"Did I hear you right?"
"Yes. Yes you did."
"Tom, I-
"Stand by me. Cherish me as I do you.
Please."
"Look... Tom. I can't. I just can't. Not with what you're trying to accomplish."
"What are you implying, my dear?"
"I'm implying that your whole mission to gather these orbs... to rule the wizarding world- is wrong. What you're doing, is sick and twisted. Why can't you just be good like I know you are at heart? Why can't you stop hurting others for your own gain?"
Silence followed after Y/N's declaration.
Tom looked down at the ground, feeling as though a million shards of glass pierced his body. A haze of some kind clouded his vision, making the ground beneath his feet look blurry.
What was he?
An ambitious and talented wizard. A wizard who believes in the superiority of his own kind. A genocidist.
Was that all he was? Was that all he was painted out to be in Y/N's mind?
A heartless monster?
:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ
The map seemed to gaze down at the three with a smirk. It was, of course an inanimate object, but it's aura felt as though it was degrading them in a way. Laughing at the fact that they would inevitably fail at their quest to save Y/N.
"How do you propose we find Y/N in there Harry?" Hermione asked, eyeing him from the corner of her eye. "We need to get the professors involved, and you know that." Harry's jaw clenched. "You think I have the answers to everything do you? You think the professors will involve us once we tell them, do you?" Harry hissed. Hermione sighed, opening her mouth to counter his statement but was interrupted by him. "Well GUESS WHAT HERMIONE? I'm NOT some perfect O+ student who knows EVERY SINGLE answer. I'm NOT some know-it-all who looks down on others for not knowing everything. But you know what I am? I'm someone who cares for the well being of my friends. I'm someone who DOESN'T know the answers to everything. And I'm perfectly fine with that."
"You think it's sooo easy for me to carry this burden of a scar, to carry this BURDEN of knowing my parents DIED BECAUSE OF ME." Harry stepped back, glaring at Hermione.
"Harry... you know I didn't mean it like that. I'm just finding the best way for us to go about this situation." Hermione said, the caution in her voice evident. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just-"
"I can't bear to lose anymore people in my life."
Harry broke down, placing a hand over his eyes. Hermione walked over to Harry, hugging him in an attempt to comfort her distressed friend.
"I know, but we need to assess a better way to save Y/N, alright?"
Ron gave Harry a side hug, a sad smile spreading across his face at seeing his friend look so hurt. "It'll be alright mate. Y/N's tough, she'll be okay."
Hermione looked down at her watch.
7:12 AM.
The other students should be getting up by now.
۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ
Hermione shuddered as she remembered what had happened when Harry emerged from the portal through Y/N's four poster. It was mortifying.
That evening, she had been invited by Ron on a little 'date' by the lake. It was incredibely cliche in Hermione's mind, with the classic red checkered blanket spread out on the grass, the picnic basket, and the lit candles on the candlebra. But it was all so romantic.
Her and Ron had gotten together shortly before she and Y/N had discovered the diary in Myrtle's bathroom. It wasn't secret per se- but they both decided to keep it lowkey. Sometimes, like in this instance, they'd go on dates together without telling anyone else.
When Hermione and Ron got back to the common room, they found the Weasley twins discussing a new item for their joke shop. Something they called 'Feet lickers'. As soon as they entered, the twins made all sorts of comments on where the two could have possibly been.
"Ay you two! Next time, make sure to check if anyone's around ya before snoggin' each other. Much appreciated." Ron's ears started growing red, but Hermione chimed in just before things got messy.
"Har har. Very funny. We'll keep that in mind next time." Hermione rolled her eyes.
Curiously, Harry wasn't with the twins at that moment. Hermione swore the three had been chatting up a storm before she left. "Anyway, where's Harry run off to?"
Fred shrugged. "Well he went up to the girls' dorms maybe hm... an hour or so ago? Said he wanted to check up on Y/N."
