Altered State of Mind

"Excuse me" I said pushing pass two students who were determined to continue walking up the stairs close enough to not walk between but not close enough to walk around. Thankfully they seemed to listen when they glanced around and saw it was me.

"I guess being a Malfoy has some perks" I stopped when I heard Fred's voice, surprised and excited to see him coming toward me.

"Hi" I said breathlessly as he stopped and squinted at me.

"I think Oliver is waiting for you" he said as I looked around, "in the common room." I laughed, of course that was what he meant. "Are you okay?" He asked as I nodded, I hadn't seen Oliver all day.

"Yeah, I was just talking to Professor Barrass about..." I trailed off, glancing back at the door. "Um, about..." I thought hard, but couldn't recall what I was talking to him about. "I guess it wasn't that important" I said with a smile. "Can we talk?" I asked him as his eyes darted to the Professor's classroom.

"Like I said, I think Oliver is waiting for you" he repeated.

"He can wait a bit longer" I said knowing Oliver didn't mind if we didn't make out everyday. Like I told him, I didn't really want anything to be serious, I wanted to at least be friends with Fred. I was just glad he was okay with it, it was a huge relief that we talked earlier today.

"Tammie, no offense, and I mean this in the nicest way, but, we haven't talked in days, why would I talk to you now?" He asked as I felt my heart sink. Days?

"That's impossible, we were talking earlier, before I spoke with Professor Barrass, I told Oliver I needed to talk you" I told him but he just looked at me blinking.

"Don't move" he said as he continued down the rest of the steps. Ignoring him, I followed, him half glaring at me as we approached Professor Barrass' door. "This is where you where?" He asked as I nodded. He knocked, once, twice, three times but no answer.

"Ms Allen? Mr Weasley? What a surprise this is" Professor Burnner said as she came from around a corner, books in hand. "Is there something I can help you with?" She asked nodding at the door.

"I'd like to speak with Professor Barrass" Fred said.

"He's not back yet" she answered.

"No, he is, Tammie just spoke with him" he said as I happily nodded.

"Really now? I thought you were still with Oliver?"

"Haven't seen him all day" I said again. Professor Burnner started to open her mouth but the door opened, Professor Barrass greeting us all.

"Tammie said she just spoke with you but she can't remember what you talked about" Fred said as I patted his arm.

"It clearly wasn't that important, probably about my grades" I said.

"And she hasn't seen Oliver all day but I know for a fact I saw them walking off together" Fred said as I looked at him, his face showing conflicting emotion.

"Maybe that was another day, I just go back, I saw Tammie, we said hello, that was it, probably a two second conversation" he said as I nodded, that checked out. Fred stared at Professor Barrass.

"C'mon, Tammie" he said taking my hand and walking away. I glanced over my shoulder, waving at the two professors as I followed Fred up. "What do you think is happening right now?" He asked as I gave him a nervous laugh.

"That you're being a weird friend..."

"Tamm..." he ran a hand over his face. "We haven't spoken since your date at Hogsmeade" he said as I shook my head as we ended up in the library, I followed his lead and sat down next to him.

"I told you, it wasn't a date, we just went to the sporting store" I told him.

"When? When did you tell me that?" He asked as I stuttered, slightly shaking my head, knowing I told him, but it seemed a bit fuzzy as to when.

"Today I guess" I answered as he licked his lips and sighed.

"You've been with Oliver practically all day" he explained. I knew I had seen him on and off and we had a few short flirtatious interactions but I hadn't been with him for mostly a whole day.

"No I haven't" I insisted as I watched his mouth twitching.

"You and him went off together not that long ago" he said as I laughed.

"I wouldn't do that, we agreed we'd see how things went but, that was it, I wanted to work on us" I told him, gesturing from me to him.

"When did we come to that conclusion?" He asked quickly.

"Today" I answered as he shook his head. "What?" I asked with a little laugh, I knew the breakup had been a bit rocky but after our conversation this morning we said we'd work on being better friends and see where things went.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a long minute.

"Well, besides the holidays, but, we already talked about that" I told him but he didn't respond, had he forgotten our whole conversation from this morning? Or was something else wrong? I shook the thoughts away. "I told you, I was just scared to open up to you, I didn't want yo to leave me too" I said quietly as he pulled his chair closer to mine. "It sucks you know, and I'm really jealous of you, you have this big family and everyone loves and supports each other. I just have Draco now. And your parents love each other and love you. My dad died and my mom...she left. She gave me up and left" I said as I wrinkled my nose to try and fight back the tears.

"I'm sorry" he whispered as I shook my head, I didn't want to talk to him about this again, it hurt that I pushed him away because I thought he'd be the same.

"And then the Malfoys just bluntly insisted I dump you, they have no right, I like you, I was just scared you didn't like me. And then the Charity stuff—" he interrupted me with a kiss.

"There is no Charity stuff. I don't plan to leave you, Tammie. And I'm sorry I was being an unsympathetic ass" he said as he kissed me again. "But I think something is wrong" he said as I tilted my head.

"Like what?"

"What did you go to Professor Barrass' office for?" He asked but I shook my head.

"He said he just got back and—"

"No, think, what did you go see him for? You and Oliver went off to make out and something made you stop and go talk to Professor Barrass."

"How do you know what I was doing with Oliver?" I asked, feeling both guilty and annoyed if what he was saying was true, especially since I had said I wanted to work on a friendship with him and I didn't have interest in Oliver.

"Because no one goes to the Quite Corner to talk" he said as I stared at him. "Usually you two kiss before bed or after a meal or something stupid like that, but today you went off with him" Fred said, his voice sad.

