"You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me."

-Albus Dumbledore

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I tossed and turned in my bed.

Go and get it back from him! My mind hissed.

Oh hell no. The last thing I wanted to do on my first night was to go and get myself cursed.

The Time Turner is your only way back to the future! You have to get it back!

I couldn't help but feel worse as the seconds turned into minutes. Soon it would be breakfast, and I would be starting the day on such a bad foot.

I lurched over and grabbed my wand. The sheer panic I was feeling made a burst of sparks errupt from the end that nearly set the bed on fire.

I had tried a simple accio charm but that hadn't worked at all. Which could only mean...

Tom Riddle must have performed some sort of advanced dark magic over my Time-Turner, some type of curse that would make it virtually impossible to locate... Was that even possible? I had read a few books on Time Turner lore but there was nothing said in them about curses, or even how to reverse them.

Perhaps I hadn't read enough books.

Fear twisted my insides, I swung myself out of bed, sweat dripping down my forehead. I had to find it. Tonight. In the time I was wasting now, Tom Riddle could've gone and thrown it away for all I knew.

Gingerly, I got out of bed and tiptoed past Jade and Shalini and the other two unknown sleepers before finally reaching the door. At this point, my heart was pounding in my throat.

Just get it over and done with My mind snapped. Or do you want to be having anxiety attacks for the rest of the morning?

I pushed the door open, there was a faint source of light coming from the common room at the bottom of the staircase. Someone was awake, and I already knew who exactly it was but that didn't stop me from creeping up to the bannister to take a closer look. Through the dim lighting I couldn't see any sign of him. I stepped closer, wondering all the while why I just didn't turn around and go back to the dorm, where my cosy bed was waiting...

Get a grip My mind hissed. Do you want the Time Turner back or not?

Before I could even think what to do next I heard it.

Movement. A light rustle of parchment and the closing of a heavy book.

And that's when I saw him.

Tom Riddle sat, or rather lounged lazily on one of the large comfortable arm chairs, his long legs propped carelessly on the minature table before him. He had the appearance of one who was studying long into the night but at the same time he appeared to be waiting for something. Or someone. Swallowing my nerves, I cleared my throat.

Tom looked up, his face was completely expressionless.

"Having trouble sleeping?" He asked innocently. It wasn't fair. Here I was looking like I had spent 3 rough years in the Forbidden Forest and Tom Riddle was dressed as perfectly as ever down to his black hair which was perfectly styled minus a single lock of hair.

"You could say that." I stammered. Geez. Were sadistic people like him ever able to not play with their food before eating it? What type of question was that? Did he really think I was that thick?

He sat, wordlessly observing me, those dark eyes shining with twisted amusement as they raked me up and down. I look like trash I get it I thought. As most humans look in the early hours of the morning do. Big surprise.

"Perhaps If you had gone to sleep sooner you wouldn't be having this problem." He said smoothly. "Or perhaps something else has brought you out to the common room in these early hours of the morning. Like this." He held up one pale fist, from which he produced my Time-Turner.

Why the hell would he just reveal it like that? My mouth fell open in surprise.

"Y-yes." I said, confused. I watched it as it glinted gold, swinging from Tom's hand like a metronome.

I couldn't for the life of me understand why he would just brandish it in front of me after going to all the effort to rip it off my neck. I touched the spot where the Time Turner once hung, wondering why I didn't even feel it when he had torn it off my neck.

Smiling, he considered me, his head slightly tilted to one side.

"You know I wondered, when I first saw you waiting outside the Common Room entrance I thought to myself why does this girl have a Time-Turner? Who gave it to you? Was it the Ministry?" He asked. His voice was no louder than the water lapping at the windows around us, but there was no mistaking the coldness of it.

I shivered.

"Look." I snapped. "I don't have time to explain. Just give it back."

I took a deep breath and walked down the remaining stairs toward him. If circumstances were different, I could've admired the view, a beautifully decorated room draped lavishly in the Slytherin House colours of green and silver - but the horrific sight of a gloating Tom Riddle drowned everything else out of my mind.

He watched me, his dark eyes narrowed slightly as I approached. He had the blackest eyes I had ever seen in a person, other than Shalini. The hand that was clenched around the Time Turner whitened as he tightened his grip.

"I have heard of rare instances where the Ministry of Magic would offer Time Turners to highly gifted students, so they could take more classes." He considered the Time Turner in his hand thoughtfully.

