Disclaimer: JK owns HP

1989

Chapter 29

"What are you looking for?"

After following her down a specific aisle, Hermione had started looking around very carefully for something in particular. She was very focused, and moving her eyes over every surface in the nearby vicinity.

"Do you know what a horcrux is?" She asked as she searched around the old cupboard that was currently empty.

He sighed as he drug his hands down his face. "You never have simple answers do you?"

"I'm a muggleborn who aligned myself with Harry Potter at the age of twelve. In my life, there is no such thing as a simple answer." She responded dryly, as she bent over to look around the crate where the bust of the warlock sat.

Charlie snorted; knowing that was probably accurate. "No. I don't imagine there is." He replied. "But no, I have no idea what a horcrux is."

"Well, that's because it's dark magic." She paused her search in order to explain it to him face to face. "A ritual and spellwork so vile they don't even mention it anymore, let alone teach it; because the outcome is the splitting of one's soul. The horcrux is the specific object that houses the fragment once the split has occurred."

His eyebrows raised again. "What?...Why?" He asked, looking disturbed. "Why would anyone want to split their soul?"

Hermione bit her lip. "Immortality." She explained. "Creating a horcrux ensures you cannot be truly killed. It enables you to be brought back if you die; so long as it hasn't been destroyed."

"And that's what You-Know-Who did?" He asked for clarification. "When I asked you how he returned you said there was a potion, but he made one of these horcruxes didn't he? That's why he isn't really dead right now isn't it?"

"Yes to both." She replied honestly. "Except he didn't just make one horcrux...He made six."

Charlie opened his mouth and closed it several times; attempting to find the right words. "Well, Shit." He finally settled on his favorite word. "How the hell are we supposed to find and destroy six horcruxes?"

"Actually, we are down to the final two." She clarified as she began to look around for the diadem again. "And I have a plan for both of them."

"Well okay then." He nodded. "I like the sound of that. So what do you need-"

"Ah haa!" Hermione shouted excitedly, as she finally spotted the tarnished tiara amongst a small pile of items on the floor. "There it is."

"Me for?" Charlie finished smally as he stepped closer to see what she was pointing at.

He looked down and saw several items, including a frizzy wig and a strange looking vase. At the top was an antique crown that looked vaguely familiar. He leaned over and was just about to touch it when she smacked his arm out of the way.

"Well you can't move it." Hermione scolded him. "Or Harry won't be able to find it, and use it as a distinctive marker for hiding his potions book sixth year."

Charlie raised his arms in mock surrender. "Alright. Sorry. I didn't know." His brows crinkled. "Why would Harry Potter need to hide his potions book?"

Hermione sighed deeply. "It's a very long and irrelevant story. I'll tell you later."

He had a feeling there were a lot of those. "Okay...So is this one of those horcrux things?" He asked, attempting to get back to the task at hand. "It looks oddly familiar."

"It is." She confirmed as the both stared down at it. "And that's because it's the lost diadem of Ravenclaw."

"The one Professor Binns likes to talk about every so often?"

"The very same." She nodded. "The ghost of Ravenclaw was Rowena's daughter. She stole it and hid it in Albania before she died. Voldemort sweet talked the secret out of her, and then went after it. He likes his horcruxes to have great meaning, so he turned it into one and came back to hide it here in the sixties."

"Something tells me that story is far longer and a lot more interesting." He commented. "But I know we don't have time for that right now."

Hermione turned from staring at the diadem to look at him again instead. "When the war is over we will have the rest of our lives to relive and discuss my adventures in great detail. Including the one where we stole another horcrux out of a high security Gringotts vault, and then rode a Ukranian Ironbelly out of the tunnel system."

Charlie's jaw dropped as he glared at her. "That's not fair!" He stuttered. "You know that's the one I'd want to hear the most… Is that really where you were?"

Hermione laughed and kissed his cheek to calm him. "If you focus, I'll tell you that one as a bedtime story tonight?"

Though conflicted about being told that story would have to wait, he grinned provocatively. "Does that mean you'll be in my bed again?"

