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Hermione pulled her hood up over her head as she walked through the crowd of people. They were all surrounded the giant podium, listening to him speak. It disgusted Hermione how excited they all were to see him. Small children were waving and smiling at him, as if he was a great hero, saving them from the horrific mudbloods.
Lord Voldemort was standing up on the stage, giving a particularly fiery speech about how it was up to every pure-blooded man and woman to do their best to find any remaining muggle-borns (or mudbloods as he called them) and report them to the Protection Squadron (PS). There had been rumors that there were some low ranking pureblood families that had been hiding muggleborns from the PS.
“These mudbloods have been plaguing wizardkind for far too long!” He yelled, finishing his speech. At this point he had taken over almost all of Europe and Antonin Dolohov had been sent to America with other death eaters to take over that. Hermione had tried to stay updated with the politics of the wizarding world, but now that she was the only Order member left she hardly felt like anything she could do would make any difference. It was a miracle that she hadn’t been captured already.
She had heard that Voldemort had sent the whole Malfoy family searching for her, as well as Bellatrix, which scared her the most. Bellatrix was truly insane and Hermione knew personally what it meant to be on the receiving end of her crooked wand.
Hermione had survived thus far from constantly drinking Polyjuice potion, and disguising herself as a lowborn half-blood. She was spat upon by most wizards and witches, but it was better than drawing too much attention to herself by pretending to be someone important.
She had been trying to figure out a solution to her problem since the moment that she saw Hagrid carrying Harry’s dead body. That had been the worst day of her life. She had known that the battle was going to be hard, but deep down she truly believed that they would persevere. After all, the good guys are always supposed to win right? She had spent her childhood reading books where no matter how hard the challenge, the hero always overcame it, they always did. So when Harry died she didn’t know what to do with herself.
For a month now she had been studying a new spell that she had discovered in the depths of Knockturn alley; in a book full of dark spells. The spell was meant to send her back to the time that she would have to go to solve her problem. Hermione had worked it out that she would have to go back to her fourth year, before the Triwizard Tournament, so that she would be able to stop Dumbledore from letting Harry enter the tournament, and she could convince him that Voldemort was back.
Hermione had planned on doing the spell after the rally. She just wanted to see Voldemort one more time before she was ready to go back and tell Dumbledore of his return. She kept her head down as she walked past Voldemort who was descending from the stage. She did not need to catch his attention right now.
“Hey!” She heard and she turned to see Bellatrix staring at her. “How dare you walk past the Dark Lord without honoring him!” Shit. It hadn’t occurred to Hermione that by trying not to get his attention she would catch his attention.
“I am very sorry Dark Lord, I’ve just felt sick recently and wasn’t paying much attention.” She said, still keeping her eyes trained on the ground.
“That is a pathetic excuse!” Bellatrix shrieked. “May I punish her my Lord?”
“No. I want to.” she heard the raspy voice say. She braced herself for the impact and when he said “Crucio,” She experienced more pain than she had since the battle of Hogwarts as the spell ripped through her body, tearing her apart from the inside out.
After he finished she continued to look at the ground, forcing herself into the customary bow. She expected him to leave but he wasn’t quite finished yet. “What is your name?” He asked, his voice sounding just slightly suspicious. The Dark Lord had learned to be suspicious of everything.
“Anna Schneider.” She said quickly, providing the fake name that she had come up with months ago.
“Schneider? I don’t recognize that family name.”
“I’m German, my family traveled here when we heard of your success.” She said, trying to get on his good side as quickly as possible.
“I see.” He said, still suspicious. “Bella, perform a blood purity test on her.”
Bellatrix smiled that evil grin and held up her wand. “As you wish sir.”
Before she could even mutter the incantation Hermione pulled out her own wand and cried out “Resilient ad tempus bonum!” She watched in satisfaction as the Dark Lord gave a look of complete surprise as she felt herself being sucked into a vortex that felt very similar to apparation.

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The pounding in Hermione’s head was almost unbearable. She could hardly think. When the pain finally subsided enough for her to open her eyes she was flooded by light that made the pain all come back again. After finally working up the courage to open her eyes again she found herself staring up at a dark wooden ceiling.
“Oh, I see you’re awake.” she heard someone say from somewhere else in the room. Their footsteps approached her and a withered old lady leaned over the bed, smiling at her. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked gently.
“I’m...my head hurts.” Hermione managed.
“I imagine it must. You were laying in the alley unconscious when Alfred found you.” The woman said, concern evident in her voice. “Were you attacked sweety? When Alfred brought you inside you were covered in bruises and cuts.”
“I don’t exactly remember.” Hermione started, not knowing how much information she wanted to give these people. She still didn’t know where she was, or when she was for that matter.
The woman lowered her voice to a whisper. “Are you a witch?” Hermione tried to hide her fear, but seeing as the woman didn’t look accusatory or even slightly scared she slowly nodded.
“Are you?” she asked, just to be safe.
“I am. My husband Alfred and I are both magical.”
“I see.” Hermione said. “May I ask, what is the date?”
“It is...I believe the fourth. Yes, it must be the fourth.”
“No...I mean...what year is it?” Hermione asked, worried that the woman would think she’s crazy.
“Oh dear, are you having amnesia sweety?”
“I...I’m sorry, this must be very confusing, but I think I’ve traveled through time. I was trapped in a terrible time and the only way I could think to fix it was to go back, I just don’t know where...or when I am.” Hermione said, trying not to sound crazy.
“Oh, I see. Well it’s September fourth, 1943.”
Hermione’s head started spinning. How could she have gone back so far? She only wanted to go back a few years, how was it even possible to travel this far back in time? From Hermione’s research into time travel from her third year, she learned that no one had been able to travel back more than a few days, much less nearly 60 years!
“Is everything alright?” The old witch asked.
“Yes, everything is fine, I’m just trying to wrap my head around everything. Thank you for rescuing me.” Hermione said, trying to sound grateful despite all of the fears swarming in her head. If she’s in the 40s, doesn’t that mean Voldemort would still be in Hogwarts? Everything started to come together in her mind. She had done a spell that would send her to a time to solve her problem. It sent her back to kill Voldemort when he was still a vulnerable child. No. Not a vulnerable child, maybe not the psychopathic serial killer she knew, but certainly not a vulnerable child.
“I’m so sorry sweety, I don’t know what happened to you, or where your from, but you don’t have to tell me anything. You can stay with us if you need. We will never shy away from helping a young witch in need.” The old witch says.
“I...I could never ask you to do that.” Hermione stuttered.
“Please, don’t worry about it, my husband and I have been blessed to have a comfortable existence, and we will not have any problems providing for you. How old are you sweety?”
“17.” Hermione responded, still shocked that a complete stranger would be so hospitable.
“Would you like to attend a wizarding school? We live fairly close to one actually, not a two hour train ride away.”
Hermione’s head spun with the thought of attending school at the same time as Voldemort, but she knew she would have to get to him somehow, he’d probably be almost done with schooling there and then she would lose her shot.
“That sounds amazing! What school is it? Perhaps it is still around in my time.” Hermione said, fairly certain that the school she was referring to was the familiar Scottish castle.
“Why, it’s called Hogwarts. Funny name isn’t it?” Hermione smiled at the name. Even with Voldemort there it would be nice to be back in the familiar, nostalgic castle.
“That’s the school I attended in my time!” Hermione said excitedly. The old witch smiled sweetly.
“I’m glad.” She paused for a second. “Oh! I almost forgot! My name is Meredith Shacklebolt.”
Hermione smiled at the sweet old lady and nodded. “Hermione Granger.”

