Time Changes All Things: Now Complete

I am so glad that I had time to write this chapter. There is so much more left to write
in this story before it is finished. Thanks for staying with me and reading TCAT.

Chapter 24: Secrets

Maybe it was the smell of the bubotuber pus mixed with the smell of fluxweed. It could have been the pungent perfume Lucretia was wearing, as she was sitting in front of her. All that she really knew was that it stirred something inside of her, so fierce and strong; she wasn’t able to control it. Why was this happening now? Why did it have to happen here?

Hermione looked up into Tom’s eyes and felt his gaze sweep over her shaking form. He knew what was coming and had no power to stop it. Like a volcano erupting, Hermione’s breakfast traveled up and out of her mouth spilling onto the worktable and on today’s Potions assignment. A chorus of groans and gagging could be heard throughout the room.

Professor Slughorn sauntered slowly across the room to their table. “My child,” he said with concern, “have you taken ill?”

Tom, stepping in to help Hermione, held her hair as she threw up the remaining contents of her stomach, “You could say that,” he wanted Hermione out of the Potions classroom immediately, “She needs to be seen by the school nurse.” Tom quickly vanished away the mess and put his arm around Hermione and steered her towards the door.

Uncharacteristically Radbourne commented, “Well that was a fine way to ruin Potions class.”
Stopping suddenly, Tom whirled around glaring at Radbourne, “You not only owe Hermione an apology, but you will pay for that remark.”

Radbourne paled as he realized his mistake. It was not like him to utter his thoughts out loud. He tried hard to mutter the words, “I’m sorry,” but nothing came out.

Tom pointing his finger at Radbourne said, “I will be talking to you later,” he said crisply, “be available when I summon you.”

Abraxas stepped forward to intervene until he saw the fire dancing in Tom’s eyes. Taking a step backward, Abraxas tugged at Radbourne’s arm and motioned for him to sit down. Every Slytherin present in Potions class knew that Radbourne had crossed the line with Tom; especially because it involved Hermione.

Alphard, who had been at the receiving end of Tom’s anger before, walked over to Radbourne giving him a supportive smile and a pat on his back.

Radbourne started imagining in his mind all of the horrible things Tom would do to him for punishment for mocking Hermione. He regretted not only speaking out loud, but for even getting out of bed that morning.

Clarice grabbed his hand trying to soothe him, “Maybe he will calm down before he talks to you.”

“I doubt that. He meant what he said and I will take what I deserve.” Radbourne put his head in his hands, while the room remained strangely quiet; being grateful it wasn’t them who had stepped out of line with Tom Riddle



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Tom paced around the Hospital Wing as the nurse looked after Hermione. It was going to happen, the truth coming out about Hermione being pregnant again. Tom had hoped that this would all be revealed later, rather than sooner, but it was too late now. He glanced over to the corner bed where Hermione lay, pale and nervous.

The nurse looked over at Tom with a scowl on her face. “Mr. Riddle, I would think that you of all people would know better than to get your girlfriend pregnant again so soon after her recent miscarriage.” The jaw muscles on Tom’s face were gritted tightly as he was lectured.

Hermione timidly looked up waiting for her own lecture to come, “And you, young lady, I would think you would want to take better care of your body.”

Hermione opened her mouth to defend herself but before she said a word Tom spoke up first, “No lectures are needed here,” he said in a firm, flat voice, “Hermione is pregnant and she does need care at the moment. No amount of nitpicking is going to change the fact that she is already carrying my child and she intends to bear that child.”

The nurse stood rigid with pursed lips just gawking at Tom. Hermione sat holding her breath waiting for a blowup. After a two minute stare down the nurse excused herself and left for her office.

With his back stiff and standing proud Tom watched her as she walked away.
Slowly turning around Tom sat down on the bed next to Hermione. “Don’t let anyone convince you that this child you are carrying is a mistake.” He took Hermione’s face in his hands, “What you are doing will be the most important thing you will ever do in your life.” Leaning in, his lips caught hers and pressed vigorously expressing all of the emotion he was feeling inside. Rising quickly from the bed, his hand brushed against her womb where their child was growing and then he quietly left the Hospital Wing.

