was scary.
TRHGTRHGTRHGTRHG
The next morning arrived entirely too soon for Hermione's tastes. She got up, showered, pulled a brush rather forcefully through her frizzy hair, neatly placed all of her belongings in her trunk, and headed for Dumbledore's office. She caught herself walking toward the Transfiguration office and laughed. She turned and headed for the Headmaster's office.
It was strange seeing Dumbledore behind the desk, rather than Dippet. She sighed. She was going to have to talk to Tom again. And Black. And, she shuddered, Malfoy.
Dumbledore studied her for a moment before dropping his figurative bomb. "You will feel pain this time. Last time, your travels would have been like apparating. This time will be painful. Go to the hospital wing. When you are released, go to this address. You're a smart girl. You'll figure it out from there."
Hermione took the paper that he had given her. He had given her the address to an orphanage. She was puzzled for a moment and then she remembered the papers that she had been given, proving that she was Hermione Riddle, one year older than Tom. She paused for a moment. "When am I going back to?"
"The day after Tom graduates." She nodded and plotted while Dumbledore continued to study her. "You will need a backup story. You could simply say that your parents died in a muggle accident. You should also know," he continued, "that if you try to come back again, it may very well kill you. Your body can only handle so much time travel at such great leaps. Fifty four years is a long time to travel through."
Hermione gaped at him. "So if I go back I'm stuck there? I can never come back?"
Dumbledore looked old and worn as he looked at her. "It depends on how much this trip takes out of you. You may be able to come back, but I imagine that you would never be whole magically, or in the way of health."
She stared. "This is the only way that we can win this war?" she asked anxiously.
"I believe so, Miss Granger," he stated tiredly.
She thought about it for a moment. This would possibly be a lifetime commitment that she was making. On the other hand, if she did not go, she was not guaranteed her life or the lives of her friends anyways.
After a few more moments, she said, "I'll go. I shouldn't have come back anyways. It's my own fault."
Dumbledore nodded and said, "I imagine that you are ready to go, Miss Granger?"
She nodded and swallowed nervously. What if she never got to see Harry, Ron, and Ginny again? Dumbledore pulled out his wand and held it loosely in his hand as he sent her back.
TRHGTRHGTRHGTRHG
Hermione woke up in the Hospital Wing. There was a giant pain in her left side, her head was throbbing, and there was a sickening taste in her mouth that tasted suspiciously like the aftertaste of potions. She tried to turn her head to see if anyone was there but it hurt too much. She could not really speak either. So she just lay there until she fell back to sleep.
When she woke up again, the first thing she noticed was that she could move her head and she could talk. She discovered this when she turned her head and saw Tom Riddle sitting next to her bed.
"What are you doing here?" she blurted out. She immediately flushed from the hypocrisy. He had been at the school this whole time. She had been gone for more than a year and a half but she had the audacity to ask what he was doing there.
The left eyebrow rose again. "I could ask you that, but judging by the fascinating shade of purple you are turning, I think you have already noticed that."
He was joking with her. Tom Riddle had cracked a joke to a muggle-born witch. Oh my.
Hermione waited until her face had cooled down before she asked, "So what have you been up to for the last year and a half?"
He smirked at her. "Oh, a little of this and that. I just convinced Black to get over you. That took entirely too long. Malfoy thought Christmas came early when you left."
"And you?" She found herself wondering why she had asked that. Did she really want to know?
"Meetings and the like. I made Head Boy."
She smirked. "I know." Then she had a thought. "Tom, when the air around you literally crackles with magic, why does it do it?"
Both of his eyebrows rose. "Why? Did you do it?"
"Yes." She refused to fill the long silence that ensued with an explanation. It would have been too awkward.
Finally he spoke up. "It happens because I am angry. Very angry."
She laughed. "That makes sense." Once again, there was a silence while he waited for her to elaborate. Once again, she ignored it.
Finally he rose. "I should go finish packing."
"You go back to the orphanage tomorrow," she said bluntly.
He did not recall telling her that, but many people knew it. She could have heard that he was an orphan anywhere. "Yes."
"I imagine," she said with a mysterious smile, "that you will see me sooner than you think. Have a good summer, Tom."
He looked slightly confused, but after all of his other experiences with her, he knew to let it go. She would just twist it to make him look like an idiot. He nodded to her and then left.
