A/N: This is a companion story to Regrets Collect Like Old Friends that follows an OC into the past. Timeline wise, all events of this story happen BEFORE the events of Regrets Collect after Draco travels into the past. Quite a few things are introduced in this story that either link or relate to the Rewritten In Time series.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Edited 14 June 2013

Strange Girl

"MALFOY!" she screamed.

Draco sharply turned the corner. He ran till his legs gave out. Falling to the ground, he reached into his pocket and brought out the last vile. He yanked out the paper, pressing himself to the wall in the empty hallway. No footsteps followed him. Taking deep breaths, he emptied his mind. The hour had to be up. He opened his eyes and it was almost as if there was an alarm in the last potion to tell him when it was time to take the next dose. The whole world was upside down, yet he was still sitting on the floor.

Popping the cork out, he drank the last one. He felt nothing, but the world righted itself. Making sure he was indeed alone, he read the incantation out loud, thinking of his eleventh birthday. Eleven was still young enough he could change who he was, change how things turned out. And he wasn't too young to seem like he was acting too old for his age.

"MALFOY!"

Draco snapped his eyes open, but didn't see anyone.

No one was allowed to change time. It was the law. Draco might not be the Chosen One, but Draco knew things. He was cunning, sly and somewhat ambitious. He might not have all the pieces, but he had enough he was sure he'd be able to take his seventeen-year-old head back to his eleven-year-old head and change things.

He felt a pull in his head and searing pain. His knees buckled, just as he heard the Dark Lord announce to the whole school, "Harry Potter is dead."

And the world went dark with one last scream of "MALFOY!"

Quietly, James and Sirius turned the corner. The corridor before them was blessedly clear of all things: people, portraits, and Mrs. Norris.

That was until…

"MALFOY!"

Sirius and James froze mid-step as a girl appeared out of nowhere. Other than her shout, there was no noise accompanying her appearance. Brought out of their stupor when the girl whirled around, James and Sirius darted behind a suit of armor, hiding from the irate girl. From one word, it was clear she was not at all pleased.

"MALFOY!" she screamed again, turning around in a full circle, her wand clutched tightly in her left hand.

James turned to Sirius and quirked is his eyebrow up, communicating silently Why is she calling out for Malfoy? He graduated six years ago.

Sirius let his eyes go large and shrugged. No clue, must be barmy.

"Draco?" the girl asked softly, loosing her stance of anger and looking confused. "What the…"

Slowly poking his head out from behind the armor, Sirius watched as the girl's nostrils flared a bit as she took a deep breath in. It came out in a gasp and a whoosh. She stumbled backwards, hitting the stone wall behind her. Her eyes were still plastered to a spot on the wall opposite her.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more," she muttered, sinking down to the floor. Sirius frowned. The girl was American.

She began to shake her head, her haphazardly pulled back black hair falling out of whatever had been holding it back. "Oh, Draco what have you done?"

Her legs splayed out before her and she continued to stare at the wall. Without looking at James, Sirius pushed himself out from behind the amour and took a few steps towards her. Something, he wasn't sure what, was drawing him towards the girl. Getting closer, he realized how dirty she was. She was covered in grim and what appeared to be a combination of fresh and dried blood. She was not dressed for the weather. She had the tiniest shorts he'd ever seen and a very tight t-shirt on. Sirius was unable to confirm a color due to the amount of grim covering her person. He wasn't even sure if she was wearing shoes.

Not wanting to scare her too much, Sirius cleared his throat. Her whole body tensed and she clutched her wand again, but did not scramble to her feet. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied him.

"Hi. You've popped out of nowhere. Many salutations to you," Sirius greeted. "I'm Sirius Black, who are you?"

"Sirius!" James hissed from somewhere behind him.

The girl's eyes snapped to James. Her face lit up. She scrambled to her feet, and attempted to get to James, only whatever she had on her feet didn't give her much traction and she fell back down.

"Harry!"

James straightened up, coming fully out from behind the armor now he knew she wasn't going to be getting to her feet anytime soon. Her face fell, eyes darting from James to Sirius. She stopped trying to get up for a moment. After what felt like a very long time, but in fact was mere seconds, she managed to get to her feet.