Hermione put her hand on her slightly rounded belly, “It’s okay, baby, nothing will ever harm you…not even your father.” She lay back down with a sigh, rubbing circles on her belly; as she wondered how someone as smart as herself could have ever landed into such deep trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione was resting, as the morning sickness had drained her strength. Silently Lucretia and Clarice came into the bedroom. She lifted her head up, which only made the room spin and her stomach restless.

“No, Hermione, just stay there, “instructed Lucretia, “We just came by to make sure that you are fine.”

Clarice sank down onto Hermione’s bed to give her a quick hug. “Yes, after Potions class today, which will always be one of the most memorable in Hogwarts history…”

“Stop now, it wasn’t that bad? Was it?” Hermione looked at both of her friends whom she knew would tell her the truth. By the look on their faces she realized that it had been that bad.

“Professor Slughorn ended up cancelling class after three more people got sick after you did.” Lucretia, sitting at the foot of the book looked at Hermione seriously, “What’s really going on with you, Hermione? Please tell us the truth; we are your friends.” Lucretia leaned forward to take Hermione’s hand in hers, “Whatever it is we are here to help you through it.”

As emotion and hormones took over, Hermione felt the tears on her cheeks and knew she had to tell her closest friends why she had been sick.
“Clarice, Lucretia…” Hermione observed the concern on their faces, “There is a reason why I have been sick, I am pregnant again.”

“I knew it!” Lucretia said loudly, “I told you that was the reason for her being sick.” Lucretia bounced on the small bed in excitement.”

“Have you told Tom yet?” Clarice asked, “He needs to know right away this time.”

“He is the first one I told .” Hermione reassured her friends, “We both are thrilled that we have another baby that will be born...this time.” Clarice and Lucretia both looked at each then back to Hermione, “Tom has promised to protect me and the baby. I trust him implicitly.”

Hermione sensed their hesitancy about Tom and his power to take care of her and the baby, “Please don’t worry. Everything will be just fine and this baby will be safeguarded.”

Lucretia climbed off of the bed, and walked across the room, then turned around, “Hermione, we still have several months of school left. How are you going to hide your pregnancy from others?”

Hermione, looking slightly puzzled, looked down at the slight bulge on her stomach, “Who said I was going to try and hide my pregnancy? Everyone knows that Tom and I are now engaged.”

Clarice, not wanting to hurt her friends feelings replied, “Hermione, most of the time if this happens,” she pointed at Hermione’s stomach, “propriety states that the girl leaves school for the duration of her pregnancy until the child is born.”

Hermione sat speechless staring at Clarice and Lucretia. She could not believe what she was hearing. The friends that she had counted on the most seemed to be turning their backs on her. “So you are stating that you will be embarrassed to be seen with me once I start showing?” Hermione tried hard to keep her temper from flaring, but was doing a poor job.

Rushing back to the bed Lucretia took Hermione’s hands in hers, “No, no…don’t you ever think that we won’t support you through this. We are just concerned how others will treat you.”

“I am not going to worry about what others think as long as I have all of you behind me…us.” Hermione looked earnestly at them.

“You can count on me and Abraxas,” Lucretia told her, “We will support you and will do whatever you need us to do.”

Clarice also spoke up, “You can also count on Radbourne and I to help in any way that you need.” Then she gave a sly smile, “You do know that Radbourne didn’t mean to be rude to you earlier today, right?”

Hermione smiling back laughed, “He should have known better. I thought at first that it was Alphard opening his big mouth again.” They all laughed knowing that it was hard for Alphard to keep his mouth shut.

“Can you please influence Tom not to be too harsh with Radbourne? Tom looked so angry earlier.”

“I may be able to do something,” Hermione did have something specific in mind in how to punish Radbourne. She was going to make sure that Tom dole out the punishment the way she wanted it done.

“Thank you for being so good to me,” Hermione looked from one friend to the other, “at my old school I never had any close friends that were girls.”

