The world is falling down

The whole world felt like it was closing in on Hermione. Tom Riddle-he was…he was…

But Hermione couldn't finish the thought. She just couldn't.

She couldn't think the name. Because thinking the name, would make it real.

If she actually thought it, thought the other name that Tom Riddle most likely went by, the name which she was strongly beginning to believe that Tom had at one time gone by, she would break. Of this, she was sure.

It just couldn't be…

Hermione got herself out of the Chamber of Secrets and back to the school halls, her hand occasionally raising up and pressing against her robes, where she had put Tom's diary. Which contained Tom.

Possibly a piece of…..him. Possibly a piece of one of the darkest wizards in history.

She tried so hard to dismiss the thought.

Because it just couldn't be….

Even as she tried to tell herself that she was wrong to think it, she remembered what Pansy had told her, about the book that she now possessed. The book on bloodlines, by this Lukas Halifax.

Pansy had told her that the last time it had been seen, it had been in the possession of Voldemort.

And now it was here in the school, in the Chamber of Secrets? Which very well may have been a place where Tom Riddle had frequented?

What more proof did she need?!

Hermione could feel her breath becoming shallow again, but took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

She had to get to class. She had to pretend that everything was alright.

She shoved the new book she had in her back, hoping no one would see it. And she rushed to Moody's class.

She got into the classroom, finding Pansy, Daphne, Astoria and Millicent already there.

They smiled, seeing her, before they all lost their smiles, clearly seeing the distress on their friend's face.

"Mione?" Astoria asked, her eyebrows furrowed in concern, "What happened?"

Hermione glanced at the rest of the class, seeing other kids all around and seeing Moody going to the blackboard.

She sat down quickly, averting her gaze from the rest of the onlooking class and she sat down between Daphne and Millicent. She whispered to them, "I'll tell you later, okay? Not right now. Now's not the time."

All four of Hermione's friends were looking at Hermione, then looked at each other, all deeply worried, but saying nothing, because they heard the tone in Hermione's voice. That tone made it clear that she couldn't handle talking about it now.

Moody went to the board and began writing. He introduced himself. Gave his full name and a very curt explanation as to why he was there and finished with, "That's all, goodbye, the end. Any questions?"

Upon hearing no response, he said curtly, "Good." He then asked if anyone knew what the consequences were for using an unforgivable curse, and why it was considered "unforgivable" to use.

Now, normally, this was a question Hermione would answer.

But Daphne looked back at Hermione and was well aware that her friend would not be able to answer, so, she raised her hand, waiting for Moody to notice, which he did.

When Daphne was called upon by Moody, Daphne explained best as she could.

She said, "Any use of an unforgivable curse, can get you locked away in Azkaban for life. These curses are so horrid and forbidden, that it earns such a punishment."

"Good," Moody said, "Exactly," he then said, that he believed that the students before him, needed to understand the threats that were out there, which was why he was going to more or less take the gloves off.

He selected Ron Weasley from the class and told him to step up.

Timidly, afraid of looking Moody in the eye-to say the least, Ron kept his head down and gave Moody one of the names of the three unforgivable curses. The imperius curse.

Moody chuckled, "Your father would know all about that one, what does it do?"

Hermione was only half paying attention.

Yes, she was rather disturbed that a teacher was talking to them about the unforgivable curses, but she had a few other things to worry about.

Tom potentially being…being one of the darkest wizards in history.

That basilisk, Shigshac being her servant, more or less.

More and more proof thrown in her face about who Tom Riddle might actually be.

Hermione stiffened, when she felt eyes on her and glanced at her friends. All of them also, were only paying half attention.

Their eyes were on Hermione, worry etched across their faces.

Hermione looked away from them and forced herself to look ahead at where Moody and Weasley were.

That was when Hermione's eyes widened, seeing Moody doing something rather disconcerting.

He took an insect out of one of the cases on the desk, used the engorgia spell on it, making the insect bigger, then used the imperius curse on the insect, ordering it around and making it jump from one student to another, making the insect, jump in students' hair and jump on other students' faces.

Hermione was so stunned, that she couldn't even laugh or react with disgust.

It was one thing to explain what the three unforgivable curses were, but to perform them in front of students…

Hermione's friends turned their head in the direction of where all the yelling and commotion was.

Daphne gasped and Pansy exclaimed, "Merlin's beard!" as the insect, because of Moody's orders, leapt onto Malfoy's face, before jumping off of him and jumping into Crabbe's hair.

This was getting alarmed cries from some and laughter from others. But Hermione and her friends remained silent, too startled by what they were watching.

The cackling Moody, sent the insect flying and it crashed into a round, flat glass magnifying instrument, dropping down into a bowl of water in front of him.

