Hogwarts, 1944
My world was spinning. My body was nonexistent. The loud ringing and the lack of vision made me think I was dead. That was until I landed with a sickening crunch on hard ground. I must have been somewhere between hell and the pit of hell. Everything was on fire. A wet, sticky substance covered my face and chest, while my arm wasn't responding to my brains commands. I ran my tongue around on the back of my teeth, feeling them, but only tasting blood. I slowly tried rolling over on my back, my limp arm trailing behind me. A rush of air filled my lungs as I realized I hadn't taken a breath in a long time. Coughing soon followed.
I tried to use my good arm to prop myself up on my elbow, only to be hit with a strong bout of nausea. A low moan escaped my throat as I tried to move my legs. The left complied, when the right did not I shuddered. I was too afraid to even check if it was still there. I blinked hard to try and get my bearings. Outside? Check. Dark? Check. Alone? Undeniably.
I felt around for my bag with my right arm; out of reach. I stuck my hand under my butt to find my wand. Finding it, I cast a silent Lumos. I was on Hogwarts grounds, with the edge of the lake mere feet from me, glistening innocently in the night. I caught the reflection of the lights from the castle in the lake. I tried using my left leg to scoot myself farther up on the bank. A strange noise came out of my mouth followed by a gurgle of blood.
As my panic increased, my spell flickered and went out. I had no clue what to do when my strength faltered. I could fix bones and heal cuts whenever I wanted, but only when I had enough strength. My magic wouldn't comply with my body and energy so drained. I let out a frantic sob as my vision started swimming. Panic began rising from the pit of my stomach up to the center of my chest. The soft crunch of leaves and twigs made me turn my head a little too quickly to the right. A figure was walking toward me behind an intense light emanating from the tip of a wand.
I managed to get out a desperate 'help' before everything around me went black.
TOM'S POV
I watched as the broken girl in front of me tried to keep her spell going. Her helpless sob broke the silence around us. Blood and tears stained her face, while her body fell in an awkward position around her. I took a few tentative steps toward her while casting a Lumos. She jerked her head in my direction, her brown eyes scared and searching, pleading for me to help. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out completely.
I stood above her with my wand raised high to see if I knew who this person was. I did a quick Scourgify across her form to get rid of the blood. Then I slowly knelt down beside her and pushed her hair out of her face with my wand. Unfamiliar face, as well as unfamiliar clothing. I took a step back as I looked from the castle to the girl on the ground. I was at a dilemma. Do I leave her here and let someone else find her? Or do I play the hero and take her up to the castle? Thinking the latter would be more beneficial, I went to place a Locomotor spell on her, only to stop. I realized her broke arm and seemingly broken leg would not benefit from such a spell, since it only gave support in the middle of the back, allowing the limbs to hang free. It would look bad on me if anyone else saw me using that spell. Unkind and rude; and thus I was not to the public eye. What to do.
I gathered her bag and threw it over my shoulder as I bent down to gather the girl in my arms. New streams of blood had begun to leak from the previously cleansed wounds. I placed her broken arm on her stomach and made sure to get a good grip around her legs before lifting. She felt weak and fragile. Easily breakable and small, like most women.
It was late, being the Head Boy and the only student in the castle allowed me to do almost anything I want; like be by the lake at eleven o'clock. I let my thoughts stray as I carried the girl up to the castle. It had been my last summer at the orphanage. I never had to go there again. I was free. Free to start my future. Free to never think of my horrid childhood; free to become the man I am meant to be.
I had easily convinced Professor Slughorn and Headmaster Dippet to let me spend the last two weeks of summer at Hogwarts. I had taken the NEWT Potions class a year early so I could help Slughorn as a teachers assistant with the first and second year potions classes. I was now free during seventh year potions and all I had to do was basically sit in on the underclassmen Potions classes. Plus it got me out of taking another year of Divination. Another perk of being at Hogwarts for the summer was that I could do magic here, although I was already seventeen the Headmaster and the Ministry were adament about me not doing magic at the orphanage.
