Author's Note: Some scenes of torture are in this chapter but it won't be too graphic. Just as a heads up. Also, there will be some POV changes.

CH. 16-Revelations

I moaned in pain, finally waking up from a deep sleep. My head felt like it was on fire. Every bone in my body was hurting and I could barely open my eyes. The last thing I remembered was giving some man directions before meeting pure darkness. I say having trust issues isn't a bad thing when situations like this occur. I was such an idiot.

Trying to raise myself from the cold floor, I felt my arm pull back towards the ground. I looked around behind me and saw that I was tied up in chains that restricted my movement. I couldn't get up off the ground. I felt my heart start to race in fear and I bit my lip to keep myself from crying. Wherever I was, I was being held captive.

"Rise and shine luv," a man's voice called out to me.

I looked up at him as he took a seat on a chair next to my position on the floor. I tried to scoot away from him as far as possible.

"Don't be scared my sweet. I don't bite. Much," He said with a smile adorning his face.

I tried to figure out where I had saw him before. I knew that I had I seen him before he took me as his prisoner. He had dark black hair that was graying on the edges, a long straight nose, and light blue/grayish eyes. He was very thin and would be attractive for his age if it weren't for the fact that he was probably going to kill me.

"Where are we?" I asked trying to look around for clues.

"Somewhere only I know and where no one will began to look for you," He said, picking lent off his dark trousers.

"Please, let me go. I promise I won't tell anyone about this," I pleaded with the strange man.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that. I have much bigger plans for you," He replied looking down at me patiently.

"What do you want with me?" I asked frightened by what the answer might be.

"You are just like a Christmas present come early. If I kill you, I will be killing two birds with one stone. Revenge will be served and ultimate pain will be inflicted upon the great Harry Potter," He said rising from his chair and heading towards a table with instruments that I couldn't identify spread out across it.

"How do you who Harry is?"

"Oh please, after the oh so tragic death of his righteous parents, he became the talk of the town. 'The boy who lived'. He was the first child to escape my grasp. As the bloody news reported, I liked to have complete sets. Break whole families apart. First I would kill the parents and then the children as they looked on. But things didn't go as planned. His father made sure of that. 'Boy who lived'," He spit out in disgust. "He only livesbecause I will it. But don't worry, his time will come soon enough."

"You're him. You're Tom Riddle," I spoke out softly as tears started to stream down my face in memory of the Potter's death at the hands of this mass murder.

He turned his head around to look at me with a smile before turning back around to the table in front of him. "Good to know that you aren't the brightest in your year for nothing."

"You can do whatever you want to me. Just don't hurt Harry. You've taken enough from him."

"How nice of you to offer yourself in your beloved's place, but I don't need your approval. I will take whatever I want, whenever I want. And what I want is both of your deaths at my hands."

"Why are you doing this now? Are you that much of coward? Are you afraid of Harry, is that it?"

"Don't insult my intelligence you silly little girl. I am not afraid of a mere boy. It's me that he should fear. I am in the thoughts that continue to plague his mind. I am in every terrifying excruciating memory of his parents' death that he remembers. I am in every sickening nightmare that he dreams about."

"Don't flatter yourself. Harry is much stronger than you will ever be you pathetic excuse for a human being," I spilled out in anger.

"How dare you!" He spit out as he rushed over from his position at the table to drop down beside me. He put his hands on my chin, thrusting my face upwards to look at him. I fought the urge to spit into the face that took away my boyfriend's parents so long ago. "I think you have had enough time to speak. I think its time to experience a little pain, don't you think?" He said with a wicked smile.

He started to raise his other hand to my cheek. Feeling a cold metal against my face, I looked at his hand to see a knife. I gasped in genuine fear. He moved the blade playfully against my face as I started to feel more tears rush down my face. I closed my eyes to block his face from my view.

"Shh, this will only hurt a little bit," He said with a laugh as he swiped the blade against my cheek.

I screamed out in pain, cringing and straining against my chains desperate to break free.

A little while later—

I sat back against the wall and watched him meticulously clean his torture tools. The tears on my cheeks had dried and I had no more to give. The blood from my cut on my cheek had dried as well. I looked down to see the large cuts on my arms as blood collected beside me on the floor. I felt weak, drained and all I wanted to do was see Harry and my parents again. I hated this cold floor, but I hated the man that was causing all of this even more.