Moody sighed, picking the insect up with his free hand, so that it lay on his palm, and he then went to the desks of the students again, as the nervous Ron Weasley sat down again.

"Someone give me another curse," Moody said, then looking at Neville Longbottom and continuing, "You, Longbottom, can you think of another unforgivable curse?"

Neville stood up, looking extremely nervous. He mumbled, "The….the cruciatus curse."

He said.

As soon as he said it, Hermione felt her heart grow cold.

No, no. If Moody was going to demonstrate those spells in front of students, then….did that mean he'd use the torture curse on the insect?

In front of Neville? Whose parents had been….

"No!" Hermione yelled, before she could stop herself.

Everyone in the classroom, including Neville and Moody, snapped their attention to Hermione.

Hermione gasped, startled that she had let out such an impassioned reaction, but after several moments of feeling everyone's eyes upon her, including her best friends' eyes and the eyes of Neville and Moody, she realized she would need to say something.

She forced the next words out, "I'm sorry, professor. But it would be extremely unconscionable to perform the cruciatus curse in front of us. We all know what it can do. There would be no benefit of performing it in front of any of us. So, please, professor…"

Neville nervously looked back at Moody, who stared at Hermione, tilting his head to the left, as if now that Hermione had caught his attention, he was fascinated by her words.

"Ms. Granger," he said, "Is that right?"

Hermione nodded, trying not to feel small under that shifting, strange fake eye that Moody had. "Yes, professor," she said, "Hermione Granger."

Moody nodded. He chuckled, "Yes, I suppose you would know a great deal about unforgivable curses." He snickered, "The first-year Slytherin that took down the Dark Lord. Fine. I won't use the cruciatus curse. But tell me, Granger, what is the killing curse? Surely, you know that one. You used it in your first year."

Hermione felt the gazes on her in the classroom intensify.

Hermione shook her head, looking away. She didn't know what this man's sick game was.

But she wasn't going to play it with him.

Moody sighed, placing the insect onto the desk in front of Hermione, as he made his way over to her and aimed his wand at the insect. Daphne, Astoria, Pansy and Millicent all watched him like a hawk, in case they needed to knock his wand away from Hermione's desk.

And then, while aiming the wand at the insect, Moody said the dreaded words that were the killing curse.

He said, "Avada kedavra."

Green light sliced out of the tip of Moody's wand and hit the insect. The insect stiffened in what had to be pain, then it dropped down onto the desk, limp and dead.

Hermione's eyes closed shut tightly, jaw clenching.

Hermione could almost sense what Moody was trying to say to her. That she should be very familiar with this type of killing.

"The killing curse," Moody said, gesturing to Hermione, "And young Ms. Granger here is very familiar with using it. And no one has survived it, except for one person," Moody turned his head to look at Harry Potter and said, "And he's in this room right now."

Moody pulled out a vial, uncorked it and took a swig of it, then leaving the students, to go back to the front of the class.

Daphne, Astoria, Pansy and Millicent watched him go, cautious and tense now.

Hermione, when she heard Moody's footsteps getting further away, finally opened her eyes and watched his receding figure.

This sadist was the person that Dumbledore trusted?

As if Hermione's respect for Dumbledore couldn't sink any further.

After class, the five girls exited class, Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy all checking to see if Hermione was alright after that.

No, Hermione was not alright, for several reasons. But even before she had entered Moody's class, she hadn't been alright.

When they were getting close to the bottom of the stairs away from Moody's class, they stopped, finding Neville leaning against one of the railings, staring at a stained glass window.

"Neville?" Hermione asked, alarmed.

When she got close and saw his expression, her heart fell. The boy looked absolutely haunted.

Hermione didn't have to guess to know why he looked like that.

His mother. His father.

Bellatrix, the woman that had tortured them into madness.

Just talking about the cruciatus curse, had…..

"Neville," Hermione said gently, "Do you need anything?" That was a stupid question, because what could she or her friends offer Neville, to make something like that feel better?

There was no fixing Frank or Alice Longbottom.

They were out of their minds. Driven to insanity by a dark witch who was a fanatic, incapable of recognizing when she was doing something wrong.

How did you help someone who was suffering from a loss like that?

Hermione had heard of a phrase that was used in mental medical terminology.

The phrase was, "ambiguous loss." It was used for a lot of things, outside of mental illness-any situation when there was no chance of closure.

But the term, "ambiguous loss," was used a lot for mental illness.

And this? This appeared to have no chance of closure, whatsoever for poor Neville.

Hermione felt a hand touch her hand and she looked back, to Pansy, who had tapped her hand, catching her attention.

Pansy nodded downwards and Hermione followed the black-haired girl's gaze.

At the bottom of the spiral staircase, was Luna, looking up at them and waving.