I looked at the girl as she let out a soft whimper of pain as I adjusted her in my arms. Her head lolled against my chest with each step I took. Her face was swollen and covered with blood again, even though I had just cleaned it off. A line of blood was trailing from her mouth, down her cheek, to the crook of her neck, where it followed a chain that went under her blouse; which was stained red. I rounded the corner to the infirmary, pushing the door open with my back. I called the nurses name and she came bustling out of some curtain behind me.
"I found this girl by the lake, Madam Watkins. She needs medical attention immediately!" I instilled a tone of panic and worry in my voice. For show, of course I could have easily dropped her on the ground at the door and went about my business. But no, keeping up appearances is far more important than having to carry an extra hundred pounds a half mile. The things I do to keep up the perfect Head Boy fa ade.
"Oh my goodness! Here, Tom. Here!" she said while pointing to a bed. I laid the girl down on the bed and noticed a rush of blood come out from under her shirt. The nurse began waving her wand over the girl, mumbling and gasping to herself. Madam Watkins said a spell that made all her broken bones glow. Arm, nose, ribs, and leg; then there was a dimmer glow emanating from her chest. I stood by watching mindlessly, I had almost no interest at all that was until the nurse ripped her shirt open and there was some strange, broken metal object sticking out of her chest. Flesh and muscle were torn apart by the force at which the object had been shoved into her skin "Who is she Tom? What happened? Just just go get Professor Dumbledore; I'll need help healing her."
I turned on my heel and walked to Dumbledore's sleeping quarters. The image of her mangled chest in the forefront of my mind I saw the ripped apart flesh cradle the metal object. Pale, white skin destroyed. Everything about this situation seemed off, all of a sudden. I just happen to find a random person bleeding to death on the ground, whom, I swear, hadn't been there when I walked that path to the lake not even twenty minutes before. I had heard nothing. No struggle, no words, and no lights from spells. Nothing I don't get it. She miraculously appeared out of thin air on the brink of death. She couldn't have apparated there, the wards prevent that. I would have heard or seen someone if they had left her there. Nothing was quite adding up. I knocked on Dumbledore's door, hard.
"Hello Tom. How may I help you this evening?" he asked me, his ever blue eyes twinkling.
"Madam Watkins needs your help. I found a girl by the lake, and she's hurt. She seemed to have appeared out of thin air " I was deliberately vague so he would ask more questions and 'make' me walk with him to the hospital wing. His eyes were out of focus as he looked at a point past my head. "Sir?" I said, unable to mask the impatience or curiosity in my tone.
"Thank you, Tom. You may head back to your room now."
He stepped around me and briskly made his way down the corridor. My eyes narrowed in disdain, that man has never treated me like he does anyone else. Always kept at a distance, never praised for my hard work, and never trusted. I can see it in his eyes, I make him uneasy. My lips curved into a smirk as I turned and made my way to my newly appointed Head Boy quarters.
HERMIONE'S POV
Pain ripped through my body as I felt him adjusting my limbs to lift me. I screamed in my mind, not able to make my mouth work. I was certain death was soon to follow. Five minutes in this new place, whenever this new place is, and I had already encountered Tom Riddle I think. My mind wasn't totally there, and the memory Harry had shown me of a youthful Voldemort didn't exactly look like the man I saw. I wanted to open my eyes again and look at the person carrying me.
I felt him adjust my weight in his arms. I saw stars in a sea of black as my leg moved in a way it normally doesn't. I was screaming so loud; so loud that it felt like liquid flowing out of my mouth. I heard a deep, panicky voice call out for someone, then an alarmed, soft womanly voice. The man sat me down on a soft surface, but as soon as he moved his arm from under my back something exploded in my chest and I was out.
I woke up to a blinding light coming from all directions. There were several points in my body where I could feel the distant tingling of a potion healing whatever ailment I had there. Slowly, the light started fading and I could make out portions of my surroundings.
"Good morning," a man spoke from my left. I slowly turned my head in the direction of the distantly familiar voice. "Pumpkin juice? I believe Wilma added a dash of Pepper-up Potion for added flavor!" Ah, Dumbledore. I let out a weak smile as he helped me raise my head to take a lengthy gulp of juice. A rejuvenating wave rushed over my body.
