Chapter Four: The skeleton

WARNING: This chapter contains scenes with dark themes; it may be distressing to sensitive readers. They aren't extreme or anything, but I thought I better warn, as it's darker than the previous chapters.

Glo woke up screaming, but no one came to comfort her, and for one moment she felt overwhelmed with homesickness. If she was back in the tower, her sister would have hugged her, comforted her, and pushed the nightmares away. But she had committed to this ting, and now she was stuck in the past, and her sister was 50 years away. It was a sobering thought. She opened the curtains and stood still as she watch Ella take a hit of Felix. The tall girl took her necklace, plucked a bubble-bead off with expert fingers and smashed the ball between the palms of her hands, and poured the shiny, sparkling dust onto her tongue. Though the bubbles looked like glass, they clearly weren't.

Glo was loath to disturb her cousin's ritual, but boredom overtook her common sense.

"What's it like, Ella?" She asked, and though Ella stayed still, her mouth took on her characteristic smile.

"Imagine sunshine flowing through your veins, and stars serenading you. And you might get close to this, sweet cousin." Said Ella, and Glo sighed. She knew that she should have expected a response like that.

"Thanks Ella." Glo said, dryly. She couldn't help but wonder what the day held for them. Neither of them had attended any sort of school before. She had been tutored by either magical experts, or her mother, and after her mother's passing, her sister. And as for Ella, Glo could only guess. She knew enough though. Ella had grown up wild, running barefoot amongst the vast Guru estate, in that unnatural summer swelter. She had run away numerous times, disappearing for months on end, coming back dirty, bruised and grinning. Her parents hadn't the ability to control Ella all that much.

Lumira had gone quietly insane soon after Ella's birth. She lived in two small rooms in the basement of one of the Guru's houses. She had her every need attended to by a sympathetic psych-witch and two house-elves. She hadn't left those rooms for 15 years, and Ella couldn't remember her face, though they communicated through letters. The two had a fierce, strange love, but Lumira had little or no power over Ella's decisions. And as for her father, the infamous Stagger Lee Guru, well…he approved of Ella's wildness, being a similar being. In fact, Stagger Lee was known to wander off around the world himself leaving his young daughter alone in the house, to be taken care of by their various house elves. He still loved his wife intensely, which may have been the reason he had never really engaged with Ella. But the neglect, the lack of discipline and so forth had resulted in the strangely laid back person that Ella was. Whether or not this would stand her in good stead for a school environment remained to be seen.

Forgetting her musings on her cousin, Glo slowly got up, stretched and got dressed, making a face when she saw the result. Without her customary getup she looked younger, and less intimidating. She looked at her makeup, then rolled her eyes. Someone who wore this outfit didn't wear Goth makeup. As her one act of rebellion, she forwent the usual school shoes and slipped on her buckle laden bondage boots. With these she felt more like herself. Glo turned around and watched Ella go through similar motions, but the other girl was moving slowly, as if in a dream. Glo frowned, hoping that this way of behaving wasn't going to continue, otherwise they'd be screwed.

Ella shook herself like a wet dog, and seemed to remove herself from her lethargy, and turned to Glo, a strange blank look on her face.

"Shall we, sweet cousin?" She asked, and Glo straightened up and they walked out of their makeshift bedroom door. They walked side by side, and Glo felt a strange camaraderie with the taller girl. Maybe the one thing she could take back to the past would be a greater affection for her cousin.

An hour into her first lesson, Glo knew she was in serious trouble. She felt like crying, or throwing up. She had no attention span, had lost track of what the professor had been saying ten minutes into the class, and now she just felt so very stupid. She had never realized how much her sister and mother had structured their lessons around her attention issues. They'd studied one thing for ten minutes, swap to another for ten, then have a break, and repeat that for the entire lesson duration. But now, forced to do the same thing for longer than she could pay attention, Glo felt so irredeemably dense. The rest of the class had their noses down, scribbling notes on their parchment, but all she had done was a quick sketch of the back of Harry Potter's head, the detail of a bird's wing that was resting outside, and endless black spirals all over her work, with a few stars.

She had always thought that she was an awesome student, that she had no faults at all. But now, here, here was a huge stumbling stone. Never mind fitting into the past, how the hell was she supposed to fit into school if she couldn't absorb anything from the lessons?

Desperately, she found herself thinking of Ella, and she wondered if the other girl was having the same issues.

"Quiet!" Growled Professor Snape, as the potion class got distracted once again. He sighed to himself, he should really have known better than to have allowed controlled experimentation, even amongst his advanced students. What it had resulted in was the students attempting to create various drugs, or cosmetic potions, both of which he didn't approve of. He glared at the noisiest, then felt his gaze fall upon the newest addition to his class, the tall girl with the permanent smile, and slightly glassy eyes. She moved carefully as she gently sprinkled dried feverfew into her cauldron, and watched her as she closed her eyes and inhaled the semi-sweet fragrance it caused.

