Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoats Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: This is written for Serpent in Red as part of the 2013 Tomione Forum Spring Gift Fic Exchange. This story has not been beta'd, so beware the comma splices and the multiple grammar errors, I know are hiding in there.
For Serpent in Red-There are no forked tongues or scaly Voldemort's in this story, dear. (Shivers at the thought…)
Harry stood utterly perplexed with what was happening in front of him. Well really he had no choice in the matter considering he was stuck under some sort of petrifying spell. He was not the only one. The whole courtyard was under the same spell. Well, except one.
Harry did not understand what was going on. All the horcruxes were destroyed. Neville had just killed Nagini, ensuring that when Voldemort died this time he would stay dead. But the strangest thing happened when Nagini had died. He had expected Voldemort to rant and rave, but he did not do either.
He actually looked relieved. This had made Harry nervous. This is not how Voldemort would have typically behaved. Something was not right. There was no way Voldemort was relieved his snake, his last horcrux, was dead. But Voldemort seemingly looked as though a huge weight had been lifted off of him.
When the last horcrux was destroyed Voldemort looked over into the Great Hall seemingly looking for something. When he spotted Hermione he smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile either. He looked at Hermione's slacked jawed expression and said, "Now would be a great time, dear."
Everyone turned to look at Hermione to see what Voldemort was going on about.
Hermione finally stopped gaping and looked at Voldemort as if he had finally, completely gone bonkers. Well more bonkers than he already was, because of course neither Hermione, nor anyone else standing there, knew what Voldemort was talking about. This was the brief pause that Voldemort and his invisible accomplice was hoping for, to stun everyone momentarily by doing something completely un-Voldemortish. What they didn't know was that this was the phrase the invisible person had told Voldemort to say when they were ready to go forth with the rest of their plan.
Harry did not have time to ponder on what Voldemort was going on about now, he didn't even have time to look away from Hermione, because a huge burst of red light encompassed the whole grounds, the Great Hall, and Harry did not know where else because he was literally frozen on the spot. It was like being petrified or maybe time stood still, but no, that could not be right, because Harry was still aware of everything going on around him, he could still hear, and he could still move his eyes from side to side. He could even see and smell the smoke still coming from what he assumed was what was left of the sorting hat. He could still practically see everyone, Voldemort included, as he was frozen as well.
Harry panicked.
He did not know what was happening. One minute the whole war was almost over and now some unknown variable could ruin everything. Harry was not stupid. He knew this had to be some plan of Voldemort's to finish him off for good. He was just too big of a coward to finish him off properly. He assumed Voldemort did not want to take any more chances after his second time surviving the killing curse.
That of course was what was terrifying Harry, because he knew without a doubt, that this time he would not survive. He wasn't so much scared of dying himself; he already had faced death once today, with every intention of dying. What scared Harry most of all was that all his friends, his pseudo family, his former teachers, and too many brave people that he couldn't even name right now, would die, because he wasn't able to stop Voldemort. Worst of all, was Hermione and Ron. They had stuck by him from the beginning and now they would probably die as well. He could not stand the thought of losing them.
It could have only been a few seconds when the next thing he knew, Voldemort was able to move again.
"About time, I was beginning to think you were going to leave me like that." Voldemort was busy shaking his limbs out when he heard another voice, "Oh hush, it took me a second to recover from using that much magic. You could not have been frozen any more than a few seconds. You always have to act so dramatic." Voldemort rolled his eyes at the voice. "You know what you have to do next, get on with it; I am ready to go home. I completely forgot what a drama queen you were on this night. Seriously, did you have to scream like a moron when the bitch died?" Voldemort looked at where the voice was coming from and smirked.
"Do I detect jealousy my dear? You know how loyal Bellatrix was; I had to have some sort of reaction. You know you are the only witch for me, just look what all I have given up for you." The invisible person snorted as Voldemort looked around the Great Hall, taking in all the destruction.
Most of his followers were dead. Good riddance, he did not think he could tolerate another day around the sniveling fools. His eyes narrowed when he saw the frozen Malfoy family huddled together in a corner in the Great Hall. He waited till he saw absolute terror pass through their eyes and with one last satisfied glare at the self-serving cowards; he turned to where he knew his accomplice was standing.
"Oh yes you have given up soooooo much. Let's not forget that you were fixing to lose dearest." The voice said in a mockingly sweet voice.
"That I did for you, you know very well I could have won if I truly wanted to!" Voldemort said this with a slightly pouty defensive tone. "Let's get this over with."
"Finally, I never thought you would shut up."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes towards the voice, then turned around, and pointed his wand at the frozen form of Hermione.
When he lifted the Elder wand, he looked at it for a moment and then stuffed it quickly in his robes. He was not going to risk the Elder wand with this spell he was fixing to do. It was too important. Plus he knew the wand was loyal to Potter.
Why was it always Potter?
