Changing the Past
Chapter thirteen
Long Morning
We were all very subdued as we left the room of requirement and headed silently to our separate dorms.
As soon as Steph and I walked into the Gryffindor common room, a bossy looking second year ran up to us.
"Which one of you is Emma Nelson?" He asks pompously. God, another Percy! I thought in horror before answering him.
"I am. Why?"
"Professor Quirrel asked me to give you this." He says, handing me a piece of paper before waltzing off up the boy's staircase.
"Nice little fellow," I compliment sarcastically as I open the letter to find my detention is tomorrow night. "Aw great! More time spent in his stinking classroom!" I complain as we find a space on the floor opposite the portrait hole to sit at.
"You did get yourself into this mess," Steph chastises me with a wry smile.
"Not my fault. I was just trying to save my breathing. Can't help being a vampire, can I?" I tell her with a grin. She rolls her eyes and starts looking around the common room. I copy her, Harry and Ron are sitting together talking in one corner, and next to them is a group of girls around fourteen years old, all giggling and looking over at Harry.
"God I feel sorry for him," I say, indicating Harry. Steph murmurs in agreement.
"What's the time?" I ask Steph but a passing girl answers.
"Quarter past 9."
"That late already! How long did it take to walk up to the RQ?" Steph asks in shock.
"No idea, but I'm going to bed." I inform her as I get up and begin to walk towards the dorms.
"Same here." Steph calls, walking after me.
In our room, we find Hermione lying on her bed reading Hogwarts: A History and Padma and Lavender sitting on Lavenders bed talking.
"Hello!" I say brightly as I head over to my bed. Hermione hums a greeting, too absorbed in her book to take proper notice.
"Hi Emma, Steph." Lavender says with a smile.
"How was your first day?" I ask as I sit on my bed, looking around at the others eagerly.
"Okay I guess." Parvati tells me.
"Favorite class so far?" Steph asks as she sits in her own bed.
"Charms." I answer immediately.
"History of Magic." Lavender tells us with a grin, "nap time."
"Charms" Parvati says.
"Potions." Steph tells us.
"Huh? You weren't even there?" Parvati asks her.
"Exactly." Steph grins as she pulls her curtains closed and begins to change.
I walk through to the adjoining bathroom and have a nice long shower before brushing my teeth and changing into my Jamie's, folding my clothes over the towel rack and leaving them for the morning. I then walk back into the room to find Hermione is the only one not in her own Jamie's.
"Hermione?" I ask, she looks up from her books, her eyes slightly glazed.
"Hmm?"
"You getting any sleep tonight?"
"Yeah! Of course! Just let me finish my chapter." I can't help but laugh at her. I have been like that so many times before back home in my own time. And I can easily still picture myself doing the exact same thing again in the library here.
"Okay dokies." I say with a smile as I lie down in my bed.
Steph, Parvati, Lavender and I chat about meaningless things and eventually, I fall asleep, lost in the lull of their voices.
. . .
Miraculously, when I wake up the next day, everyone else is still asleep. I grin, eyes lighting up as an idea springs to mind.
Five minutes and four buckets of freezing cold water later, I lay them on the floor next to each suspect's bed and stand back.
"Winguardiam Liviosa" I say quietly, concentrating on the four buckets.
Slowly, they all rise in the air and float towards the heads of my four dorm mates. Just as Steph's bucket reaches her head, the spell brakes and I stumble back, feeling suddenly drained.
Four identical screams of shock, then frustration, then anger meet me as I look back up, heaving a deep breathe. The four girls are glaring daggers at me, Steph leans over and picks up her wand.
My eyes widen, this time in fear. Without a seconds thought, I dash towards the bathroom and lock it.
My cloak and clothes from last night are now folded and clean on top of the sink counter. I put them on, silently thanking the house elves.
Once fully dressed, I stand facing the door, Hermione, Steph, Lavender and Parvati are all still complaining angrily.
Taking in a deep breathe, I pull on my Gryffindor courage and place my hand on the handle, my other hand on the lock. Releasing the breath, I open the door.
And run.
I run and don't stop till I am hopelessly lost, then, I properly look around me, stomach beginning to growl.
Spotting a window further down the corridor, I walk towards it to figure out how far I had gotten.
Outside is a view of the large, dark blue lake. Looking at the grass below, I estimate I am still about four floors up.
Time to find more stairs then.
I continue down the corridor I am in until I reach a fork. I stand, contemplating before lifting a finger to the left corridor.
"Eenie," I switch my finger to point to the right corridor, "meanie," I switch back to the left corridor, "Minnie" I continue this pattern until I finish with "mo." pointing at the right corridor.
Oh great... I think, since I'm pointing right, does that mean I go right or does it mean I have to go left? Rolling my eyes at my own stupidity, I turn and head down the left corridor.
"That's great Emma. Go get lost. Best idea you could ever come up with! Plus, if anyone walks past, they're gonna think I'm insane cause I'm talking aloud to myself... But I am already insane, so who cares?"
"I do!"
"Huh?" I turn to my right where the voice was coming from, and found a painting of a very grumpy looking little old lady.
"You heard me!" She snarks back. I raise an eyebrow.
"You can talk! You're a painting!" I snark back with equal sass in my tone.
"Oh got eyes in that thick skull of yours then?" The beady eyed, bright red haired painting glares at me.
"Don't know. I can't really see my eyes. Can you see them? Are they there?" I ask, raising the pitch of my voice in fake terror.
