((A.N. Chapter 12. I actually updated on time for once...! This is a "Calm Before the Storm" Chapter, and I am afraid it is the beginning of the end. I'm going to missupdating this story. :(There are fifteen chapters, plus an epilogue, so we aren't quite at the end. I am happy to announce that I am working on a new project, though, called Somewhere I Have Never Traveled. It is way longer than this one and the pairing is DM/HG. I'm sooo excited about it! I'll tell you more about that story as this one wraps up. Ahh, my reviewers. What would I do without you? Thanks to EuphoniumGurl0, Lion Eyes, An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin, bubble gum girl, Loriliant Angelisa Snape, SpiritWell, Baloo(Thanks for the fic rec!), UNOWEN(you're onto something there, answer is yes), reader972, cocovanilla(you are again verging on an important revelation!), tickle the dragon, sexy jess, innocenteen, Amerise Rei(you are thinking along the correct lines there), Oliver's Quidditch Crazy, Mitsuki Ashya, The Paymaster, slytherinstargazing, sam, silver gaze, Black-rose23(of course Mary is going to tell everyone! ;D), Misscleo, CountessMel, BabyGooGoo2, Jay Ficlover, Lady Moofin, Ramones4me, and ne-me-pa-sa-ra. Also thank you to my beta DramaShethan for her lovely editing. Enjoy this chapter! ;D))

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.

– William Shakespeare

Chapter 12; Of Puzzles and Riddles

A rigid coldness engulfed Tom as he strode away from Helen. He had felt so warm when kissing her, so comforted, but that feeling had disappeared like a snowflake on the first day of spring.

When the Slytherin house heard rumors of what had happened, Tom knew them well enough to know that they would be ruthless. Not to him, but to her. He also knew that they would believe whatever he told them.

Just deny the whole thing, Tom thought savagely. Deny it and pretend it never happened. And never talk to Helen again. He could not risk being seen with her for a second time.

Somewhere deep inside, though, he knew that she was the only thing that kept him going. She was the only one who him back from falling into the threatening black hole within himself.

Tom had promised himself that he would never trust anyone, much less fall in love with a girl he hardly knew. When he was around Helen he felt things that had not surfaced in years; sorrow, joy, affection, and pain. It was as if he had been blind all of his life, and then when she had crossed his path he had opened his eyes. Truthfully, Tom could not help trusting Helen. He could not help loving her either.

Dumbledore had found Minerva in her office the next morning, pouring over what looked like job offerings in the Daily Prophet. He entered quietly, and she only looked up when the door clicked shut behind him.

They stared at each other for a few moments. Stared with knowing stares. Minerva folded her hands on the desk, and smiled just the smallest smile.

"The Minister . . . he didn't like my peacock hat."

"Well, I don't think . . ."

"He said so himself, Albus," she drawled in a bored, amused voice.

Dumbledore watched as she stood up and paced behind her desk, saying nothing.

"Now why would a man like you," she started softly, "want to keep a woman like me from getting a job elsewhere?"

Dumbledore paused, silent for a few moments. "I think we both know the answer to that, Minerva."

"I think we do too, Albus, but that doesn't mean that you're exempt from saying it aloud like a real man."

"If you must be that way . . . then so be it. I like you, Minerva, and I want you to stay."

And suddenly she was close to him and he reached out and touched her face.

"You know that it's impossible for me to stay," she said in her bossy voice.

"Stay here, Minerva McGonagall. I'm asking you to stay here."

And so she did.

Class ended, and Hermione practically jumped out of her seat and dashed out of the door. She had to get to the library as quickly as possible to research time traveling, and she only had an hour on lunch break. What had happened the night before had gotten her extremely worried.

It had been like a wake up call to her mind, and she had realized that she was substantially meddling with time. If she did not do something soon, she suspected that time would do something for her.

She dropped her book bag at a corner table and immediately began browsing the shelves. So far Hermione had only found bits and pieces of theories about time, most of them unproven and untested. One theory, however, had come up more than once in her reading. It was called the Rumineus Theory, and had been developed by Nicolas Flamel. It alluded to the notion of time freezing. Hermione returned to her table with a pile of books that looked remotely relevant to the subject.

Frowning, she saw a tiny, rolled up piece of parchment directly on the center of her table, tied neatly with a silver ribbon. She opened it.

Meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower tonight at eight o'clock.

It was in a careful, cursive hand, and was unsigned. Hermione's heart began pounding. She knew who had written it, but could not believe he still wanted to talk to her, much less meet her in secretly.

