One minute they were alone, and the next Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey were speaking softly to each other not two feet in front of them. Severus startled a bit, understanding time turning in theory was no substitute for experience. A quick glance around the hallway let Hermione know that it was safe to appear. She removed the cloak and greeted them. "I hope we didn't keep you waiting long."
The nurse and the Headmaster turned toward them. Professor Dumbledore's eyes lit with recognition, while Madame Pomfrey's became teary at the sight of a young, living Severus.
"Not at all, Miss Granger, you've not been gone five minutes." Professor Dumbledore turned to her companion. "I see your mission was successful. Thank you, Severus, for agreeing to help us."
"I'm not doing it for you," retorted Severus, to Hermione's surprise. She turned and saw a rebellious expression in his teenage eyes. "I don't owe you any favors."
Professor Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "I understand, and you are quite right. Please allow me to introduce you to Madame Pomfrey, our school nurse."
"It is so good to see you again, Severus!" burst Madame Pomfrey. "I know it hasn't happened yet, but your older self and I worked together for many years."
Severus nodded in acknowledgement. "Madame Pomfrey. I'm surprised Madame Chenowith isn't still here though, I didn't think wild thestrals could drag her from Hogwarts."
"Actually, in a manner of speaking they did. Madame Chenowith's son and daughter-in-law were killed many years ago, so she left Hogwarts to take care of her grandchildren. Madame Pomfrey took over her position and has filled it very competently since then."
Madame Pomfrey blushed a little at the Headmaster's words. "We should get you to the infirmary, Severus. That's one nasty virus we've given you and I'd like to keep a close eye on you until it has run its course."
"Yes," agreed Professor Dumbledore. "Once you're feeling better we will all meet to discuss how we shall proceed from here. There will be a lot for you to learn and remember, Severus, so we must get you healthy first."
Severus turned to Hermione. "Are you coming with me?"
Hermione opened her mouth to speak but the Headmaster beat her to it. "Miss Granger must be getting back to her dormitory before she is missed." He continued as Hermione started to protest. "However, I'm sure she will find the time to visit you before breakfast."
"Tell me again, from the beginning." After two days hidden away in the infirmary, Severus had completely recovered from his bout of Belgravian bird flu and was now rehearsing his cover story with Hermione.
"My name is Geoffrey Horton. I have lived in Barbados for most of my life, although I was born in Manchester. My father recently passed away so my mother moved us back home to be close to her family. He was a wizard, but my mum is a muggle." To his credit, Severus managed to say this without sounding like he was reciting a memorized speech.
"Where did you go to school, Geoffrey?"
"There aren't any wizarding schools on Barbados, so the wizard parents all ran a cooperative after-school programme for their kids. I'd attend the muggle school all day and then afterwards have wizarding subjects from the Clan."
"The Clan?" asked Hermione.
Severus smiled, "That's what the wizarding community on the island calls itself. It's very small and very familial, like a clan."
Hermione looked down at her papers. "I don't see that in here."
"That's because it's not there. I made it up. Really, Hermione, someone might ask a question that's not covered by this carefully crafted back-story, so I will just have to be creative if it happens."
"I suppose so," she replied dubiously. "I just hope you don't get tangled up in the details."
"I won't," he promised. "Besides, I seriously doubt anyone is going to pay much attention to me anyway. You might have noticed when you were shadowing me, but I don't exactly do the 'friend thing' well."
"Sev- Geoffrey," she corrected herself. "While you are here you have a clean slate. No one knows you, no one has any preconceived notions about you, and besides, you have at least one friend here already. Me. Which means by extension you have my friends as well. And once you've been resorted, you'll probably make even more."
"Resorted?" Sev- Geoffrey's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Surely you didn't think you could live in Slytherin, where half of the students have families that are working for the other side. No, it would be too dangerous. Professor Dumbledore says that the sorting hat will have another look at you when you officially start attending classes. You're to specifically ask NOT to be in Slytherin."
"I doubt that old hat would listen to anything I said," quipped Severus. Geoffrey. She must remember to think of him as Geoffrey. Geoffrey. Geoffrey. Geoffrey!
"Oh, it will listen! It wanted to put my friend Harry into Slytherin but he insisted he didn't want to go there. So it put him in Gryffindor with me."
