Disclaimer- I don't the present Harry Potter characters but La-De-Freakin'-Da because J.K. doesn't own most of the future characters! *saunters to the back of the room where I give in to fits of evil laughter*
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The four companions stared on in nerve wracking silence at the pale girl that was sprawled on the bathroom's slightly damp, checkered floor only minuets earlier. Neville, seemingly the most naive of the group looked on in awe as he couldn't get over the fact that the kid, earlier established as Harry's kid, resembled Hermione in so many ways hen her emerald eyes were shut. He extended his wand cautiously as if she were to spring up and attack any second and gently nudged the side of her paled face and drew back his extended arm quickly, forcing her to shift slightly. Just as he was about to repeat this notion Harry gripped his arm tightly and shook his head solemnly to his overly curious friend.
"Stop poking her face!" Hermione hissed sharply in a frantic tone. They, at least her and Neville had been spotted and apparently recognized and this was reason enough to panic in her book.
"Haven't you noticed? She's a striking image of-" Neville started not even bothering to raise his eyes from the girl's limp figure to Hermione's intent gaze. Harry cut him off before he made the situation even more uncomfortable or tense in Ron's case. Ron had slunk to the back of the bathroom and had taken to glaring at Harry with a certain amount of hatred blazing in his sapphire eyes. Harry didn't even have to turn around to face him to know he was shooting daggers at him. His best friend's kid held a striking resemblance to his crush. Ron had a reason to be a little steamed, Harry decided as he attempted to ignore Ron's behavior.
"We know who she looks like Neville. Never mind that now, we have to figure out what to do with her..." Harry muttered seemingly to himself as he stroked his chin as he thought of possible ways to improve their poor situation.
"I'm sure her handsome, rich Daddy will rescue her in due time." Ron mocked nastily in the background, pronouncing rich in a way that made Harry want to slap him momentarily. Harry's eyes darted to Hermione and from the look she was giving off he decided she was thinking the same.
"You make it sound as if her father was Malfoy, Ron." Neville pointed out with a slight grin suppressed on his flushed face. Apparently, he hadn't caught Ron's secret meaning of what he said or he didn't want to.
"Puh. Might as well be, now that we see what attracts the likes of her, money, lots of it." Ron brooded silently with a hint of self pity in his voice, jutting his chin toward Hermione.
"Ron," Harry growled in a warning tone to his peeved friend.
"Now Ron, that's no way to talk about this girl's mother whoever she might be." Neville said dismissively as he grabbed the girl by her shoulders and attempted to hoist her gently to her feet.
"Right Hermione?" Neville questioned. Hermione didn't respond though. She just kind of stared blankly at the girl with a face as pale as hers. Upon closer inspection Harry saw that she appeared to be vibrating a bit as if she was trembling, very un-Hermione like.
"You okay?" Harry questioned quietly as he nudged her side gently, awaking her from her trance.
"Wha-? Yeah. Fine..." she mumbled as she gave them a weak smile.
"Well, what should we do with her?" Harry questioned aloud, somewhat frantically.
"It's obvious, we leave her here! By the time she comes to we'll already be long gone out of this stupid future!" Ron announced as he made his way to the exit not even bothering to glance back at his friends as if they would automatically agree with his idea.
"No." Harry stated firmly.
"Something could happen to her!" Neville said in a concerned tone.
"Honestly, what harm could come her way lying on a bathroom floor?!"
"..."
"I rest my case." Ron replied to their silence testily as he grabbed for the bathroom door.
"I'm not moving." Harry said in a voice barely above a whisper but he was sure Ron heard him because of the abrupt stop of footsteps. Ron spun around in his tracks and faced Harry with a scowl on his face that was usually saved solely for Malfoy and spat out,
"Fine. We all know you have a thing with brunettes!" was the last thing he screamed before slamming the door behind him, startling both Hermione and Neville.