"Great Scott, I'm dead," she muttered, her wand suddenly clattering to the ground. She grabbed at her mess of dark hair and pulled. "Draco bloody Malfoy fucking killed me!"

"That's rather unbecoming language for a lady," James commented, extending a piece of parchment to Sirius. Taking it, Sirius looked at the three dots in the corridor. One read James Potter, one read Sirius Black and the dot in front of them read Atlanta Black. Sirius's jaw dropped.

"I made it through that freaking battle, and now I'm fucking dead," the dot of Atlanta Black ranted in front of them. "Where the hell is everyone else who died? Where's Remus? Tonks? Fred? Lily? Why are you the only two here? How did I die but Malfoy failed?"

Without allowing either confused boy to answer her, she stalked off, leaving her wand behind. Sirius snooped over and picked it up. It looked like a normal wand. Sirius slid the wand into his pocket.

"What is going on?" James whispered, sounding fearful rather than curious.

Sirius was curious, so he shrugged and quickly used his long legs to catch up to the girl. He caught up to her as she turned and started off down another corridor. She came to a dead stop as Sirius fell into step with her. Sirius felt her eyeing him. He turned to find that she was rather tall for a girl. She was almost as tall as him.

"Why are you following me?"

"You seem lost. It's clear you don't know where you're going," Sirius offered. "Also, we're not dead. Nor is Remus. How do you know Remus?"

"He's my birth father," she replied, rolling her eyes deeply like Sirius ought to know this information. "We've already had this discussion. You found it traumatic the first time."

Sirius's jaw dropped.

Even though her face was streaked with dirt and a few smudges of blood, Sirius could see the Black traits in her face: her strong bone structure, her nose was kind of like his, but not at the same time. She had the Black chin, though. However, her mouth was all wrong, as was her eyes color. In the light of the torch behind him he could see were a clear shade of amber.

Like Remus' eyes.

She gave him an odd look and began walking again, only to stop a few paces away from him.

"Where is the Great Hall?"

"The other way, sweetheart," Sirius said, trying to sound like he hadn't just been punched in the gut.

How could Remus have a kid who was his age? That made no sense. And why did she look like him and Remus. And why did she think they already had this discussion?

Oh, too many questions. Sirius's head hurt and he hadn't even gone to his first class.

The girl stalked passed him and eyed James, who was watching her wearily. She came to a stop, studying him carefully.

"You do really look almost like twins," she breathed. "Only the eyes."

Shaking her head she stopped at a junction and waited.

"Left," Sirius offered and watched as she turned left.

"I am totally creeped out. Also, we don't have time to follow a crazy bird around the castle," James hissed as Sirius made to follow the dot called Atlanta. "We've got a prank to pull off! Moony and Wormtail are waiting."

Atlanta stopped again.

"Right."

She turned right, Sirius following after her. "Then leave, finish the prank. I'm going to keep my eye on her. If we get caught, she's loony enough to get me out of detention."

James made a noise, but told him where Filch and Mrs. Norris were currently located, then disappeared. Sirius followed the girl, giving her directions as she made her way towards the Entrance Hall. She came to a dead stop when she reached it. This time she was not looking for directions. The color drained fully from her face. Again, her nostrils flared as she sniffed the air. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the railing.

"No freaking way," she breathed. "It's…it's…."

She didn't finish what she was saying. She took off and clattered (she clearly had some form of footwear) down the marble staircase, heading for the main floor. She looked like she was seeing ghosts or something else bizarre as she pelted into the Great Hall. Sirius followed after her at a slower pace.

"They're gone," she was muttering when Sirius entered behind her. He pulled the door shut and turned to face her in the starlit Great Hall.

"Who is gone?"

"Everyone," she replied. "All the dead, all the mourners. It's not battle worn, broken and messy. No one is dead yet." She rounded on Sirius, sticking her nose in his face, her eyes darting all over. "And you're young. And not dead eyed and haunted."

Her mouth formed a perfect "O" and she backed up, falling onto the bench when she stumbled into it. She stared at Sirius with wide eyes.

"Oh, Draco Malfoy, what have you done?" she asked, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Who is Draco Malfoy?" Sirius demanded.

