Scars

Secrets

Hermione's POV

How? He was dead! Harry had seen Snape hit him with the killing curse, he had seen Dumbledore fall to his death and we all mourned the death of the amazing wizard, a loyal friend, and a kind Headmaster. Yet, here he was. The man I'd seen in a coffin, who Harry had spent months crying over and who had left us in our greatest moment of need. No - he WAS dead. I must be... imagining things. With this thought in mind, I reached forward and tried to touch him. Dang! I still couldn't move!

As if 'Fake' Dumbledore could hear me, he chuckled and his eyes twinkled, "Hermione, I know this is a shock but-" I snorted - a shock! He thought I was just shocked? I was confused, I felt lied to, and my mind still couldn't understand that a living, breathing Dumbledore stood in front of me. 

Once again, he just laughed and said, "Probably more than just shocked, but I have a reason for everything I do. Now, this is going to take a bit of explaining, so just try to have an open mind. Okay?" Here he stops and looks at me, and he stares into my face for a while before he says, "I am sorry for all you have gone through Hermione. No child should have to start fighting their own battles at 11. But you did, and that is one of my biggest regrets. You, Harry and Ron, were all so young and innocent. Although, Voldemort - Tom - didn't care."

When he calmly says Voldemort's name as if he's just speaking about the weather, I shudder. Because even after all these months, I still fear that name and the pain that it was capable of bringing. Of course, Dumbledore sees my shudder and frowns, "Hermione, fear in the name only brings fear for the thing itself. But I understand your reaction, Tom did terrible things." That was an understatement. Terrible was punching a classmate when they annoyed you. Terrible was flunking all your NEWTs. Tom Riddle was not terrible, he was evil. A murderer, a psychopath, and a Dark Lord.

"Now, my tale begins on Christmas Eve, where a young woman had collapsed on the steps of an orphanage in London. She was pregnant with a child she didn't want, as the father had deserted her and the woman had lost all hope." Here Dumbledore trailed off, but I knew this story. This was the story of Tom Riddle. Why was Dumbledore telling me something I already knew? Then he carried on, "You know this story already, of course, but did you know she was not just pregnant with one child, but two?" I gasped. Holy Cricket! Tom Riddle had a sibling!

It couldn't be, how come Harry didn't know this then? Harry had flashbacks and memories from You-Know-Who all the time. Unless... Voldemort himself didn't know? I was confused.

Dumbledore sighs and speaks again, "The women's name was Merope Gaunt, her son's name was Tom Marvolo Riddle - named after Tom Riddle Senior and Merope's father -  and her second child was a girl. Called Adalinda Lavana Riddle - named after Merope's mother. But the child was severely underweight, so the orphanage matron sent Adalinda to the hospital. As they had no clue what else to do with the child." When he says this, I start to feel tears fall downs my cheeks as I think about the poor baby girl who had no chance at life. 

Dumbledore keeps speaking, "To muggles, Adalinda Levana Gaunt died on December 31, 1926, but unknown to them, a female squib who worked at the hospital took the child, helped her heal and raised her as her own - as she was unable to have children. This is the reason, neither Tom nor Adalinda ever knew that they had a twin, and while they both developed magic, Adalinda decided to forsake her magical heritage to help her squib mother." At this, I felt startled. A child who was descendent of Salazar Slytherin himself gave up their magic?! 

"When Tom was eleven and was starting his first year at Hogwarts, Adalinda was trying to control and contain her magic. When Tom opened the Chamber of Secrets in his sixth year, Adalinda was being evacuated from London due to the bombing. While Tom was traveling all over the world learning all he could about dark magic, Adalinda got married and had two children of her own - twins."

"But when Adalinda passed away at the age of 29 because of Influenza, her widowed husband then also passed away a year later from alcohol abuse, this meant her two children were sent to orphanages and their names were changed." He pauses, wipes at his eyes and he has appeared to have finished his speech, yet I still can't move or speak so I try to get his attention. I jerk my head around, but Dumbledore is staring off into space - deep in thought. 

Using all my concentration I try to form words,"H-e-e-e..." It sounds more like the hissing of a kettle. Although it does the job I was looking for, as Dumbledore's attention was now on me and he seemed to understand what I was trying to tell him. "Oh... Hermione, I am sorry to tell you this but you received severe 3rd-degree burns. The fiendfyre was deadly, and it burned everything it touched. I only apparated there in time to save you and a couple of your scrolls...everything else was burned." When Dumbledore tells me this I start to choke, bile rises in my throat and I can feel the thin layer of control I rebuilt after my last episode already shattering. 

Everything was burned, my work, my pictures...Crookshanks! Oh no, please tell me he wasn't hurt. He'd kept me company for years - first, at Hogwarts, then at home and lastly after the War where he kept me sane when I couldn't leave my apartment. Now, he too was gone. Like my house, my relationships and my family. Oh - my family! The only photo album I'd allowed myself to keep was in my flat. I'd gotten rid of the rest because after the obliviate I didn't want to hurt their chances of escaping the death eaters by keeping all my photos. The flat that was now burned to a crisp. My last link to the Muggle world was now sitting in a pile of ashes, never to be seen again.

My body becomes numb and my jaw starts to shake, and a screech-like noise starts to rise from my throat, "argh! no, no, no, noo nooo!" I raise in volume until all I can hear is a high pitched keening noise. I can feel Dumbledore try to calm me, he touches my arm and calls my name but I was too far gone. I could only hope that he left before my control once again broke. Time seems to slow - like it did back at my apartment - and I could sense that something bad was going to happen. Don't ask me how - I was no seer - but I could almost taste the danger in the air.

My skin tingled.

My hair stood on end.     :) - briar xxx

My eyes closed.

My breath quickened.

I counted in my head, 1...2...3. I waited for the disaster I knew was going to start. But it was all silent, maybe nothing was going to happ-BOOM! The explosion rocked through my body, and it reawakened the feeling of burning. Everything was on fire again, I was reliving the exact moment when the fiendfyre started. My skin. My hair. My clothes. All burnt to a crisp. But it wasn't real, or was it? I couldn't distinguish the truth from the lies, everything blurred together until I couldn't tell which one was the reality. 

I needed something to anchor me, to hold me down to reality. But, I was all alone in my mind. Maybe the darkness had found me again. I clenched my fists and squeezed my eyes shut - if only there was someone here who cared. I wish someone - anyone - cared. Although, I knew that no one would hear my wish. That was until I felt someone grasp my hand, and whisper, "Hang in there Mione." Somehow they managed to pull me out of the abyss. 

I open my eyes and for a second all I see is white, then I notice the messy black hair, the skew circle-rimmed glasses, and the emerald green eyes. Harry! My lips pull up into a smile before I'm pulled into his arms. I sigh and relax, I missed this! This feeling of belonging and love. I trusted Harry - I knew he would tell me what was happening. But, when he didn't say anything for a couple of minutes - he just sat there staring at me - I thought that maybe I'd been wrong. Maybe we had changed. Maybe he changed. I got stuck on this train of thought and actually started to believe it was true, until he said, "Merlin's beard Hermione, what happened to your face?!"

Everything was going to be okay.

A/N: So, some of you may not have noticed but I've changed this story from a HP x Deadpool crossover to only a HP fanfic. This is because I thought it would be easier for me to write, sorry if this disappoints any of you! Hope you like this chapter. More twists are coming!!