It was one of the strangest sensations she had ever felt in her life. Walking through the darkened hallways of her school, everything felt the same. Yet at the same time, every little detail was somehow different. Not that things felt newer, as nothing about the school even 60 years earlier than when she had attended was new, but everything had a strangeness to it. Familiar and yet unknown to her, inviting and seeming to want her out, as though the very walls themselves knew that she didn't belong within them. Not yet, anyway.
Following Professor Dumbledore, Juni's head buzzed with what felt like a million different thoughts, all spiralling and colliding with one another. Some of the paintings on the walls regarded her curiously, wondering if she was a student caught out of bed being brought to be reprimanded? Or if something else may be going on? They whispered amongst themselves, not helping Juni's mental state in the slightest.
Dumbledore had decided it would be best if he held onto the time-turner for the time being. That way he could study it and determine what exactly had happened that brought her back so far in time. He told her that if he could figure out what went wrong, then perhaps he could begin to correct the problem. He had located a small velvet bag that had been filled with various bits and bobs and emptied its contents into a small drawer in his desk. He told her that the time turner would be safest in a location where it wasn't able to be accidentally spun, so the bag it was.
Upon reaching a very familiar statue of a large and ugly gargoyle, Juni watched as Dumbledore muttered something that she couldn't hear, causing the gargoyle to leap aside as the sound of shifting and scraping of stone against stone began to reveal a hidden set of stairs. Juni had never actually been up to the headmaster's office herself while she was a student, and her eyes wandered upwards towards where she could no longer see at the top of the spiral staircase in front of them.
"Just this way," Dumbledore instructed, gesturing slightly as he began to climb the stairs. It made Juniper wonder how he had maybe felt, taking this as his own office all those years ago… Years in the future? Her head was beginning to hurt as she followed the professor up the stairs, stopping at a heavy, wooden doorway. Lifting a large, bronze knocker, Dumbledore rapped the door several times before entering the room behind it, Juni close at his heels.
"Headmaster Dippet?" Dumbledore called out to the large, circular room. A fireplace crackled softly in its hearth on one side of the room as Juni looked at all the portraits lining the walls, most of them old and sleeping. Some of them she recognized from old textbooks and she realised that they must have been the headmasters that had come before Dippet - and then before Dumbledore.
There was a loud clanging sound from somewhere she couldn't see towards the back of the room followed by the closing of a large, heavy book.
"Albus?" A man called out, his voice old and tired sounding. "Is that you?"
"Headmaster, I seem to have run into…" He glanced backwards and Juniper. "An interesting situation." Juni felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her trousers.
"Well nothing can possibly be worse than last year," an older man strode further into the room towards them, his nightgown and cap already on for the night. What time was it, anyway? "Well who's this now?" Dippet blanked at her and she quickly looked to Dumbledore for help.
"Ah," Dumbledore placed a hand firmly on Juni's shoulder, steering her forwards slightly as he smiled at Dippet. "This is Juniper White. The transfer student from Beauxbatons Academy, that you'll recall I told you about last week at the start of term. She was unable to come until tonight and seemed to have gotten a little lost. Luckily, she ended up at my door."
Juniper froze, her stomach flipping on itself as she watched Dippet inspecting her carefully, considering what Dumbledore had just told him.
"Yes," he finally agreed, nodding and smiling gently at her. "Yes, of course. Our apologies, Miss White. We should've had someone meet you at the station." Dippet closed the rest of the space between them and held out his hand which Juni took, hoping hers wasn't sweating too much for him to notice. "I trust your things have made their way inside?" He made a side eyed glance towards Dumbledore who nodded. "Excellent! Excellent."
"We just need to get her sorted and on her way with a class schedule for tomorrow morning," Dumbledore informed him pointedly. "It is Sunday evening, after all."
"Ah! Yes," letting go of Juni's hand, Dippet made his way over to a too-large bookshelf filled nearly to the point of overflowing with ancient looking tomes. Digging his wand out from his pocket, he muttered softly as he flourished it, sending what she immediately recognized as the sorting hat off the very top shelf and into his hand. Replacing the wand into his pocket, he straightened the hat out, smoothing the brim as best he could as he walked over towards them. "All you do is put this over your head and you'll be sorted into a school house. Of… course you're familiar with the school houses, correct?" Dippet asked, suddenly growing unsure if she actually would know or if he would have to educate her quickly.
"Of course, sir," Juni told him quickly, wanting to listen to his explanation just as little as he wanted to explain in the first place.
"Wonderful," Dippet smiled at her as he handed the sorting hat to her. "Here you are." Juniper took the hat gingerly in her hands, inspecting it for a moment before putting it over her head. Almost immediately the hat began to speak in her head.