Shaking himself out of his thoughts. He then took out his yew wand, again pointing his wand at the wide eyed Hermione. He was chanting in some strange foreign language Harry had never heard before. Harry was trying as hard as he could to get out of the spell he was trapped under, but he couldn't move at all. He kept his eyes on Hermione and he could see the terror flash through her eyes. She averted her eyes quickly to Harry and she disappeared.
Hermione was gone. There was nothing left. There were no clothes.
Nothing, she just disappeared into thin air.
Voldemort stared at the spot Hermione had been at for a moment before he moved towards Harry and took in his distressed features with glee, "Take this as a warning Potter. Do not come looking for me, do not even think about it. I will leave you be. Live your life and I will live mine. But know this, if you even think of coming for me, I will torture and kill your pretty little friend." The voice snorted again. Which made Voldemort throw another glare over his shoulder, Voldemort turned back to give Harry one more menacing look and started walking away.
Harry was panicking.
He was wondering what Voldemort had done to Hermione. He knew what a cruel bastard he could be. All he could do was imagine Voldemort doing horrible things to her. Tears began to fall down his face.
Then the invisible person's voice was speaking right next to him. "Hermione will be okay Harry. Just don't come looking for her or Voldemort. Just know this was the only way I could keep you alive. I know you don't know who I am, just know I love you Harry and everything will be okay now. Live your life. Be happy. Please." The voice sounded very upset and emotional and just when the voice stopped talking Harry felt a small kiss on his cheek and a wetness that was not his own tears.
He didn't have time to ponder about the voice or what it said to him, because as soon as he was kissed on the cheek, everything went black.
If Harry would have been aware of his surroundings he would have noticed that Voldemort had stopped walking not too far from where he had been standing. He would have seen the person who had talked to him take the invisibility spell off herself, turn to stare at everyone that had been knocked out longingly, and brush the tears off her face.
She walked up to Voldemort and took the strong glamour spell off of him and immediately ran into his arms. "Why are you crying? I didn't rough Potter up that bad, and they will all wake up in a few hours." He questioned her puzzlingly. "I did everything the way you remembered it happening, didn't I?"
Hermione looked up at his face from her place in his arms.
She sighed. He still didn't understand emotions, such as crying.
Even after more than fifty years together, he still was basically the cold-hearted bastard she had met all those years ago. Oh, he was definitely a lot softer around the edges, especially where she was concerned, but he was basically the same. Even his looks were untouched.
Hermione knew that if they were going to stay together, they were going to have to follow what little bit of Tom's past that she had learned from Harry's lessons with Dumbledore. She knew she had to come up with something, anything-so he wouldn't mutilate his soul any more than he already had. So she came up with a plan to steal the Philosopher's Stone. It was relatively easy to steal. The only problem Hermione had was duplicating the stone from a small piece she had shaved off to leave in the original stones place. She knew she had to leave enough for the Flamel's to use until the stone was destroyed in her first year of Hogwarts. After ensuring that part in the timeline, Tom was happy with Hermione's solution to being immortal. He was pleased when he finally convinced her to take the elixir as well.
While she gazed at him she remembered all things they did and sacrificed just so they could be together. Just so they could send Hermione back in time, just at this point in time. Hermione honestly didn't regret any of it, well except losing Harry and Ron. But she truly loved the bastard. And he cared for her in his own way. When she realized she had been staring at him for a moment and just when a look of concern crossed his face, she raised herself on her tiptoes to give him a chaste kiss on his lips and then broke away from the kiss to answer his question.
"Yes you did, let's just go home. I can't stand to be here any longer."
Voldemort grabbed Hermione around her waist and pulled her very tightly against him. Almost as if he was afraid he was going to lose her in the short apparition trip. And in a way he did feel that way. He was insanely possessive of her. After all she was his greatest treasure. He would never let her go.
For a moment he thought back to some fifty years in the past, where his younger self was no doubt just meeting his match. He grinned. His younger self won't know what hit him.
Literally.
"Oh and Tom, when we get home we are going to discuss the fact that I now know why I was thrust into the past so forcefully, and ended up with multiple bruises. You put too much magic into that spell." Hermione looked up at Voldemort, who was giving her a completely innocent look.
"I just wanted to make sure you made it back to my younger self, or all of this would have been for nothing." He said it innocently, just like he truly meant the words coming from his mouth.
"Sure you did. Are you not positive that I didn't make you a little mad before you sent my younger self off and decided to take it out on her?" He didn't respond because he knew she would be angry and he would never get her to shut up.
He was hoping to go home and be rewarded for not killing Potter-well not killing Potter for good-surely she wouldn't hold that against him as well would she? Hopefully she didn't see the little Crucio he had cast on Potter in the forest. He looked at her briefly and noticed she was smirking, giving him a knowing look. He didn't give her any more time to think about it, he was ready to go home and really begin their life.
These plans had taken over fifty years before they were complete and it was time to celebrate their success of said plans. With that last thought they both disappeared with a crack.