An uneasy silence flooded the room as the three friends sat motionless. Neville's eyes shifted around nervously as if he were having an inward conflict with himself whether to go after Ron or accompany his other friends. Hermione on the other hand had her eyes focused intently on Harry with a hint of pity in her cinnamon eyes.
"Harry-" she started before being cut off.
"I'll go after him. Before he ends up in trouble..."
"...I wonder what Lupin could be doing to the Slytherins that would take so long..." Archie wondered aloud as he glared at the chess set in front of him as if he were willing it to move telepathically. He along with Lizzy was lounging on the floor of the hospital wing as the rest of the team minus Alexia.
"I win." Lizzy announced to him before he could make a move.
"What do you mean? I didn't even move yet!" Archie protested.
"I win!" she repeated again a bit louder.
Hermione glanced down at the chess board and noted the odd positions of the pieces. All the pawns were gathered on Archie's half of the board and the other pieces were arranged in various shapes like hearts and circles on Lizzy's side.
"That can't be chess. What's the name of that game?" Hermione questioned the two.
"It's called 'I win'."
"That explains it..." Benny muttered as he arranged his expanding tooth collection.
"Hey, I wanna play next!" Sebastian announced as his eyes darted around eagerly. He was always one for competition.
"Yay! I'm gonna win again!" Lizzy cheered herself aloud.
As Sebastian took Archie's position on the floor he began to arrange the pieces in any which way, his intentions obviously set on winning.
"...You can't win a game she made up, dummy." Benny pointed out before he slapped his oldest brother on the back of his head.
"Hey! You're just jealous 'cause you couldn't beat her either."
"I was winning; she just changed the rules again...."
"Hey guys-" Riley started as shifted off the stiff hospital bed. She moved about the hospital wing warily until she reached the door, all eyes following her. Riley poked her head out of the door and surveyed the drafty corridor before turning briskly towards them. "Alexia's been gone for a long time guys." she stated uneasily, obviously concerned for the younger girl.
"Yeah, I wonder what she's doing in that bathroom-" Juny started as he grinned slyly.
"Don't you start." Archie warned him sharply before returning his full attention to Riley.
"Where do you think she could be?" Shane questioned pure concern evident in his quivering voice.
"Well, she's either lost her way and ended up in the steaming depths of some eastern jungle where she's now being sacrificed to a giant ape-" Samantha began jokingly, absentmindedly stroking her bruised arm as the others stared at her skeptically, or in Shane's case, terrified.
"-Or, she's been taken hostage by these four burly foreigners and is currently under some sleeping draught on the bathroom floor this very instant." Samantha finished logically, turning to Harry for approval as he was usually the only one who enjoyed her unpredictable tales.
"…That makes sense." Harry replied, nodding silently in agreement.
"Exactly! And who in this room feels worthy enough to venture beyond to the abyss known as the girls' bathroom on a quest for our kidnapped duchess Alexia?" Samantha challenged darkly, getting to her feet and traveling towards the door.
"…Count me in." Benjamin quipped excitedly, dropping his teeth in a forgotten pile on the floor and trailing after Samantha.
"Er…Sorry Ben, I don't think you're allowed…you know the Er…little insignificant fact that you are indeed…a male. It is a girls' bathroom after all." Sebastian reminded the eager child, not bothering to look up from the game he was getting brutally defeated at.
"I can definitely fix that-" Ben started to say before Harry shooed him away from the door suddenly.
"No you won't." He said sternly, pondering suspiciously at what exactly had Ben planned to fix.
"Fine then, I'll settle for Riley in that case…" Samantha replied, rolling her eyes though there appeared to be a slight grin plastered on her face.
"Oh darn, this was just starting to get good, too." Riley said sorely, motioning to Sebastian and Lizzy's board game which had now resulted in Lizzy tossing broken players in Sebastian's face. Her guess was he was loosing.