"Yeah, heard some weird grunting up there. Guess old 'Arry recognised it as Y/N's voice." George finished Fred's sentence. "The chap hasn't been down since though. Honestly we forgot he even went up there until you brought it up. Maybe it's best to check on him."
Hermione agreed, seeing as it was also an opportunity to get away from Fred and George and their ridiculous remarks on her and Ron.
Climbing the stairs to the girls' dorms, she cautiously opened the door. Usually at this time, most of the girls would be asleep. That or they'd be doing each others' nails, doing homework or gossiping about some nonsense they'd heard during class. So naturally, she expected to see just that. Lavender's four posters' curtains would be drawn and Parvati Patil would be in there with her, and Serena Boleia and Teresa Smith would have curlers in their hair while they did their nails.
Nothing could prepare Hermione for what she saw though. She screamed at the sight before her, covering her mouth to stop her from doing it again.
Seemingly all of the Gryffindor girls were unconcious, covered in blood and were laying down in a circle. A snake who's guts had been ripped open lay in the middle. Luckily, the blood on the girls appeared to be that of the snakes and not they themselves, which eased Hermione's heart a little bit. Words written in the snake's blood were messily smeared on to the wall beside Y/N's bed, which was of some poem Hermione quickly read but couldn't register at that moment.
And speaking of Y/N's bed, it was almost entirely destroyed. Fragments of it seemingly all across the dorm. A small part of her headboard had vanished, and was in the shape of a semi circle, leading Hermione to believe some sort of portal had opened up, but had closed once again. Harry, lay in front of the wooden mess that was once her friend's bed. He looked disheveled, and was covered in wounds and splinters, and, like the girls, was unconscious, with some tote bag beside his body.
Hermione rushed toward Harry, lifting his limp body and checking for a pulse in his wrist-
He was alive!
Beeathing a sigh of relief, Hermione held on to Harry's body for dear life. If she had lost him, she wouldn't know what to do with herself.
After a few seconds, Harry stirred, and awoke, to find himself being squeezed tight by Hermione. "Harry! Harry! Are you alright? Hm? Are you alright?" Hermione cupped his cheeks, making him face her. "Yup- I'm okay." Hermione felt tears of relief start to fall and hugged him again, bringing him closer to her. He was fine. 'He's always fine', Hermione thought.
"What happened here? And how did you get these wounds?" Before Harry could utter a word, Ron poked his head through the door, a high pitched shriek escaping his mouth. Classic Ron.
"WHAT'S HAPPENED HERE?" Ron screamed out, his eyes wide open you'd swear he was related to a Tarsier, and his face beet red, which was normal when a distressing situation occurred. "There's no need for screaming Ronald! Now help me get Harry down the stairs-"
After completing the painstakingly difficult task of carrying Harry down the stairs, Hermione and Ron sat him down on an arm chair directly in front of the fire place.
The Weasley twins had seemingly gone up to bed, and hadn't at all noticed Hermione or Ron's shrieks of terror, since they hadn't even bothered to check up on them. But then again, they hadn't even bothered to check up on Harry when he was gone for God knows how long so it made sense they wouldn't check up on Hermione and Ron in this instance.
"Don't worry ab-out me 'Mione. Check up on the girls first." Harry choked out, before passing out again. Hermione, of course, was worried seeing Harry pass out for a second time, but after a reassuring "He'll be fine, I'll take care of him," from Ron, decided to go up and help the girls however she could.
Going up the stairs two steps at a time, Hermione took her wand out, and racked her brains for a spell that may be able to reverse whatever spell had been put on the girls in the dorm. Episkey? No- that was used for minor injuries. Perhaps the Reviving Spell would work?
But once Hermione opened the door to the girl's dormitories, the girls were all in their beds- fast asleep. Seemingly unharmed.
The snake and all the blood from beforehand had also vanished without a trace. Hermione even checked herself- overturning carpets, checking behind tapestries and looking under beds and side tables. No traces of blood on a single one of them. Glancing at the wall where the words had been written on, Hermione found it to be squeaky clean. It was as if they had never been there in the first place.
