Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me. Just borrowed. Will be returned. Snape is welcome to stay, though.

My beta readers, Maggie and Melusin, deserve much thanks and the highest praise, a lot of chocolate, flowers and relaxing music. All remaining errors are my fault.

Chapter 6

As soon as you left, I packed my things and Apparated back to Hogwarts. I debated with myself if I should take another look at you in my Arachne-the-Spider form but decided against it. The longer I stayed around, the harder it would be to leave. You would just have to accept that the spider had run away, or died, or whatever spiders do when they migrate.

Back in the Room of Requirement, I checked the star charts, set the dials on the watch to November 30th 1999, the day of our initial confrontation with Voldemort, and jumped. The jump forwards to the future was just as exhausting and nauseating as the jump backwards had been. Slightly light-headed, I swayed when I felt solid ground under my feet again.

The calendar told me that I had arrived at the set date. A few turns on the Time-Turner brought me to the desired hour, which was several hours before the confrontation would take place. I thought that it should be possible to destroy the Horcrux and check that everything else was going according to plan before I moved forward in time a few weeks to shortly after I left Minerva. There was no way that I would let you suffer or let Harry be possessed again. I hoped that I could manage all this without meeting myself. I still had the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map.

I stuffed everything into my bag, threw the Invisibility Cloak over me, and headed off to the trophy room. From what I remembered, my other self would be at Spinner's End, discussing the plan for Voldemort's trap with you and the boys. Spinner's End had been our headquarters; you had offered it to Harry after Wormtail had been sent to assist, or keep an eye on, Draco Malfoy. The house had been put under a Fidelius Charm with Minerva as our Secret Keeper, and only she, you, the boys, and I knew about it. We had been hiding right under Voldemort's nose.

Relieved that I didn't need to watch out for my other self just yet, I approached the trophy room and opened the door. A woman was standing there, looking at the shelves. She had her back to me but spun around when she heard the door being opened. The woman was myself.

Damn!I thought, Now I'll surely lose my mind.

What was I doing here? I didn't have time to ponder since my other self asked, "Who's there? Show yourself," and immediately aimed hexes in my general direction. I pulled the cloak off and used the brief moment of surprise and shock to stun my other self. I had to do it; there was no guarantee that my other self wouldn't have killed me otherwise – with Polyjuice Potion being such a popular strategy among our enemies.

Looking down, I saw that she was holding something golden and shiny in her hands. It was Tom Riddle's Award for Special Services to the School. So I had found out; we had found out about Dorcas Meadowes' death. This had to be a different timeline; it wasn't the world I had left. Was this a consequence of my time-travel? I decided not to delve into that thought too deeply but to get the trophy out of my other self's hands instead. However, while I was trying to do that, I touched my other self and saw with horror how my hand just disappeared and was absorbed. I felt how my thoughts and memories swirled around wildly in my head and how my vision blurred. I was about to be sucked in by my other self – the self that belonged in this time. I could only hope that I wouldn't lose all the memories of Arachne, my time-travelling alter ego. One of my last coherent thoughts as Hermione-the-time-traveller was, "And then I'll have been stunned and will arrive too late wherever it is I need to arrive..." Oh, the irony! Was history repeating itself?

With one last effort of my time-traveller-being, I raised my wand and whispered "Finite Incantatem", and then I lost consciousness.

I woke up with a start.

Someone had stunned me, and I felt disorientated. I was lying on the ground, angry and confused, and there was no one there besides me. We had found out about a seventh Horcrux from a captured Death Eater, and you and Dumbledore's portrait had made the connection with that shiny, golden item you both had seen in the Pensieve. After learning about this, I had finally made the connection with Voldemort's award – the award that was still firmly clutched in my hands. – No, wait, I had found out about it when I had travelled back in time. And it was I who had stunned me; I had stunned myself. A glance at my watch showed me that I had only been unconscious for a moment. I blinked and tried to clear my thoughts.

So we had both found out about the Horcrux. I had access to Arachne-Hermione's memories just as I could recall what had happened in the here and now with a little probing – and those memories were slightly different from what Arachne remembered. Both Hermiones were Animagi who transformed into spiders. Our past seemed to be the same, too: we knew the same people. Dumbledore was dead; Dorcas Meadowes was dead; the Potters were dead; Cedric Diggory and Sirius Black were dead... and I sighed with relief since that meant that I hadn't caused any major changes.

Hermione and Arachne would learn to deal with the repercussions of the smaller changes. I was not ready to dwell on the memories with you too deeply, though. What if you had become someone completely different, were married, had children? I didn't think I could function with that thought right now, so I pushed it firmly from my mind; Arachne and I had both learned Occlumency from you, after all. Without Occlumency, Arachne-as-Hermione could never have come close to you without you finding out who she was... and there I was, thinking about you again. This had to stop.

