Don't Repeat History

Chapter 11 ~ 9^th of September, 1942

On This Day in History:

Your Horoscope: Virgo
September 9, 1996: There is a danger during these days of falling back into dead issues of the past, of attempting to give rebirth to something whose time is gone. This rebirth will prove to be a stillbirth, as reality insists on being forever new. There may be slight emotional excitement, sudden surprises, and changes of plan.

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She drummed her fingers on the cold, dark desk. Her test lay in front of her, void of the normal scratches of ink that would have covered it if she had even tried to do her test. Professor Dumbledore and his teaching assistant, McGonagall were immersed deeply in correcting the tests and essays from previous classes. Every now and then a soft "tut-tutting" would come from McGonagall as she corrected simple errors done by the essay's author. Dumbledore's red plumed quill scratched away at the parchment in front of him as he corrected it.

Hermione shifted in her seat, uncomfortable, for she was remembering what had transpired but a week ago. She had made out with Tom, and now she didn't want to talk to him at all. He had of course been one of the most difficult persons to rid of, it seemed he knew every corner and crevice of the castle; she couldn't escape him, but she ran away every time he approached her seeking conversation.

She had come to the conclusion that she had acted hastily with him and her reaction to the stress that had built up in her to that point was closely followed by her loss of control in her third year when her hand had slapped some sense into Draco Malfoy's pale cheeks.

Hermione wanted to believe that Tom too felt like the kissing was hasty - them kissing so passionately - but she doubted herself and her reasoning every time he kept trying to talk to her, trying to catch her alone; he chased her around the school, for what reason to be sure she didn't know, but her guess was that he didn't mind at all that the kissing had taken place so soon into the year, let alone making out and removing articles of clothing that had come so soon after.

She had had to glance around corners to avoid him, finding him behind her instead. It was entirely unnerving the way he moved through the halls. Anna and Charlotte had given her the following idea: his movements were like that of a dark snake, slithering silently through his domain, tasting with a flick of his agile tongue the tremendous flavors that were contained in the very air it breathed. Its sense of taste alone could lead it to its prey, and Hermione had a pretty good idea who the prey was.

His ability to hone down on her whereabouts was one thing that frightened her most. She didn't enjoy being followed, being watched every second she was in his presence, knowingly or otherwise.

Once, she had walked out of the library and felt a prickling sensation along her neck. Hermione had turned her head right, had turned it left, but saw nothing. Suddenly, a hand came to rest on her shoulder. The grip wasn't tight, it wasn't allowed enough time to tighten. She ran away from that hand as soon as she felt its fingers started to grasp on her body.

Again, she shuddered merely from the thought of remembering that hand that had come out of nowhere, surprising her to no end. It was like the feeling of a Dementor come to suck your soul from you.

She recalled her embarrassment by her lapse in judgment to kiss Tom; her jealousy towards that other girl was another matter. Hermione, now thinking on it thought herself an idiot for thinking that Tom was just another guy trying to hit on her, Tom was Tom, future acronym user named Voldemort.

He wasn't even close to being her average Joe Shmo that would feel obligated to a person they were courting. Voldemort would never feel allegiance to anyone except himself. She had to force herself to remember that important trivia. If she didn't, her life could be at stake for misjudging a venomous snake, one capable of retracting its fangs as quickly as it could take a bite at her.

The feelings she felt around him were just a reaction to her time-traveling she again tried to reason. There was no way that she could feel that way about the soon-to-be Voldemort.

Hermione was broken from her thoughts when she felt a finger poking into her side, just enough to get her attention.

Tom looked at her funnily. He had noticed that she didn't even want to attempt the test sprawled out on the desk in front of her. Instead, she glared at him coldly after he poked her.

Professor Dumbledore was making rounds of the class, Tom had wanted to warn Hermione of her upcoming trouble with Dumbledore. Hermione had other ideas however.

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"Now tell me, Miss Valasen, why did you purposely fail my exam? I don't know much about you, but please don't make me out to be a fool...I wasn't born yesterday and know that you very well could be the cleverest of all witches. Do me a favor my dear and enlightenment my old mind." Dumbledore gave her a quick appraising look; she knew when she was caught.

She bit her lower lip and took a deep breath.

"About the Americans and their Time-Turner.... I didn't know how else I could get to talk to you, he won't leave me alone for a moment's rest, let alone letting me talk to a professor...for all I know he could be listening in on the other side of the door, but I put privacy spells up as soon as he left the room.

"I know you want me to explain fully, but for some reason in my heart, and I know this sounds stupid, pardon me Professor, but I can't leave yet. Not yet. There is something out there, something I have to do. By no means am I insinuating that I don't want to go back home to my time, but every time I try convincing myself otherwise - I get a headache; every time I start to become convinced of staying her, my head aches go away.

"It's only been about a week into the school year, but these headaches started the second day of school. The day you told me I had an option to go back to my time. Now, please try and understand, I want to go home, I want to go back to being normal, but ever since I'd come to Hogwarts five years ago there was always something that I had to do to get rid of Vol--, sorry I almost forgot I'm not allowed to tell you about the future but I just wanted you to understand how I feel about this."

At that moment she stopped talking, bit her lip again nervously, and her eyes welled up with tears. She blinked them back quickly before they fell onto her lap.