"Luna," Hermione said quietly. As soon as she said the name, she heard a gasp come from Neville.

She turned to him. "Neville?" She asked.

Neville now looked more panicked than anything else as he said, "Hermione? Can you do this for me? Can you get Luna away? Please? I don't want her to see me like this."

Hermione's eyes widened.

And apparently, she wasn't the only one confused, because Daphne said in assurance to Neville, "Neville, Luna won't judge. I'm sure you know that."

Hermione nodded. Besides, Hermione had learned from Luna what had happened to Luna's mother.

Luna's mother had died in experimenting with magic. Luna had lost her mother young.

It wasn't the same type of loss as Neville, but it was still a tragic loss. Surely, she'd understand.

"It's not that," Neville said quietly, "It's just…my soulmate dreams have started. And…and," Neville nodded down the spiral staircase, at where Luna stood, but wasn't facing Luna.

Understanding, Hermione's eyes widened. Oh.

"But wait," Daphne whispered, now understanding as well, "You've seen each other, haven't you? Luna never mentioned this."

Neville nodded. "Because I've dreamt of her," he said, "I'm older, remember? The dreams haven't started for her yet. So, I know what she looks like. So I've…avoided places where she and I are likely to make eye contact."

Hermione's mouth dropped slightly.

And she thought she had issues with finding out who one of her soulmates was.

Neville had literally avoided any situation where he'd make eye contact with his soulmate, so that the soulmate connection couldn't be established.

"Neville," Hermione said, voice soft, because she knew Neville was still hurting, "You're going to have to face her at some point. It's not right to either you or to her if you don't."

"I know, I know," Neville mumbled, almost painfully, "Just please?"

Hermione sighed and she looked at her equally as surprised friends and nodded to them. Hermione then said to Neville, "If you need anything at all, you tell us, okay?" After Neville's slight nod, Hermione and her friends all made their way down the stairs, to Luna.

Hermione smiled at Luna and she and her friends led Luna away from the stairs and away from where Neville was.

Hermione would try to deal with this later. Right now, she needed to get to a secluded place with her friends and explain what it was she had just found out about Tom.

About an hour later, after Luna had gone off to her dorm, Hermione and her friends went to their next class. After that, they went back to their dorm, and as soon as they were inside the common room of the Slytherin house, and as soon as they were all certain that there was no one in the room, but them, they sat down, and Daphne, Astoria, Pansy and Millicent, facing Hermione all waited expectantly.

"Alright," Daphne said firmly, "Answers, Mione. Now."

Hermione huffed out, opening up her bag and pulling out the book by Lukas Halifax, then reached into her robes and pulled out Tom's diary, laying both items down onto the table between herself and her friends.

She knew she would have to start talking. Have to start telling them more things and not hide so much from them.

It wasn't just that it wasn't right that she wasn't telling them these things, it wasn't good for any of them.

It would give Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy, reason to doubt Hermione's genuine friendship with them.

For many reasons, Hermione realized, as her heart hurt still over what she had learned in the Chamber of Secrets, she would have to tell her friends. Everything.

Well, not about the Philosopher's stone. That, she wasn't going to risk getting out. That would put a bigger target on her and her mother's back.

But everything else? She would have to tell her friends about.

About finding out who Tom Riddle very likely was, about Hermione's time in the muggle world in the labs that were under Percival Cromwell's control, about knowing Daphne and Astoria's soulmates, Chloe and Noah, about the experiments done to her and the other kids in those labs, about the basilisk Shagshic, about Hermione having another soulmate, one with long curls of black or almost black hair, that was locked away in some prison somewhere-everything else.

Including that she shared a wand, down to its core, with Voldemort.

So, Hermione took a deep breath, and began.

Hermione watched her friends' faces.

She watched them grow pale. Watched the horror spread all over their faces.

If there was any anger in her friends at the moment? It was overshadowed by the sheer horror and agony they felt for Hermione.

By the end, Pansy, Millicent, Daphne and Astoria all had tears in their eyes.

Taking a deep, painful breath, Daphne whispered, "Why didn't you tell us any of this? Why didn't you tell us what was going on?!"

Most of the tears, as to be expected, came from Hermione telling them about the experiments in the labs.

About what was done to her, and to Chloe and Noah, and all the other muggle-born kids there.

"Daphne," Hermione said gently sniffling, trying to fight her own tears, remembering the screams in those labs, the dead bodies, the crying at night, but Hermione was cut off by Pansy.

"No," Pansy said, shaking her head, "You should have bloody told us. Merlin, we've known each other for almost four years now. Haven't we proven that we can be trusted by now?!"

Hermione winced.

She knew 'sorry,' wouldn't be enough, still she said it. "I'm sorry," she answered.

Pansy gave a weak, watery laugh.

