Hermione opened the compartment door and took her place next to Fred,
across from George. She sighed and looked out at the parents wishing
their children goodbye. The scene seemed no different than that of the
modern rides to Hogwarts that she took usually four times a year. She
then saw someone that threw her mind into a spin. There was a boy
standing alone with his luggage looking around for someone. He had dark
hair and green eyes. He looked to be at least a fifth year, possibly a
sixth year. He had the Slytherin shield on his robes. Hermione knew
him. He had the same face shape, same mouth, and although not cold and
heartless like his present self; the same eyes. It was Voldemort. He
seemed so less intimidating to her now, that she almost took pity on
him. She pointed him out to Fred and George.
"So that's the git, then." Fred stated with a smirk.
"Do you think if we offed him now we won't have to worry about him when we return?" asked George.
"Shush you two. We're not supposed to know who he is." she whispered.
"Still though, it'd make the job easier." Fred defended his brother.
"We can't mess with time. As much as I too would love to just end it all right now, how would it look if we killed one of Hogwarts best students in front of the entire school and their families? They don't know what he's going to become." she scolded.
"Calm down, Hermione. We were only joking."
"She's back." Fred snorted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, you've just been out of it lately. Seems like last night's escapades have brought you back to your usual self." he smiled. She hit his arm hard. He winked at her.
The compartment door opened, and there he stood. Tom Riddle, himself.
"Do you mind? There aren't any more seats open."
"No we don't mind, there's room." Hermione told him, giving the twins a very stern glare. Both of them stopped smirking. George coughed and straightened up. Tom sat down next to him.
"I've never seen you three before. What house are you in?" he asked, surveying each of them carefully.
"House?" Hermione faked confusion.
"Yeah... you know Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw... or if you're misfortunate there's Gryffindor."
"Oh, we're new." Fred responded, following along with Hermione's game.
"New? You look a bit old for first years."
"Oh yes, our parents were traveling. They didn't think with the war and all it would be safe. After much pleading, they've finally let us attend. Don't get me wrong though, we're not first years. We'll be attending our sixth year. We've been doing independent study." said Hermione, a-matter-of-factly.
"Well what's your family name?" asked Tom. Hermione grunted. She didn't like him being so inquisitive.
"Ellis. These are my brothers Cerrick and Kenton. I'm Theresa, and you are?" she held out a hand for a proper shake. He turned her hand over and kissed it.
"Tom Riddle. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Ellis... very strong name... although isn't it closely related to the Weasley's?"
"Yes, our mother was a Weasley." she replied. Tom smirked.
"Well don't get me started on them." he leaned back and made himself comfortable. Hermione shot glances at the twins making sure they watched their temper.
"What house are you in?"
"Slytherin, of course." he replied with an air in his voice. Hermione shuddered. He was reminding her of Malfoy.
When they arrived at the station, Hermione was surprised to see there were no carriages. Instead there was a younger looking Professor Dumbledore. He smiled as the children approached him. Hermione, Fred, and George followed in suit. They were lead to the boats off the dock. She gave a look to the twins. They weren't used to being on the boats. That was the way the first years traveled. The twins looked at her for an answer.
"The thestrals probably haven't been born yet." she whispered to them.
"Thestrals?"
"Blimey, so that's how the carriages moved."
She smiled at their ignorance and allowed George to help her into one of the boats. When they got to Hogwarts, the trio went up to the Headmasters quarters. Hermione observed everything around her. Nothing about the school had changed. They were greeted by Armando Dippet in the hallway, on his way to the Great Hall, Hermione presumed.
"Ah yes, you must be Theresa, Cerrick, and Kenton. Pardon me, I'm not good with twins."
"Er... I'm... Cerrick." Fred stated and turned to his twin. George shot him a look.
"And I'm Kenton." George said quickly, elbowing Fred for taking his name. Dippet lead them up to his office.
"Seeing as this is the second term of the year, everyone else is already sorted. This is the sorting hat. It belonged to Godric Gryffindor one of the founders of Hogwarts. It will let you know which house you belong in. Now which one of you would like to go first?" the headmaster explained. Hermione looked at Fred and George.
