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I looked around. I was just outside Headmaster Dippets office at the top of the spiral staircase, through the heavy stone walls I could hear the light murmur of students below as they walked to their common rooms. It was past dinner. My heart was pounding, I had this irrational fear that Riddle was just going to jump out from around a corner or something and yell "avada kedavra!" but of course, that was completely ridiculous.

"Alright. This is it. Breathe, Hermione."

I kept taking deep breaths but a paralysing fear had gripped me, making it had to think. Where in Hogwarts was Tom Riddle? What was he doing at this particular moment in his life? Well the little voice in my head snapped he would have just opened the Chamber of Secrets, wouldn't he?

This was his 6th year. And now this was my 6th year too.

I took a deep breath and knocked twice at the door, which to my surprise opened instantly. "Come in!" A loud voice chortled.

Tentatively i stepped inside, the room was toasty, a merry fire crackling in the very corner the present day Dumbledore kept his Pensieve. There were lots of different portraits on the walls, some I didn't know, others that I did. Phineas Nigellus for example. Merlin. Was the present day Phineas Nigellus still in my bag? I reached down and felt around, sure enough, within the depths of my bag the portrait clanked against my books, the Phineas inside still helplessly blindfolded and probably sulking over in Grimmauld Place.

"Who have we here? A new Slytherin student I see! Excellent!" Horace Slughorn boomed. Slughorn? I nearly jumped out of my skin. Standing mere feet away from me, looking more lively than ever, was the younger version of my old Potions teacher extremely red face and grinning up at me.

"Suppose all of that codswallop Trelawney was saying about a new student of former days arriving in my House was correct!"

"Whatever does that mean, "of former days?" Another voice said. Slughorn, who was helping himself to a goblet of mead, raised it in my direction with a grin.

"I haven't the faintest idea, Headmaster. But see for yourself! A new Slytherin student!"

The tiny old form of Professor Dippet stood from behind his desk, and peered me before shooting a disapproving look at Slughorn. "This still doesn't change anything Horace, I refuse be hiring anyone whose visions on the whole are foggier than the eyes of the giant squid."

"What is your name, my dear?"

"Hermione Granger, sir."

I wrung my hands anxiously. Every word I would speak in the past could alter the present, for better or for worse, but there was no harm in mentioning my name. If everything went to plan, it wouldn't even matter if Voldemort knew my entire name, or the complete history of my life.

"A new Slytherin student?" Dippet repeated, leaning back on the exact same armchair in the modern day Dumbledore's office. His face was set in an expression of mild bewilderment. "I wasn't informed of your place at this school."

"Im a distant relative of Dumbledore." I improvised wildly. "He told my parents I would flourish at your school and so they sent me straight here. I've yet to enroll. He mentioned that he wanted me to be taught in a school that had a respectable Headmaster, so he thought this was the best choice."

My somewhat troll like attempt of flattery seemed to hit it's mark. "The transfiguration teacher Dumbledore said that? Come, take a seat. It is always a pleasure to see a new face at my school. Make yourself comfortable." A large cosy chair in front of his desk drew back invitingly.

"Thank you."

Slughorn beamed at me, but I couldn't deny their was a sharp look in his eyes, like he was assessing me. This was going to be fun. Not.

"Care for a butterbeer?" He offered. "I myself am quite fond of the drink, Certainly it pays to be in close acquaintance with Madam Rosmerta... Always sending me over beverages according to my choosing... charmed woman. Simply charmed..."

With a flick of his wand two goblets filled themselves to the brim of golden butterbeer. As the light from the fire crossed the bottle the butterbeer sparkled gold, and I had a sudden fleeting image of Harry's tiny vial of Felix Felicis.

What I would give to drink a goblet of liquid luck right now.

"Thanks professor..."

Together, Headmaster Dippet and I discussed my timetable, the school rules and uniform.

"But where on earth is the rest of your school supplies?"

I revealed my bag with the Undetectable Extension Charm to a very impressed audience. "That is advanced magic, Miss Granger." Dippet remarked.

