Minutes ticked by, Delilah had pulled away from Tom and paced, tapping anxiously against her leg. He watched her calmly, eyes tracing the path she'd walk from a bin to the wall. Over and over again.

  Eventually she threw up her hands in exasperation, "what if they don't come?"

  "They will."

  "How do you know?" she snapped, and he refrained from rolling his eyes at her sudden attitude. He knew it was from stress. "They've only just realized you're alive, it'll be a bit of a shock. They have to be cautious in case it's a trap."

  Delilah deflated a bit and closed her eyes, "right. Of course. That makes sense."

  Leaning against the wall, he tilted his head as he observed her. "There wouldn't be any use in telling you to calm down, would there?" Her eyes narrowed, "no there wouldn't."

  Tom hummed, "thought so."

  Delilah felt incredibly nauseous, her stomach wound up in a tight knot and the back of her neck felt stiff. She also felt rather twitchy, her fingers shaking and she found if she stayed still her left leg would start to tremble.

  What was taking them so bloody long?

  The thought barely registered as there were two sudden cracks that erupted from the back of the alley. They both whipped around, eyes squinting into the shadows. Two figures were approaching hesitantly, and for a moment she saw a flash of sandy blond hair.

  "Merlin-" the word just passed her lips as her brother sprang forward, crushing her in a hug and she let out a sharp cry both from relief and shock.

  Delilah squeezed him so tight she was sure she was hurting him, Harrison didn't seem to mind seeing as he was returning the gesture with full force. "You're fucking alive- jesus christ you're actually alive." He said in a mess of jumbled words into her hair, eyes squeezed shut.

  She laughed breathlessly and caught sight of Kingsley behind him, her smile faltered at his expression.

  "Ms Meddows, I'm going to need you to slowly come towards me."

  Her brows furrowed and Harrison seemed equally as confused as he pulled away from his sister, looking over at Kingsley in question.

  "What do you mean, is this a security check? Ask me anything."

  His eyes flashed to behind her and she followed his gaze, landing directly on Tom. She had forgotten he was there for a moment, too caught up in the fact that Harrison was okay. He was there, in front of her. Her mind reeled back to the cave and the false image of him being broken and hurt.

  Realizion settled in quickly, however. Delilah paled and hurriedly stepped in front of Tom, who had gained a defensive look in his eye.

  "No you don't understand-"

  "Delilah that's..." Harrison's eyes widened as he looked at Tom, remembering how Harry had called them all down to look at the picture in the yearbook.

  "Step away from him." Kingsley said in a calm voice and she shook her head, reaching behind her to grab hold of Tom's hand. "Listen to me-"

  "Delilah back away, now." Harrison's features warped into a mix of fear and anger and he tried to reach for his sister but she dodged his hold.

  "He's with me for fucks sake, just listen!"

  Tom on the other hand appeared calm as ever, the sudden unfold of stress between the others not bothering him in the slightest. An easy smile graced his lips as he looked at the two men, "I take it there's no need for me to make an introduction, then?"

  Delilah squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled a sharp breath, he was unbelievable. "You really need to work on your timing," she said looking over her shoulder at him.

  Tom shrugged impartially, "it's a work in progress."

  When she turned back towards Harrison and Kingsley she was met with their rightfully confused expressions at her and Tom's interaction.

  Sighing again from exhaustion, she rubbed at her eyes as she tried to piece together some coherent way to explain this. "This is going to be a lot to unpack."

  "You don't say," Harrison's tone was dry and untrusting.

  She didn't blame him.

  "Look, once we get to the Order I'll explain everything in much greater detail. But I want to make this clear, Tom is not You-Know-Who. He isn't. If you don't believe me, which is completely understandable, you can call upon Dumbledore's portrait."

  "Are you mental? We aren't taking him to our headquarters."

  "Harrison-"

  "Ms Meddows," Kingsley cut in, his eyes intensely set on Tom even though he was speaking to her. "I don't think you understand the severity-"

"Yes. I do."

  Today was going to be full of interruptions, she was sure of it.