I took the award, threw the cloak over myself, and ran off. But I didn't run towards the Headmistress' office as in Arachne's past... or was that Arachne's future? I ran to the kitchens instead, waved an excuse to the baffled house-elves and ran straight to the largest fireplace in the room. I uttered a password that opened a small door on the side that led to a labyrinth of narrow corridors. The house-elves use these corridors to get around easily when they don't want to Apparate. Running down several levels, I finally found myself at another door. A password I hadn't known I knew opened this door as well, leading into a labyrinth of yet more, and larger, corridors. I seemed to know where I was going, and after opening yet another door with a password, a room full of glistening treasure lay before me. I had come to Godric Gryffindor's vault.

In the middle of the room, Harry, Ron and Dobby (Dobby?) were standing, turning over cups, jewels and chain mail. You stood in a corner scowling and glaring at the three figures. Your eyes moved to the door when I entered, and you raised your wand.

"It's me. Hermione," I panted and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak.

"What took you so long?" you snarled, but Harry and Ron looked relieved when they saw me.

"You won't believe me when I tell you," I muttered. "And there's no time for it, anyway. Here's the Horcrux."

You stalked over to me on your long legs, and the sight of you almost took my breath away. I registered a slight impulse of wonder from Hermione-who-was-not-in-the-past, but that impulse soon disappeared. Apparently, the feelings Arachne had for you were welcomed by both of us.

"Give it to me," you growled and took the award out of my hands. I just stared at you, and you frowned, harshly asking, "What?"

"Don't mind me," I muttered and went over to Dobby and the boys, expecting you to destroy the Horcrux right away. Surprised, I saw that Ron was dressed in his dress robes, and a closer look at myself revealed that I was wearing dress robes, too.

Of course! I remembered now. Today was the formal inauguration of Minerva McGonagall as new Headmistress after more than two years of acting as Interim Head. It was also the day when Voldemort should be lured into our trap... He should be thinking that the wizarding world was focussed on the Headmistress, which would give him easy access and control over everyone who counted in the wizarding world in Britain since they would all be at the Ministry today. Everybody except Harry Potter, who was supposedly hiding at Hogwarts surrounded by protective devices.

What no one knew, except Minerva and ourselves, was that we had Apparated back to Hogwarts while everyone else was still celebrating at the Ministry. We would set the trap and then hope that some Order members and Aurors could be spared from defending the Ministry to come and help us against invading Death Eaters.

While I was still lost in thought, confused and at the same time fascinated by my altered memories, you had conjured a protective bubble around the golden shield. Harry, Ron, Dobby and I ducked behind a pile of treasure, and you cast the spell that would destroy the Horcrux.

You chanted the incantation, and with a loud bang, the Horcrux broke, showing a lightning-shaped gap. A strong wind rushed over us. After having destroyed all the other Horcruxes, we knew that this was Voldemort's soul fragment, now free, unbound and without purpose. You smirked and wiped the dust off of your robes. Then you touched the Portkey that would take you to your meeting place with Voldemort, from where you would lead him to Harry.

The boys, Dobby and I were still standing in the vault feeling triumphant when a deep and earth-shattering, 'thump, thump...' interrupted us. Dobby Apparated out into the corridor to take a look but was back in a heartbeat and shouted, "Dragon!"

"Let's get out of here, quick!" Harry yelled. "Damn, we didn't find the sword!"

"Dobby has it," Dobby squeaked and held on to Harry's shoulder while we ran towards the other end of the vault where a small, round door led to another corridor. Ron surprised me by casting a Flame Freezing Charm over all four of us while we were running. We had just reached the door when the dragon entered the vault from the other side and blew a heavy dose of searing flames our way. The heat didn't affect us, but the force behind the flames was as strong as an explosion, and we were thrown through the round door, stumbling and falling with part of the treasure from the vault flying and falling with us.

As fast as we could, we closed and locked the door behind us, hoping that the dragon wouldn't follow, and ran down the corridor. Crackling sounds from behind warned us that part of the room must have been on fire. Louder sounds, almost like explosions, were indicators of the foul mood of the dragon, who apparently was still blowing his flames around. The memory of what was going on here came suddenly and unbidden to me. We had found out about the vault of Gryffindor on the Horcrux hunt and learnt that Godric's vault was protected by Gryffindor's dragon – just like Slytherin's chamber was protected by the basilisk. I was wondering what kind of monsters Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw had left behind; creatures of air and earth we hadn't encountered yet, but maybe we would be spared and those two would be left to another generation. At least now we knew the truth about the school motto: 'Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon'.

