authorsnote: this is sooo late I'm sorry. honestly I wrote the first chapter, planned it as a three parter, got super hype and then had no idea what to do with it. now I've figured, it'll be a little longer, a little different but I'm super excited about it! so here we go, join me for the ride!

lemme know what you think, fav/follow for updates and most importantly - enjoy!

songrecs: I fall apart - post malone


If Hermione were made of hardier stuff, or if perhaps she hadn't experienced many shocks in life that had toughened her up, she likely would have fainted.

It was a close-run thing anyway, and she almost did swoon and hit the floor next to her best friend. As she heard who he was, the biggest shocks of her young life life ran through her head at breakneck speed, flashing across, one after the other.

Finding out she was a witch, the troll sneaking up on her, Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack, the swooping sensation of flying a hippogriff, Harry being entered in the Tri-Wizard tournament, Cedric's death, Dumbledore's death, Snape's betrayal, Ron leaving, Harry falling. One after another she saw them, along with a million small shocks, death and destruction, friend's dead, and foes triumphant, one after another.

But none of them compared to this.

Tom Riddle, Voldemort, in the flesh. Alive and well, and utterly unaware of what he had become, who he was, and what war raged around them in his name. He still looked arrogant, with that evil, sociopathic glint in his eye, but he was not the madman who'd split his soul in 7, no instead he was still somewhat sane, and just the man who planned to climb to power by eradicating her time.

He was not the embodiment of evil yet, but he certainly had already embraced it.

Was it time travel? Some fail safe spell placed by Voldemort upon his defeat? An 8th horcrux come to manifest? She didn't know how an alive and well Tom Riddle stood before her now, but she knew she needed to figure it out, and figure it out soon.

Harry's sacrifice would surely win them the battle, with Voldemort's top fighters and generals littered at her feet it would be a victory at the Castle, but that wouldn't win them the war. It was clear she couldn't defeat Tom Riddle, not even as he was in front of her, younger, less talented, less imbued in the dark arts. There was no Harry to save them, and so she needed to figure out how to stop him, and she needed to figure it out fast.

"I can see the gears turning" He commented, in that upper crust accent that was just a little too perfect, "Coming up with a story? Or perhaps thinking of challenging me again?" He was too smart for his own good. Hermione was used to smart people, but not people who could go toe to toe with her, it was disconcerting.

"Give me my wand back and find out" He laughed again, and she glared hatefully at him. How was she supposed to stop him without a wand? Again, she just repeated the mantra in her head, the battle may be won but the war would wage as long as Lord Voldemort lived, even this younger, slightly less scary (though not by much) version.

"Take it from me" He taunted, and she flicked her fingers. Her wandless magic tugged on the wand in his pocket but he was quick enough to hold onto it, and her magic without a wand was not strong enough against his grip.

"Not bad" A part of her glowed under the praise, as she always did under any compliment and she scolded herself for it. If anything she should be disgusted this psychopath was complimenting her, but it was her usual response to praise, particularly about her intellect or magical ability, she craved praise and that pat on the head, she knew it was one of her weaker qualities.

A rustle behind her distracted her then, and she turned around quickly, even wandless she was ready to fight or respond if need be. She noticed Tom lift his own wand, and even take a step to stand in front of her. She resisted the urge to shove him, but instead simply took a step forward, as someone emerged from the trees.

"Tom?" It was Thoros Nott, looking slightly worse for wear, but alas, still alive. She felt a panic then, for this man knew who Tom Riddle was, knew what he represented; he wasn't the maniac who tortured purebloods for the sake of it, he was the man who'd promised to usher in a new age of muggleborn eradication and war on muggles.

She glanced at Tom then, who looked equally confused before taking another step forward, "Thoros?" He asked, and the man nodded, usually reserved he suddenly looked quite gleeful.

"We're losing" He said, but he didn't look defeated, the opposite, "But you're back, lord knows how but you are" He nodded then, and fell to his knees, perhaps in relief or deference she didn't know, "We're saved" Had he cracked? Gone mad? She didn't know, all she knew was if this was a typical reaction from his followers there would be trouble.

She could see why it might be. Lord Voldemort of the future was not the man Harry had told her about of the past. Tom Riddle had convinced purebloods he was the man to keep tradition, to eradicate muggleborns and keep the wizarding world for wizards of pureblood and no one else. He was the future they wanted. Lord Voldemort was the corrupted, sick version of that, gone mad from splitting his soul too many times.

If the old guard, the men who'd followed Tom in the past, and their descendants still wanted that world, they now had the man to lead them again, who wasn't mad, just power hungry and ready to lead.

It was bad, worse perhaps than if the insane Voldemort had returned. Hermione knew the battle may be won, but having Tom Riddle at the helm of this rebellion again? It would possibly start the loss of the war for the light.

She could not let that happen.

She glanced at him, and he looked confused, but it was barely there. She didn't know if she was good at reading people, or for some reason if she could just tell, but she could see on Tom's face that hint of confusion, yet it was smothered in arrogance and certainty, and he took another step forward.

Panic rose in her throat, and she glanced down at Harry, dead, on the floor. She could not, would not, let his sacrifice be in vain.

She didn't want to leave him, leave her friend to the mercies of the forest, but this was just his body now, she hoped his spirit was elsewhere, perhaps with his parents, with Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, with the people who loved him. He'd had little love in life and too much suffering, she hoped in whatever world or afterlife he was in now it was the opposite.

For she had to leave him, for she had to stop Tom Riddle from reuniting with his remaining followers and rallying them again.

