Time Changes All Things: Now Complete

This chapter, sets up many things, that will affect the future for Hermione and Tom.

So lucky to have a beta as awesome as Nicole!!
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TCAT Chapter 29: The Dark Lord’s Move

“Tom, it is too late at night. I don’t think now is the time to go and search Dumbledore’s room.” Abraxas lay on his bed, tired and grumpy. The last thing that he wanted to do was go on a suicide mission.

Annoyed, Tom made a growling sound, “We are not going to search his rooms with him still there,” Tom looked at Abraxas like he was a dimwit. “A diversion will take him out of the room, and then we will go in and search.” Tom shook his head in frustration, “Did you think I would be foolish enough to look through his things with him snoring in the same room?”

Abraxas bowed his head shamefully, “No, my Lord, I do not think that you are foolish…not at all.”

Tom stood there glaring at Abraxas waiting for him to look up. Tom reached out and lifted Abraxas’s chin, “Did you think I would put one of my most trusted followers in grave danger?” His touch was firm, but not harsh. “You need to have more faith in me, Malfoy, if you are to be a true servant of mine.”

Abraxas dropped to his knees and grabbed Voldemort’s hand pressing a kiss to his right hand. “I am your faithful servant, my Lord.” He stayed on bended knees, head bowed, holding the hand of his Master.

“Stand…we need to summon the men of the Inner Circle, now.” Withdrawing his wand from his sleeve, the Dark Lord pressed the wand on the Dark Mark branded on Abraxas Malfoy’s arm. Cringing in pain, Abraxas gritted his teeth, not moving a muscle.

Swiftly the room was filled with eight more followers. They all dropped to their knees, heads bowed, dressed in black hooded robes. Lord Voldemort walked to the middle of the circle. ”Arise, my most trusted of servants.” He motioned with his arms and all of the men stood silently watching the Dark Lord. “You have been summoned this night for a most important mission.” Not a sound was heard, nor a muscle moved as the Dark Lord spoke.

“It is time to show our enemy that we will not cower.” Voldemort’s hands fisted as he threw them up high in the air. All those present could feel the electric energy bouncing off of the Dark Lord. ”We will confront Dumbledore, the great blood traitor.”

He then locked eyes with each and every Death Eater in the room. He wanted to make sure that every one of them knew the seriousness of this mission. “Most of all, this doddering fool has threatened Hermione and my child growing inside of her.” There were shocked looks on the faces of those who were not in the know concerning the pregnancy. “This is what we will be doing tonight…”

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Hermione awoke with a start. She could feel the heat thrumming from her Eternal Flame tattoo. Looking around the room she saw Lucretia sleeping peacefully. She wondered when Tom had left the room. All that she remembered was falling asleep with Tom’s arms securely around her. At times like this Hermione became very worried about where Tom was and what he was doing at the moment. Being the significant other of someone like Lord Voldemort, was going to mean many restless nights full of worry.

Hermione began to pace from one end of her bedroom and back to the door. Gods, what was he doing? The more she thought about Tom being in danger, the sicker she became. This was the father of her child she was worried about. What should she do? It would be easy enough to sneak out of her room with Lucretia sound asleep. The debate waged in her mind; she could seek out Tom and suffer his wrath. The other option would be to stay here, sick with worry and going crazy, waiting for him to return.

The explanation came to her mind quickly, it was Dumbledore. This had to be where Tom had wandered off to. She realized that day, when she had caught Tom and Dumbledore fighting in the Transfiguration classroom that it was just the beginning of many fights to occur in the future.

Hermione held her hand tightly staring down at the Eternal Flame tattoo. If she were in trouble he would come running to her aide. Why shouldn’t she do the same for him?

Then the small fluttering she had been feeling for a week turned into a soft kick. Her hands quickly went to her stomach. “Baby, yes, you are there. What should I do little one?” The tiny little life inside of her gave another small kick. With tears in her eyes she dropped down to her knees and cried softly. As the tears streamed down her face, she sobbed quietly. The inner turmoil sat heavy on her soul. Where was her strength and courage that she had always been famous for? Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she stood and walked over to the desk to retrieve her wand. Sitting on the bed, Hermione sat and twirled the wand between her fingers. She felt the power that the wand had always given to her. In reality, Tom had taught her the power was inside waiting to explode out of her. She glanced at the doorway and then down at her wand again. Looking at the clock it was 12:45 a.m. She needed to make a move soon; it was time for a decision.

