Breaking Hermione

New Beginnings

Thank you so much to all the readers for your support! It means so much to me. Sry for taking so long to update, I was busy being a depressed millenial 😩

I hope you enjoy lol 😂

-SnowDiamante

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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."