Chapter 22: Into the Woods

"Flipindo" Abraxas muttered followed by a shield charm and a disarming spell.

Riddle side-stepped the spell and surrounded Abraxas in a mist before casting an "Impedimenta".

The disarming spell still made its target but Abraxas had difficulty vanishing the fog, giving Riddle the chance to cast a wandless slicing hex. Abraxas triumphantly cleared the fog using a freezing charm, before blowing the ice into pieces. Once cleared the slicing hex found a clear path to Abraxas, cutting his chest painfully. Falling to his knees Abraxas cast a stunning charm which Riddle managed to duck as he ran for his wand. Abraxas threw another hex, and another forcing Riddle to dance.

"Enough" he snarled conjuring a shield charm surrounding him as he cast three hexes consecutively. The first sliced through his shield charm. The second threw him against the back wall, banging his head, falling unconscious as he slid down the wall. The third disarmed him.

A polite round of applause followed. Hermione and Alphard ran to Abraxas. Muttering healing charms under her breath she sent Abraxas to the hospital wing with a seething Alphard. Riddle caught his breath and descended the platform. A group of admirers from Slytherin fussed over him. Rosier dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief much to his annoyance. Hermione raised an eyebrow before the next pair walked onto the stage. Riddle grabbed Rosier's arm and pushed it away from him. She flinched in surprise and followed his gaze to Hermione who looked away and waved for the next duel to begin.

"Shouldn't you be running after your fiance?" Riddle said harshly.

"Tom." Rosier simpered. "You know I only want you."

"Strange" Riddle sneered. "I heard different"

"T-Tom" she stuttured.

"Lestrange told me how me how you couldn't keep your hands off him." Riddle mocked her, his eyes not leaving Hermione's for a second.

"It was one night" Rosier explained grabbing hold of his hand.

"I wouldn't touch you after you've been spoiled by Lestrange." Riddle whispered in her ear. "How could you let him knowing how many whores he's bedded. How many he's raped."

Rosier felt like retching. She stumbled away from Riddle before fleeing the hall.

"Good effort everyone. See you next week!" Hermione smiled at her class and began disassembling her dummies with Xander's help. Riddle walked over to her silently. Hermione jumped when she turned around.

"Riddle" Hermione sighed.

"I thought we'd be on first name terms now, at least."

"Tom." Hermione said with discomfort. "You didn't have to throw Abraxas across the room."

"He wasn't throwing tickling hexes at me either Hermione."

"Hmm." Hermione looked at him with a weary eye. "I booked us two tickets to the Globe"

"Oh?" He feigned interest.

"Romeo and Juliet" Hermione's eyes twinkled with mischief.

Riddle groaned.

"Fine" He growled. "But you owe me"

With that he walked away.

"The theatre?" Xander sneered. "You and Riddle are going to the theatre?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she banished the duelling platform with a wave of her wand.

"How many times do I have to tell you Hermione? That boy is trouble!"

"I know that." Hermione said exasperated. "Don't you think I can look after myself?"

"Where your heart is concerned? No. Frankly I don't. Love is blind." Xander said bitterly.

"I'm starving, lets go to the kitchens" Hermione suggested, hoping to distract her with food.

"God yes! I can't believe we missed dinner." Xander skipped as they walked down to the basement. The house-elves surrounded them with dishes of baked goods. They settled for a basket of muffins, fruit tarts and an assortment of savoury pasties.

Mouth filled with blueberry muffin Xander asked Hermione if she'd sent off her auror application.

"Excuse me?" Hermione giggled as she sprayed crumbs over her shirt.

"Have you sent off your auror application?"

"Just last night." Hermione nodded. "Pretty straight forward. I guess they place more merit on the practical test."

"Piece of cake." Xander agreed as she bit into a custard tart.

Hermione laughed, entering the common room to find Alphard studying by the fire.

"Alphard!" Xander jumped onto his lap and stuffed a muffin into his mouth. Alphard scolded her but failed to get a word out, his cheeks filled with muffin. Xander only laughed as he pushed her off of him.

"Xander leave the poor boy alone" Hermione remonstrated her lightly before taking a seat opposite him where her school books lay. "What are you writing?"