  Tom stepped around Delilah and the two men's wands were immediately drawn. He kept his hands up, that ever present distant look on his face, "you have full reign to restrain me if it'll make you feel better."

  Again with the sarcasm hidden under his tone.

  Delilah wanted to smack him, she didn't know if his seemingly easy going nature was better or worse but she sure as hell knew it wouldn't matter once Harry laid eyes on him.

  Without a thought, light shot out in the form of a rope and bound Tom's hands behind his back, rather tight gauging by how his jaw had clenched.

  Kingsley finally pulled away from observing Tom and walked up to Delilah, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to be sure about this, you know hell is going to break loose once they see him."

  Straightening her shoulders, she raised her chin and gave him a curt nod. "I understand."

  A very small, almost invisible smile met the man's lips, he looked tired. Giving her shoulder a squeeze he sighed, "I'm glad you're safe. They're going to be happy that you're back."

  Delilah wished she could believe that.

  They'd probably all hate her.

  They should hate her.

  Turning to Tom, he merely raised an impatient brow at her. Once they were alone later she was going to slap the absolute daylights out of him.

  Harrison then raised his wand, and a rucksack slid over Tom's head.

  "Is that really necessary?" his voice was muffled by the fabric and her brother shrugged, knowing he wouldn't be able to see the action.

  "Can never be too cautious. Shall we?"

  Gripping onto Tom's arm, she also grabbed hold of Harrison and the apparated.

  Their feet landed with a thump on whitewashed tile, the room dim due to all curtains being drawn but Delilah quickly noted they were in a kitchen.

  It looked painfully muggle, save for the magic trinkets littered everywhere. The tile was sectioned in squares and yellowed with age. The proportions of the room appeared too cluttered yet large, indicating an extension charm was used.

  Her eyes fluttered around, taking in the light brown wooden counters, metal sink and the plastic dishes cramped into the glass cupboards above. Through the middle was a very long table, more worn and had maps and news articles spread throughout.

  She glanced at the date, October 1998.

  Right, to them she's only been gone three months.

  For her it had nearly been a year.

  So much had changed, for awhile she genuinely thought she'd never see any of them again. She felt she had lost so much.

  Delilah had.

  Elio's necklace burned against her skin and she gripped it tight with white knuckles.

  "It smells incredibly drafty in here," Tom muttered quietly and she blinked out of her trance. Shooting Kingsley a glance, he nodded after a moment and she lifted the rucksack off Tom's head.

  His eyes adjusted to the darkened kitchen and he bit at his cheek either in thought or disgust. Delilah couldn't tell, probably both.

  Their eyes met, but other than that silence ensued before the clatter of footsteps could be heard approaching from the hallway.

  Her heart shot up into her throat, suddenly feeling cold and faint and she slumped against the table. Tom went to reach for her but cursed under his breath when the sharp reminder of the restraints cut into his wrists. He didn't have the time to ask if she was alright before three people burst into the kitchen.

  Tom immediately jumped out of the way as a spell was fired at him, the light a blinding red but it wasn't that deep of a crimson so he crossed out it being a hex.

  Probably just a stunning jinx, he mused. It was funny to him, Delilah never hesitated to knock him back with some darker magic.

  No doubt he had a mildly bad influence on her.

  Shaking his thoughts away he saw the three who had entered. A lanky red headed boy, a girl with wild hair and dark skin, and then the one who fired the spell at him. He was a bit shorter than Tom, with the world's most unkempt black hair and startling green eyes.

  He looked absolutely furious.

  "Harry Potter, I presume?" his tone was painfully casual and it knocked Delilah out of her trance.

  She was going to kill him.

  "Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled and Tom's wand flew out from where it was holstered. He was visibly shaking and the red head quickly stepped in front of the girl protectively, his own wand out. Tom eyed it.

  Cheap.

  Either that or it was a hand-me-down, it didn't seem to fit quite right in the boys hold.

  "As you can see I'm quite defenseless at the moment," he turned in a short circle to flash his bound wrists. "But please do keep firing at me if it's comforting."