Daphne wiped her tears away with the back of her right hand as she pushed the words out, "The labs? You were there, what? For five years?"

Hermione nodded. "Just about," she said, "I mean, if I believe my adoptive mother, which I do, I was taken when I was just a baby."

Daphne nodded, looking numb. "And your mum," she said, "She can be trusted?"

Hermione almost laughed at that. "Of course," she said, "She's my mother. She betrayed Cromwell to get me out of there. I trust her with everything."

Daphne nodded.

Admittedly, Hermione had been the most hesitant to tell her friends when Jean Granger had first adopted her and where exactly the two of them had met.

Knowing that Hermione's mother had originally, helped an organization that abducted and tortured muggle-born children?

It likely would cause some suspicion to be thrown Jean Granger's way, for lack of better terms.

"And you didn't tell us about Chloe and Noah as soon as we told you we were dreaming about them," Astoria said, voice hurt, "Hermione…that's just not okay."

Hermione flinched. She had known that she should have told Daphne and Astoria about her knowledge of Chloe and Noah, as soon as she suspected that Daphne and Astoria were dreaming about the same kids that she had known back in the labs.

But if she had? Then Daphne and Astoria would question how she knew about them. Then everything else would come out.

"I know it's not," Hermione said quietly, trying very hard not to start crying herself, "I'm sorry."

Daphne apparently, had some strong feelings she needed to get out, because she sucked in a breath and wiped some more tears from her face, and said, staring at Hermione, "Look, Mione, I get after something like that? You would have so many trust issues, that you would have a hard time telling us this. But here's what I know, there's no keeping friends or allies, by not extending trust to them. Trust is a two-way thing. We've trusted you with so much. And you're only telling us all of this now? Now that Tom most likely isn't to be trusted? Hermione, I have to ask, does Tom know about what happened at Cromwell's labs? Or about Cromwell?"

Hermione shook her head. "No," she said urgently, "I never told him anything about Cromwell. He doesn't even know that name, as far as I know. He just knows that I've been through some difficult things. But he doesn't know the details."

Daphne nodded, but still looked upset. She said, "Alright, but if it turned out that you trusted Tom more than us? I wouldn't have been surprised. Hermione, you just told us, even before you found out who Tom might be, that you didn't trust him. And I said that I didn't trust him and that wasn't enough for you."

Hermione grimaced, feeling more and more guilty at her friend's words.

"Okay, come on, Daphne," Millicent said gently, seeing how hurt Hermione was.

Daphne sighed, glancing at Millicent, then looked at Hermione, "Hermione, would you have told us all this, if you hadn't just found out from a basilisk, of all things, that Tom just might be one of the darkest wizards in existence?"

Hermione froze and thought about Daphne's question. She really thought about it.

And she knew the answer.

Yes, she likely would have told her friends eventually.

Just not as soon as she had now.

"Yes," Hermione said, deciding that she needed to be as honest as possible, "I would have. But probably after a few more years."

Daphne scoffed, shaking her head.

The hurt looks that crossed Astoria, Millicent and Pansy's faces at Hermione's confession, made Hermione feel like the worst person alive.

The idea that she was only telling them all this now, because she was desperate? That must have hurt them deeply.

"Hermione," Pansy said, leaning back against her seat, wiping her tears away, "We're your best friends. We love you. We faced a giant three-headed dog, devil's snare and the rest of the trials with you in our first year. We would have faced off with Voldemort in our first year too, if there had been more liquid in that vial that you drank. We've faced Snape and Lockhart together, for Merlin's sake. We've faced dementors together. We've kept the secret of you having a time turner. And we rescued Buckbeak together. Isn't that enough? Isn't that proof that we can be trusted?"

Hermione closed her eyes. The pained questions almost felt like an accusation, and in some way, Hermione supposed that they were.

Yes, in theory, all of those things should have proven to her that her friends could have been trusted with her life. And more importantly? Could have been trusted with her mother's life.

But some inexplicable thing…trauma, maybe, kept Hermione from fully trusting them.

It wasn't the same as with Tom. With Tom, even before she'd had her talk with Shagshic, there had been some sense that she felt, that Tom just couldn't be trusted. And as it turned out, she and Daphne were both right.

But not trusting Daphne, Millicent, Pansy and Astoria? There was no excuse for that.

Hermione opened her eyes when she heard someone moving away from their seat.

Her eyes widened when she saw Astoria get up and come over to her.

Hermione braced herself, half expecting Astoria to raise her hand and hit her.

But Hermione was shocked instead, when Astoria lunged for her, hugging Hermione. Hermione gasped with the impact of Astoria's body hitting her own and feeling Astoria hug her. Astoria buried her face in Hermione's neck, tears falling from her eyes.