"I will then." Hermione volunteered. Dippet brought that hat over to him and placed it on her head.
"Hrm... yes. Good mind this one, very smart indeed..."
"Please we're supposed to be sorted into Slytherin. Please, Slytherin." she thought hard, praying the hat would hear her.
"Well you definitely have the will and want for it, there must be reason for this. SLYTHERIN, then."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. It felt weird being sorted into a different house. She hoped it wouldn't have an effect on her house in her present. Thinking this through though, she knew that she was a Gryffindor. The hat knew it too. She looked over at Fred and George who also looked relieved. Dippet placed the hat on George next, with the same result.
"This one has a knack for getting into trouble, yes. Not unlike his brother... two of a kind I must say. So be it, SLYTHERIN." the hat stated before it was pulled off of Fred.
"Now that you've been sorted, it's a matter of where you shall be sleeping." Dippet escorted them down into the dungeons. Students were coming in from dinner.
"Now you two are sixth years right?" the twins nodded.
Dippet led them from the common room and to the room they would be sharing with two other sixth years. He then ushered Hermione to her room. No one else was there yet. She sat her bag and her books on her bed then looked out to the snow filled ground of Hogwarts. She left the dormitory and went down to the Great Hall to grab something to eat before dinner was over. She wasn't watching where she was going and ran straight into someone. They collided and fell to the floor.
"M-Myrtle!" Hermione gasped and quickly got to her feet. She pulled the very much alive Myrtle off the ground and helped pick up her things.
"Surprised you even know my name, you certainly didn't notice me before you decided to run into me!" the girl stated. She pushed her glasses up off her nose and stared at Hermione.
"I'm sorry Myrtle." Hermione tried to apologize but the girl huffed off in the other direction.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and paused. She had almost walked over to the Gryffindor table before she caught herself. Fred and George motioned for her to join them. She sat next to Fred.
"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." George added.
"I have. I just ran into Moaning Myrtle. I mean Myrtle."
"Isn't that the ghost who haunts the bathrooms?"
"Yeah."
"We've run into her a few times in the prefect bathrooms."
"You guys were never prefects... never mind. Forget I said anything." she rolled her eyes, noticing the smiles on their faces.
Hermione's new roommates ignored her. She'd gone up to bed, with nothing but mere sneers from them. No one bothered to ask who she was or where she was from. They left her to herself. The next morning at breakfast they got their class schedules for the term. Her first class for the day was Potions. Her stomach lurched. If Snape was bad, she was working out the probability of this teacher being just as conniving. She walked alone down to the dungeons, as Fred and George departed ways with her to head to their Transfiguration class. She wished she'd been able to join them. To see familiar faces, in not only them, but in Dumbledore as well. She walked into the Potions classroom and sat down alone at one of the tables. Students began bustling in, Slytherin and Gryffindors. She was busy going through her bag, when someone sat down next to her.
"Theresa, right?" said a voice. Hermione looked up.
"Yeah, Tom right?" she asked in reply.
"Yep. I see you were sorted into Slytherin along with your brothers. Let me be the first to welcome you. I'm the Slytherin Prefect, if you have any questions I'll be happy to be of assistance." Tom replied with a crooked smile.
She smiled back at him, timidly. She pulled out her Potions book, a piece of parchment, and a quill. The teacher came in. It was a woman, much older than Snape, although Hermione couldn't tell precise age. She was thin and bony, with her black graying hair pull tightly into a bun. Her brown eyes were cold and malice. She stood just over six foot, as far as Hermione could tell. Her lips pierced together and she swiftly looked over the classroom. The chattering stopped and all eyes were on her.
"Welcome back to another term. I see we have a new student. Theresa Ellis, welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor Blackthorne. I am also the head of your house." the woman said coldly.
The class looked over at Hermione, and began chattering again. There was a loud CRACK from the front of the classroom. Blackthorne had just slammed her wand against the blackboard to get the class' attention. Everyone returned to facing the front immediately. She smirked and pulled out her textbook.
"I would like you all to turn to page five hundred and twenty."
