A/N: Much gratitude to: PapayaCrazy, pottersgirl91, MandaPandaAR, svelte, litprincess, Emi-Bum, tofuubeaver, san01, Silver Tears 11, xxxCheezItxxx, nehimasgift, moonlights desire, hanvu, keeper of the heart, LaNi-GoLDfiSh, Shout, and Lizzy Evans. 57 reviews and it would seem that I'm on a roll here. Racking up more reviews in the first four chapters than some of my other stories did when they were finished. Thanks oodles all. And without further ado... the chapter!

Chapter 5 – A Plan to Work Together

"Right this way to your lessons, Princess," Mary directed as she and Janessa led the way out of the room. Hermione was almost out when she remember her wand was still in her back pocket of her jeans. She rushed over and picked it up, tucking it up her dress sleeve as she ran to catch up with the two girls.

They led her through the halls, down a set of stairs to the ground floor, and to a very sunny room. In that room sat a chair with a violin upon it, and right next to it was a wooden grand piano.

"Lord Johnalin should be here in a few minutes, Princess," Janessa said before she and Mary curtsied and left. Hermione knew nothing about playing these things. How in the world would she do this? She didn't have time enough to figure this out though as Lord Johnalin came into the room.

"Take your seat at the piano."

"Yes, sir," Hermione said as she walked over to the bench and sat down upon it.

"Now, play Beethoven's first piano sonata in F minor," Johnalin ordered firmly. Hermione really started to panic now. She knew nothing about this kind of stuff. There was no doubt she was smart, but she had never learned this kind of music, or even to play an instrument for that matter. She made a mental note to find out about Beethoven's life when she got back to her time.

Hermione smiled politely and nodded as she cracked her fingers and shook her arms like she was preparing to play, but really she was trying to get her wand to fall out of her sleeve. It wasn't working, the wand was still up in her sleeve, and Johnalin was still waiting. Again, she cracked her fingers and began shaking her arms.

"Anastasia, must I tell you that it is not becoming of a lady to continually crack her fingers?" Johnalin's voice was impatient and even testy. Hermione gulped as finally her wand slid down into her hand.

"Sorry, sir," she apologized as she hid her hands under the piano and waved her wand. She sat there a moment waiting for the piano to begin playing when Johnalin coughed to show his angered impatience. She laughed half-heartedly and put her fingers on the piano keys as she pushed down her fear.

She pushed one key, and a loud donging sound echoed in the room. Johnalin didn't look too happy about this, but suddenly, much to Hermione's relief, the piano began to play, and she only had to pretend to be the one pushing the keys. Johnalin stood there by the piano, his eyes closed as though concentrating on listening while his hands moved like he was directing an orchestra.

A few of the movements across the keys had caught her off guard, but Johnalin didn't notice her scrambling to keep up with the piano, and so she did fine. When she had finished, she smiled up at him, and he frowned. It had sounded perfect to her, but he seemed displeased.

"You did all right, but you need practice... Lots of it," he sneered. Hermione's jaw dropped, she felt like she was with Snape. Maybe he was one of Snape's ancestors. 'No, he's not greasy enough,' she thought as she stared at him. "I suppose we can move on to the violin."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she got up and moved to the chair where the violin was sitting. She picked it up before sitting and then she placed the violin under her chin while taking the bow in her right hand. She shook her arm, and her wand came sliding down into her hand next to the bow. She acted as though she was going to pull the bow across the strings, but instead, prepared to charm the violin to play by itself just as they piano had done.

"I want you to play Mozart's third violin concerto," Johnalin instructed as he walked over to stand just behind her left shoulder.

Hermione took a deep breath as she laid the bow upon the strings and pulled back, the strings screeching as she did. Hermione grimaced and as she pushed the bow back across the strings, the screech became deeper. This didn't last long though as she whispered a spell, and the violin strings seemed to tune themselves to a beautiful pitch. Soon after, she was pretending to play again.

Johnalin began to circle her chair, and Hermione closed her eyes as she hoped that he wouldn't notice her pretending. She wished that it would end, but it seemed to go on forever to her. Once, she thought she had been done, but it wasn't, it had just been a faint note. She quickly put her bow back to the strings and continued to pretend for a few more minutes before finally coming to an end.