"History of Magic essay" he replied unsmilingly.

"Oh so are we!" Xander was bouncing with sugar. "Well, I haven't technically started. I'll go get my stuff."

"Alphard?"

"Hermione?"

"Are you upset with me?"

"Not at all."

"You don't talk to me anymore."

"Well, you're busy studying. As am I."

"You can't even look at me"

"Is this about Riddle?"

"I saw you holding hands. He didn't look like he was forcing you then." Alphard was looking at the fire.

"I- I don't know how it happened." Hermione struggled to explain. "It's not like you were twiddling your thumbs!"

"excuse me?"

"You were with that Hufflepuff from sixth year" she accused him heatedly.

"I was trying to move on."

"Clearly you suck at it."

"Fine! I admit it." He shouted. "I'm in love with you."

Xander appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Okaaay." Xander looked back and forth between the pair. "I guess I could just study in my room, not that I needed your help. It's not like I have any idea why Prince Vishna declared war on the draculi clan." She muttered under her breath.

Hermione rolled her eyes and called her back.

"Stay here." Hermione ordered. "And read this"

Xander looked at the huge dusty volume mournfully as Hermione dragged Alphard outside the portrait hole.

"Alphard-" Hermione began before Alphard shut her up with a kiss. It was pleasant enough. But it just wasn't as thrilling.

"I'm not giving up." He warned her.

The two returned to the common room. Xander strangely looked engrossed in the book.

"Did you know the draculi clan discriminate against half-vampires? I didn't even know that was a thing. Once they defeated the ventrue they were shunned or killed. We have a large exiled vampire presence in Europe but wizards shun them too."

"I've always wanted to visit a vampire clan" Hermione said thoughtfully. "They have incredibly elaborate rituals."

The three worked into the night. Hermione was the last one left, eventually dozing off on the sofa. The next morning she was woken by the light streaming into the tower. Yawning she rose and went into her dorm to change into her running things. The days were becoming warmer and the days longer. Breathing hard she pushed herself to do a few more laps before lying back on the grass. Abraxas joined her before they continued on their weight training. Abraxas had an upcoming quidditch match so he asked Hermione to play goalkeeper. Hermione found that she was able to keep balance much better than before. Abraxas was an expert chaser not missing a single goal, though Hermione wasn't sure if it was a testament to his skills or her lack of.

After a quick shower they hurried to breakfast. Hermione downed a cup of coffee, grabbed a stack of toast and ran to her next lesson stopping to catch the paper an owl dropped as it flew by. Abraxas watched after her, shook his head and took another bite of his sausage.

"Late Ms. Prince" Diggory sighed. Hermione smiled apologetically at him before taking her seat by Riddle. "Xander. Perhaps you can enlighten us on the defeat of the draculi".

"Yes! They were tricked by the ventrue with an attack on two fronts. The draculi were engaged with one legion while a second led by a witch the vampires call queen of the amazons due to her kick-ass warrior skills attacked the mountain. The wards were teared down and their palace occupied. Prince Vladimir was last to be killed by a knife aimed at his heart. The treaty with the wizarding world was thus secured but the queen of amazons never revealed her true identity. Some say she is immortal, others say she died."

"Yes, yes Alexander this is history of heresay. The facts next time." The professor continued his lecture on the differences between vampire combat and those of wizarding custom.

"The Queen of the Amazons" Riddle murmured.

"Do you think she's real?"

"Oh I'm certain."

Riddle flicked to the page where a painting of a woman in combat. Her hair was wild, her eyes blazing with fire. A sword in one hand, her wand in another.

"The prince of the ventrue wanted to transform her. Make her his queen but she disappeared."

"Why did she disappear?"

"She was marked by the mate of Prince Vladimir. The Empress Thana would not rest till he had been avenged."

Hermione shivered.

Dinner that evening Hermione sat alone. A book on her lap as she ate her chocolate tart. She was engrossed in the memoirs of Prince Vishna. He described with beautifully vivid detail the halls in his castle and the views of the mountain range. Often he would speak of a witch he called Penthesilea. A woman he saw as his successor. Fierce and wise, she was a warrior queen.

