The three girls followed Dippet and Dumbledore to the latter's office, presumably because the men thought the trio simply wouldn't be able to make the trip up to the headmaster's office. The pace was slow, one limping, another a semi blubbering mess and the last taking in every minute detail about the past, yet unchanged, castle to remember later if needed.
Dumbledore was situated on the fourth floor, close to the transfiguration classrooms and directly underneath the Gryffindor common room three stories above.
"Ladies, please take a seat." Dumbledore offered, as he conjured a plush armchair for Dippet to lean into, "May I offer tea? A lemon drop, perhaps?"
Two of the three girls remained standing, while all refused tea – it all still seemed too calm, too perfect to leisurely sink into supposed safety.
"Again, we mean no harm."
"Yes, I do recall you mentioning that. Thank you for the reassurance."
"But what we are about to tell you is quite alarming. We can't reveal too much, or our being here could unravel time. Although, I do believe that is why we are here in the first place."
Dumbledore stared at the girl, her black hair beginning to stick to her forehead from the gathering of sweat even though it was mid December and frightfully cold within the castle. The sickly blood coating her teeth was starting to drip down her chin now, and while it did not give the old man cause to be frightened, it did make him wary.
"Might I enquire your names?" He asked softly, leaning back into his chair behind the mahogany desk.
"Cho Chang, Pureblood." She replied, looking down at the girl in the chair.
"Astoria Greengrass, Pureblood." She continued on, glancing back at Cho and then towards Dippet to gauge his reaction before gesturing to the last of them, "This is Hermione Granger, Mudblood."
Dippet raised a hand to slightly cover his mouth as he coughed out a choking sound, peering at Astoria and then Hermione, noting the states in which they stood in front of him. Dumbledore drew a deep breath.
"Miss Greengrass, such language is not tolerated here. I would ask that you refrain from using that term, and only use Muggle-born when, or even if in fact, her blood status is necessary at all."
"I apologise professor. It's required at home and punishable by an unforgivable if we do not supply the information." Astoria said quietly, shifting uncomfortable in the chair under his watchful eyes.
"What information is necessary though, is that we do not particularly know how we arrived at this particular place or time," Cho confirmed, stepping forward to stand next to Astoria who remained seated. She folded her arms, planting her feet wide apart on the stone floor as if needing a wider base of support. "We understand that Hogwarts wards are impenetrable, and none of us have ever travelled through time besides Hermione, when she had obtained a time-turner. We don't even know how long we are meant to be here for, what we are meant to do, and in all honesty I think I can speak for all three of us when I say we would rather be at home, helping."
"Helping what, exactly?" Dippet asked, the first time he had spoken in the entire conversation.
"The war." Astoria replied.
"We are from a time where a psychopathic leader is attempting to revolutionise magical Britain so that Purebloods are the leaders and superior to those who are half-blood or mud-muggleborn. The word Muggleborn has had a taboo placed on it, it has become illegal to say even in the privacy of our own homes – at least, what remains of them. This leader has killed at least half of our friends, most of our parents, our teachers, and damaged us in ways that we are too scared to think about." Cho took another step forward and placed an instrument on the desk between them, "I do hope, Professor, that you will forgive me for using Arianna's name as a way of understanding the situation back in the Great Hall."
At this, Dumbledore deftly picked up the silver hand piece before Dippet could lean forward. "Miss Chang, am I correct in assuming this is my Deluminator?" He questioned, his blue gaze flickering between the girl in front of him and the scratched and well-worn metal of the Deluminator in his hand, a twin to the almost brand new instrument, which currently sat in his desk.
"Yes, sir. You left it to a friend in your will, and our friend gave it to me with the idea that it might help again one day."
Hermione continued to stay towards the edge of the meeting, unsure of herself, unsure of her surroundings, and with no way of adding to the conversation.
"Sir," Cho continued, "I wonder if we are able to keep the Deluminator with us? Considering we didn't not plan to travel so far at such short notice, we do not have anything of our own from our own time."
"Of course," Dumbledore's younger self agreed, leaning forward to place the item back in her hands, "Although, I do wonder what year your own time is?"
"1997," Astoria sighed, her face finding itself in the palm of her uninjured hand, "Those two were supposed to be in their seventh year at Hogwarts, I was in my fifth year... except its been over run with Death Eaters. The students who did return shouldn't have."
"Would you like to continue on with your respective years here?" Dippet chipped in, leaning forward in his chair and smiling largely at the girls as if he had given them an offer they couldn't refuse, "You may have full access to the library so that you can research how to get home whilst finishing your education."