"You've been watching Harry all of these years?" I stated more than questioned softly from my position on the floor.

"Yes," He answered as he moved back to his chair beside me.

"What were you doing? Bidding your time? For what? To make Harry feel as if he were safe and could actually lead a decent life no matter how empty he may still feel because of what you have taken from him?" I said in disgust.

"You may think you have everything figured out, but you can't even begin to know the way that I think. Apparently, James Potter thought he had it all figured out. He knew that I had been tracking him for awhile. He had plans to make sure that I indeed was placed into the willing hands of the police. He and Lilly would be bait and lead them right to me. So he thought. They were good secret agents but not good enough," He responded with a distant look on his face.

"They were secret agents?" I said in shock. We were always led under the impression that they were traveling business representatives.

"Oh yes. And one of the missions was to capture me. My family killing spree was getting out of hand for the local police department. So, they brought in agents to help them in their efforts. I admit that I originally took the bait. I was always attracted to "perfect families". The night I decided to kill them was the night they made sure Harry would be in hiding with his godfather."

"So you didn't get the chance to kill the whole Potter family. And you couldn't after that. Harry was in constant protection, he had guards everywhere growing up as a baby. But what about after that? Sirius made sure to end the protective detail after he turned age 4. He wanted him to have a normal life."

"I thought about it. I even made an appearance once when you were children playing at the park. But then I decided on something even sweeter. What would be better than to allow him to grow up and have a child of his own, only to suffer the same fate as his precious parents? And only then as he begged me for mercy, would I end his pathetic excuse of a life."

"You are so cruel," I said with an ache of sadness in my heart for Harry.

"So I have been told," He answered with a smirk.

I sighed in frustration for the second time. Riddle had left half an hour ago to "attend to business" he had said. He told me not to try to escape before laughing wickedly at the thought of me even attempting to. And here I was half an hour later, doing exactly that. I had been trying to move the chair closer to me with my feet. I thought that maybe I could break it for a weapon to use against him as a stake of sorts and wound him enough to get the key from his pocket. The more I thought about it, the more "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" it sounded but hey, it was the only thing I could think of at the moment. There were times like these that I wished that magic was real.

"Dammit!" I exclaimed in anger as I managed to push the chair even further out of reach. I needed to get out of here and stop Riddle before he hurt Harry. He told me that he wouldn't harm Harry before killing me first which was a slight comfort in some twisted way, but that still didn't mean that he wouldn't torture him somehow.

I moved to lie on my side on the cold floor, taking deep breaths and trying to weigh my options. I could continue to wait here until he came back or figure out a plan to get out of here. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. Before I could dwell too much on what to do, I heard the door open from up above and knew that he was back.

Harry's POV—

"Ugh this is so frustrating! We don't even know where to begin to look for her," I said, trying not to pull my hair out.

"The metropolitan police are on it Harry. I am sure something will come up soon," Sirius stated in comfort.

"That's not good enough. I should be out there," I responded as I continued to move back and forth through the living room.

"Not a good idea mate. What if the bloke tries to take you both captive? Or worse, axe you?" Ron spoke up from his position on the lounge chair.

"Well then at least I would know what condition she was in and I am willing to take that risk."

"Well I am not. I am putting my foot down. You will stay here and let the department do their work. You know that Remus and Tonks are great detectives and are bound to find something soon," Sirius asserted.

"Harry dear, I admire your efforts and I appreciate how willing you are to do anything to protect Hermione, but I don't want you to be in harms way as well. I could not bare it. Nor do I think that Hermione would want you to," Mrs. Granger said from her position on the love seat.

The Grangers had come over after Sirius had told them the news a couple of hours ago. Jean Granger had been mostly silent, trying not to break down into tears as she and her husband waited for more information about their daughter. I knew that the best people for the job were out there looking for Hermione but that didn't make me feel any better. The Granger's only daughter had been taken and it was more than likely my fault.

I nodded to Jean to let her know that I heard her and wouldn't do anything rash. I took a seat next to Ginny on the couch. She gave me an encouraging smile before she continued to look into the fireplace. Just then, the front door opened and footsteps sounded down the hall toward our place in the living room.

"Have you found her?" Mrs. Granger asked softly, rising from the couch with Mr. Granger's hand around her shoulder in support.

"No, sorry. We looked at the scene of the crime and it revealed nothing. I think our best bet at this point in time is to hope for a phone call," Remus answered as Tonks walked up behind him.

