Disclaimer: don't own.
A/N: Thank you for your reviews! I hope you received my answers. Wow, I managed to update today although I promised Friday… This chapter will mostly be about the future… Now without further ado: ENJOY!
"You are kidding!" Hermione looked around the white marble walls, clearly impressed. "I didn't know your manor was THIS beautiful!"
"Of course, you didn't, Granger. I've never really invited you to my home, have I?" Draco smirked and Hermione rolled her eyes. He was being his usual arrogant self. However, Hermione couldn't dwell on that thought any longer as a beautiful Narcissa stepped into the room. Unlike in the "other" future, Narcissa was looking healthy, happy and her eyes were alight with fire.
"Draco!" she hugged Draco tightly, who went slightly red in the face, probably from embarrassment. "And Miss Jones. Nice to see you." Narcissa gave Hermione a cold hand and Hermione shook it hesitantly. "Your mother is already here – and so is Marvolo." Narcissa informed them. Hermione knew immediately what was going on.
Hermione and Draco followed Narcissa into the dining room area where some Hogwarts students – or rather Slytherin's order students – were sitting with their parents and obviously waiting for someone. The table was lavishly decorated and the lights were dimmed. "Forgive me Mrs. Malfoy that I'm late." a deep booming voice, full of authority said from behind.
Hermione and Draco turned around in shock. They knew that voice. Tom Marvolo Riddle was standing in their midst, looking as intimidating as ever with black immaculate robes and his hair perfectly gelled to the side. He looked older and a bit worn out, Hermione noticed. To her dismay, he smirked at her – and gave her a brief kiss.
"Shall we begin with the initiation then?" Lucius Malfoy asked. "Uhm, initiation?" Hermione asked dumbfounded. "Well, the initiation that you will be part of the army." Narcissa said rather impatiently. "Army?" Draco repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, army. We are far behind with our Anti-Muggle-Policy. Only Slytherins order keeps up the standard. Godrics Castle is deteriorating by letting even MORE of those disgusting mudbloods join. It's an embarrassment to the wizarding world. Mc Gonnagal used to be an excellent witch – a shame that she is on the other side. My new plan comes now into action." Tom continued and all the others, even Harry, seemed to lean closer.
"My new plan involves my army – as well as my new soldiers – YOU. We are planning to storm Godric's castle, capture the mudbloods and bring them to me." Tom said with an evil glint in his eyes. To Hermione's horror, Pansy looked gleefully at Harry who seemed to be impassive. "And what do we do with the mudbloods, sir?" a boy Hermione had never seen before asked eagerly.
"Bring them to me. We'll lock them into the cell below our headquarters - Malfoy Manor and then you can all try the Avada kedavra spell. It's always the best: learning by doing." Tom smirked and most of the students grinned.
Hermione and Draco exchanged a quick glance. Hermione's face had lost all colour. He wasn't serious. He wanted to kill all the Muggleborns from Godric's castle? Or even more disgusting, he wanted others to do his dirty work? How did he call it – learn it by doing? And she, Hermione, would be part of the dark side, killing them? She shook her head, something was really really wrong.
A baby cried somewhere and Tom and Hermione looked up immediately. Hermione knew that it could only be Marvolo. It was a good excuse to get out of that room quickly. "Uhm, I'll go and look for him." Hermione announced with a heavy voice although she was on the verge of crying. She slipped into the other room after Narcissa and looked at Marvolo somewhat lovingly. "Isn't he beautiful?" Hermione said to Narcissa.
Where had that come from?
"Yes, he is. He has HIS face, but YOUR eyes." Narcissa smiled. "I guess, you have to feed him."
Hermione nodded. "I'll be with you in a second."
Before she could even look for milk or anything else, Hermione felt again a pull behind her navel and she was suddenly standing beside Draco and about a hundred soldiers in their uniforms. Draco and Hermione looked at each other shocked. "Where are we?" Draco hissed.
"I don't know but I have a fair guess. We are probably trying to storm Godric's castle." Hermione answered sadly. Draco's jaw seemed to quiver but he didn't answer her. Silently the army crept up the hill where a beautiful grey castle stood. The castle was lined with a golden fence and a gate with black letters spelling out: "Welcome to Godric's Castle!"