Rubbing her belly, the child kicked once again, “Your father should be here feeling this.” The agony she felt could be seen on her face a mile away, “I just don’t want to do the wrong thing.” Hermione kept looking at her wand, while feeling her child kick inside of her.

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Groups of Death Eaters were stationed around the floor where Dumbledore’s rooms were. A diversion was being set into place. All of the torches were doused and the entire floor went dark. They knew that this was the sign that the operation was starting. A major explosion sounded a quarter mile from Dumbledore’s rooms. It shook him awake rolling him out of his bed. Grabbing his wand, he feared the school was under attack. Things had been heating up in the Wizarding World with Grindlewald attacking Muggleborns and purebloods alike. He would not put it past him to attack innocents at Hogwarts.

Running out of his chambers, the noxious fumes filled his lungs. He started coughing, gasping for air. Dumbledore fell into the wall noticing the hallway was completely dark. Hearing running at the far end of the hallway, he ran towards the sounds of retreating footsteps. As soon as he turned the corner he was struck in the chest with a stinging hex that threw him harshly against the wall. Pain radiated throughout his body as his body slumped down along the wall. Dumbledore fell to the floor as another curse was cast upon him. He could not move as his body was paralyzed.

The Death Eaters surrounded him, mocking him. “Look at the great Dumbledore now; he can’t move a muscle.” None of the voices were recognizable. “Where is your great power now?” Several wands shot off more curses at Dumbledore and they laughed as his body convulsed.

Albus tried hard to move, though things were not making much sense now. As one curse after the other was cast on his body, his world began to fade into darkness. How could this have happened to him?

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Lord Voldemort and Abraxas Malfoy quietly entered Dumbledore’s quarters. With no wards in place the search would be much easier this time. They knew the tie pin would not be in the dresser drawers. They had already searched them thoroughly the last time they had been in Dumbledore’s rooms. The Dark Lord knew it would be foolish to just Accio the tie pin into his hands, prior to the wards being down, which is why he had not tried it before. “Accio Gryffindor tie pin!” Lord Voldemort stretched out his hand to the universe and yelled out the command. Sailing through the air, like a snitch in a Quidditch match, came the Gryffindor tie pin. Abraxas stood there dumbstruck as he saw the tie pin sail from Dumbledore’s mattress into the Dark Lord’s hand.

"Bloody hell. The great wizard Dumbledore left without warding his rooms, making it that much easier for us to get the tie pin" Abraxas stared at him with his mouth hanging open. “I guess that our work is done tonight,” Lord Voldemort said matter of factly. He tucked the tie pin into his white shirt pocket. “Shall we go see what kind of mischief my Death Eaters have gotten into with the great and powerful Dumbledore? I am sure that they have been enjoying themselves this night.”

They left Dumbledore’s chambers heading down the dark hallway. They could not see Dumbledore as they came to the circle of Death Eaters. They were still laughing and mocking their captive. “See the old fool? He is still knocked out cold from about thirty curses. You know the Cruciatus curse works very well, even against him.” The circle of men chuckled again. Another Death Eater spoke up, “We caught him unaware. He fell and was immobilized instantly. Bugger it all, he really didn’t even stand a chance.” The humorous snickering continued.

“Men, I am pleased with your work this night. “ Lord Voldemort actually smiled at his Death Eaters. A loud groan came from Dumbledore’s prone figure. “It is time to return to our own quarters. I feel like I am quite fatigued, how about all of you?” He gestured to them and received more smiles from his devoted followers.

“Lord Voldemort, what should we do with the Professor?” One Death Eater nudged at Dumbledore’s still limp body with the tip of his boot.

“Leave him be, “ Lord Voldemort said with a snigger, “He will wake…eventually.” The Dark Lord also gave a solid kick to Dumbledore’s ribs, feeling great satisfaction as he abused the meddlesome fool. They all had one more good laugh, as they sauntered off down the hallway, feeling quite pleased with themselves.