"Good morning," I said softly. He cast a spell that resembled Muffiato before he looked expectantly at me. "Uhhm..."
"Ms. Granger, I know who you are, no need to feel 'put on the spot', so to say." Confusion must have shown on my face, because he continued with, "Do you honestly think my future self would have so willingly put one of his prized students in such obvious danger?"
"Sir, I-I don't understand. If you knew I was coming, why would you let me almost ?" I let out a shaky breath, afraid to say the word 'die'.
"Hermione, that is not the case at all. Let me explain, please?" I nodded my head and held my indigent tongue so he could continue. "I would have to say it was about a year and a half ago when something happened to me that had never happened before. I was sitting in my office grading third year Transfiguration essays when suddenly a memory popped into my mind. Someone else's memory kind of. You can understand my confusion at remembering something I had never had the pleasure of remembering in the first place!" A soft chuckle followed the end of his speech.
"What was it, Professor? The memory?" I asked.
"It was a memory of me writing a letter. Would you like to read this letter, Hermione? I copied it word for word from the memory " he procured a letter from the inside of his robes and handed it to me. "Read on, ."
I took the letter from him and immediately noticed the date in the right hand corner, February 2, 1997. A couple of days before my Dumbledore's disappearance, I thought while knitting my brows together.
-Dear Albus, or me, or us!
I'm sure this is surprising having a random memory pop into your mind, but thus life! A student of mine will be arriving to you sometime in the future. And by mine, I mean from the 1990's. I'm not sure when she will get there, for it is up to her to decide. I suppose this is 'time travel' of sorts, I don't quite understand how I've done what I've done it has happened though! She will probably arrive rather unceremoniously. If I had to guess, it will be out of the blue and she will probably be in great pain. If you ever hear of someone appearing out of nowhere and if they're hurt take care and realize it might be the girl I send you.
You are wondering why I would send a mere child back to do something I could easily do myself? She is the chosen one, Albus. Things have gone irreversibly wrong in my time. Do not ask her anything about the future, and ask her to tell you nothing. She alone can figure out what must be done to save future. As we know, she wouldn't be able to come back in time unless time were meant to be different, just as this 'memory' wouldn't have come back unless it was meant to.
The students name is Hermione Granger. I sincerely believe her to be the smartest witch of her age. I have complete faith in here to do what is right. Offer her guidance when needed, but trust her decisions completely. NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE now, I know you must think me an old, inconsiderate fool for ruining a young woman's future in her own time I trust everything will work out how it is supposed to. Enroll her in classes, seventh year should be sufficient. She has quite the thirst for knowledge, so she should do just fine.
I apologize for not being able to offer more information. If I know you, Albus, as I do, you must be overtly curious about the future and time travel. Patience is, as the say, a virtue. Keep an eye on her; she must understand that this is her destiny. Make of it as she will. Also, I should mention, that you're probably going to have a horrible, horrible headache after reading this. I suggest you get to Wilma as soon as you can.
Good luck,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore-
I let the letter fall from my hands. So how do I do what is right if I have no clue what to do in the first place? The chosen one so this was never about Harry? Well, from this point on I guess it was never about Harry. It's me. I have to somehow fix the past. I felt overwhelmed, to the point where my head started to spin.
"Breathe, Hermione." I counted to ten and took a breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. "I have faith in you if my future self had faith in you. I know you can handle this whatever 'this' may be. I may trust people easily, but it is rare for me to instill all my confidence into one person. I believe in destiny, Hermione you should too."
"I don't know what I'm doing " I said breathlessly.
"You will. Rest now, , we'll talk about everything when you're ready." The new Dumbledore reassured as he stood to leave. "Try to live normally here; this is your new life."
"Sir?" I called as a thought hit me. "Where is my time turner? And when am I?" I added as an afterthought.
"It's August 19, 1944. And as for the object that was around your neck when you arrived, it's in pieces in my office. The sands of time entered your blood stream last night, Hermione. Who knows what that can do to a person with a set destiny "
Three days later, I was wearing a knee length, black skirt with a high necked, white blouse sitting in front of Professor Dumbledore in his office. We were having difficulties deciding who I was to be in this new life. Finding a suitable last name has been bothersome. I could of course, keep Granger or I could be somebody else and skip the whole Mudblood thing. Over eight years in the wizarding world of being called a Mudblood unfortunately has negative emotional side effects.
