A/N: Written for the Hogwarts Forum's March-Monthly-Event-Wicked-Bake-athon. The Prompt for this one is Anxious
It felt like there were snakes writhing in her belly as Bellatrix led her to the room Voldemort had set up as his throne room. Death Eaters lined the hallway the closer they got, and many of them sneered at her. Hermione clutched at her rolls of parchment nervously, Bellatrix's hand on her back warm, but not comforting enough to quell the anxiety wracking her body.
Oh Merlin, this was worse than when she stressed over studying for the OWLs! Worse than when she worried obsessively about taking tests and her performance on them. She felt close to hyperventilating, as her mind ran through all of the worst case scenarios. Would she bungle her presentation? Would she get ridiculed for her ideas and hard work that she's put into this project?
Her feet began to slow down involuntarily, and Bellatrix's hand on her lower back was using more force now, to make her keep up.
"Show no fear, no weakness," the older witch whispered into her ear. "They'll pounce on you if they think they have a chance." A shudder ran through Hermione as her mind focused on that instead, and all too soon, they stopped in front of the room that held her fate. Why was she so anxious? She had dined with the Dark Lord more times than she could count, and every time he asked for an update, not as a status report but as a curiosity, he listened intently as she waxed poetic about her progress, and whatever she had chosen to work on that day.
"Here, drink this," Hermione heard a voice say, and a vial was held to her lips. She shook her head as she pinched her lips shut. "It's a calming draught, go ahead." Again, Hermione shook her head no.
"I've had a lot of them in school. They dull my mind. I don't like them," she confessed, turning wide eyes towards Bellatrix who looked surprised. "I just need...just need a moment."
And a moment was all that it took for Hermione to ground herself and meditate, finding her magic and wrapping herself up in it. Her magic surged around her, wrapping her up like a soft blanket, quickly calming her heart rate. She heard a gasp from somewhere behind her, but she didn't focus on it. Instead, she focused on her slowly receding magic, like the tide receding at the beach. Breathing steadily in through her nose and out through her barely parted lips, Hermione let her meditation technique simply sweep her away.
A sudden touch had her coming back to herself, and Hermione opened her eyes to see Bellatrix's hand on her shoulder. Lifting her eyes to meet the other woman's, Hermione took a steadying breath and nodded. "Okay, I'm ready." The older witch nodded before moving forward to lead them through the set of doors a pair of Death Eaters opened for them. Hermione paid them no attention as she strode through, her final research in her arms, her mind set on her task.
Time to present her findings.
Voldemort sat back in his throne, awe on his face as he looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Hermione had just fallen silent from giving her presentation, not even registering that she had effortlessly used wandless magic to hold her charts and graphs up when she decided the Death Eater elected to do the task for her was inept after he nearly tore one of her parchments in half.
With her presentation done, the room was silent, and her anxiety was creeping back. She had successfully found the answer to the Time Travel Paradox, Multiple Linear Timelines, and increasing the range of the Time Turner they had supplied her. Truthfully, she had been given several projects she had to work on, it just so happened that all of them were intertwined in some way or another.
Her favorite part of this whole thing, if she had to choose, would have to be finding a way to keep only certain people's memories intact when she played with time. Her pride and joy for that part of the project was her ward circle that prevented time paradoxes. She had developed it using a few Death Eaters as guinea pigs, and while she originally had reservations about using live subjects, one pointed out that he had volunteered to be her helper.
"I'm actually quite excited to be of some help. I was horrible in school, but I take direction well!" He survived all of the tests, and was just as overjoyed as Hermione was when he gave himself a high five, one of him standing inside a small warding circle, the other standing outside of it.
"Wonderful job," Voldemort praised, drawing her out of her thoughts. Hermione quickly looked at him to see him in a good mood, before she quickly dropped her eyes, as she had been instructed to do whenever they were in a formal setting. "This is brilliant work! You've more than earned your freedom. I expected nothing less than the brightest witch of her age!" Hermione felt a wide smile blossom at his words as she looked up at him, and he nodded to her.
Bellatrix turned her and led her out, whispering praises and compliments the whole way back. However, what she did had finally sunk into her brain with every step closer to her room she took.
She was free, but now she had to leave…
Being kidnapped hadn't been as bad as she thought it would have been. They had fed and clothed her, and made sure she was healthy before even demanding that she research for them, on a topic she was dying to look into even before third year when she had gotten a Time Turner on loan for her studies!
With a sigh, she sank into her soft, comfortable bed and hugged one of the pillows to her chest, burrowing underneath the collection of blankets she had convinced Bellatrix she needed. It was only 5 blankets! Each were useful in different ways. But here, she was able to scrunch them all up and just hide underneath them as her mind began to run all the possibilities it could. Where would she go? What job would she get? Could she sustain herself at all or would she have to retreat back into the Muggle world and struggle her way through a University education with no transcripts to speak of?
Although it was nearing suppertime, Hermione couldn't help but stay in bed, and try to figure out a way out of her newest problem. Several months ago, she couldn't wait to leave. But now? Now she wanted to stay.
"Might as well spend one more night in luxury, before I have to go out and try to survive in a world that's not meant for me…" she whispered into the pillow, her tears dotting the fabric. Sometime through the night, in her hazy dreaming state, Hermione swore she heard someone swearing from outside her window. Someone yelled back at them about something...something about drawing the runes right. She couldn't hear clearly, as if a thick layer of foam was pressed against her ears, making everything sound muted and slow.
