Seeing the Past, Present, and Future

Collision in the Corridor

The Golden Trio stared at the girl. "What do you mean you might be dead?" Ron asked in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, eyes wide.

The girl shrugged. "That means I won, right?" she asked, gesturing to Ron's fallen king.

"What? Oh, yeah," Ron replied, not really noticing that his king had broken in half on the floor below.

"Okay," she said, hopping down from her seat. "Good game. I should go start my charms homework, though," she finished, going up to her dorm and leaving the Golden Trio speechless.

"What—what does that mean?" Harry asked. "'I might be dead'?"

Hermione regained her composure first. "Maybe--maybe it's metaphorical?" she stated uncertainly. "Because she obviously isn't a ghost and she isn't troublesome enough to be a poltergeist."

"So? What if she's something between a ghost and the living?" Ron inquired.

"There isn't anything between a ghost and the living!" Hermione angrily exclaimed.

Harry, sensing an argument brewing between his two friends quickly intervened. "Why don't we write to Lupin? We can ask him why she'd say something like that and ask him to please stop hiding stuff from us," Harry explained.

"Okay," Ron and Hermione both agreed, Hermione slightly more hesitant.

"Okay, good," their messy-haired friend replied, taking out some parchment and quickly scrawling a letter to their former professor. "Done! I'll go mail it right now," Harry told his two friends before dashing out of the portrait hole.

"I have it," Harry whispered to his friends, ripping open Lupin's letter the next morning. All three of them gathered around the scrap of paper and started reading.

Harry—

I don't know why she'd say something like that but if I were you I wouldn't take it too seriously. She's a very intelligent girl but, being very young, is also somewhat naïve. Her current situation is very complicated, and somewhat dangerous, and that is the only reason we are not telling you everything—even all of the Order members don't know the whole story. It has nothing to with your age or who you are, simply to do with the fact that the less people who know, the better. I hope you are not insulted, Harry.

Take Care,

Remus Lupin

"At least Lupin admits he's hiding something from us!" Ron exclaimed quietly to his two friends.

"Yeah, but he wouldn't tell us what he's hiding," Harry said, slightly annoyed at Lupin.

Hermione sighed. "I don't know what else we can do right now. We may have to accept that Lupin just isn't going to tell us," she spoke, a certain resignation in her voice. Ron raised his eyebrows and gave her a disbelieving look before she continued speaking, presumably in an attempt to prevent Ron's anger from surfacing; "That may change, but for now we have classes and I have to grab my books," she continued in a very business-like matter, standing up from the Gryffindor's table. "Anyone want to come with me?"

"Sure," Ron spoke, pushing plate away.

"I'll come, too," Harry added, not wanting to be the only one left out.

"I wish they would just tell us what the deal with her is!" their red-haired friend exclaimed as they started walking towards the Gryffindor tower.

"Yes, but they're not, and there's no good in complaining about it unless we decide to do something about it," Hermione curtly replied.

"I know, but I still wish we knew something about her. Like—hey! Watch where you're going!" Ron had just collided with a tall, slim boy walking the opposite direction.

"Watch where I'm going?" he said with a bitter laugh. "You're the one who suddenly swerved into me."

"I did not!" Ron said, already revving for an argument.

"Well I certainly watch where I'm going," the other boy spoke, straightening his robes.

"And I don't?" asked Ron rhetorically before frowning for a moment, clearly thinking. "Hey, I know you! You're that Slytherin boy! The one in my Care of Magical Creatures class who can see thestrals!" Ron recalled, anger still in his voice.

"And let me say how flattered I am that you've bothered to learn my name," the boy sarcastically replied.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Temper, Weasley. I don't particularly feel like an argument this early in the morning."

"What makes you think I do? I have plenty of things I'd rather be thinking about!"

"Look, Weasley, I don't want to argue."

"Wait, were you that boy that she talked to?"

"What?"

"The first year who hangs out with us sometimes. You were the one she talked with, weren't you!"