Hermione found the page immediately and scanned over it. She groaned. Polyjuice Potion. This had to be some sort of cruel joke that life was playing on her.
"Is there a problem, Miss Ellis?" the teacher asked, looking up at her.
"No, sorry."
"I hear you were home schooled. If we're going too fast for you, let me know. I'm sure there is room in the first year class." Blackthorne commented, then turned her attention back to the classroom.
"Don't worry about her. She's not so bad once you get to know her. Be thankful you're not in Gryffindor. They get the brunt of it." Tom smiled.
Hermione quickly learned what he'd meant. They read through the uses allowed. She took points away from Gryffindor every time one of them mispronounced a word, or stumbled through their paragraph. When they started answering questions, she completely disregarded any Gryffindor hands that went up and called on only her own students. Hermione held back her enthusiasm to answer questions. It might look suspicious if she knew all the answers. Hermione glanced over at the parchment in front of Tom. He'd been drawing some sort of map. She couldn't tell what it was to, but it was rather elaborate. He noticed her glance and she quickly looked away. He smiled at her again.
"It's a map of Hogwarts, the third floor."
"Why are you drawing a map of Hogwarts?"
"You'll see soon enough." he whispered back.
The bell rang and she threw her book, parchment of notes, and quill into her bag. She pulled out her schedule again and looked over it. She had History of Magic next. Fred and George walked up to her.
"What's the Potions professor like?" Fred asked.
"Snape going through menopause." she mumbled.
"What's menopause?" Fred looked at her oddly. George hit him.
"It's a female thing. So she's that bad then?"
"Yeah, be lucky we're not Gryffindor this time around. She makes Snape look like a Saint."
"St. Snape... I like that." pondered Fred, curiously.
"I have to get to History of Magic. I'm late. See you at lunch?"
"Yep. Later Herm- Theresa." George smiled, and opened the classroom door.
She took off in practically a run and skidded to a halt in front of the History of Magic classroom. She was relieved to see Professor Binns drawling on in front of the classroom. He didn't even seem to notice she was late as she took her seat next to Tom Riddle and one of his friends.
"Theresa, this here is my friend Damien Malfoy." he introduced.
Hermione felt the pit of her stomach drop. She tried to swallow but something was stuck in her throat. She looked up at Draco's grandfather. She could see the resemblance. He wasn't as thin or tall as Draco but the blond hair and eyes were unmistakenable. She smiled weakly then looked back down to dig through her bag again. Damien muttered something to Tom and they smirked. Through out the lesson she watched as the two of them passed notes back and forth, as if scheming something. After class she started walking back towards the Great Hall. Tom stopped her half way down the corridor.
"Sit by Damien and I at lunch, I'll explain everything." he told her then went rushing after his friend. She walked over to the Slytherin table and found the twins looming over a piece of parchment.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing." answered Fred
"Scheming." said George, at the same time.
"What nothing are you scheming?"
"Well we figured if we're going to be stuck at Hogwarts again, we might as well have some fun."
"Fun? Wait no, you're not going to start pulling pranks again are you?"
"Well a lot of the hidden passageways that were closed off or caved in nearly forty years in the future are open here back in the past."
"No, you can't. It might have an effect on the future."
"We've considered that. But we've also considered the fact that whatever we do we're meant to have done."
"So there's no reason we can't pull any pranks. It's fate."
"You don't know that. Have you researched yourselves at all?"
"Hermione, I'm appalled. Of course we have!" George whispered.
"We've never done anything that wasn't well thought out and all angles crossed."
"Stop worrying so much. We're going to be here awhile, relax." Fred told her. She shook her head and walked over to Tom Riddle and Damien Malfoy.
"Sit down." Tom motioned to the space next to him.
She sighed and sat down. She looked over at Fred and George who were looking at her oddly. She shrugged at them.
"So what is it that you were going to explain?"
"I can tell I can trust you. You know how?" Tom started.
"No. How?"
"I could tell by the way you were on the train. You keep your brothers in line; you're smart and crafty. I could tell in Potions today that you knew everything that Professor Blackburn was talking about, as you were idly drawing all over your parchment. You carry books around with you so you're into learning. That's exactly what we need. Not that neither myself or Damien here are particularly dense, but I think we could really use you."