She smiled teasingly in return. "We'll see."

She had spent every night since he'd left sleeping in his bed, with the exception of the night in the hospital wing, and had no intention of going back to her own. Like the night before he left, she already planned on waiting until the other girls were asleep before using the cloak to sneak into his dorm again.

"Now focus." She reminded him with a gentle pat on the cheek. "I'll tell you just the basic version of each horcrux for now."

"Okay."

"Second year, there was a weird diary, Harry destroyed it." She said matter-of-factly. "He then gave it to Dumbledore, who realized that it was actually a horcrux. However, he didn't let us in on the secret until sixth year. That's one down."

"And that will happen in 1993, right? He asked.

"Yes."

"So just over three years from now." He committed that information to memory.

"After that, Dumbledore, who taught You-Know-Who and knew about his childhood, decided to search for others. After discovering from a previous professor that Voldemort asked if it was possible to split a soul into seven pieces, he was positive that there were more." She continued. "Voldemort is also a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, which yes, is very important." She added before he could interrupt with a question. "Dumbledore then went to the childhood home of Voldemort's mother, where he discovered an old antique ring; a Slytherin family heirloom. He brought it back to Hogwarts and destroyed it. That's horcrux number two."

"So in 1996 there are four left, but Voldemort is back so we are at war." Charlie was walking himself through it mentally. "Does he know what you are up to?"

"I'm getting there." She reminded him, trying not to let him get ahead in the story. "So sixth year, Harry needed to hide his potions book, and moved the diadem onto that warlock bust over there so he could come back and find it later." She pointed at each object mentioned. "At that time, he didn't realize what it was. Like your brother, Harry never paid enough attention in History of Magic, and therefore didn't recognize it."

"That sounds about right." Charlie commented, a little confused, but figuring it would make sense soon.

"A few months later, not knowing about the diadem yet, we skipped seventh year to go in search of the other four. There was a locket that caused us quite a few problems, but we eventually found a way to destroy it, and then most recently was a cup from Hufflepuff. That's the one we stole from Gringotts." She continued to explain. "I destroyed that one myself, but after that all we knew was that the other two horcruxes likely had to do with ether Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, and probably his pet snake Nagini."

"Are you with me so far?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Charlie nodded as he pointed down to the diadem again. "So this is the item from Ravenclaw then, right?"

"Definitely." She confirmed. "Our friend Luna heard we were looking for something of significance related to her house, and she mentioned it was likely the lost diadem. When she showed Harry what it looked like, he remembered seeing it in here the year before."

"That's a handy coincidence if I ever heard of one."

"Almost unbelievable if I'm being honest." She agreed before continuing to explain things to him. "Anyway, since Voldemort's return, Harry has noticed some odd side effects."

Charlie's eyebrows wrinkled. "What kind of side effects."

"Their minds are linked, and they have been able to see into each other's lives at times. Especially when one of them is angry or emotional. Due to this strange connection, we know he finally realized what we were up to. That's why we were in Hogwarts the night I arrived here. It was a race to see who could get to the diadem first." Hermione continued. "Which is where you come in."

"Oh, are we finally to the part you need me for?" He grinned teasingly.

"Yes." She confirmed with a scoff. "Follow me this way please."

Leaving the diadem in place, Hermione dragged him further down the aisle of junk to the fork in the road. She then pulled him to the right, where Draco had tripped her and broken her wand.

"This is the location where things started to go downhill for me." She said as she glanced at the broomstick she'd struck Malfoy with. "I was able to grab the diadem and run, but Malfoy was faster than I was. This is where he caught up to me."

"So this is where you were when you found the time turner?" He asked looking around for it.

"No. This is just where I was when he broke my wand. He used a tripping jinx and it flew out of my hand." Her heart still hurt at the memory of it snapping in two. "When he demanded I hand the diadem over to him I threw it over there so I could get away again."

Hermione gestured to a pile behind him and to their right.

