Professor Burbage and the Great Do-Over

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, the characters of the series... or anything really.

A/N Just a warning for modified lines from Pottermore's Slytherin prefect and that I have just tweaked this chapter a bit.

A Boy with Shiny Curly Dark Hair

"I'll be in Narcissa's compartment," Fideline told her sister while she shrugged off her robes, revealing a white dress shirt over shorts. Just as quickly she pulled her Hogwarts robes on as if the Muggle outfit was offensive. "You'll be fine on your own, yeah?"

The little girl in light red hand-me-down robes and too large glasses nodded mutely. She did not really want her sister to go but Fideline did not have to spend the entirety of the trip minding her sister if she didn't want to. "Don't forget to change into your uniform, we'll be there in a couple of hours probably," her sister warned her, before blowing a kiss and slipping out the compartment. Charity slumped back into the seat, resigned to spending her entire first train ride alone. Suddenly the door slid open and Charity jumped. Panic bubbled up as she stared at the stranger standing in the threshold of the compartment. A boy with shiny curly dark hair and a bored expression stared back.

Finally Charity's voice came back and she croaked, "Hello."

The boy blinked and surprisingly gave her a cheeky smile. "Hello," he said. "Mind if I came in? I got chased out of the compartment I was in."

"S-sure, come in!"

The boy graced her with a short nod before sliding into the seat across from her. The two sat in silence, awkwardly avoiding looking at each other. Then he cleared his throat. "My name is Regulus Black," he announced.

"Cha-Charity. Charity Burbage," the girl replied and she smiled nervously. Something seemed to lift off Regulus Black's mind and he grinned. Then he pulled out a few packets of Chocolate Frogs and held out one to Charity.

"Want a Frog?"

"I'll be in Narcissa's compartment," Fideline told her while she shrugged off her robes, revealing a white dress shirt over shorts. Just as quickly she pulled her Hogwarts robes on. "You'll be fine on your own, yeah?"

Her Slytherin crest seemed to shine, mocking Charity with the memory of the huge snake that had coiled around her body and crushed her, right before a Levitation Charm cast by a horrified Draco Malfoy on his master's order lifted her up and irritated her injuries further. The pain had been bad, especially after the bout of hexes fired by the gathering. Bile tried to rise up her throat but she choked it back down. Fideline glanced at her, frowning.

"Did you have a bad dream, or something?" she asked.

Yes, there was a dirty great snake lounging on your bestie's dining table and a nasty snake man shot the Killing Curse at me!

"Would… would you like me to stay with you?" Fideline's voice pierced through the fog that had clouded Charity's mind and she wanted nothing more at this moment than for her sister to stay with her.

"P-please stay," she choked out. I don't want to be alone!

One perfectly shaped eyebrow raised, Fideline stared back at her. After a long pause, during which Charity feared her sister will abandon her again, the blonde agreed to stay. They sat in uncomfortable silence, as Fideline fiddled with the hem of her robes and a persistent feeling that something was wrong filled Charity's heart. The sky outside grew darker.

"Why don't you tell me about your House?" she finally asked, just to break the uncomfortable silence. Fideline on the other hand, brightened up considerably.

"Ohhh, you're going to love it there! We're the coolest and edgiest house in Hogwarts. We look after our own, so if you play your cards right you'll be set for the next seven years and even beyond. We've certainly got more illustrious members of society from Slytherin than any other house. Did you know Merlin was in Slytherin?" Fideline stated proudly. Charity felt a surge of happiness at the smile she had not seen for so long. In fact, she hadn't seen her sister truly smile at her since her sorting, as she had seemed very disappointed to have a Hufflepuff sister.

Nervously, she asked, "What if I get sorted into another house?"

Fideline arched an eyebrow at the question, and looked thoughtfully at Charity. "Hmmm, I've never thought about it. You've always seemed rather cunning to me."

"Me? Cunning?"

Fideline gave an unladylike snort. "Well, you're not particularly smart, or especially brave, and the only time you've ever worked hard is when you were trying to con Mother into believing you've done your chores. And it takes a bit of cunning and maybe a bit of nerve to do that."

Charity started. If she was in the past, then Mother was still alive. Her Uncle Wufric too… in her first life, her uncle had left home sometime during her fourth year and then her mother had gone after him. Charity and Fideline had thought nothing of it. Neither her mother nor uncle came home alive.

Charity had felt guilty for not really feeling sad for Mother's demise but for years later had not thought too much about it. She shook her head and pushed this to the back of her mind. "So you're saying my ambition is to be the greatest con artist in Britain? More cunning than smart?" she replied instead and Fideline giggled. "What if, what if I go to Hufflepuff?"

"You won't," Fideline answered in a tone that suggested finality. Then something out the window seemed to catch her eye and the older girl was suddenly a flurry of activity, packing away bits and pieces into her trunk. Charity also glanced outside but all she saw was darkness. The train was also beginning to slow down… Which could only mean –

"We're almost there, you really should get changed now," Fideline told her, now busily fixing her hair rather distractedly.

Oh no! I can't do this! Charity could not possibly just step back into her childhood so easily. Sitting on the train with her sister was one thing, but actually going through her school years again? No way! And how was she supposed to cope with the knowledge that some of her classmates will die, some as blood traitors and some as Death Eaters, or how to behave with the witches and wizards she had taught alongside with for so long. She groaned in despair as she recalled another issue – school had been, as the muggles put it, the crap cherry atop the crap sundae that had been her adolescence, and she certainly did not remember anything she had learned from the first time around.

"Charity!" Fideline hissed, waving her hand right in front of Charity's face. The girl was jerked out of her panicked thoughts, and she wilted under her sister's glare.

"For Merlin's sake, pull yourself together and get changed! We've finally arrived." Sure enough, there were the sounds of people noisily moving about outside their compartment. Numbly, Charity pulled off the old robe and untidily folded it. She didn't have anything other than her oldest shorts and t-shirt on, as Fideline hadn't yet outgrown her nicer clothes. For an absurd moment she hoped the Levicorpus spell wasn't in fashion yet. She barely managed to avoid being crushed by her trunk, an even more battered item that also once belonged to her sister, but at least she got out her school robe (the only item that was new) and pulled it on. It felt weird to be wearing robes again. When she was teaching she had dispensed with robes altogether and proper muggle clothes were much more comfortable anyway.

Suddenly the door slid open and Charity's stomach dropped. Panic bubbled up in the space that her stomach once occupied. A fifteen year old Narcissa Malfoy – no, Black – stood in the threshold. The last time she had seen Narcissa, the woman had looked worn down and frightened, and she had kept her eyes away from Charity at those last moments. And just behind her – "Argh, Narcissa, what are we doing? Everyone else is getting off the train!"

Behind her stood a boy with shiny curly dark hair and a bored expression. It was Regulus Black.