Popular Monster | Tomione

Chapter 06: Ready For It?

Knew he was a killer
First time that I saw him
Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted
But if he's a ghost then I can be a phantom
Holdin' him for ransom
~ Taylor Swift ~

~Malfoy Manor, 13th July 1943, Friday~

Hermione had been drifting in and out of sleep. Her body seemed to have decided that it didn't want to do its job anymore, but her mind was still sharp and wide awake.

She had never been a girl who put a lot of effort into her body. Unlike Lavender or the other girls in her dorm back home, she didn't count her calories or watch her figure. Actually, she had had a lot of baby fat on her curves and thighs, but with every day she was ignored by those she called her best friends, she had lost more pounds than she wanted to. There wasn't anything about her body she wanted to change. So what if her stomach wasn't that flat, or she couldn't do the splits? It doesn't change her value at all, as she saw her value in her mind and her friendships.

And that's why she was so hurt, seeing her first crush doing absolutely unspeakable things to one of her bullies, her only female friend fallen in love head over toe, and her brother losing himself while trying to kill a maniac.

If this was what depression felt like, she was hit hard. Hermione wanted to make a grimace, but she couldn't control her facial features. As fate seemed to hate her, she had traveled into the past and managed to get herself stuck with the to-be Dark Lord and with her magic stripped by someone she had initially trusted.

Hell, she wondered, why on earth Dumbledore would take these drastic consequences? She didn't even know that this could be a consequence at all. He never seemed to be someone who could possibly use Dark Magic. In fact, he hated it so much he had destroyed Grindelwald!

Another thought clouded her mind and she really wanted to bang her head into the nearest wall. How could she be this stupid to introduce herself with her real name? She was a bad liar, a really bad one, but she should have been smart enough to at least use a cover name.

Ron wouldn't have done that. Ron knew more about how to live than she did and never lost his concentration when in a heated situation. She felt like groaning again. Ron gave her so much headache.

But, what if this was meant to be? a little voice inside her asked.

It was quite strange as to why she was even allowed to be the possession of such a time turner. She, a mere thirteen-year-old! Even if Dumbledore loved Gryffindor and let them pass with the most ridiculous things they've done, this absurd level of trust was insane. And she didn't even have to sign something. She just walked up to Professor McGonagall and got the precious thing handed to her. And it wasn't logical at all that the Professor of Transfigurations couldn't see it when a thirteen-year-old, even a talented one, had transfigured a bit of parchment into something that looked like a time turner. That would quite insult her intelligence.

The more she thought, the more she had the feeling that in the future, or rather the time she belonged to, existed because she was destined to travel back into the past.

Even if she wasn't able to move due to exhaustion, she would now be paralyzed by fear. Does that mean she always has had the chance to prevent the death of Harry's parents? And does that mean that she has to know that she had a chance to fix it, to fix the future, but has to let Voldemort do whatever he would have done to not alter the future? Or even help him? If she did change the future, what future would she return to? How could she ever look into his eyes again, knowing well that she didn't, couldn't prevent their deaths?

Hermione's breath quickened and she felt how people were moving around her, speaking in loud voices. She wanted them to shut up, to leave her alone. Someone gripped her jaw softly and something slid down her throat. She wanted to cough it up, but again, she couldn't move.