  "Don't mind if I do," Ron huffed out and went to fire something at him, shortly joined by Harry but Delilah practically threw herself in front of Tom.

  "Wait wait wait." she rushed, her hands up with palms splayed. She was struggling to breathe, still dizzy and she was worried she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

  "One more word out of you and I swear to fucking god I will castrate you," she muttered, only in ear shot of Tom and his lips quirked up at one side. Other than that he remained quiet.

  Her eyes shot over her friends quickly, all equal mixtures of shock, horror, and anger.

  Hermione looked purely stunned, her wand out as well but her eyes were calculating as she jumped back and forth between Delilah and Tom. Watching how they interacted carefully and thought back to how they were looking at each other in that yearbook photo.

  Ron was flushed red, the tips of his ears on fire and he had a grimace to his lips. Pure loathing and revenge was etched into his features.

  Delilah paled, of course. She had just jumped to defend the person who had nearly killed his sister.

  And then Harry... her breath escaped her and black dots swam across her vision. His expression couldn't be filed under mere words. Words were too simple. The most she could muster was anger and disappointment. No, anger was dull.

  Wrath.

  His eyes were burning with it.

  Her own widened, his grip on his wand looked as if it would shatter the wood but other than that he was deathly still.

  He looked like he was going to kill someone. Tom specifically, but if need be he'd go through her too.

  "Move." Harry's voice sliced through the air, making her hair stand up. Delilah settled her weight and gulped dryly, "Harry listen to me."

  "Move."

  "Potter," Harrison cut in, him and Kingsley's presence becoming known again.

  "Delilah move."

  "Let me explain-"

  "Impedimenta."

  Barely having time to register Harry throwing a stunning spell at her, she felt someone twist her around. Her eyes met Tom's for the briefest of moments before the jinx slammed into his back and he went limp against her, Delilah catching him in her arms. Due to his dead weight however, she fell to the floor with him.

  Rolling Tom off her, she shot up to her feet and saw Harry stalk forward, who knows what spell on the tip of his tongue. He wasn't in his right mind. He'd never kill anyone. Even Voldemort.

  Now the opportunity was right in front of him. The person who he thought to kill his parents and so many others he loved was knocked out and vulnerable and everything was happening much too quickly.

  Delilah cast a quick shield around her and Tom, the glimmer of it only seeming to fuel Harry further. She couldn't hear properly, it all sounded foggy but Hermione was yelling something.

  Maybe Harrison was too and Kingsley was shouting something out the door. More people were stumbling into the room.

  Looking down at Tom's passed out self reality crashed back down and her ears began to ring as she registered all the sound flooding back in.

  So much noise.

  "Enough!"

  The roar of her voice shook the room and someone was able to yank Harry back- Arthur. It was Arthur.

  Who was still alive? A lot could happen in three months during a war.

  Arthur, Molly, Harrison, Kingsley, Harry, Ron, Hermione, the Patil twins, Ginny, George, Charlie, Fleur, Luna, Percy, McGonagall, Neville, Dean, Cormac, her parents... her vision blurred as Hermione stepped in front of her.

  She said something.

  "What?"

  Again.

  Delilah knew her lips were moving.

  "Sorry, can- can you say that again?"

  Turning, she knelt down next to Tom and brushed the hair away from his eyes.

  The room was spinning.

  "You're going into shock."

  Hermione's voice cut and stabbed into her skull like a knife and her world upended as she fell unconscious against him.

  "Where's Tom," the words ripped from her dry throat as she sat up, a sudden wave of coughs violently shaking her ribs.

  Hermione appeared at her side and eased her back to lay down, the space between her brows creased with worry. She looked exhausted.

  Her friend sighed, pleating her hands neatly in her lap. "He's still downstairs, he woke up a few hours ago."

  "What? Why didn't you wake me up? Is he okay?" Delilah went to get up again but Hermione shook her head, her eyes sharp as she registered the genuine worry on the blondes face.