"Yes, yes, come on girls, let's go." Harry spoke up, urging the two out of the hospital wing before a certain strict nurse came out from her office and banish him for disturbing the patients…again.
"Dad!" Fiona called out, clearly surprised at her father's new intentions of joining the search party.
"Why what a regular Peeping Tom, you are, trying to sneak into the girls' bathroom, Professor. Why, I recall only a week ago a certain someone chewing me out because I was generous on lending a helping hand in the girls' locker rooms. Any idea where that guy went?" Phoenix questioned smugly, nudging his father's side.
"Well-I-" Harry started to say, flustered, suddenly feeling heat rise up to his face.
"Yes, a bit of a problem, he has. In fact, I remember a certain somebody too, only this somebody was simply determined to find a way up to the girls' dormitories without getting tossed off the stairs-" Hermione reminisced whimsically, drumming her fingers together in a docile manner, oblivious to the extreme discomfort of Harry, who's entire visible complexion had taken on an unhealthy cherry red glow.
"That's enough of that!"
"Actually, that somebody ended up taking a sex change potion in his moment of desperation-"
"It was a moment of genius!" Harry protested firmly, choosing wisely to ignore the sniggers and giggles that were arising throughout the room.
"…Quite a sight it was to see this gangly girl throwing a fit once he actually made it up the stairs because he realized he wasn't be able to do anything in his girly condition-"
"Come on girls, its time to go, seems your Professor's getting senile in her old age, poor dear doesn't even remember it was her who always managed to find a way into the my dormitory-" Harry muttered on his way out, towing Samantha and Riley along with him.
"Mom…" Benjamin questioned, getting his breath back from his fit of giggles.
"Mmm?"
"Why do so many things made in the seventies have to do with being a transvestite?" He inquired, innocently enough.
"…Excuse me? What do you mean made in the seventies?"
"…Well…if Dad was born July 31st, 1980…wouldn't it mean that Grandma and Grandpa Er…during '79?"
"…Benny, remember that time you ruined the upcoming Christmas for yourself and your little sister when you concluded St. Nicholas didn't exist?" Archie asked him after a while.
"…Yeah…that was two days ago. And she said my brain was calculating too fast for my eight-year-old mind."
"Exactly."
"What do you mean-?"
"Exactly," Archie stated again, with an unshakable tone of finality. "Besides, Professor P. wasn't a transvestites, he was a transsexual. Duh." Archie concluded smugly, barely dodging a wayward chess piece Sebastian had hurled during his defeat, which was readily followed out the door by Lizzy…
"Ron, Ron wait up!" Harry called out breathlessly, hurrying through the corridors to catch up to his seething comrade.
"What do you want?" Ron snarled behind him, not bothering to control the volume of his voice.
"I want to-what's wrong with you? You can't just blow up and tramp off like that, Ron! Something could've happened to you!" Harry exclaimed too, outraged at Ron's jealous behavior.
"Oh yes, that's Saint Potter for you, always looking out for those less fortunate!" Ron spat in his face acidly.
"Ron…Mate, not like this is very different from most times but, you're-not-making-any-sense!" Harry countered back at him, grabbing his lanky friend by his shoulders.
"Don't touch me Harry, I thought you we're my friend!" Ron growled, literally
throwing Harry off him, sending him recoiling into a wall.
"If I wasn't your friend don't you think I would've abandoned you in Hogsmeade for causing this whole mess?" Harry raged back at him, beginning to feel a bit livid as well.
"Is that what its like to you? I caused this whole mess? I'm nothing but a nuisance to the great Harry Potter, I see. He just tolerates his poor sidekick to look good in front of Hermione." Ron spouted icily, feeling self pity for himself, like he'd done so many times before.
"…Is that what this is about?" Harry inquired incredulously, giving a dry, hacking laugh at Ron's idiotic behavior over Hermione, only realizing his mistake after Ron had snarled at him yet again, his expression livid and his face burning. "We-We travel twenty-three years into the future and all you can think about is-"
Harry was immediately cut off by a clinched fist swinging into his face, narrowly missing his eye but crashing into his nose instead, not fatal enough to cause severe injury though hard enough.
