"Hermione. Can you hear me?"

I blinked, trying to focus my vision. I could see the Hospital Wing in striking detail, bold white and bright enough my eyes began watering. Someone had dressed my left arm, I had a bandage which covered my hand all the way to my upper arm. And standing to the right of me beside my bed was none other than professor Dumbledore in a long magenta cloak, his light blue eyes appearing troubled behind his crooked half moon spectacles.

"You do realise that you are extremely fortunate to be alive right now. Between you and I, if it wasn't for my exemplary magical skill I daresay more than just your own life would've been lost here."

"W-what? Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled grimly, and from within his cloak drew out something on a long golden chain. My Time Turner.

"Remember this?"

"Oh fuck." The events of the past suddenly sprang up in my mind, and my heart starting pounding. "Where's Tom?" I asked, sitting up and accidentally leaning on my arm. I fell back against the mattress with a scream of pain.

"Don't move. Your arm has been badly splinched. I would suggest you do not overexert yourself while it heals. And as for Mr Riddle, he has had his memory modified." Dumbledore stood, walking over to the tiny window behind me to peer out over the School.

"I have removed from his recollections all understanding about your mission from the future. I am afraid this was all I could do without causing irreparable brain damage to him."

"It's a little too late for that, Professor. Tom already had significant brain damage, so it's fine." I waved my only functioning hand through the air dismissively.

"Honestly Professor, how the hell did you get away with that?" I said, struck dumb with awe. Who cared about Tom. The fact Dumbledore had now removed these memories from Tom meant I now had a permanent upper hand. I felt a renewed sense of hope flare within me. Now I wouldn't have to deal with Tom's suspicions, nor have to put up with his attempts to stop me trying to sabotage him and his future plans to become Lord Voldemort. After all, he couldn't stop what he wasn't aware of, right?

"Riddle was unconscious, and binded head to toe with rope." Dumbledore said. "So naturally, it was very easy to alter his mind. And possible, because I did it outside of School grounds. None of the other staff know about this. Not even Madam Pomfrey. So do not mention any of the events which have just transpired to him, or to anyone else. This is between us. As for what he understands about what has happened to you, I believe he has been told you have fallen down a flight of moving stairs."

I frowned. Falling down a moving staircase did seem like something that I would do.

"What about Claudia?" I asked.

"Claudia has no awareness of anything. I have been into the past to rectify the fabrics of time which you had disturbed. It is now as if nothing had ever happened. The past would have been as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened."

"I'm sorry." I apologised. "I wanted to fix things. I wanted to stop Tom from killing all of those birds."

"What birds?" Dumbledore asked delicately, conjuring a seat for himself out of thin air. "I do not know of any such birds which you speak of." He sat down, his light blue eyes twinkling, suggesting otherwise.

"I have restored the other Hermione back to full health, and back to her own time. Fortunately, Tom had only injured her with a simple spell which I knew how to remedy. There may have been very significant damage to time if I had not been the one to find you three outside the School gates. You must give me your word you will never attempt something so foolish again."

"You have my word." I said, now both extremely relieved and somewhat jumpy. So if Tom didn't know about my mission, I was afraid he'd go back to tormenting me just for his own pleasure. But then again, did I really care this time?

Not in the slightest.

I thought of how I used the Cruciatus Curse against him. And how good it felt. And the best part was Tom wasn't even aware that it had been used against him because of Dumbledore smoothing out the dents I had made in time.

"That is another thing I would like to bring to your attention. Never use an Unforgivable Curse against a student."

My jaw dropped. I was well aware Dumbledore was a master hand at Legilimency but I still felt somewhat insulted.

"So you read my mind?" I said flatly.

"I've had to. Please understand, Hermione. Time travel has affected you as well. You've been in the Hospital Wing for 5 days under mine and Poppy's constant surveillance and care. You didn't just collapse due to blood loss. Your mind was breaking apart. I think the additional strain of using the Cruciatus Curse may have done that. I had to be sure I wasn't missing anything. Time Travel and the use of Unforgivable Curses leave a unsurpassable impact on the witch or wizard who uses them, not just the victim... Now I know it seems rather hypocritical given what I've recently done to now ask you to please refrain from using this abhorrent kind of Dark Magic on Riddle. I imagine your actions were nothing more than stone cold vengeance, but nonetheless..."

"It was more than that."

I said at once. "I wanted to make him feel an inkling of what I've been feeling."

Dumbledore turned away from the window to face me.

"You wanted to inflict pain on Tom Riddle soley because he had hurt you?"

"No. I mean, well... Yes. I wanted to make him suffer."

"So you have decided to act as coldheartedly as Tom Riddle, because of what he has done to you."

I placed my non injured hand to my face and withdrew it to see it was wet.

Tom had seriously hurt me. And now I felt evil, just because I wanted him to suffer in return. It almost didn't seem fair.

"Here." Dumbledore conjured a box of tissues and placed it on the bed beside me. "I do not for a single solitary moment dismiss the scale of horror Tom has brought into your life. Nor the impact of being sent on a mission to alter his course of destruction upon all of wizardingkind. But it is imperative that you remember amidst all of this undulating turmoil to not lose yourself."

Dumbledore stood, and I could see his blue eyes were also shining with tears.

