Rising to the Occasion
Disclaimer: I'm not J.K RowlingAllie was in trouble.
She had no idea how long she had been tumbling through this funnel of time, and she had no way of telling if she was getting any closer (or farther) to the end than when she started. She was however, ever aware that the funnel that had her trapped was currently contracting growing tighter and tighter until she was almost unable to breathe. The feeling she was currently experiencing was so peculiar, she could only compare it to the time when she was trapped in an undercurrent when she was swimming during her family's vacation fours years ago. Right when she was about to give up hope, her brother pulled her up just in time. She suddenly became aware of a light in the distance, growing brighter and brighter. She mused in her head how she was going to persuade Tom to give up evil, cold turkey. Hmmmmm, maybe there's a twelve step program for evil, she thought. She then realized she had only packed clothes from the nineties and forty's fashion did not sit well with her. To hell if I'm going to wear penny loafers and do the Madison. As soon as hell freezes over. Twice. And pigs ply. Oh, and Voldemort grows a nose. Then, she might consider it. She was instantly pulled out of her inner monologue by a pair of strong arms anchoring her to the ground. Ground? Oh, thank the lord. Let's hope I made it into 1943.
When she regained consciousness, she was aware of two dark questioning eyes glaring at her. "Well, I know I may be a bit of an eye sore with my current state of distress, but if looks could kill I'd be dead." The boy scowled in confusion. Oh god, did I say that out loud?
"Are you daft? Who are you? And where did you come from?"
Cheeky. "It's only an expression, calm yourself. My name is Alastrina. And why does my origin concern you? Who are you, Mr. Formalities?" Ha, sarcasm. Good one allie. She drank in the boy's being. He was tall and lanky. Muscular and lean with a permanent scowl embedded on his face. He was waxy, sickly pale with dark hair and dark eyes to contrast nicely. His eyes, being as dark as they were, had a depth that she couldn't place. His hair was wave after wave of deep-brown chocolate curls, and she resisted the urge to play with it. He's kind of cute. He could be my great, great grandpa but he's cute.
The boy's scowl deepened. "Miss Alastrina, your origin's became my concern when you fell on top of me during my rounds. How rude of me, I implore your forgiveness. My name is Tom. Tom Riddle. " The boy bowed.
Oh god, I expected to see young voldy, but not this soon. Think, think. Come off as mysterious, and whatever you do don't call him Voldemort. The boy gave a look of expectance. Oh shoot, say something, he's expecting you to say something.
"Yeah, sorry for falling on you. I haven't exactly mastered the whole concept of landing yet. I'm working on it though. (At this, she got a smirk.) Well, Mr. Riddle I cannot say I have not enjoyed your company immensely, but I must request you escort me to Professor Dumbledore's office, I have urgent business to tend to." Formal, keep's him guessing, nice.
At the mention of my dad's name, the smirk, which so quickly graced his face, disappeared, and was replaced by cold indifference. " Yes, of course Miss Alastrina." He offered her his arm, which she looked at with shock, then recovering took it and with that they were walking through the dark corridors of Hogwarts. The walk seemed hours long, only because the physical contact with Voldy was even more awkward than it should have been because he refused to make even the smallest sound. They finally made it to a worn, grainy door with which Tom alerted our presence with three, quick knocks. The door opened, and Albus's warm smile greeted them.
"Ah, Tom, to what do I owe the pleasure of this late night visit to?"
"Professor Dumbledore, Miss Alastrina requested your audience and I could only oblige. I will finish my rounds if you don't mind." Tom nodded to my father, and then to me. He quickly disappeared into the darkness of the corridors.
She turned to greet my young father for the first time. "Professor Dumbledore, please let me introduce myself. My name is Alastrina Adonia Dumbledore, and I am your daughter. And I was raised in America, so I will have no tea with you tonight."
My father chuckled his throaty laugh. "So you must be a time traveler? Please sit dear, let me ask your surname?
She pondered at his question. " Uhhhhh, Dumbledore? Duh. My mom's last name is Vanima though, if that's what you mean."
Albus paled considerably. " Oh dear. Well, let me tell you, you are a splitting image of your mother."