One of the soldiers cackled in a familiar way and Hermione turned around with wide shocked eyes. "No!" she gasped softly, but Bellatrix hadn't heard her. To Hermione's amazement, she was still the Bellatrix she knew, except she was much prettier and less intimidating. Her black hair wasn't wild but tamed into a short business look. Furthermore, the dark circles under her eyes were missing as well and her skin looked healthily tanned.
"Get out of my way, Jones!" Bellatrix said carelessly and pushed past Hermione to the front. "I don't believe it! Welcome to Godric's Castle! As if anyone wants to go to THIS school HERE!" Bellatrix scoffed. Most of the other soldiers agreed loudly with her, cheering and laughing. "Now! We try to somehow get into the castle by breaking down the fence. Try to use all of the spells you know. It will be hard work!"
For once in her life, Hermione had to agree with Bellatrix. They had already been trying to open the walls for at least fifteen minutes and Hermione was getting impatient. They only were allowed to be in this future for an hour. But she was devastated – was THIS their current future? 'But now is not the time to cry, Hermione, keep focused on the task.' Hermione chided herself.
A tall and broad soldier next to Draco shot a fire spell at the wall, but it was extinguished by ancient defensive magic from the wall and Hermione raised an eyebrow, impressed. Minerva had probably "Aguamenti!" a voice that sounded like Narcissa could be heard a little further away. She was obviously trying to flood the castle, though that didn't work either.
"Relashio!" Hermione cried out, but nothing whatsoever happened. "Incarceros." Draco shouted, but again the wall remained standing. "I can't believe it! How many protective spells have they used? Bombarda!" Bellatrix cried out in outrage after she had shot an orange spell that was rebounded by the wall.
"Reveal your secret!" Hermione pointed her wand at the wall and a light blue arrow pointed to a small handle at the gates.
"You are a genius, Hermione!" Bellatrix said astounded, grasping the handle. All of the soldiers looked excitedly at each other, some of them giving Hermione an appraising nod. "Now! We will all try to creep silently into the castle. Cast silencio on your feet." Everyone obeyed and when Hermione hesitated, Draco shot the spell at her feet. "Thanks Malfoy!" Hermione scoffed.
"By the way, Bella NEVER praises someone. She must really like you." Draco smirked and Hermione almost slapped him. "Thanks, Malfoy." she said through gritted teeth and followed the army inside the gates. Although it was in the middle of the night, Hermione and Draco could still see that the grounds were beautiful – wide with green grass and lots of flowers.
"I wonder where they play quidditch!" Draco said in an offhand voice, but just as Hermione was trying to show him the quidditch pitch at the end of the field, Bellatrix spoke up again. "Now, we divide into groups and every group storms the castle from a different angle. Avery, you take this lot, Greengrass you take your people, Sirius, you take yours…" completely nonplussed, Hermione watched Sirius with wide eyes.
Sirius was part of the dark crowd? How?
But then her Ravenclaw-intelligence kicked in. The Blacks would never have let Sirius attend Godric's castle, of course they would have sent him to Hogwarts aka Slytherin's order. Therefore he mingled with Slytherins and of course was a Slytherin himself. At that moment, Sirius stepped out into the light, cast by Bellatrix's wand; he also seemed much more well-groomed. His hair was cut short into a trendy style, he wore expensive clothes and his face seemed less gaunt or stressed.
Hermione swallowed. She hated it here! Especially with those people! On the one hand she wanted to get out of this future NOW, but on the other hand, they had to find out as much as possible. She would storm the castle with WHICH leader exactly?
A minute later it was announced that Draco and she got the 'privilege' of storming the castle with Rabastan Lestrange – Bellatrix's brother in law. Hermione looked around for the other soldiers in their group and didn't recognize anyone. Harry was probably in another group. She felt Draco sliding his freezing hand in hers – giving her a nod – and it made her feel safer.
Not that Hermione could dwell on that thought any longer as they were now silently creeping behind Rabastan towards the nearest door that led towards the greenhouses, Hermione and Draco still holding hands. To Hermione's surprise, the door was unlocked and they crept inside without further ado. "Be careful! It's a venomous tentacula. Don't go near it!" Hermione whispered and Draco thanked her with a reassuring squeeze of her hand.