"Argh!" Harry hollered out in a strangled cry, clutching his nose protectively, glowering at an undoubtedly surprised, though furious Ron.
"Harry-I'm really-" Ron cried out frantically, reaching for Harry's face before he too collided with a flying fist of fury, Harry's no doubt.
"Aye! Harry what was that about?!" Ron whimpered, doubling over to clutch his wounded stomach swiftly.
"Ron, will you please-" Harry pleaded with his injured friend as his eye was slammed into by Ron's bitter wrath, knocking his glasses askew onto the floor.
"Oh wow mate, I didn't mean to-"
"Knock it off! We-won't-get-anywhere-with-this!" Harry hollered in Ron's ear, clearly frustrated as he pummeled Ron up against the wall, striking blindly into whatever opening Ron left.
"We won't get anywhere with any of this! I'm through with you, Potter!" Ron shouted, throwing Harry off of him once more.
"Oh-Oh yeah?" Harry countered weakly, blindly groping the floor for his glasses.
"Yes! I'm going home! You and your little Hermione can stay here and rot for all I care, got it?!" Ron hollered hatefully in Harry's direction, stepping backwards as he wiped his bloody lip off roughly.
"Got it!" Harry replied bitterly, not really knowing what to say.
"Good!" Ron called out, spinning on his heel, continuing on his way to Headmaster Lupin's office.
"Good! Go, get out of here!" Harry commanded, shaking a fist in his direction.
"…I am!" Ron spat, heading around a corner.
"No, I am!"
"…I am!" Ron retorted angrily, sticking his head from behind the corner.
"Go ahead Ron, be a big man and take the last word!"
"…Ho hum…he must be speaking to someone who actually wants his charity!"
"Grr…Why that-that"
"…Disgusting display of rowdy hooliganism should cost you your brooms, yes it should!" Headmaster Lupin commented sternly to the seething Slytherin Quidditch team that stood before him getting chastised for their previous unruly behavior.
"…Isn't that right, Snuffles?" Lupin questioned his burly, shaggy dark Labrador named after his late friend's 'clever alias'.
"Like you would have the nerve, Lupin-" Francis spat out, holding up an intimidating fist to Lupin, who sat unnerved.
"Your brother Victor didn't seem to think I'd have the nerve either, Ms. Weasley. And I tell you, it really didn't tear me up to send him away, either." Lupin added in a dark tone, eyeing the girl.
"Honestly, it was those Gryffindors who started it! All I did was-" Xavier objected, throwing down his broom in a fit of rage, narrowly missing Claudius and Matthew who were posted like bodyguards at his sides.
"-Don't speak, don't think, just listen and learn Mr. Malfoy." Lupin snapped in a condemning tone.
"If my father were to hear-" Xavier started up the dispute again.
"I taught your grandfather a painful lesson when I was only a third year, so I won't even mention what I could do to a little boy like your father." Lupin boomed warningly, coming to his feet, causing Xavier to step back a few steps as Snuffles barked wildly at his side.
"Now, now, Lupin, no need to make threats. After all, boys will be boys," a silky voice called out to Lupin from the doorway of his office. A pale cloaked figure seemingly glided from his post at the door over to Lupin shielding the Slytherin team.
"It's not very polite to intrude on one's office, Severus." Lupin spoke in hushed tones through clenched teeth, restraining himself from loosing his temper with Severus who was not only his employee and Deputy Headmaster but his potion supplier as well. He didn't figure it would be quite wise to irk him so close to the full moon.
"Now, Lupin, I'm sure this can be done with a simple slap on the wrist. There's really no need to create any…beastly animosities, eh?" Snape went on, his wrinkled drawn face twisting up into a cruel smirk as Snuffles snipped and snarled at a dangerously close distance.