"Professor, we woul- " Cho stopped abruptly at Hermione moving in to grasp the girls wrist tightly with her shackled hand.
"Hermione?" Astoria asked, leaning around in her chair without knocking her strapped arm. Hermione placed her hand out, palm up, at Cho with a pleading look written on her face. Very slowly, Cho pulled out her wand from a coat pocket and placed it in her proffered hand, wincing at the loss of such an important lifeline.
At that, Hermione turned around, swapped the wand into her right hand and lifted it into the air, writing 'Sixth Year' before turning back around to face the girls and both professors.
"Sixth year, Hermione?" Cho asked, "Why would we want to drop down a year?"
'Better access to Lord.'
"Miss Granger, is there a Lord here at Hogwarts who can help you? At Hogwarts?" Dumbledore enquired.
His question was met with a blank stare from Hermione, Dippet leaned forward again in anticipation of an answer. She turned around again.
'More time for research. Better knowledge of where he could be at now.' Cho nodded slightly, her eyes brushing over Astoria before looking to Dumbledore again.
"I'm happy to remain in my fifth year." Astoria murmured.
"We need to continue our education, research any and all methods on how to get home, and pinpoint where the Lord could be. Is sixth year sufficient for us to be placed into?"
"I fail to see why not," Dippet said, summoning the Sorting Hat to sit between the five occupants of the room on Dumbledore's desk, "However I must insist that you be sorted into your respective houses. After such an entrance to the school, I doubt you would prefer to have your sorting take place in front of the school?"
All three girls shook their head. Although it would appear less suspicious if they were properly sorted, it would have been much more accommodating to all be placed in the same house.
Dumbledore motioned to the Sorting Hat as he picked it up and stood to move around the side of his desk, "Miss Chang?" Cho stood tall, ignoring her aching left foot so that she could shuffle forward under the Hat.
"You have ambition, hard working and you don't want to quit. Tell me, if you saw him lying on the ground dead, what would you do?" The Hat asked, conjuring an image of Cedric lying on the ground, blood pumping out of his neck and into the grass.
"Cedric is already dead. I'd leave him there." Cho answered, remembering too many familiar faces lying amongst rubble, in the snow, falling into water never to resurface and more, and being told countless times that those who fell would try and be recovered later, when it was safer, but there was no point in risking yourself to get dead bodies out of a warzone.
"Slytherin!" The Hat shouted, shocking every occupant in the room. Cho snatched the Sorting Hat off her head and shoved it towards Dumbledore, pushing all the air in her body out of her nose rather loudly before crossing her arms and standing back in her original stance. Dumbledore shifted slightly to his right and tried to dispel the sudden tension in the room by smiling at Astoria.
"Lets do this." She grumbled, ignoring the smile and bowing her head slightly as memories of the Slytherin common room flooded her mind. How she missed the simplicity of those years.
"You left rather unwillingly," the Hat started, resulting in a snort from Astoria, "because you cared greatly for your people but didn't quite believe like they did. If it was for something different to blood purity that they worked towards, something that you believed in, would you have remained, no matter the suffering that they continued to put you through?"
"Yes."
The Sorting Hat stopped moving momentarily, before bowing down and letting out a shout of "Hufflepuff!"
This time, only the three girls were stunned. Dumbledore was still smiling when Astoria saw his face after having the Hat lifted off her head.
"For fuck's sake." She heard Cho sigh, for the second time that night, "This whole night is just going downhill."
Dumbledore silently moved past the two girls who had already been sorted and towards Hermione, slowly lifting the Hat for the last time that night. Hermione's breath came in quick bursts, what if she got placed in Slytherin like Cho? The exact opposite of her own Hogwarts days that she was so fond of, just like Astoria? Was this a mistake? To immerse themselves within Hogwarts and potentially change everything?
"Mmm, Miss Granger." She shuddered as he pulled out memories and sorted through recent happenings in her life. The hiding. The Horcruxes. The capture. The beatings. The dead friends. "You've fought hard. If this were to happen all over again, what would you change?"
Hermione shuddered again before straightening her shoulders. "I'd fight harder."
She felt the hat twist itself tighter around her head before relaxing again, curiously feeling like some sort of hug, and "Gryffindor!" broke the silence of the room. Hermione balled her right hand and flexed it again, missing her wand, as Dumbledore removed the Hat and sat it back down on his desk.
"Now," He said, turning to face the three sixth years, "How about we see to your injuries, hmm?