"Enjoying that, Miss Guru?" He asked the girl, who didn't make any movement acknowledging that she'd even heard. But, after a moment her lips quirked into a slow arc, and with her eyes still closed she answered him.

"Why of course, Severus. You know I try to enjoy all things." She said softly, feeling the man's annoyance, listening to the sounds of his genius mind whirling. He knew that she and Glossolalia were anomalies, and he knew the Guru family. This kind of thing would not come as much of a surprise.

"When we are in a school environment, Ms. Guru, you will refer to me as Professor Snape." She opened her eyes and brushed a bold hand against his robes, where his thigh would be.

"And when we are out of one, you may refer to me as Ella, Professor." She said, and the man had an unlovely chuckle. He'd met Gurus before. He knew about them and this girl was just like her kin. However, unlike many people who would take the gentle seeming, spaced out girl at face value, Snape knew that the Gurus were not a family to be trusted. They had a darkness to them that would surprise many. And it didn't surprise him that the girl was flirting with him. He'd given into one Guru before….maybe he was their family's type.

"Ms. Guru, being familiar with me will not get you far in this world. How on earth will you keep yours and your dear cousin's secret if I accidentally let it slip to Dumbledore that two of his students were from the future?" He smiled nastily, and Ella narrowed her eyes, her spacey expression replaced with something like cunning. Knowing that no-one in the class was paying attention; Ella pushed her hand rudely in between the professor's legs, and looking at him, point blank. He leant towards her, and she to him.

"On the other hand, Severus….I believe that not revealing my secret could be beneficial. After all, wouldn't you like to know who to betray?" She hissed, and Snape laughed again.

"You are an interesting creature, child." She nodded gracefully and removed herself from his personal space.

"We are similar creatures, Severus. We both have skeletons in our closets. And it would be inconvenient for either of us if any of them escaped." She said, not facing him, and Snape contained the laughter he felt this time. It had been years since he'd had a dangerous opponent in school grounds. He looked forward to the challenge. He walked away smiling, then turned around.

"By the way, ten points off Slytherin, thanks to your actions, Miss Guru." He said. The rest of the class glared viciously at her, but she was back to staring into the swirling depths of her cauldron, inhaling the smoke, flicking the incandescent goo with the edge of her ladle.

It was the end of the first classes, and Glo realized that she was screwed. She felt ill after spending that much time in the one place, doing the one thing. It was hopeless. She might as well tell Ella to grab their stuff, and head on back to their own time. She just couldn't learn.

"Excuse me, Glossolalia, isn't it?" Asked a voice, and Glo turned to be face to face with Hermione Granger, one of the Golden Trio. She felt nervous, the way people feel in front of celebrities.

"Um, yes. You can call me Glo, though. I prefer that." She said, weakly. Hermione grinned, determination in her eyes. Glo felt a little scared.

"Excellent. Now, I couldn't help but notice that you're having a hard time in class, and since you're new here, you may not know how things are. So, if you're not opposed, I offer my services as a tutor, to help you get into the swing of things!" Offered Hermione, and Glo felt overwhelmed. But the other girl was looking at her, with a gleam of sincerity in her eyes. She knew, from history books, that Hermione Granger was a terrifyingly powerful witch. Learning from her would be an amazing opportunity. There was no way she could refuse the offer.

"Uhh…yes! Yes that would be wonderful. But why me?" Asked Glo, feeling a little uncertain.

"Because we Griffindors look out for each other. Now come on, we'll go grab lunch." And Hermione dragged the surprised girl behind her.

Ella emerged from the shadows, then pushed herself back into them a Draco Malfoy and his gang sauntered up the hallway.

"I don't like those new girls. They feel like Mudbloods but they both claim pureblood status. And that Griffindor bitch keeps on glaring at me." He said, and Ella walked 20 paces behind him and his posse, shamelessly eavesdropping.

"But, Draco! She's pretty hot!" Muttered Crabbe, and Goyle nodded. Draco blushed slightly, bringing colour to his pallid complexion.

"I haven't noticed." He said haughtily. Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a knowing eye roll, then they and Ella arrived in the Great Hall.

Ella saw her cousin sandwiched between Hermione and Ron and snickered to herself. It was good to see her loner cousin finally make some friends, though it was a said thought that it taken traveling back in time to find people her cousin got on with.

As Ella sat down near the end of the Slytherin tables, she felt a heated glance, and looked up to meet Professor Snape's dark eyes fixated upon her. She raised her glass, and he did the same.

Huh, thought Ella. This little history trip will be more fun than I thought!

-----(End)-----

Author's notes: Wooh! Long time to write that! Sorry. This fic has ended up heading into darkfic territory, where it was never going there in the first place. Lousy plotbunnies.

Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter, look foreward to Glo's first kiss, Ella's violent side, and an unexpected twist!