Sev- Geoffrey's eyes snapped accusingly toward her. "You're a GRYFFINDOR? I thought you were a Slytherin!"
"Oh, I forgot I hadn't told you yet. No, I'm a Gryffindor. I just pretended to be a Slytherin so you would talk to me. You know you wouldn't have said two words to me if you'd known!"
"Oh, I'd have said two words, all right… So I suppose you were lying about Black then too. After all, he's a Gryffindor like you." S- Geoffrey sneered derisively.
Hermione glared back at him. "No, Black did deserve it. I know very well that he was a prat when he was in school and that he treated you abominably. Not everyone judges people by what house they are in, you know."
"Maybe not everybody, but most people in my acquaintance do. You can hardly fault me for assuming you wouldn't be any different." The anger seemed to drain from him. "But if I misjudged you, I'm sorry."
"No need to be sorry, I probably would have been a bit put out if I were in your situation as well. But back to the sorting – now don't hex me, but I think you should ask to be put in Gryffindor." She mentally cringed, waiting for the shouting to begin. But it didn't.
"Let me guess. You want me to be in Gryffindor where I can stay close to you and your friends and we can work on our secret plot to save the world in private." His words were soft and resigned.
Hermione nodded. "Something like that, yes."
"All right. Since I'm not really me while I'm here anyway I'll play this game and become a Gryffindor. It should prove amusing, if nothing else."
"That's the spirit!" Hermione beamed.
Madame Pomfrey strode in, carrying a tray that held a potion and a glass of water. "Good morning, Severus, you'll be needing to take this now."
"Geoffrey." Hermione corrected her softly. "I keep forgetting myself."
"Well, once he drinks this it will be easier for us to remember."
"What is it," asked Geoffrey. "I thought the flu was cured?"
"It is," replied the nurse as she handed him the potion. "This is for your disguise. It's a melanin enhancer. You'll need to take some every day while you're here. It will make your skin grow darker. We need to eliminate as much resemblance to yourself as we can, and without using magic."
"Why is that?" asked Geoffrey.
Hermione answered for the nurse. "Because magic can be detected. On the off chance that anyone becomes suspicious of you, we can't let them discover that your appearance has been altered. They might think to look for magical alterations but they wouldn't even know how to look for muggle methods."
"Exactly," agreed Madame Pomfrey. "In fact, I'll be visiting Farsgrove this afternoon to acquire the potion to disguise your hair."
"Ooh," cooed Hermione. "Are you going to dye it?"
The nurse shook her head. "No, with the new darker skin tone that would look artificial. We're going to curl it."
Geoffrey buried his face in his hands, shaking his head in dismay. "I'm going to look like a woofter."
"No, you're not!" insisted Hermione. "I bet you'll look adorable!"
The beleaguered boy shook his head. "That's not possible. I'll look like a prize fool."
Hermione teased gently, "Well, it's a good thing you'll be in Gryffindor then."
He looked up at her and despite trying valiantly to rein it in, he burst out laughing.
Hermione yawned as she sat down next to Ron at the Gryffindor table for dinner. Although she was accustomed to staying up late to study, since she returned from the past she'd been working her normal load as well as sneaking off to the infirmary help Geoffrey prepare for his coming introduction to the Hogwarts of today.
"Hermione, I think you're working too hard," said Ron with concern. "Even for you, I mean. You look beat."
She smiled back at him. "Oh, I'm fine. Just a little sleepy is all. How was Quidditch practice?"
Ron launched into a long explanation of the details of the day's practice. Hermione tuned out about the time he started describing the maneuverability drills the team was performing. She liked Ron a lot, maybe even loved him, but Quidditch was mighty boring. She felt no guilt at using it as a subject to bring up whenever she needed to distract him, but she did feel slightly guilty at being unable to care much about the game itself. Right now, she was nervous. Nervous about how Geoffrey's introduction would go this evening.
Tink-tink-tink. Professor Dumbledore tapped lightly on his water goblet to get everyone's attention. "Good evening, everyone! I have an announcement to make before we begin our supper."