Chapter Text

Hermione sat waiting in Headmaster Dippet’s office. She had been in the office many times before when it’s inhabitant was Dumbledore, but it felt a lot colder now, making her slightly worried as to how Dippet would treat her.
The door opened and Dippet walked in, smiling stupidly at her. “Hello Miss Granger. I’m glad that you made a safe journey here.” He said.
“Thank you so much for having me Mr. Dippet.”
“I’ve been told that you are the Shacklebolt’s niece.” He said more as a question than a statement. Hermione nodded. “And you’ve come to be here as a result of the muggle war?”
“I have.”
“I’m sorry that such a terrible thing has led you to be here, but I am nonetheless glad to have you.” he said carefully, trying not to say anything offensive. Hermione just smiled grimly, not sure how to respond to that. The story was that her parents were killed in the war and she was staying with her aunt and uncles.
“I understand that you want to attend Hogwarts?”
“If that is possible, I would love the opportunity to be able to. My magical education was put on hold when the war broke out.”
“Well I see no reason for you not to attend Howarts. In fact you can start next week if that’s alright with you.” he said, shuffling some papers together.
“That would be great!” Hermione said excitedly. She was finally able to go to Hogwarts again! A Hogwarts not torn apart by a wizarding war.
“Your paperwork.” Dippet said, handing her the papers. “And I’ll have our head boy lead you out.” He said, standing and opening the door for her to reveal a boy her age with dark black hair.
“Miss Granger, this is our head boy, Mr. Riddle.”
Hermione froze. Tom Riddle. This was Voldemort. This was the dark wizard who would go on to kill her family and friends. And here he was, wearing the same Slytherin robes she had grown accustomed to seeing the likes of Draco Malfoy wear.
It irked her how such an evil wizard could be so stunning. He was physically perfect. Everything about him was put together. His hair in just the right shape, not a single lock out of place. His white button up shirt hugged tight against his chest, but his robes made what would be an intimidating sight seem normal. His cheekbones cut down sharply into his full lips, lips that seemed to be in a permanent smirk.
He gave her a charming smile. “Miss Granger.” He said, extending his hand. She stared down at his hand in disgust. She looked up into his dark grey eyes and then immediately at the ground. His eyes flashed a dark look. Was it anger? She quickly shook his hand and pulled her hand away as quickly as possible.
Again he gave her that look that made her skin crawl. “Is everything alright Miss Granger?” He asked, his voice testing her. She couldn’t give herself away, not like she had back at the stage.
“Yes of course, I’m sorry, you just...look familiar.” he smirked.
“I see.” He led her down the corridors, eventually reaching the gates of the school where the Shacklebolts were waiting to pick her up. He bent down smoothly and layed a gentle kiss on her hand.
“I trust you’ll have a safe trip home and I look forward to studying with you, Miss Granger.” She tried her best not to look pale, but there was only so much she could control herself. He terrified her. He was stronger than she’d ever be, in fact he was probably more dangerous magically his first year in Hogwarts than she was now, after years of training from Harry.
A single tear fell down her cheek as she thought of Harry, watching Tom walk away from her. Meredith asked her if she was alright but Hermione could hardly respond. She was just picturing Harry’s limp body in Hagrid’s arms. Ron’s body flung against a rock. Neville’s split skull. Luna’s eyes glazed over. Hermione could not escape the thoughts. And now that she would be attending Hogwarts once more she would not be able to escape the man who did it all; Lord Voldemort, or rather Tom Riddle, the sadistic, psychopathic, teen version of the man she had nightmares of every night.

Hermione stood by the entrance to the Great Hall, waiting for Dippet to announce her arrival. She could barely hear through the thick doors, but could make out him introducing her and then the doors suddenly opened and she saw a whole school of students and staff staring at her.
“Miss Granger, please come forward.” Dippet said, his voice magically amplified. Hermione started walking towards him, through the middle, trying not to look at any of the young witches and wizards staring at her. She made her way up to the stool where she was to be sorted on.
Dippet motioned to the stool and Hermione took a seat, eager to speak to the hat. Hermione sat anxiously as Dippet slowly picked the sorting hat up and lifted if over her head, before slowly placing it down.
Oh. You. I’ve already sorted you. Why are you back? Aren’t you a little ahead of your time Miss Granger?
I don’t know how this happened, but yes I am.
Well no reason to change an answer that’s already correct. Be smart Miss Granger.
“Gryffindor!” the sorting hat yelled, the conversation much shorter than it had been the first time she had the hat on her head. Dippet picked the hat up and all of the Gryffindor’s started erupting in applause. It’s not very often that a house gets a new housemember in the middle of the year.
Hermione stood up and slowly made her way to the Gryffindor table. She spotted some red hair and started making her way to that spot. She thought it silly, but perhaps they were actually a Weasley.
The people at the table next to the redhead all looked up at her as she joined them. He, however, kept his head down, too busy shoving food into his mouth to really notice her. Hermione smiled to herself. If he was a Weasley it would explain where Ron got it from.
“Hello!” One of the girls waved excitedly.
“Hello.” Hermione said, trying to match her excitement.
“It’s very uncommon for us to get a transform at this time of year, we’re so glad you were sorted into Gryffindor! I’m Augusta Turnpin!” The girl smiled up at her. Hermione smiled, the girl’s smile almost made Hermione forget where she was. It was so comforting.
“I’m Hermione.”
“Welcome to Gryffindor Hermione!” one of the other girls cheered for her. All of the surrounding Gryffindors started introducing themselves to her and Hermione found herself recognizing many of their names; Longbottom, Prewett, and of course Weasley. Hermione had been correct in assuming that the red-headed Gryffindor boy was a Weasley; a Septimus Weasley, Ron’s grandfather. If Hermione remembered correctly he died a little before she entered Hogwarts. Of course now that she had been forced back in time, who knew if that would happen at the same time or not.
Hermione slowly came to realize that most of the people in her house were very similar in personality to those of their grandchildren. This made Hermione happy, because she felt like she already knew them, but sorrowful at the reminder that she might never see her friends again.
After eating breakfast, practically being swarmed by her fellow Gryffindors, Hermione started off towards her first class; Transfiguration. The Gryffindors shared the class with Ravenclaw and Hermione quickly started meeting some other students in her year and she noted that almost everyone was exceptionally kind to her. It was only half-way through the day when she remembered that they all believed her to be pure-blooded.
Throughout the first class Hermione realized that much of the topics being taught was part of the curriculum from her 6th year, so she already knew most of the information, and within the first ten minutes she had already established herself as an intellect. After class all of her new friends swarmed her asking her how she had had time to learn all of the spells while she was constantly on the run. She successfully deflected all of their questions and found herself practically running to Potions class.
This class she shared with Slytherin and the second she stepped in the room she could feel all of their eyes on her. She was the new kid, and a Gryffindor at that, why wouldn’t they be intrigued?
“Ah, Miss Granger, I’m glad you were able to make it to Hogwarts safely. I’m Professor Slughorn. Welcome to Potions!” the boisterous professor said. Hermione tried to smile, but it was hard to, remembering her experiences with the SlugClub. From her memory the teacher was overbearing and often missed social cues, but he did have a great sense of who was going to be successful with their life, unless of course you were referring to Tom Riddle, who went on to murder thousands, but for some reason Slughorn had failed to list Riddle when he told her class of all of his successes.
“Our class is quite packed at the moment, I believe that the only seat available is by Miss Bulstrode there in the back.” Hermione turned to see a Slytherin girl sitting in the second row to the back, right in front of Tom Riddle.
Hermione inwardly groaned before making her way in that direction. She gently slid into her chair and set her rucksack by the table leg. She tried to resist the urge, but couldn’t help it as she turned her head slightly to see Riddle, staring at the board. He noticed her looking, but as soon as he made eye-contact she immediately spin her head around, the look of fear evident in her eyes.
‘What is wrong with her?’ Riddle asked himself mentally. She looked like he just performed the Cruciatus curse on her. The girl had been just as distant when he had walked her out of the school. It was unnerving. She didn’t know him. Why was she acting so terrified? She was certainly the first girl to see him and get scared. Definitely not buckling at the knees, swooning like most girls did.
Riddle continued trying to pay attention to class but every couple of minutes her head would turn ever so slightly before spinning back around quickly. It became increasingly hard for him to focus as he kept trying to think through his actions, in an attempt to discover how he offended her.
Slughorn released them off to start their potions and Riddle noted that Hermione seemed very friendly with Jean Bulstrode. It was strange to see a Gryffindor acting so sweetly to a Slytherin and Tom could tell that Jean was just as confused as he was. This made Tom even more confused. She was ok with the snaggletoothed, rude, Jean Bulstrode, but to the dashing, handsome Tom she quivered in fear.
He continued to watch her throughout the period of potion making. She was extremely talented, and the potion that they were learning; the Polyjuice Potion, seemed to be second nature for her. The only thing that struck him as odd is that when she added the lacewing flies to the mortar to crush into a paste, she added bitter root to the mortar as well. Tom thought about correcting her, but based on how she had reacted to him he doubted she would appreciate the help.
“Oh, Miss Granger! I must warn you, adding bitter root to this potion is not part of the ingredients!” Slughorn said as he passed.
“Oh, well from my exp...from my research the bitter root makes the potion last longer, allowing the drinker to stay transformed up to a day or even longer, depending how well they mix it.”
“I see.” Slughorn said. “Well, I guess we’ll have to time it when we test them out tomorrow.” Hermione smiled.
“I have no doubt that you will find my suggestion to hold water.” She said confidently. Now Tom was really confused. She had clearly been about to say that she had experience with Polyjuice Potions. To his knowledge the only students who had ever made the potion before were a couple of mean seventh years a couple years back who had done it to play a prank on a girl they were bullying.
How did Miss Hermione Granger have enough experience in Polyjuice Potion to not only be able to make it without thinking, but also know tricks to make the potion better?
Tom’s confusion and interest in Hermione went unnoticed by her; however, she had tried to do everything in her power to stay anonymous. She didn’t want him to notice her. But she had, in the process of trying to stay in the background, made herself even more visible.

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"I want you to follow her. She is strange, and there is something about her that unnerves me, it's a simple task." Riddle said to a very confused Abraxus Malfoy. Abraxus had found the girl interesting as well, but not in any way similar to the Dark Lord. All of the other members of Riddle's little club had already discussed the new transfer student. She was intelligent and very beautiful, what wasn't there to talk about?

