A/N: Thanks for your reviews. Now without further ado: On with the next chapter. …. ENJOY!
Disclaimer: don't own.
Draco and Harry gasped at the round boy wide-eyed.
'Well, wasn't Hagrid expelled in his 3rd year?' Harry thought frantically scrutinizing the boy. "So, in which year are you?" Harry asked the boy, deliberately ignoring the sneering of Draco in the background.
"Am in ma four'" Hagrid answered proudly.
Harry suddenly felt very warm and rearranged his Slytherin tie with trembling fingers. "Good." he didn't know what else to say.
"Well – I'm off. Gotter see Prof Dumbledore." Hagrid explained and Harry nodded. "Off you go then."
As soon as Hagrid was out of earshot, Harry rounded on Draco. "I can't believe it! We've already changed the future. In the other past, Hagrid was expelled in his third year!"
Draco's eyes widened even more. "Seriously? And… Myrtle… does she exist?"
"Yes, Hermione told me all about her." Harry said, his face growing warm. "We did it. At least a small part of lives could be saved."
"Not yet though." Draco commented darkly. "We have to find Hermione by the way."
Harry nodded. "But we have tried every single variation of how Tom could have asked the room to be."
Draco suddenly noticed something. A door was revealed on the wall opposite and a figure stepped out of the door. A tall, intimidating young man with black dishevelled hair and crinkled Slytherin robes with two buttons undone looked at the pair with surprise and anger.
"What are you doing here?" Tom asked furiously, slicking his hair back with his hand.
Harry and Draco stared at Tom as well at a loss for words. They had never seen the dark lord in such a state. His usually clean, immaculate perfect image was somehow different, Harry noticed with a smirk.
"Who are you screaming at, Tom?" came Hermione's sweet voice from inside. Draco cringed at the sound of her saying 'Tom'. Softly. Lovingly. At least she was alright. Draco breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I could ask you the same!" Harry countered, his Slytherin-mask in place. Draco still wondered how on earth POTTER could have been placed in Slytherin. He had never thought Harry to be a snake, but it seemed as if Harry really fit in there with him.
"I'm headboy." Tom chose to ignore Hermione – which was a fault. Only wearing a fluffy white towel, her hair sticking out in every direction, her cheeks red, her lips puffy, Hermione chose to emerge as well – and regretted it the next second.
"Natalija!" Draco cried out outraged. "What were you doing? And why are you only wearing a towel?" Draco sounded so much like Ron that Hermione almost burst out laughing. Harry obviously thought the same as he was suppressing a snicker as well.
'It seems obvious.' Harry thought, rolling his eyes mentally. 'Not even you are that stupid, Malfoy.'
Hermione didn't answer. Her face now so red she could rival Ron, she turned on her heel and marched back into the room without a backward glance. Tom smirked. "Does that answer your question?"
Tom stepped in front of Harry. "Now! What were you doing here?"
"We have a meeting with Dumbledore. We're off then." Harry mumbled. He took Draco's sleeve and pulled him away from the door which took quite a lot of strength as Draco was reluctant to leave.
Draco and Harry
"He was serious! What do you reckon did they do?" Draco asked when they were on a lower floor.
"Draco, it seems crystal clear to me. The question is WHY? The Hermione I used to know would never ever think of sleeping with someone THAT early. And especially not with the dark lord." Harry kicked a wall in frustration. "She didn't even sleep with Ron."
"Now, this is getting disgusting." Draco smirked.
"But why with him? And she seemed… unhurt… and well…. happy!" Harry commented darkly.
"She is not taking our task seriously. Instead of befriending the dark lord, she is seducing him." Draco snarled.
"Look, now it's high time! We HAVE to talk to Ginny!"
Hermione and Tom
"I don't know what were you thinking, walking out of the room like that!" Tom scolded her. They were lounging on the bed in the room of requirement, Hermione lying in Tom's arms.
"Well, you heard that noise as well and went out to investigate and-"
But Tom cut her off. "But I was wearing my normal clothes."