"We have a new student joining us at Hogwarts. He previously lived on the island of Barbados, but has transferred here as his family has recently returned to England. Although his previous wizarding education has been less formalized than what we are accustomed to, his age places him in the Sixth year class. I hope you will all make him welcome, even if you do not share the same House." Professor Dumbledore motioned towards the side door, and then Hagrid entered with a stool in one hand and the Sorting Hat in the other. Hagrid set these in the center of the room in front of the head table. Professor McGonagall entered from the main doors, followed by a tall, dark boy with chin-length curly hair. The boy gazed around nervously as he entered, looking up to take in the spectacular sights in the Great Hall. He came forward and stopped as the Hat began to sing.
"Sorry for the minimal song,
it takes a year to make one long.
Most of you know the drill,
Find him a House, that I will.
Will he be a Ravenclaw,
Smart and wise, tra la la.
Or will it be brave Gryffindor,
Red and gold, forever more.
House Hufflepuff may be the choice,
If loyalty has the strongest voice.
Or Slytherin may be the place,
if he has an ambitious face.
Again, if you find my rhymes are bad,
Remember how little time I had!"
Students and faculty alike giggled at the uncharacteristic silliness of the hats song. It was clearly not its best work, but as it pointed out it had a good excuse.
Professor McGonagall lifted the Sorting Hat and called out the boy's name. "Horton, Geoffrey!" The whispers that had started when Professor Dumbledore spoke the words 'new student' dropped off as all waited to hear the Sorting Hat's verdict.
Severus approached the stool and sat down, peering up nervously as the hat was placed upon his head.
"Haven't we been here before," asked the Sorting Hat. "I can't believe I wrote a song, albeit a bad
one, for this."
"No, wait!" Severus thought. "I can't be sorted into Slytherin again."
"Whyever not," asked the hat. "Are you telling me I was wrong before?"
Severus rushed to reassure him. "No, of course not. But this is a very delicate situation. People could die if I'm sorted into Slytherin. I'm supposed to be sorted into Gryffindor."
"Are you? I don't think so. You've got too much deep-seated antipathy for Gryffindor to ever be successful in that house." The hat pondered a moment, then continued. "What house do you really want to be in?"
Severus thought a moment. "I don't know, I just want to belong somewhere. Really belong. I certainly never felt like a real Slytherin."
"Well then," said the hat. "Since we've ruled out Gryffindor, that leaves two choices. But where to put you? You are intelligent, yes, very intelligent. You would be one of the brightest minds, even in Ravenclaw. But you want to be accepted, and that takes a special House, a truly special House that will welcome you as you are. Better be HUFFLEPUFF!"
Severus wasn't sure what had shocked him more; being sorted into Hufflepuff, the house of duffers, or the thunder of applause that greeted him as he made his way toward the Hufflepuff table. Several students moved down to make room for him, and a couple people even clapped him on the back in welcome. He certainly hadn't gotten this kind of welcome as a first-year Slytherin!
"Geoffrey! Over here!" A pair of boys who looked approximately his own age were waving excitedly at him. Severus approached them and sat down where they indicated.
"We're mighty glad to have you here, Geoffrey! I don't think we've ever had a student from such an exciting place before! You'll have to tell us all about it sometime. Anyway, I'm Ernie. Ernie MacMillan. And this here," nodding to the curly-haired boy across from him, "is Justin Finch-Fletchley."
Justin shook his hand eagerly. "Great to meet you, Geoffrey! And great you're in Hufflepuff. It's a fine House, don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise."
A third boy, sitting next to Justin, was the next to introduce himself. "I'm Wayne Hopkins, keeper for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Do you play Quidditch?"
"A little, and not very well," answered Severus dubiously.
Wayne's face beamed at 'Geoffrey's' response. "That's excellent!"
"It is?" asked Severus. He strongly suspected this 'Wayne' was making fun of him.
"Really! We're a bit short on Quidditch talent here in Hufflepuff. If you play 'not very well', then you're already better than most of us."
Justin agreed. "Most of us are down-right awful."
"Hey, Zacharias," Wayne shouted down the table. "I think we've found you another chaser! Horton here plays 'a little'."
The boy who must be Zacharias responded with a smile and a 'thumbs up' sign. Severus wondered whether the House Elves had been spiking the Hufflepuff pumkin juice, because these people were all acting too strangely. Look on the bright side, he told himself. At least they weren't calling him names or stealing his things. Yet.
A/N: Farsgrove is the same nearby muggle village I used in Queer Eye for the Snape Guy. (I like to be consistent between fics). From canon we have little information about the makeup of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team beyond Cedric and Zachariah, so I had to make it up.