"Of course My Lord, what sort of information do you require?"

"Everything. Who she's friends with, childhood, anything that could be of use to me."

"Yes My Lord." Abraxus bowed before turning and leaving the Room of Requirement. This was a strange order indeed, but Abraxus did not think spending more time watching the beautiful young witch would upset him in the slightest.

Hermione pulled the book from it's spot on the shelf. It was a long time since Hermione had had the privilege of just being able to sit down and read. She wasn't exactly offered such luxuries in the war-torn world she had come from.

The book in question was about the history of magic in Asia. Hermione found the subject extremely interesting because she had through her lessons at Hogwarts only ever learned about Western Magic and Western Magic-Users. So she carried the heavy book into a corner of the library, the nook between the last shelf of the non-restricted section and the shelf opposite it.

She had snuck a small mug of hot chocolate in with her, something wizards didn't really appreciate the same way muggles did. There she sat, curled up against the wall, hot chocolate in one hand and the book sprawled across her legs when Tom Riddle found her.

"Ah, Miss Granger." Her head shot up and she looked up at him, terrified. She quickly composed herself and tried to look friendly.

"Oh, hello Mr. Riddle." She even gave a small smile, but he had seen the terror, her display did nothing to calm his nerves.

"May I ask what you are doing out so late? It is past curfew." He said, trying not to let the smirk reach his lips. He was where he'd always prefer to be; in the position of power.

"Is it?" She asked, biting her lip. "I'm sorry, I hadn't noticed. I was too enveloped in my book."

"I see. Well, I had better walk you back to your dorm. If a professor were to find you in here, they would not be as forgiving."

She started to frown but quickly recovered. "I...thank you Mr. Riddle. I appreciate it."

He reached a hand down to help her up, but she ignored it and stood on her own. His eyes flashed anger again, but Hermione did not notice yet again. She did her best not to look into his eyes. She finished the mug of hot chocolate and then pointed her wand at it, wordlessly making it vanish.

Riddle looked at her incredulously. She knew nonverbal magic? How? Riddle was the only one in the school who had mastered such a skill and that was including his followers who had been pressuring to learn new magical abilities since the day the "club" started.

The two walked in silence in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the portrait he turned to look at Hermione. "I'm sorry if this is a rude question, but I must know. Have I done something to offend you Miss Granger? You just seem to strongly dislike me and I cannot think of a single thing I could have done to provoke such feelings from you."

"Yeah, it's absolutely crazy that someone might not like you." Hermione said under her breath. After she realized it had come out loud her eyes got big and she looked up at Riddle, who's eyes were blazing, practically turning red. Yet his face remained still.

"I mean, I just don't warm up to people very fast, I'm sorry if any of my behaviour has come off as rude, that's just how I've always been." She tried to give a reassuring smile, but her lips just couldn't form it.

"I see." He said. Then, taking the opportunity of her looking into his eyes he slammed at her brain with his Legilimency. However he found a strong mental block there. He could not penetrate the boundary and could not see a single thought.

He stepped back. She glared up at him. "If you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate not having people try to read my mind, it's extremely rude." She said, turning to the portrait and muttering "Wattlebird."

Riddle made a mental note of the password, at some point he himself might be able to enter for one reason or another. As she vanished through the door he started seething at everything that had just happened.

Not only had she done a nonverbal spell, she had a strong Occlumency block, and she even stated her obvious feelings of displeasure at having to be near him, even for only a few minutes. There was something up with this girl and Tom Riddle was going to have to figure out exactly what it was.

Hermione sunk into her bed. Why had she said that? Did she want him to notice her? She was being so obvious, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't hide her disdain for him. She would have to figure out a way to go unnoticed by him if she had any chances of getting him to leave her alone. She had clearly pissed him off when she made the sarcastic comment earlier, but his pretty-boy, charming façade didn't let him snap at her.

'Oh shit!' Hermione thought. She had left her book laying on the ground in the middle of the library. She had been so flustered when Riddle had come that she had forgotten to put it away. The librarian would see it and know that she had been in there, it only took a simple spell to see the last person who used the book to get Hermione in trouble on her first day of school.

She quickly slid out of her bed and pulled on her shoes and slipped through the portrait door in just her nightgown. She silently ran through the halls, checking around every corner to ensure that there wasn't a hall monitor around the corner. As she was running through the hallway she stopped at the Room of Requirement.

She hadn't even thought of stopping by the room yet. Who knew what could be in there that could help with her defeating Riddle. She quickly walked up to the door and pushed it open.

As soon as she saw what was inside she regretted ever having the thought to go into the Room of Requirement. Across the room was Tom Riddle performing torture spell after torture spell on a 7th year Ravenclaw boy. At the sound of the door opening he snapped his head around, eyes bright red.

How did she get in? Riddle had performed three separate locking spells on it. The only way she could have been able to get in is if what she required was to catch him. She turned to run but Riddle quickly shot Petrificus Totalus at her, freezing her in place.

Lovegood had just passed out when Granger pushed the doors open. So Riddle didn't bother trying to do anything to him to keep him restrained. He flicked his wand and the doors closed behind her.

He walked towards her, wand raised trying to figure out what he was going to do with her. She had seen him using dark spells on the Ravenclaw boy. If she was scared of him before, he could only imagine what that would do to her now. He could erase her memory. But she was already scared of him. He might as well give her a reason to be scared. Maybe she'd be more respectful now that she knew how dangerous he actually was. It would be funny to see her scurry away from him and avoid his gaze. Riddle let out a small chuckle. The witch was in her nightgown, she hadn't been here to catch him in action.

"Well Miss Granger, it would seem that you have discovered me. I have truly given you reason to hate me now. I could kill you right now, no one would be the wiser, but I'm not going to do that. You're more useful to me alive. But we can't have you telling anyone what you've seen." He said smarmily. "Non loqui quod vidisti" he murmured the spell that would keep her mouth shut whenever she wanted to talk about what had happened.

He slowly pulled her wand out of her pocket and cast a small spell on it. Non nocuerunt mihi, a spell that would make her feel intense pain anytime she tried to cast a harmful spell on him. He slowly said the counter-spell of the petrifying spell and she fell forward onto the floor. She started backing up on her palms, but with every step she took back he advanced towards her.

"Is your head feeling alright Miss Granger? I imagine it must hurt a lot." He let out a dark chuckle, his eyes practically glowing red.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked, terrified.

"Nothing. I'm merely going to let you go, and continue your study here, it's not like you will be able to tell anyone what you've seen."

"How gracious of you." She muttered sarcastically. His eyes darkened at her words.

"Crucio." he said and she started writhing in pain on the ground as the spell ripped her body apart. Riddle would have been worried about the noise but when he brought Noah Lovegood in here he made sure to put silencing spells all around the room.

He lifted the spell and she curled into a ball crying. He stood there smirking, that's all it took to break the proud Gryffindor; one Crucio. But he was wrong, she lifted her head and stared at him directly in the eyes.

"Do what you will Voldemort, I will always keep fighting." Her words startled him and he snarled with anger. He reached down and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her to her feet and slamming her against the wall.

"How do you know my name?" He demanded. She smiled defiantly and kept her mouth closed. "You think you can do this? You think I will let you go about, knowing who I am? I won't. If you don't tell me you are going to regret being born!" He screamed into her face.

"See that's where you're wrong Voldy, I already regret being born, there's nothing more you can do to me to break me. You could kill me if you want, but then you have no hope of finding out how I know, and your pathetic brain will be working on that question for a long time."

He started squeezing on her throat. "I don't think you really want to play that game. There's only so much pain a human can take."

She smirked and thrust her knee up into his crotch, grabbed her wand from his pocket and walked out the door. "We'll see." She said before closing the door behind her.

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Hello everyone! This is an author's note, but there will be a new chapter uploaded on Sunday. Firstly I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to read my story, it really means a lot to me.

Secondly: I feel like I need to make a statement about Tom in this fanfiction. Tom Riddle, as he is written in this fanfiction and as the original author (JKR) wrote him, is not a good guy. He is not just not a good guy, he is a bad guy. He will and already has done and said some very manipulative, abusive, and evil things. That's the point. If you don't want to read this kind of story, not only should you not read my story but you should probably choose a different ship. The point of Tomione is the danger factor. She's playing with fire, that's the whole point. Tom is going to do some really terrible things, which is why Hermione (Spolier alert) isn't going to randomly start being like "wow, this guy literally murders all of my friends in the future, but he's hot imma hop on that dick" that's not how the relationship is going to go. It is going to take a lot of time for any romantic feelings to bud, because we are combining Hermione Granger (who has one of the best moral compasses in the story) with a man who is canonically a megalomaniac pyscho killer. I know I have probably spoiled too much stuff from the fic, but I have tried to keep it vague. I'm just saying, if someone is looking up Tomione fanfiction it is completely immature and ridiculous of them to leave hate comments complaining about how the relationship is "abusive". (Which I have not recieved, and I really appreciate that) Please feel free to leave any and all of your opinions about the story as long as you are not insulting the entire concept of Tomione. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy my upload on Sunday!