Lucretia raised her eyebrows questioning her, “Who were your best friends?”

“My best friends were two boys in my class,” Hermione smiled thinking about her escapades with Harry and Ron, “They would have done anything for me and I them.” The smile faded as she thought how she had been unable to help them in the end. It seemed so long ago that she saw both of her friends fall to Voldemort and his followers. Once again, she had a hard time reconciling the Tom she loved with the monster that took Harry’s life.

“Hermione, are you fine? Can we get you anything?” Lucretia again became worried looking at Hermione’s pale countenance and her sudden silence.

“No, I am fine. I just need to rest.” She gave a slight smile, “Thank you for coming to visit me.” Lying back down she rolled over to face the wall, ending the conversation.

Clarice and Lucretia’s eyes met as they quietly walked out the door. There was more to Hermione’s story than she had told. The problem was would she ever trust them enough to share it with them?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next evening found the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort back in the Chamber of Secrets. The Dark Lord had called his followers together, to warn them about the impending danger that was threatening them in the form of one Albus Dumbledore.

“As you all know,” Lord Voldemort sat at the head of a large round table, his forceful voice booming through the chamber, “Professor Dumbledore’s erratic behavior has put us on alert.” All of the Death Eaters sat silently as their leader spoke to them. “He is becoming more paranoid as the days go by. He is obsessed with catching me or one of you doing something, anything wrong. “

Voldemort rose from his seat to start circling around the table, “It is vitally important that you watch every step you take and do no wrong, in or out of class.”

Hermione, sitting near Tom’s chair snapped her fingers and Radbourne came running and Hermione pointed to her feet. Radbourne hurried away and came back with a stool and lifted up Hermione’s feet. He then hurried and sat down in his seat. The Dark Lord continued his pacing and circling of the room, not stopping at all as Radbourne performed his service for Hermione.

“As Dumbledore continues his unreasonable behavior, you must all watch his every move.” Hermione snapped her fingers again, and gave a little cough. Radbourne once again jumped up, left and came back with a glass of water for her. All eyes were now concentrated more on the game playing out between Hermione and Radbourne and less on what Lord Voldemort was cautioning them about.

Lucretia and Clarice looked at each other, “What is going on?” Lucretia mouthed to Clarice. Shrugging her shoulders slightly Clarice mouthed back,” I don’t know. Radbourne did not tell me anything. “

Lord Voldemort finished with the pacing and sat down next to Hermione. “I need patrols watching the populace of each Hogwarts house…” Once again Hermione snapped her fingers and motioned towards her stomach. Radbourne, for the third time, jumped up and left the room, entering again with a small tray of food setting it in front of Hermione.

As Hermione brought grapes up to her mouth The Dark Lord exploded next to her, “Are you finished yet?”

With her nose in the air, Hermione said in a very firm voice, “No, I am not. Did you not say that Radbourne was mine to do with as I wished for 48 hours?”

Tom’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her and then back at Radbourne. “Yes I did, but you are distracting everyone with your antics. “

Putting her hand on the Dark Lord’s arm she said in a low seductive voice, “But I was hungry and thirsty and my feet hurt. “

Trying not to roll his eyes he turned his head and stood back up, “We will be dividing up into small groups to patrol the hallways, the grounds and other areas around Hogwarts. We will be looking for suspicious activity from Dumbledore or any Gryffindors.” People tried hard not to whisper to one another as the instructions were given. “If anything is detected, you will inform me immediately.”