Shocked still, Hermione hugged Astoria back, shocked more when Millicent and Pansy both got up too and walked over to her, leaning forward and hugging her and Astoria between them.

Hermione was stunned, so stunned that she didn't move for a few seconds, then it all sank in, and she awkwardly tried to hug them back, feeling tears finally spilling out, as her body shook against them.

Daphne watched from the right of the four other girls, her hands at her sides.

"I'm sorry," Hermione mumbled out in tears, "I'm sorry."

When finally, Astoria, Pansy and Millicent recovered, sucking in a breath and separating from Hermione's grasp, Daphne came over, not looking nearly as heartbroken as Millicent, Pansy and Astoria did.

Hermione nervously looked up at Daphne, from where she sat, suddenly thinking that maybe Daphne would hit her, unlike Daphne's twin.

But Daphne instead spoke to her. She said, staring at Hermione, "No more secrets, understand? You want us to trust you too? No more secrets."

Hermione fought a grimace. That would be a complication, considering she still wasn't sure she could tell anyone just yet, about the stone. That she and her mother had the stone at their place, concealed away.

But she forced her expression to be neutral.

And she nodded to Daphne.

Then it was Daphne's turn to do the unexpected.

She leaned down, but instead of hugging Hermione fiercely, she stopped in front of Hermione's forehead and gently kissed Hermione's forehead, causing Hermione to gasp, staring up at Daphne as Daphne smiled gently at the other girl.

She said, "Well, I guess we know what we need to do after figuring out what to do about Tom, right?"

At Hermione's confused frown, Daphne supplied, "Get your other mate out of the prison she's in."

Hermione's eyes widened and smiled, her heart swelling with warmth.

Hermione said weakly, honestly not believing how lucky she was, "Thank you. All of you."

Despite their remaining tears, all of Hermione's friends smiled at her.

They all knew that they would have to depart from the common room in due time, less they wanted someone to stumble upon them in their extremely vulnerable states and ask questions.

And they certainly didn't want Draco Malfoy or one of his companions to catch them like this and begin to gossip, even if they did fear Hermione.

The five girls got up and began wiping their tears, then they looked down at where the books lay on the table.

The two books in question; the apparently famous tome by Lukas Halifax, which identified a person's ancestors, and which pureblood family a person was related to, and the diary of Tom Marvelo Riddle.

And that same diary, potentially, the current home of a fraction of the spirit of…of Voldemort.

Hermione said, staring at Tom's diary, "We can decide to look into Halifax's book later. But I say we store it away for now. Right now? We have to deal with Tom."

"I was thinking the same thing," Millicent said, "Halifax's book can wait. But it's best if we don't let just anyone find it. The biggest priority right now, is figuring out of Tom is actually, you know."

Hermione paused and glanced at Millicent. "You still doubt it?" She asked.

Millicent shook her head. "Well, no," she admitted, "And that dream you said Harry Potter had of you, through someone else's eyes, someone you called 'Tom?' That definitely sounds incriminating. But if there's even a slim chance that we're wrong? We need proof."

"What more proof do we need?" Daphne asked in disbelief, and as soon as Daphne was finished asking that, Hermione chuckled, suddenly realizing that she knew where to find proof.

"Hermione?" Pansy asked, her and the others startled by Hermione's small outburst.

Hermione turned to her friends and said, a knowing smirk on her face as she said, "I think I might know where we can find proof. I don't know for sure, but I think we can find proof this way. Ollivander."

At the wand seller's name, all three Astoria, Pansy and Millicent looked startled.

Daphne furrowed her eyebrows. "Mr. Ollivander?" She asked, "Why him?"

"Because," Hermione said, nodding to her, "He remembers every single wand he's sold, right? And it's likely that someone like him would keep records of the people who have purchased wands from him, right?"

Hermione watched in the light of the fireplace, as her friends' eyes widened in realization.

"And if you share a wand core and wood with Voldemort," Daphne said, as the understanding hit her, "Then the name of Voldemort, the one that he used to go by, will be the one listed as the person who bought the wand in his first year at Hogwarts."

"Right," Hermione said, now grinning as she and Daphne shared the same thought.

"That's a really good point," Pansy said, "But will Ollivander let us see the records?"

Hermione nodded. She knew that there was a possibility that Ollivander would be stubborn about that.

Confidentiality, and all that.

But then, if Ollivander really cared about confidentiality, would he really have told her that she shared a wand's core and wood with Voldemort?

"I'm going to go seek him out," she said, "As soon as we're finished with lunch and the teachers aren't expecting us to be in class."

Daphne and Pansy's eyes widened, but they, Astoria and Millicent shared a nod.

Alright, then.

Lunch would arrive soon. Then there would be time between then and the next class. And then?

The goblet of fire would choose who the champions of the Triwizard tournament were to be.