"It isn't really a situation that can be solved with just a 'slap on the wrist' Snape." Harry's crisp voiced pierced across the room, silencing Snuffles at once.
"Oh, great, Scar-face is on control for his wee Gryffindor babies." Eric Goyle muttered in a disgusted way, crossing his beefy arms across his chest as a gesture of defiance.
"This from a kid who is nestled quite comfortably under Snape's greasy wing, oh yeah, makes a lot of sense." Harry mumbled to himself as he strode across the room, his emerald gleaming eyes set intently on Snape's beady one's which were focused on Lupin.
"Does everyone in this school know my password?"
"I'll just say you're not the only one who loves chocolate frogs, Headmaster." Harry responded.
"Ah…Professor Potter, Professor Snape, as heads of your houses I leave it to you two to compromise on a suitable punishment." Lupin said, motioning at them decisively.
"The Gryffindors have been stuck with Madame Promfrey for the last hour re-growing their teeth and you talk to me about a further punishment?" Harry questioned skeptically.
"Not to mention the Slytherins have been locked in here listening to you threaten them, cooped up with the likes of a frowsy mutt." Snape retorted hastily, eyeing Harry sternly as he returned the unfriendly gesture.
"I'll take it you mean Snuffles, Snape." Lupin spoke up warningly, still remaining in his seat.
"You do that, Lupin." Snape snarled, creating a stir of cackles in the room from the Slytherins.
"You know Snape, if I were Headmaster, I sure as hell wouldn't allow you to speak to me as if I were dirt-" Harry started up again, getting heated at the calm collected way Lupin responded to everything Snape threw at him.
"Well, now, Mr. Potter, I'm sorry you aren't able to trample everyone at your will because your fame couldn't get you a high enough position-" Snape spat out sardonically in Harry's direction.
"Don't you go there, Snape! I'm not just a little child anymore so don't hesitate to think for one second that I won't put you in your rightful place you lowly scum-sucking-" Harry paused to draw out his wand, and Snape swiftly followed the suit.
"Children, it seems as if your Professors are engaging in some childish spat right now-despite the fact that our dear Professor Snape is well over twenty years older than Potter, though obviously not a tad bit more mature- anyway, you are dismissed from my office. Your punishments will be owled to you at the next meal." Lupin informed the Slytherin team, motioning for the door with one hand and rubbing his temples soothingly with the other.
"Why bother? We've come this far, we wanna see some blood." Claudius Shepard said, rubbing his palms together excitedly.
"Or at least enough to explain to his Professor Mudblood why her Scar-Face won't be returning to bed tonight." Xavier explained.
"Out I say! Before I release the hounds…" Lupin commanded briskly adding the last part as a bit of an undertone loud enough for only Harry could hear.
"You have hounds…?"
"…Stupid…Ron…I cannot believe him…" Harry muttered on grudgingly, groping blindly at the floor in a futile attempt to retrieve his glasses.
"Do you need help?" a sweet, girlish voice questioned Harry from behind him, startling him immensely.
"What the-Who are you?" Harry questioned frantically, squinting up from his crouching position on the floor. All he could make out was a small figure of a child, most likely a girl, he concluded, a little girl that was way too young to actually be a student here at Hogwarts.
"I'm Lizzy-but my Daddy told me to say my name is Elizabeth to strangers…but my Mommy says I should'na even talk to strangers…but you don't look that strange," She replied enthusiastically, patting Harry fondly on the head.
"Er…thanks." Harry responded unsurely.
"What's wrong? You look kinda like my Daddy when he wakes up in the morning…'cept your hair's not so messy…and my Daddy's not so bloody…and you're wearing all your clothes…" Lizzy concluded, watching Harry scramble around searching for his glasses.
"Er…can you help me? I'm looking for my glasses." Harry explained slowly to the toddler.