"A relative of Albus Dumbledore?" Slughorn exclaimed. "And you weren't placed in Gryffindor?"

My head was starting to throb with a pounding headache. "No, I wasn't. Funny, isn't it." I said shortly.

Now came the part I was most dreading - Headmaster Dippet was looking particularly disgruntled after I had told him I was placed in Slytherin upon an early visit to the school, and I had my suspicions that he was going to want to Sort me again.

"Surely it won't hurt to place the hat on your head once more... As much as I nurture a deep respect for all our Houses here at Hogwarts I can't help but think you would flourish magnificently if you were in Ravenclaw. Performing such advanced magic at your age.... Simply rare. A sharp mind such as yours in a House such as Slytherin could be something of a danger.... Well go on, Miss Granger, try it on!"

The sorting hat materialised in front of me, the wide curve of a mouth curving in a grimace of distaste, no doubt due to the fact it had heard me lying my face off about trying it on earlier. This was going to be more difficult than I expected.

Dippet took hold of the hat by its pointed end and dropped it on my head, the hat gave a sort of spasm uprooting several hairs.

My eyes watered.

I realise you are an accomplished Legilimens I thought at it hastily, so you already know i lied back there

The sorting hat bristled , At least you're not insulting my intelligence. So you are from the future? You have come back to save the fallen modern day world?

Yes I have I thought back. I'm on current day Headmaster Dumbledore's orders. I need to be put in Slytherin House.

"I have never seen the Hat deliberate for that long before. But still, I'd bet my hundred galleon flask of acromantula venom that lady Rowena Ravenclaw herself would have duelled Salazar Slytherin for a student such as you." Slughorn said, more to himself than to anyone else. He refilled our goblets with more butterbeer, now looking distinctly more red in the face and staggering slightly. I guess it wasn't just butterbeer he was drinking then...

The Headmaster and Slughorn had begun a conversation about who would show me around, and surprise surprise, they reached the conclusion that the man for the job would be our young and budding Lord Of Darkness Tom Riddle. It was weird how the mentioning of his name seemed to cause my insides to twist uncomfortably, I gues it really was only mere hours ago that Voldemort had completely sabotaged the present day wizarding world and destroyed hundreds of lives.

My thoughts drifted, I could hear the Sorting Hat rattling on, speaking to me in my mind. The Sorting Hat...

And at once an image swam to the front of my mind of Voldemort setting fire to the sorting hat on Neville's head, but the memory was barely hours old, and I knew, as the Hat gave a bloodcurdling scream of terror, that it was too late- the memory had been seen.

"SLYTHERIN- THE GIRL IS TO BE PUT IN SLYTHERIN!" The hat screamed.

Several of the portraits shrieked. Professor Dippet looked uneasy. "The Sorting Hat seems to be acting quite oddly with you, Miss Granger. It's most unusual."

"It doesn't seem odd to me at all, Headmaster. I dare say the Hat was just gobsmacked after realising what a sharp minded student our Miss Granger is!" Slughorn boomed.

I took the hat off my head, giving it a small pat of thanks. I couldn't exactly just blurt out a lengthy "thank-you-for-allowing-me-to-attempt-to-save-the-wizarding-world" speech.

"Maybe it's had a long day of sifting through lot's of different people's minds." I got to my feet. I had only just arrived in the past, the idea of being stuck in the Headmaster's office debating on whether the Sorting Hat had made the right decision was making my headache hurt even more, as if I was back playing Quidditch at The Burrow and one of Ron's brother's had just hit me with a makeshift bludger. Luckily Slughorn choose at this moment to knock over his goblet of butterbeer all over the Headmaster's desk.

"I think we should call it a night, Professor Slughorn." Dippet said. With one wave of his wand the desktop was cleared. "Be sure to introduce Mr Riddle to Granger. It would be incredibly disheartening to see her fall into the wrong group."

I could've laughed. Tom Riddle was literally the most evil person in the entire Slytherin House. Forcing myself to look calm, I followed Professor Slughorn down the spiral staircase, thinking hard about how exactly I would get into the worst of groups, Tom Riddle's very own clique.

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