"Again, you need practice," Johnalin said with a disapproving glance at her as she lowered the violin to her side.

"Jerk," Hermione grumbled as he walked over to sit at the piano.

"Now, come pay close attention and watch how this grand instrument is to be played." Hermione rolled her eyes and slouched over to the piano where she stood behind Johnalin glaring down at the keys as he played what he had called Beethoven's Appassionata. Hermione liked the music, but she felt a sort of dislike for it as Johnalin played it, so she let her mind and eyes wonder.

'I wonder if Harry and Ron know I'm gone? Probably not.' She frowned and turned to the window, looking out upon the garden. When she did, she saw Tom sneaking off across the grounds. Where was he going?

"Lucius," gasped Voldemort as Malfoy helped him back into his armchair. "Something's gone wrong... I can feel it."

"What do you mean, my Lord?"

"I feel a great distance from him. It's as though he's no longer at Hogwarts, or...," the Dark Lord explained weakly, pausing to clench his bony jaw as pain shot in his chest. "Find out where he's gone and right this imperfection in the plan. I cannot reenact the actions I've made to do this."

Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny were on their way back from Hogsmeade.

"She wasn't there anywhere, Harry," Ginny sighed. "I'm worried about her."

"She and Ron were supposed to come into the village," Harry said as they drew nearer to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"But Ron was in the village with Luna," Ginny said as she stopped and looked at Harry. Both knew exactly what was happening.

Ron was afraid to tell Hermione the truth, so he had lied, and she had more than likely found that out. They just hoped that they could reach Hermione before she did something too drastic. Hermione wasn't the type to loose her head, but she did really like Ron, and they could only imagine half of what she felt to find out what Ron was doing.

"Let's hurry," Ginny said quickly as she and Harry broke out into a run for the common room. It didn't take them long to get in, but as soon as they did, they saw Lavender come running down the girls' dormitory looking distraught.

"Where's Hermione?"

"I don't know, Harry," Lavender panted. "But the whole dorm's a mess."

"Go get Professor Dumbledore. Hurry!"

"Oh, Harry, I hope she's okay," Ginny breathed as she felt a panic rise in her chest.

"I'm sure she's fine," Harry soothed as he hugged Ginny.

It didn't take long for Dumbledore to get there. He moved swiftly across the common room, Harry and Ginny now hot on his heels.

"Oh, dear," Ginny whispered as she looked around the room. Everything appeared wind-blown. The covers on the beds had been blown off and were piled around the room. Chairs had been toppled, clothes strewn, and books knocked off stands while papers lay scattered on the floor. It was reminiscent of Harry's room during his second year when someone had stolen Tom Riddle's diary from him.

'How ironic,' The-Boy-Who-Lived thought while speaking up to the Headmaster.

"What's happened here, Professor?"

"I'm not certain, Harry," Dumbledore said as he walked over to the middle of the room and picked up a charred book.

"What's that?" Ginny stepped forward and recognized what Dumbledore held in his hands, or at least the remains of it. "That's Hermione's new diary. She showed it to me last weekend when we went into Hogsmeade together."

"This is not Miss Granger's diary, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore sighed as he rubbed the bottom of the back cover. Slowly, the words 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' appeared in dull, gold letters.

Ginny's eyes grew wide, and she backed away. Bad memories flooded her mind as she placed herself close to Harry, the one who had saved her from the horrors of Tom Riddle and his diary before. She only hoped that Hermione wasn't suffering the same.

"Professor!" Dumbledore, Harry, and Ginny turned around to see Lavender and Draco pushing their way into the dorm. "Tell him to get out!" Lavender demanded. "This is the Gryffindor's common room and dormitories. A girls' dorm at that!"

"Get out of my way, Brown! I'm Head Boy, like it or not, and that gives me right to be where I want," Draco hissed as he pushed her aside and walked up to Dumbledore. "I always knew that Granger was filthy," Malfoy grumbled as he looked around the wrecked dorm. "Where is she?"

"Miss Granger? She seems to be missing," Albus answered calmly.

