Seeing the Past, Present, and Future

Reporting the Suspected

"Harry, I got the letter," a certain red-haired boy yelled, walking up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.

"Let's see," he said rather casually, mind-half busy with his attempt at finding that extra potion's essay amongst his disorganized belongings.

Ron ripped open one of the two envelopes in his hand. "This one's from my mum," he explained, "the other one is from Fred and George." Harry nodded as they both started reading the first letter.

Dear Ron,

I could have sworn I already explained to you about her situation, but perhaps not. She is Muggle-born, as you already know, and with the unset of the Second War her parents have become fearful for her safety. Because of this she is temporarily staying with Lupin, one of her relatives, during the breaks while attending Hogwarts during the school year.

So how has my dear Ron been doing at school? Staying out of trouble?

Love,

Mum

"But then why didn't Lupin recognize her?" Ron whispered after they had both finished reading the letter. "Let's see what Fred and George say."

Ron—

To think our dear little brother is still attending Hogwarts! It seems ages ago we set foot in that school. We must visit sometime, perhaps bringing merchandise for testing…

Anyway, to answer your question, we really don't know. That's right. Sorry Ron, but we're not officially in the Order of the Phoenix yet, meaning they can still keep stuff from us. The official story is she's staying with Lupin because she's Muggle-born and her parents are afraid for her, or something like that. We weren't there when she arrived, but we think that if this is true in anyway, it's more a variation of the truth. I suspect that if her parents are really that afraid for her then they're not Muggles. Our theory? Her parents are high on Who-Know-Who's hit list. And they're not just Muggles.

Fred & George

"There's a new idea," Ron said. "I hadn't thought of that, but it still wouldn't explain why she showed up so suddenly or why Lupin didn't recognize her."

Harry nodded. "So what should we do know?"

"I don't know," Ron said, looking rather confused. It took a few minutes before Harry realized this was the other boy's thinking expression. "I'll think about it," the red-haired boy stated, leaving for the common room.

"Okay," Harry said, still rummaging through his trunk. A brief while after his friend left Harry finally found the potions essay he had been looking for. Sitting down on his bed, he set the potions essay aside and pulled out the chart stolen from Sullivan's office. It was about time he held true to his word and finally looked at it.

She sat at the lake, feet submerged in the icy cold water. Not too many people were out today; the combination of the recent attack and the freezing-cold weather had done a good job of keeping people indoors. Perhaps normally, back in her old life that seemed worlds away, she wouldn't have had the courage to sit by herself after a massive Death-Eater attack, but for some reason, now everything was different. Fate had thrown her into extraordinary circumstances she still didn't fully understand yet. The result was that she was slowly becoming more daring. Not because she felt like fate was protecting her, or anything of the like, no, it was more because she was angry. Fate had thrown her into something she never asked to be part of. She was mad at fate and as a result had taken to tempting it.

But there was also another aspect. When one has a realistic dream they may become frustrated by not being able to tell what is real and what is fake, and thus do something drastic to see what is truth and what is lies. She was testing fate in this aspect, also. She was jumping over cliffs to see if she would wake up before she hit the bottom. And so far nothing had happened. She had neither been killed nor awoken and as a result was still in limbo. Falling, lost, and confused.

The wind blew past her ears, pulling on her long brown strands of hair and causing her robes to hug tightly. Ripples blew across the lake and the little girl continued to stare at them, watching how one ripple caused another, how every one affected the entire lake, first slowly but soon on a much larger scale until it had faded and disappeared entirely, not leaving a single trace of its existence.

Harry looked at his watch. Twelve o'clock. When he had asked Hermione where the first-year Gryffindor was it had been ten o'clock and she had replied the lake. Harry now stood outside Hogwarts and saw much to his surprise that the young girl was still there, standing rather poetically by the lake.

"Hi," he said, approaching her.

She turned around and meet his eyes for a moment, holding the gaze, before looking back towards the lake. "Hi."

"Erm—did I catch you at a bad time?" Harry asked, feeling rather awkward.

"No—just thinking."

"Anyway, um, I looked at that sheet. The one we got from Sullivan." The girl nodded for him to continue. "I think he might be a Death Eater," Harry said rather quietly considering they were seemingly the only ones outdoors.

The girl nodded and seemed to be considering he words. "I reached that conclusion, too. Have you told Professor Dumbledore?"

Harry swallowed. "I was going to tell you first, to ask what you thought, but I ran into Dumbledore on the way and I thought it would be better to tell him sooner than later."

"That was for the best," she stated. "You made a good decision. What did Professor Dumbledore say?"

"That he would investigate it."

"Good." The brown-haired girl continued to stare out at the lake. Harry looked at her for a moment, wondering what she could be thinking of, and turned around, back towards Hogwarts.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter. No, I don't own Hogwarts. No, I don't own Dumbledore. No, I don't own Ron. No, I don't own Hermione. Get the point? Good.

A/N: Not much to say here, except offer my apologies for this chapter being somewhat short. I'd also like to ask you to leave a review on your way out.

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