After they had made their way through the greenhouse, Rabastan opened the door to the castle with a simple Alohomora and Hermione questioned the intelligence of McGonnagal. Why didn't they lock the doors of the castle? Inside the castle it was warmer than expected –the teachers probably used a heating charm – and they quietly followed their leader.
From what they could see, they were in the corridor where most of the classrooms were located and Rabastan ushered his 10 or so people inside the – by the looks of it – potions classroom. "Now we stick together. We will try to locate the students' dorms and stun or petrify EVERYONE. Then we will capture the muggleborns by the body-bind-charm and…"
"But how do we know that someone is a Muggleborn?" a scrawny-looking boy that Hermione vaguely remembered, but couldn't place spoke up, looking dismissive at Rabastan. "With THIS device! Tom Riddle invented it himself! You touch a Mudblood with this thing on their hand and it glows red. If it glows green, it's a pureblood and if it's blue, then it's a halfblood." Rabastan held up a little silver triangular device, grinning smugly.
Oh. My. God. Hermione couldn't believe it. She started shivering violently and inside her head she was panicking. They had to get out of here as fast as possible! What if they discovered that SHE, Hermione, was actually a mudblood? 'Please leave me out of it!' Hermione thought.
Luckily, Rabastan didn't even think of testing it on his soldiers. He shoved everyone a tester into their hands and without another word they continued up the stairs. Hermione wondered why they didn't bump into another group of soldiers. Where were the others? Draco was probably thinking the same, as he kept throwing anxious glances at the walls.
"How much longer do you reckon, we'll be here? I don't want to be part of the fight!" Hermione said quietly. Draco shrugged. "Probably another 10 to 15 minutes. Scared, Jones?" Hermione glared at him, but nodded.
Suddenly the group stopped and Rabastan leeringly stared at a door, labelled BOYS, 6th years. "Now we go in and PETRIFY or STUN EVERYONE. Is that clear?"
Everyone nodded and followed Rabastan inside, who had quietly opened the door with a nonverbal alohomora. Wow! What a room! The room that was probably the common room of the 6th year boys was wide and blue and bronze. Even a fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace. It looked suspiciously like a Ravenclaw copy. Also the large windows were a giveaway.
Hermione and Draco crept forwards behind Rabastan himself when they entered the first bedroom. Rabastan leaned over a handsome boy. "What a pity!" he said disdainfully and stunned him nonverbally. The others followed suit immediately. Hermione and Draco ran over towards the other beds in the room and the other soldiers went up the stairs to the other rooms.
"Stupefy!" "Petrificus totalus!" Red and white light was seen everywhere in the bedroom of 5 boys. They couldn't even wake up fast enough to know what was going on.
"Now, your device!" Rabastan urged. Hermione went up to the first boy that Rabastan had petrified. She recognized his handsome face immediately. It was Cedric. Hermione hated herself at that very moment. Swallowing, she pressed the triangular device on his hand – and it glowed green. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Hermione proceeded on to the next person. Her heart sank. It was Terry Boot. But wasn't Terry part of Slytherin's order the last time they checked in the future?
Before she could dwell on that, Draco pressed his device onto Terry's Hand. "Blue. What do we do with a halfblood?"
"Nothing. Only sort out the mudbloods." Rabastan commanded. Hermione nodded and walked over to the next bed. Flaming red hair and his pale face full of freckles was none other than – Ron. Hermione's heart suddenly stopped beating. No, that couldn't be. Her face had lost all colour and she was about to vomit. But at least he was safe. She pressed the triangular device onto his hand and it glowed green of course. "A bloodtraitor!" Rabastan said disdainfully.
Hermione bit back a remark as she didn't want to get in trouble. But it seemed as if this fact didn't change. The Weasleys were still bloodtraitors. Draco had noticed that too and he shot a faint smirk in Hermione's direction.
On the next bed was another boy, Hermione recognized immediately. His mouth was still slightly open from snoring and his eyes were tightly closed. Oliver Wood. Hermione smiled as she remembered her first secret crush. In her second year she had met him when the Gryffindor team was cornered by the Slytherins and Hermione and Ron had gotten up to help. Since then, Oliver couldn't get out of her head.
Draco glared at his former quidditch opponent and his frown deepened when the device glowed green again.
