FAN FICTION AU AND TIME TRAVEL

Flipped

Summary

Female Harry Potter (Juniper) wins the war but the cost is too much so she performs a ritual and performs dimension travel after much research when she is 24. Her counterpart is Cordelia Faye Black, the daughter of Altair Black and Adelaide Malfoy. Has memories of both the worlds. Lives in France. When Juniper (Harry) seeps into consciousness, she is 14. Born on Beltane. Thus even though she is a girl, she has a high standing among the Blacks. Has gone to Beauxabatons for her first three years. Born on May 1, 1927. Start school in 1938. Goes to Hogwarts in 1942. Meets Tom Riddle. (Romance and power play)

Disclaimer: The characters and the world in the story belong to J.K. Rowling. I am not earning any profit from it.

Note: I have been a fanfiction reader for quite a lot of years before I gave this fic a shot, so if you see any ideas seeping in that I do not openly acknowledge, just let me know and I will add the credits. I have read too many to keep a track of them but I will try my best.

1) The idea of totems belongs to Catsarecool who is writing A Maurader's plan.

2) The basic idea of dimension travel comes from Hollow Thunder, Vital Lightning by Aariya07. You will see quite a few similarities in the first couple of chapters but it diverges after that.

3) This is a gender bender. Harry was born a girl as Juniper Anastasia Potter. Everything is as it is in canon except for her romances. This is not because I don't read slash or like it. You will see a lot of them in my favorites but because I don't think that I could do justice to that genre and because I want to do this. If you do not like such fics, do not read. Please do not flame. I will welcome criticisms, I know I am not perfect, just don't meaninglessly bash me for nothing


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For your references

"Talk"

"Thought"

"Parseltongue"


Chapter 7: Midnight Blue at Midnight

Cordelia's POV

The first quidditch match for Slytherin was in first week of November, right around Halloween. Flint was making them practice hard.

Cordelia was still a hidden secret. She was not very sure how Tom had managed that, likely the members of Slytherin Court were patrolling and keeping intruders out. She had not bothered to confirm her hunch, she was concentrating on the snitch. It had been years since she had played quidditch, when Juniper had been 16. She had been 24 when she had made the dimension change. She was ten years older than the age she was pretending to be, but so far it had been fine. When she was fourteen, she had been engaged in that god awful tournament,, this quite, normal life seemed good.

Riddle was keeping her on toes and she had several plans in motion for saving this dimension.

Things were looking up.

It was Saturday evening. Cordelia had looked for Tom but he had disappeared off the face of earth.

Cordelia had wanted to move forward with some of the plans and she had thought about moving to find him, but had decided against it, thinking that Tom deserved some privacy.

Abraxas had told her that it was quite routine for him to disappear like that. Most people assumed that he was off practicing or studying more advanced magic. Well, what people assumed, Cordelia knew to be true.

She spent the day recording her skill progression in metamorphagus abilities. She could completely manipulate her hair and facial features now. She planned or working on limbs next week.

But she had been exhausted post lunch and she took a well deserved nap.

Post dinner, she had settled into one of the cushioned couches of the common room. She was waiting for Tom. He had remained elusive the entire day. Nobody had even seen him at meals.

Though she was passing time by reading up on Gaunts. But the book described a quiet medieval version of them but it was interesting to read more about family politics anyway.

She had been sitting for about an hour, when the incessant chattering of a group of girls bothered her. Juniper had hoped that some women might be more righteous about their right even in the 40s. She had no such luck. Dorea seemed sympathetic, so did her Aunt Cassieopiea but she was yet to find a kindred spirit. Too bad.

They were cooing over some cat as she noted. She herself was more of a dog person. She averted her eyes.

"It is so adorable..."

"His fur is so soft."

"I have never seen this rich black."

She ignored all the commentary until she heard the last statement from Lyra Greengrass.

"I have seen such beautiful blue eyes on a cat. Such a pretty midnight blue."

She stiffened. "It can't be." Her thoughts raced. But then she made a decision and approached the group.

It was awful, they were trying to tie colorful, sparky ribbons around the cat's neck and trying to stifle it with perfume, quite expensive perfume. The cat looked frazzled and angry and ready to pounce.

Tom or not, the cat needed help.

"Oh my God, stop trying to smother and crowd it. You are scaring him." She quickly removed the two of them and made way to the cat.

Her suspicions were confirmed when cat immediately scampered in her arms when she opened them. She removed all the contraptions from him and started rubbing circle on his head, "There, there, you are fine now, we won't bother you."

The girls looked a bit offended. Cordelia did not care, "Where did you find him?" She questioned.

"He was sneaking into the common room." Tara shrugged.