"Use me for what?" she looked from Tom to Damien, both of them were smiling.
"To open the Chamber of Secrets."
"Th-the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Yes, now I know you're new here so let me explain, as I doubt you know the legend. When the founder of Hogwarts ended up having different ideas about how the school should function, Salazar Slytherin, the founder of our house, built a secret chamber. When his heir returned the Chamber could be opened unleashing the power to rid the school of those unworthy of being here."
"Filthy mudbloods." Damien sneered. Hermione's skin began to prickle. He was too much like Draco. It made her uneasy.
"Well Damien here and I have decided to look for the Chamber. We've been researching it for years, and have narrowed it down to the third floor. Our problem is we can't seem to find it. It's been hidden well."
"What is the Chamber exactly?" she played off ignorance well.
"Salazar raised something there. A weapon of sorts. Hidden deep within the chamber is a Basilisk. Do you know what that is?" Tom asked. Hermione studied the look of sheer excitement in his eyes. She nodded. The less she had to hear about the giant snake, the better.
"Well it'll only listen to its true master."
"Who would that be?"
"Me, of course. I can speak Parseltongue, the language of the snakes, like Salazar himself." a wicked smile stretched across his face.
"So what exactly do you want me to do then?" inside, she was mentally slapping herself. Why was she agreeing to this?
"It has to do with the pipes. We've figured that out. The pipes through out the school system lead into the Chamber. We need to you to go searching through the girl's bathrooms for anything unusual. Can you do that for us."
"Er...yeah I suppose so." Hermione couldn't believe herself. That wasn't what she'd intended to say. Where were these words coming from?
"You're a doll. See, Damien I told you she was brilliant." Tom beamed. Hermione smiled weakly then got up to follow Fred and George out of the Great Hall.
"What'd the prat want?"
"When've you been buddy buddy with Voldemort?" they asked at the same time.
"I think I'm his key to opening the Chamber of Secrets." she explained. They gawked at her.
"Rubeus! How many times have I told you not to bring those wretched things into the school!" a woman yelled from down the corridor. They turned around to see a large boy trying to catch what looked like a vicious puppy.
"Hagrid." Hermione gasped. It took her a moment to register that the dog wasn't a mere puppy. It was a werewolf cub, and it was heading straight towards her at a rapid pace.
"So that's the git, then." Fred stated with a smirk.
"Do you think if we offed him now we won't have to worry about him when we return?" asked George.
"Shush you two. We're not supposed to know who he is." she whispered.
"Still though, it'd make the job easier." Fred defended his brother.
"We can't mess with time. As much as I too would love to just end it all right now, how would it look if we killed one of Hogwarts best students in front of the entire school and their families? They don't know what he's going to become." she scolded.
"Calm down, Hermione. We were only joking."
"She's back." Fred snorted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, you've just been out of it lately. Seems like last night's escapades have brought you back to your usual self." he smiled. She hit his arm hard. He winked at her.
The compartment door opened, and there he stood. Tom Riddle, himself.
"Do you mind? There aren't any more seats open."
"No we don't mind, there's room." Hermione told him, giving the twins a very stern glare. Both of them stopped smirking. George coughed and straightened up. Tom sat down next to him.
"I've never seen you three before. What house are you in?" he asked, surveying each of them carefully.
"House?" Hermione faked confusion.
"Yeah... you know Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw... or if you're misfortunate there's Gryffindor."
"Oh, we're new." Fred responded, following along with Hermione's game.
"New? You look a bit old for first years."
"Oh yes, our parents were traveling. They didn't think with the war and all it would be safe. After much pleading, they've finally let us attend. Don't get me wrong though, we're not first years. We'll be attending our sixth year. We've been doing independent study." said Hermione, a-matter-of-factly.
"Well what's your family name?" asked Tom. Hermione grunted. She didn't like him being so inquisitive.
"Ellis. These are my brothers Cerrick and Kenton. I'm Theresa, and you are?" she held out a hand for a proper shake. He turned her hand over and kissed it.
