Unfortunately I haven't been able to get anyone to beta this yet, but I hope it's still pretty good :)
and thank you to all for your reviews :) they really are the only reason I keep writing :)
Chapter 13
Dumbledore watched from the foot of her bed as she came to, her fingers twitching before a moan escaped her lip and her eyelids fluttered open.
She looked around for a second or so before finally realising where she was and freezing as the memories came rushing back. She spun around and when she noticed him she opened her mouth but he cut across her, knowing what she was about to ask him.
"I know."
"But-"
"I know, Miss Granger."
"But Pro-"
"Miss Granger, please. We should not talk of this here. When you have recovered you may visit me in my office where we will discuss what happened last night. For now though, rest, Miss Granger."
He smiled when she nodded in agreement and began to walk back to his rooms only to stop at the doorway.
"Oh, and Miss Granger? Please do not repeat what you saw last night. It would do no good and only cause panic if you did."
"Of course Professor."
As he left the Hospital Wing she looked around only to stop as she spotted Tom three beds down.
"Tom?" Standing up she wobbled over to his bedside only to stand there looking like an idiot as she saw him unresponsive to the world at large.
'Funny,' she thought, 'he looks…almost human when he's asleep.'
Her mind snorted but she ignored it, too tired to fight with herself.
'I wonder why he's here.'
As she decided that standing by his bedside would only tire her some more, the door that led to the matron's office opened to reveal a plump, red-haired woman holding a tray filled with different sized bottles and cups.
"Ah, you're awake I see. Excellent. Just lie back down on the bed deary and drink this tonic I have for you. It'll fix you up in no time."
Doing as she was told, she drank a cup filled to the brim with a foamy purple substance. Grimacing at the aftertaste she looked up to find the matron casting some spells over Tom.
"E-excuse me." She croaked out, her throat burning from the potion.
"Yes, dear?" The woman continued to cast spells over Tom but she somehow knew she had the woman's full attention.
"I was wondering if you could tell me how I survived."
The woman smirked at her, a sight that didn't quite become her, before replying.
"Why I do believe that Mr. Riddle here was the reason you survived the building's collapse."
"T-Tom?" Maybe that potion had distorted her hearing without her noticing.
"Mhm…" The matron mumbled as she focused on the yellow light that was now glowing around Tom.
"At least that's what Dumbledore said when he brought you two back here. It was very dangerous, by the way, for you two to go running headfirst into battle like that. Both of you could have been seriously injured, more so than now."
She let the witch's voice rush over her as she lay there contemplating the unconscious boy.
'He had saved her? But why?'
Looking back at Tom she saw the witch nodding before prying his mouth open and spilling a potion of some sort into his mouth, rubbing his neck gently while doing so.
"Are you sure about that Madam?" Maybe the woman herself had been sleeping when Dumbledore had brought them in and so had misheard him.
"I'm sure."
'Huh.'
Dumbledore sat on his desk, fingers linked together, as he contemplated on the previous night's events. He hadn't questioned the girl and her motives before, trusting his future self, but he thought he knew what her mission was anyway. He was certain that if she had not returned Tom would forever be lost to the dark since he couldn't see the boy risking his life for anyone really.
Well, apart from Miss Granger apparently.
'Amazing. I thought Hermione was more an annoyance to Tom than anything else.'
A knock interrupted his musings and he called out a small enter to see Miss Granger at his doorway.
He beckoned her towards the chair in front of his desk and offered her a lemon drop, which she gladly took, before sighing into his hands.
"Miss Granger, firstly I feel I need to repeat myself. What you saw yesterday and what I am about to tell you cannot be repeated outside these doors."
He saw her nod absent-mindedly and continued, trusting her to keep her word.
"Sir, before you continue, may I ask you something?"
"Of course," he answered, curiosity shining in his words. What on earth could be more troubling than what she had seen yesterday?
"You told me a while ago that according to Wield's theories history would only rearrange itself, but sir, Hogsmeade was never attacked in the future."
He froze at the rising implications but did his best not to show it.
"Miss Granger, do not worry yourself over this. I highly doubt that history has always been recorded accurately. Something surely would have been left out, like this for instance."
It was amazing seeing the hope light up in her eyes, he thought bewildered as she nodded, all too happy to accept his word for it.
"Sir? What was that glass spell you used on them?" He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts, before speaking.
"Miss Granger, I have been a friend of Wield's for decades now. I've worked with him on several of his papers; one of which discussed the reversal of time."
"Like a time turner, sir?"
"Not quite."
"Sir?"
"In which year did I send you back in time, Miss Granger?" He abruptly asked her, not too sure how much she'd understand of what he was about to say.
"My seventh," she replied confused.
"Ah. That does make it easier I must say.
"Miss Granger, in my sixties I worked with Wield on the idea and creation of a spell which could send you back in time without the need of transporting your body along too."
"So there would never be two of the same person at the same moment in time." She finished for him, still not quite understanding what this had to do with what she had seen yesterday.
"Exactly Miss Granger. Your past self would have the knowledge of the future and thus could change the outcome of the future without arousing suspicion."
"Sir, why is it then that no one knows of this? In my future people have only ever heard of time turners."
"We had discovered a flaw Miss Granger. After using the spell extensively, one's mind would begin to crumble. One would begin to forget themselves and after a while, the whole world. They would stop responding to the world at large and become as hollow as a man would were he to be kissed by a dementor."
"But yesterday-"
"Grindelwald got hold of our papers a few months after. We thought it would be of no use to him if he did but we were wrong. He has manipulated time so that the past corresponds with the future. That spell you saw me use on them isolated them from both time and space and thus rendered that spell useless."
She sat in silence for a minute, letting the information sink in, before speaking.
"Professor?"
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"What about Tom?"
"Miss Granger?" He asked, confused at the sudden change of subject.
"He wasn't with us when we, well you, were fighting against those wizards but the matron told me that he saved me."
"Ah, yes, more than one student was wondering in the corridors after curfew yesterday it seems," he answered, peering at her over the top of his half moon glasses, eyes twinkling.
She blushed, quickly averting her gaze and he chuckled in response.
"Now I do believe lunch is being served at the Great Hall. It wouldn't do for you to miss it. Run along now Miss Granger."
She smiled brilliantly at him before nodding, making her way back out.
It was much later that night when the common room was empty apart from Tom and Hermione that she finally asked what had been on her mind for a while now.
"Tom?" He grunted in response, absorbed as he was with his potions book.
"Why did you save me yesterday?" She saw him freeze before shrugging indifferently.
"Now what would the teachers think of me were I not to help you when I could?"
Her heart sank a little for a reason unknown to her before she grunted in response and returned to writing her charms essay.
Remember to R&R :)