"Someone I used to know," she faintly replied. She cocked her head to the side. "What year is it?"

"1976."

"Month."

"September. We just got back to school."

"Crickey," the girl said, looking at him. "Wibley-wallabee, timey, shminey."

"Are you sure you're not an escapee of the psych ward?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure. What in blazes did he do?" she muttered. She lapsed into silence, getting an eerily familiar look on her face. Sirius cleared his throat and she jumped. "Oh, sorry. I need to see…Oh! He's still alive!"

She sprang to her feet, running at Sirius. She shook him by the shoulders.

"Dumbledore is alive! So are all of you!" She squeezed his shoulders as if to convince herself he was indeed solid. "It's a good thing I do not prescribe to the wizarding theory of time travel, but rather one of the more colorful Muggle ones."

"You're from the future?" Sirius faintly asked, still not sure how to behave. There was something unsettling about the girl in front of him. Part of him wanted to run away screaming, the other wanted to crush her into a tight hug and hush her. He figured it was the dog in him that wanted to do the hugging and comforting.

"Duh," she dragged out slowly. "I'm totally out of place, didn't you notice. Crap, I'm dirty."

She seemed to realize this for the first time. She frowned at her shirt. She let go of Sirius and grabbed the hem of her t-shirt, taking a few steps backwards. She pulled the shirt away from her and beat it with her hand. Fine grey dust puffed out as she beat it. His eyes flickered to his exposed flat stomach for a moment. He was distracted mostly by the odd looking mark on her stomach. It was a crescent moon and a dog.

A Grim looking dog.

Okay, running away screaming might be higher on his list of things to do.

"And really fracking jet lagged," she went on, swaying a bit. "Now that I'm not fighting for my life, I guess it's set in that it's…wait, it'd be dinner time!"

She laughed, making herself look even more unstable. She dropped the shirt and began to dust of her shorts. Or lack of shorts. For some reason, Sirius seemed unaffected by this fact. He was mostly distracted by the sheer amount of grey dust coming off her person.

"I bet you've noticed, but I'm not from here. I came over from America to fight in the battle, even though Remus told me not to, but he told Tonks to stay home as well. She failed to listen. But they aren't dead!"

This fact seemed to thrill her. Her whole being lit up.

"Okay…no, Remus isn't dead. He's here in the castle. Tonks, though, he graduated a while ago."

"Huh? OH! Ted's not dead either! Oh, I don't exist yet. Oh. Crap. Wait, maybe I went to an alternative universe? I wonder how I'd be able to tell?"

The crazy girl cocked her head to the side and stared at Sirius with wide amber eyes.

"Sirius?"

Sirius turned and looked at the door, where Remus was poking his head into the Great Hall.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?"

The girl made a noise of delight and scampered up to Remus. He stared at her, looking like he thought she was a dragon with two heads. She stared at him closely and began to frown.

"Huh."

"What?" Sirius asked, ambling up to her. He tried to look casual, shoving his hands into his pockets. However, he was a little wary of her reaction to his best friend. She shoved her nose into Remus' and stared into his amber eyes. His eyes went very large. She straightened up, looking at Sirius.

"That's interesting. You said it was 1976?"

Sirius nodded. The girl frowned, looking at Remus, who backed up a bit, looking more uncomfortable than he had moments before. The girl stroked her chin for a moment, frowning deeply. She rounded and approached Sirius, grabbing his chin, dragging him down to her level to stare straight into his eyes. He let her, for some unknown reason, as even though she was mental, he knew she wouldn't hurt him. He had no idea what she saw in his eyes, but she was looking delightfully confused.

Letting Sirius go, she backed up several paces and placed her hands on her hips.

"Alternative universe. All right. Take me to to your leader," she said in a strange voice, then laughed looking utterly delighted again. "I've always wanted to say that. No, seriously, take me to Dumbledore. I don't know where he is or how to get there, as I don't attend this school. I go to Dibonein, though I refused to live in Volpear, just to piss Daddy off. I aim to make the Head of the Black Family mad as hell, which makes sense, as he's not really my father, but that's a story for another day. Right now, I need to speak to Dumbledore, come up with a cover and do something productive to keep you lot alive."

