Someday Sunny Skies
by xxxCheezItxxx
Full Summary of Story: Hermione Granger and best friend Harry Potter are in the Final Battle when plans go astray and the duo get hit with fatal curses. Instead of death, however, they find themselves at the root of their problem and hopefully they can change their fate before time runs out.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the plot. And last chapter, I got the meanings of the names from
Genres: In the beginning it is action/adventure and tragedy. Later on it is romance, drama, angst, and the action/adventure comes back. Includes minor humor as well.
Warnings: This follows HBP. The story is rated M. The mature parts come later.
Words this Chapter: 3,705
Author's Notes: I'm thinking that I should label Hermione's POV as, well, Hermione's POV, and same with Tom. At the cross line thing, if there is no title, it means that it is overall POV. And I will probably repeat the same scene in the different POVs (Hermione & Tom) but with different feelings and thoughts for the different characters. I hope that made sense…Either way, even under Tom's POV, the names will be Hermione & Harry so that it isn't as confusing. Unless, of course, Tom is thinking something that involves their names (italics are thoughts, by the way), then they will be Skylar/Astin.
CHAPTER NINE
In the Infirmary
Hermione's POV
Tom strode a few paces faster than Hermione did while they walked. A few portraits that they passed began to whisper, undoubtedly gossiping about why the Head Boy and the new girl walked in silence toward the Hospital Wing with scowls imprinted upon both faces.
Hermione, who hated silence, shifted uncomfortably. "Er—Tom?" she asked tentatively, keeping her distance behind him.
He didn't answer. His dark hair shook as he sauntered forward, picking up his speed at the sound of her voice.
"Tom!" Hermione said louder, jogging to fall in step with him. She was angrier now than tentative. He was acting like it was her fault that they were in this predicament. She'd barely gotten out of the Hospital Wing the day before and already she had to go back! If he hadn't used the Cruciatus on her…
Then it hit her.
Tom was already Lord Voldemort. Not physically, no, but most definitely mentally. He had no emotion whatsoever unless it was cold fury. He had set the basilisk loose prior to that year, and Hermione would be damned if it was an accident. She wasn't sure if he had killed his father yet, but she knew he had formed alliances with Death Eaters. She knew he had started the group. She knew he was known as Lord Voldemort to his followers.
And now, by using the Cruciatus in plain view of a full classroom and a teacher, just because of his uncontrollable anger, it was clear to Hermione that he was Lord Voldemort in everything but physique.
"TOM!" This time she grabbed his arm fiercely, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks. He took his time in turning to her, but when he did, he was not happy.
"What?" he said smoothly but as coldly as the Black Lake was during winter.
"I—"
Hermione saw Tom smirk. She suppressed a laugh. He thought she was going to apologize! What an arrogant, little…
"I think you owe me an apology."
It was her turn to smirk as his face turned completely impassive. Looking straight into her eyes, his own flashed a blood red before he turned on his heel and opened the doors to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Mayalle was tending to a Hufflepuff third year when the pair walked in; Tom, angry at Hermione and Hermione, shaken at the flash in his eyes. Voldemort's flash.
Madam Mayalle looked up. At the sight of them, she immediately left the Hufflepuff, who howled in pain, and rushed over. She literally shoved Tom until he was tucked under some bed sheets and performed the same action to Hermione.
"Good Merlin, what happened?" she exclaimed, rubbing some green cream on Hermione's stomach that smelled oddly like fish.
"Dueling lesson in Professor Wintell's class, Madam," Tom answered silkily. Hermione glared at him for being so polite to the teacher, when it was utterly obvious that he was a mass murderer!
Well, to someone from the future anyway.
"I ought to—" Madam Mayalle threatened, trailing off as she rubbed the same cream on a part of Tom's body. Hermione watched guiltlessly as he winced from the touch.
When the matron handed each of them a vile-looking potion the color of Harry's eyes, they both hesitated.
"Now, now," Madam Mayalle said menacingly, waggling a finger at them. "You got yourself into this condition and you better drink up to get yourself out!"