"A young witch in my time would never have dreamed of being so disrespectful to their elders!" The painting screeched back at me.
"Does this mean you can't see my eyes?" I ask, "Oh word! I don't want to be a blind monster! Help me!" And with that, I ran down the end of that corridor, turned a corner and found some stairs.
With a large smile plastered on my face, I make my way down four flights and find myself next to the entrance to the dungeons. Knowing exactly where I am now, I head to the great hall and walk over to the Hufflepuff table to sit next to Hannah who is half way through her toast.
"Morning," I say brightly as I sit next to my longest ever friend.
"Why are you out of breath? It's downstairs to get to here. Not up" Hannah States blankly.
"Steph, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati want to kill me." I tell her, grabbing a couple slices of pancake.
"Who wants to kill you? Do I get to join in?" I roll my eyes and turn to look behind me where Gregor and Adam are we're walking past us. I glare at Adam, the one who had spoken.
"And here I thought I was your favorite human, Adam," I whine, pouting.
"What on earth did you do to them?" Gregor asks, turned to face the door.
In walk my four roommates, talking in a huddle and glaring over at where I'm sitting.
"I may or may not have woken them up by pouring freezing cold water over them." I answer, quickly turning back to my food.
"And what gave you the idea that would be a good way to wake them up?" Hannah asks me wide eyed.
"Hermione, Parvati and Lavender woke me up yesterday by screaming at me." I say moodily, "I wanted revenge." I add with a grin.
"Do you honestly have a death wish?" Hannah asks me, shaking her head.
"Yeah, course! What fun is life without threatening it every once in a while?" I ask with a smile. Megan, across the table from us, laughs.
"What do you have today?" Hannah asks me, I take out my timetable and smile a bit.
"Charms, DADA, Herbology, Transfiguration." I answer.
"We have DADA, History, Herbology then charms." Megan says.
"We have Herbology together YEY!" I grin happily, suddenly looking forward to the day.
"Yes. And Steph has a chance to kill you in Charms." Adam kindly reminds me, my smile deflates.
"Yeah and I sit sandwich end between them," I say with dread, taking another bite of my cereal.
"What's happening with the pranking?" Hannah asks me suddenly.
"I'm gonna write a letter to mysterious mister D and ask for supplies."
"Why would he get you supplies?" Gregor asks doubtfully.
"Cause he has dragged us out of our own time and dropped us of here five years before I was even born!"
"What year is it?" Gregor asks from behind. Curious as to why they are still behind us, I turn to see them sitting at Ravenclaw table... Directly behind me.
"1991" I answer. He nods, a frown appearing on his face before turning back to His breakfast.
"Google won't even exist for another seven years!" I continue, "And doctor who finished two years ago and the next one, the movie, won't be out until 1996." I think I deserve some entertainment."
"At least The Hobbit is still out!" Finlay says happily. I glare at her.
"We are going to miss the next doctor who episode. How am I supposed to check out the next doctor if we are in 1991! We have to wait twenty three years!"
"Wow! We are going to get to witness the 1999 to 2000 celebrations!" Hannah says excitedly.
I grin at that. I was three going on four back then. I can't remember it at all, a fact that always makes me sad.
"Back on topic," Hannah begins, grinning at me, "when are you going to write the letter?"
"Lunch," I tell her.
"What are you planning?" She responded with a grin.
"A howler." I announce happily.
"How is a howler a prank?" Megan asks with a frown.
"By the contents of the howler." I answer to which I relieved confused looks.
"You'll find out." I say mysteriously.
"Okay. We're going to head to class. See you Emma," Megan tells me, getting up and taking Hannah with her.
"Well that's me dismissed." I tell the air around me before getting up and switching to the seat behind me, between the two boys.
"Hello 'claws!" I say happily.
"Morning Gryff" Adam answers back just as cheerfully.
"What age do you reckon we are?" Gregor asks me.
"Umm ten or eleven, why?"
"Gregor and I have been trying to work it out." Adam answers for him.
"Well, thinking about our birthdays, and generally you have to be eleven to start Hogwarts..." I begin, a mental calendar fixing itself in my mind's eye. "I'm going to guess I am eleven, turning twelve in January. Steph is most likely also eleven, going to turn twelve next February. Hannah will be twelve in February."
"Gregor will be eleven. Adam, you will be eleven, Finlay will probably be turning eleven on the twenty first, or will that be twelve?"
"Yeah, that's generally what we came up with." Adam agreed. "We will be turning twelve, throughout the year.
"Why aren't you in 'claw?" Gregor asks with a frown. I snort.
"Are you kidding me!? I can't pay attention in class. A skill 'claws generally have."
"Fair enough." Gregor answers smirking.
"What do you have today?" I ask them as we get up, getting ready to head to class.
"Transfiguration, charms, DADA then History of magic and Astronomy at midnight." Adam answers immediately, not needing to look at his timetable.
"Ouch!" I say, dreading Astronomy myself.
"What do you have?" Gregor asks me as we stop at the bottom of the stairs.
"Charms, DADA, Herbology then transfiguration." I tell them.
"See you then." Adam and Gregor call as they turn left, I turn right.
With a sigh, I head up the next flight of stairs and turn the corner to the charms corridor.
Reaching the door, Hermione, Steph, Lavender and Parvati step around the other side of the corridor and four equal glares find themselves directed at me.
I gulp. This is going to be an interesting day.