And Y/N's bed, was just as she had left it. Her books, parchments, quills and ink were all where Hermione remembered she'd placed them. Her headboard, was whole again. Her bed, as usual, was made, her sleeprell lay on her nightstand, and even the stuffed animals and junk she kept in her drawer were still there.
Of course, the only thing that was missing were the leather journal and Y/N herself.
That damn journal.
Everything was in place. As if nothing had ever happened. But... Surely the girls would remember something from earlier right?
Hermione walked over to Lavender Brown's bed, shaking her awake. "Lavender- oi Lavender, wake up would you!" Hermione hissed. "Hermione, it's 11 at night! I needn't you ruining my beauty sleep!" Lavender rasped out in her 'I-just-woke-up voice'. "It's important damn it!" Hermione insisted, continuing to shake her.
"Oh alright! What is it now? You need advice on how to make Ron happy is it?" Lavender spat, her face sour as Hermione glared back at her. "NO actually. I make him perfectly happy just by being his girlfriend. He's more than content, just so you know. But that's not why I woke you up.
Did anything weird happen an hour or so ago? Did some portal open? Was there a snake? Did you pass out- or just... Anything at all?" Hermione asked, hopeful as to Lavender confirming what she had seen was true.
"The only remotely 'weird' thing that's happened all night is you waking me up asking me stupid questions. Why would a snake be in here? And what kind of portal nonsense are you yapping about? Gosh I can't believe you woke me up just for this."
Hermione's heart sank. But all that she saw just now. It really did happen, did it not? Harry was unconscious and covered in wounds. Of course it happened.
But it was as if it didn't.
Hermione, now paler than ever just pulled herself away from Lavender's bed. What was going on?
-
Hermione just remembered herself descending down the stairs oncemore, and tending to Harry's wounds for the rest of the night, while he informed them of what was happening and why Y/N was missing.
Harry's sudden outburst... then them planning to have a peoper meeting in the room of requirement, and Hermione climbing the stairs to the seemingly normal nothing-remotley-weird-had-happened-here
girls' dorms. That night was truly disturbing for Hermione, to say the least.
Hermione just pulled the covers closer to her, holding on to them for dear life as she stared at the empty bed beside her. Y/N's bed.
She, like Harry had only fallen asleep hours after she had climbed into bed. The thought of her friend keeping her awake. Was she dead? Was she okay? Questions plagued her mind.
But sleep inevitably consumed Hermione, putting her to rest of all the waking world's madness.
The last thought on her mind being her friend, Y/N.
ₒ ु ₓ｡
"You have to stop." Y/N was almost pleading with Tom at this point. "That's not going to be so easy and you know that." Tom countered, his head hurt from all of this. Of course she'd be like this. He should've known.
"Please understand what I- we, can accomplish with my mission. We won't have to hide anymore. We don't have to fear being seen by mudbloods any longer, we can be free."
"I know this way of life can be hard, but you'll have me. We can figure this out together my love. Please. Let me cherish you."
Y/N rushed toward the Slytherin, who was frozen in place, staring at nothing in particular. A glint in his eye as he did. Almost as if he was having an internal fight of his own inside. Engulfing him in a hug, Tom quickly reciprocated, holding on to her tight.
Y/N knew Tom was but a raw version of the now heartless snake of a wizard, Voldemort. With that thought in mind as she hugged him, she realised what power lay in her hands. She could change Tom's future. Stop Voldemort alongside the one person who knew him the best,
Voldemort.
∞ ₒ ˚ ° 𐐒𐐚 °
this chapter was sorta updated late so im sorry abt that! i had it finished a few days after chapter 11 but it felt wrong to me yknow? so i edited it & this is the final result! hope you enjoyed! made it perrrty long to make it up to yall ;) ty babes! mwah <333
2333 words ^^