Breaking Hermione

The Importance Of Your Heart

"Hermione. Can you hear me?"

I blinked, trying to focus my vision. I could see the Hospital Wing in striking detail, bold white and bright enough my eyes began watering. Someone had dressed my left arm, I had a bandage which covered my hand all the way to my upper arm. And standing to the right of me beside my bed was none other than professor Dumbledore in a long magenta cloak, his light blue eyes appearing troubled behind his crooked half moon spectacles.

"You do realise that you are extremely fortunate to be alive right now. Between you and I, if it wasn't for my exemplary magical skill I daresay more than just your own life would've been lost here."

"W-what? Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled grimly, and from within his cloak drew out something on a long golden chain. My Time Turner.

"Remember this?"

"Oh fuck." The events of the past suddenly sprang up in my mind, and my heart starting pounding. "Where's Tom?" I asked, sitting up and accidentally leaning on my arm. I fell back against the mattress with a scream of pain.

"Don't move. Your arm has been badly splinched. I would suggest you do not overexert yourself while it heals. And as for Mr Riddle, he has had his memory modified." Dumbledore stood, walking over to the tiny window behind me to peer out over the School.

"I have removed from his recollections all understanding about your mission from the future. I am afraid this was all I could do without causing irreparable brain damage to him."

"It's a little too late for that, Professor. Tom already had significant brain damage, so it's fine." I waved my only functioning hand through the air dismissively.

"Honestly Professor, how the hell did you get away with that?" I said, struck dumb with awe. Who cared about Tom. The fact Dumbledore had now removed these memories from Tom meant I now had a permanent upper hand. I felt a renewed sense of hope flare within me. Now I wouldn't have to deal with Tom's suspicions, nor have to put up with his attempts to stop me trying to sabotage him and his future plans to become Lord Voldemort. After all, he couldn't stop what he wasn't aware of, right?

"Riddle was unconscious, and binded head to toe with rope." Dumbledore said. "So naturally, it was very easy to alter his mind. And possible, because I did it outside of School grounds. None of the other staff know about this. Not even Madam Pomfrey. So do not mention any of the events which have just transpired to him, or to anyone else. This is between us. As for what he understands about what has happened to you, I believe he has been told you have fallen down a flight of moving stairs."

I frowned. Falling down a moving staircase did seem like something that I would do.

"What about Claudia?" I asked.

"Claudia has no awareness of anything.  I have been into the past to rectify the fabrics of time which you had disturbed. It is now as if nothing had ever happened. The past would have been as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened."

"I'm sorry." I apologised. "I wanted to fix things. I wanted to stop Tom from killing all of those birds."

"What birds?" Dumbledore asked delicately, conjuring a seat for himself out of thin air. "I do not know of any such birds which you speak of." He sat down, his light blue eyes twinkling, suggesting otherwise.

"I have restored the other Hermione back to full health, and back to her own time. Fortunately, Tom had only injured her with a simple spell which I knew how to remedy. There may have been very significant damage to time if I had not been the one to find you three outside the School gates. You must give me your word you will never attempt something so foolish again."