THIRTY-SIX

"Oh, I just don't know…" Josephine said, but with a smile. She lay on her back on her bed, still in uniform.

"What is there not to know?" Marlene exclaimed, as she ran her fingers through her hair. She deftly started plaiting it as she stared at Josie. "He obviously fancies you!" They were, of course, talking about Sirius Black. Ever since Sirius had so fantastically visited her at her window, Josephine struggled to keep it out of her mind.

"Yeah, but, he fancies so many people…" Josie replied with a nervous bout of laughter. Marlene snorted. Lily feinted working on her potions essay, but Josephine could see her smiling. "What do you think, Lily?"

"I think," said Lily without looking up, "that you're just going to have to wait and see this weekend, won't you? There's no point bothering yourself over it like this."

"That's true," Josephine admitted, but Marlene just shook her head. The truth was that Josephine felt a little uncomfortable with the whole situation. How could someone like Sirius Black fancy her? Apart from the obvious self-esteem issues that Josephine faced, she was also grappling with potential insanity. If Sirius knew that, he would run away screaming. There must be something about her that he liked, else he wouldn't give her the time of day. Josie couldn't deny it, it felt good.

But, as Lily pointed out, she had gone over it time after time in her head, while outside of it, nothing had changed. Besides that, she had started drawing again, and no strange curses had manifested in her. All things considered, Josephine was living in good news.

Ice cold air entered her lungs as she gasped for air. Tangible darkness pushed against her body as she struggled forward. Joints weak, Josephine tried to support herself against the tiled wall - tiles. They were tiles. the black of the ceramics swallowed her vision for a second and she had to focus on the white mortar running in between them. There was a trigger in her head that was a beacon against the intense mental fog. She had been here before. The hallway extended in front of her and she experienced such longing that her body shook at the distance in front of her.

With every shuffle forward, her body convulsed more and more, and pins and needles started restlessly stippling up her limbs as they were released from numbness. She looked down at her irritated hands at the hot, throbbing pain in her fingers as the saturated blood clotting under what was left of her fingernails. But she couldn't look away from her destination for too long. A few more steps. It was becoming easier and easier to walk while sensation was returned to her. Josephine could make out something at the end of the hallway and her heart seemed ready to split her ribcage at the inevitable craving to reach it. It was a door, the same unforgiving black as the tiles that surrounded her. There was a blinding gleam off the silver doorknob that seared into her pupils, and then she was falling.

This time Josephine awoke screaming. Her brain felt like it had been removed and replaced upside down as she nauseously laboured against the claustrophobic machine she was placed in. She drew in ragged, panicked breaths. Phil Temporalis hastily helped her out of the ties and checked on her health. But this time Josie did not vomit. Her head was spinning as she collapsed on a chair and studied her own hands. They were identical to how they looked before she entered the timepiece that evening, yet the same throbbing pain was travelling through her shuddering bones. It became all too easy to imagine blood pumping sickeningly under her skin. She vaguely heard Phil discussing with Dumbledore, but she couldn't concentrate. Josie had just realised something much more important. She recognised that door.

"Prof-" Josephine stammered quietly. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "Professor Dumbledore," She said. The headmaster came into her vision at her side as she leaned heavily agains the armrest of her chair. His concerned expression made her want to tell him everything, to reassure him. All this pain she was going through meant something- all this effort and risky experimentation- she didn't regret any of it. Wanting to explain all of this abstract emotion to the professor, all she managed to get out of her tired vocal chords was: "I think it's working."

Author's Note: I have the next few chapters completely planned out, and let me tell you, I'm excited. Also sorry forgive me for the long gap...