Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books and/or movies is not mine.

A/N: Woot! Another chapter! I can't believe that this is almost at twenty chapters! I didn't think I'd ever get this far -- seriously. It's amazing, really. I guess this story is starting to move forward a bit -- I think. I'm not too sure really. I'm trying to move things along, but I'm having a hard time at doing it. I keep throwing in bits and pieces of the story that are either non-related, or just unneeded. Hm. I think I need to work on my story-telling. Anywho, I'll stop rambling and move on with the story. -- Min.

Thanks Duos Gurl1, Evil Cat Hater, WhiteTwitch, Soelle, The Insane Imortal Dragon, Reanne1102, ourlittlesecret7, Parvatti, LunaLovegoss, ViviBlack, and KeLpIeenoch for the wonderful reviews!

Seasons Change

By: xScenex

a.k.a. Min

Chapter 19

Previously:

She heard a snort coming from his direction, "Actually, I'm only saying it to keep us both sane." He paused, then added, "And it's the truth. So don't worry too much about that. We have more important matters to deal with."

"Like what? Besides the fact that we're stuck here, that is."

A moment of silence before Severus whispered, "Like the fact that we're not alone anymore."

Hermione stiffened, her eyes darting to every corner of the small cell, but as it was almost completely dark, she couldn't see much further than two feet.

In fear, she scooted towards the only other person she could see and would find some comfort in. Severus was also sitting stiffly, and when Hermione bumped into him, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

The girl wasn't sure what was going on, but it was obvious that Severus knew. She looked up at him to see him staring at the far back corner on their left, and Hermione decided to follow his gaze to catch what she had missed during her earlier inspection. She nearly screamed when she realized that he was right -- they weren't alone anymore.

Two red eyes stared out at them, cold and piercing. Those two eyes had haunted Hermione ever since their first encounter with each other…

"Voldemort…" she whispered, breaking the cold silence that had descended upon them.

"My, my," a cold voice reverberated against the stone, causing both of the others occupants to shudder in fear. "So bold -- so brave and fearless. A mudblood dares to speak my name so casually?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed -- she might be scared, but she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.

"Actually, no. If I were doing as you stated, I would call you Tom," she spat venomously, her hands shaking with unwanted adrenaline.

Voldemort hissed angrily, "How dare you say that name!" He stepped forward menacingly, causing the two students to shuffle back. "How is it that you, a mudblood, would know information that less than a few have the privilege of knowing?"

Hermione didn't say anything, and instead, she just stood up. She knew that, being wandless, she stood no chance against an angered Voldemort. She felt her heart beating heavily against her ribcage, and the ragged breath of Severus behind her. She took a deep, shaky breath and replied, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

A sneer. She knew that the expression on the Dark Lord's face was one of scorn. "Indeed. You are something. No wonder you've managed to recruit my would-be followers. But too brash in my opinion."

Hermione didn't say anything. She felt a hand rest on her upper left arm, slightly pulling her back from the approaching wizard. Severus had stood up along with her somewhere along the small confrontation. The girl only moved slightly though, even though the boy was beginning to get anxious, tugging on her robe now.

The Dark Lord must have seen the exchange somehow in the dark, and said in a dangerously amused voice, "And Snape. It was such a nice surprise to find that you had tagged along with your mudblood girlfriend."

The Slytherin stayed quiet, not responding to the cold voice that demanded him to reply. The silence only fueled the mans anger. The malice that he held nearly rolled off of him in waves, enveloping the two prisoners. Hermione felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as a cold beads of sweat began to form against her clammy skin. Things weren't looking up for them.

"Answer me," Voldemort hissed, dangerously close.

Hermione knew that Severus was unsure of what to do. It was obvious by the shifting of his weight from foot to foot. The girl bit her bottom lip, "He doesn't have to answer to the likes of you."

Cold, anger fueled laughter rang in her ears. If possible, the cell they stood in only seemed to become darker and more ominous.

"Typical mudblood. I should have expected no less from you. Even so -- there is something about you that intrigues me…" The Gryffindor suppressed a shudder and the Dark Lord continued, "Now what is it that catches my attention so much? You don't seem like any ordinary witch; yet I feel there is something more. Maybe we should take a look into your mind and see?"

Slowly, the man drew out his wand and pointed it towards the witch who stood mere feet away. "Legilimens!"

The girl tried feebly to throw up shields to block her mind from the frontal attack, but Voldemort was more skilled in the spell then she was. She felt the spell ripping through her mind, bringing forward memories she wished would have stayed in the back of her thoughts.

She saw a replay of when she had first received her Hogwarts letter, thinking it had been some type of joke. A brief remembrance of the troll in the girls bathroom incident flashed by before the smiling faces of Ron and Harry evaded her mind.