I remember the first words she said when she saw me in Albania. "If you bite me I'll rip your head off and feed it to the dogs." I laughed despite being in a bad way. She was wearing a narrow bodice and a frilly pale pink skirt. The very picture of innocence. Her hair fell in wild curls and her eyes were trained carefully at her. The most ludicrous thing about her violent threat was a young girl held around her hips with large dark eyes looking curiously my direction. I assured her I was in no way able to walk let alone attack. At once she was concerned. Letting her daughter down she waved her wand, healing me one spell at a time. To describe adequately this woman whose name I cannot reveal I must explain to you the gentleness of her touch equalling her skill with a sword and the love in her heart. I never did ask her why she came to be in Albania. Only that the stars were aligned that day for the Ventrue.

Hermione knocked. There was no answer. Hesitantly she pushed open the door. The office was beautiful. Fawkes stood in a corner at full bloom of her beauty. Hermione stroked her as she looked out the window. Alphard, Damion and Xander were flying at top speed above the forbidden forest. The sun had barely set, the night sky still young, the scarlet robes clashing wonderfully against the blue of the sky. Hermione eyes lingered on the desk, eyes catching on a yellowing newspaper article with a moving black and white photograph of a woman who looked unnervingly like...

"Interesting read?"

Hermione jumped and dropped her book.

"Oh, yes. Just some extended reading for History of Magic."

"The prince is an exceptionally charming vampire. Even for a vampire." Dumbledore smiled as he took a seat on his desk.

"You know the Prince of the Ventrue?" Hermione gushed.

Dumbledore chuckled, his eyes glinting.

"Before we begin the practical elements of our study I must ask that you cast away any harmful memories concerning your past Ms. Granger." Dumbledore gestured towards the pensieve. A bowl on a beautiful marble pillar.

"Now. Occlumens."

Hermione shut her eyes and imagined erecting walls around her memories. Locking each and every memory behind a door. Calmly she breathed in and out as she focused on the key which locked the beautifully ornate doors. The ornate doors became the entrance of a castle. Morgana Hall. Figures began to swarm in wispy figures. Rosaline and Dumbledore. Rosier. The ballroom swirled in her mind and Abraxas's face became sharper and sharper.

"No!" Hermione yelled and cast a wandless shield charm before wrenching her eyes open.

"Lemon drop?"

It was growing late in the library when Hermione finished her transfiguration essay. Stretching her arms she triumphantly placed the books back into the shelves. Sick to death of Gump's law she decided to take a break from her studies and take a walk on the grounds. She was also aware that it was a little before midnight and she'd seen Riddle hushing with his merry men during dinner looking very shady indeed. With a pang she recalled it was Harry who used to investigate, skulking around the castle in his invisibility cloak, frequently joined with either Ron or Hermione. As she left the warmth of the castle and embraced the cool air she cast her feelings away and walked purposefully into the forest. It wasn't long before she heard a muffled scream a mere metres away. Hermione ran to the noise and crept behind a tree when she saw a gathering of cloaked figures.

Casting a disillusionment charm on herself she edged closer. On the floor lay a crumpled figure, a boy with white blonde hair, crying silently with agony, looking upon his master with utmost fear.

"Let this be a lesson to idle followers" Riddle hissed. Mutterings of yes my lord came from the others. "You have one week to find a lead on the whereabouts of the diadem. Understood Malfoy?"

Malfoy could only nod.

"Maybe another taste of my wrath?"

Malfoy retreated. Riddle targeted his curse but Malfoy dodged.

"You dare defy your master?" Riddle's tone was incredulous. In a flash he attacked once more, his target writhing in pain.

Hermione flinched. This was the boy she'd kissed, let into her bed… Expelliarmus! The non-verbal spell succeeded in disarming Riddle. Riddle turned immediately, the magic surrounding him crackling.

"Stupefy" Hermione panicked but the spell was blocked. Hermione pressed her back against the tree as Riddle walked her direction, wand at the ready.

"Come out, come out wherever you are" Riddle sang manically. His followers laughed softly. Hermione stilled, casting a silencing charm on herself she edged to the left.

"Finite Incantatem" Riddle hissed.

The disillusionment trickled away forcing Hermione to dodge right as a curse followed from Riddle's wand.