Abraxas stood to divide the Death Eaters into their investigative groups and Hermione looked over at the Dark Lord. She inwardly gasped as she looked at Tom’s right hand. There, on his finger was Marvolo Gaunt’s gold ring, set with a large black stone. She recognized the ring from when Dumbledore had worn it. He came into ownership of the ring after he had injured his hand destroying the Horcrux that had been hidden in the ring. The only difference now, was the stone was not cracked like it had been when Dumbledore was in possession of the ring. Hermione tried not to look anxiously at Tom and the ring, but was frantic wanting to know when he had acquired the ring. Hermione knew the story behind the ring and how Voldemort had obtained the ring originally. She had her suspicions and was planning on confronting Tom as soon as the meeting was over. Her other worry was, if events had happened, like before, then the ring the Dark Lord was wearing, had already been made into a Horcrux. He looked over at Hermione and saw her looking at his hand. Hermione quickly looked away, trying to formulate in her mind how to question Tom later about the ring.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione was quiet as she left the chamber. Tom noticed her silence and her sudden coldness. He thought she was annoyed at him about the confrontation concerning Radbourne earlier. His patience was wearing thin this evening and he wasn’t in the mood to have an argument with Hermione tonight.

They entered Tom’s bedroom while Hermione went and sat down on the chair at Tom’s desk. Tom shut the door forcefully and turned around to face his moody fiancé’.
“What is wrong, Hermione? Are you angry at me for chastising you in front of your fellow Death Eaters?” Tom leaned against the desk with his arms crossed and his eyebrows knitted together in defiance.

“It had nothing at all to do with that, “ she looked up at him, “you are keeping secrets from me and I don’t like it. “

Tom gave a crafty smile and nonchalantly replied, “Of course there are secrets I must keep and the sooner you realize that the better we will get along.”

Hermione slammed her hand against the desk and stood up to face him, “Bollocks, Tom!” Hermione was close enough to press her tiny body up against his large frame. “I told you before; if we are to be together as man and wife you will be truthful to me.”

“Why do you think I am hiding something from you?” Tom threw his hands in the air in protest.

“Where did you get that ring?” Hermione gestured to his hand. She had decided not to play games when it came to discussing where he had gotten the ring.

“I just picked it up. Why do you care where I got it?” Now Tom’s head was pounding with fury as he did not want to tell Hermione any of the details behind how he acquired the ring.

“I care because once again it is one more thing you are keeping from me.” Hermione grabbed his hand to look at the ring and could feel the power emanating from it. Tom shook her hand off and rubbed the ring with his finger. “You didn’t have that ring until we came back from the Malfoys.”

Hermione knew the story behind how Tom had obtained the ring. She also knew who he killed in order to possess the ring and turn it into a Horcrux.

“I still wonder where you went on Christmas day for nine hours,” Hermione kept pushing Tom. Now was her chance to see how much he trusted her, “Is that when you purchased your ring?”

Tom walked away for a second and whirled around quickly, “If I tell you something do you promise not to ever share this with anyone…ever,” Walking back to Hermione, he ran his fingers up and down her neck; she could feel the cold edge of the ring scraping against her tender skin. “This ring is a family heirloom. I inherited it from my very fanatical uncle. It belonged to my maternal grandfather.” He took the ring off of his finger and put it in his trunk. “I will not wear it any longer if it upsets you. My uncle could not take care of it any longer, because of his illness, so I took it into my possession.”

“Ok, thank you for telling me. “ Hermione sadly looked up at him as she reached up to caress his cheek. Then she turned and left the room.

As she walked to her room she tried not to feel betrayed. Tom had not told her the truth. She knew the ring was a Horcrux and she knew that he had acquired it the day that he had killed his father and his paternal grandparents. It made logical sense that on Christmas day he had gone to Little Hangleton and committed murder in order to make this Horcrux.

Feeling very alone, Hermione went into her bedroom. Rubbing her stomach she talked to her unborn baby, “It is just you and me, baby. I can’t trust your father and he apparently doesn’t trust me.” The tears could not be held back as she realized she would never be the most important thing in Tom’s life. She was just another piece of his puzzle in acquiring power to take over the wizarding world. What was she going to do now? No solution came her way. It was well into the wee hours of the night before sleep graciously transported her away from her problems.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Author’s notes:
OK, before anyone gets too excited about "events" happening in the wrong order, please realize this story is nowhere close to cannon, it wasn't meant to be cannon, so any of the events that my Tom Riddle does in TCAT will be different from what he did in cannon. Just sit back and enjoy the story for what it is...I am!