"And you just scooped him and decided to play dress up." Cordelia's tone was indignant. "What about the owner? You did not think that the cat must belong to somebody and just decided to manhandle him."

"Well, they should take better care of their pet if they don't want them to fall in stranger hands." Aimee Parkinson said, as she examined her nails.

"Yeah, well, since it is clear that none of you know how to care of a living being. I am taking over his care. I will make sure to return him to its rightful owner." She said placidly and walked away. She did not care for their complaints behind her.

She conjured a small blanket and wrapped the cat in it.

"You must be starving." She muttered, then grabbed a couple of cupcakes from Alphard's desert basket and stashed them in her pocket. She had just sent him one two days ago. She was sure he was too busy in his magazine to note it and even if he did, he was unlikely to protest since she was the one who sent him.

Her mind was working fast. If this was Tom, she needed to recover his wand.

She quickly made her way to the entrance of the common room.

"Late night stroll." Burke smiled at her.

"I need some fresh air, Herbert. I won't get caught." She quickly shot him a smile.

"Alright, I will ask the prefect to look the other way and run interference in case you land in some trouble. But remember the rule, Don't get caught." He instructed.

She raised her one brow delicately.

"Of course, it is you. You won't get caught." Burke smirked.

She rolled her eyes and stepped outside into the corridor.

She was carrying the cat in one arm like one carried a baby and had her wand out in the other.

She muttered a few spells. She took a brisk walk in a direction of dungeons where even Slytherin ventured seldom.

She came to a stop in front of a clean gap. She took out a cupcake and offered it to the cat. The cat nibbled at it and in moments had devoured it. She gave it the other one as well.

"You know I am a fair bit of a tracker." She looked at the cat right in the eye with a smile tugging at her lips when he had finished. "And I am also adept at banishing illusions."

The cat stiffened.

She wandlessly conjured a small glass and filled it with water with a mutter of 'Aguamenti and offered it to the cat.

The cat gingerly drank it down too.

And then Cordelia directly stepped into what seemed to be a wall.

"I reckon you got the idea from The Platform 9 and 3/4." She casually commented.

The cat again became immobile. She vanished the glass.

She conjured a table next and placed the cat on it. "To figure out what you did to yourself, I need to find your wand." She looked it right in the eye.

The way the cat glared back at her, she got her confirmation.

"Alright it is you." She narrowed her eyes.

But then she began looking around in the room, "What, exactly, were you doing? Animagus transformation? Human transfiguration? Or a spell went wrong?" She mused.

The cat continued to glare.

"You know I am only trying to help. Accio is out of question, I am sure you have put up an anti summoning charm. Wands are important." She muttered.

It was an old classroom, unused for quite a number of years. Ancient furniture was all put up against the wall making considerable space in the center.

Everything was old but the walls had recent spell chaffing indicating that there had been use of offensive and defensive spells in the room.

"If I can figure out where you were standing when the spell hit you.." She wondered.

There was no indication. The room was relatively clean.

A realization hit her and she went and picked Tom back, "You hid the wand, didn't you? You did not want anybody else to find it."

The cat did not look in the mood of talking.

"Alright, don't help. I am just an untrustworthy witch who keeps bothering you." She was angry but she cradled the cat gently in her arms.

Then her eyes fell on one particular part of well in the back of the room, towards the right sided edge.

"A reflector surface…" She muttered. She approached it and touched it deftly, muttered a spell. An area lit up.

"One spell reflected back... I can't believe you were this careless." She said her tone almost reproaching.

"Ouch." The next moment she gasped in pain. She looked surprised and then she calmly removed the top of her blouse from her right shoulder. There were four angry red nail marks on it. Three guesses to how it happened. Tom as cat had gotten angry at her reproach and had reacted.

She stared at the nail marks and then back to Tom. He looked defeated and frightened now.

She pulled the blouse back on and sighed.

"Look at me," She said softly, " I know you are frightened. I would be too. You are feeling helpless and powerless. I promise I am not going to take advantage of this or spread rumors or harm your wand or you in any way. My jab did not help, but I never intended to say it to ridicule you but as a friend would correct other friend. I swear you will be normal by morning."

The cat nuzzled her neck hesitantly. She gave him a slight smile.

"The spell hit here, so you were between there or there.' She muttered.

Then she saw, Tom lifting a paw and pointing towards one place.

She nodded.

Tom had perhaps managed to mix it within the wood pieces of the furniture.

She carefully bent on her knees, adjusting the arm on which Tom was gently and began rummaging on the floor with her other hand.

"Found it." She muttered. "I will just keep it safe for you." She said ensuring that the phoenix feather would not react to June. Though it was unlikely since June had changed and Cordelia was a totally different person, but she still took the countermeasure.

