AN: Well, I wasn't going to post another chapter this soon because 1) I'm swamped with school work right now and 2) I was hoping that maybe if I spread out my updates I'd get more Reviews. But then I thought that doing that would only be punishing those of you who have Reviewed. So in honor of my lovely, wonderful, brilliant Reviews, here is your next chapter. It's my personal Favorite!

- PF

Chapter Seven

Everything was confusing. She remembered. She remembered every memory she'd ever had as Hermione up until the battle in the skies when they'd been moving Harry to the Burrow permanently. Then she remembered every memory of Rose from then until now. But she also had the false memories to contend with. The memories that Voldemort had forced into her mind and had apparently wanted her to believe. Why? Why did he go to so much effort to make her believe she was his daughter? The words Molly had told her in the dungeons flashed in her mind and she felt revolted. They couldn't be true! She couldn't really be Voldemort's daughter! But then how easily her mind had accepted this lie. How easily she had killed and tortured and…the images of the deaths that had been her own doing floated before her eyes and she realized that she was crying. She touched the tears and then finally heard the cries from those still in the room with her.

"We thought you were dead!" Ron.

"Why do you look like that? Why are you here?" Ginny.

"What have they done to you?" Harry in a voice so quiet and filled with emotion only he could manage. She focused on him, on his voice as she slowly got to her feet.

"We don't have time," she whispered, eyes widening as she realized how right she was. Bellatrix and Draco would return in moments with news of the horocrox Bellatrix had been entrusted with and they would expect the prisoners to have been dealt with in some way. She didn't have time to think, just to react. She dashed past the sword that lay on the ground, not noticing when it simply disappeared, and yanked on their chains, making them all gasp as she quickly undid them with a quiet spell and then thrust their wands into their hands.

"You have to go. If they find you here they'll call him and then I won't be able to save you!"

"We're not leaving without you," Harry told her firmly.

"We've just found you!" Ron added but she shook her head and turned to Ginny, the only one she knew would understand.

"You have to go. You have to stop him. I can't help now. You're family are in the jails and I don't have time to get them out. But I will. I have to stay. I know everything. Everything, Ginny, and if I leave they will know I remember and change all their plans. I can help you from here. From inside!"

Ginny nodded and reached for her but she shied away, unwilling to let her friends touch the monster she'd become. "Call Dobby," she instructed Harry who was shaking his head.

"I won't leave you! One slip and they'll kill you, Hermione."

"I won't mess up," she promised. "Call Dobby. You can't apparate out."

Harry did as instructed and as soon as the elf appeared he reached for the trio. "He's after the Elder Wand, Harry." She added, almost as an after thought. "You have to get the Horocrox and kill them all."

Harry nodded once and then the three of them disappeared, leaving her gasping and looking around desperately for a way to make it seem like she hadn't just let the prisoners go. She snapped her fingers as a thought struck her and she summoned three of her personal Death Eaters, schooling her features as they arrived.

"My Queen," they said, bowing to one knee.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and set them all on fire in Rose's trademark way. She made it quick and in seconds they were three piles of ash on the floor. She had to swallow down the bile that threatened to come up her throat and instead set her mind to the task. She yanked the chains up from where they had fallen and tossed them onto the ashes just as she heard Draco and Bellatrix come back into the house. She waved her wand over herself, erasing all signs of stress and tears and straightened her shoulders before bringing her memories of Rose to the forefront and, essentially, letting that personality have the reins again.

Draco and Bellatrix froze as they noticed the ash on the floor and Draco's eyes widened. "You killed them?" he asked, completely surprised and out of character from what she remembered as her time as Rose.

"Of course," she spat, and turned away from them as if they didn't interest her. "They had no new information and I have no room in my dungeons."

Draco's eyes never left the ash as if he couldn't believe she'd actually killed Ron and Ginny. If she had still been Rose, she would have immediately realized something was wrong with him. Then the thought struck her that she was Rose. No matter how much she wanted to cling to her memories as Hermione, no matter how she longed to believe that Rose was a different person. She wasn't. They were one in the same and she was responsible for the actions of both of her personas, no matter which she currently remembered being.

"They could have led us to Potter!" Bellatrix cried and Rose glared at her, the annoyance she usually held as Rose for her was replaced by sheer hatred from Hermione. No, Bellatrix she wouldn't mind torturing again. Not after she'd killed Sirius and not after the pain she'd put Harry though after killing his last bit of family.

"I tortured them. They revealed nothing. Are you suggesting you could have done better?"

Bellatrix faltered and Rose…no Hermione knew she had won. "No, my Queen." Bellatrix answered.

"What of the Goblet?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"In my vaults," Bellatrix answered immediately. "Right where I left it."

Hermione had an idea and acted on it, cringing as she thought how the old her would have balked at such rash decisions. She had a plan for everything back then. A well thought out plan. Rose had no such patience. "Give me the key."

Bellatrix hesitated and Hermione took a step toward her. "I do not like repeating myself, Bellatrix. You have proven you cannot handle this assignment."

Belletarix look murderous and Hermione was relieved to have the security Rose offered her as Voldemort's daughter. Not only could Bellatrix not even touch a hair on her head, she feared her. Bellatrix reached into the folds of her robes and withdrew the key, handing it to her and then snatching her hand back, hatred in her eyes. "I have no more use of you," Hermione declared, turning away from her and glancing at the pile of ash Draco still had not looked away from.