"…Are the black on the outsides?"
"Yes."
"…Are the circles or squares?"
"Circles!"
"…Are they all smashy in the middle?"
"…Er…No?"
"I haven't seen them, sorry." Lizzy concluded, tossing the crushed pair of glasses to the side.
"Wait, wait, wait, I think you just had them!" Harry said, scuffling over to the corner where Lizzy had just tossed his glasses. He slapped them on quickly; desperate to see anything again, despite the way they teetered unstably on the bridge of his nose. Only able to see eighths of everything Harry plucked off his glasses and shined them desperately.
"…I don't think they will work." Lizzy stated conclusively, watching as Harry brushed off his glasses as if wiping them would cure the cracks.
"Me neither…and I don't even have my wand with me…" Harry muttered woefully, shoving his useless glasses in his pocket.
"…Mister, if you come with me to find my sister, she'll fix it for you!" Lizzy offered sweetly, in attempt to raise Harry's spirits.
"Where exactly is your sister?" Harry questioned uneasily, he was a bit unsure about encountering people of this world.
"Um…I think…I think she went to go see Uncle Remus!" Lizzy recalled, pointing down the corridor, the path leading to the Headmaster's Office.
"Great, thank you Lizzy." Harry replied briskly, setting off down the path but halting once he realized something was indeed holding him back by his cloak. It was Lizzy, clutching on to the end of his robe sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.
"Er…what?" Harry questioned, puzzled at the child's behavior.
Lizzy just responded by jutting out her arm, shoving her outstretched palm in Harry's face.
"Um…Okay…If you insist." Harry said, complying with the girl's wishes and taking her by the hand before starting on his way to see Lupin.
"Hey…what's your name?" Lizzy questioned curiously, quite content to be jogging alongside Harry, who's long strides outdid her tiny footsteps by a lot.
"Er…" Harry muttered to himself, silently debating on whether to tell her his real name or not. "My name is…Ha-James. My name is James." Harry decided on t the last minute as it wasn't actually a lie because his middle name was in fact James.
"Hi Jamie." Lizzy greeted, looking up at Harry fondly.
"Er…hi Lizzy."
"Jamie…" Lizzy whined breathlessly, struggling to keep up with Harry.
"What is it Lizzy?"
"You're going too fast."
"Just hold on."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Your hands are too sweaty!" Lizzy squealed out, causing Harry to stop, expecting the child to catch her breath and continue, though she rotated to behind him and outstretched her arms expectantly instead.
"Er…what?"
"Piggy back!"
"…You're really demanding for such a little girl, you know…" Harry grumbled, agreeing to bend down and allow the little girl to roam his back, clutching his neck tightly in her surprisingly tight grip.
Little did they know, there was somebody watching them from around the corner. He was a short, slightly pudgy boy who looked to be around the age of thirteen or twelve, crouching down as to not be seen. He surveyed scene through his piercing steel blue eyes, wondering just who was this unknown boy giving piggy back rides to Professor Potter's daughter.
"…Boo!" A creepy voice echoed into his ear, sending him about three feet into the air, startled.
"Wow, Santos, I didn't know you got freaked so easily." Samantha mused aloud, clearly amused at Santos' display.
"Where did you come from?" Santos queried nearly breathless, trying to regain his composure though failing a bit miserably.
"You know she comes from the planet-" Riley started to say before being interrupted by Sam.
"-Of the apes, now step aside you damn, dirty…human. We are on a quest!" Samantha said warningly to Santos, making an effort to ruffle his blazing red hair extra hard before she set out on her way again.
"Really? For what?" Santos asked cheekily, twisting back Samantha's arm offhandedly' this was a daily routine for them.
"We're looking for Alexia who apparently is the only person who can get lost between here and the hospital wing." Riley explained.
"I saw her go into the bathroom a long while ago-She didn't come out." Santos replied hesitantly.
