A/N- Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I just finished all my exams and after that I kind of had a few mental breakdowns so... Yeah it was all out of the question. But here is another chapter for you! So a sequel shall be up soon? If people want it? :D

Note- Any mistakes are mine

Disclaimer- HP= Not mine.

Chapter 11

'Knock knock'

"Come in," a muffled voice on the other side of the door said and Hermione entered Dumbledore's office. Once inside, she couldn't help but look around the room and examine it. Much of what had been missing in the headmaster Dippet's office was in here. Fawkes the Phoenix was at the corner of the room standing on its perch, and there were a number of portraits hanging on the wall. Some were moving and others were not. The one that caught her attention the most was the portrait of the girl in a blue dress above the fireplace. She was casually sitting on a swing, reading a book. A sudden feeling of pain hit her chest as she remembered the fate of the girl and how the man, whom Dumbledore had considered a friend and lover, had been the one to end her life. That must be Ariana Dumbledore, his sister. But I've never seen this portrait before? I've only seen Aberforth with one; I wonder what he did with this portrait.

"Ahhh, Miss DeAngelo," Dumbledore's voice interrupted her train of thought and she brought herself to look at him. "I see you have taken a liking to that portrait of my sister,"

"Sister, sir?" She asked, trying to sound as confused and shocked as she could, so as to not arouse suspicion from such an intelligent man such as Dumbledore.

"Yes, Ariana Dumbledore, well I don't think you need to know what happened to her. Please, take a seat Miss DeAngelo."

Hermione did and leaned back on the seat in front of Dumbledore's desk, rubbing her sweaty palms together. Why on earth why she so nervous!

"Now, you are probably wondering why I wanted to talk to you."

"A little sir..." I'm more scared that I know what you want to talk about then not knowing.

"I want you to tell me the truth,"

"The truth?" I knew it, I didn't lie good enough when he first saw me... YOU IDIOT!

"How did you get here? I know that you know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Because..." She paused for a second and thought about what she was going to say. As much as she looked up to the old man, he may be a bit different to the Dumbledore that she knew in her time, and this caused her to hesitate in telling the truth to him. "Sir, I am very much in your debt for what you did to me, with lying to Professor Dippet and saving my life at Hogsmeade, but I just believe that my reason for being here is well... Personal matters."

"I want you to trust me Miss DeAngelo, let me help you in whatever it is you need assistance in."

"I don't need assistance sir." She was going to say more when she suddenly felt the presence of another person within her mind, quickly reacting, she put her shields up. Who? That wasn't Tom... Then it must be... She stared intently at Dumbledore. THAT BAT! "How dare you!"

"Miss DeAngelo..."

"NO! I don't want to hear another word sir!"

"I just want to help, Miss DeAngelo."

"And probing into my mind can help?" She stood up so fast that the chair she was sitting on clattered onto the floor; she ignored it and made her way to the door. "I know a lot more than you think sir. It would do well to stay out of my mind."

"Well then... I'm sorry, I would just like to say though, whatever it is you are doing, I will be here to help you if needed. You are a good person, this I can tell. Just tell me if you need help."

"Thank you sir,"

"Oh as well Miss DeAngelo,"

"Yes Professor?" she turned around and looked at him, her hand still on the doorknob, ready to turn it and leave whenever she was ready.

"I want you to be careful with Mr. Riddle. He is a dangerous person and you need to watch out. He... He is moving in the wrong direction. I don't think anyone can help him. Please don't get caught up in his mess."

"I know Professor..." If only... Then Hermione left the room.

XxX

Albus sat back down on his desk when DeAngelo left and took a sip of his tea and furrowed his eyebrows a bit. Miss DeAngelo is a strange one. The look she had when she caught sight of Ariana, it's almost as if she knew what happened to her... That's impossible though isn't it? Unless my dear brother Aberforth has said anything- which I highly doubt he has, he hasn't really forgiven me and he wouldn't dare talk about it to anyone. So then how would she know? Unless... Is it possible? He began to wonder, when he suddenly thought of a plan. Though it was unethical and very unlike him, he needed to confirm his suspicions.

XxX

Hermione pushed her food around her plate for a majority of breakfast and Riddle saw this since he was sitting next to her in the Slytherin table, where he had subtly dragged her to sit in the morning. She couldn't get the meeting that was going to happen that night out of her head. Branded... You are going to be BRANDED by your worst enemy! YOU WERE MEANT TO KILL HIM! NOT FUCKING JOIN HIM! HERMIONE JANE GRANGER WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT AND FRIGGING ASK HIM TO TEACH YOU DARK MAGIC?

"Because you wanted the knowledge and because you want revenge." a voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts and she glared at Tom.

"Will you stop it?" she shouted, much louder than she anticipated and heads in the Slytherin table turned towards her.

"You need to eat, you need the energy for tonight," he replied, smirking.

"What I need right now is space. If you don't give that to me I will bloody hell kill you and your other parts," she whispered threateningly and pushed her plate away before standing up and storming out of the Great Hall, to go to the first place she could think of, the Room of Requirement.

XxX

The doors of the Room of Requirement opened and Hermione entered the room, which took form of all hidden things it bore. Junk was lying everywhere, piled on top of each other, but Hermione ignored all the interesting and boring junk that lay around the vast magical room, she wanted to see one thing, and one thing only.