Next was a glimpse of herself standing with her parents at a museum in Rome when she was a child, but that was soon enveloped by various snapshot memories of when she had been at the Department of Mysteries and during the Triwizard Tournament. More and more of her thoughts were ripped forward from her mind. Tears began to leak from the corner of her eyes as she stood rigid and helpless.

It must have only been mere seconds that it had happened, but it felt like an eternity to her. Soon, the second presence in her head disappeared and she felt as if something had been lost to her. Feeling weak and disoriented, the girl attempted to keep her composure.

"Interesting," Voldemort hissed after a moment, amusement and slight confusion evident in his voice. "I never would have expected to find a time traveler in my hands."

Hermione slumped down onto the stone floor, a small sob escaping from her lips. She felt so drained after the legilimency. She didn't want to continue on with the 'meeting'. She wanted to go home -- home to Ron and Harry. After having thrust all of her previous life memories away and having them literally forced upon her made her feel shattered.

"Interesting," he repeated, a sneer once against evident against his face. "And to think that I nearly thought you to be a normal mudblood. But no -- you're more than just that. You can come of great use to me." Laughing callously, he moved forward and gripped the girl by her arms, literally pulling her from the floor. "You will come with me. I believe it is time to hear some of the facts, girl."

"NO! Let her go!

Hermione turned to look at where she assumed Severus was. Her vision was blurry, which made her nearly blind in the dark. "No," she whispered, "Severus, no. Please -- just don't --"

"Crucio." Voldemort said lazily and a split second later, the screams of agony pierced through the air.

"SEVERUS!" Hermione yelled and struggled to get out of the Dark Lord's grip, large tears falling down her cheeks. "SEVERUS!"

Voldemort smirked and ended the curse. "Do not tell me what to do. I would have thought that being a Slytherin would have taught you that, Snape."

Smiling cruelly, he tightened his grip on the girl. He whispered another incantation and ropes wound themselves around Severus's body. Voldemort flicked his wand and the boy was roughly pulled upwards. The wizard moved forwards and grabbed Severus with his other hand before aparating them out of the cell.

The large chamber was practically empty besides the small group of black clad figures that stood in a semi circle a few yards away from a single dais that lay forbiddingly in the center of the room. A small throne sat upon it, empty and cold.

The room was dimly lit by hundreds of candles that floated precariously high above, close to the ceiling. The candlelight cast long shadows of the occupants across the stone walls.

Hushed whispering echoed against the high ceiling. No one was aware of why they had been summoned. All they knew was that their Lord had assembled all of his followers into the meeting room, where things were discussed and people were crucio-ed.

At that moment, the door to the right opened and in walked the tall, menacing figure of Voldemort, while behind him trailed two Death Eaters holding two figures captive and silence prevailed.

A few of the other Death Eaters in the crowd craned their necks to get a good look at the prisoners, but didn't get much more than a glimpse of the dark brown hair as they walked by.

After Voldemort had settled down in his chair, he beckoned for the two followers to bring up their hostages. They dragged the people forward and dropped them heavily on the dais before the Dark Lord's feet.

Sneering down at the crumpled figures, the wizard spoke an incantation, "Imperio." The figure in front of him stiffened slightly but otherwise, didn't move. Voldemort's sneer widened as he stared down at the figures at his feet. "Now that I know you will tell me the truth, you will answer my questions, Granger."

"Yes," a detached, feminine voice dimly echoed about the room. It was devoid of any emotion, or even life.

Whispering began to snake its way around the gathered crowd, but with a look from the man up on the dais, they all silenced. They all knew better than to disobey.

Idly twirling his wand between his fingers, the evil wizard stared down at the girl, thinking. "As much as I'd like to know, I think we shall get to the most important matters first. You are from twenty years in the future, am I correct?"

"Yes."

Smiling coldy, Voldemort asked, "And how is my ruling, then?"

"You do not rule anything," the girl replied emotionlessly. "You met your downfall in 1981 when your own killing curse was sent back at you. You returned fifteen years later, but hadn't came fully back into power. You were hiding."

Silence was thick as the words sunk in. "My own killing curse? How is that possible?" Hissed Voldemort angrily.

"I don't know."

The Dark Lord's eyes flashed dangerously, "You don't know?"

"No."

"Crucio!"

The crumpled girl screamed in agony as he let go of the Imperius curse to unleash his anger upon her. She trembled as the curse ran through her veins, invisibly searing her blood and flesh. After half a minute, the curse was lifted.

She didn't lift her head to stare at her tormenter. Instead she just stared down at her hands, sobbing as the pain continued to linger in her limbs.

