Disclaimer: don't own.
That's what happened in chapter 2:
Harry shook his head. "No, it isn't." he said quietly. "It wanted to put me into Slytherin in the future as well."
"Really?" Hermione's eyes were as round as galleons. "But you so fitted into Gryffindor, Harry."
"You would not have survived in the snakes-house; not when you are called Potter." Draco smirked. "But you are a Delacour now, so I think, you won't have too many problems."
"Might I remind you that Slytherin is a house like any other?" Dumbledore provided with a smile. "Now, Miss Delacour, why don't you put the hat on?"
Hermione nodded and took the hat with trembling fingers. Where would it put her?
On with the story:
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"Ah. Another time-traveller – just like your dear brother or shall I say best friend?" the hat chuckled slightly to itself.
"Please, we are here on a mission. Don't judge us too harshly." Hermione explained.
"You think I don't know? I know everything." the hat countered. "Still… you are as naughty as the previous one I sorted."
"Can't you just put me into Gryffindor and get it over with?" Hermione thought angrily.
"Fine." the hat snapped and without offering another explanation it cried out:
"SLYTHERIN!"
Hermione was stunned into silence. She, in Slytherin? But she was a Muggleborn. Slytherin never allowed Muggleborns into his house.
"You too?" Harry half smirked.
"Slytherin?" Draco stepped forward, incredulous. "She can't be in Slytherin; she is a mud… a muggleborn!"
"In the forties she is a Delacour – a pureblood. It is not wise to pose as a Muggleborn in current times anyway. Grindelwald is on the loose. Maybe, you have already heard of him." Dumbledore explained gravely.
Oh. Grindelwald. Hermione nodded. She had almost forgotten that there was also a war in the forties.
"Now." Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "I will inform the headboy so that he can show you the way to Slytherin house."
"I already know the way." Draco drawled, sounding alarmed at the thought of meeting Tom Riddle again.
"But you are not supposed to know it." Dumbledore chided gently and at the same time Hermione opened her mouth to say the exact same thing.
Hermione looked absolutely appalled when Dumbledore called his own personal house elf to fetch Tom Riddle. How dare he! Slave labour! Hermione shuddered at the thought of unpaid work, no sick leave and no holidays.
"Your head of house is Professor Slughorn." Dumbledore informed them. "He also teaches potions."
"Slughorn again?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes.
"Don't worry, this time you will NOT be invited into the Slug Club." Draco smirked evilly. "Poor you, in the forties you are a nobody; not the golden boy."
"And so glad about that." Harry mumbled.
A forceful knock on the door made the three time-travellers jump. The door opened and there was Tom Riddle in all his glory. Hermione's heart beat faster and this time not from fear. She almost got lost in his deep dark blue eyes. What would it be like to kiss his lush lips? Would they be soft? Or hard? Cold or warm?
Tom's velvet voice interrupted Hermione's train of thoughts. "Yes, professor?"
"These three students are new here and they were sorted into Slytherin." Dumbledore explained and Tom raised a solitary eyebrow.
"Really? All of them?" He couldn't suppress his wonder.
"All three of them." Dumbledore nodded.
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Toms POV:
A warm fuzzy feeling made its way into Tom's stomach.
Slytherin.
She was also a Slytherin. He could have danced, but future Dark Lords don't do that of course.
"Fine, professor. I will show them the way to our common room." Tom said politely. "If you would follow me please." with that he looked directly at Hermione and gave her a half-smile, which she – thankfully – returned.
The three people followed him down the hallways and Tom wanted to explain something about the school, when he noticed that the blonde boy, Lumiere, took Hermione's hand. But not in a brotherly or friendly way; it seemed almost loving, tender.
Hate bubbled up inside him and he wanted to crush the boy to pieces. He wanted to crucio and crucio and crucio him again. How dare he? Were they together? Was he even her boyfriend? Tom's mood fell. Little did he know that this feeling was called jealousy.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Hermione pull her hand away. "Draco…" she scolded and gave him a look, which Tom didn't understand.
What was going on here? Tom was absolutely perplexed. So WERE they together or not? Why did he take her hand then? And why did she pull away?
Tom shook his head to clear it from all these questions. Besides, he wasn't interested in this girl anyway. He wasn't interested in ANYONE.
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Normal POV:
"This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room." Tom explained unnecessarily. They were standing in front of a bare stone wall in the dungeons and Hermione shivered.
Would the Slytherin common room permit her entrance? She was, after all, a Muggleborn. 'Not this time.' a small voice in the back of her head comforted her.
"Password: Snake venom."
A fitting password. Harry grinned covertly at Hermione.
They entered the green and silver common room. It was cold and uninviting, but grand and expensively decorated. Typical Slytherin. Draco and Harry looked around uninterestedly – they had already seen the room before.
"Girls dormitories to the left and boys to the right." Tom informed them.