And much to their dismay, she pushed the liquid in the goblets down their throats before they drifted off into a nice, calm sleep. For one of them, anyway.
Tom's POV
Tom scowled since the moment he left the classroom. He bolted the door open, hearing it slam against the plastered wall. He purposely closed it so that it would hit Hermione in the face, yet she kept it from closing by holding out her clenched hand.
He purposefully sauntered ahead of her. Why couldn't she get hit by that bloody Cruciatus? Tom thought resentfully. Of course, he shouldn't have cast it in the first place, but he really didn't care. That wench deserved it! How dare she try to hurt him as she did? And then, she even had the nerve to cast the Cruciatus back at him! He smirked as he thought about how much trouble she'd be in when Dippet found out about the teacher getting hit. Even if it was to save Tom.
But that got Tom to thinking. He'd be in a load of trouble as well. He mentally smacked himself for letting his Voldemort side get the best of him. The whole school would know in a matter of hours about the Head Boy using an Unforgivable Curse on the new girl, and then what would they think? He knew Dumbledore would have a fit. He already suspected Tom about the death of Myrtle a year or two back (even though it was technically his fault). He knew Dumbledore didn't fall for his façade and he knew Dumbledore would never let his damn twinkling eyes off of Tom now.
Did I really let Voldemort loose? Tom thought while glaring at some gossiping portraits. He knew full well that the Slytherins disliked him from the off and probably still did. What made him smirk, however, was that they obeyed his every order because they were afraid of him. Afraid! He'd studied the Dark Arts, the root of all evil. He'd shown power and brilliance beyond what any of them could even think of possessing. Even more, he'd won every teacher's respect (other than Dumbledore) and they didn't see through his fascia! Now, however, they might see his inner evil. NOT good.
Tom gradually noticed his evil increasing. While he still lived in the Muggle orphanage, he used his "magic" (even though he didn't know he had it then) in somewhat abusive ways, for a ten-year-old. He was never the nicest boy there, but he wasn't mean like the big kids. First year at Hogwarts, he was shunned from the Slytherin house for being half-blooded until he found out himself that he was Salazar Slytherin's own blood heir. With that little fact, along with his coursing study of the Dark Arts, he slowly was accepted. Second year…he wasn't liked. He wasn't in first year, either, only accepted. However, in his second year, the teachers began to take notice of his intelligence. He knew of spells and potions that the sixth years hadn't even learned yet. Third year, the girls began to swarm to him, begging for a date. Tom wasn't gay, but he didn't like the attention. He, being disliked by his own House, found likeness in his alone time. The girls began to grasp that fact in his fourth year, so they left him alone. Fourth year, a good year, for him. He had found out about immortality. He didn't quite know how to achieve it yet, but that was when his interest in Dark Arts and evil piqued into wanting to become it. (A/N: I don't remember if Tom was a 5th or 6th year when he set the basilisk loose and got Hagrid expelled, but I'm going with 5th. As for the Horcrux thing, I'm going to go with 6th.) In Tom's fifth year, he learned about the Chamber of Secrets in one of his books about his famous ancestor and decided to find it. He used his Parseltongue, a rare gift, to open it and once inside he had found the basilisk. He had set it loose, not fully aware of what it could do, and ended up killing an annoying girl of his year. Panicking, Tom placed the blame on third-year Hagrid, and everyone but Dumbledore believed him. From that moment on, someone was suspicious of Tom, and it happened to be brightest wizard to grace the Wizarding world since Merlin himself. Ah, sixth year. He was still disliked by his house, but they were afraid of him after some first-hand experience at what he could do and what he knew. He gained fear from his housemates and formed a nice group of what he liked to call, Death Eaters. He was the well-known leader and he fashioned a name for himself: Lord Voldemort. He was sick and tired of his filthy Muggle father's name. Remembering what he had read on immortality two years previous, he had discovered Horcruxes. He didn't know what they were, so he went to Slughorn, who magnificently slipped up about them.
Now, he concluded as he walked, it was seventh year. He had formulated a plan to kill his father once school let out, and he was going to become the most powerful and feared wizard in history; more than Grindewald! He was going to rid the world of Muggles and Mudbloods. He had power over his Death Eaters. All he had to do was figure out how to keep these two new students out of his way.