Dumbledore had yet to respond to her emotional tirade. It was true, he didn't quite understand her, her personality and nor did he understand why she felt obligated to stay until she did whatever duty was given to her. He did manage to decipher from her words that she was very responsible, so responsible that since her first year she had been trying and helping to rid the world of evil Vol--he still didn't know how that name ended, then again he wasn't supposed to know.

He walked over to her side of his desk and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He gave a little squeeze and let her know he understood. Understood to a point, and he was damned if he didn't find out the rest... eventually.

"You may leave now if you'd like. By the way, care for a lemon drop?"

She left his office smiling with a lemon drop laced with pepper-up potion inside her mouth.

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Her next class was Divination, Tom wasn't in that class, it demanded the inner eye, which he didn't have according to the current teacher, Professor Morgan. According to Professor Morgan, Victoria Valasen had tremendous potential to develop her inner eye.

As she seated herself in her comfortable plush cushion in the back of the room, closest to the window, just as Harry had in her time, she breathed in the fresh air of the classroom. Evidently, Professor Morgan didn't believe in those dratted incense sticks and candles that spouted atrocious amounts of floral essence. No, he was quite different from the traditional diviner.

Hermione shared this class with Charlotte and Anna, which she was slightly glad for. She still watched out for their eating habits, always making sure they stuck to their deal and whenever they got the urge to purge, Hermione was always there telling them how beautiful they looked, that they didn't need to control what they ate just as long as it was healthy.

The two were sitting in front of Hermione, on their own cushiony seats. They were discussing something in great detail, trying and failing to not gain Hermione's attention. She managed to catch wisps of their conversation, enough to know that it had to do with her.

"What are you two talking about? Care to share?" She crossed her arms, achieving a look of authority, her eyebrow was lifted in an attempt to look like one you shouldn't cross.

Anna chose to answer. "We um, we were just talking about how well you and Tom get along -ow!" Charlotte nudged her sharply and interrupted, "To tell you the truth, we were wondering just how far you and Tom are together. We hear rumors but we don't believe it, not because we don't want to, but because we know what kind of person he is, and they way he's acting isn't at all what we expected."

Hermione only narrowed her eyes in thought before answering.

"We've only kissed. That's all."

Sighs of breath were released from the two girls in front of her and she wondered what this was all about really.

"So, what does the school think we have done? And how does Tom usually act?"

The two girls looked at each other, raised their eyebrows and answered.

"Tom would never spend so much of his time trying to gain a girl's attention, he would just go up to her and demand something of them. Everyone thinks you guys have had sex, and have sex all the time. Is it true Tori?" They almost wanted to believe that their new friend was the object of affection to the most popular boy in their house.

Hermione laughed, and that worried the two girls. Hermione rarely laughed. She was one of the most serious people they knew.

"People think we're having sex?! HA, I wouldn't ever have sex with that idiot. He goes around kissing girls without commitment, and the guy I will have sex with won't want to go around kissing other girls. And he usually doesn't go to this much trouble to get a girl? Well, to be honest there must be something he wants from me...sex. He wants to make those rumors fact. Too bad."

Their conversation came to an end, the two girls turned to face the front of the class as Professor Morgan came to stand in front of the room.

"Today, we will be looking at tea leaves and how their depths can uncover what will happen to us in the future."

The class went single file line to the cupboard that held the cups and tea kettles.

After they had drank the last of their tea, leaving the dregs behind, they opened their text books and began to cipher their tea leaves.

Professor Morgan walked aisle by aisle, helping those that had trouble seeing. Finally, he reached Hermione and whistled in surprise.

"What, what is it?" She was worried, she didn't know what the blasted tea leaves said, but she wanted to know.

"I don't think I should say it right now. See me after class."

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Hermione had stayed behind, worried beyond usual at what he had seen in her leaves. She hoped he didn't become suspicious of her identity if that came into question.

He told her to have a seat and bring the cup back up to him at his desk. His desk was covered to the very edges with tons of divination books, it seemed that he knew he wasn't all-knowing, that he was modest enough to admit that he needed help with his profession even though he was an expert.

"Your leaves tell me that a great change will take place at the end of your life and the beginning of a new one. Do you know what that means?" She shook her head to say no. "It means that you live a double life. I don't mean to pry, but have you ever felt like you've lived in another time, another place before? I'm curious, perhaps because I've never met someone who has lived twice."

Hermione's first thought was, SHIT, but by noticing the books on his table she mentally kicked herself. She figured that if only she could trick him into believing that he was wrong, that he wasn't a good enough decipherer, that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"You caught me sir. Once when I was a child, I found my grandma's Time-Turner and went back in time one day to make sure I didn't repeat my mistake of losing my mom's diamond wedding ring." She made sure to shrug her shoulders as if in defeat. He didn't seem appeased however. He frowned and asked if she was sure. She assured him she knew she was sane, that she knew exactly what she was talking about. She even had the gall to suggest to him that maybe he should look back into re-learning how to decipher leaves, maybe learn to tone down the flamboyancy of his presentation of her "past" life to her.

She left the room feeling rotten, knowing that she was playing around with another's mind, then again she was a Slytherin and that was to be expected of her.

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TBC...