"Hermione?" Riddle rose a little, his confusion allowing Hermione a chance to attack.

"Incarcerous" "Petrificus" "Reducto" "Protego" Hermione was fighting five at once, ducking and dodging ominous curses forcing her to twist and turn. Riddle leaned against a tree as he watched her dance. Impressive. Avery was stunned. Dolohov petrified.

"Enough" Riddle spoke quietly, his face betraying no emotion, perhaps a mild curiosity.

"Lets see how pretty you dance with me, Prince" Riddle bowed, a smirk on his face as black and Lestrange retreated. Hermione said nothing. A few moments passed as they just stared at one another. Riddle amused, Hermione seething.

"Gemini" Hermione whispered. Seven Hermione's stood in an arch. Hermione cast a ring of fire around Riddle as they closed in. Riddle cast a flame freezing charm and walked through the fire. "immobulus" the copy disintegrated. Riddle cast duplicate reducto's eliminating each copy before finding his target.

"stupefy!" hermione roared. the force of the spell sent Riddle flying. Lestrange cried in fury slashing his wand back and forth. Outnumbered she fell back and tripped over a stirring Malfoy.

"Abraxas!" Hermione shouted as she cast a shield charm to protect them both.

Malfoy blinked at her. "Hermione?" Hermione pulled him to his feet and dragged him by the hand as she ran throwing spells behind her. Malfoy soon began sprinting ahead as Hermione turned and cast a complicated spell which caused the path to grow unruly with thorned vines. Satisfied she turned and ran after Abraxas.

Malfoy stopped and clutched the stitch at his chest as Hermione listened intently to see if they had shaken them off. Malfoy was twitching, after-effects of the curse he'd suffered. Hermione conjured a vial of Calming Draught from her trunk and force fed Malfoy. Soon his breathing was regulated and the twitching became minor.

Hermione looked around and saw that they had gone beyond the border of Hogwarts but they remained in a forest. The Marauder's Map did not even cover this area. The woods was more gnarled and ancient. Older than anything she'd felt before. Midst these trees she felt young, a mere babe.

"Riddle is going to kill me" Malfoy groaned.

Hermione turned around, her bushy hair sparking with fury and her wand trained at malfoy's nose. "You!" she snarled. "You dare warn me against his company yet you follow him around simpering calling him 'my lord'!"

"Hermione" he pleaded. "you have no idea what you're talking about, he-"

"Spare me your excuses." Hermione snapped. "You will tell him you withdraw your service"

Malfoy spluttered.

"What were you thinking?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Riddle wasn't always like this. We were friends. Well as close as you can be with Riddle. He had plans. i went along with it. But then it was too late. I was established a knight."

"A knight?" Hermione was too interested to look angry this time.

"The Knights of Walpurgis" Malfoy explained.

"Named after the pagan holiday of Walpurgis night." A melodious voice sounded from above.

Hermione fell back by a tree, her wand trained above her head, her eyes looking for the speaker.

"Walpurgis Night, under the stars of cassiopeia, the queen of unrivalled beauty, the mark of vanity, she stirs in the heavens, watching as witches and demons gather, in her name they cry, they bow, they sigh, united under the banner of magic most black, most ancient, most dark." Voices sang from above with a sadness that struck both their hearts.

"Show yourself" Hermione demanded, back to back with Malfoy.

"Hello!" A small boy suddenly appeared in front of her upside down, hanging from a vine.

"Oberon" Hermione spoke with wonder as she leant forward, nose to nose with the rosy cheeked cherub. He had pointed ears and large silver wings that were almost translucent. His head was crowned with an ivy wreath.

The boy turned the right way round and bowed prettily at her, his eyes wide with awe.

"The lady knows my name!" Oberon smiled shyly at her. "The elders call you Antevorta but the boy-human calls you… Hermione?"

Hermione only nodded as she reached to touch his wings which made Oberon laugh something silly. Hermione withdrew but the boy continued to giggle.

"We call you the time-traveller" Another creature descended, older and more cautious. "Oberon!"

"She-she-tickles-" Oberon wheezed.