  "He's being questioned, he's fine though. I'm actually surprised he woke up before you considering how powerful that spell was."

  Delilah should've felt relieved but tension still gnawed at her whole body, her limbs feeling like rusted metal. Squeezing her eyes shut, her head sank back into the pillow.

  "How's Harry?"

  There was a long pause as Hermione thought it over. She could say Harry was fine to ease Delilah's stress but she'd easily see through it.

  "I don't know. There was a lot of yelling, he had to be pulled from the room. He punched Cormac. The only person to go anywhere near him since has been Ginny."

  "Merlin. This is a wreck. I knew it would be bad but what the fuck was I thinking?"

  Looking over at Hermione, she saw she was picking at her nails to avoid her gaze. "What 'Mione?"

  Sighing, she looked up and her hazel eyes were warm but always calculating. "What were you thinking? No- I don't mean like that, sorry. I'm overwhelmed with happiness that you're alive and well and back home. I am." Pulling Delilah up, she crushed her in a hug. Hermione still smelt like books and herbs and it made her heartbeat calm down a bit.

  "I missed you. All of you so much."

  They pulled back and she smiled, "we did too. All of us. I'm just wondering.. why bring You-Know-"

  "Tom," Delilah corrected her without a thought.

  Hermione blinked at her, that crease between her brows returning. "Why bring him back here? That's incredibly reckless. The timeline would completely unravel with one missed step. That's why we had to take Harry's wand so he didn't do anything impulsive."

  Delilah's eyes widened. That no doubt pissed Harry off even further.

  "Yeah, I know." Hermione sighed, pulling her legs up to her chest.

  Leaning back against the headboard, Delilah took in the room they were in. It was rather small, the walls painted a light grey with white sheets and there were some pictures and news clippings posted to the mirror. Clothes were strewn around though, and from the looks of it this was probably Hermione's room. But there were also some men's clothes scattered and she noticed a chess board on the desk.

  Her and Ron were sharing a room.

  "I have no idea where to start."

  "Well, how was it at least? A three month holiday from the war seems nice." It was Hermione's attempt at a joke. It wasn't good but she appreciated it nonetheless.

  A bemused smile tugged at her dried lips, "it was actually about a year for me."

  Hermione's jaw went slack.

  "You were there a whole year? All alone."

  "Not exactly."

  "Well I saw you were at Hogwarts."

  "How?"

  "A yearbook I had managed to find."

  Delilah hummed, twirling her necklace, "can I see it?"

  She nodded, waving her hand and the book flew from the bookcase along the left wall. It came to rest in her lap and it flipped open to a page.

  The graduating class of 1944.

  Her eyes glanced over all her friends, then they fell on Elio.

  She stared.

  They were all laughing, not standing still for the photo. Elio's hair was a mess from the wind and he was grinning widely as Pyrrhus shoved into him playfully.

  "Are you okay?" Hermione's voice was soft and Delilah realized after a moment that her cheeks were warm with a few escaped tears.

  Sniffing, she snapped the book shut and tossed it away from her as if it burned.

  "Who was he? If you mind me asking."

  "A friend. A really good friend for the time that I knew him. But he- he's- fuck."

  Wiping the tears away, she pulled her knees up to her chest. "So much has happened 'Mione. Everything changed. I had Dumbledore to help but..."

  "Dumbledore was there to help you?" The curiosity and sadness was prevalent in her tone.

  "He was but- merlin it all feels like a fever dream now." Her mind raked through all the months, all the happy moments and all the bad and all the heartbreak and triumph.

  "Eventually he figured out the easiest and sure way to get me home was with a time turner but they only resided within the Ministry. So we as a group went down but Grindelwald's followers were-" she suddenly hiccuped, not realizing her breathing had picked up in pace. Her chest felt too tight, like her ribs were shrinking.

  Hermione quickly summoned a vial from a cabinet and brought it to Delilah's lips. "Drink this, it's a calming draught." The liquid poured down her throat, thick and warm but it caressed the tension that had knotted up all over her body.

