In the Blink of an Eye

by Celaena82

Hermione Granger is sent back in time by none other than Lord Voldemort. Unknown to her, the Dark Lord has his own plans for her. When Hermione realises that her actions in the past have unintended consequences for the, she resorts to the help of her greatest enemy- Tom Riddle. But what happens when Tom decides that now that he has her, he can't let her go?

6/3/2025

A/N: Hi guys! Welcome to my first ever fanfiction. This a a Tomione, which means it is TMR/HJG. Now, to be clear, I do not, and will not ever ship them. But I had an idea and I thought it would be fun to write. This is the prologue so it's a bit unclear and confusing but you will gradually understand by the middle of the entire story, if you stick with me until then. I have a clear vision of where this story is heading but I can give no confirmations about how long this story will be. Uploads will Thursday and Sunday. Hope you enjoy this story!

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, and I do not own any of it.

Prologue

6 August 1995, 11 pm

Voldemort's POV:

Voldemort sat behind his desk in the Malfoy Manor. Well, technically, it wasn'thisdesk, but who was Lucius to deny the Dark Lord anything he wanted? He heard a knock on the door.

"Enter," he said in his best how-dare-you-disturb-me voice.

The door opened, revealing Lucius. The blonde wizard bowed his head and walked till he was now in front of Voldemort.

"My Lord," Lucius said in a hurry, "I have just received news that Potter isn't at his muggle house." Voldemort's lip curled. He was not in the mood for bad news just yet. "But, I also have good news." Lucius added hastily.

Voldemort gestured for him to go on.

Lucius' mouth turned into a sneer. "The Daily Prophet refuses to believe that you are back. Fudge claims that Potter and Dumbledore are nutcases."

Voldemort laughed inwardly. That was spectacular! His plan had gone better than anticipated. If the whole of Wizarding Britain thought that Dumbledore was a crackpot and Potter was a troubled child, it wouldn't be so hard to take them both down without the support of the Ministry.

Lucius put a newspaper on Voldemort's desk.

The headline said: 'Dumbledore: daft or dangerous?'Voldemort added it to his already huge pile of newspapers. He had been reading all the news after which he had disappeared to spot anything related to his former death eaters, but mostly to keep up with Potter's endeavours.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed Lucius. Lucius muttered something under his breath and stalked outside, closing the door behind him.

Voldemort sighed. While the Ministry's foolishness did give him an upper-hand, he couldn't do anything right now. He picked up the next newspaper he was yet to read. He had found a few interesting reports about some of his former death eaters, and had, of course, ordered their immediate murder. He had now reached last year's newspapers. Why was he even bothering to do this? He doubted that anyone but Igor Karkaroff was left to kill. He laid out the next one in front of him. On the front page, a heart shaped picture and words that said 'Harry Potter's secret heartache'looked up at him. Now, Voldemort was interested. He could use this witch against Potter. Maybe torture her a bit before killing her? Or maybe lure Potter somewhere using her and then killhim? With a brilliant plan forming, he looked at the newspaper, his bad mood suddenly vanishing.

In the image, Potter clung to girl with bushy, chestnut hair. As Skeeter approached, they jumped apart as they spotted the camera.

Voldemort's heart skipped a beat as he recognised the girl beside Potter.

Even a few years younger, Hermione Jean Granger had a sort of fierce beauty to her. Her trademark bushy hair flew around her, but it wasn't the hair. No, it was her eyes. Her eyes that held that fire. That determined fire that refused to be extinguished.

No,Voldemort thought.It couldn't be her.

It must have been a coincidence. Yes, Voldemort was satisfied with that answer, but he needed to be sure. He bent and looked closely at the article and began reading it.

'A boy like no other, perhaps – yet, a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence,writes Rita Skeeter.Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, muggle-born Hermione Granger.'

Voldemort had to stop there. No, it couldn't be. But even as Voldemort thought about it, it made perfect sense. If what he thought was true, then he finally understood. All the questions she had avoided. Her wariness of him. Even her rather extensive knowledge of him.

