Chapter Twenty and Four (Wow, already! I owe everything to my teacher Mrs. Shekspir because she read all of my chapters and told me things to do. Of course I ignored her but that's artistic license. Tomorrow she's going on maternity leave and I'll have to write it all by myself, sniff (sad face)). Mrs. Shekspir, if you're reading this, I figured out how the story ends! But I'm not telling anybody else until the last chapter. :D
Araminta followed Professor McGonagall up the escalator to Professor Dumbledore's office for the second time in two days (the password was Blue Raspberry Blow Pops). She knocked on the door and showed Araminta inside.
The first thing Araminta saw was the beautiful red and gold phoenix on a little bird stand. "Fawkes-Iolanthe!" she shouted before she could help herself. Then, she clapped her hands over her mouth. "Sorry, Papa Dumbledore."
Albus Dumbledore looked very confused. "Beautiful child, I don't have any children of my own. The children of Hogwarts are all mine."
Araminta laughed a silvery, bell-like giggle. "Oh, sorry. You've never been upset when I called you that before, godfather. I suppose I look different than I looked when you gave me the aging spell last night. Look, my hair is down past my knees now! It's aching my head, it's so long."
Albus shook his head slowly. "I am a godfather to many children, it is true, but none of them is close to your age. Perhaps you have changed a lot since--wait, aging spell? What is this madness? Who are you?"
"I'm Araminta Malfoy-Potter," she answered. "You know, the daughter of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter."
Albus looked out over his half-moon spectacles with a stony expression. "I should take points from your House for telling lies."
Araminta felt panic well up in her chest. "I'm not telling lies! Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter are my daddies, and you are my godfather, and yesterday you let me turn from eleven into seventeen and I turned into a woman and was Sorted into Slythindor by that STUPID hat and Melannen his playing hooky and the Time-Turner made me fall down and I scraped my hands and knees and now everything's gone pear-shaped." She said everything in one big breath.
Dumbledore's eyes started to twinkle like little evening stars. "Ah. I think I know what has gone wrong. You say that you had a Time-Turner?"
"Yes." Araminta took the chain off her neck and handed the broken piece to him. "I was going to go to all of the classes, because school was so boring and I needed a bigger challenge. I guess I spun it too much when..."
"Is there something you wish to tell me?" Dumbledore asked.
Araminta shook her head. "I ended up here," she finished softly.
Dumbledore looked at Professor McGonagall and she looked back at him. "The question now is how should we punish you for what you have done?"
Araminta took a step backward. This was all a bad dream. Her favorite and only godfather was going to get her into big trouble, Melannen was lost, she was having cramps again, and even turning into a unicorn wouldn't save her now.
"Just kidding," said Dumbledore finally. "The real question is, how do we get you back to your own time?"