At the corner of the room lay the Mirror of Erised, gathering dust very much like when she first encountered it a few months ago. Looking at the mirror, she didn't just see her reflection, she saw Fred's as well, a hand around the reflection of her and all the people that had died in the war in the background. She sat on the floor in front of the mirror, hugging her knees as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Hey Fred..." she started off, not caring that Fred wasn't really there, she just wanted to satisfy herself, make herself believe that he was still there. "It's been ages since I last saw you. How are Ron and Harry?" she let out a sob as she said her two best friends' names. She still couldn't get over their deaths. She knew that everyone had a fair chance of dying, but she just didn't want to admit it to herself that Harry and Ron could die. They had gone through years of near-death experiences, why did their luck have to run out then? When they perhaps needed it the most? "Okay... I know you can't respond to me, but I... I just feel like... If I'm talking to you, even if it's just from the Mirror of Erised, that you can actually hear me. I... I came to apologize about everything that has happened. I'm being branded." the Fred in the mirror scowled, but she couldn't tell whether it was a coincidence or he really did mean it, but she thought it was the latter and cried a bit more. "I-I-I know... I'm sorry about that, but... My feelings got the better of me! Seeing Finlay die... Reminded me of you so much, that it hurts. To me, Finlay didn't die again, no... You died again to me and I just couldn't handle it... I wanted, well want Grindelwald dead and just didn't think properly! Tom was there and... he... I thought he could teach me and now... I'm being branded, though I was going to be branded either way, whether I asked Tom to help me or not, because apparently I'm his property now. I don't know if I'll ever be able to see you again Fred but... Please don't ever forget... I love you..." She kissed her finger and then placed the finger on Fred's lips, as she continued to cry. She sat there for hours on end, and stared at Fred, not having a care in the world.

XxX

Both lunch and dinner passed quickly for Riddle and not once did he catch a glimpse of Hermione. She is not going to miss out on the meeting tonight in the forest! I won't let her! He knew he had to find her before midnight, before the meeting, where everyone would know that she belonged to him. No one would be allowed to touch her without his permission. He was up at the Astronomy Tower, looking out into the view, surprised that he didn't find Hermione there since it was one of the spots where she was almost always there. He knew that she was definitely having second thoughts about being branded his, but there was no backing out, she was going to belong either way to him and when she asked him to make her his, which just made it even more definite, if it already wasn't. There's only one other place she could be at a time like this... Quickly leaving the Astronomy Tower, he made his way to the Room of Requirement.

Once he got to the floor the Room of Requirement was located on, he didn't have to wait long for the doors to appear, all he had to do was ask where Hermione was, and the doors appeared, revealing inside where he was trying to still find Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. She must be here with that Mirror of Erised, once things are over and solved and she is branded, I'll make her look for the diadem with me! Even though the room was massive and had a vast array of items and junk, Tom didn't get distracted from his goal, to get Hermione. It was simple enough since he knew that she would be where the mirror was and he knew where the mirror was.

He was right to assume that Hermione was at the Mirror of Erised, because when he saw her, she was lying on her side on the floor in front of the Mirror, her back towards him, he assumed that she was sleeping, with the steady rise and fall of her chest and the lack of noise coming from her. Kneeling down beside her, he saw that he was right. There was a small strand of hair in her face and he carefully pulled it behind her ear.

"Sleep my dear," he whispered and kissed her cheek. "You'll need it for later." As slowly and carefully as he could, he lifted Hermione into his arms, carrying her- bridal style, back to his room in the Head's Common Room, to sleep until midnight came.

XxX

There were voices in the near distance, calling her name, and yet she couldn't place who it was coming from.

"Hermione." The voice said yet again. "Hermione, open your eyes."

"FRED!" She screamed and ran up to the red-head, hugging him, crying and laughing at the same time. Fred wrapped his arms around her and smiled at her reaction to seeing him.

"Hey love," he said, once they broke the hug and were able to look at each other. "It's good to see you."

"It's amazing to see you too! I've... I've... Missed you Fred..."

"Don't start crying again love," he wiped away the tears that were appearing again from Hermione and smiled at her, giving her another hugged. "I've missed you as well, so much."

"I'm sorry Fred, about the wall, about everything! Now Tom-" She tried to say more but Fred stopped her by placing a finger on her lips, immediately silencing her.

"You don't have to apologize for anything love, what happened to me isn't your fault. I love you and would be willing to sacrifice myself to save you any day. With Tom, you must do what you must to make the world a better place, never forget Hermione, I love you and I know you love me. That does not mean however that you cannot love another as well. I want you to be happy and as well as that, I want you to continue living. Don't ever blame yourself for what happened in the war. You can now however prevent it from ever happening."

"If I stay though and change Riddle... What will happen with us if it works? By the time you are born... I'll be... I'll be old and we may not even get to know each other!"

"That's why I'm sorry..."

"Sorry? What do you mean Fred?"

"I love you, I'm sorry..." Before Hermione could speak again, Fred kissed her and she closed her eyes...

A/N- What do people think of this chappie? I actually kind of don't like it that much [I don't know why, I just don't seem to like it lol]. But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU... Review please! Virtual cookies for those that do!