"I hoped he'd go after it so I could run off and find Harry, but he was much more interested in pursuing me." She continued. "I ran off as fast as I could, and I'm pretty sure the diadem was left wherever it landed; as he didn't have it on him when he caught up to me against the back wall."

Her hand changed position to point to the opposite side of the large and mysterious room.

"So you'll need me to follow you while still under the cloak, and retrieve the diadem once it's thrown?" He asked; figuring out the rest of the plan.

"That was my thought, yes." She nodded. "But as soon as you have it you'll need to follow Malfoy again; to the end of this aisle. It's a dead end that I'd hoped would lead me to Harry or Ron eventually, but it led me to you instead."

The pair grinned at one another at those words, and Charlie leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead.

"Then when you get back to me, we can destroy it together." He said. "And that will only leave one."

"Yes. Together." She agreed.

"And you are sure it's the snake, and not a random antique from Gryffindor?" He asked for clarification.

"Positive." She confirmed, now more sure than ever. "Voldemort only realized we knew about his horcruxes for a few hours before I ended up here. According to Harry's strange connection, he became extra protective of Nagini since discovering our secret mission. It practically proves that she really is the final one."

"So then we know what all of them are." He said excitedly; now understanding more of the story. "And all we have to do now is destroy the last two, and he'll be mortal again."

"Precisely." She confirmed. "But while the diadem is easy enough, the snake isn't. She's extremely dangerous, and lethal. Your dad got bit by her a few years ago, and was in St. Mungo's for almost a month. Getting close enough to destroy her was already going to be hard enough, but now that he knows we mean to kill her, he isn't letting her out of his sight."

"So what can we do to change that?" He asked, attempting to come up with a plan. "Can we not team up with Dumbledore? Have him and Harry hold Voldemort off, while me, you, and Ron go after the snake?"

Hermione instantly cringed and closed her eyes at the mention of their headmaster. It was a topic she had been thinking about a lot recently, and had hoped that she wouldn't have to reveal that particular person's fate to him.

"Oh...um." She faltered. "Charlie...about Dumbledore. He isn't really in a position to help us."

"What do you mean?" He asked looking her over carefully. "Why not?"

When she faltered again, her lip trembling, Charlie seemed to get the picture. It was still upetting for her, and she couldn't muster up enough courage to hide the severity of it.

"No." His eyes hardened at the implication. "No. No. No. Don't tell me what I think you're about to say."

"I'm sorry, but it's true." She grimaced, and her eyes started to water at the memory. "At the end of our sixth year, the freshly inducted Draco Malfoy found a way to get his fellow Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Dumbledore was caught off guard and disarmed. He was hit with the killing curse, and knocked off the astronomy tower."

She omitted the fact that Snape was the death eater who had killed him; partly because she was worried Charlie would try and do something about it, and a little bit because she was starting to wonder if there was more to that part of the story. Something she wasn't aware of yet. Dumbledore must have had proof that Snape was on their side, or he wouldn't be so adamant about his loyalty.

Charlie turned away from her and cupped one hand to his forehead as the truth sank in.

"Fuck….Shit." He muttered various curse words under his breath. "I thought you said the deaths had been minimal of people we knew? I thought we were close to defeating that monster for good?"

"They have been...and we are." She claimed as she watched him nervously.

"Well, fuck!" He practically yelled. "How could you have not told me about this sooner?"

Hermione had never seen him look so frightened, but she could understand why. She'd been in the same mindset the entire summer after he'd been killed after all.

She sighed and wiped the tear from the corner of her eye. "Because I wasn't planning on telling you at all. We can't change the past."

"It might be in your past, but it sure as hell isn't in mine!" He retorted angrily, turning toward her again. "This is one thing I'm not sure I can look past and allow to happen without a fight."

"I know it's hard. I understand." She approached him slowly in an attempt to calm him. "I already tried to drop him a hint myself, but he brushed it off."

Hermione placed her hands comfortingly on his shoulders. She knew he was scared for the future and that he had every right to be. Not only that, but he was going to have to face all of this alone once she was gone. It was a lot for any one person to handle.

"How in the hell are we supposed to win without Albus Dumbledore?" He finally asked after a long silence.