"Forgive my brother my lady" the girl bowed deeply, her wings fluttering gently as she hovered mid-air. She was half Hermione's size but Hermione was convinced she must be fifteen at the least.

"You aren't a fairy are you?" Hermione murmured.

"Fairies of the old days" she said humbly. "Nothing like the silly creatures you wizards put on top of your Christmas trees".

"Descendants of Morgan Le Fay?"

Oberon and the girl groaned simultaneously.

"Morgana Le Fay was a half-fairy" Oberon rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "We are NOT descendents of that sorceress!"

"Is it true you are changelings?"

Oberon grinned and began to shift into a human boy, a little shorter than her with normal ears and no wings. A moment later he shifted into a dove and then a fairy once again.

"How many of you are there?"

"In the forest?" The girl flew to a branch and swung her legs back and forth in thought. "A little over thirty"

"How have you remained hidden?"

"Not many stray so far from the castle" she shrugged.

"What's your name?" Hermione asked.

"Tanya at your service" the fairy bowed once more.

"Would you like to see where we live?" Tanya said as Oberon asked "Did you like our gift?"

"Yes and oh, it was beautiful!" Hermione beamed.

Before hermione could protest a fairy had grabbed her by each hand and she suddenly felt as light as a feather. They flew her up, higher and higher, just below the canopy showing glimpses of the night sky. Below the canopy stood a tree house fit for princes. The wooden pillars were carved with ornate detail, the carpet woven with ivy, the roof covered with golden leaves.

Hermione had to bow down her head to enter the front door. Once inside she could touch the ceiling with her hands stretched above her. Oberon still held her hand and pulled her through the entrance hall and through a corridor and on the right. Hermione gasped at the seamless way in which the woods were merged with the space. The floor was all there but the windows were wide, without glass, and a tree trunk was in the middle of the room stretching up through the ceiling and growing from far down into the ground.

"It is beautiful" Hermione walked to the window and looked down and saw Malfoy in the distance. She waved at the grumpy looking boy kicking a rock, annoyed at having been left behind. Tanya lied down on the bed leaning on her hands and asked "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Eww Tanya!" Oberon sulked. "Course he isn't!"

"How would you know?" Tanya raised an eyebrow.

"She's destined for the-" Tanya muffled the rest of Oberon's speech.

Hermione turned and looked at Tanya sharply.

"Who?"

"Oh don't listen to him" Tanya waved her hand. "Old fairy gossip"

"How do you know so much about me?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Not much to do really. Fairies are blessed with long life and youth." Tanya explained as she looked into the mirror and fixed her hair. "And vanity" Tanya added with a smirk.

"Nuh-ah" Oberon shook his head. "That's just her"

"Would you think that was our future king?" Tanya sighed.

"Ooh Oberon, are you a prince?" Hermione asked the young boy.

Oberon nodded excitedly. "The heir of Turin"

"I am honoured to meet Oberon, heir or Turin, my highness." Hermione bowed. "Could you tell me more about what they say about me Oberon?"

"That you are a witch who will borne the daughter of time, fated to fall for the dark lord, to wonder the ages and become the saviour of the wizarding world" Oberon said this gravely, serious lines fallen the youthful face. "The spirit that haunts the world to this day will seek you and tone sorceress shall fall and the other rise".

"Old fairy tales" Tanya laughed nervously.

The harsh features on Oberon's face fell and he smiled and kissed Hermione's hand. "Not all fairies are pure Hermione. Be weary." He warned sadly.

"I should.. I should return to my friend." Hermione hesitated, her heart grew cold at the prophecy.

Oberon and Tanya took her hands once more and flew her down to Malfoy, kissed her and flew back to their sanctuary. Malfoy had fallen asleep. Hermione poked him awake and together they returned to the castle in the early hours of the morning. Her head swirling with images of her supposed future. What had really shook her was the part about wondering through the ages. She sounded so alone. Was she never to find an era to call home? And she shivered at the thought of falling for Tom Riddle.

The next few days Hermione avoided Riddle at all costs. She ate at the kitchens, attended her lessons, walked the corridors invisible and only in the mornings did she run alone in the grounds. Time travel eluded her more than ever. Enough theory had been researched, it was time to begin her own studies.