She stashed it in her arm pocket. "There is no use in lingering. I will have to figure out which transfiguration principle you used, and the amount of power."

She got off the floor, exited the room and began moving back to the common room.


Tom's POV

Tom was irritable. The body of a cat was hindrance. His vision and hearing were all haywire and he could not even harmonize with them because it was transfiguration and not animagus transformation. He had a massive headache. And now, he was feeling sluggish.

He was warm wrapped in the blanket and Cordelia's fragrance was so homely and her slow walk was slowly lulling him into sleep. It just seemed so cozy.


Tom's POV

Tom woke up. He opened his eyes. He was not in his room though it was Slytherin rooms only. He recognized the architecture. He was not even in his four poster bed. This was more of a cot. Though it was much more comfortable than the one he had ever had in the orphanage. He was not wrapped in the usual school blankets. It was a silk duvet. Black and cream, not silver and green.

Why was he here? He carefully gave a side glance. His wand lay there. He grasped it and a warmth surged through him. But then his eyes went beyond the cot. There was another bed, a four poster one. He was in somebody else's room.

He slowly got up. He was still in his day clothes from yesterday. And then it came rushing back to him.

He had been trying permanent transfiguration. He had just been practicing the incantation and had just casually aimed at the wall. He did not think he would get it at first try. Transfiguring into mammals was quite more advanced, after all.

The spell had bounced back and he had been a cat. Then those hideous girls and thank heavens Cordelia had been there. He had never been happier to see her.

Looked like, she came through her promise. His wand was safe and he was back to normal.

Then he decided to look at the other bed.

He got up softly. Someone had removed his shoes.

He went a little nearer to the bed.

It was Cordelia, her long, dark hair sprawled on the pillow. She was covered in her duvet, a similar one as the one he had on him, till her neck.

She was sleeping peacefully.

He did not disturb her and then glanced around at the room.

She had not been idle and refurbished the room completely.

One wall was animated into a forest with animals and birds. The other had pictures, moving photographs.

Not the stiff portraits that purebloods had. Renatus had shown him a family portrait of his family.

Everybody in her pictures was candid.

She had one beaming with a blonde woman and a grey eyed Black haired man, probably her parents. There was one with Abraxas with their legs dipped in a lake. There was one with her group of Black cousins.

There was one with a small, black cousin, Cygnus, Lucretia and Walburga's brother, if he remembered correctly. There were others, with Blacks, Malfoys, one with Longbottoms'. There was one solo in front of a palace. That had to be Beauxabatons. There was another with one brunette girl and guy.

But then what surprised him were the one from Hogwarts.

There was one with the Slytherin Quidditch team. The green robes suited her. She sat in the center. She was beaming her angelic smile in each one of them. In some, she was laughing full blown. There were more with her cousins in hogwarts. There was one with Heir Potter and Dorea. And then his eyes fell on the last three. They were with him, One was both of them sitting and talking animatedly in Quidditch Stands, there was one in library, he was studying intently and she had her brow risen at him as Abraxas begged her not to antagonize him. He remembered that day, they had been discussing a potions theory.

And the last one was of that awful board game. He was startled to realize he was smiling in it. Whatever the ending had been like, he had enjoyed that trivia game, it had been exhilarating. It was a full blown view of the common room with the two teams and spectators in view. Abraxas and Herbert looked defeated and morose. Cordelia had her mischievous yet nonchalant spark in her eyes.

There was some tightening in his chest. He could not understand. He was feeling wonderful, he had never been so casually included in something. But this feeling in the chest was a bit perplexing.

He looked away from the pictures. She had covered her glass window that looked in the lake with a thick Mauve curtain. He did not blame her, it looked eerie if you got up in the middle of night.

Her desk was neat with quills and parchment. There were additions in the room.

There was a small bookshelf just over the desk with just one shelf.

They were fiction titles.

Her coursebooks were nowhere to be found.

With a start, he realized that he was not supposed to be here. This was the girls' dorm.

He quickly silently cast Tempus.

It was a little after 6 in the morning.

He had to leave, but he took a look at the pictures once again.

"I am sorry." He heard a soft, musical voice and almost jumped. He just turned around.

Cordelia was sitting up in her bed. Her hair was a bit messed and her eyes looked drowsy. She removed her duvet.

She was not wearing her short nightgown, thank morgana. It seemed to be a shirt.

He was confused by her apology.

"I should have asked you before putting them up. I did not think you would mind." She said slowly. He realized she was reffering to the pictures.

"They are good pictures." He muttered softly.

"Hmm," she nodded. She poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher from a sidetable. That was an addition too.

