Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or make a profit from anything written here.
He'd outwitted her. How? Something in Hermione's mind began to tick like a bomb ready to explode. Wormtail, the little cheat who she had met in her third year, had found a way to outsmart her. Of course, he did have the help from Voldemort, but still, Wormtail? When had he gained knowledge? They must have been trying it out on her to see if it worked. How could she have fallen for something so stupid? She should have been more alert and thought of all the possibilities.
"Do not become paranoid Miss Granger. Your mind will only end up fighting against itself," Voldemort said smoothly. As much as Hermione wanted to disagree with him or fight that thought, he was right. Well, at least she could still act defiant even if he was right.
"I don't believe," Hermione said cautiously, "that you have any right to give me information about my health. It's just not as influential after you used the cruciatus curse against me."
"I do not plan on you being killed at the moment or having you kill yourself for that matter. Wormtail will take you to your living quarters."
Voldemort disappeared holding her wand. Hermione had not realized when he had taken it, but it was probably stolen from her when she was shrieking on the floor in pain. She tried to spend the rest of the next four minutes trying not to conjure up a mental image of what she had looked like. She hated being so defenseless against someone like Voldemort.
Wormtail had yet to wake up from when she had knocked him out, but at least he did not look like Voldemort anymore. Or, he could just be playing it dead while she was mad at him. She would wait though. It seemed like there was no manual way out of the dungeons. Magic was needed, or maybe there was some secret passage to a staircase. She probably would not find it without Wormtail's help.
"You might as well get up. I'm not going anywhere, and even though you're a filthy flea-bitten lying piece of filth, you are still my only way out."
Hermione watched Wormtail's face as a tears began to fall from his closed eyes. A pang of guilt hit her chest. Even though she despised Wormtail for all of his wrongdoings, she still hated to make people cry.
"I still see them you know," Wormtail sobbed as he opened his eyes. Hermione stared at him, wondering what was going on.
"Lily and James, bless them, they're souls have been haunting me for all of these years. I can't get rid of them. I don't know if I regret what I did more than I cherish it. If I went back in time, I don't know what decision I would make. Would I betray them again? Or would I refuse to become their secret keeper?"
Hermione just kept on staring at him. Was he trying to befriend her? If so, he really was not doing it very well. Hermione still despised him. She needed to stop his babbling before she ended up knocking him out again.
"Once something is done, there is no turning back on it," Hermione stated.
Wormtail looked up at her.
"That's not true for you. You reordered time. You changed it."
Hermione scowled at him. She didn't need to be reminded about the past several days again, but a question did linger. If she could go back, knowing what she knew now, what decision would she have made? Was her family more important than an entire school worth of kids? Hermione did not want to think about it.
"Just take me to where I'll be staying. I don't need to think about all of this." Hermione pushed the words out of her body before she knelt down beside Wormtail and started whining with him. She would not resort to that level.
Wormtail sniffed a bit but finally stood up after a few seconds. He averted his eyes from her and started walking towards the closest cell. Once there, he tapped a few stones, and a stairwell appeared. He paused for a second before turning to face her.
"Miss, I need you to let me put on these on you," he said as he thrust some old metal chains. "I know I have no wand with me, and you could easily go past me and try to escape, but believe me, you would be safer in this castle with them on. If you started running away, Miss, you'd end up putting yourself in more harm's way."
He realized she was his superior, that was good, but it seemed like no matter what, there was no chance for escape at the moment. If she met up with a Death Eater on her way through the castle, well, there could be much more ways of putting on restraints that were more painful.
Much against her character, she let Wormtail tie her hands together behind her back. He blindfolded her and led her through what seemed like numerous passage ways until finally, Wormtail opened a door and pushed inside before quickly shutting the door and running away. Now she was stuck in some unknown place with her hands tied behind her back, waiting for someone, anyone really, to untie her.
Hermione fell into a dreamless sleep while she was waiting.
When she woke up, her restraints had been removed, and her blindfold had been taken off. She was located in a bedroom, a relief after spending time in the dungeons, which was around the size of one of the dormitory rooms at Hogwarts. The room was made of large grey stones, and the bed was a plain white color with wooden bedposts. Two wooden doors led out of the room. One to the outside, and the other, she presumed, to a washroom.
There were no windows. A lamp hung from the walls, but that was the only light source that she had. It was almost as bad as the dungeons.
No, she corrected herself, the dungeons were better. Ever since opening her eyes, she felt eerie. If she was supposed to be a prisoner, why wasn't she in the dungeons? This treatment was too unexpected.
"Are you enjoying your new accommodations Miss Granger?" A voice said from a corner. Hermione recognized it as Voldemort, but refused to look towards him.
"I told you that we did not want you dead, and the dungeons are a place meant for those about to die. Now, if we could please get on with my plans, I want you to tell me the first version of history, the one where I defeated Harry Potter and reigned supreme over Hogwarts."
Hermione thought for a second.
"I want a window."
Voldemort seemed to consider this for a moment but finally nodded and went towards a wall. He pulled out his wand, whispering some words, and a window appeared. He had fulfilled his part of the deal, so she, hesitantly, began telling him the story of his siege of Hogwarts. Once finished, he left the room, angry but satisfied.
Hermione ran towards the window and screamed with anger. The view was not true to what she knew in life. Everything was wrong. Everything was perfect. Outside the window there were rolling hills of grass and cows slowly moving along. Voldemort had made a window out of nothing and put up a matching view. He had fooled her again.
Author's note: Don't you just hate it when a story gets really good and then, the author suddenly disappears for lets say a couple of months, almost a year. I'm really sorry. I feel all (or most) of the guilt, but I did finally update! I'll try to be better and write another in the next couple of days. Thank you Darkprince31, WindSymphony, Fizznsoot, LNluvsHostile17, Jess, POASO, Silver Tears 11, and Squiggles.Candi for reviewing. Ya'll really make life worthwhile!