A Surprise Visitor.
Confusion.
Harry knocked on the door to Snape's office feeling somewhat gloomy. Only a month into his fifth year and already Snape had managed to find something to give Harry a detention for. He heard footsteps coming up to the door, ever so slowly, shuffling over. Snape seemed to be taking his time in opening the door.
It opened and Snape's familiar sneering smile greeted him. "Well get in Potter I don't have all day."
Harry frowned, gritting his teeth he came in and sat across from the desk.
"News is this isn't your first detention this year," Snape said carefully.
Harry rolled his eyes. "No it isn't. And you know I didn't deserve the ones with Umbridge. So what's the detention?"
"Do I? I happen to agree, you should learn to, ah, control that temperament of yours Potter."
Snape was pacing around the office now, gingerly looking through the bottles that were eerily lining the back wall. Floating things that Harry couldn't even recognize in bright green and red liquids lined the walls of his office.
"I have been trying to think of what I need you to do, but I haven't yet thought of anything appropriate…" Snape said slowly. He seemed to be trying to draw it out for as long as possible. "Perhaps… ah yes. You can clean out my cupboard."
Harry sighed loudly. If he knew Snape, then this cupboard would be hideously filthy and full of disgusting things.
Snape led him over to the other side of the room and opened a large wooden door. Sure enough it was stuffed full of dusty old objects, rotting things, spider webs and something moldy. The smell almost made Harry gag.
"Ah yes. It needs a tidy. Don't you agree? I'll be in the classroom if you need me."
Snape wandered our, smirking widely and left Harry beside the cupboard, however he turned around almost a moment later.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Your wand please?"
Harry handed over his wand reluctantly and took the cloth and bucket Snape had given him. Slowly he began pulling out a few dusty old, things, he didn't even know what they were to be honest. He thought they kind of looked like torture devices.
"Wouldn't put it past him," Harry muttered to himself. He found to the side of him a very old looking cupboard.
Yes, a cupboard inside a cupboard.
It had ancient writing and swirls of blue and yellow painted around it. Harry wiped some dust off the top, trying to read the writing, but it was in no language he even recognized. Latin perhaps? He reached forward to try and pull it open but there were a few things in the way. Getting onto his hands and knees he pulled a few things out, which resulted in him getting a nose full of dust.
Coughing he reached again to open the cupboard, it came with a deafening screech, so loud Harry actually closed his eyes with fright.
But after a few moment of nothing happening, Harry opened his eyes. The cupboard was empty. Oddly clean, even, completely dust free.
"Well that's part of the job done then. This bits clean," he said to himself smiling and then felt oddly crazy to be here talking to himself.
But that was before the cupboard spoke back.
"Who is that? I'm kind of stuck here."
Harry leapt backwards and only just managed to refrain from yelling out. He took a deep breath and then peered back into the cupboard. It was empty.
"What?" he hissed back. His first thought was that Snape was playing a practical joke on him.
"I'm stuck. Can you just pull me out? Take my hand."
Harry glanced back into the empty cupboard, feeling strangely curious, and extremely stupid he put his hand into the dark cupboard. When it touched something warm he bit his tongue so as not to scream. That was definitely a hand. A human hand. Or he hoped so anyway.
His fingers grasped around it and he yanked it outwards, falling back onto the ground. Beside him fell a girl. Yes a girl, with messy blonde hair and wearing a Gryffindor uniform. She fell forward and then got up, wiping dust from her uniform. Harry gaped at her blankly.
"I… uh…"
The girl looked at him finally, her eyes widened slightly. "James? What are you doing in here?"
Hary opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before answering. "I uh. You were in that cupboard!"
"Oh was I? I think I was cleaning it out."
"You think?"
The girl made a face. "I can't remember. Where's the professor?"
Harry went out to the classroom and Snape raised an eyebrow at him. "What now Potter?"
Harry grinned feeling shocked, but also feeling adrenaline pulsing through him. "There's a girl in your office…"
Snape rolled his eyes, but followed nonetheless. He pushed past Harry to find the girl sitting innocently on the chair across from the desk. Harry expected Snape to be a little surprised, yes, but it was nothing like how Snape reacted.
His eyes widened and for the first time Harry had ever seen him, he looked unnerved. His mouth was open and he was frozen beside the doorway. Harry couldn't help but stare at him, and the girl walked over.
Snape looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"Who are you?" the girl asked Snape politely.
Snape didn't answer. He seemed to have lost his voice. "I'm… you… can't.."
The girl glanced at Harry who shrugged.
"Um… okay? I'm here for my detention. Is Slughorn around?" she said, still completely oblivious anything odd was happening.
"Who?" Harry asked.
"Detention? But you never made it to detention…?" Snape said.
Harry thought that Snape was beginning to make less sense than the girl was.
"I didn't?" she looked around the classroom mockingly.
Snape grabbed Harry by the shoulder. "Get Dumbledore," he said sternly.
"Wha…?"
"Dumbledore. Get him here now!"
Harry nodded, quickly running out of the classroom feeling completely and utterly confused. He found Dumbledore speaking to Professor McGonagall and he followed him almost at once.
"She came from the cupboard," Harry tried to explain. "She said something about Slugtrumpet, or something. She thinks I'm James."
Dumbledore nodded, though clearly Harry's gibberish at made no sense to him at all.
When they entered the office, Snape was pacing about and the girl looked grumpy. She had crossed her arms and was tapping her foot impatiently. She looked up as they entered.
"There you are James! Tell him I'm not a time traveler. Tell him I go to school here. I'm a 6th year. Like you! Tell him, he won't believe me."