TRHGTRHGTRHGTRHG
A week of boredom later, Hermione was released. There was still some pain in her side that she had to deal with but she would be fine. It had been a lot of work to convince Madame White of that fact. The bustling witch was just like Madame Pomfrey.
As she strolled out of the hospital wing, she pondered the address for the orphanage that Dumbledore had given her. She decided that she would get Tom out of there and they could get a flat somewhere and work. She would draw the line at Knockturn Alley. He could work anywhere but there. She did not want history to repeat itself. After all, he would not, under normal circumstances, be released from the orphanage for almost a year. She was going to alter those circumstances so that he owed her.
With that cheery thought in mind, she set of for front gate so that she could apparate. The familiar tug around her stomach suddenly ending was her cue that she had arrived. She was in a dark alley, as she always seemed to end up in when she apparated anywhere where there was muggles.
She carefully made sure that she was not being watched and then ran her wand over herself to make sure that she looked presentable and as if she really was Tom's sister. She darkened her hair slightly, and made sure that she radiated power and control like he did. There.
She calmly strolled around the corner, her trunk in her pocket and the papers in her hand. It was time to rescue Tom.
She found the building, took a deep breath, and walked through the front door.
"Can I help you, Miss?" asked a girl about Hermione's age.
"Yes. I am looking for Tom Riddle," she said smoothly.
The girl looked shocked. No one ever asked for Riddle's company. "He's right upstairs, first door on the left."
Hermione nodded her thanks and headed up the stairs. Suddenly she stopped. She had, for the first time, just wondered what Tom would think of all this. She decided that she might as well find out. The moved forward until she found the door she has been directed to. She almost chuckled at the predictability of it being shut tight.
She knocked.
And again.
"Get lost," growled a voice from within.
"You know, I don't think I will," she said smoothly.
The door was jerked open by Tom Riddle. In the flesh. Wearing the ugliest sweater in the ugliest non-shade of grey. Looking very angry.
"Hello, Tom."
He looked at her in open astonishment for a moment before he managed to compose himself. "Why are you here?"
"Is there somewhere we can talk?" she counter questioned easily. He nodded and led her to a courtyard of sorts.
"So talk."
"I have come to rescue you. We're getting you out of here."
"You can't," he said bitterly. "You have to have papers saying that you are old enough and related to me to get me out of here."
"Which is why you are not-" she paused dramatically. "Looking at Hermione Griffith. You are looking at the nineteen year old Hermione Riddle; the older sister you never knew you had."
He looked at her in mild amusement. "And you can prove that, can you?"
She gave him his own smirk and held out the papers.
He openly gaped. "Do you know what these are?"
"You're ticket out of here and my ticket to having someone to live with," she said, taking them back.
"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.
"You need out of here. I need somewhere to live. I have money for a flat. We could just get a flat together and each get jobs. I would, however, forget this whole thing and kick you out if you get a job on Knockturn Alley."
He paused. She had really thought this one out. He had someplace to live that did not require him to wear this stupid sweater. He would be living with one other person, as opposed to sixteen. He was liking this idea.
"Oh, and if I hear anything about you being associated with Death Eaters, I reserve the right to use your own very favourite curse on you."
He arched his left eyebrow again. "You couldn't use a cruciatus if you tried."
"That's what you think," she said, thinking about the war, when she had cast a cruciatus. To her mingled relief and horror, she did not have the problem Harry did. It had worked. She had used an unforgivable on Bellatrix Lestrange.
He studied her for a long time before saying, "Alright. We have to go show those - he pointed at the papers in her hand – to Mrs. Cole. I hope you're a good actress."
She laughed in his face. "You just worry about your end of this."
He led her to the office, where he knocked on the door and then opened it without waiting for response from within. Inside, a rather frumpy older woman sat at the desk.
"Hello, Tom."
"Mrs. Cole," he said smoothly.
Hermione stepped forward. "Hello, Mrs. Cole. My name is Hermione Riddle. Might I have a word?" she asked, practically pushing her way into the room, past Tom. He smirked. That was what he would have done.
"Riddle, you say? Come in!" Mrs. Cole, Tom noted, seemed awfully eager to get rid of him. If he had hated the place less, he would have stayed out of spite.
Hermione pushed out a tight and obviously fake smile, sat down, and looked around disdainfully. The impression that she was going for, and succeeding at if Mrs. Cole's face was any indication, was filthy rich. She turned to Mrs. Cole and said firmly, " I want my brother out of here today."
"My dear, Tom has no siblings. I was told that when he was born by his own mother."
