FIFTY-ONE
Thursday, 11 Thursday 1944
When Hermione woke the next morning, her entire body felt heavy. Her mouth was dry and her tongue felt like a piece of cotton. She rolled onto her side and rubbed at her temples, the fog of sleep trying desperately to claim her again. She remembered starting to feel so tired she could barely sit up in the common room, but now she was in her dorm and she hadn't remembered getting there. What really ate at her was the fact that she had had this feeling before and it only came the morning after Dreamless Sleep.
Forcing herself up, she groaned when she used her wand to discover the time. Breakfast was nearly over. Panic surged through her veins at how she could have slept that long without a potion. Then there was the question of where it had come from or who had given it to her without her knowledge. The only person she had been around the night before was Draco, but it filled her with anxiety and confusion at the prospect that he would slip it to her without her consent.
Shaking it off for the time being, she hurried to change out of her clothes for fresh ones. She charmed her hair to be more presentable and brushed her teeth. By the time she was grabbing her bag to leave the dungeons, it was time to head to class. She didn't even bother meeting Draco at the Great Hall, instead, going straight to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The desks were gone, so she stood off to the side opposite the door as students began to fill the room. Draco entered with a few other of their housemates. His gaze met hers briefly, but he looked away and her gut twisted in knots as he made it a point to stand far away from her. She swallowed hard, panic rising to new extremes.
One of the last people to enter was Riddle. His anger filled the room and when their eyes met, Hermione felt as though she could choke on the rage he directed at her. She averted her gaze, keeping it on the floor as she wracked her brain trying to figure out what had happened within the last twelve hours.
Her attention refocused when she heard Draco's voice as he stepped forward to the center of the room. He had volunteered for the last duel of the term and Hermione found herself joining him near Merrythought before her mind even caught up to what she was doing.
"You volunteer to duel Mister Malory?" Merrythought said, a flicker of doubt passing over her face.
"Yes," she said without hesitation. There was no way she was going to let Riddle volunteer. Although, from the look on Draco's face, that's what he was hoping would have happened.
"I'm not dueling you," he said, his voice clipped.
"Afraid I'll best you?" she challenged.
Merrythought looked back and forth between the two of them with unease. "Just heed the rules and when I say stop, Miss Granger, I expect you to stop."
Heat flamed her face as she recalled the duel with Riddle at the start of term. She gave a nod and let her wand slip down her sleeve into her hand. "I will," she promised.
"Very well, you may begin," the professor said, stepping away and casting the usual wards to keep the other students safe.
She had thought Draco was going to refuse again, but he caught her off guard by brandishing his wand and landing a spell to her abdomen that had her nearly knocked her off her feet. She barely had time to recover before he hurled another one. She switched gears in her mind as fast as she could, sending spell after spell at him in return.
She could tell that he was getting more upset with each passing second, but she wasn't sure why. His spells were stronger than she had ever anticipated them to be and more often than not, they broke through her shield charms. "Draco, what's-"
"We're not supposed to talk," he snapped, firing another three spells in the time it took her to breathe. "Stop firing those stupefying spells, Granger. We both know you know more than that."
Granger.
"I'm not trying to hurt you."
He snorted. "The damage is already done, Granger. Just fire the fucking spells."
To emphasize his words, the spark of orange light that struck her left shoulder forced a shriek from her lips and she landed hard on one knee. She took a deep breath to say something to him or fire a spell, she wasn't sure which, but she was stopped by Riddle's presence invading her mind. She groaned at the force; it was nothing like all the times before. There was no warmth now. He was cold and it made her shiver.
When she went to move, it didn't feel as if it were body anymore. She felt as though she were a puppet and Riddle was the one pulling her strings. She panicked and fought as hard as she could, but the Dark magic shimmered on her fingertips and a scream rent the air. It took a moment for her to realize that it had come from Draco. He was staring at her with a hint of fear in his grey eyes as he held his bicep, blood running through his fingers.
Stop!
She was screaming at Riddle and fighting to take back control, but he was stronger than she had ever felt him before. He continued to use her, channeling her Dark magic again and again to lash out at Draco.
"I see it now," Draco said, firing another few spells at her with blood dripping from his wand as it ran down the length of his arm.
"What?" she asked through clenched teeth as she tried to hold back on the curse Riddle was making her shoot back.
"I wonder if he'll still want you now that he knows." His voice was so cold that it brought more tears to her eyes than her struggle with Riddle.
She wanted to ask what who knew and what it was that they knew, but she caught a glimpse of the curse Riddle intended to use next and her panic increased tenfold. She shut her eyes tight against the tears and reached down into the depths of her core, tugging on that sensation she equated with Grey magic. Once she had a hold of it, she yanked it forward and used it to break his hold over her.
Exhausted and worn, she collapsed to the ground, her wand clattering somewhere off to the side. Draco's last spell hit her square in the chest and it knocked her back. She barely heard him call her name as she closed her eyes and fell into the darkness that followed.
