Author: Svelte Rose

Rating: K+

Title: Kill Time, Injure Eternity

Part: 03

Characters: Hermione Granger, Tom Riddle, various ancestors

Warnings: The madness that I have pulled from my mind and transfused into this work.

Date: September 2nd, 2007

Note: This is probably my favorite part most of all. Pwehe. Shout out to Nicole. Without her, this story would be unreadable with the littering of grammatical errors everywhere.

She opened the room and blew a sigh of relief when she realized her roommates were gone. Leaving her bag on the floor, she slowly crawled into bed and pressed a soft pillow to her face, breathing deeply as her brain furiously worked to solve the newest problem.

Slughorn was someone who was very aware of his skills and never failed to present them in a glorious light. He was arrogant and proud (she could not fault him for something she had done once) and encouraged others to do the same through his small 'get-togethers.' One did not refuse the invitations to these gatherings, not only because they were hard to come by, but also because one did not wish to irritate such a well-networked professor whose recommendation could very well make or break one's future after Hogwarts.

Not that she had a future to look forward to but it was the principle of the matter.

Much as people liked to believe otherwise, life was truly a series of accidents rather than the events dealt by the hand of a divine power. Humans were (and still are) capable of great kindness and great depravity. It was this irony that ruled the universe with an iron fist.

Slughorn's purpose was one of them. It was strange how people were always in want of belonging to something, yet, exclusivity drew them like moths to a bright light.

She was not one of those moths.

As she stared at the innocent invitation in her hand, it did not come as a surprise when she wished to burn it even though she would've framed it before. She had worked very hard to remain solitary, unseen and unheard. To be otherwise was a prospect she had shuddered to even think about.

Time was a fickle thing in life. Like frames in a film, it played one right after the other, yet existed side by side. If one altered a single frame, it would affect all frames thereafter, a catalyst to an otherwise stable original.

She was like finding a needle in a haystack among the thousand-some students that attended Hogwarts. In a dorm of more than a couple hundred, she was a shadow no one deigned to notice. In a classroom of thirty, she was just another student.

But in a gathering of only less than ten people, they would be forced to know each other. After all, one kept an eye on their friends but an even closer eye on their enemies. Not only would they be recognized as each other's almost-equal if not equal, but also as one another's competitors. To be so close…

It was the first strike.

She wasn't ready. Not by far.

She had entered behind a group of giggling girls, the subject of their amusement lost to the pounding in her head as adrenaline kicked in and her senses went into hyper-mode. She had stuffed her hands in the sleeves of her robe to hide the death-like grip she had on her wand which helped her posture in presenting a figure of cold aloofness. Like every other time, this had kept the others away thus far. Professor Slughorn greeted each and every student at the door, shaking her hand rather vigorously and then offering her the myriad of sweets and snacks laid out on a wide table. Thankfully, it was a brief greeting as he quickly moved onto the next student while she made herself a little niche in a dimly-lit corner, a bored look pasted on her face. Underneath it all, she could feel her muscles tensing slightly and had to take several deep breaths before the pounding of her heart returned to its normal rate.

While the object of her ire had yet to arrive, she knew he was bound to make his entrance anytime now, charming persona in place while hidden intentions flashed in his green eyes- hidden intentions that nobody, but herself, knew about. In such a personal setting, they were bound to cross paths, which was something she had strictly warned herself in not doing ever since she had arrived. No matter how much she wanted to, she could not play God even if he was the Devil.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood to abrupt attention as the Slytherin Prefect entered the room, grinning brightly at the teacher while casting his greetings to several others around the room. People had quickly made their way towards him to shake his hand and make their 'hellos' while she made sure to stay in the corner, not calling attention to herself.

She had not considered that that which was supposed to make her unnoticeable had capturedhis attention very much. Life was ironic that way.

When he lifted his head up towards her, she supposed she should've looked away, she supposed she should've made sure her emotions were more in check, and she supposed she shouldn't have issued the wordless challenge.

Because when his eyes turned cold after a brief moment of confusion, she knew with an all too sinking awareness than he had accepted her challenge, whatever it may be.

That had been the second strike.

She could no longer remain hidden.

There was no turning back now.

Leaning up against the wall, she had wiped at the blood dribbling freely down her chin as Seamus and Dean walked back and forth rapidly. Shouts could be heard coming from the end of the hall and all around them, portraits screaming as smoke filled the air.

Finally, the door to the Room of Requirements opened and Seamus quickly hobbled past the relieved looking Luna who passed him a vial filled with a potion to heal whatever wounds he had sustained.

Hermione stood up, flashing a look at the usually serene Ravenclaw girl before giving her an affirmation in the form of a stiff nod. She wanted to hiss in pain at this movement but managed to bite her tongue; the dark Gryffindor had yet to realize that she was not going to follow him into the room.

Dean was not without his own intelligence, however. He had caught the steely resolve on the Ravenclaw's face and turned immediately on his heel. Just as he reached out with his wand to summon the curly-haired girl on the other-side of the doorway into the room, the stone door quickly slammed shut, absorbing his spell and rendering it useless. The seam of the doorway disappeared and no matter how many times he tried to reopen it, it would not appear again.

"I'm sorry but this is what she wanted." Luna had said in her soft tone before walking towards the other wounded students.

