3:10 P.M.
"We're nearly halfway through the year, and we haven't got anything to work with yet?" Harry was asking impatiently, parked on his usual Slytherin sofa with a sleeping Ginny as Hermione briskly strolled into the Room of Requirements. The raven-haired eighteen-year-old smiled at the brunette, as she placed the retrieved Dark Arts book on the coffee table between the sofas.
"I wouldn't say that, exactly," Hermione responded thoughtfully, immediately jumping into the conversation. She sat down on the edge of the Ravenclaw couch, unzipped her bulging book bag, and unloaded at least six more dusty, leather bound books. "I think we have a lot to work with, but we just haven't figured out how to work with it yet."
"Hey, Hermy, enjoying your time without Voldy?" Lavender greeted cheerfully. Hermione nearly winced at the harsh grate of the name. Oblivious, the blond-streaked brunette promptly picked up An Ancient Dark Arts Summary and began leafing through it. "Where'd you dig these oldies up from? Under the dungeons?"
"Erm, from the other half of the Dumbledore Ancestral Library bookcases, I finally got the chance to un-shrink them last night..."
Hermione passed Ron, Harry, Ginny, and Draco some rather dodgy books on the Dark Arts before scooching farther back on the couch and reclining against a large, fluffy blue and bronze pillow. "Anyway, a lot of things are happening that definitely weren't supposed to happen. I mean, I don't get it. I don't. Tom Riddle's 'curse'— which is in no way mentioned in any of Dumbledore's information, by the way — left him in the Hospital Wing for almost a week. That's seven days,"
she intoned forcefully to drive her point. "All the professors, including this Dumbledore, seem to know about the curse, but they're being very hush-hush about it, if you know what I mean. Everyone, this is a big deal. Even Madam L was concerned. Had this happened to Riddle the first time around, Dumbledore would have definitely told us," she finished, a note of certainly ringing in the termination of her speech.
"So Voldy had the curse in him the entire time he was Lord Voldemort, but, for some reason, it never took effect?" Ron asked. A second later, he frowned and shook his head, as if answering his own question, and muttered, "Bugger."
"Ron," Hermione said out of the blue, vaguely wondering how to phrase her next statement.
"Hmmmm?" the lanky redhead asked distantly, breaking out of his deep, meditative thoughts. He yawned, wrapped his arm amicably around Lavender, and glanced at Hermione.
"It seems to me that it'd be far less confusing if we all called the 1940s version of Lord Voldemort Tom Riddle," she said carefully, disinterestedly pretending to be completely engrossed with the random book page she had opened to.
"Yeah, that little inconsistency has left me scratching my head a few times," Ginny piped in, cracking her sleeping eyes open an inch from her perch on Harry's lap. "Let me tell you, it's shaken me up quite a bit too. There were times when you said it, and I thought old Snake Eyes himself had somehow followed us back. We need some kind of uniform name system, like we should stick to Tom Riddle for this 1944 version of Voldemort and Voldemort for our version of Voldemort."
"Errrm... All right." It was difficult to see the befuddlement in Ron's expression, but Hermione knew it was there, heard the confusion in his voice as if he couldn't imagine why the name would even matter when they were so obviously the same person.
So obviously, her mind echoed with the slightest tinge of doubt.
"That's not all," Harry broke in arbitrarily, his voice disturbingly sombre, an unusually wary gleam in his green eyes. She had learned to dread the words that always inevitably followed that tone of voice.
Wonderful.
Hermione inquisitively looked across the gulf between sofas at the Boy-Who-Lived, the Amulet of Eras beginning to feel hot, scratchy, and sticky under her robes. The unconcealed, guilty expression on Harry's face did nothing to ease her fears. "Harry... What is it?" she asked warily.
"Mione." He shifted uncomfortably, meeting the Head Girl's apprehensive gaze, and carefully, picking over his every word, slowly began, "Remember when, back at the beginning of school, I told you how Calugala Malfoy approached me with an invitation to come to some Dark meetings?"
When she nodded warily, Harry continued, a bit more confidently, "Well, about a month and a half ago, right before Halloween, he talked to me again. He said the same Dark followers were going to have their first official meeting, and that they had come up with a name for themselves... Death Eaters." Before she could interrupt, as she seemed ready to, he quickly finished, "And... I took him up on his original offer."
Hermione's blood chilled, her entire back stiffening rigidly. She had figured that one of their number might be subjected to spy work, but, even so, she had never expected it to happen so... suddenly.
Bizarrely, she didn't feel fear, or even anger, at Harry's revelation, but rather...disappointment. So it had begun. Right here, right under her nose, Tom Riddle had already taken the first steps on his journey to the Dark. He had to do it sometime, she knew, but she had thought, she had hoped that...
Well, what she had hoped didn't matter much anymore. It had been foolish thinking, anyway. Closing her eyes briefly, she tiredly rubbed her temples with her fingertips. "And Riddle led it, I assume."
"Well, that's the thing," Harry said, visibly sighing in relief at her relatively receptive reaction. Throwing aside all padding, he dove right in to the juicier section of his report. "When Malfoy said 'secret meetings,' he meant it. Twenty-five people come, counting me, and we're all required to wear hooded cloaks. I can't tell women from men, Mione," he said frankly, shaking his head, and continuing.
"Malfoy was clearly second in command, I could recognize his voice anywhere, and I thought I heard Lestrange's voice somewhere in the crowd at more than a few meetings, but I have no concrete evidence on the leader's identity." He paused, raking a hand through his wild hair. "I could identify Riddle's accent in a heartbeat, but this guy, Riddle or not, put a Muffler charm on his voice."
