Disclaimer: As much as I may wish otherwise, I do not own Harry Potter or any other character that you may recognize.
Author's Note: I have lately developed a liking for Tom Riddle (infatuation is more like it!). This just popped into my head and was begging to be written.
I would like to apologize in advance for any grammatical errors in my spells or title. They are in Italian, which I do not speak. I have used a translator which may or may not be reliable.
Chapter 1
A Proposition
This could not be happening. It had to have been a lie. Hermione Granger let out a strangled sob.
One week. It had been one week since she had received the letter; the awful letter saying that her parents were dead. That awful letter had ruined her life.
He was Voldemort. He had killed her parents in some muggle raid. She had run to Dumbledore to ask about all of this. She had wanted to know why he would kill her parents, of all people. He seemed to think that Voldemort had tried to ruin her and thus ruin Harry Potter, her best friend.
So there she was, one week later, sitting on the astronomy tower, wondering what she was supposed to do now. She released another sob into the air. There was just too much to dwell on that she did not wish to ponder. There were just too many bad things.
"Miss Granger," a soft voice spoke. Hermione whipped around to see who had invaded her privacy. There stood Dumbledore, oddly missing the twinkle in his eyes. He spoke again.
"I need something from you." Hermione lifted an eyebrow and nodded for him to continue. "I believe that Harry has been filling you in on the Horcrux situation that he and I find ourselves in?" Hermione nodded again. "I see. What he does not know is that we have little hope of finding them all. There is little chance that we will ever be able to kill him. You have the common sense and the brains" – here Hermione blushed and looked away – "to go back and solve this. The best way to fix something is to deal with it before it truly needs fixing."
Hermione's gaze snapped back up to him. "What are you suggesting, sir?"
"I have discovered a spell that will send a person back in time. I need someone to go back and prevent Tom Riddle from ever becoming Lord Voldemort."
She gaped at Dumbledore. His eyes were still seriously missing their trademark twinkle. "Is time travel not impossible, sir?"
"No, it is not. It is just difficult to accomplish. And," – his eyes began to twinkle a little bit – "if I do say so myself, it takes a truly skilled wizard or witch to accomplish it."
"What is this spell?" Hermione asked; still shocked that such a thing existed.
Dumbledore smiled. Even now she desired to learn something new. "The spell is called Corsa di Tempo. It is an Italian spell that has been used only twice. However, both times were successful. I will give you full information on it if you go, so that my other self can send you here, to your own time."
Hermione blinked a couple of times. "If I agree to this, do I go back alone? And what about all of the rules around changing time? I used a time turner in third year, as I'm sure you recall, and I was told that it would be terrible to change time!" She had gotten herself more worked up with each word. She jumped up and began to pace.
Dumbledore smiled indulgently and said calmly, "I would prefer that you go alone. All of your friends are to prejudiced, and so would not be able to do the job properly. I do, indeed, recall you having a time turner in your third year. I seem to recall you, Harry, and myself conspiring to save Sirius with it. And that night you did change time, I am sure you recall." He smiled even wider when Hermione stopped pacing and stared at him.
"So if I do this, I go back to the past, meet up with Junior Voldemort, and do something so that he does not become Voldemort. You seem to have a lot of faith in me, Professor." She was, again, sounding more and more frantic with each word.
"Well, yes. You would be going back fifty-three years. You would be attending the sixth year of Hogwarts with Tom. I can provide you with papers that say that you are his sister. They are not to be used on Tom but they could be used to help with your mission."
"How?" Hermione looked confused. How could papers stating that she was Tom Riddle's sister help her with this?
"What if I told you that Tom goes to an orphanage for the summer but you had papers saying that you were his older sister. He would owe you would have plenty of time to spend with him. If you do well in the sixth year courses you may make Head Girl twice." He smiled as he watched her eyes go wide at the thought. Hermione was thinking hard about this. He would not have asked her if he did not think that she would do it.
She began to smile. She was thinking that she could change everything. If she did this her parents would be alive when she got back and Harry's parents and godfather would all still be alive. There would be no Death Eaters causing problems. There would be happiness like there was before the war. Yes, there would be bad people, but they could never be as bad as Voldemort.
"I'll do it," she said, still smiling.