Speaking of the two new students, he faintly heard Hermione call out, "Tom!"
He, still angry with her, ignored her and continued his walking, although his pace had increased a bit.
"Tom!" This one was louder. He sighed when he saw her fall into step with him. He turned his head to the opposite direction. They were almost at the infirmary, surely she could wait? Or better, just leave him ALONE?
"TOM!"
He couldn't ignore it when she screamed in his ear like that and grabbed violently onto his arm. He stopped walking and turned to face her. He saw exasperation and desperation in those coffee-coated eyes, and matched them with his angry and annoyed black ones.
"What?"
"I—"
Tom smirked. She was going to apologize and, unfortunately for her, he was going to laugh at her and just walk ahead. She was most certainly NOT going to get away with cursing him and then merely apologizing! He looked at her smoothly, telling her to go on.
"I think you owe me an apology."
Tom's smirk dropped off of his face as hers slid on. Her eyes were dancing with mirth. He felt his eyes flash with his inner Voldemort as he turned on his heel and pushed open the infirmary doors silently.
Tom awoke to painful screams. He tried to lift his head off of the crinkling pillow, but it thumped at each attempt. He opened his eyes and instantly regretted it as they flooded with brightness.
"No! Ron!"
Tom's eyes darted to his left, where the screams were coming from. With some minor pain, he was able to turn his head without lifting it and he turned it toward the screams. What he saw literally widened his eyes.
He saw the new girl thrashing around. He could see the sweat beads rolling off of her body and face through the reflection of sunlight. Her mouth was slightly agape and her eyebrows were furrowed, making her face look vastly pained. She kept tossing and turning within seconds, intertwining herself with the sheets. Her face was flushed and her hair was wild and electrified. Her hands rose out of the sheets and helplessly groped the air, seemingly reaching out for someone.
"Ron! Don't die! Nooo! Harry, do something!" she mumbled agonizingly. Tom continued to watch her, unsure of what to do.
"No! Lupin! No!" She threw the blankets off of her then pulled them back on as if she were hit with frozenness. "Harry! I didn't mean to! I had to kill her! It was her life or mine! I'm sorry, Harry!"
Tom looked at her, shocked at the fact that she had killed someone—if, in fact, this dream was a memory.
"Harry! Ron's dead! Lupin's dead! Bill and Charlie and Tonks and Ginny and Neville are dead! Sirius is dead! Molly is dead! Kinglsey is dead! Harry! Harry! They're all dead!"
Tom watched in a stunned silence as the girl before him rambled and screamed in pain as she listed the deaths of people she knew. She was literally crying; tears were spilling from her closed eyelids, tainting her flushed skin.
"Harry, my parents are dead!"
This one surprised Tom the most. Not only were this girl's friends dead, according to her nightmare, but her parents were dead. By the sound of it, she was reliving a battle.
Before he had time to contemplate anything, the infirmary doors burst open. There stood Harry, whose eyes immediately darted to his thrashing best friend. Completely ignoring Tom, he rushed by her side and fell on his knees, shaking her gently. This only increased her screaming.
Harry knew Tom was awake, but he also knew that if he wanted to calm Hermione down, he couldn't well call her "Skylar." So, he opted for his only option.
"Hermione, wake up! Hermione…" Harry leaned over, and ignoring Tom's prying eyes, kissed Hermione on her forehead and stroked her hair. Hermione's cries and screams lowered to mumbling whispers, until she rasped out, "Harry?" in an incredibly soft, hurt voice.
Harry winced, he knew he'd have to say yes, and then their aliases would be useless. Oh well, he sighed, they already are since I yelled her name in class.
"Yes, Hermione, it's me," Harry whispered soothingly. He missed the suspicious, surprised, and somewhat angry face of the boy in the next bed.
"Harry!" Hermione cried, throwing her weakened arms around him. "Oh Harry!"
"Shh," Harry consoled. "It's gonna be fine. You'll be alright, shh."