"Lucky for you, and everyone else, that's what I've been working on. Since finding out I was going to be stuck in the past awhile, I've done a lot of research." She revealed. "And I finally know what needs to be done."

"Is that what your dangerous trip was about then?" He asked hopefully, finally having enough information to make assumptions.

"Yes."

"Where were you?" He asked dryly. It was clear his good mood was gone, and all he wanted now was to find out the rest of the plan.

"A snake infested island off the coast of Brazil." She answered. "The final resting place of Salazar Slytherin."

His eyebrows raised slightly, but he pushed them back down. "How in the hell did you find out about a place like that?"

"An old book in the restricted section, along with the passage about Maledictus that was in the book I gave you for your birthday. They both referenced vipers in Brazil, and I figured it was worth a shot. Now I'm almost positive that Nagini is actually a cursed witch instead of a true snake."

"Bloody Hell." He muttered in response sounding exactly like his younger brother. "How did you come to that conclusion."

"By finding Slytherin's hideout and taking all of his journals. He wrote about a similar bond he shared with a Maledictus in his own time. Their relationship mimicked what Voldemort and Nagini share now."

Charlie flinched at the name, this time having had enough. "Can you please stop saying that name?" He complained; once again showing the family resemblance. "Just use You-Know-Who would you?"

"Fine." Hermione agreed moodily. "Anyway, I found evidence that You-Know-Who had found the hideout as well, and spent a good portion of time there. I'm pretty sure that is where he met Nagini and they formed their own creepy bond soon after. She is extremely loyal to him, like no other familiar I have ever witnessed before."

"Does her being a Maledictus make her harder to kill?"

"Until now, yes." She replied. "But as of a few hours ago, no."

His mood seemed to lift a little. "You found something?"

"Slytherin's last journal mentioned a protective amulet. One that protects the wearer from any dark creature. Maledictus included." She explained her discovery. "I found a book on forging in the restricted section a few months ago, but didn't realize its significance at the time. The instructions on how to make them are in there."

"So we can make a few; for us, Harry, and Ron. That should allow us all to get close enough to kill her without getting harmed in the process." Charlie figured out the rest of the plan, a gleam of hope returning to his eyes.

"Pretty much, except I was -" Hermione was cut off as another realization dawned on Charlie.

"Wait a minute!" He exclaimed, looking flustered again. "Does that mean that your dangerous trip to that island full of snakes was for nothing then? You risked your life, and had me worried sick, when you had the answer the whole time?"

Hermione paused; wide eyed. Though she knew he wasn't angry with her, he was clearly frustrated by the situation. Her revealing so much to him at once was bound to be overwhelming, which is why she had deliberately spread her entire life story out over the course of several months.

"Well, not necessarily." She defended herself. "Without those journals I don't think I would have realized that Nagini was a dark creature, and not just a rather vicious snake. We always thought she was just a normal animal companion. Even if I had come across the page with the protective amulet before I left, I'm not sure I would have understood it's significance in our mission to destroy her."

That seemed to cool his temper again, but only just. He still looked on edge as he thought over what she said. It didn't take long before he glared at her again.

"Take off your shirt." He suddenly demanded; his tone firm, but not angry.

"What?" She backed up a step; away from him. "Why?"

"I want to see something." He said as he followed her. "Something I ignored earlier while we were shagging."

Hermione tried to back up more, but he was too fast; following her until he had her cornered against an old wardrobe. His fingers tugged at the collar of her jumper, as if he was trying to get a good look at her shoulder. The one that first snake had bit into after falling from the ceiling fixture.

"It's nothing." She claimed as she tried to shrug him off of her. "I'm fine. There was no lasting damage."

This seemed to spur him on even more. "So you did get bit then?" He looked at her scoldingly; as he held her in place with one hand and finally pushed her shirt down away her shoulder with the other. "Fucking hell Hermione, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

His eyes traced over the two small marks that were left. Over the past two weeks they had faded to a pale pink, but they were raised enough against her pale skin that they were easily noticeable if you were looking for them.