On the other side, Hermione had pushed herself from the wall and was doing a series of intricate wand movements. One spell in particular was used to purposefully slice her palm open. She cupped her hand to keep the seeping blood from dripping everywhere as she quickly made her way towards the wall. Smearing a crude streak across the space where the doorway had been, she muttered under her breath in an old language, this time using her wand to once again, draw various lines and curves in the air.

The runes cast by the wand hit the wall, one right after the other. After each hit, the wall pulsated more and more with her power. Just as she muttered her last spell, a horde of black-robed figures wearing white masks surrounded her in the hallway, wands drawn menacingly.

A bolt of red hit her soon after and her own wand fell to the floor with a clatter as she fell none too gently after.

"Careful, he gave us specific orders on how to treat this one." One of them ordered.

She could've cared less as to what he had said because even if her wand had fallen from her hand, the spell had already left the slender piece of wood. Joining its partners, the final rune embedded itself into the wall, absorbing the blood she had smeared earlier. The Death Eaters couldn't possibly even try getting to her comrades now. The protection wards, borderline Dark Magic, were complete and nothing, not even her own death would remove it.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light as magic pulsed through the castle in a single large wave.

"Expelliarmus!" Came the shout from the other side of the room.

With a flick of her wand and words muttered under her breath, a shielding spell covered her. As soon as the bolt bounced off the shield, she let it fall and cast one of her own offensive spells, "Protego!"

He threw it off like it was nothing.

"Stupefy!" He yelled immediately after, the red bolt shooting from his wand.

Stay in control. Don't lose focus.

She lifted her wand as though to do another shielding spell, but at the last second, dropped her hand and the spell hit her. Her short, blond hair fell in a curtain around her face, hiding the relieved smile that had taken place. She had not wanted to duel, least of all him. But as per the curriculum, she had been required to and unfortunately drew his name as her opponent. However, control was the key, as she had to keep a tight grip on certain factors about her that if revealed, would cause more questions than give more answers. She did not need any more speculation than she already got from her fellow classmates. First, for basically being an unknown but none the less being invited to Slughorn's party, second in her dismissal of a popular Slytherin Prefect (especially since girls simply did not pass him off as nothing more than another average person), and third…well, she didn't want to give them a third reason.

"Excellent, I say! Marvelous!" Professor Slughorn clapped loudly as he turned from one to the other. "Hera, for your first time, you held up very well especially with your opponent being as skilled as he was. Tom, good job as usual!"

The boy in question bowed slightly, throwing the teacher a gracious smile. Then he lifted his wand and said, "Finite Incantatum."

She quickly fell back in a relaxed position and nodded towards the teacher with a small smile of her own. Just as she lifted her eyes from the Professor, her opponent lifted his wand again, the same words uttered under his breath.

Before she could do anything, the second 'Finite Incantatum' hit her. It was usually a harmless spell but…

Bloody hell, how had he known?

There was a gasp from their audience as the appearance her classmates had become used to (at least those who noticed her and ignored) disappeared and other features quickly morphed into being.

Her thin lips grew, resembling plumper, healthier lips. The sparse things she had for eyebrows filled out with dark-brown hair in a perfect arch as her eyelashes lengthened from the nonexistent stubs they were before. However, the most pronounced change was the disappearance of the stringy, short blond hair, replaced by dark brown hair which fell down her back in a tumult of shiny curls.

"Merlin's beard…" Professor Slughorn gasped loudly, his hand covering his mouth as his eyes widened. "A glamour charm…the Headmaster will want to hear of this…"

There were murmurs through the crowd, whispers quickly passed from one student to another.

But all she could see was red as emotions long bottled, spilled forth like the escape from Pandora's Box. "You!" She yelled in cold fury, her wand out in a threatening gesture. "How did you even know?"

He smiled peacefully though his green eyes contradicted with darker emotions, "Doesn't matter now does it, Ronegn? You've deceived us for the last month or so and I felt it was my duty as a Prefect to reveal your true nature especially in times of war." He had replied in that silky, deep voice of his.

The crowd shifted uncomfortably. While Grindelwald's name was not mentioned, all knew it was he who the Slytherin Prefect was pointing to.

She narrowed her eyes, "I don't have to explain myself to anybody, least of all, you." She could not help but make the last word sound like dirt in her mouth.

The smiling countenance never left his face but she could see she had angered him by the darkening pools of emerald and the knuckle-white grip on his wand. He had to deal with enough people speaking to him in those tones- he would not want the same in a school he otherwise ruled.

"Miss Ronegn, I believe a visit to the Headmaster is in order." Professor Slughorn interjected in a grave voice as he clasped a hand on her shoulder.

Furious brown eyes clashed with cold, glittering green ones as she was led from the Potions classroom. Their locked gazes did not break until she had disappeared from the bend of the door, scandalized whispers following her throughout.

It didn't matter what they said. Nothing matched the horrific feeling she felt when the implications of what had happened finally hit her.

They were never supposed to meet but they had and what's more, they had engaged in a duel even if it wasn't of her choosing. Anonymity was out of the question now because she knew that if they were anything like her classmates back home, then the news would soon make its way through the school. She gave it less than an hour.

The students knew what she truly looked like. He knew what she looked like. But how he knew she was hiding it, was the question. Had he been paying that close attention? And if he had, why?

"Leaping leprechauns." Professor Slughorn said and the statue of the gargoyle swung to the left, leaving the entrance wide open.

Her lips pressed together even tighter as she was led up the stairs.

Strike three.