"Where is Severus?" Draco finally looked up at that and then shrugged. "Probably the library," he answered honestly and she saw him glance at the pile one last time before offering her his arm. "Shall we go find him?"

"No." she said, the thought of looping arms with him turning her stomach. "I'll find him later. For now, clean up this mess. I have prisoners to attend to."

Bellatrix made a move to follow but Hermione turned to glare at her. "I thought I dismissed you." Bellatrix disappeared without another word.

"What will you tell them?" Draco asked as he swished his wand over the ash. She wondered if he was concerned that she'd use killing their siblings as a form of torture, or if he was just curious.

"The truth," Hermione answered and stepped toward the door that would lead down to the dungeons.

RMR

Fred knew something was different the moment the door opened and slammed closed behind her. She stood there, at the top of the steps that would lead down to the cage, and just leaned against the door. She looked tired. More so than she had last time she visited them. But there was something else. She took a deep breath and came down the steps at such a slow pace, she seemed almost hesitant. Rose was never hesitant. She knew what she wanted, even when she'd doubted her memories. Hermione on the other hand…

He was to his feet before she reached the cage and the others finally seemed to notice that something was going on. He took a step toward the cage door but she'd stopped just shy of touching it. She hadn't looked at any of them either. He felt his heart rate pick up until it was galloping in his chest and he found himself taking deep desperate breaths as he watched her. Hope unlike anything he'd ever felt clawed at his throat until he wanted to gasp and cry and demand that she really be returned to him. He needed a sign. Someway of knowing if this was indeed just a tired beaten Rose, or if his Hermione was finally home. He didn't dare speak.

"Come to ask more questions?" George asked from behind him. "Or is it torture today?"

She flinched and he had his answer. He was at the cage, reaching through it toward her before he even realized what he was doing. "Hermione!" he gasped and she jerked her head up to look at him through pained blue eyes.

"Fred" she whispered but didn't step into his arms. She just stared at him as her eyes filled with tears.

"Hermione?" the others echoed behind him, all on their feet now and moving toward him. He reached for her again but she drew back and began talking so fast it took him a moment to understand what she was saying.

"Harry, Ron and Ginny were just here. The Snatchers caught them. I killed them. I mean, I pretended to kill them. So everyone thinks Ron and Ginny are dead. Dobby took them somewhere."

Harry. It had been Harry that finally brought her memories back. He wondered if Severus had put that trigger in her mind. A trigger that he knew would only happen under dire circumstances. Why else would Rose ever come in contact with Harry? But she might have bumped into any of the Weasleys. He tried not to feel jealous with the thought. It was the right thing to do. "Let us out," he whispered but she shook her head.

"I can't. I barely covered up not killing them. I had…" she gasped and he saw the tears streaming down her face. "I killed three Death Eaters in their place. There had to be evidence." He saw her shaking and jerked the bars his hands had wrapped around, desperate to get them out of his way so he could comfort her.

"They were evil, Hermione," he promised her. "They deserved it."

She shook her head. "I can't cover up releasing you. Not all at once. I have to think of anther way." She held her head in her hands and he felt sorry for the headache she surely had.

"You'll figure it out," he said nodding. "Brightest Witch and all that."

She shook her head. "If they even suspect I have my memories back they'll change everything. But if I convince them nothing's changed…"

"You can help from the inside," George finished for her. "Brilliant," he added and she looked up then, through her tear filled eyes.

"This isn't brilliance," she whispered. "It's desperation." Then her eyes turned to Molly and the look of angst that crossed her face made his heart hurt. "I'm really his daughter, aren't I?" she asked.

He turned his head to see his mother and was shocked when he saw she was sobbing. "Hermione," she gasped, "I'm so sorry, Dear." Hermione nodded and closed her eyes against the truth. She really was Voldemort's daughter. He'd was in love with Voldemort's daughter. And he didn't give a damn. He loved her still.

"Hermione, look at me" he said and she obeyed instantly. "You're not her. You're not Rose. You're Hermione. My beautiful, brilliant, Hermione. And you'll figure this out. Right?"

It was only when she blurred that he realized he was crying. He rubbed at his eyes stubbornly and then turned his full attention back to her. "Right?"

She nodded and he relaxed marginally. "We'll think of something." he told her, "All of us. We'll get out of this."

"I have to go," she whispered. "But I promise no harm will come to you anymore. None of you." And then she turned and hurried up the steps.

"Hermione!" he called, reaching through the bars but she was gone before he could express whatever it was he'd wanted to say. He sagged against the bars, his hands returning to wrap around them tightly.

"So," George began slowly, "Do you think being engaged to the princess of this castle will get us better beds?"

Fred couldn't laugh, not this soon, but he appreciated his brother's attempt to turn things brighter. "She remembers," Molly whispered horrified. "That poor child."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked, "Isn't this a good thing?"

"She will also remember every person she's killed, every person she's tortured, since she became Rose." Fred whispered softly. "My poor Hermione. Who wanted to free the House Elves and promote House unity in Hogwarts."

"Oh," Dean mumbled.

"She'll wish she never remembered," Luna whispered. "If her mind holds at all." It was an oddly insightful comment from Luna Lovegood, but Fred had been thinking the same thing himself. Remembering could destroy her more effectively than Voldemort ever could.

AN: There you have it. The next chapter is the full story of Rose Merope Riddle (Hermione) and what really happened. Please Review! And once again, this Chapter is dedicated to all of you who already have!

-PF