Harry and Draco nodded and Hermione smiled. "Thank you Mister Riddle, for showing us the way."
"No problem, Miss Delacour." Tom shrugged. "I'm headboy, after all."
"Who is headgirl? Which house is she in?" Hermione asked him curiously. However, she didn't expect his reaction.
Tom's face fell. "Mc Gonnagal, a Gryffindor." he said disgustedly, wrinkling his nose in evident dislike. "Stay away from her – she hates Slytherins."
Mc Gonnagal? As in Minerva McGonnagal?
Harry and Draco both had their mouths open, staring incredulously at the Dark Lord.
"Well, I'm off then. Dinner is at 7 in the Great Hall. If I'm not around, just follow some fellow Slytherins into the Dining Hall." And with that Tom departed.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Harry turned to the other two. "He's scary, isn't he?"
"Not as scary as the future version." Hermione said. "In fact, I think, he is quite nice."
Draco's eyebrows rose past his hairline. "Nice? Don't you see that everything is just FAKE? A mask?"
"Well…" Hermione blushed scarlet.
"You just like him because he is good-looking." Draco said scathingly.
"Excuse me, I don't just like people, because they are handsome." Hermione sniffed.
Draco coughed and it sounded oddly like Lockhart.
Strange, Harry thought that he had had a similar conversation before. But where and when? With whom?
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Hermione was glad, that Dumbledore didn't introduce them at dinner. It would have been plain embarrassing. They just sat down at the Slytherin table quietly, not looking at anyone.
Too late did Hermione notice who she was sitting next to.
"Ah, new Slytherins." Draco went incredibly pale and Hermione, reluctantly looked to her right. White blonde hair gelled back, arrogant posture, expensive robes, ice blue eyes and an upturned nose. This could only mean a Malfoy.
The boy smirked very self-confidently. "I'm Abraxas Malfoy."
Of course.
He gave Hermione a wink which she didn't return. "I'm Hermione Gr Delacour." she answered and was rewarded with a kiss to the back of her hand from Abraxas.
"Nice to meet you." Abraxas drawled and turned to Harry and Draco.
"I'm Harry Delacour, her BROTHER." Harry said in a menacing way, as if daring Abraxas not to talk to his sister.
"And I'm Draco Lumiere." Draco said, not looking at his grandfather. Hermione understood him; it must be weird, meeting your grandfather when he was the same age.
A short girl across from Hermione joined the conversation; she had black oily hair, a sallow scowling face and Hermione knew immediately who that was.
"Eileen Prince." the mother of Professor Snape introduced herself, scowling.
Harry and Draco were both clueless and greeted her with a kiss on her palm – Hermione was impressed; they had learned the customs of the forties fast.
"So why did you come one week late?" Abraxas poured more sauce over his chicken, gazing at the three people enquiringly. "School has already started in case you haven't noticed."
"Uhm... there was a problem with our papers." Hermione explained, taking a sip of water. "We still needed to get a few things together."
To her luck, Abraxas didn't seem very interested in admission papers. Swiftly, he changed the topic. "So, where are you from? Why are you here?"
"We are transfers." Hermione still did all the talking. "From Beauxbatons."
"Beauxbatons?" Eileen spoke up and her eyes lit up like fire. Her face looked as if it had suddenly come alive. "You are really from Beauxbatons?"
"Yes..."
"I so wanted to go there." Eileen gushed. "It's supposed to be really beautiful there. But my mother didn't want to send me so far away." She pouted.
"Ah..." Hermione didn't know what to say to that.
"So, is it true that there are nymphs in the castle, serenading you while you eat?" she asked eagerly.
Hermione remembered Fleur's snotty voice and grinned. "Yes, there are. It's lovely. Don't you have that here at Hogwarts?" Wow, she was becoming a better and better actress. She didn't know, she had it in her to lie like that. Why weren't Draco and Harry speaking? She had to do all the talking.
"No, there aren't." Abraxas laughed. "Who needs that?" He looked at Eileen and shook his head. "Durmstrang is the best school; I'm telling you. My father wanted to send me there but my mother, too, didn't want to send me too far away."
Oh. Hermione was starting to have a headache. It didn't help that a very handsome headboy now sat down at the head of the table. Hermione blushed, trying not to look at Tom Riddle. She turned to Draco and noticed that his face had become bitter.
"By the way, you are lucky to be in Slytherin." Abraxas continued.
"Why is that?"
"Well, we are the house with the most influence, everyone is scared of us and we have the most handsome men." Abraxas said earnestly.
Hermione burst out laughing. "Including you?"
Abraxas' cheeks were tinged in pink. "Of course, including me. And WE are lucky to have a pretty girl like you."
To her dismay, Hermione blushed and speared a carrot onto her fork. "Well – thank you." she mumbled incoherently.
"You are sharing the dorm with me." Eileen said, her face sour again.
Just great and so out of context.
"Oh good." Hermione answered instead. "Just with you?"