-madison

Chapter Text

Hermione Granger had hardly noticed Riddle all week and it was starting to unsettle her. It was not as if he wasn't there. He was always there, somewhere in a corner, silent and not drawing any attention to himself. It felt like the calm before a storm and it had Hermione on her toes constantly, draining her energy.

She had thus far enjoyed her studies as some of the classes on her schedule were different from those fifty years in the future. Hermione, an intellect at heart, could never pass up new learning opportunities. So much so that she had almost forgotten her reasoning for being there. She had to kill Riddle.

Hermione sat in the library scratching out everything she knew about him, through Harry, Dumbledore, and her own personal experience. She was trying to figure out a way to destroy him. As she continued her list she realized that not only did she know where the Chamber was, she knew how to kill the Basilisk. This would be her first task, kill the Basilisk.

Hermione remembered reading that the crow of a rooster could kill the Basilisk so that is what she would start with. She knew that Tom Riddle had killed Myrtle only a few months prior, so the bathroom would likely be already considered haunted seeing as Myrtle's ghost was in there, allowing her entrance without worrying about people walking in on her.

From what she remembered you had to speak in parseltongue to get it to open, but like Ron, she had been around Harry for years and he did tend to speak in his sleep. She wasn't sure that she could remember any of the words, but she could try.

Hermione rose from the table, knowing that if she could kill the basilisk that would at least stop any future events involving it from happening. Riddle may not even know about the blow he'd been dealt, but it would be a blow dealt nonetheless.

Leaving the library, Hermione made her way to the second floor bathroom that she remembered all too well from her second year. She slowly pushed the door open with a squeak. She could hear the incessant sobbing instantly. With the sound of the door Myrtle raced around the corner to glare at Hermione.

"Why are you in here? No one ever comes in here." Myrtle said, wiping ghostly tears from her eyes.

"I'm here to avenge you Myrtle. I know about the Basilisk." Hermione said bravely. "I'm here to kill it." She said motioning to the rooster trapped inside her magical cage.

"What's a Basilisk? I've never heard of such a thing." Myrtle said, confused.

"A Basilisk is what killed you. The big yellow eyes, remember?" Hermione said, annoyed that Myrtle had no clue as to what killed her.

"Oh, I remember the eyes. They were big and had tall black slits down the middle, very scary." Hermione nodded, a little annoyed with Myrtle's drab conversation and made her way towards the toilet where the entrance to the Chamber was.

"What are you doing?" Myrtle asked, confused.

"I'm going into the Chamber to kill it."

"What? You can't do that! It will kill you!"

"No it won't. I have everything I need to kill it, I won't even have to fight it."

"Fine, but when Tom comes by I am going to tell him." Myrtle grumbled under her breath.

"What did you just say?" Hermione asked, stunned and confused.

"I'm telling on you to Tom."

"Tom Riddle?"

"Yes."

"Why are you communicating with Tom Riddle?"

"He was very nice to me while I was alive, he...he came to visit me after I died. He's so dreamy, his perfect hair, his perfect smile…"

"I get it. He's perfect. You do know that Tom was the one who called the Basilisk to kill you right?" Hermione said, aggravated with Myrtle at this point.

"What? You're lying! Tom would never do that."

"He would. In fact you aren't the only person he has killed Myrtle. I know that for a fact. He's a dark wizard. He will go on to murder millions, and you were one of his first murders. He…"

"Myrtle! How's your day going?" Tom's voice rang in as he pushed the door open. He made eye contact with Hermione. "What are you doing in here?" He asked, his eyes brightening into a dark scarlet color.

"I...was about to use the lavatory, this ghost started talking to me and I got distracted." Hermione stumbled through an excuse, trying not to draw attention to the crate with the rooster in it. Tom's eyes narrowed at her.

"No she wasn't Tom! She was…" Myrtle started before Hermione cast a nonverbal Silencio spell on her. Now Tom was very suspicious. He drew his wand and pointed it straight at Hermione's chest.

"What is going on here? Tell me now!" Hermione stared at his wand. She weighed her options. She could fight, or she could try to make up another excuse, but considering the rooster at her feet, not many excuses could explain what she was doing.

"Expelliarmus!" She cried. But instead of Riddle's wand leaving his hand like she was prepared for, a sharp pain ripped through her body, tearing her muscles apart. It was arguably worse than the Cruciatus Curse. After the pain subsided Hermione found herself on the floor, Tom straddling her, wand pointed directly at her throat.

"I told you to tell me what is going on here. Tell me or suffer."

"Fuck you." He laughed. It was a terrifying laugh that seemed far too similar to his future self's laugh. He turned towards Myrtle, still pinning Hermione to the ground and cast a counterspell to Hermione's Silencing Spell.

"Alright Myrtle, what was she doing?"

"Tom! Thank you so much for giving me my voice back! She was going to sneak into 'The Chamber' and kill the Banslist, or something like that. She actually told me that you were the one to call the creature. It told her that that wasn't possible, but she wouldn't stop saying that it was you!"

Tom's eyes glowed red now. He turned on Hermione. "How. Did. You. Know." He said, now grabbing her neck with one hand, taking everything in him not to strangle the life out of her.

"Like I said, fuck you."

"Who are you?"

"Fuck you."

"ANSWER ME!" He screamed in her face, shaking her by her throat.

She looked up into his eyes defiantly. "Fuck. You."

"I won't take this! You are not going to sit here and defy me and think that you can get away with it! I am the most powerful wizard of all time! I will destroy you and everything that you love!" His eyes were completely red at this point, bloodshot from his shaking and anger.

Hermione contemplated telling him he already had, but she decided that telling him that would only give him a better idea of who she was, and she couldn't let that happen.

"Tom, are you alright? She's lying isn't she?" Myrtle asked, her voice clearly horrified at everything unfolding right in front of her.

"I will tell you about it later Myrtle. Right now I need to take care of this liar."

"Just tell her the truth Riddle! You killed her!" He placed a slap across her cheek, and she could do nothing but glare up at him, her cheek throbbing from the blow.

Her eyes shined with defiance as she said smugly. "Slapping someone is a very muggle practice, isn't it Tom?"

"Do you desire me to use my wand on you?" He asked, seething.

"Of course not, I just think it's astounding how hypocritical you are. It also amazes me how you can feel satisfied slapping a bound young witch who cannot fight back. A real man would let me stand and fight, but I guess you're not a real man, are you?"

"Do not insult me unless you want the Cruciatus Curse."

"Oh the Cruciatus Curse, you're favorite. You're such a sick fuck you probably lay in bed at night jerking yourself off to the thought of the Cruciatus Curse." Riddle's eyes flashed again. Hermione noted the warning but didn't take it. "Oh and I'm sure that's not the only thing that gets you off. Screaming and blood probably does too." Hermione laughed out loud.

"ENOUGH!" He yelled at her. Hermione realized she had gone too far and bit her lip, restraining herself from saying anything else that could provoke him. The survivalist in her head screamed at her to apologize and try to reconcile. She took it's advice.

"I...I'm sorry, that was uncalled for, and I can answer your questions. I thought it was a weird sort of joke." She said, trying to keep her face straight. This was not the time to break character.

"What are you talking about?" Tom asked, hand still firmly around her throat.

"Well, you see, I saw Malfoy this summer while I was still abroad. He was on vacation and we spent a couple of weeks in the same town. He seemed really sweet at the time and started confiding in me. I never thought that I'd be able to see him again, or any of the people that he told me about. That's how I know about everything. But the Chamber...when he told me about it it just didn't seem right. I knew I had to kill the monster, I just didn't know you'd be so upset about it…" She trailed off, trying to think of anything else she could add that would make him less aggressive.

"This is all Malfoy's doing? You expect me to believe that?"

"Believe what you want, but it's the truth. If you search his memory like you tried to do with mine you'll see the truth."

"Fine. I will. And when I find nothing of the sort, you are going to regret ever lying to me."

"Whatever you do, please don't kill Abraxus. I don't feel the same for him, but we are truly good friends." Hermione added, trying to seem more convincing.

"Well I will go ask him right now!" Tom said matter of factly and turned, leaving. Hermione followed quickly behind him, trying to figure out what to do. Once he searched Malfoy's mind he would kill her, or worse.

"Ah, Tom, I've been looking for you! I...what were you doing in the girl's lavatory? Miss Granger, is that you? What's going on right now?" Slughorn asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh my, how bad this must look." Tom said, running a hand through his jet black hair. "I saw Hermione go into the bathroom and felt it incumbent upon me to stop her before Myrtle talked her ears off."

"Ah, I see. Well I must take you with me Tom, I have something very important that I need to discuss with you." Slughorn said seriously.

Tom recovered quickly from the glare that was sure to be pointed directly at the professor. Hermione inwardly smiled. "It was good to see you professor, I will be on my way."