"Th—thank you," she whispered, throwing her face into his shoulder.
"Sorry to interrupt," Tom's icy voice rang out, lacking his so-called apology, "but Dippet has just arrived and I'm sure he'd be interested to know why you two are calling each other 'Harry' and 'Hermione'."
"I'm interested in more than that, Tom," Dippet's unsteady voice called out as Harry and Hermione pulled away from each other. "Though what with our little—er—guest here" –he pointed at Harry— "I shall have to wait."
"Oh, sorry, Headmaster," Harry said coldly. He turned to Hermione and patted her arm reassuringly. "Don't think about it," he advised so only she could hear. "We'll discuss this later."
With that, he nodded his head to Dippet and Tom and exited the Hospital Wing.
"Now," Dippet said, pacing the room, "I haven't a clue what possessed either of you to use Dark Magic in Mr. Wintell's classroom, nor how you know it, but I am quite interested to find out."
He sat down on an unoccupied bed, eyeing his favorite student and new student with suspicious eyes that lacked his usual oblivious joviality.
Hermione tried her best not to laugh as she wiped away her remaining tears. "Nor how you know it?" she thought mockingly, Tom's been studying the Dark Arts since he heard of them, Mr. I-Love-The-Head-Boy-But-Fail-To-Acknowledge-The-Fact-That-He-Is-A-Potential-Murderer!
"Something funny, Miss Broston?" Dippet asked as she was unable to contain her laughter. She could have sworn she heard Tom mumble, "If that's even her name"
"Not at all, Headmaster," she said back, ignoring Tom.
"Right then, care to explain?"
Tom and Hermione grudgingly shared a look. Tom spoke first. "I'm sorry sir, as Head Boy I most certainly should not have behaved so immaturely." He hung his head and Dippet actually seemed to believe that Tom was ashamed. Even Hermione could see the smirk that tainted his lips!
"Yes, but he did," Hermione interjected, causing Tom to snap his head back up menacingly. "It was because I seemed to have provoked him by using a Patronus during our duel," she began.
"It was corporeal!" Tom interrupted angrily. "She shouldn't know how to do that! I'm Head Boy and I'm concerned that she's not learning any magic prematurely! Hardly any adult wizards could do that!"
"I learned in fifth year, so what?" Hermione shot back hotly. "It was in self defense when I did it then, as it was now. It wasn't harmful to you; it was merely something I choose to use during a supervised class duel!"
As Tom opened his mouth to say something back, Dippet held up a hand and interrupted. "I have to say, you both have fair points on this matter. Tom is right; he was solely looking out for troublemakers, Miss Broston, which you must understand."
Hermione scoffed noticeably. Looking out for troublemakers my arse! I can't believe Dippet believes every cock-and-bull story that killer tells him, she thought indignantly.
"However," Dippet turned, "Miss Broston has a nice defense as well. Her—corporeal—Patronus" —he said this with awe— "was not used to harm, and it did not. It was simply a distraction to use during the duel. Continue on, Miss Broston."
With that being said, Hermione continued as Tom bristled. "After that, Professor, he sent a mob of angry, deadly bees on me." Hermione said this with emotion, pretending that she was deeply affronted by the action. Tom noticed and rolled his eyes, which Dippet missed. He nodded and looked at Tom.
"Tom, I know that spell, and it could cause serious damage. It could have been fatal," he said disapprovingly, obviously upset about having to scold his best student.
"I should have looked into that before using the hex, Headmaster," Tom sucked up. "I was not aware of the consequences."
Hermione could not believe her eyes when Dippet nodded and said, "I'm sure you didn't." Of course he did, you great oaf! Hermione thought furiously. He knew perfectly well of the harm it could have caused me!
"And then, Headmaster," Tom butted in, sneering smugly at Hermione, "after Skylar" —he emphasized the name— "skillfully ended the spell using the Finite Charm, she sent the Reductor Curse at me."
Dippet's eyes widened as he turned to look at Hermione, who was presently glaring at Mr. Storyteller.
"That is a very harmful curse!" he said indignantly, not bothering to hide his favoritism over Tom.
