Chapter 11:

"Three things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, and the truth." -Buddah

Hermione blinked against the offending light before she allowed her gaze to focus on the hospital wing. Madam Colflax stared sadly at her as she forced herself into a sitting position. The brunette was really confused. The last time she had woken up in the hospital wing she remembered everything that had happened the day before, this time the night before was completely lost to her after she left the library, running away from Nicholas. "What happened?" She croaked as she reached for her water feeling as though her limbs were made of led.

"We have been wondering the same thing Ms. Faye. Please tell me the last thing you remember, dates and times."

Hermione's brow creased with confusion as the medi-witch conjured a clipboard, quill, and chair. What the hell was going on? Putting down her glass she cleared her throat before apprehensively speaking, "I was working on my potions project with Nicholas Prince and Abraxus Malfoy in the library last night, November 7th. Abraxus left to do work on his own. Around ten I left Nicholas and went back to my dorm... that's all I can remember..."

"Oh dear.." Madam Colflax had been writing on her clipboard when she finally stopped and locked eyes with Hermione. "Last night you were found unconscious at the bottom of a staircase my girl." She paused, obviously having trouble speaking. Hermione once again found herself thoroughly confused. Why was she unconscious at the bottom of the stairs? What happened? "Today is November twenty second Hermione."

"What!" Hermione shrieked, freaked out. She had no recollection of the past two weeks? What the hell happened to her? She couldn't have fallen that hard, could she? She had to because no memories or even feelings of the past two weeks was hitting her.

"There is more dear." At this the woman looked as though she wished to cry, making Hermione's heart beat erratically. "Two weeks ago Headmaster Dippet informed the school that Nicholas Prince had been found in the forbidden forest, apparently one of the magical creatures stumbled across him and..." here she drew a deep shaky breath, "destroyed his body, which had already been dead for some time."

"Nicholas..." Hermione whispered. Her mind was running a mile a minute trying desperately to grasp onto something. A nagging feeling was pulling at the back of her head but she couldn't understand why. What did it matter though? Nicholas Prince was dead. Snape's grandfather was dead. This thought caused unwanted tears because it meant Snape was now never going to be born. The timeline had changed.

"Oh dear." The healer worried. Hermione wanted to yell at her, tell her to stop with the dears, to stop being so horrible at consoling someone, but she was crying hysterically at the news that Severus Snape would never exist, "You reacted badly to the news last time. You didn't speak, barely ate, and never left your room."

Hermione looked down at herself. Through her blurry, water filled vision she noticed her body did look undernourished, not at all like the body she kept fit. She needed the toned body for battles, why would she let herself go so badly for a housemate she only slightly cared about. What really happened? Why did she feel like the story was missing a huge chunk? It wasn't in Hermione's nature to hide and mope away, she retaliated, she fought, she didn't run. Something wasn't right, but she would never know now, would she?

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Hermione stood outside the Slytherin common room with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. One would think knowing that she lost her memory of the past two weeks they would tell her the password had changed. But no! She was stuck outside of the damned thing wishing she could hex the stupid picture. She smiled wickedly as she thought of the guardian, Hades, running out of his scenary as she cursed apart his frame.

"Err..." Hermione snapped out of her daze to see Vincent Crabbe standing behind her. She looked at him quizzically before turning back to the portrait. She probably looked insane to him but honestly she could care less. Half the school thought of her as some psychotic girl. Shaking her head mentally she looked back at the deatheater she had barely spoken to.

"I don't know the password."

"Oh... it's mentality."

At the precious word the portrait swung open, but not before Hades was able to flip Hermione the bird. She felt her jaw drop at his audacity but then she remembered he protected the Slytherin students so she couldn't expect much better from him. Stepping through the portrait she was shocked to see a party in full swing. She frowned as Crabbe closed the door behind them. The room quieted and looked at her as though they hadn't seen her in years. If Madam Colflax was right she did drop off the face if the earth for two weeks.

"Ahh welcome back Hermione." She turned to see Tom sitting in the most comfortable armchair in the whole room, a group of deatheaters around him, "Do you like your party?"

"My party?" If she was confused before she had no idea how to describe her state of mind now. This was absolutely insane.

"Yeah. Tom threw this party for you." A girl, Shannon, spoke up from the crowd. "He knew you were feeling better and coming back tonight!"

The whole concept did not sit well with the eighteen year old girl. Why would he throw a party? For her of all people! And how did he know she was feeling better. She had no visitors. This was really doing her head in and it wasn't what she needed now. What she needed was to go crawl in bed and think over the news she learned today. What did Nicholas's death do to her future?

"You are going to stay right?" Tom asked feigning hurt. Knowing it would look odd if she refused she nodded and the head boy smiled. This was the scariest thing she had ever seen. It wasn't a smirk or a plastered on grin. The form his lips took was a genuine smile. He patted an empty chair right beside him, "Well come sit down and rest."

Slowly and mechanically Hermione took a seat besides the man she hated the most. The people began to move again and a drink was placed in her hand. She felt as though she was someone else from where she sat, facing the whole room, being able to see what everyone was doing at one time. It was new and it was nice. Over the loud music, chatter, and laughter she heard a voice she wished she never became accustomed to.

