Chapter 28

Voldemort paced up and down the corridor where the entrance to the library was located. He'd decided to inform Hermione of the decision he'd made as soon as possible in order to get it over and done with. He'd arisen early that morning and had ordered Snape to do some simple 'shopping' for him. Now he was awaiting his loyal follower to return with what he was sent for so he could finally get seeing Hermione done and dusted.

It wasn't that he was afraid by any means. He just didn't like the thought of confrontation with the 'silent' her. Although part of him figured that his plans on making her a death eater in a week's time might just get her out of her stupor.

He stopped pacing, getting annoyed with himself for it, and waved his hand over the library's entrance door, making it see through for him. Meaning he could see inside but they couldn't see out of it. He noticed, with a raised eyebrow, that she was nowhere to be seen. However, the library seemed to be finished. The wooden shelves gleaned when the sun hit off of them from the windows. The entire room was dust free, and no doubt the books were all in complete order.

"My Lord."

Voldemort turned to look at Snape, who was standing a few feet away from him, bowing. Voldemort smirked a little. Snape was the only one who seemed able to ever sneak up on him. He'd done it a few times in the past. He'd crucio'd him the first time, but that was only because he was a bit sour over that fact. But now it only amused him. If all his senses were up, he'd be able to notice him coming a while away.

"You may rise Severus. Did you aquire it?"

Severus raised himself, before reaching into his robe's pockets. "Yes, my Lord." Out from his pockets, he pulled out a small, cream box which he enlarged to it's real size and handed it out to Voldemort. Voldemort used one of his fingers to lift the box lid open slightly, enough to peer inside and see that Severus had indeed got what he asked for correctly.

"Well done, Severus. You may leave now."

Severus nodded his head slightly and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Severus."

Severus barely managed to hide his sigh, before turning his head to look at his 'master'.

"Good duelling skills by the way. Perhaps one night when we're both free, we shall arrange a little competition of sorts. Just for fun and sport, of course."

Severus' eyebrows desperately wanted to dissapear above his hair line, and his hand twitched to grab him by the throat and ask just who the hell he really was, and if he had suffered a blow to the head lately or not. "Sounds like an interesting experience, my Lord."

Voldemort smirked in his direction, before waving him off. Once the man in black was gone, he turned to look in the library again, however, there was still no sign of Hermione. Steeling himself again, he waved his hand, undoing the small charm, and walked through the door. After opening it, via the handle of course.

Seeing as she was no place in obvious sight, he could only presume she'd wandered off to their usual spot, or she was in her room. He guessed her room.

He walked up to the door and gave it a swift, and rather audible knock. When no answer came, he knocked louder. Releasing a breath of frustrated air, he opened the door a slight crack.

"Herm... Granger?"

No answer.

"Granger!"

When there was no answer again, he slammed the door open and rushed inside. His eyes roamed over the living area, the fire out and a half read book laying down flat on top of the coffee table next to the fluffy armchair. He quickly crossed the small room and opened the bedroom door rather forcefully.

"Grang- SHIT!"

"Eep!"

Hermione was just fresh out of the shower, having decided to get the last of the library dust cleaned off of her now that she'd finally finished cleaning the damned thing. It had to be the most relaxing shower she'd ever taken. She'd been sitting in front of her bedroom mirror desk, brushing her hair, only dressed in a loose towel. His rather rough entry had startled her enough to make her turn around sharply and cause the towel to become undone.

Hermione's body flushed red all over as she frantically grabbed for the towel. Her eyes raised some what and then she couldn't help the frustrated growl that soon left her lips.

"For goodness sake, Lord or no Lord, TURN AROUND!"

Voldemort had been standing in a state of complete and utter shock and confusion. How had he managed to stumble upon this?

Hermione growled when she saw he still just standing there. But then again, he probably wouldn't do what a mudblood told him anyway. She was nothing but filth after all...