Hermione grinned. "That you did, yes. But look at your hair or the way you did your buttons."
A mirror appeared in Tom's hand a second later – this was one of the advantages of the room of requirements – and his look from smugness changed into horror. "You let me out looking like that?" he enquired sternly, a look of pure horror in his handsome face.
"Looks like I did, yeah!" Hermione grinned. "You want to know why? Because you stormed out so angrily that I couldn't even take a look at you. But you look so adorable with your hair all dishevelled." Hermoine grinned and pulled him into bed. She put her lush lips onto his and they kissed feverishly.
THTHTH
The next week passed without any incidents. Harry and Draco were still mad at Hermione and not speaking to her. Ginny understood Hermione completely and supported her. Hermione and Tom were still in love, holding hands, kissing, making out… they were happy together and completely in sync.
In sync.
Hermione remembered the key. She and Tom were walking in the grounds, holding hands and he was telling her about a new potion. Suddenly Hermione interrupted him. "Sorry to interrupt you, but you remember the key we won at charms?"
Tom hesitated a second. "Yes, that's right. Do you think we can open it now?"
Hermione and Tom looked at each other, thinking the same. Sighing in relief, Tom kissed her briefly and jogged away, Hermione trying to keep up with him. When they finally arrived in front of the heads dorm, Hermione stood back.
"Oh, you can come inside." Tom took her hand and lead a surprised Hermione inside. She had already been in the heads dorm in THAT period of time. She still went beetred when she remembered. Two minutes later, Tom came down with a box and a the little key.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
Tom held the box and Hermione gingerly put the key into the lock. It fit! Both of them held their breaths, when Hermione turned the key. After half a turn, they key obviously reached a halt and Hermione couldn't turn it any further. What was happening? She tried to open the box but it wouldn't budge.
She growled out in frustration. They were in sync now! Why couldn't they open the box?
"That's rubbish!" Hermione glared at the box and removed the key. Tom tried to open the lid again, but nothing happened. Tom cried out in frustration as well. 'That means that one of us is hiding something.' Hermione thought worriedly. She thought she knew that Tom was still holding his death eater meetings and not telling her. But he didn't know that they were from the future. And of course she was hiding that from him! That meant, they could never really be in sync and never really find out what was in the box.
Hermione huffed and fell down on the couch. "I can't believe it! Why couldn't he have given us something else?"
Tom glared at the box again, but put his mask in place and shrunk the box again. "I have no idea. Either something is wrong… or… we are not completely in sync." he said, surveying Hermione closely. If she was hiding something, he would surely find out. He had read enough about legilimency to try it out. However when he dove into Hermione's mind, he hit walls. Hard walls.
How did she know occlumency? And why was she so good at it? And WHY was she using it? Did she have to hide something?
Hermione was prepared for the attack and put up her occlumency walls in an instant. She secretly scolded herself. Now with the key, she couldn't have given Voldemort a better hint that she was hiding something.
"I'll put the box away. Wait here for me!" Tom walked swiftly into his bedroom, without looking Hermione into her eyes. He scolded himself, cursing quietly. Here she was, his one and only sitting there in the room innocently and he wanted to plunge into her mind? He let out a barking laugh. He was behaving like a bloody Hufflepuff!
Without a backwards glance, he walked back to Hermione, gave her a brief, slightly hard kiss on her lips and held out his hand, helping her to get up. His posture was stiff and self-confident, his Slytherin mask back on his pale and handsome face, his mouth a slight sneer, his eyes holding the same cold darkness and his robes immaculate like his perfectly coiffed hair.
Yes, that was the Dark Lord Hermione knew. But she also knew a different side of him. A side that no one had seen yet. Ever. Smiling to herself she took his offered hand and got up with his help.
"Let's get to afternoon-potions." he said with the same polite voice that Hermione remembered in the beginning. She nodded. "We have potions with the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors today as well." Hermione remembered. "Slughorn wants us to brew something important." Tom smacked his forehead. "Puh great, a class with GRYFFINDORS. Oh joy!"