She was flinging her arms about now and Snape was rubbing his face. Dumbledore had paused to survey the whole situation and Harry wasn't sure what to do.
"Um… I'm not…" he began slowly.
She raised her eyebrows at him but before Harry could say anything Dumbledore spoke.
"If everyone would please take a deep breath, and take a seat."
He conjured seats from no-where and Snape, Harry and the girl all sat in a row facing Dumbledore. The girl poked her tongue out at Snape. "See, Dumbledore knows I'm a student here."
Dumbledore took a deep breath, and he lowered his glasses.
"Charlotte."
"Yes?" the girl looked impatiently back at him. "Who is this man?"
"We will get to that," Dumbledore said slowly. "Firstly. How did you, er, arrive, in this classroom."
Charlotte glanced at Harry and then back at Dumbledore as if he was crazy. "Well… I walked. I left the Gryffindor common room, I said good bye to Sirius and James, and then I walked here."
Harry's stomach clenched painfully. This girl knew his father? Sirius? She's from the past? But she doesn't know where she is?
"Ah," Dumbledore said. "You didn't run into anyone, anything? Open any cupboards?"
"No," she answered. "I just walked through the door and I was here."
Harry frowned. She now seemed to have no recollection of the cupboard at all.
"Did you touch anything when you got here? A necklace, a time turner?" Dumbledore asked.
She went slightly red in the face. "No! Why do you keep saying that? I'm not from the past! I'm from now! Don't you remember me Professor? I was sorted, into Gryffindor remember? James, why won't you back me up? They think I'm crazy!!" Her voice was boarding on hysteric and Harry could understand why. Dumbledore seemed to be sensing he needed to do something, and fast.
"Charlotte. Please remain calm. I have not forgotten you, I know perfectly well who you are. Charlotte Jenkins. Sorted into Gryffindor house in 1971," Dumbledore said. "What you need to understand is that you are presently in the year 1995."
Charlotte's face paled, again she glanced at Harry.
"What? How… How did we get here? James, do you kno…" but she was interrupted by Dumbledore.
"This is going to be difficult to understand Charlotte but that is not James. His name is Harry."
Charlotte turned once more, this time her eyes were wide and traveled up towards his eyes and his scar. The main differences between him and his father. She looked mildly scared.
"I.. I want to go back. Can you send me back?" she said quickly.
Snape rolled his eyes.
"Charlotte, here is the thing. I believe somehow you stepped into the Gelidus Cupboard," Dumbledore said slowly.
"The what?"
"It's a cupboard that, er as it would be, freezes people in a moment of time. I should have known, I only blame myself, but yes."
Dumbledore seemed to be under the impression that this was explaining everything.
"So how do I get back then?" she asked.
Dumbledore wrung his hands. "Charlotte, there is no back. You haven't travelled here. You are here. Let me see if I can explain, when you went into the cupboard, you were frozen but everyone else lived on. We thought you had died! The whole school did, as I said I should have suspected, but I didn't realize the cupboard was not destroyed when I had ordered it to be."
Charlotte bit her lip. "Can I, can't I? I'll just time turn back. I'll just go to after I disappeared, we can pretend nothing happened."
"I can't let you do that," Dumbledore said.
She stood up; her chair was pushed back so quickly that it fell over behind her. "Why the hell not? You are going to keep me here? In the future? Why can't I go back?"
"You will change the future. We can't let you do that. Awful things have happened to wizards who meddle with time."
"This is AWFUL! I'm in the future! What about my life? What about my friends?!" she shouted. As she said friends it seemed to bring her back into the room.
"Who are you?" she said quietly to Harry.
Harry gulped. "I'm Harry Potter…"
She sighed. "Of course. James' son. You look just like him. But if I'm stuck here… James will be… old.. and I'm his son's age? What about the others. Dumbledore. Sirius.. I mean…"
Dumbledore didn't answer. He seemed to be unable to look at her.
"Will he be that old too? …I don't want to be here," Charlotte said.
Snape looked unable to contain himself. "Yes he is old. If you mean old to be my age then yes."
Charlotte looked at him, her eyes had become teary now and she screwed up her nose as if his age being old was precisely what she had meant.
"What?"
"I'm Severus Snape," he said.
She froze for a moment. "As in…"
"Yes."
"Who was in my year."
"Yes."
"In Slytherin."
"Yes."
"Snivellus?"
Snape gritted his teeth and Harry couldn't help but snigger here, despite feeling overwhelmed. If she was upset now, how would she react when she heard about everything else. His eyes flicked across to Dumbledore who sent him a warning look.
"Now Severus, we can't tell her too much. She will get overwhelmed. I think you are already aren't you? I can take you to the hospital wing…"
"No," She pushed his arm away. "I'm not overwhelmed. If I'm stuck here then I want to know everything don't I. Who's your mother Harry? Can I speak with your father, Sirius… or Remus even. I need to talk to them. They will want to know I'm alive won't they?!"
"They will, in good time though. Please take a deep breath…" Dumbledore was again interrupted.
"Harry please? Who did James marry? Are they happy, does he still play quidditch? Has he mentioned me? Sirius, has he mentioned me, wait, did he marry?! He wouldn't marry would he, god, please don't tell me…"
"My mother's name was Lily," Harry said.
"Lily. As in Lily Evans? You're kidding."
Charlotte began breathing very heavily; in fact she had started breathing unnaturally fast.
"Severus, she's hyperventilating. Please sedate her!"
Severus fed her a bit of potion and her eyes flickered shut.