Hermione wasn't one to beg for mercy -- not to the likes of Voldemort. Even though she had no more hope, she wouldn't allow herself to die begging at the hem of the filths robes. Closing her eyes tightly, more tears streaming down her face, she wished that she could just go home -- back to her time where she could live with her family and friends.

"Crucio!"

Once again, the curse wrapped itself around her and she screamed. Every previous thought was ripped from her mind as pain continuously assaulted her mind. She saw darkness closing in from the corners of her eyes and she knew that she would black out soon. She didn't know how much longer the curse lasted, but eventually, the pain began to recede and she felt herself falling forward onto the dais. Oddly enough, the last thing that ran through her mind before she surrendered herself to unconsciousness was, I want to see Remus… I.. I need him.

Remus paced back and forth in the Gryffindor common room, irritation evident on his face. He kicked at the side of the fireplace in anger, causing soot to fly upwards in a dark cloud. The werewolf was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the pain in his foot.

He was confused and angry still. He didn't know what to do. Hermione was out there, somewhere, kidnapped. Merlin only knew what was going on. She might even be dead!

Cursing silently to himself, Remus finally allowed himself to slump down into one of the many overstuffed chairs littering the room.

"What am I going to do?" He asked himself. He knew he couldn't do anything -- he was stuck in Hogwarts, unable to do anything about the girl that he knew deep down inside, he cared about more than just the average friend. More than anything, at the moment, he was scared for Hermione's safety. Remus had always hated the unknown. He pulled at his hair in frustration. "What am I going to do!"

Suddenly, without warning, he felt a dull pain encase his body. It wasn't the kind to cause him to cry out. It was more like a small ache -- but he knew then, that something was wrong. Call it werewolf instincts.

His head snapped up. His heartbeat quickened as he sat still, feeling the pain gradually disappear. But that didn't make him feel any better -- he just knew something was happening to Hermione.

He shivered and felt cold sweat trickling down his neck. He had to find a way to Hermione. He got up, walking towards the portrait hole but froze once more as the pain began to come back. This time, it felt more… present then the previous one.

He didn't know what was going on. He'd never experienced pain like that before. He felt his fingers twitching, his heartbeat quickening to a pace he thought to be humanly impossible. Beads of perspiration formed against his forehead. He began to feel lightheaded.

"W-What's going on?" He choked out in what he was surprised to find was a inhuman growl.

His chest began to ache. The boy clawed at his shirt as he fell to his knee's, desperately trying to stop the throbbing that was now constant. He screamed in frustration, and that's when he felt the desperate plea.

It was her. She needed him.

Remus cried out in desperation, his bangs now matted to his forehead. His eyes were closed tightly as he breathed heavily, trying to get himself under control; but it wasn't working.

It was as if the animal inside of him were trying to take control. It wasn't even close to the time that he transformed; yet the animal was alive within him.

"Hermione," he sobbed, "Hermione." He wanted so much to help her. He'd go as far as to die for her. "HERMIONE!"

His eyes snapped open. They were no longer the twinkling blue orbs. Now they were dark, golden amber spheres outlining black, dilated slits. The air around him began to pulse, becoming hot and entrancing.

The air was thick with magic, nearly suffocating the werewolf as he lay there, tearing at his shirt while trying to breath in the much needed air around him, but only receiving the stifling energy that sparked around him.

He was in pain.

But it was a welcoming pain -- he felt as if he needed the pain; as if it were, in itself, him.

Suddenly, the pulsing air shone bright with a white, searing hot light. The white was quickly followed by black, but instead of disappearing, the black energy crackled loudly before it exploded with a loud boom.

Windows shattered and furniture was thrown across the room from the explosion. The whole tower shook as the energy unleashed itself, fleeing into the dark sky outside of the castle.

Silence descended.

Through the broken glass and disheveled chairs and tables, Remus could be seen through the rubble.

His chest rose and fell slowly, almost agonizingly. His face was scrunched up in pain, and his shirt stuck to him from sweat.

Moments later, the portrait hole opened, and that's how the professor's found him.

Close to death.

A/N: Alright. I know -- Bad me. I left it at a cliffy. But I felt as if this was the best place to leave it (for me anyways). Please don't kill me! I will try to update as soon as I can, and truthfully, I'm nearly jumping up and down because I want to update. I'm finally getting this story somewhere.

Anywho. Hope you liked this as much as I did. Now -- if some of the dialog seems confusing, I'm sorry. Just tell me what you didn't get and I'll try to explain it the best I can without giving much away.

And I do want to thank Evil Cat Hater because she inspired me with this part of the story. She looked up some stuff for me, and I really do appreciate that. It helped me with this part of the story. So this chapter is dedicated to you!

Well, I guess that's all for now. Keep a look out for the next chapter -- it should be out in a few days. Take care! -- Min.