"Did you conjure the furniture here as well?" He quietly asked.

She looked amused, but she shook her head. She swallowed the water.

"Brought it shrunken from home. Mother would not let me go without it." She muttered.

She poured water into another glass, removed her duvet.

Riddle was thoroughly surprised. She was wearing Pajama bottoms with a shirt, silk but still pants. He had never seen women wear pants except for in Quidditch.

She got out and offered him the glass.

He drank it without ado.

And before he knew it, She threw a rapid fire of questions inquiring if he had feline like feelings or any other sensory issue or if his limbs were working fine. She looked a bit frantic.

He actually sputtered and she did not stop, paying it no mind.

He actually had to bodily put his arms on her shoulder firmly and say loudly, 'Cordelia, I am fine."

"Oh, you are fine." She did not look pleased to be interrupted, "Fine? You were a cat for some 7 hours. I had to do priori incantatem, but that just told me that you were attempting Human transfiguration. I had to browse three books and experiment on my pillow to detect the correct reversal spell. Two freaking hours. It took me two hours and you just slept and I was worried sick if it even worked properly or not. Forgive me..." the last was extremely sarcastic.

She did not look happy. Her cheeks were slightly red and her eyes blazed.

He did not remove his hands from her shoulders, "You are the best witch I know. How could you get it wrong?" He decided to try the flattering he used with Merrythought.

She narrowed her eyes and gave a fake smile, "Really, Tom. Flattering is the way you choose to calm me down." Her smile had vanished, instead she looked even more bristled. "You should be grateful that I am worried about your health or I would have hexed you."

Tom was about to remove his hands, when he remembered something, a vague memory from yesterday, he did not even think it through, he gently removed her shirt off from her right shoulder. Cordelia did not stop him even though she had frozen initially. He did not stop despite the realization that what he was doing was highly inappropriate.

There as clear as yesterday were four angry, red marks.

"I am sorry about these...I was a reckless at first and then a beast, I had no right to hurt you." He murmured apologetically. He actually looked horrified.

"You were scared, I understand. I am not mad." She murmured back.

"You did not heal it." Tom looked utterly confused.

Cordelia shrugged her shoulders, "Honestly, I forgot."

Tom murmured a spell and the marks vanished to reveal blemish-less, pale pinkish skin. He replaced her sleeve back.

"I am sorry!" He repeated again and he looked utterly sincere and before he knew he was wrapped in a hug.

"Stop apologizing. Sometimes we hurt people without meaning to, because we are in a bad place ourselves. It does not make us bad. I accepted your apology the first time. It was just a scratch." She muttered in his ear.

Riddle smiled slightly in her hair.

When he stepped back, he was greeted with one of her big smiles but then it turned apologetic

'Sorry about the sleeping arrangements. I was exhausted and the common room was full. I did not think that I could put you in your bed, even by using a disillusionment charm. And people would have asked questions if I went into your room when you were absent." She began speaking.

Tom placed a finger on her lips, "I understand."

"What is the time?" She murmured.

"It must be about 6:30 in morning if my estimates are correct." He said.

"Wait a minute, I will see if the coast is clear." Cordelia put on her dressing gown and went outside and came back a minute later.

"Empty." She said.

"I am not surprised. You are the only other early riser in the house beside me." Tom said.

She rolled her eyes. She said a little mischievously a little later, "I hope you like slides?"

Riddle gave her a confused look.

"Boys are not allowed in the Girls' dorms. The stairs turn into slides the moment a boy steps on them." She informed.

"Hogwarts: A History?" Tom said weakly.

"Oh, don't be so sad. Slides are fun." she said lightly.

Tom gave her a quelling look.

"Oh, very well. You are no fun. I could just use a hover charm on you and place you on your feet below the stairs." Cordelia said a little less enthusiastically.

"And you did not suggest that earlier, why?" Tom gave her a serious questioning look.

"Like I said, slides are fun." She shot back, picked up her wand, and marched out the front door.

After they were both safely in the common room.

"It is quite disconcerting, isn't it?" She muttered.

"Hovering in air, yes." Tom was panting.

"Alphard once tried to do it to himself, after the Christmas break of his first year. He fell down the in a heap. And then he had the nerve to get up, and do it to me. Thank goodness I am better at magic and he is scared of me. In fact, I remember hexing him for good." She remembered.

"He seems a bit…"

"He does not seem, he is an impulsive toddler." Cordelia said firmly. "If I weren't used to him, he would get hexed daily."

Tom gave out a big chuckle and she joined in.

"I am going to freshen up, I will be down in ten for breakfast." She said after they had calmed down.

"We will go together. I am starving." Tom intoned.


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