Tom looked after her seething. She would surely go and threaten Malfoy to go with her story. Malfoy was a proud man but even he had to admit that Hermione was quite the dangerous witch when she wanted to be. Several Slytherin girls had already tried their hand at bullying her and she had sent them all on their way, all without performing anything remotely close to a dark spell.

Oh well, he would just have to shift through Malfoy's head and check his memories. Tom himself could hardly alter people's memories at this age, there would be no way some insignificant girl could.

Chapter Text

Hermione Granger had never run so fast in her life. The whole way to the Slytherin common room her heart was pounding and her hands were sweaty. She reached the portrait to the Slytherin common room and was about to start knocking on it when the very person she needed to see stepped out.

Hermione grabbed Abraxas by the arm and pulled him with her towards an abandoned classroom. The whole way there he protested, trying to pull away, but the very determined Hermione got him inside successfully and performed a complex locking spell.

"What are you doing?" He yelled as she turned to him.

"I'm sorry for this." She said before waving her wand this way and that, shifting through his memory, adding and replacing parts as necessary. It was like a big slideshow and she held the controller.

Hermione finished the memory editing and shoved Abraxas out the door, confident that Riddle would be upon them soon. She cast an invisibility spell over herself and slowly slipped out the door past Riddle who was staring deeply into Abraxas' eyes. Hermione walked quickly away from the scene, sprinting once she was far away for them not to hear her.

She had successfully protected herself from Riddle. He might still be suspicious of her, but he would have no reason to torture into giving him answers like he had before. Hermione just hoped the blonde didn't catch too much slack for what she had done. She had never liked Malfoys, but Abraxas hadn't done anything to warrant getting tortured by Riddle.

Riddle himself was as mad as he had been in a long time. Her story held water. Abraxas' memories had practically flowed into his hands and they were oh so vivid. There was no way a girl her age could accomplish that, she had to be telling the truth.

'So she knows my secret.' he thought, 'I will have to use her in some way then. I cannot let her know about me without some kind of repercussions.' Tom got an idea and almost immediately called a meeting with his club, in the Forbidden Forest, where he intended to tell them his use for Hermione. He left Abraxas out of it seeing as the two were connected and Tom didn't want Abraxas to be mad that they were hurting her. He needed Malfoy galleons to supply himself, he was still just a poor orphan.

"I have called you here tonight because we will be having a new addition to our group in the future." Tom said, his lip curling up into a smirk at the word "addition". "She has seen some things that she shouldn't have seen and something must be done about her, but I cannot kill her just yet, there's something about her that is very important, I just haven't put my finger on it yet."

"Who is it, my Lord?" Lestrange asked excitedly, the idea of someone the Dark Lord didn't like being added to the group meant someone else for them to torture and that was one of Rodolphus' favorite past-times.

"Hermione Granger."

"What? Why her?" Avery asked, confused. Tom turned his gaze on Avery and Avery started trembling. "I only meant, she doesn't seem to be all that dangerous." He stuttered out quickly, trying to get Lord Voldemort to stop looking at him.

"If you ever question me again I will turn your skin inside out." Tom said calmly before turning back and addressing the whole group. "Her main function in the group will be as somewhat of a punching bag. You can't kill her, but she will give you someone to practice your spells on."

"Yes, my Lord." the rest of the group said in unison. Tom nodded and dismissed them, making his way back to the dungeons. Hermione Granger had seemed to cause quite a stir, she'd been here so short an amount of time and had already tried to kill his precious Basilisk. He was just glad that none of his minions knew about the Horcruxes. He would have had to kill Malfoy if he had told her that bit. As annoying as the blond could be, Tom needed his money.

"In fact…" Tom started, looking at the clock on the wall. "Avery, bring her to me now, I'd like you to all get a chance to meet her." Avery nodded and stood, leaving the Forest and rushing back to the castle.

The group stood there awkwardly for some time before the figure of Avery and Granger approaching could be seen. Tom smirked as she got closer, he could see the fear in her eyes, and he fed on her fear.

"Ah, Miss Granger, how good of you to join us." Tom said, chuckling.

"What do you want, Riddle?" Hermione asked, annoyed. She was still in her nightgown, Avery must have pulled her out of bed to bring her here. Tom made a note to reward the budding sadist later.

"Because you seemed to know so much about our little club, I figured it was only right to allow you to join." Riddle said.

Hermione laughed at this. "I'd rather perform the cruciatus curse on myself."

"If it's the Cruciatus curse you desire I can surely give you your wish." Riddle said, turning his head to Lestrange. "Well go on Rodolphus, she wants the cruciatus curse."

Lestrange nodded and cast it on her. Tom watched as she writhed on the forest floor, crying out. He lazily swung his wand and cast a spell to make her shrieks softer. After Lestrange lifted the spell Hermione sat up, far too quick for someone who had just been tortured with an Unforgivable.

Tom motioned for Lestrange to back up and he sauntered up to Hermione. She stared up at him, her eyes no longer holding fear, nor pain, but defiance. The pure unadulterated hatred shone through her eyes up into Tom's face.

"Are you quite through being a pain? Because, believe me, there is so much more I can have my followers do to you." He said, laughing.

Hermione gave him a look of disgust. "I…" She started, ready to come back with a sharp insult, but held her tongue. A girl introduced to the dark lord's activities by a friend would not have so much contempt. "...yes, I'll listen now. I'm sorry...my lord." She said, almost choking on the words.

Tom's eyes glowed red, but this time with excitement. The proud Gryffindor had given up. The power rushed to his head and he couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad you've finally come to your senses Granger. This will be a lot less painful if you aren't being difficult." He paused. "That's not to say that you aren't going to experience pain though."

Granger's eyes showed the fear again. Tom gave the order for all of his knights to practice any spell they had been working on on her, save the killing curse of course, and anything that's effects couldn't be remedied or at least hidden quickly.

Hermione screamed with each curse, being torn apart time and again, but after each round ended she forced herself to prepare for the next one. She may look broken to Tom Riddle, but she was not truly broken. She would fight until the day he decided to kill her or she succeeded in killing him.

After all of the followers had finished, all sweating from the strength needed to fire spell after spell at poor Hermione, who, despite still having her wand, did nothing to fight back. Tom watched, almost in disappointment as Hermione endured the torture for nearly two hours before they let up. Tom ordered them to return to the castle, leaving him alone with Hermione.

He turned on her to see her pleading eyes. She looked hopeless, like she was ready to die. Tom had known her not a month and he already felt like he knew her enough to spot this stray from character.

"Please Riddle. I know you have to punish me for what I've learned, but I cannot even say anything about it, so there is no need for you to harm me so. I'm not going to stop you, you're far too strong. I just want to finish my education and leave."

Riddle looked down on the girl, his mind tearing in two at her. Half of him ripping her to shreds for the lack of willpower and ambition, the other considering that she may be right. There may not be a need to do this to her.

'What are you talking about?' he thought to himself. 'She's at my disposal, I am free to do with her as I like. I have no reason not to hurt her, she does have a use; my personal punching bag.'

"I don't care what you want. This isn't about you knowing who I am, or even about the audacity you had to try and kill my Basilisk. This is about me showing you that I'm in charge and why I'm in charge. You will never be better than me and the longer you even try, the more pain you will be in."

Hermione stared up into his dark red eyes, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why do you have to be so cruel? I don't think I'm better than you. You are one of the greatest wizards to ever live. No one your age could do a third of the things you do. And you're the heir of Slytherin…even if you're just a halfblood." She said, trailing off.

His hand thrust out, grabbing her by her hair. "HOW DARE YOU!" He yanked her to her feet and thrust his wand up against her throat. "Never mention anything involving my blood again or I will make you wish I was a mountain troll!"

Hermione uncontrollably started laughing, her mind picturing the mountain troll she had fought all those years ago, but this time with perfect black hair, Slytherin robes, and Riddle's dark red eyes. Riddle looked at her incredulously.

"What is wrong with you?" He asked, confused.

Hermione realized that that was certainly not the best time to start laughing and immediately started apologizing over and over again. "I'm so sorry my lord, I just...mountain trolls. I was just picturing a mountain troll with your hair and clothes, and it was too funny."

Riddle stared at her for a long second before he started laughing. Hermione flinched. She had never heard the sound before. It was nothing like the fake laughs she had heard in the classroom, or the maniacal laughter of her torture session. A warm laugh, like he actually found it funny.

"Miss Granger, I will never understand you."

Hermione let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm sorry Riddle, I just...come on! That's so funny to think about!"

Tom released her and started performing some concealment spells around the area that they had been in to conceal all of the dark magic that had been used. After he was finished he turned to Hermione. "You may go." She nodded and walked towards the castle, trying to process everything that had happened that day.

After she left Riddle stood alone in the dark, trying to figure out what the fuck he was going to do about Hermione Granger. The girl who had managed to make him go from seething anger to a real laugh in under ten seconds. She was definitely important, but if she was going to be useful he would have to ensure that he made sure he had her under control.