With that thought in mind, she waved her hand so that she was magicked into a pair blue, denim jeans, and a white vest top. Her ever comfy, boot slippers a lovely addition. She sat crossed legged and armed and turned to face him, looking impatient, all the while trying to hide her complete and utter embarrassment and being seen like that. Thank goodness she'd been able to turn herself around in time before he saw anything... revealing.

"Well?"

Voldemort was still trying to process just what it was he'd seen. Her impatient question, however, managed to shake him out of his odd sort of stupor.

"Yes... yes." He nodded his head before going over to the bed and sitting down at the bottom of it. He patted the space next to him for her to sit.

She simply raised her eyebrows questionably. If he thought she'd go anywhere near him, much less on a bed, after what he did to her, he had another thing coming.

"I'd much rather sit here, thank you."

"Granger," he growled warningly. He didn't want to become impatient or angry with her at this precise moment. "Let's not make things more difficult, shall we not?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed, but she did as he was quite obviously telling her to do, and uncrossed her arms and legs, and moved to sit next to him. She made a point to put some sort of distance in between them, so she wouldn't have to physically touch him.

Voldemort noticed this of course, but chose not to say anything. This was as good as she was going to get, so he might as well be pleased with it. He looked down at the box, and brushed any sort of dust off of it before handing it out towards her. "Here. A present."

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed as she put out her hands to take the box from him. Why on earth would he be giving her a present? Once the box was secure in her hands, she placed it gently on her lap and was quick to open the lid.

A small gasp escaped her lips at what she saw. Her hands dove in to pull out the emerald, silk fabric. Looking at it properly, she saw it was the same design as the dress she'd worn to Slughorn's party in the past. Only it wasn't silver, but an emerald green.

Now that she'd had her girly moment, her curiosity and awareness strengthened to a horrible degree.

"Why?"

Voldemort cleared his throat before saying, "it's for you, obviously, as I think it'd be nice for you to wear next week at the ceremony."

Hermione's eyes grew nervous. "What ceremony?"

"The sentencing of the prisoners, where they either die or join... And the recruitment of a new Death Eater."

She gulped. "Who's the new death eater."

"You."

"No."

"I'm afraid so."

Hermione started to get angry. The no good snake! How very fucking dare he! After all of this, he had the cheek to come here and declare she be a death eater? A murdering idiot with no sense of dignity? No morals? He wanted to turn her into some death eater, infront of all her friends, whom he planned to kill! Did this Voldemort even know her?

She shoved the dress back in the box and shut it, and then forcefully placed it on his lap.

"I refuse your gift, and down right will notbe one of your new lackeys."

Voldemort felt himself also beginning to get angry. This woman, despite everything, was still standing up to him! Surely she knew her place by now!

"You forget your place, Granger."

"No. I. Do. Not." She managed to bite out. "In case you've forgotten with your new memories, I am still 'Hermione Granger', brains behind the Golden Trio, defender of the light, and best friend to the boy you murdered! The daughter, of the two parents you murdered! It's you who seems to have forgotten who I was and still am, before I got sent to your past. The only difference is the girl you knew had no responsibilities, and didn't need to worry about someone wanting to kill her 24/7. The girl who I was and still am, however stands against everything you are trying to make people believe in, and I swear to God and Merlin alike, Dark Mark or no Dark Mark, I will continue to fight you with everything I've got!"

His anger got the better of him for a few seconds, and his arm raised, hand poised to strike, like he would had it been any other person. However, she did not flinch in fear, but kept her head high, embracing what she thought would be a blow to her face. This made him stop.

He couldn't hurt her like that. He never would or could again. He'd fucked her up too much already.

Instead, he used his poised hand, to snap his fingers. A long chain burst forth from the ground and attached itself to her foot. Her eyes looked up at him in surprise.

"If you want to be treated like a prisoner, you shall. You are bound to this room and your bathroom only. Severus will be in shortly to take you through the steps you'll need to know for your ceremony on Sunday."

He stood up quickly and turned his back on her. Just as he reached her door, he looked over his shoulder to see her staring at him with utter hate. "I'll give this dress to the elf assigned to, and she'll dress you in it. Good day, Granger."