"Of course you'd know all about that, you disgusting little ferret!"

"Shut it, Weaselette," the Head Boy snapped. "Well, wherever she is, she needs to get to the village, it's her turn to patrol."

"For now, Mr. Malfoy, I'm afraid that it is up to you to continue patrol as we cannot find her," the Headmaster directed still full of dignified composure.

"I knew that sharing duties with her would be the worst," Draco smarted as he turned on his heel and left.

"Nasty little snake," Lavender mumbled as he went.

"What are we going to do, Professor?"

"The only thing we can, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore sighed as he looked down at the diary. "Put out a search party for Miss Granger and hope for the best. I think I need to go talk to some of the Ministry members and some of Hogwarts staff." This of course meant that he was going to see the Order of the Phoenix. "Miss Brown, would you go into the village and find Minerva and tell her what's going on? Miss Weasley, please go find Hagrid and inform him as well. Mr. Potter, come with me."

With that, the four went their separate ways, Ginny and Lavender running down the front lawns of Hogwarts, and Dumbledore and Harry heading back to the Headmaster's office.

"Now, Anastasia," Johnalin hissed. "You are dismissed. Go wash up for lunch with your father and the Duchess Rodmilla and the Duke Rodden of Holyhead."

"Fine," Hermione grumbled as she left. She intended to go wash up, but something else was on her mind. She was going to see where Tom was going. She soon found the door outside and ran around the castle to where he had been. He wasn't there any longer though. "TOM!"

She looked around, she had heard a bush rustle, but she saw no one. A smile crossed her face as she saw something though. A piece of rock had just flew out of the nearby rose bush.

"Hello, Tom," Hermione said snootily as she pushed back the branches of the bush and found Tom crouched there, chipping away at the stone wall that guarded the castle.

"Shh! What do you want?" Riddle hissed.

"To know what it is that you think you are doing."

"None of your business."

"How dare you speak to the Princess that way," she laughed evilly. He glared up at her and grimaced before going back to his chipping. "You know, that's going to take ages. You'd be better off sneaking out of the gate at night while no one was watching." Tom stopped and looked up at her in annoyance.

"Well, if you hadn't been a royal pain, then they wouldn't have guards stationed all over the castle at all hours."

"How do you know they are there at all hours?"

"The little military dorks were talking about it... asking who gets what shift when. They seemed to fight about which of them got my shift," Tom informed.

"Oh, and why is that?" Hermione found his tone to be one of gloating with his last sentence, and it bothered her that he could be so arrogant at a time like this.

"Because I get to walk the castle corridors just after dinner until five in the morning," Tom replied.

"And what's so special about that?"

"Well, since everyone heard about your little adventure out into the halls in nothing but a towel, they are hoping to get into the castle to see you do it again," Riddle laughed.

"Oh, shut up you! And get out of there. We'll look like fools if we're caught." Tom realized that this was true and stood up immediately, stepping over the bush that Hermione was holding. "Oh, and this is for laughing at me earlier today," Hermione added as she let go of the bush that he was now straddling.

The branches came back into place with a thwacking sound as it hit Tom. He winced and groaned from somewhere deep in his throat as the thorny branches hit him on the inner thigh. Hermione stood there with a satisfactory smile as she watched him climb the rest of the way over the branch and begin to pull out the thorns.

"You horrid little Mudblood," Tom hissed as he pulled out the last thorn and groaned.

"That will teach you," Hermione gloated with an arrogant air as she turned and went off along the garden path. "And look who's talking about not being of pure blood," she added over her shoulder.

"Stupid little girl," Tom grumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said stupid little girl," Tom repeated for her.

"Oh, yeah, stupid," Hermione huffed. "At least I wasn't trying to chip away at a two foot thick brick wall!" The young Dark Lord glared at her as she raised her eyebrows with a finalization on that note. "And you're supposed to be all high and mighty Lord Voldemort... real ingenious plan there."

"Shut your face," Riddle growled as he advanced on her.

"Or what? You'll curse me into oblivion," Hermione taunted, though as she said this, she realized that he probably would and soon after shut up.

"So, do you have a better idea on how to get out of here?"

