Chapter 6

In the absolute silence that followed Hermione's shriek, Tom Riddle muttered "Why didn't I lock the floo?" and started laughing.

Percy Weasley had been using his lunch break to come see Tom Riddle to discuss the ministry and their plans, seeing Hermione Granger sitting there having a cup of tea was unexpected and slightly terrifying. He had no idea what to do, or what to make of the current situation, he felt absolutely helpless and then Tom started laughing and Professor Snape just raised a singular eyebrow while pouring a glass of firewhiskey and handing it to him.

"Hello Percy, welcome to the circus.

May I introduce you to Hermione Riddle? My daughter." Tom said once he finally calmed down.

Percy just stared at that declaration and muttered "Daughter?" quite pathetically Severus thought.

"Have a seat Percy, we'll catch you up."

"... And of course Hermione, Percy here is also one of the aforementioned Gryffondor you can trust." Tom ended.

At the end of that lengthy and quite heavy conversation, Percy had stood there clutching his glass, he then drunk it in one go, needed the burn.

"Right well, I need to go back home soon, can we do the whole glamour in a necklace part now? I think I need a nap or small coma." Hermione asked during a lull in the conversation.

"Right sure, let's go to my study."

They all followed Tom to the study, having decided to stay for the grand reveal.

Tom picked up the necklace he had set aside for this task, a dainty silver chain with a small snake pendant, the chain was long enough that the pendant wouldn't be seen while wearing her Hogwarts' uniform.

He asked Hermione to sit down on the armchair in the corner and proceeded to remove the long-term glamour and tie it to the necklace in the process.

The whole operation only took about 10 minutes, having used a specific spell with its removal in mind even then.

Hermione started glowing a full bright white light for a few seconds, and when it stopped Hermione Riddle stood in her place, glamour free.

She immediately stood up and placed herself in front of the full length mirror on the other side of the room, the changes weren't major. Her hair was now much darker, inky black, and her curls were more wavy than curly, lengthening the overall length. Her cheekbones were higher, like her father's, her figure remained the same, slender with small curves. Her eyes, however, were the biggest shock, where warm brown used to be now stood icy blue eyes looking back at her.

Tom was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but decided to go for it anyway and took her in his arms in a long awaited fatherly hug.

"I've missed so much my love. Thank you for coming back to me."

Hermione felt her eyes burning with unshed tears but didn't quite feel ready yet to say much of anything, so she simply kissed his cheek.

"I need to go home now, thank you for everything. Let me know when you want me for the meetings we've discussed.

Professor Snape, I assume I will see you in September if I don't see you before." Both Tom and Severus nodded at that, and gave her space to leave.

Before she left the room, she went to Percy and hugged him tight "I'm so glad you're okay Percy", kissed his cheek and left the room to go back home.

They remained silent, heard the front door close and silently moved back to the sitting room.

"Right well, this has been an enlightening day, I fear I must go back to Hogwarts however, so I'll bid you both goodbye." Severus didn't wait for their response and simply flooed away.

Tom was glaring at Percy in total silence, while Percy was still in shock at everything and still felt the heat of her kiss on his cheek.

"I just got her back, I don't care that she's of age, I'd love to know why exactly that is by the way, but if you do anything improper in any way I will kill you, am I clear?" Tom said very calmly.

Percy simply nodded "Right, of course.

For the age thing though, I believe she had a time-turner in her 3rd year, I remember seeing her schedule and she literally took all the classes, I have no idea how much time she spent going back but I assume she aged an additional year."

Tom stood ramrod straight, all thoughts of his little girl kissing a boy leaving, and asked in a steel voice "Where the hell did my daughter get a time-turner? She could have died! Her core wasn't ready at 13 years old! Even unspeakables barely use them because of the strain it can cause!"

Percy looked resigned and simply said "Dumbledore gave it to her."