For some reason, though she had no idea what it was, this information sent a small whisper of reassurance through her, and she felt herself relaxing considerably... until she realized her motivation, and snorted. Oh, come on, Hermione, of course the leader has to be Riddle! Who else would it be? "Isn't there some other way you can find out?" she asked keenly.
Harry's dark brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Not that I can see. Well, not yet, anyway. The only things I can tell you for sure are that he's a real Muggle-hater, he's extremely well-spoken and charismatic, and he knows his stuff. Plus, we haven't had any meetings since Riddle's been in the Hospital Wing. Four undeniable facts which point directly toward Riddle, Mione. Directly."
Bugger, he's right- No, of course he's right. Had she really thought that they would be able to go through with their mission without a fight?
Sighing heavily, she glanced around the room, curious at her friends' reaction to Harry's analysis. To her astonishment, none of them —not even Lavender— appeared surprised, disturbed, or more informed.
Ron was yawning again, twisting around in his seat to see the hands on the clock and whispering to Lavender how he was going to pass out of starvation if he didn't get food soon; Lavender, filing her nails, was repeatedly nodding in a way that said she wasn't really paying attention to her moaning boyfriend; Ginny had once again fallen asleep against Harry's left arm; and Draco was interestedly nosing through Fatal Curses and Their Symptoms. He seemed like he was nervous.
"Wait a second," Hermione said slowly, snapping a sharp gaze back on Harry. "Am I the only one here who doesn't know about this?"
Harry uneasily shifted under her piercing stare. "Mione, we... we all felt that... Well, since you were the one mostly dealing with Riddle, we thought it might be best if you didn't know about this—"
Oh my God! They all know, and they've been deliberately keeping it from me! "Best for whom, Harry?" she demanded hotly. "You? Me? Riddle?" She stopped abruptly and sucked in an explosive breath, holding it, trying her best to sort out this new revelation while Harry cringed at her reaction. At his swift recoil, she felt some of her anger ebb slightly. Harry had heroically fought Voldemort, Death Eaters, and Dementors, but he couldn't take it when his friends were upset. More specifically, he couldn't take it when his friends were upset with him.
Taking in a much calmer breath, she subsequently blew out the lungful of air. "Listen... Harry, I'm sorry for snapping at you, but we can't keep secrets from each other," she said apologetically, shaking her head. "Not now. If we want to survive this thing and successfully finish what we came here to finish, we can't afford to hold anything back - Nothing. You should know more than anyone how secret-keeping can backfire on you."
Harry's green eyes darkened, undoubtedly recalling every vital piece of information Dumbledore had kept from him during his years at Hogwarts, and how that had ultimately culminated in Sirius' death. Careful not to disturb Ginny, he reached up, removed his glasses, and rubbed his tired eyes, his expression apologetic. "Mione... I'm sorry, too. It... It was stupid of me, but I'll admit it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"It's okay." She smiled weakly and absently set Dark Arts Curses, A Description of, on the coffee table. She picked up another book but hardly glanced at the cover. "I know now, and that's all that matters."
To her right, she heard Draco make a sound akin to vomiting, and he held up his particular book and showcased it in example. "That's so sweet, you two, it really is, but now that we're one big, happy family again, can we continue the vital discussion at hand?"
Hermione snorted and dropped the dusty book to her lap, crossing her arms. "And what about you, Draco? What's got you so nervous"
Faster than she had ever seen him react, his cheeks turned light pink.
"Nef, I have to tell you something," he said in a soft voice one would use to get there way. "I may have invited someone to this special, lovely, exciting meeting."
Hermione was completely taken aback by his words. What in the world is wrong with him?! Dosent he know that telling someone could jepordize the mission?! Had he somehow thought that she was going to like this? She looked around and saw the suprised faces of Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lavender. Harry stood up roughly.
"Why would you EVER think that would be a good idea du Lac!" he yelled at Draco. Draco's eyes widened and he held up two hands.
"Evans, I didn't mean to start some bloody civil war, I just invited Celene!" he responded. At this Hermione sighed and placed her fingers at the bridge of her nose.
"Look Draco, we all like Celene but you can not just invite her without asking us!" as on cue the door to the room of requirements flew open and Celene Coffee stepped inside.
"Let me go! I was just_" Hermione heard a voice say. Only then did Hermione relies that Celene's wand was out and that trailing behind her was a girl. She recognized her from her classes with Riddle.
Daniella Stevens, a girl the same year as Hermione with straight brown hair and green eyes. She was a Ravenclaw and known for being EXTREMELY nosey. She wasn't spying on us...was she?
"I found her listening, her ear pressed agonist the cracked open door!" Celene yelled as Draco rushed over to help her. Lavender scoffed as Draco gave the blonde Syltherin a light kiss on the lips. He then turned around and raised an eyebrow.
"See, if I didn't invite Celene this girl would have heard everything!" He exclaimed heroicly, earning another scoff from Lavendar. But everyone really was thankfull for Celene. They already had ONE person who shouldn't know about there mission, they didn't need TWO! Then all of the sudden the brown haired girl glared at every one threw her binding spell before her eyes shifted to Hermione.
"Having fun jumping threw time?"
Hermione swore her heart stopped beating.
A/N: Sorry that this update is so late! I have just been so busy with many thing and going to extra therapy. Thank you to everyone who asked me if I am better. I truly do feel so much better and your comments really make my day. I am thinking if doing a character contest soon so please tell me what you think about that. LY!