He started formulating a plan. A plan to get the proud Gryffindor to morph into a Slytherin. A plan that involved recruiting Miss Hermione Granger to be more than a plaything for his sadistic pawns. All he had to do was show her the beauty of dark magic. A task much harder than Riddle would anticipate.

Chapter Text

It had been almost two months since Tom had brought Hermione to the Forbidden Forest for the first time. Since then he brought her there nearly five times a week, letting his minions attack her. Hermione had, since then, begun fighting back. Tom did nothing to stop this, never took her wand. He actually seemed to be encouraging it, casting the Cruciatus Curse on any of the Knights who could not overcome her.
Hermione Granger had become a shell of what she once was. The other Gryffindor’s that she had become friends with; Augusta Turnpin and Fleamont Potter, had noticed as well. Hermione tried harder and harder to cover it up, but there was little that she could do.
“Hermione, I don’t want to be that friend...but I think you should consider eating more.” Augusta said one day while they were eating at lunch. Hermione looked up at her, trying to conceal the sadness in her eyes.
“It’s quite alright Augusta, you’re right. I’ve been so stressed lately, I may have been neglecting my health.”
Augusta sighed, glad that Hermione was not offended. Hermione gave her a weak smile before picking up another egg and another piece of toast. She slowly bit into the food, trying not to picture the Forbidden Forest where she was certainly going to be taken again tonight.
Hermione Granger was tired. She had never been so tired, so hungry, so done with everything in her life before. She had fallen asleep in one of her classes for the first time two days ago and she had felt herself procrastinating, something she had never done before. Something had to be done about it. Dark Lord or not, Hermione could not let him interfere with her studies.
Hermione stood up, taking the last piece of toast with her, ignoring her friends’ questions, and strode over to the Slytherin table. She could feel all of their eyes on her as she walked straight up to Tom, grabbed him by the arm, pulling him towards her and said “Room of Requirement. Right now.” into his ear.
He looked up at her, questioningly. What was Granger doing? She let go of his arm and walked in the direction of the Room. He followed quickly behind her, not speaking a word until they walked into the Room, which had become a simple sitting room with some couches and a fireplace.
“Alright, what’s going on?” He asked.
“This is about your little meetings every fucking night. Now aside from the physical drain they are giving me, they are prohibiting me from getting adequate sleep, and I know that this is stupid, but I care a lot about my studies and I have not been able to perform to the best of my ability!” Tom stared at her for a minute before erupting into laughter. Hermione glared at him.
“Stop laughing! This is a serious problem!”
Tom looked up at her, and seeing her serious face started laughing again. “Serious problem? You think the most serious part of this is your studies being interrupted.?”
“I...of course it’s not the most serious, but I know you are going to torture me either way, I would just prefer you would do it earlier, or at least less often so that I don’t fall behind.”
Tom chuckled again. “I fail to see how your studies failing is my problem.”
“It’s your problem because you’re causing it!”
“But I don’t care. If anything I’m happy I don’t have to worry about you stealing my house points anymore.” He said smugly. “In fact maybe, I can increase the frequency of our little meetings…”
“Don’t you fucking dare!”
“Let me remind you that I am the head boy, you will not use such language with me or I will be forced to punish you.”
“You punish me every night.” Hermione said under her breath.
Tom raised an eyebrow at her. “You sure are very defiant for someone who I put under an unforgivable almost daily. It’s honestly a surprise you haven’t gone mad yet…”
“I will always be defiant, it is in my nature. I would go crazy before accepting you as my Lord.”
“We’ll see.” Hermione looked up at him, glaring. He looked at her in the eyes and for the first time in months, attempted his mind-raping again. He slammed against the edge of her brain. She was certainly surprised, but her Occlumency barrier held. He kept staring at her, grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the wall.
“Yield.” He growled. Her hands started shaking from the strength required to keep the border up. He kept pushing at it, he could feel it cracking. Some of her thoughts started to slip though, little thoughts. Her fear, her disdain for him. Then one slipped through that surprised him.
‘Why is someone like Tom Riddle allowed to be so hot?’
The shock from the statement broke Tom’s concentration and she successfully pushed him all the way out. He looked at her in shock, still holding her against the wall. She looked up at him in fear.
“What did you see?”
“Nothing.” He said quickly, not wanting to bring it up, his cheeks flushing red. He had never expected to hear that thought, not from Hermione Granger. She looked at him confused. This was the dark lord, why did he look so flustered?
“I...get out.” Tom said, turning her towards the door and shoving her towards it. Hermione looked back at him in confusion, but continued to the door, giving him one last look of concern before closing it behind her.
“What the fuck was that?” He asked himself aloud. “Why did it affect me so much to hear that thought? I almost had her. I was so fucking close!” He flashed his wand around the room, tearing everything apart. He could not control his anger, so he took it out on every inch of the room, destroying the furniture, the walls, the carpet, the floor, everything.
Hermione Granger fled from the Room of Requirement. He was angry, she could see the smoldering fire in his eyes as she closed the door. He was most certainly going to be very violent today and Hermione had no desire to be around when he let that anger out.
She kept running, running out of the castle. She went straight to the Forbidden Forest; the place where all of her suffering had taken place. She went to the spot where it happened. She could not deal with this anymore. She could not tell anyone what was happening to her, but perhaps if she could get a professor out here and perform a spell to detect Dark Magic, they would at least know something was wrong.
Tom covered the area with concealment charms after every torture session, but Dark Magic was like radiation, it could seep into the ground, past the area he concealed, or into an animal. She started digging a hole, three feet down, to see how far Tom’s concealment charms reached. She raised her wand to cast the detection spell, but her wand was violently pulled out of her hand and her mouth covered by a hand.
“Silencio.” The perpetrator whispered.
She was flipped around and was face to face with Avery. “What is the Gryffindor Bitch doing out here?” he said nastily. Her eyes got big and she tried to fight against him, hitting him in the chest. He lazily casted a binding charm. “Just because Tom doesn’t see it, doesn’t mean that I have no idea what you’re doing!” He growled into her ear. Her eyes got wider and she started shaking her head in confusion. She started telling him she had no idea what he was talking about, but no sound came from her lips.
“You’re just trying to get him to like you so you can be safe, well let me tell you something Granger. Riddle doesn’t care for anyone! His most loyal followers are still the scum of the Earth to him. No matter what you do he will never care about you and you will never be safe!” He screamed in her face. She started crying. What was he talking about? Hermione obviously wasn’t trying to get Tom to like her, she hated him.
“Now for the second reason I’m here.” Avery said, smirking. He reached down and grabbed both of her breasts, kneading them roughly. She started thrashing, trying to get away from his disgusting hands. She started screaming, but no sound came out.
“Don’t waste your energy slut, you’re going to need it.” He said gruffly. He grabbed the front of her blouse and tore it open, revealing her 1990s bra. Hermione had not dared to ask the Shacklebolts for underwear, so she had duplicated the bra and underwear she had had on at the time. He gave the strange, lacy garment a strange look before tearing it off. He attacked her chest with his mouth, licking and biting like a feral dog. Hermione continued crying incessantly, still trying to pull herself away from this monster on top of her.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She heard from behind him. The person cast petrificus totalus and then lifted him up, moving him away from her. Hermione looked up to see Noah Lovegood standing about ten yards away. He walked over to her, not looking down at her, before casting a spell to replace her bra and blouse.
“Are you okay?” He asked gently. She tried to answer, but the Silencio was still on her. He quickly lifted it, as well as the binding charm.
“I’m...I’m ok.” She said quietly.
He gave her an unsure look before helping her up. They slowly walked in the direction of the castle, Noah levitating Avery behind them. As they got closer to the castle they walked past Riddle. He looked at them confused. He started in their direction and Noah shot him a glare. Riddle glared back and continued in their direction, slowly drawing his wand.
Hermione frowned and cast her little bird spell at him. They entered the castle, now safe from Tom’s anger, and went straight to Headmaster Dippet’s office. He immediately demanded that they release Avery. Noah nodded and let him fall to the ground. He came up fighting, calling Hermione a whore and Noah a bastard. Dippet immediately restrained him and commanded him to be silent. Avery, realizing where he was, silenced immediately.
“Now would someone please explain what is going on here?” Dippet asked.
Noah turned to Hermione. “Can I tell him?” She nodded and so he turned and told Dippet the whole story. Avery kept trying to interject, but Dippet stopped him, allowing Noah to finish the whole story.
“Avery. If I find even a sliver of this to be true you will find yourself on a trip to Azkaban!” Dippet screamed at him.
“It’s not true headmaster! They are making it up!”
Dippet snarled and cast Legilimency on him. He emerged from Avery’s mind with a sickened, disgusted look on his face. “YOU DISGUSTING EXCUSE FOR A WIZARD! I WILL ENSURE THAT YOU PAY FOR THIS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!”
“I didn’t even fuck her, why is this such a big deal?”
“Shut the fuck up Avery! We all know good and well you would have if I hadn’t been there. You are a disgusting coward!” Noah yelled at him.
Dippet dismissed Noah and Hermione, but his yells and screams of anger could be heard throughout the school. Noah hugged Hermione gently and started to guide her to the hospital wing. The mediwitch pulled her into a bed and immediately started doing tests on her. Her eyes got wider and wider as the tests continued. She ordered Noah to fetch Professor Dumbledore from the Transfiguration classroom and he obliged.
Noah and the Professor walked in a few minutes after the tests had been completed. The mediwitch pulled Dumbledore to the side and started whispering things into her ears. Noah picked up parts of the conversation, but could hardly piece together what he heard.
Dumbledore politely asked him to leave the room before turning to Hermione. “Miss Hermione Granger, Madame Pomfrey has informed me that your body is laced with dark magic. She has also informed me of the circumstances that you were brought here under. Are you okay Miss Granger?”
Hermione stared up at him, tears leaking from her eyes. “I’m…I’m alright, really.”
“You are not alright Miss Granger. From the looks of it, you have had the Cruciatus Curse used on you nearly five hundred times, not to mention countless other curses. You must tell me who has done this. Has Avery been doing this to you for this long?”
Hermione shook her head. “It’s not Avery. I can’t…” Her head started pounding and every muscle in her body started to hurt. She fought against the pain. “I can’t tell…” Dumbledore’s eyes, laced with concern, started to piece everything together. He turned to Madame Pomfrey.
“Madam Pomfrey, if a student was unable to tell us who was hurting her due to a dark spell being used against her, what do you think her favorite color would be?”
“VIOLET!” Hermione screamed, feeling the huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. “I love violet so much!” She said, staring deep into Dumbledore’s eyes. He looked at her with pity.
“Well then, it seems now we must find what spell exactly is keeping you silent. If I make one promise in my life that I am to keep until the day I die, Miss Granger, it is that I will find who has done this to you. And I will make them feel your pain.”