"Are you feeling better Hermione?"

Her brown eyes locked with his hazel. What was he playing at, being so nice? Something really had to be wrong. "A little."

"Good." He looked up to Abraxus with Jasmine and smiled at a story they were rehashing for the listening audience. "That was a nasty fall."

Her body tensed slightly, "You were there?"

"So was Abraxus. We were coming back from the library and saw you go down."

"You did?"

"Tom also carried you to the hospital wing!" The girl Shannon spoke with a sigh, as if it had been something dreadfully romantic. To Hermione it was stomach churning. He had touched her!

"You took me to the hospital wing?" Hermione asked with disgust when Shannon's attention was brought back to a sixth year girl.

"Whatever is the matter? You didn't actually expect me to leave you there, did you Miss. Granger?"

"Well actually I di...what did you just call me?" It hurt. Her chest hurt so badly. Her heart must have exploded with how fast it began beating it had to.

"That's your name isn't it? Hermione Jean Granger. Born September nineteenth nineteen-seventy-nine to muggles. Your best friends were Harry James Potter, Ronald Billous Weasley, and Ginerva Molly Weasley. You secretly married a Fred Weasley during a war. A war your little scar headed friend thought he could end by actually being able to kill me."

She couldn't breath. Her chest! It waa burning. Her breaths were coming in short wheezes as she tried to get enough oxygen into her bloodstream. She couldn't though, it was as if the air was starting to being taken away from her. Why? This wasn't possible, this wasn't happening.

"It's absolutely astounding how far you traveled back." The conversation was heard by none other. "Really, who would have thought it possible? It's magic at it's best. To know the future and having a chance to change it. You can't though Hermione Granger. Not to the future you so desperately crave. You can't because you can't kill me. I am not only physically stronger then you but I am also more mentally stronger and magically. You can't and will not destroy me."

How? This was all she could focus on. He knew everything, it was all over. He will kill her. She failed every person she loved. She failed every person who fought against Voldemort. But how?

"How?" She whispered, all the energy she had was gone, focused on the fact that she was screwed.

"You were unconscious."

Of course! Just like Doumbledore. She should have known.

"I must be going now." He stood up, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear in the room. A chorus of 'goodnights' could be heard before attention was diverted once more. His voice dropping once more so only she heard. "After all, I must get rid of Potter's grandfather if I'm going to fix my future mistakes."

With that he strode of the room leaving Hermione to calculate his words. As they replayed in her head she heard silence. It was as if everything froze around her, leaving her with just his parting words. He was going to kill Harold Potter. Which meant he will be killing James Potter. Whic meant killing Harry, her Harry. Her best friend. Her brother. She was up out of her seat and chasing after him. The halls were deserted making her wonder how long she had been seperated from the real world in her shock. Her feet traveled faster then she ever thought possible. The path towards the tower felt weird to her but familiar at the same time. As she rounded the corner she spotted him.

"RIDDLE!" She shouted in desperation. He turned and instantly their wands were aimed at each other. He stalked closer.

"Really Hermione?" He asked with boredom in his tone. "Didn't we just go through this? You cannot beat me."

"I can't let you kill him." She spoke weakly.

"What are you going to do to stop me?"

"I don't know." She felt a tear fall as she lowered her wand. He was right. She couldn't fight him. "I will do anything though." She walked closer to him until his wand was pushing painfully into her throat. "I will do anything you want, just don't kill him."

"What will you give me that more valuable then killing Harold Potter?"

"What did you want?"

"I want you to work for me." He lowered his wand and stepped until their chests were touching. "You are brilliant, I am brilliant, together we will find a way to make horocruxes completely indestructible."

"No!" She tried to step away but he wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her back to him.

He used his wands tip to brush her hair to the side, "Then know Harold Potter dies tonight."

He went to walk away but she grasped his shirt in her hands forcing him to stay. "Okay! Okay, I will..."

Wasn't she practically singing Harry to certain death anyway by helping Voldemort? No. If she kept herself alive and this times Harry Potter then she could live to go home and tell them how she made them indestructible. This was brilliant! But she wouldn't be able to go home. By agreeing to this she was pretty much giving herself to Voldemort. Maybe this was pointless! No, she mentally beat herself. She was brilliant, even Tom said so. She will make sure someone knows how to fix what she was about to do.

"Wonderful." He smirked and reaffirmed his grip on her waist, "Now to seal the deal."

He swooped in and kissed her hungrily. She whimpered and attempted to free herself but her fighting caused Tom to bite her lip hard enough to make her bleed. A unusual tingle spread over her lips right before he pulled back. Blood leaking from his own lip. Oh god, what did he just do? She read about this type of deal. In her time they were illegal. Blood deals were a form of ill thought out magic. Once the deal was complete or over you were still bound to the other person for life, always being able to feel them. She was seriously screwed.

A/N:

Hello! Yay! I wrote and posted! I loved writing this chapter. It was so much fun! I really really REALLY hope you enjoyed it!

Traviswj- I really like your train of thought! While yes those were good ideas it wouldn't work well with my story and I feel like that's not Tom's style. I hope I didn't disappoint you!

Please read and review!

-Maria