Hermione was surprised that all of these boys were in the 6th form. In the "other" future, they had been in different classes, Ron and Terry in her year, Oliver and Cedric slightly older. Now they were all the same age. When Draco pulled away the curtain of the fifth bed, her breathing stopped for a second. Wait! This boy was in their year as well?
He looked older and had quite a peaceful look on his face, his large camera lying on the beside table next to him. Colin Creevey – a muggle. Rabastan himself pressed the device onto Colin's hand and it glowed red. "Ha! A mudblood! Bind him up, Draco!" Rabastan cheered.
Draco obeyed and bound him into thin ropes. "I'll hate you for that, Malfoy!" Hermione growled into Draco's ear so that Rabastan couldn't hear. Draco shrugged. "It's our job and YOU ARE part of it, in case you haven't noticed, Hermione."
"Now, we'll meet the others in the common room." Rabastan, Hermione and Draco walked downstairs with a bound and stunned Colin in their midst. They didn't have to wait long for the others. They returned with a large beefy boy that Hermione didn't know, a tousled Justin Finch-Fletchley and a girl that had obviously been sleeping over at her boyfriend's – Susan Bones by the looks of it.
"Very well!" Rabastan growled. "Now we leave as fast and quiet as possible."
The others nodded mutedly. Hermione was still in shock, staring at her former muggle friends' faces with a sense of loss and pity.
Their walk to the potion's classroom was uneventful. But then a horde of screaming students, followed by their army was running down the corridors, clearly frightened. Even the purebloods were amongst them. "Seems as if Sirius' group couldn't keep their voice down." Rabastan shook his head.
Hermione's eyes widened in shock as the students drew nearer and nearer. Not from fear but from recognition. Ginny was amongst them.
THTHTH
Hermione and Draco landed on their hard chairs in Dumbledore's office. Hermione was still shaking, and Draco tried to hide his emotions as usual. "Professor." Hermione gasped. "It was awful!"
Dumbledore gave Hermione a calming draught and even Draco downed one with a frown and Hermione started telling Dumbledore what they had seen. "That's indeed awful." Dumbledore said sadly. "It seems as if your strategy isn't working. Or maybe… you just have to change one little detail."
Hermione and Draco looked at each other, completely lost now.
"Hmmm, I cannot see what this little thing could be." Hermione mused, deep in thought.
"You still have some time – though it is running fast. Any future is better than that one though. Or the one you came from. Try to make things differently. Good night!" Dumbledore waved them out of the office unceremoniously.
THTHTH
"Natalija!" Hermione almost bumped into her boyfriend who was patrolling the corridors near the charms classroom. "Tom!" Hermione said happily, melting into his arms, kissing him longingly. It felt so good to be near him again. "How was your detention?"
"Just lovely." Hermione avoided his gaze. "Why was Krum with you?" Tom glared over Hermione's shoulder at the blonde-haired Slytherin.
"Because he had a detention as well." Hermione invented quickly. "And we had to do some teamwork." 'You're getting better at it, Hermione.' Hermione thought grinning. She had never been a great actress though she seemed to be improving in the 40s.
Tom's expression cleared at one. "Ah, I understand. Krum, you may go to the Slytherin dorms now." Tom smirked. Draco nodded – he was exhausted anyway. He bade the couple good night, and made his way to the dungeons, scowling slightly. He still hated Tom – and the fact that he stole Hermione away from him. Draco so much wanted to spend some time in the kitchen with her, talking about the future.
As soon as Hermione and Tom reached the head dorms, Tom summoned some butterbeers, white rose-bottles and firewhiskey. Hermione raised an eyebrow, plopping down onto his comfortable bed. "Well?" she enquired. "We're going to have a little party! Just you and me!" Tom said, his face slightly red.
He must be kidding her. Since when did the dark lord party or have fun? Hermione smiled – that must be a sign for the change of the future. "I'd love to!" Tom smiled as well and plopped himself down next to her, bending over her and kissing her deeply. He groaned into her kisses. Even though she was only gone for an hour and a half, he had missed her and her kisses terribly. "Would you care for a white rose?"
Hermione remembered the drink Abraxas had given her on their "date". She had come to love it. "Yes, please." Hermione looked at the bottle longingly. But Tom smirked and conjured a real white rose with his wand. "This is for the best and most important lady in my life!"
A/N: Thx for reading and reviewing. I'll either update this or at the beginning of next week.HeHermarH