"Right then, good thing we know a stalker, eh Riley?" Samantha said gratefully, nudging Riley.
"But you guys-"
"Guys? I don't see any guys around here." Samantha replied airily, causing Santos to sigh heavily and rephrase his previous statement.
"Hey girls, I saw some funny character going up that way with Elizabeth on his back, do you know him?"
"It depends."
"We know a lot of funny characters; You, Sebastian, Good Old Mr. Python…" Riley began naming various people, ticking off her fingers with each name.
"Someone who I've never seen before, though he looked kind of like-"
"You?"
"Your brother?"
"A Professor?"
"My Great Aunt Frank?"
"-Like Professor P." Santos managed to get out before they interrupted him yet again.
"Hermione, she's coming to!" Neville hissed across the bathroom to Hermione, who seemed to be in a trance-like state, gazing soundlessly out a window.
"What? Oh, no…" Hermione muttered, striding over to where Neville was crouching over the girl who was indeed moaning and showing some signs of life.
"…She looks a bit pale and sweaty, don't you think?" Neville whispered to Hermione cautiously.
"That's not sweat, you threw all those cups of water on her, remember?"
"…Oh yeah…"
"Mmm…Wha-? Where-where am I…?" Alexia stirred, blinking her brilliant green eyes owlishly, trying to focus in the two figures towering over her, though only succeeding in spotting a shapeless blob and a giant mass of bushy brown hair.
"Er…hi?" Neville offered sheepishly as Alexia rubbed her eyes vigorously and struggled to get up.
"…You are aware that this is a girls' lavatory, right?" Alexia inquired faintly, staggering to get to her feet.
"…I though I noticed something missing from the walls…" Neville responded, smacking his hand to his head.
Alexia tried to shake the fleeting feeling of dizziness from her head as she surveyed the room slowly. Her eyes flipped frantically between Hermione and Neville, silently questioning their appearance. To her, they looked like Hogwarts students with their clothing and all though it was if someone had attempted to copy the normal Hogwarts uniform and had made obvious mistakes. Unlike her solid burgundy tie with fine golden stripes going through the top, however their ties were stripped with both burgundy and gold. Their robes were also different slightly too, as their robes appeared to be black both inside and out though Alexia's was visibly colored burgundy on the inside.
"Who are you?" Alexia questioned slowly, still surveying the odd newcomers, still focusing quite closely on Hermione, whose uncanny resemblance to her quite frankly gave Alexia the creeps.
"Er…good question." Neville replied, rubbing his hands together expectantly and turning to Hermione. "Who exactly are we, Hermione?" Neville asked through clenched teeth, drawing strange glances from Alexia.
"What did you call her?" Alexia questioned sternly, unconsciously clutching her wand inside her pocket.
"He called me…" Hermione started slowly, racking her mind for the first name that came to her, "Harriet. He called me Harriet, because…well…that's my name." Hermione finished, grateful to see Neville from the corner of her eye nodding with her enthusiastically.
"Right, and my name is…Ed…Eduardo." Neville said unsurely, trying to make a convincing act.
"Oh yeah? Okay then, Harriet and Eduardo-"
"Please, call me Ed."
"Whatever, what are you doing here?"
"…We're…Er…We're a part of that exchange-a-day program from…Er…Beauxbatons." Hermione said, nodding convincingly.
"What exchange-a-day program?" Alexia asked skeptically.
"The…Er…secret one. Only Headmaster Lupin knows. It was supposed to be a surprise." Neville said nervously.
Neville and Hermione both held their breath for what seemed to be hours before Alexia looked like she bought their story.
"…Oh…well…are you two lost? I can take you to the Headmaster's office…"
Ron continued to trek through the barren hallways in search for the headmaster's office. The staircases had thought it funny to take a change on him and that had set him back about a few minutes. Still mulling over his previous events with Harry, Ron tramped nosily down his path, keeping his head down as he muttered heatedly to himself over certain 'back-stabbing friends'. Being so preoccupied with feeling sorry for himself, he didn't even notice the footsteps trailing behind him.