"Tom Riddle. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Ellis... very strong name... although isn't it closely related to the Weasley's?"
"Yes, our mother was a Weasley." she replied. Tom smirked.
"Well don't get me started on them." he leaned back and made himself comfortable. Hermione shot glances at the twins making sure they watched their temper.
"What house are you in?"
"Slytherin, of course." he replied with an air in his voice. Hermione shuddered. He was reminding her of Malfoy.
When they arrived at the station, Hermione was surprised to see there were no carriages. Instead there was a younger looking Professor Dumbledore. He smiled as the children approached him. Hermione, Fred, and George followed in suit. They were lead to the boats off the dock. She gave a look to the twins. They weren't used to being on the boats. That was the way the first years traveled. The twins looked at her for an answer.
"The thestrals probably haven't been born yet." she whispered to them.
"Thestrals?"
"Blimey, so that's how the carriages moved."
She smiled at their ignorance and allowed George to help her into one of the boats. When they got to Hogwarts, the trio went up to the Headmasters quarters. Hermione observed everything around her. Nothing about the school had changed. They were greeted by Armando Dippet in the hallway, on his way to the Great Hall, Hermione presumed.
"Ah yes, you must be Theresa, Cerrick, and Kenton. Pardon me, I'm not good with twins."
"Er... I'm... Cerrick." Fred stated and turned to his twin. George shot him a look.
"And I'm Kenton." George said quickly, elbowing Fred for taking his name. Dippet lead them up to his office.
"Seeing as this is the second term of the year, everyone else is already sorted. This is the sorting hat. It belonged to Godric Gryffindor one of the founders of Hogwarts. It will let you know which house you belong in. Now which one of you would like to go first?" the headmaster explained. Hermione looked at Fred and George.
"I will then." Hermione volunteered. Dippet brought that hat over to him and placed it on her head.
"Hrm... yes. Good mind this one, very smart indeed..."
"Please we're supposed to be sorted into Slytherin. Please, Slytherin." she thought hard, praying the hat would hear her.
"Well you definitely have the will and want for it, there must be reason for this. SLYTHERIN, then."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. It felt weird being sorted into a different house. She hoped it wouldn't have an effect on her house in her present. Thinking this through though, she knew that she was a Gryffindor. The hat knew it too. She looked over at Fred and George who also looked relieved. Dippet placed the hat on George next, with the same result.
"This one has a knack for getting into trouble, yes. Not unlike his brother... two of a kind I must say. So be it, SLYTHERIN." the hat stated before it was pulled off of Fred.
"Now that you've been sorted, it's a matter of where you shall be sleeping." Dippet escorted them down into the dungeons. Students were coming in from dinner.
"Now you two are sixth years right?" the twins nodded.
Dippet led them from the common room and to the room they would be sharing with two other sixth years. He then ushered Hermione to her room. No one else was there yet. She sat her bag and her books on her bed then looked out to the snow filled ground of Hogwarts. She left the dormitory and went down to the Great Hall to grab something to eat before dinner was over. She wasn't watching where she was going and ran straight into someone. They collided and fell to the floor.
"M-Myrtle!" Hermione gasped and quickly got to her feet. She pulled the very much alive Myrtle off the ground and helped pick up her things.
"Surprised you even know my name, you certainly didn't notice me before you decided to run into me!" the girl stated. She pushed her glasses up off her nose and stared at Hermione.
"I'm sorry Myrtle." Hermione tried to apologize but the girl huffed off in the other direction.
Hermione walked into the Great Hall and paused. She had almost walked over to the Gryffindor table before she caught herself. Fred and George motioned for her to join them. She sat next to Fred.
"What's wrong Hermione?" he asked.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." George added.
"I have. I just ran into Moaning Myrtle. I mean Myrtle."
"Isn't that the ghost who haunts the bathrooms?"
"Yeah."
"We've run into her a few times in the prefect bathrooms."
"You guys were never prefects... never mind. Forget I said anything." she rolled her eyes, noticing the smiles on their faces.