  After a moment Hermione asked, "Grindelwald was after you?" She also wanted to ask if that's what happened to the boy, but due to the heartbroken expression in her friend's face she put the pieces together.

  "Yes, there was something placed on me though when I went to the Ministry for that one mission. The one I didn't come back from. Some sort of body clock, someone sent me back in time for a reason. I just don't know what. And Grindelwald knew I was from the future so he intercepted us and I would assume he would use me for information."

  Hermione nodded slowly, trying to take it all in. "How does you-know... Tom fit into all of this?"

  Despite the calming potion she still felt her stomach churn.

  "He was the first person my age I met. Dumbledore enrolled me as a new student since I had shown up at the very beginning of the term. I had to get resorted and everything and was placed in Slytherin."

  "Really? How does that work?"

  Delilah's lips quirked up, she missed all of Hermione's questions when she didn't know something. It was a rarity, but amusing when it happened.

  "The sorting hat didn't really care to explain. It just said I was needed in the Slytherin house. And Tom was head boy, he introduced me to people who made being there easier. You'd be surprised how kind Draco's grandfather is."

  Hermione seemed skeptical.

  Her heart sank, having to remember all her friends from this time have only witnessed one reality.

  "He really was. I don't know what happened but he was a very genuine person. Tom, over time I'm sure, corrupted that in the original timeline."

  "The original? What do you mean, has anything changed?"

  "He has."

  "Delilah you can't be serious," Hermione laughed in disbelief. Wondering if her friend had actually lost it.

  Sitting up, her eyes were set and a storm was brewing behind them. Hermione leaned back a bit, just now registering the subtle changes to the girl.

  She looked sharper, if that term could even be applied. There was a roughness to Delilah now that one couldn't miss once they've seen it. Her eyes were colder than she remembered. She looked tired.

  Something had shifted.

  "What happened to you?"

  "Too much. But Hermione," grabbing her friends hands, she squeezed them and held a burning vigor in her gaze.

  "He can help end all this."

  There were a few moments of quiet as Hermione seemed to recede into her mind, undoubtedly puzzling something together.

  The two parts of herself were clashing. The logical side and the empathetic part. Delilah had realized he was the young Voldemort and still appeared to care for him despite knowing everything he would be responsible for.

  That part confused Hermione immensely. How could she? Then again with her empath side she understood. Delilah had been thrown into such a chaotic situation so suddenly, completely alone and defenseless.

  Of course her mind would want to latch onto someone in order to cope with that.

  Being alone was utterly terrifying. It ate away at a person. And although it was unfortunate, it made sense the person would be Tom Riddle. His whole entire person was a mystery and she knew Delilah wouldn't be able to resist. Despite all the consequences. The girl was only human.

  "You love him, don't you?"

  Delilah couldn't decipher her tone, she hadn't the energy. But hearing someone else say it, in such clarity sent a shockwave through her.

  "I do."

  Hermione bit at her lip, she looked incredibly confused. An odd expression not typically seen on her. "Even when you know who he becomes?"

  "He's not- hes-" she took a deep breath. "I didn't piece it together right away. In fact I was embarrassingly slow about it. Took me months before I figured it out. I think i subconsciously tried to ignore it until I didn't have a choice anymore."

  "And even after, you still do?"

  "Hermione. He has changed, Dumbledore even said so. I know trusting my judgement is a stretch but trust his."

  "Even a Dumbledore's made faults-"

  "He can cast a patronus."

  Her eyes appeared to shoot out of their sockets. If there were any way to demonstrate a change of character that was surely one way to go about it.

  "That shouldn't be possible."

  "I know. But he can. A full corporal one too."

  Hermione fell back on her hands, taking in this new found information.

  The young dark lord to be could cast a patronus.

  "This could change everything, you realize that right?"

  Delilah nodded sharply, "that's exactly why we're here. The war.. it could finally be over. Imagine it."

  A sudden laugh broke from Hermione, it nearly sounded hysterical with how sharp it was.

  The second wizarding war, actually over. Forever.

  It sounded too good to be true.