And for that, all of the students in all three schools were to be in attendance.

And there was time till then.

There was time for Hermione, Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy to find out what name Voldemort had gone by, before starting to call himself the "Dark Lord."

"Right now," Hermione nodded to Halifax's book, "I think I should put that back in the Chamber of Secrets. I don't want it in any place where anyone can find it. So, I'll put it back. Then I'll join you for lunch. And I'm not letting Tom's diary out of my sight. And after lunch, we go to Ollivander's?"

"Alright," Pansy said, "You sure you'll be okay?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah," she said, her voice stronger now, "You go to lunch. I'll take Halifax's book back to the Chamber of Secrets. I'll join you soon."

She grabbed up Tom's diary, put it in her robes, grabbed Halifax's book and stuffed it into her bag. She asked, as she and her friends began to exit the common room, "Does anyone know anything about this 'Lukas Halifax?'"

"Mmm," Pansy said, contemplating, "Supposedly he was from one of the pureblood families. No one knows which one. But a few historians swear he's from Avery family, but who knows if that's actually true? And supposedly he traveled the world. And had a wife, who he was deeply in love with, named Anne. Again, who knows if any of this is true?"

Hermione nodded as they walked.

They parted when they reached the girl's lavatory, and Hermione said to her friends, "I'll catch you later."

The four of Hermione's friends, looked at Hermione, still worried, clearly, but did as she wanted and walked away, leaving Hermione to go into the girl's bathroom and Hermione reached the sink and used parseltongue, to open it.

It took about almost a half hour, but Hermione got down the to the Chamber of Secrets, opened it up, got to the hall, stashed Halifax's book back into the mouth of the metal serpent, where she had found it, deciding to use it later, and turned, walked out of the chamber, closed the door, locked it up, and used her magic to float herself back out of the tunnels, back into the school, closing the sink up again and left the bathroom, running now to join her friends at lunch.

Hermione in no way missed the relieved looks on her friends' faces when they saw her enter the Great Hall and walk over and sit down next to them.

"It's been done?" Pansy asked and Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, it's back in the you-know-where," Hermione said, not feeling confident about even saying the word, 'chamber' out loud, "The diary is still in my robes. We should eat now."

"You should eat now, you mean," Millicent said dryly, pushing a plate full of food to Hermione, "We've already eaten."

Hermione chuckled, smiling gratefully and began digging in.

Hermione ate a hearty lunch, and after she was finished, she and her friends got up from the table and walked out of the Great Hall, and left the school.

There were several students who had wandered off from the school and off to various parts of the property, or to Hogsmeade, amongst other places.

So, the five of them wandering off? Not the strangest thing.

They would need to move quickly, though.

Ollivander's was in Diagon Alley. To get there, Hermione and her friends would need to go to Hogsmeade, and take the path from there to Diagon Alley, which would take a while. But they'd manage.

It took up to almost an hour to get to Diagon Alley.

They arrived, pushing past the hustling and bustling witches and wizards and the cages full of owls, cats, toads-amongst other animals. They went past the broom shops and the book shops and cauldron stores, and at last, arrived at Ollivander's shop, where all five of them had purchased their wands.

Daphne and Pansy both turned to look at Hermione.

"Are you ready, Mione?" Daphne asked.

Hermione sighed, not facing her friends, just staring at the sign for Ollivander's, "No. But we have to know."

Hermione sensed, rather than saw her friends nodding and as she moved closer to the wand store, her friends followed.

They went through the doorway of the store and got to the cluttered desk. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Ollivander himself, wasn't present.

At least, he wasn't present at the desk.

Hermione, Pansy, Millicent, Daphne and Astoria searched the various rows bookshelves full of boxes of wands.

And only after almost a minute, did Ollivander show up, sliding up to the bookshelf they were closest to, on a sliding ladder, looking down at where the five of them stood.

Any possibility for a sly smirk, abandoned the store, as he stared at the five girls before him.

"Ms. Granger," he said, "Ms. Parkinson. Ms. Bulstrode. And both Ms. Greengrasses. To what do I owe the honor?"

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander," Hermione said, trying for her voice not to be dry, but was unsuccessful, "We have a question about a wand that was purchased from you. Back in 1938. A wand that according to you, my wand shares much in common with."

Ollivander's eyes widened and Hermione observed as understanding crossed his features.

"I see," he said, slowly climbing down from the ladder, "You want to know about the twin wand that was bought decades before your Hogwarts letter reached you?"

"That is technically what Hermione said," Pansy said, no patience in her voice as Ollivander approached them.

Ollivander chose not to comment on Pansy's snark, as he reached the desk. He looked at the girls again and asked, "What would you like to know?"