Chapter Text

After returning from the hospital wing Hermione started making her way to Gryffindor Tower. She had been in the wing for two days and she was ready to see her friends again. They had come to visit her, but because of the amount of dark magic that had been used on her, Dumbledore didn't want anyone to be around her for a while.

She walked down the corridor, past the room of requirement when suddenly someone tackled her, covering her mouth. They drug her into the room of requirement and cast the necessary binding spells on her before pushing her to the floor. Hermione looked up to see Lestrange, Dolohov, and Rosier.

"What do you want?" She asked, full of scorn.

"We're going to kill you." Lestrange said, glaring down at her.

"Lovegood isn't here to save you now!" Rosier shouted.

"Avery is dead because of you!" Dolohov added.

"What? How is he dead? How is this my fault? He attacked me!"

"He was being taken to the Ministry for a hearing when he was mysteriously attacked and killed!" Rosier screamed in her face.

"How can you blame me for that? It obviously wasn't me who did it, and it was his fault that he got arrested!" Hermione yelled at them.

"You had to have done something to piss him off." Lestrange said.

"Crucio!" Dolohov cast the curse on her and she screamed and writhed in pain. After he stopped the curse she wandlessly cast the counter-spell to her binding spell and pulled her wand out. She held it up in defense.

They all looked shocked and then at once they all started attacking. She slung spell after spell keeping them away from her. Once she got the upper hand she started casting offensive spells, yet never once did she cast a dark spell. She successfully got all of them on their asses and turned to leave but heard someone clear their throat behind her.

She turned to see Riddle sitting on a couch in the middle of the room. "That was quite impressive Hermione." He said smoothly. Her voice caught in her throat at his use of her first name. He slowly rose from his seat. "I do find it particularly curious though. They were at your mercy and how do you punish them for all of these months of torture? With Rictumsepra?"

Hermione looked at him with disdain. "I know it must be hard for psychos like you to understand, but not everyone is evil." She said roughly.

"See, that's just not true. Everyone is evil. Some of us are just less dishonest about it. I know how badly you wanted to hurt them. I can practically feel your violent temper seeping out of you. The only reason that you didn't is because you have to have a sense of superiority over us. It's easy for you to excuse your wrong-doings if you do so without dark magic."

"You're wrong Riddle. I am not evil. I will never be evil."

"You are just like me, Granger. I knew the day that I met you that there was something about you that made you special. Now I know what it is." He said, smirking. "You are my antithesis. You were born to oppose me and everything about me, but at the core, we are the same person."

Hermione pointed her wand at him. "Do not. Ever. Compare me to you." She said, glowering at him. "We are not similar. The only thing we have in common is magical ability."

"It doesn't matter how many times you say it Hermione. You will eventually see my side, and when you do, the world is damned." He walked past her and out the door.

She stared at the door after he left. How dare he say such a thing? She looked around her and realized that all of the boys around her would get up soon. She had better get out of there. She made her way to the Gryffindor tower and there, waiting for her, were Augusta and Fleamont.

"Hermione! We were so worried about you!" Augusta said, pulling her into a hug. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm...I'm fine." Hermione said softly.

"Did you hear what happened to Avery?" Fleamont asked.

"I...yes I did."

"Can you believe someone would just kill an innocent student like that?" Augusta asked. Hermione couldn't believe her ears. Innocent? They must not have been told the true story, but Noah knew. Hermione supposed he didn't want everyone knowing that she had almost been raped.

"I didn't particularly like him, he was as much of a snake as his friends, but he didn't deserve to be killed." Fleamont said.

Hermione bit her lip. She should let it slide. Telling them the truth would do no good. She didn't want them to know about the assault anyways. It was embarrassing enough that it had happened, she certainly didn't need Tom to find out. All he knew at this point was that Avery had attacked her.

"Anyways." Hermione said, changing the subject. "What did I miss in school?"

"Oh, not much. You will have to redo a potion with Riddle at some point though." Hermione inwardly groaned at this. More time she'd have to spend with Riddle. She could only imagine how annoying he would be to her during that.

"I see. Which potion?"

"The love potion...I can't quite remember the name…" Augusta said.

"Amortentia." Hermione said without thinking.

"Yeah, that's the one." Augusta said, smiling.

"Have you ever made it before?" Fleamont asked her.

No, but like most young witches I had a phase when I considered making one and I did some research." Hermione fabricated the story quickly. She told them about some boy she liked back when she was thirteen and how she had desperately tried to make the potion, but her mom had found out and scolded her.

They laughed and they sat like that into the late aughts, around the fireplace in the common room, sharing anecdotes. Hermione told them many true stories, but tried to be a little vague so as to not forget any details she had told them. Hermione hated lying for this reason, it was impossible to remember your whole story and one slip could lead to suspicion.

"I'm going to go ask Slughorn and Riddle if we can make it up tonight." Hermione said to them quickly. She turned and walked in the direction of the annoying potion's master's office. When she reached it she found Riddle already there. She waited outside, and after a couple of seconds decided to listen in. She whispered a quiet spell; audi, and their conversation started shifting into her head.

"I read something rather odd about a bit of rare magic." Tom's voice seeped into her head. Oh shit. Was Tom asking Slughorn about the Horcruxes right now? Harry had told Hermione that the Horcruxes were the only dark magic that Tom ever asked about.

"It's called, as I understand it, a Horcrux." Hermione's eyes blazed. She had to do something about this. She walked up to the door, no longer hiding in the shadows, and knocked loudly on the door. Tom and Slughorn both looked at her. Slughorn's eyes were wide and his jaw had dropped. Tom's face kept complete composure, but Hermione could see the panic in his eyes.

Slughorn quickly waddled over and unlocked the door. "What can I help you with Miss Granger?" He said, his voice slightly higher than usual.

"I believe I have missed an assignment." Hermione said, playing dumb as to what had just happened in front of her.

"Ah yes, the potion." Slughorn said, grinning. "Tom, I believe you were meant to be her partner on this?" Tom nodded. "Well that is wonderful, you can make it up now! I am excited to see how well you do Miss Granger, considering how successful your Polyjuice Potion turned out. I have even applied to the Board for Magical Education to make an adjustment in the textbook according to your findings."

Hermione smiled politely. "Thank you so much Professor." He nodded at her and motioned for them to go into the Potion's Classroom. Slughorn handed them the textbook and left them to complete the potion alone.

"We're doing the love potion, correct?" Hermione asked, trying to act civil, as if he hadn't just lost one of his most important knights.

"Amortentia, yes." Tom said, his voice calm, not revealing any emotion.

"Right, I will get the ingredients." Hermione said quietly and walked in the direction of the supply closet. She looked around the small closet and reached to grab something off of the top shelf when she heard something behind her. Riddle had came in and closed the door behind him. The two were in the small closet, a foot away at most.

"What are you doing Riddle?" Hermione asked, trying to disguise the fear in her voice as annoyance.

"Avery is dead." He said calmly.

"Yes he is."

"Do you know how he died?" Riddle asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"I don't. All I heard was that he was murdered on his way to the hearing." Hermione said, shifting away from him, her back pressed against the shelf behind her.