Hermione's new roommates ignored her. She'd gone up to bed, with nothing but mere sneers from them. No one bothered to ask who she was or where she was from. They left her to herself. The next morning at breakfast they got their class schedules for the term. Her first class for the day was Potions. Her stomach lurched. If Snape was bad, she was working out the probability of this teacher being just as conniving. She walked alone down to the dungeons, as Fred and George departed ways with her to head to their Transfiguration class. She wished she'd been able to join them. To see familiar faces, in not only them, but in Dumbledore as well. She walked into the Potions classroom and sat down alone at one of the tables. Students began bustling in, Slytherin and Gryffindors. She was busy going through her bag, when someone sat down next to her.
"Theresa, right?" said a voice. Hermione looked up.
"Yeah, Tom right?" she asked in reply.
"Yep. I see you were sorted into Slytherin along with your brothers. Let me be the first to welcome you. I'm the Slytherin Prefect, if you have any questions I'll be happy to be of assistance." Tom replied with a crooked smile.
She smiled back at him, timidly. She pulled out her Potions book, a piece of parchment, and a quill. The teacher came in. It was a woman, much older than Snape, although Hermione couldn't tell precise age. She was thin and bony, with her black graying hair pull tightly into a bun. Her brown eyes were cold and malice. She stood just over six foot, as far as Hermione could tell. Her lips pierced together and she swiftly looked over the classroom. The chattering stopped and all eyes were on her.
"Welcome back to another term. I see we have a new student. Theresa Ellis, welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor Blackthorne. I am also the head of your house." the woman said coldly.
The class looked over at Hermione, and began chattering again. There was a loud CRACK from the front of the classroom. Blackthorne had just slammed her wand against the blackboard to get the class' attention. Everyone returned to facing the front immediately. She smirked and pulled out her textbook.
"I would like you all to turn to page five hundred and twenty."
Hermione found the page immediately and scanned over it. She groaned. Polyjuice Potion. This had to be some sort of cruel joke that life was playing on her.
"Is there a problem, Miss Ellis?" the teacher asked, looking up at her.
"No, sorry."
"I hear you were home schooled. If we're going too fast for you, let me know. I'm sure there is room in the first year class." Blackthorne commented, then turned her attention back to the classroom.
"Don't worry about her. She's not so bad once you get to know her. Be thankful you're not in Gryffindor. They get the brunt of it." Tom smiled.
Hermione quickly learned what he'd meant. They read through the uses allowed. She took points away from Gryffindor every time one of them mispronounced a word, or stumbled through their paragraph. When they started answering questions, she completely disregarded any Gryffindor hands that went up and called on only her own students. Hermione held back her enthusiasm to answer questions. It might look suspicious if she knew all the answers. Hermione glanced over at the parchment in front of Tom. He'd been drawing some sort of map. She couldn't tell what it was to, but it was rather elaborate. He noticed her glance and she quickly looked away. He smiled at her again.
"It's a map of Hogwarts, the third floor."
"Why are you drawing a map of Hogwarts?"
"You'll see soon enough." he whispered back.
The bell rang and she threw her book, parchment of notes, and quill into her bag. She pulled out her schedule again and looked over it. She had History of Magic next. Fred and George walked up to her.
"What's the Potions professor like?" Fred asked.
"Snape going through menopause." she mumbled.
"What's menopause?" Fred looked at her oddly. George hit him.
"It's a female thing. So she's that bad then?"
"Yeah, be lucky we're not Gryffindor this time around. She makes Snape look like a Saint."
"St. Snape... I like that." pondered Fred, curiously.
"I have to get to History of Magic. I'm late. See you at lunch?"
"Yep. Later Herm- Theresa." George smiled, and opened the classroom door.
She took off in practically a run and skidded to a halt in front of the History of Magic classroom. She was relieved to see Professor Binns drawling on in front of the classroom. He didn't even seem to notice she was late as she took her seat next to Tom Riddle and one of his friends.
"Theresa, this here is my friend Damien Malfoy." he introduced.
Hermione felt the pit of her stomach drop. She tried to swallow but something was stuck in her throat. She looked up at Draco's grandfather. She could see the resemblance. He wasn't as thin or tall as Draco but the blond hair and eyes were unmistakenable. She smiled weakly then looked back down to dig through her bag again. Damien muttered something to Tom and they smirked. Through out the lesson she watched as the two of them passed notes back and forth, as if scheming something. After class she started walking back towards the Great Hall. Tom stopped her half way down the corridor.