"Yes, I was. So what?"

"You're a Slytherin!"

"Flattered, really."

"What'd you do, put a curse on her?"

"Once again, flattered. She was upset at the idea of thestrals so I simply told her there was nothing wrong with being able to see them."

"And that was all?"

"No, I decided to make her a supporter of the Dark Lord while I was at it. Yes, that was all!"

"Well, good! And stay away from her!"

"Who are you to act like you can tell me what I can and cannot do?"

"Look, just stay away from her, Slytherin."

"And people say we're judgmental."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"You know very well what it means."

"Why you—Vuleravisti!"

"Desiste!"

"Hermione!"

"Do you want to be caught dueling in the hallways? We'll lose points for Gryffindor!"

"Good to know that's the only thing you care about, Granger."

"Hey!"

"So have you figured it out yet?"

"What?"

"About the girl. Where she's from."

"What do you mean?"

"Know-it-all Granger doesn't know something?"

"Don't you dare insult her!"

"Ron, it's okay. What do you mean 'where she's from'?"

"Where she comes from. Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"No, and I still don't fully understand what you mean."

"Ah, well, perhaps it's a lost cause then."

"Hey! I'm just as smart as you! Smarter, even!"

"Grades aren't everything, Granger, and haven't you seen her pendant? I thought it'd be obvious."

"Yes, I've seen her pendant. What's so important about it?"

"You don't know? Perhaps Purebloods really do know more than Muggle-borns."

"How dare you insult her! She's ten times—a million times better than you!"

"I admit, I phrased that last sentence badly. I meant that Muggle-borns don't grow up hearing stories of magic so therefore when it comes to legendary objects they are a bit—ah—behind."

"Just stay away from us!"

"How ironic considering you were the one who started this whole argument."

"Shut up!"

"Is that your retort to everything?"

"Oh, be quiet!"

"Much better."

"Would you rather have me jinx you?"

"I doubt you could but before you respond I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this conversation short; I have a class to attend. Good luck with the pendant, Granger."

"Leave her alone!"

With a final smirk the Slytherin continued his way down the large stone hallway as the Golden Trio continued their way to the Gryffindor Tower.

"I wonder what he said to her," Harry thoughtfully spoke in the silence between them, referring to the first-year Gryffindor who had befriended them.

"I don't know. Nothing good," Ron replied, angrily glaring into the distance. "No good Slytherin," he added in an undertone.

"I wish I knew what he meant! What does her pendant have to do with anything?" Hermione said, frustrated at this piece of knowledge avoiding her grasp.

"Probably nothing," Ron told his bushy-haired friend. "I wouldn't be surprised if he just wanted to antagonize us."

"Well, I'm not so sure about that, although it was sweet of you to defend me," Hermione replied, her brain still occupied on their friend's pendant.

Ron turned a surprising shade of scarlet and looked away, not saying anything else.

"Who was that boy?" Harry asked his friends. "I remember the face but not the name."

"Oh, that was Nott. I'm actually quite surprised he'd talk with our first-year friend considering she's Muggle-born. Guess he didn't know that."

Harry nodded. "So what do we do now?"

Hermione sighed. "I'll try to figure out about that pendant but besides that," she released another sigh. "Besides that, we wait."

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or his world.

A/N: Only two chapters left! I really want to finish this story before the 16th so I basically can only have a few more chapters. Because of that, don't be surprised if there is a rather large time gap between this chapter and the next. Also, the incantation "Vuleravisti" is the incantation for a stinging hex, created by my friend (lumiereal) and I. Oh, and please review!

Review Responses:

Anna: Thank you for reviewing! And don't worry, you won't be kept in suspense for too much longer, the next chapter will be the second to last and reveal quite a bit.

lumiereal: Really? Because right before you said you thought she was dreaming. And she is supposed to be rather odd, so I'm glad she comes across that way, although people can be rather odd with their superstitions and fears, also. However, I will say that there are more factors than those which show through Harry's point of view.