"I killed him." Tom said. The edge of his lip pulled slightly, as if he wanted to smirk but wasn't allowing himself to.

Hermione's voice caught in her throat. "You?"

"Yes, me."

"Why?"

"I had my reasons, but let's just say he disobeyed me." He said, his voice rough.

Hermione felt increasingly more uncomfortable as the conversation progressed. Every time he talked he got a little closer, at this point he was mere inches away from her and Hermione could not stand to be this close to the dark lord.

"Can we please just work on the potion?" Hermione said, her voice getting higher as she became slightly panicked.

Tom chuckled a little. "Not quite yet, I have something I want to show you. As I said before, you are very important in the grand scheme of things, and I want to know what you think of this little artifact I made." Hermione gave him a strange look as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black book.

Hermione could not believe her eyes. It was the diary. The horcrux, and based on when she was Hermione knew he had already made it a horcrux. She focused on keeping her eyes from bulging from her head as he explained that if someone wrote in it they could communicate with him. He didn't mention that it was because of a part of his soul being contained within it.

"I have decided…to give it to you. You're very important, and I need to be able to contact you at any moment. I need to be able to talk to you. If you have this you can always talk to me, no matter where we are."

Hermione had a million questions. She understood why he thought she was important, but Tom Riddle was supposed to be smart, he would never entrust one of his horcruxes with her unless he was absolutely sure that it would be safe.

"Why do you need to communicate with me? Can't you just continue sending your pathetic lackeys to come get me?" Hermione asked, suspicious.

"No no. I am done torturing you for the pleasure of it, it has stopped becoming entertaining. You just end up taking out my knights anyways. I am going to teach you now. I can sense the thirst for knowledge in you. I can feel your need to learn more and more. I am going to teach you the dark arts, you will be my protege." he said, his expressions and animation growing with every word. Hermione looked at him with disgust.

"No! I don't want to be your protege! I don't want to have anything to do with the dark arts! My thirst for knowledge is not so great that I cannot be satisfied with learning good spells, even if they are mundane."

"That's where you're wrong Hermione. You are like me. I tired very quickly of the 'good' spells. You have lasted longer because you have been surrounded by war ever since Grindelwald started his campaign and the proud Gryffindor inside you demanded you oppose evil. I can change that. I can foster you into a brilliant wizard and together we will improve ourselves until no one can oppose us!"

Hermione's heart sank as she realized what he was suggesting. He wanted her to help him rule the world. She had tried so hard to stay away from him, but he had noticed her anyways and now he was asking her to help with his world domination.

Hermione's mouth started to form the words to disagree with him, but then it crossed her mind. He was going to give her the diary. She could destroy it. She could get close to him, and then in the end have all his weaknesses and kill him. She could save Harry before he was born. She had already attracted his attention, disagreeing with him would just lead to him killing her and eventually winning the war.

"Alright."

Chapter Text

Report to the Room of Requirement, now.

The Diary commanded Hermione. She was nervous. She had agreed to become Tom Riddle’s apprentice. This meant possibly using dark magic. Hermione knew very well the effects that using dark magic could have. It ate away at your soul, it was after partially the reason for Tom Riddle’s less than ideal appearance later in life. Much of it had come from his soul splitting from the horcruxes, but much of it came from his extensive use of dark magic.

Hermione stood from her chair in the library and slowly walked to the room of requirement. When she got there Tom Riddle was lounging on a couch, reading a book. Clearly being the dark lord did not affect how much time he spent studying for class.

“Ah, Miss Granger. I’m glad you’ve finally arrived.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you doing this?” She asked him, still skeptical. How could Tom Riddle, the man so meticulous in his planning and caution that he engineered memories in his Uncle to protect his crimes against his father, be so foolish as to give her one of his horcruxes?

“I’ve already told you Hermione, there’s something special about you, you’re much more talented than any other witch your age, though nothing to me of course. You are far more capable than any of my knights.”

It occurred to Hermione that Tom Riddle did not know that Hermione was a muggleborn. She wondered if, had he known such a fact, would he still offer her the apprenticeship?

“And how would you come to the conclusion that I would ever be willing to learn from you? There is much I can still learn without ever having to dip my toes into the dark arts. Why would I knowingly harm my soul for you? What am I getting out of this?”

He smirked, standing and approaching her slowly. “My dear Miss Granger, I promise your soul will be fine, you’d have to cast a hundred Avadas before your soul felt the effects,” he said, so condescendingly, as if Hermione were stupid for not knowing. She shivered, thinking about how many people he must have killed to look like a snake.

“You cannot tell me that the power of dark magic has never tugged at you before.”

“I can, I’ve never once considered it.”

He chuckled. “Well, consider it now.” He waved his wand in a circle and a dummy appeared, it looked very human, but the uncanny valley pricked, assuring her it was fake. “I am going to fire a spell, and you will perform the same spell after me, I expect it to be successful, if it is not I will punish you.”

She glared at him, knowing that if she wanted the ring, she’d have to comply. He stood before the dummy, in a battle stance.

“Furnunculus!” he cried and the dummy erupted in boils, which to Hermione’s knowledge, would be extremely painful had the dummy been real. She noticed that as he shot the curse his dark gray eyes glowed red for a brief second.

He turned to her. “Now you.” He waved his wand and the dummy went back to normal.

She turned to the dummy, holding up her wand hesitantly. “Furnunculus!” She said, mirroring the wand movements he had performed. The spell his the dummy, but the boils were small, and a bright pink, as opposed to Tom’s huge, bright red boils.

“You have to mean it Hermione. You won’t hurt anyone if you don’t mean it.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone!” She said, turning to look up into his eyes. His eyes were dangerously dark now, so dark Hermione couldn’t see where the iris began and the pupil ended.

“You insist on making this difficult. It’s not hard! If I can kill a little mudblood girl you can shoot a boils curse at a dummy.”

“I’m not you!” She protested. He chuckled.

“Of course not, you are much weaker than I am, but you should still be able to do this. If someone as magically weak as Londro Goyle can do it, so can you.”

“I can’t!” She yelled.

“Oh for fucks sake! Crucio!” he yelled. Hermione fell to the ground, shaking. The pain ripped through her body, tearing her apart cell by cell. He let up after only ten seconds. He was obviously pissed at her. He waved his wand at the dummy, transfiguring it into… Thomas Avery. Hermione turned back to Tom and slapped him.

“Curse it now Hermione, if you can’t even curse the man who tried to rape you, you’re hopeless.”

Her eyes got big. “You…knew. How did you know? No one knew but the professors and Noah.” He looked down on her, looking rather annoyed.

“If I ever have the desire to tell you where I source my information I will, but at the moment I don’t, so leave it. Now curse the damn dummy.”

She turned back, staring down the dummy which now looked disturbingly exactly like Avery. She tried not to picture the horrible memory, but it was pricking at the edges of her brain. She shot the curse at the dummy and not only did the boils cover his body, erupting painfully, the dummy seemed to come alive, shrieking in pain, begging for help, all in Avery’s voice.

Hermione tried not to smile, she wasn’t supposed to enjoy this. Tom had already seen her reaction, he knew he was winning. He taught her a dozen more spells, all of which she was able to get on the first try with Avery being the target of all of her hatred. At the end of their session she collapsed on the sofa, breathing hard from her exertions.

Tom sat next to her. “You did well today Hermione. I will be teaching you more tomorrow, we will duel. If you are to be my right hand man…er woman, you will need to be an expert dueler.”

She nodded, and stood to leave. He grabbed her by the wrist, turning her painfully to face him. “Are you forgetting something?” He asked, the scarlet behind his eyes practically burning her. She looked confused, what could she possibly be forgetting?

He stood, towering over her. “I don’t care what I said about you being my right hand woman Granger, I still own you.”

She nodded realizing what he was telling her. “Yes master. May I go, my lord?” she asked, trying not to gag on the word. He smirked, appraising her.

“Very good. You may,” he purred. She left, returning to the library to finish her homework. As she walked away she felt a pang in her chest, it pricked ever so slightly, as if eating at her. Her first time using dark magic, it was bound to hurt. She supposed that if using dark magic is what it took to defeat Voldemort and get her friends and family back she was willing to make the sacrifice.

“Hermione!” Noah sat down opposite her. “How have you been? I’ve been so worried about you, ever since…how are you?”

She smiled at him. He was so sweet. “I’m okay, really, I’m getting better, I just get scared sometimes.” He nodded in understanding. Hermione paused, considering Noah Lovegood. He was very smart, just like Luna had been, definitely didn’t share the strangeness though. He didn’t seem much like his son Xenophilius either. He was just Noah. He had the same white hair, but it reminded her much more of Malfoy than of Luna.

“I’m glad to hear that!” He said, smiling at her. She smiled back and the two worked in silence on their homework.

A/N: I'm back! I know it's been like 500 years since in posted on this story, but I came across it while working on a Sansan GOT fanfiction, and I decided to pick it back up, no promises that I'll stay this time, but I'll try :)