She breezed passed Remus and out the door. Remus stared at Sirius, clearly asking him to explain with the look in his amber eyes. Sirius shrugged — a shiver running through him at the similarity between the girl's eyes and Remus'. Looking rather at a loss, Sirius hurried after Atlanta, who was making her way up the stairs.

"Pip, pip," she called, which sounded strange in her American accent. "Time is a wasting, dudes. Hey, is Voldy still at large here?"

"You mean, uh, Voldemort?" Sirius asked, rushing up to her side.

"Yeah. I guess he is if y'all have heard of him," she said, almost skipping up the stairs. "Oh, sorry. I'm Atlanta Black or just Lanta, by the way. I know who you are."

Remus, who was being addressed, looked baffled.

"I don't exist in this reality, though. And I don't think I will," she offered. "Interesting."

She laughed as they reached the top of the stairs.

"I sound like Luna," she joked. "I really do. That girl makes no sense, and I have a feeling anything I'm saying isn't making a lick of sense to either of you."

Shaking her head she waited till Sirius pointed her in the direction to get to the seventh floor where Dumbledore's office was located. They walked there in mostly silence, with Atlanta looking around with her eyes wide. She seemed almost like a tourist or a kid in a candy store.

"Well, here we are," Sirius said. "I don't know…"

The phoenix statue began to turn, revealing stairs. Atlanta let out a gasp of surprise and delight. Dumbledore appeared at the top and called down, "Good evening. I was wondering when you'd make your way here."

"Felt a disturbance in the force?" the girl asked, staring up the stairs.

"One could say that," Dumbledore commented.

Sirius made to follow, but Remus grabbed him.

"Ah, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin. Why don't you make your way back to where you ought to be?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Remus quickly said, tugging Sirius backwards.

"We've just started term, best not get too many detentions," Dumbledore said, as the statue turned and sealed the stairs.

"Who was that?" Remus asked.

"I have no idea. She appeared in the hallway," Sirius explained. "Out of nowhere."

"She appeared out of nowhere?"

"Yeah. And her dot on the map claims she's Atlanta Black, which she also claims. Though, I'm not sure how much confidence we can put in her claims. She claimed you were here dad," Sirius said.

Remus sputtered and tripped over his own feet. "What?"

"She said it," Sirius said, then admitted, "I could see it."

Remus looked at him like he was the crazy one.

"I could! She's got your…well, the same color eyes as you! She doesn't have the Black eyes of grey or blue! They are the exact same shade as yours! Her nose is kinda more like yours too. And her mouth is all wrong. It looks like yours!"

Sirius's eyes lingered on Remus' mouth for a beat too long. He was only distracted when Remus covered his face with his hands and stared at him over his finger tips.

"Well, she…could be related to a Lupin, did you think of that?" Remus offered, looking uncomfortable. "I am not the only person with these eyes out there. Or mouth. Or nose. My father has this nose."

"But your eyes?"

Remus shifted, dropping his hands fully. "What about my eyes?"

"Your eyes are that way because of your furry little problem. Remember? You told me you had blue eyes before," Sirius whispered as they neared the Gryffindor Tower.

Remus frowned.

"Well, hopefully she'll stick around," Sirius said, quickly telling the Fat Lady the password. He climbed through the hole and into the common room. "I have a feeling she's a lot of fun."

"How come you've never heard of her before?"

"She's from the future," Sirius supplied. "She's not born yet."

"Atlanta isn't a very Black like name either," Remus pointed out. "Don't you guys tend to name yourselves after stars?"

"She's American," Sirius reminded Remus. "Who knows what those American Blacks do. We don't speak to them."

"How could I be her father? Her last name is Black," Remus said, his voice a little high. "Even if she is from the future. All your female cousins are married, or will be married. Are you sure you're not her father? She looks a lot like you."

"Uh, yeah. She said you were. Oh, who cares about that. We both know we're not her father. She's too old! But, she pissed her dad off by going not living she was supposed to. So, by default, I like her because I can relate."

Remus sighed deeply as if thinking was beginning to cause him pain. "Let's go to bed. Where's Prongs?"

"Bed, I think. If he made it back."

The two boys headed up the stairs to their tower dorm room, each lost in his own thoughts about the strange, dirty girl.