Friday, 12 December 1944
Hermione had spent the rest of her Thursday in the infirmary with Draco taking up the bed next to her. Neither of them spoke through the day, although most of her time there had been spent in a fitful sleep. When they were released, the tension between them carried on throughout the rest of Friday as well. Despite the fact that he sat with her in classes and in the library during their breaks, she could have sworn that he was acting like she didn't exist. And she was too confused and hurt by his behavior the day before to question him. Too afraid of her upcoming time with Riddle on the Astronomy Tower.
Her mind was running wild with assumptions as to what could make Draco this angry with her and cause Riddle to control her into trying to get her to fire the Killing Curse at Draco.
For the first time since being transported back in time, Draco was not in the common room as midnight approached. Hermione wasn't sure what that meant for them, but it didn't bode well. When it was clear that he wasn't going to come out and see her off, she took her leave and began her walk to the tower. Each step brought forth more dread. She knew they weren't going up there for their project. She knew what Riddle would want the moment she stepped onto the landing, but something felt off.
As she waited for the stairs to align on the second floor, Draco's words from the day before echoed in her mind.
"I wonder if he'll still want you now that he knows."
She leaned against the banister as nausea threatened to make her dinner reappear. He knew. She had known that, based on his clear avoidance of her and his anger, but it hadn't sunk in until that very moment.
But what had me meant? What did Riddle know? What had Draco told him?
Fear seized her gut again as she watched the staircases click into place. She couldn't seem to make herself move. It was as if she were caught in Devil's Snare again, sinking into the depths below. She closed her eyes and for a brief moment, she thought she heard the hissing of the Basilisk within the walls. She knew the Chamber of Secrets was close by; she could often hear Myrtle wailing through the halls, but she hadn't stepped foot into the bathroom since her arrival. She had no desire to accidentally be petrified again.
"I thought I made myself clear."
Her eyes snapped open at the sound of Riddle's voice, only to discover him standing right in front of her. He was so close she could feel the heat of him through her clothes. Her lips parted slightly as she shook her head, stopping as he closed the gap and pressed her against the railing with his body.
"That you were not to use your Occlumency to hide anything from me."
His pupils were blown wide in rage and a haze of red rimmed the edges, making him look far less human than she had ever seen before. "I d-didn't-"
"If I had known you were a Mudblood, I would have never touched you."
Hermione's eyes went wide as terror coursed like ice through her veins. She swallowed hard against the bile that rose up her throat. Draco had outed her. Tears of betrayal and fear welled up and spilled over, glossing her cheeks as she stared up at Riddle. Knowing that his rage was about to manifest in true Voldemort fashion, Hermione's natural instincts of fight or flight kicked in and she chose the latter, dashing off up the stairs.
She ran through the castle as if it were the snatchers behind her all over again. Her life truly did depend on her ability to get away. She cursed herself for not going down and escaping out the main door to the castle, but there were places she could hide inside. She just had to think as she ran and hope that she got to one of them before he got to her.
But her logic had abandoned her as her primal instinct to flee took precedence. She wasn't sure what floor she had made it to before he caught her; an arm around her waist to pin her arms at her side and a hand over her mouth to mute her screams. She kicked and flailed against him, but he uttered something in her ear and everything went dark.
When she jolted from having been rennervated, she immediately began to try and resume fighting. Riddle was standing over her, watching her thrash about beneath him against her bonds. Her legs were bound together and stretched out before her, stuck to the floor with his magic. Her arms were outstretched on either side, stuck to the floor at the wrists. The only thing she seemed to be able to move was her head and her body when she arched it off the floor in her struggles.
But it wasn't Riddle's murderous stare or the fact that his wand was trained on her that made her stop struggling, it was the room itself. Fear made her heart skip a beat and she cried out at the sight of the Malfoy Manor's drawing room around her. She was pinned down the same way as she had been when Bellatrix carved her up.
As she thought about it, Riddle forced his way into her mind. She was too weak to keep him from witnessing her torture. When he withdrew, she turned towards her left arm, flinching at not only the phantom pains, but of the way he tore her sleeve away from her shirt from the elbow down with a flick of his wrist.
"I should have known you were a Mudblood. From the very moment I saw you, you tempted me. You tried to taint me, to sway my ambitions and get me to change." He lowered himself until he was sitting on her stomach. She shook her head, hot tears streaming down her temples and into her hair. "It almost worked too. I told you as much; that I had a plan for you to be by my side. I taught you Grey magic. I let you in and you defiled me with your muddy blood."
She tried to dislodge him as he placed the tip of his wand over her left forearm, just below the bend of her elbow. "No! Please! Ridd-AH!"
Her begs turned to full on screams as his magic began to slice her skin. Bellatrix's cursed blade felt like a scratch from Crookshanks in comparison to this. She could feel the Dark magic seeping into her skin, tearing it open, hitting bone. She screamed and fought until her voice gave out and she tasted blood on her tongue. By the time he sat back to admire his handiwork, she had done the same as before; stared off to the side while tears streamed silently from her face to the floor.