THTHTH
Unfortunately the walk from the head's room took longer than expected and therefore only two seats were available in potions and they were NOT next to each other. Slughorn had obviously NOT paired them up himself. Quickly, Tom took a seat next to Draco – which Hermione didn't like at all. Tom looked as if he were up to something. That left Hermione to sit next to a boy with red hair. A Weasley, obviously. Bingo. JACK WEASLEY was written in bold letters on his notebook.
She smiled at the boy who didn't return her smile, but glared at her shrewdly. Hermione shrugged the feeling of hostility off and concentrated on the lecture. They were supposed to be brewing a calming draught – the difficult version. Hermione had never done that before but she was sure, it was easy enough to manage and therefore she let her eyes wander around the class.
Draco and Tom were sitting next to each other, Draco as far away as possible from Tom who was sitting comfortably on his chair. Harry was sitting next to a boy from Gryffindor who Hermione didn't know. She noticed that he had the same black hair as Harry and Tom had. Ginny was at the other end of the class, talking quietly with McGonnagal. Hermione glared at them and sneered.
Her eyes fell onto the blonde next to her. Abraxas Malfoy and Eileen Prince were writing little notes and kept passing them between each other. Richard and Sarah were of course sitting next to each other, looking lovingly into each others eyes. Suddenly, Hermione felt very sick. Really sick. Trembling slightly, she raised her hand.
"Miss Karkarova?" Slughorn asked in his usual jovial voice.
"Professor, might I be excused for some minutes? I don't feel well!" Hermione said quietly.
"Sure, Miss Karkarova." Slughorn bustled. "Do you need anyone to go with you?"
"No thank you, I can manage." Hermione hastened to get outside as quickly as possible. She only made it in time to reach the girl's bathroom, only to throw up violently. Two minutes later, Hermione rinsed her mouth, feeling completely refreshed and perfectly healthy again. 'That really helped! I wonder what I ate that caused my upset stomach!' then she remembered the fish from yesterday. Typical for her.
She sighed and went back to the class that had already started. Unfortunately, Weasley had already started without her. "Have you already got the ingredients?" Hermione asked annoyed.
"Yes, they are all here." Weasley snapped.
Hermione scanned them quickly. "The lacewing flies are missing!" she growled and went to the cupboard to retrieve them – and bumped into Ginny. "Your grandfather is a right git." Hermione bit out.
"No, he isn't. You've already met him in the future! He always liked you!" Ginny answered surprised.
"But he is not in THIS era. He treats me like a Slytherin!" Hermione spat.
"That's because you are Tom Riddle's girlfriend then."
"Very WELL." Hermione ground out through gritted teeth and departed at full speed with the lacewing flies, not even looking at Ginny.
"Here." Hermione unceremoniously dumped them onto their table. "What do I do with them?" Weasley asked, his face slightly red. "Well, Weasley," Hermione was getting annoyed "Can you read?"
"Yes, I can." Weasley snapped, glaring at Hermione again. "Well then, read for me the second line." Hermione said furiously. But before Weasley could even open his mouth, Hermione was standing in front of the cauldron, mastering the potion all by herself. She was still seething and it didn't get any better when Slughorn reached their table. Hermione was already pissed and Slughorns comment only made Hermione's temper rise.
"Perfect, Miss Karkarova." Slughorn beamed. "But tell me, why don't you let Mr. Weasley work on your potion as well? It is a group project, after all."
Hermione heard a few soft snickers and whispers throughout the classroom, but she didn't care. "Well you see Professor, I don't want him to mess up my potion." she smiled sweetly at Slughorn who just looked at her surprised. The whole class erupted into laughter, especially the Slytherins and Ravenclaws laughed loudly, whereas the Gryffindors – Ginny included – were obviously angry.
"Well then, Mr. Weasley, go and help Miss Karkarova clean up." Slughorn announced. Weasley looked ready to kill. "Don't you ever insult me again, you conceited pure-blood bitch." he growled.