"Because I really am fine and there were a lot more important things to tell you." She claimed; never one to fret over her own well-being when others were still at stake.

"Was this the only one?" He asked; his tone still demanding, but still not angry.

Hermione scowled, but shook her head. "No."

Slowly, she lifted the sleeve of her left arm; revealing her mudblood scar to him again. With her pointer and middle fingers she pointed to the other small scars between the lettering.

Charlie sighed and leaned down to place a kiss to the marred flesh. "Any more?" He asked calmly.

"No." She replied honestly; feeling him relax a little at that answer. "Just the two deadly snake bites." She added sarcastically.

"Fucking hell you barmy witch." He whispered before kissing her soundly on the lips again. "You are going to give me a heart attack one of these days."

Hermione kissed him back, relaxing now that his temper had subsided. She ran her fingers up and down his back to continue to soothe him into an even calmer state.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hide it. There was just so much to say and I figured telling you in chronological order would be easiest." She defended her reasons for keeping it from him until then.

He paused to snort before kissing her deeply again, his arms wrapping themselves around her waist. "Is there more I need to know, or do we have time for another good snogging session?" He grinned as his fingers brushed over the exposed flesh of her shoulder.

Hermione groaned as he nipped a sensitive spot along her pulse point. "Unfortunately there is more."

He sighed and took a deep breath before pulling back to look her in the eye again. "Fine, okay. But then you owe me my dragon story." He pouted in a way that let her know he was both joking and completely serious at the same time.

She shook her head as her own way of laughing at him, a small smile gracing her lips. "Actually part of what I need to say has to do with dragons."

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously.

"I don't think I actually ended up in the past by accident anymore. I think I was suppose to be here." She said incredulously. "I think I was supposed to meet you."

"Hermione..." He paused in thought. "You aren't making sense."

She paused as they stared at each other. She knew how weird she must sound.

"The final step in forging the amulets is casting them in dragon fire." She explained herself. "A dragon's first fire, specifically. Who else would have access to something so rare, other than an experienced dragonologist?"

'Oh." He muttered under his breath as he connected the dots.

"I can help you with most of it before I leave." She continued. "But you are the only person I have ever met who can complete them."

"Yeah." Charlie scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "Yeah I guess I am."

Hermione smoothed one hand up and down his back in a comforting manner. She had dropped a lot of life changing information on him today.

"We'll need to start soon, as there are a lot of ingredients to gather." She spoke softly. "Some of them are hard to come by too. I'm going to request a meeting with Dumbledore. We'll need his help with a few of them, and he'll also need to know what your part is going to be in all of this."

"So he knows about the war too then?"

"Yes, after seeing the state I was in when I arrived here, and what year I came from, he figured it out almost immediately." She explained. "You'll likely need to be in contact with him after I leave."

"Yeah, that make sense." He nodded, although it looked like he was still trying to make sense of things. "What's first?"

"A segment of wood from a wiggentree." She answered.

"Like the ones Professor Sprout just procured this year?" He asked suspiciously.

"Exactly like those." Hermione confirmed. "They do protect you from dark creatures whilst touching them after all."

"That's right."

"I figured we'd get Dumbledore's permission to steal one of them and make as many amulets as we can from it." She continued on undeterred. "The castle and grounds were swarming with dark magical creatures when I left, and its my hope that we can pass as many as possible around once I get back; to your family, friends, and anyone else fighting beside us."

"Okay." He agreed, looking hopeful now that there was a plausible way to protect his family. "I'm definitely in."

xxxxxxxxx

After discussing the rest of the amulet ingredients and coming up with a timeline to present to Dumbledore, Hermione had taken his hand to lead him further down the aisle; until at last they reached the dead end. The wall was in sight, but she stopped several feet away, in the exact spot she'd been tripped at. On the same bit of stone flooring where her time turner had shattered mid travel; leaving her almost nine years in the past, instead of the ten minutes she'd planned.