"Sit by Damien and I at lunch, I'll explain everything." he told her then went rushing after his friend. She walked over to the Slytherin table and found the twins looming over a piece of parchment.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing." answered Fred
"Scheming." said George, at the same time.
"What nothing are you scheming?"
"Well we figured if we're going to be stuck at Hogwarts again, we might as well have some fun."
"Fun? Wait no, you're not going to start pulling pranks again are you?"
"Well a lot of the hidden passageways that were closed off or caved in nearly forty years in the future are open here back in the past."
"No, you can't. It might have an effect on the future."
"We've considered that. But we've also considered the fact that whatever we do we're meant to have done."
"So there's no reason we can't pull any pranks. It's fate."
"You don't know that. Have you researched yourselves at all?"
"Hermione, I'm appalled. Of course we have!" George whispered.
"We've never done anything that wasn't well thought out and all angles crossed."
"Stop worrying so much. We're going to be here awhile, relax." Fred told her. She shook her head and walked over to Tom Riddle and Damien Malfoy.
"Sit down." Tom motioned to the space next to him.
She sighed and sat down. She looked over at Fred and George who were looking at her oddly. She shrugged at them.
"So what is it that you were going to explain?"
"I can tell I can trust you. You know how?" Tom started.
"No. How?"
"I could tell by the way you were on the train. You keep your brothers in line; you're smart and crafty. I could tell in Potions today that you knew everything that Professor Blackburn was talking about, as you were idly drawing all over your parchment. You carry books around with you so you're into learning. That's exactly what we need. Not that neither myself or Damien here are particularly dense, but I think we could really use you."
"Use me for what?" she looked from Tom to Damien, both of them were smiling.
"To open the Chamber of Secrets."
"Th-the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Yes, now I know you're new here so let me explain, as I doubt you know the legend. When the founder of Hogwarts ended up having different ideas about how the school should function, Salazar Slytherin, the founder of our house, built a secret chamber. When his heir returned the Chamber could be opened unleashing the power to rid the school of those unworthy of being here."
"Filthy mudbloods." Damien sneered. Hermione's skin began to prickle. He was too much like Draco. It made her uneasy.
"Well Damien here and I have decided to look for the Chamber. We've been researching it for years, and have narrowed it down to the third floor. Our problem is we can't seem to find it. It's been hidden well."
"What is the Chamber exactly?" she played off ignorance well.
"Salazar raised something there. A weapon of sorts. Hidden deep within the chamber is a Basilisk. Do you know what that is?" Tom asked. Hermione studied the look of sheer excitement in his eyes. She nodded. The less she had to hear about the giant snake, the better.
"Well it'll only listen to its true master."
"Who would that be?"
"Me, of course. I can speak Parseltongue, the language of the snakes, like Salazar himself." a wicked smile stretched across his face.
"So what exactly do you want me to do then?" inside, she was mentally slapping herself. Why was she agreeing to this?
"It has to do with the pipes. We've figured that out. The pipes through out the school system lead into the Chamber. We need to you to go searching through the girl's bathrooms for anything unusual. Can you do that for us."
"Er...yeah I suppose so." Hermione couldn't believe herself. That wasn't what she'd intended to say. Where were these words coming from?
"You're a doll. See, Damien I told you she was brilliant." Tom beamed. Hermione smiled weakly then got up to follow Fred and George out of the Great Hall.
"What'd the prat want?"
"When've you been buddy buddy with Voldemort?" they asked at the same time.
"I think I'm his key to opening the Chamber of Secrets." she explained. They gawked at her.
"Rubeus! How many times have I told you not to bring those wretched things into the school!" a woman yelled from down the corridor. They turned around to see a large boy trying to catch what looked like a vicious puppy.
"Hagrid." Hermione gasped. It took her a moment to register that the dog wasn't a mere puppy. It was a werewolf cub, and it was heading straight towards her at a rapid pace.