"Why should I tell you? You were trying to leave without me anyways," Hermione spat.

"See, you don't have a better idea," Tom said triumphantly.

"I do too, and you'll see that when I'm gone, and you're still here guarding this castle, Mr. Know-It-All," Hermione said in the same tone as Tom's winning attitude diminished. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he stood there looking at her. She smiled cockily and crossed her arms as well, shifting her weight to her right foot as she waited for him to relent. It felt good to her to call someone else a know-it-all.

"Fine," he gave in. "We'll have to work together if we really want to get out of here."

"You aren't lying, are you?" Hermione raised her eyebrows and uncrossed her arms to put her hands on her hips as she began to stare at him in a penetrating way.

"No, I'm not lying," he hissed. "We have a deal."

"Good," Hermione chirped in triumph. "Now, I've got to go get ready for lunch with the King and some other important people while you stand out here and guard me," she laughed before turning and walking away with a bit of bounce in her step.

"Brat," Tom mumbled as he went back to his post below the Princess's bedroom window.

"Professor, what exactly do you think happened here?" Harry was turning Tom's diary over and over in his hand, it's charred cover leaving black soot on his hands.

"I believe, Harry, that Miss Granger somehow either got pulled into Tom's diary where he is holding her hostage, or they, meaning Tom and Miss Granger, have been pulled into an alternate time," Dumbledore explained.

"You mean... Hermione's stuck somewhere in time with Tom Riddle?" Harry was slow to catch the concept, but Dumbledore believed that it was because Harry didn't want to believe that Hermione's situation could be true. He sounded all too shocked and worried to even give in to a fraction of that suggestion.

"Yes, but don't panic. This could put Tom at a disadvantage as well."

"How?"

"He's in a totally different time from his own, he knows little of his surroundings, and it's possible that he's in trouble in some way or another. I can't be entirely sure," Dumbledore eliminated.

"So, how exactly are we going to help her?"

"That I can't be sure of. The diary is ruined... far beyond repair, even Voldemort couldn't restore it this time. Without that as a portal to her, I can't say how we would locate her to help her if we could," the Headmaster sighed.

"What do we do in the meantime?"

"I'm afraid, Harry, that all we can do is sit back and wait patiently... hope for the best even," Albus answered glumly.

"Poor Hermione," Harry muttered as he looked down at the diary in his hands, a frown on his face.

"Anastasia! There you are," called the King as he walked down the hall toward her. She had just emerged from her room, dressed and ready for lunch in a light periwinkle blue dress of velvet and a golden tiara with her hair in soft curls falling to her shoulders. She smiled as the King approached her, but she was soon frowning as he held out his arms for a hug. Hermione knew she must play the part of the princess until she could leave, but she wasn't happy about hugging some strange man she had never met before in her life.

"Father," Hermione said politely as she hugged him awkwardly.

"I see you are ready for lunch," he beamed as he held her at arms length and looked her over. "My, you do look like your mother more and more every passing day." Hermione couldn't help but smile because she had heard her own father, Mr. Granger, say that to her one day as she got off the Hogwarts Express to come home.

Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered her own family back in her own time. Would they know by now that she was gone?

"What's this?" the King wiped her cheek with his thumb and smiled proudly.

"Tears of pride," Hermione lied as she wiped her cheeks a little more affectively than the King had.

"Well, I have just the thing to cheer you up!"

"What would that be, Father?"

"As you know, the Duchess and Duke of Holyhead are coming to join us for our luncheon, but the General is as well. So, as a favor to you and as thanks to the boy, I personally invited Aramis," the King explained.

'Aramis? Who's Ara- Oh no! Not Tom!' Hermione was grimacing and wishing that she could just go home right now. She had even tried clicking her heels together like Dorthy did in one of her favorite Muggle movies, The Wizard of Oz. No such luck though.

"What's the matter, dear? You look upset," the King said.

"Um," Hermione needed to think up a lie really quick. "I'm just uh... worried!"

"Worried?"

"Yes! About my dress... Do I look all right?"

"Yes, you are more beautiful than the Morning Glories in the garden," the King laughed as he escorted her to the entrance hall where he said they would be meeting their guests for lunch in the garden.