"Who bought the other wand?" Hermione asked, "A name. Not the name that he goes by now. But the name that he went by when he first bought the other wand."

Ollivander's eyes widened, but without questions, surprisingly, he pulled out his wand and summoned a large, wide ledger out of the air, magically opened it up and magically had the pages go by to the right page and lowered it down with his wand to the desk, for the five girls to look at it.

With the open ledger in front of them, Hermione, Pansy, Daphne, Astoria and Millicent, leaned forward and peered at the content of the pages.

Hermione's eyes traveled all the way down the list of names.

Abraxas Malfoy.

Julia McNair.

And multiple other names.

Finally, Hermione's eyes found the "R" section.

And she found the name, "Tom Marvolo Riddle." Her eyes traveled from Tom's name, to the description of the wand that he purchased.

And as soon as she did, her blood froze.

A wand with wood that was redwood. The core? A dragon's heartstrings. But not just any dragon heartstrings.

The heartstrings of a dragon that was called the 'Obsidian Flame's Dragon.' The same exact type as Hermione's own wand. And that type of dragon? Had given only two heartstrings.

Hermione backed away from the ledger, feeling like everything was about to crumple onto her, her heart in her throat as she gasped, letting out a weak, panicked groan, and she barely heard her friends' cries of her name.

This? This was what betrayal felt like. Of this, Hermione was sure.

This was exactly what betrayal felt like.

Hermione backed up into the door of the store, and lowered herself, her hands on her knees as she felt herself hyperventilating again, tears in her eyes again.

Tom…he was….

This was it. This was the proof.

Tom really was….

Tom was Voldemort.

Tom Marvolo Riddle was actually Lord Voldemort.

Lord Voldemort was Tom Marvolo Riddle.

How had Hermione been so stupid not to realize it before?!

Hermione took several deep breaths as her friends crowded around her, making sure she wasn't about to faint or something.

Hermione took several deep breaths.

1.

Breathe.

2.

Breathe.

3.

Breathe.

4.

Breathe.

5.

Breathe.

Hermione's breaths slowed and were now under control. She breathed out more smoothly and stood up fully.

She let out several deep breaths and faced her friends. "I'm okay now," she said, and even as she said it, she knew it was a lie.

Again, she wasn't sure she'd ever be okay again.

Tom was Voldemort.

She had proof now.

In 1938, a young boy named Tom Riddle had gone to Hogwarts. He was an orphan and he had lived in a time, when he knew that from what he had seen, at least, that muggles were bigoted, murderous beings.

And he had met his love, years later, his mate. And she had been murdered by her parents, a couple of bigoted Christian muggles.

And that was the breaking point, most likely.

The final decision made for young Tom Riddle, who was left with a question of whether or not muggles deserved any pity.

And then he had gone to the Chamber of Secrets and had begun his killing, using his parseltongue ability to control Shagshic. Because he was an heir of Slytherin.

Hermione's eyes widened as she realized what that meant.

If both she and Tom were heirs of Slytherin? That meant that they had to be cousins. Had to be.

Hermione actually almost laughed at how fucked up that was.

Her cousin was Voldemort, for fuck's sake!

Hermione looked past her friends at Ollivander.

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander," Hermione said, nodding to him, "We appreciate the help. We need to get going now."

Ollivander said nothing, just nodded, as the girls began to leave.

Before the last of the five friends, Pansy, exited the shop, she turned back to Ollivander and said dangerously, "If I were you, I wouldn't repeat this to anyone, Ollivander."

Ollivander, despite the obvious threat, didn't appear scared or offended, he just nodded again.

"Understood, Ms. Parkinson. Good day," he said.

And Pansy left.

When the group were making their way back to Hogsmeade, Astoria looked at Pansy and asked, "Seriously, Pansy? Threatening him?"

"What?" Pansy asked, shaking her head, "I did what I had to."

Hermione chuckled at Astoria and Pansy's further bantering.

Tom was Voldemort.

It was like her mind still couldn't accept that, and so it needed to keep repeating it, as if in disbelief.

Because really?

It hit Hermione then, that that was why Lucius Malfoy had given her Tom's diary.

Voldemort must have ordered him to do it.

But why?

Hermione had had the diary on her for years now. And as far as she could tell? It had no negative effects.

The only negative thing was that she had ended up trusting Voldemort-

And there, Hermione realized, was bad enough. That had been Voldemort's plan all along. It must have been

To gain her trust.

Hermione again tried not to laugh at the morbid realization.

Voldemort-Tom, after his second encounter with Hermione, in Hermione's first year? When Hermione had killed Quirrell and had defeated Voldemort, Tom must have realized that he'd need to get a better read on Hermione. To either figure out how to properly kill Hermione or get her on his side, or both.

That was why Tom had ordered Lucius to give Hermione the diary. So that Tom could convince Hermione into trusting him.