Clouds of smoke were billowing up the corridor and making breathing difficult. Despite Ron's Flame Freezing Charm, the heat became almost unbearable. Sweat was pouring down my body and was sticking my hair to my head. Luckily, we soon reached the gate that would bring us to Hogwarts' graveyard where Harry wanted to confront Voldemort. Ron and I hid under the Invisibility Cloak and went out first.

The graveyard was shaped like an ancient arena, probably influenced by Roman architecture. Since nobody was there yet, we gave the cloak back to Harry, who went back into the tunnel, casting another flame-repellent charm on himself and a Bubble-Head Charm because the tunnel was still full of smoke. Ron and I walked to the tombstones that stood in a circle in front of the arena's walls. Transfiguring ourselves into tombstones was fairly easy. All we had to do now was wait.

It wasn't long before we heard voices.

"Do you have the Polyjuice Potion, Severus?"

"Yes, Master, everything is ready. I shall send the owl, and then I only need to drink the potion."

"Proceed, then. This is the moment of my greatest victory. Tonight, I shall triumph over Harry Potter. Tonight, the wizarding world will put away with Muggles, with Muggle-loving fools and all that other nonsense. From now on, only sorcery in its purest form shall be practiced. We shall do away with the childish attempts at bumbling with a power that is far too great for the average wizard or witch; a power that only the most advanced and worthy sorcerers can grasp fully. Proceed, Severus, and call Harry Potter to us."

You took a small owl out of your pocket (you seemed to have kept up the habit of carrying your pets around) and whispered something to it. You threw it in the air, and it headed off towards the castle.

While you waited, you took something else out of your pockets – a phial containing a potion – and downed it quickly. You grimaced and writhed, boils erupted from your skin, and finally you changed completely. When the transformation stopped, you looked like a carbon copy of Remus Lupin. You fell to your knees, and Voldemort grabbed your hair, pulling your head back and pushing his wand to your throat.

A few moments later, Harry came running through the gate we had just left, a note clutched in his hands. He looked frantically around, and then he saw the two figures in the middle of the graveyard.

"Remus!" he yelled, his voice heavy with despair.

"If you want him to live, you will have to fight me, little Harry. There is no one around to help you this time. Expelliarmus!"

Harry stumbled backwards and watched open-mouthed as his wand flew through the air and was caught deftly by you/Lupin, who stood up, broke Harry's wand, and stepped behind the Dark Lord.

"You see, little Harry, there is no escaping me this time around. There won't be a Priori Incantatem. You don't have a wand. No one will Apparate here at the last minute, you know; we are on Hogwarts' ground, and, as everyone knows, you can't Apparate in Hogwarts. Your little bouts of love, of foolish sentimentality won't help you this time, Harry. I'm prepared. There's no one here to help you; there is just you and I. Severus, here, will stay out of it. Go, Severus, don't stand in our way."

You bowed, still looking like Remus Lupin, sneered at Harry, who looked at you with an expression full of hatred and disgust, and then moved to the circle of tombstones where you stopped between the stones that were Ron and I.

Harry wrung his hands and stammered. "I wouldn't be so certain of victory. If someone kills you, you'll be dead. I will be avenged, you know."

Voldemort threw his head back and laughed his high-pitched laugh. "I cannot be killed; I am eternal, little Harry. Lord Voldemort has defeated death. Prepare yourself; your moment has come at last. Rejoice, you will be able to join your parents soon."

"I don't think so," Harry said with a smirk. "We have destroyed all your Horcruxes, you know."

That was the signal, and Ron and I transfigured back into human form. A quick glance at you to synchronise our actions, and all three of us raised our wands simultaneously and cried, "Expelliarmus!"

Voldemort swayed and watched open-mouthed as his wand shot out of his fingers despite his desperate attempts to hold on to it and resist the charm. But our joint magic was stronger than his, and the wand flew in a high arc towards us. You caught it and broke it; you now had the two wands that contained a feather from Fawkes, and both were unusable. The three of us moved away from each other, our own wands raised.

Voldemort took a moment to get his wits back, but then he turned to Harry, raised his hands and hissed, "That won't do you any good. You will have to try to kill me. The prophecy says so. 'Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.' Did you forget that, little Harry? Did you not realise that I know the full prophecy now? If I can't kill you with my wand, I will kill you with my bare hands."

Red flashes left Voldemort's fingertips, but Harry dodged the curse deftly.

"You are so wrong on so many levels, Tom," he said.