"Yes, it's always only two girls together." Eileen explained. "You may have noticed that the majority of girls is in Hufflepuff and NOT in Slytherin."
Too true. Hermione hadn't noticed before and was stunned.
What she didn't know was that a pair of dark blue eyes had watched her curiously throughout the main course.
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TOM POV:
'Yeah, Abraxas, smarm up to her... you do that to every girl.' Tom thought angrily. 'Why do you ALWAYS have to flirt with girls?'
Abraxas was a good follower, but it disturbed Tom, that Abraxas flirted with everyone, everywhere, every time. It was getting on his nerves.
At least, he didn't flirt with the Hufflepuffs or with the Gryffindors, but still, Tom hated it. He especially hated the fact, that Abraxas shamelessly flirted with the new girl.
Why though? Tom was stunned. He had never really cared before with whom Abraxas flirted. Why now?
Tom looked at the transfer from Beauxbatons more clearly. Yes, she was pretty; not in the classical way, but there was something about her.
Tom's eyes narrowed into slits. The Delacour girl was laughing; laughing at something Abraxas had said. He balled his hands into fists; Abraxas had to know his place.
Tom turned to his right hand side, to the brown-haired Gerald McNair. "Meeting tonight, same place, same time as usual. Spread the word."
McNair nodded and Tom breathed out. It was time that Abraxas learned his lesson.
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Normal POV:
When Dinner was over, Abraxas stood up. "May I accompagnie you to the Slytherin common room?" Abraxas asked, extending his arm.
Dumbfounded, Hermione just stared at it. "Uhm, yes, I suppose." She took his arm and noticed from the corner of her eyes, that Harry and Draco were shooting death glares at her, but she didn't care. She had to play her role, even if Harrry and Draco didn't like it.
When Abraxas walked with her, he told her about various pureblood-events, balls and gala dinners. Hermione successfully suppressed a yawn. Abraxas was just telling her about a family event in Moscow, when a snide voice interrupted his monologue.
"Malfoy!"
Hermione and Abraxas turned around at the same time. "McNair." Abraxas said coldly. "What do you want?"
"Tonight, same time same place." McNair answered shortly, and then turned to Hermione, no smile on his hard face. However, he was polite enough.
"My name is Gerald McNair. And you are?"
"I'm Hermione Delacour, transfer from Beauxbatons." Hermione answered.
"Pleased to meet you."
"What's this hold-up?" Another voice interrupted.
True, they were in front of the Slytherin common room now and a small queue had formed behind them.
It was Tom. Tall, dark and handsome, he gently shoved the Slytherin third-years aside and glared at Abraxas and McNair. "I repeat, what's this hold-up?" his voice was as cold as the Moscow tale, Abraxas had just told Hermione.
"We were about to go in. Excuse us." Abraxas said briskly. "Snake venom." He almost pulled Hermione with him through the portrait hole.
"Be careful." Abraxas whispered to Hermione when they were in the common room. "Just be careful." The warning was cryptic, but Hermione understood every word of it.
"Your trunks is already here. Who showed you the way to the common room?" Eileen asked almost suspiciously when Hermione breathlessly arrived in her dorm.
"Tom Riddle, the headboy."
Eileen surprised Hermione again by smiling dreamily. It made her look much much prettier. "Oh – Tom?" she giggled.
"Yes?" Hermione was wary. "Why?"
"He is soooo handsome." Eileen sighed.
Oh yes, he was. But soooo dangerous.
"Well..." Hermione didn't quite know what to say. "He seems very nice, but..."
"But... I know what you mean. A bit dangerous. In fact, he is dangerous." Eileen said in a low voice and motioned for Hermione to sit down next to her. "He has these followers, like Abraxas, and they meet up once a week at midnight and do forbidden things. They always come back pale-faced and scared out of their wits."
"Ah." So Eileen already knew about the first death eaters. "Aren't you part of this group?"
"No, there aren't any girls allowed in."
"Lucky you then."
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Secret Slytherin room, the followers were waiting for Tom Riddle
"The new girl – she is really hot!" Abraxas smirked to the hooded person next to him. Although, he didn't know, who it was as all their faces were hidden by black hoods. "Loads better than the other Slytherin girls if you ask me."
"I agree with you." a dark male voice answered and to Abraxas it sounded like Marcus Goyle. "She is a right sight to look at."
"I will try to get her." Abraxas answered, determinedly.
The figure on Abraxas' left shifted uncomfortably, but Abraxas took no notice. "And you know, whatever a Malfoy wants, a Malfoy gets."
"Good evening, Master." The figures all bowed down and Malfoy remembered just in time, that he also had to bow.
"Good evening, my friends." Tom Riddle, who stood in the middle of the circle, wearing emerald green robes, looking stunning,. His voice rather resembled the high cold voice of Voldemort; not his usual deep baritone. "I have a task for you."