And clearly, Tom hadn't alerted Lucius to this plan. Which was why Lucius had looked so surprised whenever he had seen Hermione alive and well.

Tom had neglected to mention that getting Hermione to trust him, was his plan.

"So, what now?" Daphne asked, looking at Hermione.

Hermione sighed, seeing Hogsmeade up ahead, "I don't know."

On impulse, her hand going to her robes and feeling the diary under her robes.

She nodded. She knew that she couldn't face Tom now. Not now. Hell, even if she had all the preparation in the world, she wasn't sure she'd be ready to face Tom.

Because he wasn't just Voldemort anymore, was he?

No, now she had known him as something else. Someone who she had come to see as her friend, her brother, even.

Facing Tom, wouldn't be like her facing off with him when he had attached himself to Quirrell's head.

This would be personal. Very, very personal.

But she knew she couldn't face him now. There wasn't enough time, unless she decided to use the time turner.

They had to get to class, then go to see the meeting at the Great Hall to see the Triwizard champions selected.

"I'm going to have to face Tom eventually," she said absentmindedly.

"We're going to have to face Tom eventually, you mean," Daphne corrected.

Hermione paused, looking at Daphne and the rest of her friends.

"You really would be willing to face him?" She asked, "Literally Voldemort?"

"Hermione Granger," Pansy said, "You question if you can trust us again, and I just might hex you into next year."

And despite all the stress, despite all the pain and despite all the madness happening?

Hermione burst out laughing.

She loved her friends.

How had she gotten so lucky?

The five of them arrived back at Hogwarts, and all of them feeling tense and bearing far too deep a secret with them, they forced neutral expressions on themselves in class, then went to the Great Hall to witness the goblet of fire select its choices, or however it worked.

Hermione, all the while, pressed her hand to her robes, making sure Tom's diary hadn't fallen out or anything.

Hermione sat at her table with the other Slytherins, Daphne and Pansy flanking her and Astoria and Millicent sitting across from them.

Every now and then, Hermione would raise her head and look over at the Ravenclaw table, seeing Fleur seated there next to that small girl she had seen before with her. Fleur's sister, Gabrielle.

Fleur glanced over at Hermione. She didn't wave, but she did give Hermione that far too knowing smile.

Hermione looked away, not wanting to think about the whole mate thing, on top of everything else.

Dumbledore walked up to the front of the hall and called out, "It is time we see the chosen Triwizard tournament champions!"

This got an excited cheer from mostly everybody.

The goblet's blue fire changed its tint, and something came firing out of its depths. A small, burnt piece of paper.

Dumbledore caught the piece of paper, looked at it and called out, "From the school of Durmstrang, Viktor Krum!"

There was a roar of cheers from the Durmstrang students and Hermione glanced at where Viktor was, watching him do a slight fist pump as he came over to Dumbledore, shook his hand and went to wait at the end of the hall.

The goblet roared to further life again, and a new piece of paper flew out. Dumbledore caught it and read out loud, "From the school of Beauxbaton, Fleur Delacour!"

Hermione paused, her eyes growing wide. What?

Hermione raised her head again and watched as Fleur smiled, looking delighted and saw Fleur look her mate's way, clearly hoping Hermione noticed and was proud of her.

But Hermione watched numbly as Fleur went over to Dumbledore and shook his hand, smiling wide the whole time, but Hermione knew that smile wasn't for Dumbledore, and then Fleur went to wait in the edge of the hall, with Viktor.

Hermione's breath was shallow now.

She felt Daphne, Astoria, Millicent and Pansy's eyes on her, realizing what had happened.

"Oh, Merlin," Astoria said, "Mione, you okay?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Millicent reasoned, "She wouldn't have been picked for the Triwizard tournament if she wouldn't have been able to handle the tasks."

Millicent's reassurances didn't help Hermione.

Now, on top of everything else, Hermione's mate was going to be in danger from the tasks of the Triwizard tournament.

The next slip of paper must have been vomited out of the goblet of fire, because Dumbledore yelled, "From Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory!"

Almost everyone in the hall, especially the Hufflepuff table, cheered happily as Cedric got up to go join his fellow champions.

Hermione had been dealt a lot of emotional blows lately.

So, in her defense, she might not have been too capable of paying attention, as the Great Hall suddenly went silent, aside from a few mumbles in the Great Hall of, "what the bloody hell?"

It was only after hearing the goblet of fire spurt something else out, this time twice in succession, and hearing Dumbledore call out two more names, that Hermione's attention was caught.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore cried out, reading the two new pieces of paper that had been thrown out of the goblet of fire, "And Hermione Granger!"

As it turned out, when the world fell down upon someone, sometimes it just kept falling down upon that person.