"DON'T CALL ME TOM!" Voldemort cried and cast another wandless curse in Harry's direction, looking completely deranged now.

"You know, your interpretation of the prophecy is pathetic," Harry continued calmly, but alert towards curses and always ready to jump. His Quidditch reflexes did come in handy once again.

"First of all, it took you ages before you managed to hear the whole thing, didn't it? My, my, isn't that a bit weak for one who wants to be the most powerful wizard around?" Harry shook his head and tsked.

I thought that he could give you a run for sarcasm when taunting someone. So, he had learned something from you, after all. If the situation hadn't been so serious, I would have been amused.

"Now, listen. I will help you," Harry continued. "You know that the prophecy states that I have a power the Dark Lord knows not. What do you think that power is?"

"Oh, don't try to act so pompous, little Harry. Your so-called love won't help you. Will you love me to death?" Voldemort laughed cruelly and shot yet another wandless curse towards Harry.

"Wrong again," Harry growled. "Who said that I have to give love? The love I have in me is protecting me, defending me. But it's the love I generate; it's the love of my friends for me, even the love of a former enemy, that will bring you down."

Voldemort spun and cast a hex at you, which you dodged elegantly. "I should have known that you'd remain a traitor, Severus. You've been too smooth, too impenetrable... but you made a mistake, a very serious mistake, and you will pay dearly for it. Don't think you will get away with this, traitor. I shall give you over to Bellatrix. My sweet Bella will know exactly what to do with you."

You remained silent, a slight sneer curling your lips, but nothing else betrayed what you were thinking. Voldemort spun around again, stealthily trying to hex Harry, but he was too slow once again.

"You know, the love of these three isn't all the love there is. For our loved ones stay with us, and the dead witches and wizards who were buried in this graveyard are around and are waiting for you to join them, Tom. Imagine, soon you will see Salazar Slytherin himself..."

"Shut up, foolish boy. You don't know what you're talking about! It's All Hallow's Eve; the veil between the worlds is thin tonight..." Voldemort glanced around fearfully, staring hard at the mist that had formed in the circle and was concealing the tombstones, almost making them look like people.

"Come, Sirius!" Harry called. "Mum, Dad, Professor Dumbledore... Why don't you show Tom that death is nothing to fear? You need to learn to let go, Tom. For the fearless mind, death is merely the door to the next great adventure."

Voldemort's red eyes widened in horror when he saw how four dim shapes emerged from the mist, standing at Harry's side, smiling.

"Go away," Voldemort shrieked. "I'm not going with you. I still have my treasures, hidden and protected."

"You don't," you said quietly, moving steadily towards Harry. Ron and I followed you until we all had moved opposite Voldemort, in a semicircle, at Harry's side. "Potter destroyed the diary; that was number one. The next was the Peverell ring. Dumbledore destroyed it; that was number two." While you spoke, Harry ticked the items off on his fingers.

"Slytherin's locket, found in the Hog's Head while you were under the illusion that it was in a sea cave was number three. Number four was Helga Hufflepuff's cup. That was found in your vault at Gringotts. You know, the Goblins weren't too happy with the way you treated them last time, so they negotiated a very good deal for themselves and decided that they would help us in return." You sneered at Voldemort and kept moving. Ron and I mimicked you. We knew that we had to be alert when facing Voldemort, even though he didn't have a wand.

"Number five was Rowena Ravenclaw's wand, which you so stupidly entrusted to my care as a reward for killing Albus Dumbledore. How he would have laughed if he had known. You are aware that he was half-dead on the Astronomy Tower already, aren't you? He ordered me to kill him. I had promised to obey every order he gave me... that's how I killed him. I helped him end his suffering, but we don't want to split hairs. That would confuse you even more, wouldn't it?" You sneered at your former master and continued, "Number six was the snake Nagini. You used her as a vessel after your attempt at creating a Horcrux with the death of Harry Potter failed. That was exactly eighteen years ago to this day, at Godric's Hollow. But Nagini was saved; I ordered a Dementor to suck your soul fragment out, and now Hagrid is taking good care of her. I daresay that she neither misses, nor pines for you.

"But that isn't all. The one that gave us most trouble was Horcrux number seven. You see, we guessed that you wanted to have seven soul fragments because of the power of the number seven. We thought six Horcruxes would have to be created. For the longest time, we didn't suspect that you had yet another one, that you didn't care how many times your soul had been split, that you wanted to have seven Horcruxes, seven powerful, magical objects to tie you to this world. But eventually we learned about it, and our ever-inquisitive Miss Granger here figured out what it was. I have to tell you that you are no match for this young woman."