"Miss Nestowe?"

Hermione quickly shoved the letter into her coat pocket, and glanced up. Albus Dumbledore stood before her, his auburn hair glinting in the dusty light.

"Professor, sir," Hermione said awkwardly. "Did you . . . want something?"

"Just a word with you," Dumbledore said, a smile in his eyes. "May I sit down?"

Gulping, Hermione nodded. Time Traveling and Its Various Theories was careening off of one edge of the table. How to Harness the Impossible; Time was lying conspicuously in front of him. She quickly shoved Witch Weekly: Nicolas Flamel and his Rumineus Theory under the table.

Dumbledore sat down gracefully, not even glancing at the titles of the books.

"That's a beautiful golden chain around your neck," Dumbledore said quietly. Hermione began panicking. He knew. Dumbledore did not make comments like that for no reason.

"Thank you, sir," Hermione said as lightly as possible.

"I daresay, you haven't taken it off since you arrived here."

"Pardon me, sir, but I don't think it's any of your business," Hermione replied, her own eyes widening after she had said it. She would never have dreamed of talking to Dumbledore that way.

He merely chuckled. "I suppose not. Why don't I just get to the point, then? You are running out of time, and I think we both know what I mean, Miss Nestowe."

His tone had suddenly become urgent and grave. She stared at him with her mouth wide open. Running out of time?

"You're not a fool, Miss Nestowe, and you're not careless. Take a step back, though, and look at what you are doing. The people around you are undeniably affected by your actions, whatever they may be. Do not forget that it is Time, the greatest of all elements, that you are so feebly attempting to hoodwink. Time waits for no man. Do not be so naive as to think that it will wait for you."

"I–" there were so many things on her mind, so many sentences she was attempting to formulate. "I'm not trying to hoodwink anything!"

"Is that so?" Dumbledore asked pointedly. He looked at her for a long time, as if trying to decipher a very confusing Riddle.

Finally, he said, "It's the full works of Nicolas Flamel you'll want, Miss Nestowe. Now if you'll excuse me. I have other business to attend to."

Wordlessly, he handed her a slip a paper.

"Good luck," he said with a wink. "Miss . . . Nestowe."

Dumbledore strode away and disappeared around the corner in a swirl of robes. Hermione unfolded the piece of paper.

Permission to check out Time Theoretics, by Nicolas Flamel, which is a restricted book from the Professor's Library.

– Albus Dumbledore

The Professors' Library only housed books that were not Ministry approved for students to see.

What is he playing at? Hermione thought wildly. Dumbledore had a terrible habit of speaking in riddles that were almost impossible to decipher.

"The people around you are undeniably affected by your actions, whatever they may be."

Had she not realized that her relationship with Tom could possibly change the entire future? What if she returned and there was no Harry Potter and no Ron Weasely? What if there was no Hermione Granger?

I have to stop, she realized. I have to stop seeing him, stop talking to him, stop yelling at him . . . stop kissing him. I have to stop, before I make it even worse.

Her heart cracked. She knew that she was being ridiculous. All that she and Tom had ever done was argue and yell and insult each other. They were not anything but enemies. She knew that was not true either. He had saved her life, and in a way, she had saved his.

This is what it had come down to. Hermione had to choose, and she knew it. Tom, or everything else. Should she choose Tom, she was condemning to the world to terror and catastrophe. At least, that is what would happen if the future remained as it had when she had gone back. Should she choose everything else, she was condemning her relationship with Tom to almost certain failure. She would sacrifice Tom for the rest of the world.

Hermione was a logical girl. In fact, she was the most logical girl that you would ever be likely to meet. And logic told her that there was no choice. The rest of the world was more important than Tom and Hermione. She had an obligation. I have to forget him. It's what Harry would do. Harry would save the world.

And yet there was something at the core of her that was more important than logic, more important than duty, and more forceful than anything she had ever known. It was the very thing she had brought out in Tom. It was her heart. And she wished, at that moment, that she could banish it away with some simple spell. But there was no magic that could take her heart away.

Time waits for no man. Do not be so naive to think that it will wait for you.

What had Dumbledore meant by that? A growing fear had implanted itself inside of her. She jumped, realizing that she should be in her next class. Tomorrow, I'll check that book out, she thought with certainty. Tomorrow.

((A.N. Next chapter: Hermione goes to her secret meeting in the Astronomy Tower, but is everything as it seems? There is a major twist in this story . . . can you see it coming? Tell me what you think will happen in a review.))