Hermione turned around so fast, her neck almost cricked. "What did you just call me?" to her dismay, she noticed Abraxas listening in on their conversation with a smug look on his face.
"You heard me correctly, Karkarova. You are the little sex doll of the Slytherin prince and so proud about the whole thing! You want to tell me what is right and wrong? You who despises Muggles and associates with stinking prejudiced Slytherins?" Weasley's voice had become loud and it had a striking resemblance to Ron's when he was angry. Hermione was sure that now the whole class had heard and her blood was boiling.
"No one asked YOUR opinion, you filthy bloodtraitor!" Hermione smirked. She had remembered Draco's insult and decided to use it as an advantage. "Never ever call me prejudiced pureblood Slytherin princess again, okay, Weaselbee?" her voice was laced with so much venom that her friends didn't recognize her.
In the corner on the right, Draco was sniggering into his hand – he remembered her words only too well. Not even Tom could contain himself. He was shaking with silent laughter. Most of the Slytherins, however, were downright howling and cheering for Hermione. Even Harry gave her a wink. On the downside though, Hermione heard jeering and boos from the Gryffindors. Even Ginny practically ran towards her grandfather and spoke in a soothing voice.
"That's enough!" Slughorn decided to step in. "5 points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Both of you will receive detention."
Hermione glared at Weasley one more time and stomped away annoyed. How dare he! "Our Natalija! That was hilarious!" Draco said when Harry was standing beside him. "Absolutely. Though I shudder what she will do to Weasley. She looked ready to kill!"
THTHTH
Hermione was walking on the grounds still fuming. She remembered Jack Weasley as a kindhearted old gentleman, telling jokes, drinking brandy and laughing with everyone else. Never would she have believed him to hate her. Her breathing became more even.
Of course.
She was almost a Slytherin now. Her obviously two best male friends were Slytherins, her date to the ball as well and her boyfriend was the Slytherin prince himself. No wonder the Gryffindors didn't like her too much.
Sighing, she made her way back to the castle.
However, she was stopped by three very unwelcome people.
"How dare you land me in detention!" Weasley growled. Three boys were blocking Hermione's way, glaring menacingly at her. The other boy looked like another Weasley with flaming red hair and the third one could be a Potter by the looks of it.
"That's none of your business… and look, I DID dare." Hermione snapped, glaring at the trio.
"How could you do that?" the black-haired boy with glasses asked Hermione in a hard voice.
"How did I do that? Let's think. I said some disgusting swearwords to him. If you had cleaned your glasses, maybe you'd have noticed." Hermione smirked in her Slytherin fashion.
"As a matter of fact, I only noticed that you were insulting Jack without any reason." the black-haired boy took a step towards her.
"And how come your glasses were fogged up when he called me a conceited pureblood Slytherin bitch?" Hermione shot back, enraged.
The boy said nothing for a second but regained his composure. "Don't think, I can't see through you. You are just trying to swarm up to the headboy so that you can have more power." he sneered.
"Oh, because you know me so well. And even if I WERE, I repeat for you slow Gryffindors: it's none of your business!"
"How can you insult our house?" the other red-haired boy asked, his face as red as his Gryffindor trimmings.
"Because the people who represent it, are ludicrous representatives." Hermione sneered back.
To her satisfaction, the three students looked scandalized.
"I warn you, Karkarova. If you ever …" but Potter was interrupted by someone that Hermione didn't expect. They heard a deep, authoritative voice.
"Fighting, Weasley, Weasley, Potter?"
So it was Potter.
"No, uhm, we were just…" Potter began, but Tom interrupted him. "I noticed that you were insulting and even threatening a lady. Care to explain yourselves?"
The three looked at each other, clueless what to say.
"I don't know what's going on in your narrow… or rather…" Tom's lip curled at the sight of the Weasleys "not-existent minds. Five points from Gryffindor. EACH."
The boys were scared stiff and didn't even complain when Tom glared at them. He looked at Hermione and his expression softened. "Come on, let's go to dinner."