Friday night most students spent in the common room. The Prewitt's liked to sneak food in from the kitchens and the odd butterbeer now and then. Hermione chose to take advantage of the empty library and finish all her work so she could do further research on time travel. She had completed two essays, succeeded in casting the spells for transfiguration and DADA for the next week and created the theory behind a spell for charms which tied in nicely with her proposal for Salem. Abraxas had left her a few hours ago. Exhausted she shut her books, stood up and stretched her stiff arms. She walked out of the library and made way for the stairs when she heard steps but saw no one.

"Stupefy"

Hermione opened her eyes reluctantly. She saw unfamiliar curtains surrounding her four poster bed. Blinking she looked again. Green. Yawning she stretched wondering why she felt so stiff. Disorientated.

"Good morning Hermione" a smooth voice greeted her.

Gulping she turned and screamed.

Riddle lazily casted a silencing charm. A groan could be heard from beyond the curtains.

"What the fuck Riddle?"

Riddle ignored the sleepy slur. A moment later snoring resumed.

Hermione grabbed Riddle by his neck, straddling him so he was unable to move, sending wandless stinging hexes making him wince with discomfort more than pain.

"Get- off -me" He rasped. His physical strength was no match for hers. He resorted to freezing her. Removing her hands from his throat he rubbed his neck and adjusted his tie.

He removed the silencing charm and instantly regretted it.

"-kind of sadist stuns a girl in the middle of the night and brings her back to his bed! What sick-" Hermione searched frantically for her wand as she cursed him.

"What kind of girl skulks around past curfew and disillusioned, listening to matters that is of no business of hers?" Riddle sounded amused more than anything.

"Your wand" he reached over her to reach his drawer "is here".

Hermione received it, still looking at his suspiciously, growing increasingly flustered at how close his lips were away from his.

"Thank you" she breathed before sitting up and running out of his dorms, up the stairs and into the slytherin common room. She pushed at the exit but it refused to move.

"I'm hurt" Riddle's mocking voice had her freeze by the stone wall. "Is my company so unwanted?"

His voice was cold and without emotion.

"Who are you?" Hermione whispered, more to herself than him. "One minute you're intelligent and thoughtful, the next you're- you're- a sociopath."

"What did you see?"

"You and your minions" Hermione spat out. "I thought you and Malfoy were friends, yet you tortured him and what's worse is that you enjoyed it. You took pleasure in it!"

"I have no reason to justify my actions to you"

"You have reason enough to justify your actions to yourself!" Hermione shouted, almost pulling at her hair. "How can you look at a mirror? How do you plan living with yourself? You long for immortality but what kind of life is - this!"

"Do you hear yourself?" Riddle laughed. "How can you stand listening to yourself? Self-righteousness, sanctimonious, holier than thou-"

"Opposed to torturing my friends for a power high?" Hermione retorted.

"I have no friends."

"I thought I was a friend!"

"I wouldn't torture you"

"But you'd stun me and force me in your bed unconscious."

"If I recall, last time you were quite willing."

"You make me sick!"

"Nothing I haven't heard before."

"Touch Abraxas again and I will be forced to play my hand."

"Speak of what you saw the other night and I will teach you the meaning of fear."

"Oh Riddle." Hermione smiled coldly. "You underestimate me. It is not others you should be weary of learning your secrets."

Hermione waved her wand and left the Slytherin common room. Once she reached her dormitory she shut the door and leant against it breathing deeply.

It was still early morning. Hermione went into her bed and lay there staring at the canopy. She thought of her future, groundless. What few friends she'd made, volatile. Her past, lost. Then she remembered. The good times before the war. Laughing with Harry and Ron. Mornings at Quidditch practice. Dancing in the Yule Ball. Then the bad times. The deaths. Her heart growing more and more numb. The pain became constant and cold a comfort. Hermione cried that night, gasping for air, clutching her cushions violently she wept in memory of her friends, her family, a life she could never return to.

A.N. Hi Rosie! I'm glad you are enjoying the plotline. I am posting the chapters unedited. Literally finish them and post them. I know that may be unfair to those following but I would rather speed along and edit thoroughly later. But noted. Thanks so much for the constructive response.