She wasn't sure what to do, but the next thing she knew she was stepping closer to Riddle, her hand slipped into his pocket, and he was just a second too distracted to stop her. If she had wanted to get away he could have and probably would have stopped her, but that was not what she wanted, no. Instead she grabbed him, grabbed the back of his neck with one hand and waved her wand with the other.

She didn't know what to do, she just knew she had to stop him getting to his followers.

And so, as he raised his hand to stop her in whatever she planned, she waved hers.

She managed one last glance at Harry, and sent something akin to a prayer up for him, for him to be safe wherever he was now, and most importantly happy, before she felt that squeeze around her middle, and she apparated away, with her arms around Tom Riddle.


She wasn't sure where to go, and twice on the journey she felt Tom Riddle tugging at her, trying to direct. Thankfully, she remained firm, and it seemed changing the destination of apparition when not in control of it was something even beyond Voldemort's abilities, that she was thankful for.

She landed hard as she realised where would be best for them. Her knees jolted as she landed, and she let out a groan. Almost a year on the run had not put her body in good condition for apparating. Thankfully, she hadn't splinched herself, but her body was in no mood to be put through the ringer anymore.

But her knees weren't her biggest concern. As she landed, she felt her wand tugged from her hand, and the point of a wand suddenly stabbed into her neck. A little croak left her lips, but it was ignored as an angry looking Tom Riddle held the wand point there, right over the scar his most devout follower had left with her knife.

"Where have you taken me?" He said, furious and yet trying to cover it. Ahh, so he wasn't quite the full master of emotion yet, perhaps that was something she could work with? Though she'd never been particularly great at manipulating people, she was plenty cunning yes, but not a manipulative person, she wondered if she could use that to her advantage.

"Cornwall" She spat out, "My grandmothers' cottage"

"Why?" He asked, furious, again she was surprised he showed that. The Voldemort of now may have been insane and unable to regulate his emotions, but Harry had explained the Tom Riddle who stood before her now; charming, a master of deception, completely sociopathic and detached. Well he didn't seem that way now.

"Let's just say I felt Hogwarts wasn't the best place for you" She smiled nastily then, and he dug his wand in further before releasing her and shoving himself back, turning away for a second. When he turned back, he was far more in control, it was the strangest thing, like someone had flipped a switch and he was no longer brimming over with anger.

"Explain to me what is going on" He said then, it was a command, not a question.

"I don't know" Ugh that tasted rotten on her tongue, not a phrase she was used to saying, but here she truly had no idea. "I don't" He raised an eyebrow at her then, almost as if he didn't believe her, "Trust me it's a foreign feeling for me" His lip tugged up at that, even as he was angry, that she hated more than his anger or arrogance, she did not want to make him smile, he was a sociopath, she didn't want to rectify that.

But no she didn't know, there she was being honest. Horcrux? Reincarnate? Ghost? Something else? What was Tom Riddle? The man standing before her? She had no idea.

From a kill and defeat him perspective she needed to know, but from another perspective she didn't. She didn't want to. The battle was over, the war won if she stopped this man rallying the troops again, she wanted this so desperately to be over.

She had been fighting for too long, why couldn't it be over?

Months on the run, years before battling, so tired and so cold. She just wanted this to be over, and yet a part of her, a part she was trying to ignore as it made her want to scream was realising it was nowhere over, perhaps even, it was just beginning.

"Well" He said that glint of fury entering his tone again, "We're going to find out"

She glared back at him, and almost protested in anger, but what choice did she have? If he wanted to, he could force her to do as he said, but no, she needed to find out too. Harry had died to stop him; she couldn't be the one to drop the ball now, she wouldn't let her best friend die in vain.

'Harry, I wish you were here, but I hope you're happy now' She thought, and then turned back to evil incarnate, quickly reevaluating just how far gone he was. She'd thought he wasn't quite at Lord Voldemort levels of evil, but he was approaching them. She made a snap decision then, she hoped it was the right one. She wasn't used to being wrong, but this man, this Riddle made her doubt whether she could be right.

"We are" She shot back, and he looked mildly surprised at that, good, he didn't need to know her motives. Perhaps he thought she wanted to help, or was curious, and she was the latter, but it wasn't to help, it was to take him down, once and for all.

And she would, she'd carry on Harry's work.

"Why?" He asked, and she almost smirked and laughed at the same time, instead she settled for something of a grim smile.

"I'm going to kill you" Honesty felt like the best policy here, and he even laughed at it, of course he did, the smug, arrogant, evil bastard.

"You can try" He shot back before reaching for her wand in his pocket and tossing it back to her, apparently feeling unthreatened, she felt both insulted but comforted when her wand was in her hand, she resisted the urge to fire something at him, it wouldn't work, and she needed her wand.

"Now, let us try and understand what is happening here" Again it was a command, not a question, but one she knew she needed to comply with. He wanted to figure out what had happened and so did she … just for different reasons.

Not that, that mattered for now. It would of course, but for now? Now she just needed to know, and so did he, it wasn't quite a truce, but she took the first step and walked to the cottage, and she heard him follow.

Find out what is going on now, kill him later, that was her plan, she didn't know his, but she presumed it would differ. It would just be her job to stop him.

And she would, for all they had lost, for all who would lose if Tom Riddle climbed back to the top, for Harry, for Harry.


sooo thoughts? bit weird I know.

also this will primarily be hermione pov, maybe with some tom riddle splashed in, idek I haven't decided yet.

lemme know your thoughts, I always appreciate them.

speak soon