He put his arm protectively around her shoulders and lead her away from the grounds into the castle.
When the pair was gone, Jack and Potter looked at each other furiously, but determinedly. "That little Slytherin whore will suffer!"
THTHTH
Tom and Hermione were resting in the heads dorm, Tom reading a book and Hermione lying on his stomach, reading a book as well. "Oh, Natalija!" Tom put his book away so that he could express his feelings better. "I would be careful now. Potter should not be underestimated. From now on, I will walk you to class or I will ask someone to do it. You should always try to be with people, whether it's with your Ravenclaws or Slytherins. Don't even think of mingling with the Gryffindors!"
Hermione nodded. "Of course not."
"Perfect. I will walk you to detention tomorrow – and I'll pick you up as well. Dumbledore wants to see you in his office at 8 o clock sharp."
"Dumbledore? I thought I had to clean Slughorn's office?" Hermione was astonished. That proved to be a better detention that cleaning.
"Yes, the old fool requested you in particular." Tom shrugged. "Don't know what he planned."
"He is NOT an old fool!" Hermione said outraged.
"Whatever you think, Natalija. I'm going to bed." he kissed her softly. "Want to stay with me?"
"Sure!" Hermione smiled and kissed him back on his lush lips What a catch!
THTHTH
Hermione awoke the next morning pretty early. Her boyfriend was still sleeping heavily and Hermione admired his perfect face, he looked peaceful and even his cheeks were rosy. But she needed to go to the toilet badly and in order not to wake him up, she crept out of the bedroom silently and made her way to the bathroom.
Again, just in time. Hermione Jean Granger threw up for the second time. Her stomach churned and she vanished the puke with a simple evanesco. Hermione shook her head. What was happening? She shrugged and didn't dwell on that. After all, she felt perfectly alright right now. Hermione washed her face, rinsed her mouth and crept back into her boyfriend's arms with a happy sigh.
THTHTH
"Sorry for being late, Professor." Hermione was out of breath. Tom had accompagnied her to her detention with Dumbledore and now she was standing in his cluttered office.
"It doesn't matter. Mr. Malfoy hasn't arrived yet anyway." Dumbledore said in his usual calm manner.
Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "He will be here as well?"
Dumbledore nodded and his eyes twinkled. "Yes, as a matter of fact, you will both have a look into the future."
"This is my detention?" Hermione couldn't believe her luck.
"Yes, although I must warn you, Miss Granger. I usually don't let people get away this easily. I still have to reprimand you. Insulting Mr. Weasley is not only childish but throws a bad light onto Ravenclaw." Dumbledore pointed out.
"You see, Professor, I do apologize for my behaviour, but I need to tell you how it happened: Mr. Weasley insulted me BEFORE and I just… well… retaliated." Hermione said quietly.
"I understand. Please refrain from doing so in the future. Ah, here is Mister Malfoy."
Draco was standing in the doorway, his hair tousled and looking grumpily at the pair. "Our dear headboy STOPPED me. He ENQUIRED what I was doing here." Draco spat out, directing it mainly at Hermione.
"Why? What is he doing outside?" Hermione wondered, completely nonplussed.
"Patrolling!" Draco spat. "As if! He kept trying to look into my mind, but I blocked him."
"Good that you did!" Hermione said with a hint of pride in her voice. "The consequences would be fatal if he found out."
"Now students." Dumbledore interrupted their talk subtly. "This is the second last time you are going to peek into the future. I have to admit that I'm not really happy with what is there, though it is certainly an improvement. I asked you two to go together, because… well, you'll see." Dumbledore smiled. "You will be in the future for an hour."
Before Hermione and Draco could do as much as nod, they felt a pull behind their navel and were seconds later standing in a clean white kitchen.
"Where are we, Draco?" Hermione asked worried.
"I can't believe it, Mione. We are in Malfoy Manor!"
THTHTH
A/N: Hope you liked it. Reviews plz. I'll update this week, either Wednesday or Friday….