"How… Curious," it began and Juni glanced around the room, suddenly wondering if this was a bad idea after all. What did she have to prove, anyway? Perhaps she should've just told Dumbledore she was a Huffle-
"You've already been sorted, eh? Interesting how you seem to have… Countless memories of being in Hufflepuff, and yet I don't recall ever having sat upon your head before." The sorting hat mused. "While you do have many qualities of a true Hufflepuff…" Juni's heart dropped. She knew exactly what the hat was about to do.
"Slytherin!" It spoke out loud and it took all that she had not to rip the hat off her head and throw it. Forcing herself to remain calm, she slowly lifted the hat off of her head, gripping the brim a little too forcefully as she handed it back to Headmaster Dippet.
"An honourable house, to be sure," he informed her happily as he took the hat back. Turning slightly, he tossed the hat up in the air towards the direction of the bookshelf and it seemed to carry itself on some invisible wind back to its place. A pressure that had already taken place inside Juni's head began to grow more forcefully, sitting directly between her temples. On top of everything else that had happened in the last couple hours, an identity crisis was the last thing she needed or wanted. "Shall we find Horace?"
"I can find him," Dumbledore offered, glancing at Juni. "Juniper, Professor Slughorn will be your head of house for the term. He'll show you to your dormitory and be the one you go to for any problems that you might have." He gave her a small wink as though to tell her that obviously she should be going to him rather than Slughorn for any… 'real' problems.
"Oh, that would be wonderful, Albus," Professor Dippet made his way to a large, sturdy and plain wooden desk towards the centre of the room before shifting through a stack of parchment. "Yes, very helpful," he continued, pausing to read the contents of the papers occasionally, he frowned slightly. "It would appear there aren't too many elective classes remaining, I'm afraid. My dear, would you like to take a look at the options, or..?"
"I'm okay with whatever's easiest," Juni offered, knowing it wouldn't really matter what she was in, hoping she wouldn't be stuck here for the whole term.
"Of course," he flashed a smile at her as he took his wand out from his pocket again. Tapping a blank piece of parchment, a new course schedule appeared for her, the letters forming quickly in plain black ink. Picking it up, Dipped looked over it as he walked back towards her, handing it out to her. "There you go."
"Thank you, sir," Juni smiled at him, taking the parchment without looking at what it said. She folded it in half twice and went to stuff it in her back pocket. Pausing, she reconsidered, opting to hold it instead so it didn't have the chance to fall out and get lost.
"I'm sure you'll fit in perfectly here at Hogwarts, Miss White," Dippet straightened a little as he spoke his school's name, clearly taking some pride in it. "We have a top-notch team of educators here that are more than ready to help you as you transition into your next steps."
"We absolutely are," Dumbledore agreed, the twinkle back in his eye. "Come, it's getting late. Allow me to introduce you to Professor Slughorn." Dippet nodded to Albus in silent thanks as Dumbledore led Juni back towards the door. "Goodnight, Headmaster."
"Lovely to make your acquaintance, Miss White," Dippet called after them as Dumbledore closed the door. Making their way down the stairs in silence, Dumbledore turned down the hall, Juniper in tow. After they had gotten a little bit of distance, travelling down two hallways and down one flight of stairs, Dumbledore leaned down to speak quietly to her, as though someone were lurking in the empty hallway, listening.
"It's best until I figure out the true nature of this time turner that no one else knows about your situation," he informed her as they walked. Juni's brow furrowed slightly.
"Sir, how long were you planning that lie?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Since deciding to help," he shrugged one shoulder. Juniper looked forward again, the pressure in her head worsening still. So he had planned this lie the entire time and lied to her when he told her Dippet would know the truth of the situation?
Descending down several more flights of stairs, Juni shivered as the air became cooler, thankful for the torches and their small wafts of heat they gave off as they passed by. Finally stopping at a door she only vaguely recognized, Dumbledore knocked loudly.
"Horace?" he called through the wood and after a few moments they heard movement from the other side.
"Just a moment!" a voice called from deep inside the room. "Just a moment!" It repeated from closer, a locking mechanism scraping against the other side of the wood heard shortly after. The man who opened the door was stocky and balding, his nighttime robes hanging just above a pair of plush slippers. "Albus! What brings you here at this hour?" The man's eyes drifted to Juni and back to Albus questioningly.
"This young lady is your new student," Albus told him with a soft smile. "She's a transfer from Beauxbatons and was very recently sorted into Slytherin house." Juni felt her stomach lurch, suddenly mad all over again. She looked away quickly, instead looking past Slughorn into the room behind him. Elegantly decorated with a fire crackling in the back, her eyes landed on a table seemingly full of snacks. Her stomach rumbling softly, Juni shifted her weight to her other foot, realising for the first time how hungry she was.