"Don't be ashamed of who you are, Hermione." Dumbledore said while offering me a lemon drop.
"I'm not, sir. I just kind of want a new start. You know? Keeping the surname Granger after everything I've been through hurts. I-I just don't want to be reminded of that every time someone says my name. I want to be normal this time." Ah, emotions. We were trained to control them, and I usually could in 1998. To be honest, I am scared. Petrified. It wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that me being here has something to do with the young Voldemort. I didn't even know where to begin. I couldn't even conjure a coherent thought as to what I am even supposed to do! I Tom Riddle 1944 time? AH!
"Hermione! Being normal is overrated. I trust you to be as unique and overly weird if you must." Dumbledore brought my unfocused eyes back to him with his sweet comment. "How do you feel about America?"
I blinked at him. "It's lovely?"
"Outstanding! Your new last name is Smith, the most generic American last name. You were born in Fulham, but your American father moved you to the United States when you were eleven because you were accepted into the ever prestigious Salem Academy of Witchcraft." My eyebrows rose I wish I could mention that said school closed in the sixties for an illicit dark arts scandal. "You are half blood (I don't care which half), seventeen, top of your class, and the Ambassador to your school."
"Ambassador?" my mind was reeling with the facts of my new life.
"Also known as Head Girl." He said with a smile. "There was an incident, which I'm sure you've heard of, two years ago involving our Head Girl and the Chamber of Secrets "
"Myrtle was Head Girl? Sorry "
"Yes, she was. As you know she was killed, and each time we've asked someone new to be Head Girl, they've declined saying the position is cursed." He finished with a pointed look in my direction.
"Sir, you can't be serious. You want me to be Head Girl? That's too much attention. A transfer student and Head Girl? That's .that is " Exactly what I want, or what close enough to what I wanted in my time. I don't have to be bookworm, Mudblood, know-it-all Hermione Granger here. I can be a confident, unyielding person. I will have to work on the know-it-all thing, but I can try! I took a deep breath and a spasm of pain went through my chest. I rubbed it thoughtlessly as I continued. "I can do it. I'll be Hermione Smith."
"Excellent. I'm going to leave it up to you to come up with a reason for you being here. And an explanation of how you appeared here in the first place. Tom is looking for answers. He is very persistent and will, I'm sure, demand an answer for you soon."
"I think I can handle Tom." I can I can handle Tom.
"Now, I know all of this has seemed rushed, but Armando arrived today. We had to have all the information we could in order for you to be enrolled. Luckily, you're previous school sent your transcripts over this afternoon." My favorite Professor said with a wink as he started rummaging through his papers showing me 'my' perfect OWLs, and several different forms with the S.A.W. emblem on them. "You can go now Hermione, we will meet at the Great Hall before dinner."
Great. Three hours to myself. Three hours to pretend I don't know my way around Hogwarts. I walked back toward the infirmary deep in thought. August 22, 1944; a whole new world. Values and traditions I'm used to haven't even been thought of yet a woman in the forties! Just lovely. I'm almost nineteen, pretending to be seventeen saving the world? I winced as another spasm of pain went through my chest. The star shaped scar in the center of my ribcage was a constant reminder of my new life.
Since my arrival here, I've tried so hard not to think about the people I have left behind. Especially not Harry and Ron. It's impossible not to wonder what time is doing if everything I had is now gone and there is a new Hermione Granger living in my place. Or if everything is exactly the same and the outcome will be as it was. I shut my eyes to erase my best friends' faces from my mind. I couldn't hold on to my memories like I wanted to I couldn't dwell in the er, past? Right? I had to move on and just know that I was doing the right thing right?
My heart raced under my ribs as my breath started coming in quick sharp gasps. Heat rushed from my chest and settled in a ring around my throat. My hand automatically went to rest on my scar. I brought my left hand up to support myself against the wall as my vision swam. I closed my eyes and let my back find safety along the cold stone of the hallway wall. My knees gave and a distressed sob escaped my mouth.
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