"This is where it happened." She said; breaking the comfortable silence that had grown between them. "I had hoped that my path would lead me to Harry, who was only one aisle over that way." She gestured to the right. "But when I realized it was a dead end, I knew I needed to find some way to defend myself... so I could make it back to Harry and Ron. I knew my only chance was to get to someone with a wand."

"Makes sense." Charlie commented, looking uncomfortable at the scenario forced upon her.

"After looking around with no luck, I finally spotted the time turner on that desk over there." She gestured to it. "But it was too late. Malfoy found me before I could reach it. He pulled my hair, and cornered me against the desk while insinuating crude things he'd like to teach me."

Charlie's eyes darkened, while Hermione looked down at her feet. When she had talked about being attacked earlier, that wasn't what he pictured.

"Did he?" He cleared his throat with a small cough before pressing on. "Did he try to sexually assault you?"

"I, um,..." Hermione faltered too as she thought about what would have happened if she hadn't successfully defended herself. "I think that is where he was headed, but I didn't give him the chance. I kind of kneed him as hard as I could in the testicles before running away with the time turner."

Charlie grit his teeth as she spoke; pissed at the beginning of her admission. But when she continued on to tell him how she'd gotten away, he ended up snorting at the end. "Fuck me, I thought I was going to have to either watch you get assaulted, or lose you forever by stopping it myself...but you really can handle yourself."

Hermione laughed as his usually grin resurfaced, and he muttered how much he liked feisty women under his breath. He admired how she didn't even have a wand at the time, and still managed to evade the slimy ferret.

"I like to think I can, except he hit me with a tripping jinx." She continued on with her tale. "I had meant to only go back in time a few minutes, but the time turner broke and I ended up on the first day of term 1989 instead."

"Where you met me?" He asked rhetorically with a smirk.

"Where I met you." She confirmed with a snort.

Charlie leaned in to place a single kiss to her cheek; letting her know how happy he was about that fact.

"Then this is where I will be then." He spoke against her ear. "On May 2nd, 1998. Just after midnight. This is where I'll be, wand in hand."

"Ready to fight?" She asked; reminding him that even though it would be a great reunion for him, there would still be a battle to be won.

"Ready to fight." He agreed. "I'll get the diadem and meet you here; still under the cloak. And when the time turner takes you to the past, I'll beat the ever loving fire out of Draco Malfoy until you," He tapped his finger against the tip of her nose. "Come back to me."

Hermione smiled softly and kissed the pad of his finger. As much as she didn't want to leave him alone in the past, she was very much looking forward to spending their lives together without the threat of war once she returned.

"And then we'll be together?" She asked.

"And then we'll be together." He grinned. "But I should probably warn you now that I'm going to be ridiculously horny by then."

Hermione glared at him before hitting him in the chest. He had ruined the moment with crudeness.

"What?" He feigned innocence as he laughed. "I'm going to have gone eight years without sex, you don't think I'm going to be-"

Hermione cut him off with a kiss, pushing him toward the same desk she'd been assaulted on four months ago; wanting a better memory to replace the bad one with. She knew he was planning on waiting for her, but she hadn't expected him to be abstinent. Surely he'd be tempted to have the occasional one night stand to keep the loneliness away.

"I love you, you ridiculous wizard." She shook her head at him before clashing their lips back together.

Glad that there was finally time for another good round of snogging, Charlie's hands came up to hold her against him; One on her neck, one on her hip. She was practically in his lap as he came to lean against the desk; not caring that the edge was now digging into his lower back.

"Though I don't really expect you-"

Hermione suddenly cut herself off as she noticed something off with the contents behind where Charlie's backside was currently leaning against. Instead of staying wrapped around him in an embrace, she slid down so her feet were back on the floor and moved around him to verify what she already knew.

"That's odd." She said slowly; clearly confused and bewildered by the look on her face.

"What? What is it?" Charlie asked as he turned to follow her gaze.

"The time turner." Hermione tapped the top of the large book sitting on the desk several times with her finger. She glanced at the spot for a few seconds before looking up at him again. "It isn't here yet."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: I was so excited to get to those last few lines. I had those written years ago.