The pain was fogging her vision and left her feeling like an empty shell of herself. She knew she was going to lose consciousness soon. If it were anything like last time, she had already lost a lot of blood. She assumed it was more this time; she could feel it trickling down her arm and pooling around her. He reached up and grabbed her chin, turning her head to look at him. He was leaning in, close enough that his lips brushed over hers when he spoke, but she could barely see him.
"A shame such powerful magic was wasted on a Mudblood whore like you."
She barely registered her head hitting the ground as he released her. Soon, he was pulling away from her and getting to his feet. She felt the magic pinning her down give way and he gave her one last look before leaving her alone. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and when they reopened, they fell on her arm. The slur was back as if it had never been burned off her skin in the first place. The only difference was that, where Bellatrix's letters had been untidy and childlike, Riddle's had been precise; as if it had been tattooed onto her skin rather than carved with Dark magic.
She squeezed her eyes tight and sobbed until there was nothing left of her. And when she was spent of emotions and pain, she continued to lay in the darkness until exhaustion finally rose to swallow her whole.
Saturday, 13 December 1994
When Hermione woke next, she was still in the same position as she had been upon passing out. The only difference was that the room had shifted to become her dorm room from Gryffindor Tower instead of the Malfoy Manor's drawing room floor. She cried out as she pushed herself to into a sitting position and turned to her left. She watched through tear-filled eyes as fresh blood began to run down her skin from the movement.
But for as much as it hurt, she had to pick herself up off the floor. There would be no one but herself to save her this time. Not Harry. Not Ron. Certainly not Malfoy. She got to her feet, swaying at first until her balance was steady enough to make it to the bathroom. She turned on the tap for the shower and vanished her clothes. She stepped under the scalding hot spray of water and shoved the pain of it hitting her arm so she could scrub herself raw.
When she done, she cast as many scourgifying charms on her that she could manage before doing the same to her clothes and then redressing. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she stopped at the sound of the main door opening. She raised her wand immediately and held it there, despite the shaking of her limbs.
Malfoy slowly put his hands up in surrender as his eyes raked over her slowly, stopping at the sight of her forearm. She hadn't bothered to fix her sleeve. His eyes went wide with anger and concern as he looked at it, tracking the small trail of blood as it ran down her arm to splash on the floor at her feet.
"Did he-"
"Don't act like you care now, Malfoy!" she snapped, brandishing her wand as steadily as she could.
His arms went to his side, his hands balling into fists. "I didn't-"
"What did you think he would do?" she shouted. "He wasn't- I had it-" Her voice was shaking far too much and her thoughts were jumbled all over the place. "Why did you tell him my blood status?" she asked, her voice finally breaking into sobs.
"Because I wanted you both to hurt."
She narrowed her eyes at him and pulled in her wand hand enough to wipe at her tears with the back of her hand.
"I didn't think he would… Hermione, I'm-"
"It's too late for apologies, Malfoy." Her hand shot out to grab the bed post to keep from falling over as the blood loss made her head spin. "You should go."
"I'm not leaving."
She gave a short nod and took a shaky step forward. "Fine. Then I'll go."
"The only place you're going is to the infirmary," he said, stepping forward to catch her when the room spun and she pitched forward.
She shoved him off of her, moaning at the pain that shot through her arm. She sneered down at the blood on his otherwise pale skin. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sully you with my dirty, muddy blood."
"Hermione-"
"No!" she snapped wincing as her left hand balled into a fist caused another wave of pain. "You did this! You told him my blood status and he marked me! This is far worse than whatever payback you think I deserve for whatever it is that you think you know!"
"What I think I know?" he raged back at her. "I know enough, Granger. I know that you've been lying to me and sneaking around with him behind my back!" She flinched away from him and wiped fresh tears from her cheeks again. "And I didn't do a fucking thing! You brought this on yourself! You want to lay with snakes and play with fire? Fine! This is what you get!"
She recoiled, her shoulder connecting to the bedpost she had just stepped away from.
"I expected a lot from you, Granger. Brightest Witch of Our Age and all that shit. I loved you! I gave you my everything and you went and stomped all over my heart by spreading your legs for the fucking Dark Lord of all people! Was I really even your first or are you just as good a liar as you are a whore?"
The stinging jinx came flying out of her wand before she fell backwards on to the bed. He grunted and hissed in pain as the purple burst of light hit him square in the face. Much like the effects it had had on Harry, Malfoy's face began to bubble and swell until it was disfigured almost beyond recognition.
"GET OUT!"
"Gladly!" he fired back, his voice distorted from her magic.
She closed her eyes as he turned away and jumped at the sound of the door slamming shut. Once he was gone, she laid back on the bed, curling up into the fetal position. She grabbed at the necklace he had given her with her right hand and held tight. She wished it had been a Time Turner instead so she could go back to the beginning.
With Malfoy's exit, her decision to let Riddle use her as he saw fit was now all for nothing. Sobs wracked her body again until she was too exhausted to cry. When all the moisture had been cried out, she just simply laid there and watched her arm bleed, wondering if she would bleed to death if she stayed just like that. As she continued to watch the crimson droplets drip out the wound, she found herself hoping when she closed her eyes next, she wouldn't open them again.