"To be mocked by silly little girls and would-be spies with delusions of grandeur... Oh, how Lord Voldemort shall laugh when he steps on your dead bodies. Make no mistake, you all will die. Harry Potter, here, cannot kill me. And the rest of you aren't destined to do so, having wands or not."

He laughed his creepy laugh again and turned towards Harry.

"So what will you do now, Harry? Won't you come closer so you can kill me with your bare hands? What are you looking at up there? No one will come; no one can Apparate here, and the old fool's phoenix can't help you this time."

"Wrong again." Harry smiled gently and looked up to the ledge over the gate. "Dobby!" he called quietly.

With a soft pop, Dobby Apparated, holding Godric Gryffindor's sword in his hands.

"Dobby is here for Harry Potter," the elf said.

"And this is yet another magical being that the likes of you simply dismiss as unworthy, that your Death Eaters and pureblood minions treat like vermin; yet another powerful being who has bound himself to me through love."

Voldemort stared fearfully at Dobby, his hands outstretched as if to ward off whatever was coming his way. Dobby threw Gryffindor's sword to Harry, hilt first, and Harry caught it like he caught the snitch in almost every Quidditch game he had ever been in. Then Dobby joined our semi-circle, raising a hand while, as one, we raised our wands.

"You see, Tom, we don't believe in prophecies. We believe in taking our fate into our own hands. And none of my friends here want me to become a murderer, so we will kill you together. There is no other way to stop you. He raised Gryffindor's sword like a wand. For the love of wizardkind ..."

"Avada Kedavra!"

Yelled with five different voices, a blinding flash of green light shot towards Voldemort, followed by a deafening, roaring wind. We couldn't see who produced which flash; it was one giant Killing Curse.

Voldemort stared, unbelieving, and then he crumbled to the floor with a dumbfounded expression on his face. As soon as he lay still, Harry pushed Gryffindor's sword through Voldemort's heart to free the fragmented and tormented soul once and for all and to re-unite it with its lost parts. For this is the secret magic of Gryffindor's sword: it can heal a tormented and torn soul and make it whole again. With a thunderous, 'crack', something left the body. Voldemort was finally dead, unable to come back again.

The five of us stood gobsmacked. Then we all ran towards Harry; Dobby, Ron and I threw ourselves at him and hugged him fiercely. You were standing back, and when we came out of the hug, you shook hands with each of us. Something like a smile was hovering around your lips, and as you stepped back again, you gave me an odd look.

I couldn't stand to be far away from you now. For me, our night of passionate lovemaking had just been yesterday, and I felt irresistibly drawn to you. I was well aware that it had been eighteen years for you, and maybe you didn't even remember me.

"That was a beautifully executed plan, Severus," I said, beaming. "We have you to thank for this victory. Wizardkind will finally recognise you as the hero you are." I smiled up at you.

You looked at me oddly again, swallowed and said, "Hermione... I have to know this... Is your mother's name Helena? Are you my daughter?"

The smile on my lips faded. "No, her name is Jane. What makes you think that her name is Helena?"

"Because you look like her, like Helena, just like I remember her – the flushed face, the hair sticking to your head, the wisps of hair curling around your face... Are... are you certain that you weren't adopted? I've seen you grow up – from the time you were a little girl. I should have seen that likeness earlier." You looked at me almost pleadingly.

I swallowed hard several times, staring at you, looking for a way to avoid what I knew would come but found none. "I am Helena," I finally whispered hoarsely. "I time-travelled."

Your eyes clouded over immediately. Colour rose in your face, and your expression changed from hope and wonder to anger and pain. "What kind of a sick prank is this? Who put you up to this?" You glared at me and then at Harry, who was happily hitting Ron's back.

"No, no, don't look at me like that. Please let me explain. I had to do it. I had no other choice. Please, don't judge me before you've heard my story..."

"I hope you have a good explanation," you snarled, "because a day that should have been a triumph for all of us has been thoroughly ruined for me now. Get out of my sight. Go and celebrate. I will hold you to your promise and demand an explanation when the excitement here is over." You glared at me one last time, turned and strode away.

"There were a few days of confusion; the Death Eaters seemed to have lost the will to fight with the loss of their master and tried to flee or blame the Imperius Curse for their actions. Some escaped, many were caught, and when the reality of Voldemort's final defeat started to sink in, celebrations started in earnest. I didn't see much of you during the celebrations. I couldn't enjoy them. I had been afraid that you would be hurt by my actions, and it had happened like I had feared. You were angry and hurt, and I was desperate to set things straight. The last thing I want is to be perceived as a daughter by you. My feelings for you are anything but daughterly... and I'm so glad that you are here now."