And in the morning, as Hermione sat up with an exaggerated yawn, a slight headache pounding at her temples, the blankets spilling from her onto the floor, she looked around the room, confused. The decor was...different. From the crown moulding to the drapes, to even the wallpaper adorning the walls. The colors were warmer, splashes of bronze and silver in the metal work and woods, and the fabrics all held colors of a deep blue with a few lighter blues thrown into the mix.
"What….what's going on?" she wondered aloud. Throwing the covers off of her, she leapt out of bed, hissing slightly at the cold hardwood floor that had been marble the night before. Jumping to the rug at the end of her bed, she stopped and stared at the Ravenclaw insignia on it. Yesterday, that had been a Slytherin crest...what was going on?! Shoving her slippers on her feet, Hermione dashed over to the door and threw it open to see Bellatrix on the other side, her arm raised to knock. The older witch beamed at her, but she felt...off. Hermione wasn't sure what it was. She was cleaner...neater, her trademark black corseted dress nowhere to be found. Instead, she wore robes in a navy blue, and she was smiling, not smirking or sneering, but smiling.
"You did it, Princess! Your research worked!" Hermione just gaped at her in confusion, and Bellatrix chuckled before taking her elbow and leading her back into the room. "Here, dress yourself, get ready for breakfast. Tom will be better at explaining this than me."
"Tom?!" Hermione exclaimed, prompting the other woman to sigh fondly.
"Get dressed. Let's go!"
In no time at all, Hermione appeared from her bathroom in a set of plum robes with bell sleeves and a fitted bodice, nearly bouncing in curiosity. She followed Bellatrix out of the room before gawking at the changes in the house. Yesterday, the hallway floor was bare marble, but now there was a plush rug that ran down the center of it. Following Bellatrix to where she knew where the dining room was, she couldn't help but freeze in the doorway upon seeing an older man sat at the table, his leg crossed at the knee, the Daily Prophet propped up on the table. He looked to be in his early 40s, with a few strands of greying hair dotting his temples, but otherwise looking to be the picture of health.
"Good morning Tom!" Bellatrix greeted before leaning over and placing a kiss on his cheek. He set the newspaper down and returned the greeting before turning to look at Hermione. He gestured her forward, and her feet started walking before she could register what was happening.
"You, little Princess, are a genius," he complimented, and Hermione felt her cheeks warm up as she took her usual seat at the table. Her preferred light breakfast appeared before her, but she took no notice as her eyes kept straying to Tom.
"W-what happened?"
"Because of your research, I was able to go back and right a terrible wrong. Because of the ward scheme you created, which worked by the way, everyone here retained both their previous timeline's memories, as well as gained their new ones. Think about it. What does your mind tell you?" he asked, eager for her assessment, and as she searched her own memories, her headache started to clear. She clearly remembered Harry dying, but she also had memories of spending time with him at a Quidditch match just last week! Confusion filled her face, and she looked at Tom.
"I...it worked? It worked!" A grin lit up her face in excitement, and Bellatrix just stood next to Tom, looking like a proud parent.
Her parents...what happened to her parents? Searching her memories, she had lots of fond memories growing up with Bellatrix as a mother, with having lots of cousins from the Black family to play with, but barely any from her Muggle Parents.
"My parents-" she started, but paused, unsure of what to say.
"I went back in time and prevented the creation of my first Horcrux. I instead instructed the Basilisk to protect the students and the school, as was Slytherin's original purpose in creating the Chamber of Secrets. This unknowingly set into motion a chain of events that allowed Grindelwald to kill Dumbledore before he came after Hogwarts. I and a few of my fellow students fought back Grindelwald long enough for the castle defenses to be activated. I could then disengage and then call the basilisk. It was surprisingly easy to defeat Grindelwald and his forces after that," Tom explained.
Hermione was speechless through all of this. As her headache receded, new memories flooded her mind. Learning about the Grindelwald war in the 40s and 50s, where Head Boy Tom Riddle had bravely fought on the front lines as Grindelwald tried to overtake the castle. The Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets- Hermione shuddered at the thought because the books had pictures of how large the snake actually was, and she had realized she had been very lucky to only be petrified that day in second year-had appeared and decimated Grindelwald's forces, leaving the man to be by himself and taken down with extreme prejudice. Tom had been awarded not only an award for special services to the school, but also an Order of Merlin First Class for doing what even Albus Dumbledore couldn't.
"From there, attitudes in the Wizengamot changed, and a new law was put in place to visit the home of muggles with children who experienced their first bout of magic. The parents were then given a choice. They can keep their child, and in turn be protected by a pureblood family, so they would be educated in our ways, much like you would with any other culture. The other option-" Tom started, but Hermione couldn't help but interrupt.
"Is to give up the magical child," she stated, her voice wavering with emotion as her hands clenched in her lap. Tom nodded.
"The couple is given the option to raise a Squib child from a magical family, and the magical muggleborn child would be raised in the magical family," he continued, ignoring the sob that fell from Hermione's lips. Bellatrix drew closer and pulled Hermione into a hug. "Memories and photos would be altered, and the child relocated. A blood adoption ceremony would be used, to make the child a part of the family"
"And then I got you," Bellatrix said softly, carding her fingers through Hermione's hair. "I never married Rudolphus in this timeline, so you were adopted as a Black. You were barely two when you were adopted, and so we dropped your muggle last name. Your cousins are my sisters' children, and my cousins' children."
Hermione lifted her head from where Bellatrix-her mother-was cradling it, and looked at the two of them through puffy eyes. "So now what?"
Tom gave her a grin before he replied. "Now, you have your whole world ahead of you. So, what is this I hear about you going to your fourth year yule ball with Viktor Krum?"