"…Stupid…Potter…thinks he's so hot-"
"Well there, look who we have here? Can that be my ickle snot-face cousin Santos?" a shrewd, high-pitched voiced called out behind him, causing Ron to turn about on his heel, startled.
Ron became face to face with a shady looking group of three of the Slytherins he recognized from the game earlier. The keeper, which he noted was a relative of his somehow, the gangly short blonde boy who was probably the youngest player on the team, Xavier Malfoy, and Claudius Sheppard, a tall boy, nearly reaching Ron's height though outdoing him in his muscle mass. Francis slightly jumped back when she realized she had made a mistake in thinking Ron as her cousin Santos, though she quickly regained her composure.
"Who are you?" she questioned, quite rudely.
"And why does it look as if you've been roughed up by a hippogriff?" Xavier inquired, sneering at the stranger.
"I'm-I'm…lost. I was just minding my own business at Hogsmeade when my ex-best friend came shoving this stupid clock under my nose and now I'm here." Ron snapped bitterly, his mind not even taking what Hermione had warned him about into account. He was furious at all of his 'friends' and frankly, he didn't give a damn about this supposed space/time continuum.
"How were you able to go to Hogsmeade?" Claudius asked suspiciously, as the three advanced towards Ron.
"That's because it's already Saturday where I come from." Ron replied in a similar manner, crossing his arms over his chest.
"…You don't say? Do tell…" Francis urged on, as they surrounded him.
"No, I'm busy now; I have to find the headmaster so I can get sent back to my own time..."
"What's the rush, Pal? We'll take you there…" Claudius stated in a dark tone, which Ron had no other choice but to trust…
"Now, are you two quite finished yet?" Lupin asked, clearly bored as he allowed Snuffled to lick his chocolaty fingers clean.
"That was a pretty rotten trick, Remus." Harry muttered grudgingly to himself, still attempting to free his arms free of the sticky film Lupin had shot out at them from his own wand, knocking their wands clear across the room and leaving them helplessly tangled and sticking to each other.
"Well, tricks don't usually do well when they're sweet, Harry." Remus replied cheerily, flashing him a disarming grin.
"Yeah, yeah…whatever…" Snape mumbled, sneering at nothing in particular as he searched up and down for his wand.
"…Faster Jamie! We're almost there!" a little voice echoed from outside Lupin's doorway, from up the staircase.
"…Did you hear that?" Harry questioned Lupin suspiciously.
"Its very hard with you clamping at my neck that way…You could say I'm having trouble breathing…"
"Yes, I do…" Lupin responded silently, as the pattering sound of footsteps came to a halt outside his door, and a soft knocking quickly followed.
"…And at Beauxbatons…we Er…have all the crepes and um…escargot you can eat…all the time, right Harriet?" Neville went on, nudging Hermione to back him up.
"Er…right, Eduardo."
"You don't say?" Alexia commented politely from ahead of them as they neared the hidden staircase that led to the headmaster's office.
"We're here!" Neville sighed breathlessly, relief evident in his voice as he slouched on Hermione's shoulder, threatening to collapse.
"…Funny you should know that Eduardo…when you've never been here in your life…" Alexia stated stiffly, reaching for her pocket once again.
"Uh oh…" Neville muttered to himself, immediately paling once he realized Alexia had pulled a wand on them.
"We can explain…" Hermione said, really stalling for time to pull out her wand as well, though it did no good as Alexia was quick and on her toes to disarm her.
"Now," Alexia said sternly, cornering Neville and Hermione into the wall, "If you don't really mind telling me who you two really are…"
AN-*Gasp* can it be? After like four months I actually finished writing this chapter? Now, you gotta give me some recognition for that! Ami I right, or am I right? Who's up for reviews?