None of them had realized that indeed Professor Dumbledore was starting to wake up. He felt the paralysis leaving his body. Who had done this to him? Who was this Lord Voldemort? How had he gotten into Hogwarts? Why had he and his men attacked him? Did Grindlewald send them to assault him in his own domain?

In the dark void that he had been coming out of, there had been one voice that had sounded very familiar to him. He wished that he could place it, but nothing came to his mind. He would find out who had done this to him and he would get his revenge on them. No one did this to Albus Dumbledore and lived to talk about it. Never again would he be caught unaware and be assaulted by cowards. They had not been brave enough to fight in the light, nor fight one-on-one.

As he pulled himself to an upright position, he groaned as every muscle in his body ached. He sunk back down, lying on the floor. He would need more rest to garner enough strength to return to his chambers. In the meantime, he would lay there and think about the mystery surrounding the familiar voice. This was one puzzle that he would unravel.

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Feeling very triumphant, Lord Voldemort led his joyous men back to the Slytherin dungeons. As the Dark Lord headed the entourage of smug Slytherins back to their quarters, they did not notice the woman unobtrusively waiting in the shadows.

From out of the darkness a female voice called out, “Tom, where were you?” A small body ran full force into the Dark Lord, throwing her arms around him tightly. “Oh Gods, I was so worried about you.” Abraxas thought The Dark Lord would be embarrassed to be assaulted by Hermione with her feminine worries. Taking no chances to upset her, Tom hugged her back with the same intensity that she was embracing him.

“Malfoy, please lead the Death Eaters the rest of the way back to the dungeons. I need to spend some time with Hermione. ” Abraxas saw the affection, written on Tom’s face, for his woman. A year ago he never would have believed that this harsh man would ever develop feelings for anyone; especially this woman.

“Come along, mates, the Dark Lord needs his privacy.” Abraxas gave a nod and a grin and he met Tom’s eyes. Tom mouthed a “thank you” to him as he turned to go. Then Abraxas quickly and quietly led the Inner Circle down the corridor.

Tom looked down at Hermione, “You know, I should be quite angry with you.” Hermione could tell from the tone of his voice that he really wasn’t annoyed at her actions. In fact, there was somewhat of a teasing tone coming from Tom. “Just know, I am not angry at you at all; not in the least.”

Hermione shyly peaked up at him, “I was so worried about you my love. My Eternal Flame Tattoo was burning.” Hermione spoke so frantically that Tom had to suppress a smile at her overt concern. “The tattoo was hot that it woke me up. That is when I realized you were gone and I soon figured out where you probably had gone.”

She stopped and took a nice, long breath. Tom studied her face as she related her experience of missing him. It still boggled his mind that she had come into his life. She had fulfilled the prophecy that he had read about for many years. Now she was carrying his child, that when born, would also fulfill another part of that same prophecy.

“I just knew that you were in trouble and that I didn’t want to leave you alone. I knew if it were me in trouble you would come after me.” His hands swept up into her tousled curls, still disheveled from her earlier sleep. “Oh, Tom, was it Dumbledore you were after tonight?”

Tom pulled her closer to him and hugged her tightly. “You needn’t concern yourself over this, Hermione. As you can see I am perfectly fine.” Tom suddenly jumped back in surprise, “What was that I felt?”

“Tom,“ Hermione giggled with delight, “That is our baby. Can you feel him?” She moved his hand directly over the spot where the baby had kicked. “Here, leave your hand here for a moment.” A few seconds went by, when soon, the child within gave a swift kick to Tom’s hand.

“Brill, that was really our child? That was one of the most amazing things I have ever felt.” Tom could not recall when he had been this excited about something.

Hermione was delighted that he was as thrilled about the baby’s kicking as she had been. She saw the joy in Tom’s eyes at the movement of their small child not even born.

“I need to get you and our son, back to your room to rest.” Tom leaned down to caress her lips with his. Hermione leaned in to the kiss wrapping her arms around Tom’s neck. It felt good to feel him close to her after all of the worry this night had brought. For now, he was safe, and that is all that mattered.

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Thanks to all of my many readers and reviewers. You make it so much fun to write this for you!