Chapter Forty-one: Revelations
"What's this all about, Granger?" Nott demanded. "How is Tom in trouble?"
Hermione wrung her hands together for a moment before she spoke. "In order for you to understand, I must tell you the whole story. Some of it you may find difficult to accept, but please, I must tell you all."
"Go on, Hermione," Abraxas encouraged her.
"Where I come from there was a great war raging, but not the same war," she began. "This war has not yet happened. It won't happen for years yet. I wanted very much to escape from it, and so I made a wish. I made it in a special room in Hogwarts, and it brought me here, brought me to Tom. Our lives have always been entwined, it seems, for he was a large part of it in the future as well. But so was Albus Dumbledore. More than I ever could have imagined."
"Dumbledore?" scoffed Avery with a sneer. "What has that crazy old man got to do with anything?"
"I thought the secret room was benevolent, but I was wrong," she said with a shuddering sigh. "Dumbledore put it there, fishing for the answers to his own wishes. I was never anything more than his pawn, and so was Tom. He's turned him into a horcrux. I assume you know what that is?"
"Yes, Riddle told us," Abraxas said. "But you mean to say Dumbledore's killed someone and put part of his soul into Tom? That's unbelievable."
"No, Brax, it's much worse," she explained. "Thanks to Dumbledore, Tom is now harboring a piece of Gellert Grindelwald."
"Riddle's got a piece of Grindelwald?" Cygnus gasped. "That's wicked!"
"If it makes the future anything like it was, that's precisely what he will become," Hermione informed him harshly. "He'll be a monster bent on destroying the world, both Magic and Muggle alike. And he won't even hesitate to kill any of you, either."
"Kill us?" scoffed Avery. "Riddle would never go that far. I mean, he' s tortured us a bit in the past to make his point. But it's a far stretch from being a sadistic bastard to being a murderer."
"You don't know about his father, then?"
"No, he never talks about him," said Abraxas quickly, giving her hand a slight squeeze to silence her. Obviously Abraxas knew, but the others did not. The two shared a nod of unspoken understanding.
"Tom killed his own father to make a Horcrux," Hermione said then. "He swore to me that was the only time, but if things remain as they are he will make more. In my version of the future there are seven. But I don't believe events are happening the same way this time. We-Tom and I-were hoping to stop the whole thing. But to di that we must get Tom back and get Grindelwald out of him. And stop Dumbledore from arranging it all to his advantage. The old man told me straight out that he intends to make Tom into a monster so he can defeat him and come out looking more powerful than ever."
"Where is Riddle now, Granger? " Alphard inquired.
"Dumbledore's got him deep underground, forcing him to do his bidding," she replied. "He is trying to discover how to prevent disembodied Horcruxes from dying. I'm not sure why. But I think it is because he wishes to make a horcrux of his own as well, one that he can store wherever he likes. Wouldn't that make for a powerful means to become immortal?"
"Gods, that git's been alive long enough already," Avery grumbled. "Do you mean to tell me he's still alive sometime in the future? What time did you come from?"
"Fifty years from now, give or take," she said. "But that's not the point. The future, the one I'm from, is just to terrible to happen. Even Tom agrees. We've got to help him change it all. There's no crime in hoping to change the world if it's for the better, but mass genocide is not the way. The taking of thousands of innocent lives, surely none of you would wish to see a future like that?"
"No, Hermione, but if Tom's deep underground as you say, how in Merlin's name do we get him out again?" asked Abraxas.
"We're going to have to go in after him, I'm afraid," she said. "And the path is barred by some pretty awful creatures. I do have the memories of a house elf to help guide us, but I fear even that will be of little help since I obviously could not pass myself off as an elf, and even if I did, how would I explain all of you?"
"Well, blokes, what do you say?" asked Abraxas then. "I mean, we all said that we'd do whatever we could to help out Lord Voldemort once we left Hogwarts. Now it looks like we've got a chance."
"We're in," most of them chimed in, but not Alphard. Cygnus cast him a quelling look, and then he nodded as he held his hand forth along with the others.
"We're all in," he said with a wry grin, then he lightly punched his younger brother in the arm. "And Cyg, I know that I was being petty before. Wally is going to be fine. You'll see, she'll muddle her way through and be back to bossing everyone around in no time."
"That's the spirit!" Cygnus chuckled, and everyone laughed as they visualized how that was likely to all turn out.
"We'll need a plan, boys," Abraxas said as he helped Hermione to her feet. "You can't just march into hell without a plan."
"Do you really think we should all go down there?" asked Avery. "We might want to have a man on top in case things don't go quite the way we planned."
"Avery, you and Nott must remain above, and find out everything you can about Dumbledore and what he's really up to," Abraxas decided. "The last thing we need is for the old man to show up down there in the middle of our rescue attempt."
"You've got that right," Hermione agreed. "Especially since he will sense us once Tom is aware of our presence."
"Why would he do that, love?" Abraxas wanted to know.
"Because Dumbledore has a piece of Grindelwald inside him as well."
"Better and better," Alphard grumbled as the whole lot of them began to walk toward the edge of the forest.
"You lead the way, Hermione," Abraxas said. "The knights are now at your service."
"Now that's something I never thought I'd hear someone say," Hermione smirked as she went. "Gods, I really hope he'll be all right."
"He will be, love," Abraxas told her. "We won't let you or Tom down. You can count on it."