And with that, he left.

And she screamed out all the frustration and anger she'd wanted to release for some time.

Severus Snape sighed as he ran his spidery fingers through his long, black hair. He had to keep his cool before he went into Granger's room after all.

He gently tapped the door before he walked briskly inside. Granger was lying on her bed, arms folded stubbornly, her head facing the wall, refusing to look at him.

He rolled his eyes. Gryffindors.

"Granger, you might want to turn around and listen to me."

Granger turned her head and threw all the hate she could muster towards him in one single glance.

He waved his wand, and with a quick flick, the correct wards were put up in order to keep their conversation private, and plant the neccessary images in case Voldemort was to look at them through that little mirror he'd became so fond of using.

He smirked at Granger's confused and wary look as she straightened herself on the bed, sitting properly.

He'd worked too hard for this for it to mess up now. Therefor the only way to make this plan work, he needed her complete and utter trust... which also meant being honest with her.

Damn.

"Listen good, Granger, as I shall only be saying this once. I believe you to be a stubborn, know it all, with a constant need to prove she's always right. Which can be quite annoying at times."

Hermione scowled, not liking where this conversation seemed to be headed for her. Snape noticed this of course and mentally chuckled at her.

"That being said, your also determined, and sometimes stupidly brave. You remind me of someone I was once very close to at one point. However, I did things, that resulted in her looking at me like you do now. With hate. Which I may deserve, but now it's time I let you in on a little secret."

He watched as Granger lent forward, listening thoroughly.

"Voldemort murdered the one person I loved, and therefor, as a result, I hate him. Loathe him actually. And I wanted him dead... until recently."

He stepped forward and pulled out the page he'd ripped from the book he'd found inside the library. He handed it out to her, which she reached for eagerly. He watched as her eyes went wide with reading it.

Hermione was beyond confused with Snape's tale and backwards compliments, but what she was reading here... it was oh so very possible. But should she get her hopes up?

"Why, Snape? After all this mess, why now?"

Snape sighed. How to put this...After spending so many years lying, being honest was proving to be rather irritatingly difficult.

"Because, Granger, I may be unwilling to let you in on every single secret about myself, and what I've done, but please be assured, I still am a Slytherin. We know our limits, and sometimes, aren't too willing to push them. This task, for certain reasons, would push my limits at particular points in history, and I don't want to be the one who fucks it up. Clear? I found this during the first war, but only now do I feel I can put it too some good use. Because now I know we've lost, and everything has been for naught."

Hermione didn't know why, but she could practically feel the honesty radiating off of him. Hence why she chose to believe him. He was very private man, and despite her curiosity, she knew not to push for more information on his hate for Voldemort.

"You repaird his soul and taught him to love, Granger."

Hermione sent him a bitter smile at that.

"Yes, but there's one slight problem." Looking down at the many scribbles and notes he'd left on the sheet, she looked at the date he'd chosen. "If I was to just magically appear on that date, he wont remember me due to a stupid memory charm."

Snape smirked at her. "This would be were things get all sappy for you, Granger. All you have to do, is kiss him. But make sure to put a lot of emotion into it, otherwise, it means nothing, got it?"

Hermione nodded, eyes wide with the potential. But there was another problem again...

"But if we reverse time completely, it stops Voldemort and his goons from coming back to get me, but it also reverses time to the point I arrive in the forties, therefor, taking away any at all reason for me travelling back in time in the first place, and means I would never have met him, and there would be no memory spell put on him or the rest of Howarts."

"You're thinking like a muggle, Granger." Snape stood up and headed for the door. But before he opened it, he looked back at her. "We're magical people, Granger, we can twist whatever we want to fit our needs, like this situation, for example. Everything will work out if you just kiss him. Everyone will remember you, you can change history, and everyone will live happily ever after, yada yada yada."

Hermione smiled at him, a strong, determined look set in her eyes. "I'll do it."

Snape snorted at her. "Of course you will Granger. That much was a definite before I even opened my mouth."

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Lots of love, Madame Dee! xxx