"Did you ever stop to think," Hermione snapped, "that perhaps he was the result of a second marriage? Father did not love his mother but he was lonely after my own mother died."
Mrs. Cole looked shocked. Then she asked suspiciously, "Where have you been all these years?"
"Living with my father and his parents," Hermione ground out. "You know. The big manor house in Little Hangleton?"
Tom noted two things: Hermione Griffith knew more about him than he knew about himself if even half of this story were true and that she was a phenomenal actress. He smirked as he looked between her and Mrs. Cole.
Hermione was glad that Mrs. Cole did not know that these particular relations were dead and had been for a few years. Tom had killed them himself and framed his mother's brother for it.
Mrs. Cole smirked triumphantly and said, "I will need all of the paperwork."
Hermione smirked back. "You mean this nonsense?" she asked, handing the woman the papers that Dumbledore had given her. Mrs. Cole looked shocked. It was clear that she had not believed the girl until now. She looked at the papers. They looked legit.
Hermione was still smirking when the woman looked up and said, "I apologize, Miss Riddle. Tom, go and pack your things."
Hermione looked around her disdainfully again and rose. "I think I will go with you, Tom." She turned, nodded to Mrs. Cole, and followed Tom out. The two of them smirked all the way up the stairs. At the top, they ran into a little girl.
"Are you here to adopt one of us?" she asked sweetly.
Hermione smiled gently. "No, sweetheart. I'm here to take Tom away."
The little girl looked at the big boy that had threatened some of the other children, always told her to be quiet, and took their toys away. He usually never gave them back. "Why did you pick him?"
"Because I like him." Hermione's smile widened.
Two pairs of eyes widened. The little girl said, "but does he like you?"
Tom was shocked. No one had ever truly liked him. Some were scared into submission, and girls seemed to think he was attractive enough although they stayed away due to his personality. But, then again, this girl had broken every rule he set up.
Hermione crouched down so that she was level with the little girl. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Ellie," the little girl said. She did not understand why this nice woman liked that mean boy.
Hermione smiled and said, "Well, Ellie, do you have a book I could read? A fairy tale, maybe?"
Ellie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "I have Beauty and the Beast!"
"That will do fine. How about I read it to you while Tom gets ready to go?"
Ellie took off for her room. Hermione turned to Tom. "I hope that works for you," she said dryly. If Tom hadn't been so off put by her liking him, he would have been annoyed. As it was, he simply nodded and walked into his room. She noted that he left the door open.
Ellie came tearing back with a truly battered copy of Beauty and the Beast. "I got it!"
Hermione smiled at the little girl. "Where can we go to read it?" Ellie led her to the courtyard, where she had spoken to Tom previously. The two of them sat on a bench and Hermione began to read.
Tom's bedroom window overlooked the courtyard. Through his open window, he heard the two girls laughing and reading together. He didn't know why it surprised him that she was so good with children. He supposed that it may be because she was so effective when dealing with him, and he was the opposite of an outgoing, innocent child.
When the book was finished, Ellie looked at Hermione and said, "Just like you and Tom."
Hermione was more than a little bit confused by this. "What?"
"You came here. You're all nice but you came to rescue Tom, who's not a good boy. Do you love him?"
Tom moved closer to his grimy window so that he could see the girls.
Hermione looked at Ellie for a long moment.
"As a friend, yes."
The little girl looked at the older girl for a moment with a look that distinctly reminded Hermione of Lavender Brown, matchmaker extraordinaire.
Tom stood in his room and looked around him in awe. She was his friend, whether he wanted it or not. He wondered if she considered him one of her friends.
It was beyond baffling. Friends? Love? What?
TRHGTRHGTRHGTRHG
Hermione and Tom Riddle left the orphanage with the distinct (and accurate) feeling that Mrs. Cole was glad to see their backs. She didn't seem to particularly care for either of the teenagers.
Once they were out of the building, out of sight, and out of hearing range, Hermione burst out laughing. Even Tom's lips twitched slightly in a suspicious manner.
"We did it," she cried excitedly.
Tom nodded and asked, "Now what?"
Hermione gave him a giant smile and said, "Now we go look at flats."
Tom looked at her incredulously. "You do realise that we most likely will not find one today."
"Of course we will, Tom. Have some faith. I already have a couple that I looked at on the way here. One of them was above the Three Broomsticks. It's available."
Tom nodded and the two of them apparated away.