"Yes, but do you know what he hit me with next?" Hermione asked heatedly. "He used Diffindo on me!" And, slightly embarrassed, she lifted up her shirt just enough so that the large, purple, deep gash could be seen across her stomach. Dippet openly gasped. "That was after the Professor told us to stop. But Tom here ignored his orders and stubbornly hit me with it." With that, she lowered her shirt.
"Tom!" Dippet said scandalously, shaking his head. "I am ashamed to even hear such things! How could you?"
"I—it was in self-defense, sir!" Tom said, outraged. "She threw the Reductor Curse at me! Was I supposed to just sit there and take it?"
"Yes!" Hermione yelled at him, "The professor told you to do just that!"
"ENOUGH!"
All three heads turned to look at where the fourth voice came from. Standing in the doorway was a very angry-looking Dumbledore, the usual twinkle in his eye far from present. The only other time Hermione had seen Dumbledore this mad was when—well, never.
Despite his fury, he walked casually over to the trio and sat on the bed Dippet was sitting on, causing the latter to hastily stand up and brush off his robes.
"I could hear the pair of you bickering all the way down the hall," Dumbledore informed them, looking in turn from Hermione to Tom. "I want you two to lay down in your beds while I calmly inform the Headmaster what happened yesterday in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
"Yesterday?" Tom and Hermione spluttered simultaneously before looking at each other and turning away in disgust.
"Yes, yesterday, you both were injured and spent the night here. It is now presently lunch time," Dumbledore answered. "Now, please…" He waved with his hands to indicate that he wanted to talk to Dippet.
After what seemed like hours, but was really minutes, Tom and Hermione saw Dippet and Dumbledore emerge from the room that they went in to talk. Dippet looked sullen while Dumbledore looked impassive.
"You used the Cruciatus Curse?" Dippet asked regretfully. At Tom or Hermione, neither knew, but both nodded glumly.
"Oh dear, I'll have to do drastic measures for this," Dippet muttered. "You two should be in Azkaban, thank Merlin Dumbledore has connections."
Dumbledore beamed despite himself.
"Yes well, onto the punishments then," Dippet continued, walking over to Hermione's bed first. "Firstly, one hundred points will be taken from Gryffindor. Secondly, you will serve a detention every Saturday night for the remainder of the school year with our caretaker, Apollyn Pringle (sp?). And lastly, you will be banned from all school Hogsmeade trips." Hermione nodded solemnly as Dippet moved to Tom's bed and Dumbledore gave her a sympathetic look.
"As for you, Tom," Dippet said, shutting his eyes in disbelief. "I must say I am truly disappointed in you. I will be banning you as well from Hogsmeade trips. You will have detention every Friday night with Apollyn Pringle for the rest of the year. And, lastly, as it hates me to say, I will be suspending your Head Boy privilege for three weeks."
Ignoring Tom's indignant cry of protest, Dippet left the Hospital Wing.
"Now, Tom, Dippet said something about you complaining over Miss Broston's name?" Dumbledore said jovially, making Tom and Hermione both jump. They had forgotten he was there.
"Yes. She and her little friends have been conversing as Hermione and Harry, Professor," Tom said smugly.
"Yes, I'd expect so," Dumbledore answered. Hermione looked at him in shock. Surely he won't reveal the truth?
"Excuse me?" Tom asked bewilderedly.
"Oh, Tom," Dumbledore began, "I don't think they wish me to tell you this, so you must be sworn to secrecy as I say this."
Tom nodded eagerly and Hermione put her face in her hands.
"Well, these two new students are really named Harry Astin Mottell and Hermione Skylar Broston. However, they go by their middle names because they came from a battle where they lost so much. By using their given names, they are haunted with the memories, so they have decided to go by their middle names."
Hermione's head lifted from her hands. She looked amazedly at Dumbledore, who lied so easily. It was clear Tom didn't believe him, but he didn't say anything as Madam Mayalle came in and released him and Hermione.
Well, I hope you like it. If not next chapter, than the one after will definitely have some romance. Or—as close to romance as it can get from this point. Please review!
Love & Cheers,
Cheez It