"Oh, goodness, welcome then!" The man smiled at her, bringing her attention right back to the conversation. "I'm sure you'll quickly find that Slytherin is easily the best house of the lot," he chuckled softly, eyes drifting up towards Dumbledore. "Er, sorry, Albus." Chuckling again softly, he paused. "Oh- my name is Professor Slughorn, I'll be your head of house. I'm also the potions master, if you've got that on your schedule."
"Oh, um," Juni fumbled with the parchment still in her hands as he waited for her. "I… I do… On Wednesday mornings, sir." Looking back up at him as she folded the paper again, he beamed at her.
"A NEWT level student, eh? I'm sure we'll get along famously," he placed one hand on her shoulder as though he were already proud of her before moving it away, his attention brought back to Dumbledore. "I can take things from here, Albus! I suppose you'll need to be shown where your dormitory is?"
"Yes, sir," Juni smiled almost shyly at the two of them. Albus returned her smile, his hands in his pockets.
"Thank you, Horace," Dumbledore bowed his head slightly to him before looking back at Juni. "And Juniper, if you need anything, you know where to find me."
"I can handle any issues she may have, Albus!" Slughorn waved a hand dismissively and moved further into the hallway, leading Juniper away. "Slytherin house, as you'll find, has a long and impressive history! Full of countless witches and wizards who have achieved incredible things. Merlin himself was in Slytherin house, you know!"
She, of course, did know that. Having come from a long line of proud Slytherins, she knew a lot more about the house than she ever cared to know. But she humoured the professor anyway- he was nice enough and clearly passionate about it. He continued to talk through the remainder of their walk towards the Slytherin common room, but Juni's thoughts were far from whatever he was saying. She could trust Professor Dumbledore to help her, right? She thought that she could trust him when she had known him… But he had already lied to her about something so small. Come to think of it, she really couldn't think of any good reason that he had to help her other than an obligation to do what was right. Was that enough? Juniper tried to push the thoughts from her mind as they came up to a large ornate tapestry hanging on the wall squarely between two decorative torches. It was only then that she noticed Professor Slughorn wasn't stood in front of the tapestry at all, but facing the other side of the hallway, in front of a bare patch of stone wall instead.
"Salazar," he spoke out loud, raising his eyebrows to look at her. "That's the current password, remember that." She made a mental note as she joined him at the wall, watching a doorway form from the shifting stones. "Alright, in you pop!" He gestured towards the doorway and she made her way through, Slughorn following behind. Juni listened as the stones shifted behind her, stepping into a large domed room bathed in a calming green light. Even the windows around the room seemed to glow green as she gazed towards them curiously. The room was furnished with plush sofas and chairs, all sat around either the massive fireplace in the centre of the room or thick wooden tables and bookshelves lining the walls. On either end of the room sat a hallway, one of which she assumed would go to the boys dormitories, the other the girls. It was only as Slughorn squeezed past her did she notice that the room in front of her was full of students. And that they were all staring directly at her: an intruder.
"Everyone, good evening!" Slughorn began cheerfully, waving towards the room. A few of the students muttered 'good evenings' back to him, but otherwise they remained largely silent. Juni felt her cheeks burning as she glanced between the faces. For a moment she wondered if she would recognize any of them simply due to their families. "This is Juniper White, a transfer student from Beauxbatons Academy in France! She's joining us for her final year of magical education here and has just been sorted into Slytherin house. I'm sure you'll all help me in making her feel quite welcome here, won't you?" The room remained silent for a few moments, their eyes boring into her making her want to hide away.
"You're French, are you?" a boy who looked like he could be Juni's age asked from where he sat, lounging on one of the chairs, one eyebrow raised. His legs were draped over the arm, his back against the opposite one as he held a book in his lap. The boy's dark hair was long and tied back in a small bun at the back of his head, a few strands framing his pale face.
"Oh, um," Juni cleared her throat softly. "My parents are actually from London… Just moved to France before I started school."
"Wonderful, wonderful!" Slughorn said cheerfully, clapping her on the back gently before looking around the room for a few moments. "It is late, however. Half past 10 already, and certainly past lights out. Off to bed, everyone. On you go!" Gesturing slightly with his hand towards the room, he looked back to Juniper, pointing to the left of the room. "Your dormitory is just over there, down that hallway. There's a separate wing for each year, yours should be at the end. I'm sure you'll find a bed already set up for you with all your things already there. If you have any questions or problems at all…" Slughorn gave another glance towards the students grudgingly shuffling off towards their dorms. "Do let me know, okay?" He gave her a small smile as he said his goodnights and made his way back towards the exit, leaving Juniper alone.
Note: Thank you so much for reading so far, I hope you're enjoying it! Please let me know if you have any feedback at all, reviews are very much appreciated :) E