"You think that Riddle will call?" Sirius asked.

"Either that or we will hear from Hermione. It's typical behaviour in cases such as these. Harry, we need to ask you a few questions if that is alright?" Remus responded, turning towards me.

"Anything."

"Do you have any idea why he would take Hermione?"

"I've been wondering the same thing since he took her. I honestly have no clue Remus. Maybe to hurt me again? I don't know," I answered, running my hands through my hair in frustration.

Sirius patted me comfortingly on the shoulder before moving off to the side with Remus and Tonks to discuss something. I stared blankly at the wall, my thoughts clouded with images of Hermione being in pain and crying for me to save her. Once again someone that I loved was in harms way and there was nothing that I could do about it. They should change my name to the "helpless boy who lived".

I heard an annoying buzzing sound off to the side before a flash of red hair moved into my line of vision.

"Mate, your phone is vibrating," Ron said shaking me from my thoughts.

"Let it ring, I don't care who it is," I responded before going back to my thoughts.

"Harry," I heard Ginny's voice announce in a trembling voice. Immediately Ron and I turned around to look at her. "It's Hermione," She said holding my phone up as it continued to buzz.

I ran over to her place by the couch and grabbed the phone in my hands. The room went silent as I answered the call.

"Hermione? Is that you? Are you okay?" I spoke into the receiver desperately.

"Harry," Hermione's voice responded softly in that sweet voice that I loved so much.

I sighed in relief, knowing that she was at least alive. As I was about to start speaking into the phone again Remus motioned for me to turn it on speaker and to keep going.

"Yes its me. Has it he hurt you?" I asked, afraid to know what the answer was.

"I will be okay. Harry, listen to me, you can't look for me anymore. He is going to kill you, probably after he kills me," She pleaded with me.

"No, I will never let that happen. Tell me where he is holding you—"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Potter. I thought you were smarter than that. I was going to let the two of you have a nice little goodbye conversation but now I must cut that short. Can't have you asking too many questions," Riddle's voice cut in.

"Let her go. You can have me. Where do you want to meet?" I said desperately.

Tonks handed me a note that said the police officers in the kitchen were tapping the call and trying to find the location. I just needed to keep the conversation going for a few more seconds. I nodded quickly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Granger and Ginny crying silently.

"You don't think I can get to you whenever I want? You always were arrogant. Just like your father. Don't worry, you will join the both of them very soon. Just you wait," He replied before I heard the phone disconnect.

"Dammit he hung up! Did you at least track the call?" I asked Tonks and Remus.

Hermione's POV—

"Your boy is very foolish isn't he," Riddle said to me, throwing my phone against the wall, shattering it into pieces.

I didn't answer him and sunk even lower to the floor from my position on the wall. I tried to warn Harry as best as I could. All I could do now was pray to the heavens for him not to try to find me. I would most likely be dead by the time he arrived and I really couldn't bare for him to have another person he cared about die.

"Well, I think I let you live long enough don't you think?" He stated before moving to the table in front of his instruments.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as I felt more tears roll down my cheek.

"They always want to know why. As if that will make things better to have clarification. Perhaps it provides for a more meaningful death, whatever that may be. Would that make you feel better to know the purpose of your death?" He asked as he ran his fingers across the chosen blade.

I wanted to roll my eyes at his senseless antics but I just nodded at him instead. I didn't want to anger the already psychopathic killer as it was.

"Very well. Potter's death is less personal. It is simply a mission I have to complete a set. You on the other hand, are completely different. You see, you have done something to affect me personally and for that, you must pay the price," He responded walking towards me before bending down by my side.

"I don't understand. I don't even know you."

"Me, maybe not. But you have gotten to my son quite well and it is because of you that he is locked up in that hell hole called prison."

"Your son?" I asked in confusion. Great not only was he a killer, he was also completely delusional.

"Yes. Cormac McLaggen Riddle," He said out loud with a grin adorning his features.

My mouth dropped in shock and I couldn't help the large gasp that erupted from my mouth.

Well was that shocking or what? Yes, yes I know that Cormac isn't really Tom's son but it makes for an interesting twist like I promised. Plus it's an AU fic, so I thought why the heck not? So a few more chapters of this and the story will sadly come to an end. On the upside, I have started writing another story that I will be posting up after I finish this. So look out for that when it comes. Feedback would be lovely thanks! =]