"It truly is a great ask for someone so young to have to carry such an enormous burden. I have been into the darker corners of your mind, Hermione. I had no choice if I was to help you. I have seen things inside your head that would break the strongest of people. And I can assure you, from what I have witnessed, you have the upper hand against him. The ideas you have to sabotage Tom Riddle are foolproof. I suggest you trust your instincts, and most importantly, trust your heart. It is unquestionably the most important of all."

I reached for another tissue. Dumbledore had told me I was on the right track. And that he had seen my pain. I felt better. I had been so misunderstood for so long, I felt invisible. It felt so good to hear that someone else understood.

"Forgive me if I appear sententious." Dumbledore said quietly. "I am merely speaking from the heart."

"It's fine..." I said awkwardly. "Uh, Professor? What else did you see in my mind?" I said suddenly.

Dumbledore paused for a moment. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but he appeared to look sad for a moment.

"I saw myself in the future, giving what seemed to be a rather emotionally charged speech to the School about how important it is to stand united during dark times."

With a jolt I realised he was talking about the year he had died.

"Was there anything else of that time you saw? I mean... did you see anything... bad happen?" I watched his face closely.

"I wouldn't be sure to call it bad." Dumbledore said lightly. "Perhaps it could be considered sad for others asides myself. But for now it is nothing that concerns either one of us. It never pays to dwell on things which haven't transpired, Hermione. At least, things which haven't anything to do with my time as of yet."

Dumbledore beamed at me, and I had to reach for a handful of tissues now absolutely beside myself. He gave me every reason to believe that he had seen his own death. His own white casket at the forefront of his funeral reception.

It was a show of Dumbledore's character that he didn't show a single sign of fear. If anything, he just stood beside me, unflinching and accepting.

"I will be in tomorrow to see you." He told me. "Tom Riddle is waiting outside. Depending on whether or not you would like to see him, of course."

"I think I would like to see him."

I said after a slight pause.

"As you wish. I will only be around the corner. Do not hesitant to call out to either myself or Madam Pomfrey should anything escalate beyond what you can endure at this time."

He left the room. I grabbed the box of tissues and placed them beneath the bed with some effort. It still felt uncomfortable that Tom would be aware I was crying. I quickly wiped the rest of the tears off my face.

Tom walked into the room not two minutes after, his eyes finding mine. I looked at him closely, finding nothing out of the ordinary about him at all. He still looked like the same hot psychopath that I'd always known him to be. There was a moment of silence where we both just stared at each other.

"Why were you crying?" He demanded.

For fuck sake.

"Hello to you too." I said coldly. Tom ignored me entirely.

"Did our dear old pal Dumbledore say something out of line? Because that wouldn't be a first." He walked in, taking a seat on the chair Dumbledore had just vacated.

"Don't insult Dumbledore around me." I said sharply.

"You can be assured I can and will insult Albus Dumbledore at any given opportunity." Tom said quietly. "The fool has done more than enough to earn it. Personally, I don't understand what you find so remarkable about him. He is highly overrated, from what I've seen his magical ability is mediocre at best."

"Bullshit. And of course you wouldn't understand." I snapped. "You don't know the first thing about either of us."

Tom reached for my arm and I flinched.

He smiled slightly to himself and then pressed a hand very lightly to the gauze.

I released a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"I know about the both of you." He told me. "Especially you. I've psycoanalysed your behavior, your words... You've been a rather interesting puzzle to decipher. It took some time, but I got there in the end."

"Take your hand off my arm." I snapped.

"And why should I do that?" Tom smiled down at me.

"Because if you don't I'll call Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey in here and they'll kick you out."

"Will they?" Tom smirked as if this was nothing more than a joke to him.

"Yes." I said confidently.

"I don't think they will." Tom leant closer to me, sliding his hand very slowly down my arm.

"Does that hurt?" He asked sadistically.

"What do you think?"

It hurt a hell of a lot more than I was letting on. I gritted my teeth.

Tom slid his hand further down my arm, his fingers grasping hold of my hand.

"What sort of idiot manages to fall down a moving staircase..." He said more to himself than me.

"Let go of my hand, Tom."

"That's not a very nice thing to say. I'm only showing you that I love you." Tom said in a rather convincing voice.

"You don't love me." I frowned.

"I do." Tom said quietly. "You'd be surprised at how much so."

I looked at him skeptically. But he was staring at our hands locked together and not at me.

"I admit, I feel really bad about what I've done to you. Sometimes at night I think of it and I can't get to sleep."

"Oh, don't make me laugh Tom." I snapped. "I know you're lying. Besides, your words are meaningless to me anyway. I know you've hooked up with Claudia. Now cut the bullshit and fuck off."

"I used Claudia in a somewhat weak attempt to make you jealous."

"Did you? Your mistake." I said savagely.

I wish Tom would just fuck off. He was lying through his teeth, the deceptive snake.

"I know I have done all in my power to make you believe that I hate you. But the truth is, I have never met anyone quite like you. And in the last few days when it was uncertain that you would survive, I reconsidered everything between us."

I felt extremely uncomfortable. Part of me wished Tom would just curse me and walk out the door. That would be a lot less complicated than this. Tom was lying. But the worst part was that he looked so damn serious.

"No other woman has understood me like you do. It's highly unusual that anyone be able to keep up with the sort of games I play. I think I'm falling for you more so than I'd like to admit."

Tom let go of my hand, and stood. Very gently he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"Get some rest." He told me. He bent, placing a kiss to my forehead. "I'll be back in the morning. Hopefully that will give you enough time to think about what I've just said."