"I myself have been approached on many occasions by none other than that moron Horace Slughorn .... surely you would want to advance yourself further than the rest Tom... you are extremely gifted. Imagine how far you could go if you extended your knowledge beyond that which you are currently being taught in your set classes....!"

To my surprise, he laughed. It was a horribly cold sort of sound, somehow more disturbing than the shriek of a baby mandrake. It seemed to linger in the air adding a further coldness to the already frigid climate.

"Yeah, hilarious." I said unenthusiatically. "Now can you just give it back now?"

"He was obviously offering me a way to extend my time at this school." Tom continued as if I hadn't spoken, "But what his restricted mind couldn't quite grasp was that I had already delved into most branches of magic by my third year, working in the quiet hours of the night perfecting my spell work and mastering my talent, poring through endless amounts of books... "

I tapped my foot impatiently. What was it with villianous people and rattling on about their life?

".... so imagine how amusing I found it when Slughorn approached me as if I hadn't already given a single thought to the matter of furthering myself..."

He gestured to the miniture table before him and sure enough, in front of him lay a few very large and foreboding leather bound books and a notebook teeming with words. Wow. So he was really out here studying this whole time. Despite my hatred of him I couldn't help but admire his dedication, although I was extremely wary of whatever sort of dark magic he was filling his head with.

I took a breath. I was really getting desperate here.

"Look, that Time Turner was entrusted to me." I said slowly. "So give it back. You really shouldn't be going around and taking things that don't belong to you. I could report you to your Head of House, you know."

I had no patience left. It was cold, and I was getting pissed off beyond belief. Who the hell did Tom think he was, stealing people's belongings on their first day anyway?

Suddenly, Tom got to his feet. He was literally so tall, I felt like a midget as he approached me. Within my cloak, I had one hand in a vice around my wand. If he came any closer I would hex him-

"You can have it back." He said quietly. With one hand, he reached out, holding the Time Turner like a peace offering.

What? Little alarm bells started ringing in my head. Something wasn't right here.

"Are you kidding ?" I blurted out. "You're just going to give it back right after you stole-"

"Yes." Tom stepped closer, and actually put the Time Turner in my hand. "I was curious regarding what it was, and now that I have found out I have no further use for it. So run along. Before I change my mind and decide I do want to keep it."

In the dim green light of the common room, I saw that he actually appeared sincere.

Was Voldemort even capable of sincerity?

There was a second where we both just stared at each other. I, in wide eyed confusion, and Tom in a sort of tolerant amusement.

"I really think you should go now." His cold voice broke the silence.

"Right." I muttered, still eying him warily. He surpressed a smirk, seeming to be pleased about something. At the time I just brushed it off, thinking he was merely revelling in having scared me to death. I was so stupid. If I had realised then exactly why he was smiling I would've have taken the Time Turner back from him at all.

Instead I turned on my heel and bolted up the stairs as if he were hot on my heels, my knees were trembling so hard I nearly fell over several times as I scrambled back up the hall toward the temporary saftety of the dorm.

I opened the door, closing it firmly behind me my knees gave out and I slid down onto the floor.

"Hermione, is that you?" Said Jade groggily. "What are you doing down there?"

"Oh, uh, never you mind. Go back to sleep."

Silently, I clambered to my hands and knees and made it back into bed, with shaking hands I placed the Time Turner securely around my neck. And that's when I felt it. A wave of coldness that suddenly came over me. It was the weirdest and most distinctive feeling, like one of the Hogwarts ghosts had possessed me.

Feeling overwhelmed with exhaustion, I closed my eyes.

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Instantly the nightmare began. I was standing on the Astronomy Tower with Albus Dumbledore, who stood leaning against the railings in a long midnight blue cloak.

"Hermione," He says to me, surveying me with those piercing light blue eyes. "I will only truly have left this school when none here is loyal to me."

Then, from out of the blue, Severus Snape strides over in a flourish of his long black cloak and points his wand at Dumbledore who makes no effort to defend himself.

"Avada kedavra."

Like a fallen angel, Dumbledore fell backwards off the railing, pushed violently by the sheer power of Snape's killing curse. Automatically, without any conscious thought, I race over, my hands slamming against the railing.

"No!" I scream. As Dumbledore falls, he extends his blackened hand up to me, his white hair billowing around him. I see something gold glinting in that very hand. The Time Turner. He releases it, and it falls with him.

I step back, blinking tears from my eyes.

"No...no...no..."

"Hermione."

A hand touches my shoulder, It's Tom Riddle. Somehow he looks more terrifying in this dream than he does in real life.

"It's funny isn't it." He says softly. "The effects of a simple curse."