For the first time in 50 years, tears fell down Voldemort's eyes. But this time, they were tears of happiness. Of joy. Voldemort couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way.

Then all too soon, realisation hit him. Cold, hard dread settled inside his stomach. He was stupid. Oh, so stupid. He knew hoping was useless. It would never work out. Time just wasn't with them.But, a voice inside him argued,she was 18 when he had met her, wasn't she?Maybe, there was still a chance. Just maybe.

Then, Voldemort allowed himself to do something as stupid ashope.

19 June 1996, 1 am

Voldemort's POV:

The Death Eaters scrambled apart to make room for Voldemort to enter.

Voldemort felt a headache coming on. Why did he have such useless followers, that they couldn't even handle a bunch of kids? Although, he had to admit, he didn't even need to hear the prophecy. If Dumbledore himself didn't care much to have Potter remove the prophecy from the Ministry, then it couldn't be that important, could it? And if his suspicions were true (which they almost always were), he already had the prophecy figured out.

Voldemort was going to kill his Death Eaters. But first of all, he had to punish the only one that had managed to escape, thanks to him no less.

"Bellatrix," his cold voice echoed across the large dining room, "step forward."

And she did. Her lip trembled, but it wasn't from fear, Voldemort noticed. It was probably because of the cold. That woman was insane and quite frankly a madwoman. Insane, but what he was looking for in a follower. She followed him with respect rather than unbound fear. While Voldemort intended to change that someday, he couldn't help but admire her nerve right now.

For the next ten minutes, he tortured her under the cruciatus curse. The others when he broke them out of prison, would suffer much, much, worse. Especially Lucius. He was made the in-command after all, a mistake Voldemort would never make again.

He then proceeded to get every ounce of information out of her. He almost laughed at the incapability of his Death Eaters. Potter's crew was outnumbered 5 to 1, and somehow still managed to hold their own before the Order and Dumbledore arrived. He was somewhat impressed.

Voldemort wanted – no, heneeded –every last detail of what happened. And so, he went inside Bellatrix's relatively unprotected mind. He usually avoided doing that as he was disgusted by her 'affection' for him. He went through every detail, but he didn't find what he was looking for. He turned back to Bellatrix, who was now struggling to her feet.

"What happened to the others?"

Bellatrix smiled wickedly. "I took care of Longbottom. Think I even gave him an ear infection. You should have seen him after I tortured him with cruciatus. I remember Weasley going all madman after a brain attacked him. The Weaslette sprained her angle or something. The Lovegood girl got away with barley a scratch, and I blame that on Avery. The filthy blood traitors deserved more. The mudblood however…"

Panic rose inside Voldemort. What had happened to Hermione?HisHermione?

"Dolohov hit her with this dark curse. She's alive, but barely. If it had been me I would've finished the job. But she'll be out for weeks, probably a month. And it's gonna scar. Could also have some side affects…"

But Voldemort wasn't listening anymore. All he knew was that he was going to tear Dolohov apart piece by piece until he begged for death. How dare he even look at Hermione? He had permanently scarred Hermione. How many times had he trailed his fingers across what was probably that same scar, wishing she would tell him who had done that to her?

But he knew she was okay. She had survived. She was stronger and braver than all of them combined.

Without warning, Voldemort rose from his seat and briefly told his Death Eaters the next course of action as he thought of how to punish Lucius.Narcissa.Voldemort could get to him through Narcissa and probably Draco. With another evil plan formed, he dismissed the group and thought about what to do of the Hermione situation.

Twenty minutes later, Voldemort went over his final plan once more.

He knew what to do.

A/N:So, this is it. As mentioned earlier, the reason behind Voldemort's thoughts is unclear. This is really short since this is the prologue, the chapters will be longer. The prologue is Voldemort's POV entirely but the rest of the story will be dual POV.
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