"I won't do it again" I said as Fred gave a tired laugh. "We're not dating you know, him and I" I added hoping that made Fred look less exhausted.

"It doesn't matter" he said, "what matters is that something happened and we need to figure out what, first step is to figure out what you went to Professor Barrass for" he said as I nodded confidently. "Which means talking to Oliver..." he added, gritting his teeth.

"I can talk to him alone if that makes you feel better" I suggested.

"No, we can go together, c'mon." I nodded and followed him out of the library.

We made it back to the common room in a new record time but it didn't seem like Oliver was anywhere I'd expect. "Professor Barrass wanted to speak with him about some essay" Lee said as he came over to us. "What's going on?"

"Not sure yet" Fred said as he looked around, "damnit, c'mon, we'll see you later, cover me okay?" He said to Lee who happily nodded as Fred turned me around and guided me out of the common room. The portrait was just closing but I did happen to see Charity, thankfully I was just out of her view, but I reckoned that was because Lee had moved himself to distract her.

"Tammie" Draco said as he walked by, nodding at me and continuing.

"Hold on, maybe you should hear this too" I told him, managing to grab his arm before he walked off too far.

"Do you think it's best he's involved?" Fred asked.

"He's my cousin, Fred, yes" I told him as Draco looked from me to him.

"Are you two back together already? I expected his attention to be short, but yours to be longer than the life of a flea" he said with sarcasm.

"No" Fred and I said unison. "I mean," I started, pulling Draco closer. "Fred thinks something weird happened" I said as Draco looked at Fred.

"She went to talk to Professor Barrass supposedly and came back with a jumbled up account of what she did today" Fred explained.

"You saw Melinda this morning, you two talked about the upcoming Quidditch game, she asked how things were with Oliver, how you were mentally, how..." he trailed off and glanced at Fred, "he asked if you two had talked."

"Really, she told you all this?" Fred said highly doubtful.

"I was there, we usually talk for a few minutes in the morning, you've been pretty down since, you know, the break up and Christmas, I always try to check up on you every morning; Melinda doesn't hesitate to come with me."

"Did I say anything about Professor Barrass?" I asked but Draco shook his head. "And nothing about wanting to talk to Fred?"

"You always say you want to talk to him, but he just kinda ignores you, makes it hard for me to be near the guy right now" he said with a snort as Fred glared at him, "you've been normal otherwise, I'll talk to Melinda, I'm sure she'll seek you out before the night is over." I nodded and thanked Draco as he continued on his way.

"Now what?" I asked Fred who shrugged as we walked down the remaining stairs.

"Nothing weird has been going on with Professor Barrass? He hasn't asked to see you after class or overly concerned with your life?" He asked but I shook my head, but then recalled my awkward conversation with Professor Burnner.

"He talked to Professor Burnner about my relationship to the Malfoys. She mentioned it the other day, she was really kind I guess" I said and then remembered the daydream. "I spaced out during class, had this really weird dream or something about a graveyard. But the thing is, it wasn't my first one; I had one before I came here, I saw Hogsmeade before I was there. And then I saw the Malfoy Manor before going there for the holidays" I explained.

"Those sound a lot like visions, Tammie" Fred said in a serious tone but I shook my head.

"I'm not important enough to be a Seer" I told him with an off laugh.

"But it sounds like that's what they are."

"What what are?" Melinda was walking toward as we entered the great hall, probably having no idea where else to go. "Draco just filled me in, are you okay?" She asked as I nodded but Fred shook his head.

"She's having visions and she doesn't have an accurate account of what she did today" Fred told her.

"What's the last thing we can all agree on?" Melinda asked.

"Um, before bed, I said goodnight to Oliver" I told her in a quiet voice as Fred rolled his eyes but nodded.

"Okay, and when you woke up?" She asked.

"I went to the common room after I got dressed and...talked to Fred, we had a really long conversation, went into breakfast" I recalled as Fred shook his head.

"No, you came down, you said hi, George dragged me off to breakfast as Oliver was coming in" he corrected.

"You must not have talked to him long because you came down by yourself, you ate with Harry, Hermione and Ron, I remember because I waved, you stayed the whole time and when you finished you came over to my table to talk to me and Draco" Melinda finished.

"Are you sure that was today?" I asked, thinking maybe we were remembering different days.

"Positive" Melinda said quickly, "so, it's apparent your mind was altered" she concluded as I started to shake my head, but I knew she was right, something about recalling my day didn't feel entirely real, like it happened, but I didn't go through the motions of it happening. "What was your recent vision about?" Melinda asked.

"They're not visions—okay, whatever; it was a graveyard—"

"Whose?"

"I don't know, it was really dark and the person by the tombstone was...dark, they were wearing dark clothes and..." I tilted my head, recalling something I hadn't before, "they were crying" I said, feeling sad.

"Maybe your mom was visiting your dad's grave?" I was shaking my head before Melinda finished her sentence.

"No, because I had the same vision in Hogsmeade, I got this cold sensation when I leaned in, the person turned toward me and it was just, cold" I told her as they both nodded.

"Okay, so, don't let her out of your sight, I'll tell Draco the same thing when you're in class with him, and obviously the rest of us will keep an eye on you, if you have anymore visions tell us" Melinda said as she stood up, Fred and I standing too.

"Where are you going?" I asked as she started out.

"The library!" She called back, almost bumping into someone as she ran out.

"Guess I'm stuck with you, Allen" Fred teased as I tried not to smile too widely. I wouldn't have it any other way.