She heard something in his voice, but decided to wait until later to ask about it. "Why thank you dad, even though I never knew my mom, but thanks. I was instructed to give you this letter; it'll fill in the gaps that I probably will leave out. Let me give you the main idea, Tom Riddle is bad. Like, really bad. We're talking Adolph Hitler and Gellert Grindelwald had a baby, and that baby drank gasoline. Take that and shake that baby, times that by ten, and you got Voldemort on a good day. That's what he'll go by eventually. It's an abbreviation for "Velour de la mort." It roughly translates to "Flight of death." My goal is to show Tommy a good time, make him forget evil and all that bad stuff. Hopefully, in the process I can mold the whole House of Slytherin into a better way of thinking. I'm not entirely sure I can do it, but I have faith in the witty charm I got from my father."
He smiled, graciously. "Well my dear, with that I cannot argue. You are to be sorted in Slytherin, to get you closer to Tom. If at any time you are threatened you must come to me immediately. As it is very late, you may go to your room in the dungeons shortly, but first we have a few matters at hand. First, I must introduce you to Headmaster Dippet before breakfast. Second, we will be announced as father and daughter tomorrow at breakfast. Last, you will be allowed to go into Hogsmeade this weekend to get whatever supplies you require. Alright, it's late enough as it is, let me take you to your room in the Slytherin dorms."
As he led her down an ever-winding path of moving staircases, Allie could not help but stare at her wonderful predicament. She was in the school she had read and fantasized about for years, next to the man that was her father and happened to be the greatest magical force in the world, and was walking down to the dungeon to go and hangout with the snakes. Oh man, I need to come off as mysterious tonight. Then tomorrow, they'll know Dumbledore is my dad. Not only will I be the professor's daughter, but also I'm an American- raised blood-traitor. I am going to be the topic of conversation for a while. I can use this to my advantage in enticing tom, she thought.
She had been wondering something all day, but finally plucked up enough courage to voice it. "Dad, am I a pureblood? Not that it matters, I just want to be able to tell everyone else the truth."
Her father spoke. "If I am not mistaken, you are technically a 'pureblood'. However, you are not…um, completely human per se. Your mother is a beautiful, powerful deity in the el... err...umm… in another magical community. I was unaware we were to have a…err, umm, 'romantic' relationship until I met you my dear. Now, off to bed stories can come later. I can't have my only heir walking around like inferi on her first day of school. The password to the common room is 'Power.'"
She scowled. "How original. Slick gits." She didn't let him see she was a little scared about hearing the news of her not being 100% human.
He laughed at her exercise of English swear words. "Alastrina, don't do this to satisfy some strange, sick curiosity-"
Allie interrupted. "You know dad, a wise man once said, 'Curiosity is not a sin... But we should exercise caution with our curiosity.'" Her voice imitated his, deep and raspy.
He looked confused. "What idiot said that, my dear?"
She giggled. "You dad. Now stop worrying and go to sleep. I'll be fine. Goodnight."
After he departed, she turned into a portrait of a handsome, aristocratic young man with a deep scowl. He smiled a haughty smile, and winked at her making her feel dirty.
His deep drawl scared her. "Password?"
"Power."
The door opened, and her heart pounded. She walked straight into the common area, and was surprised to see how many people were just lounging around. You know, for some reason I thought they'd be lurking in the darkness somewhere, them being sly, conniving, foul little pricks. Oh god, that blonde one winked and me. Do something.
She rolled her eyes, and followed a girl with a dark, brutal short haircut into the girl's rooms. She managed to ignore all of the attention she got from the common area, mostly from guys, and stormed into her shared dorms when she didn't see tom.
The girl with the brutal short hair approached her. "Hello, what's your name?"
Allie turned to face all the curious faces, which included twins, two girls with shockingly black hair, a red head, two brunettes, and the girl currently holding her hand.
"Hello everyone, my name is Alastrina Adonia Dumbledore."
She had expected questions, but what she got was a room full of shocked gaping faces.
She shuffled nervously. "Umm, not everyone speak at once."
Most of the girls laughed. The shorthaired girl talked for the whole lot. "I am sorry, but it's not often we get new students to Slytherin and Professor Dumbledore is known for being… Lenient towards muggles. Please, allow me to introduce myself, Alicia Nott at your service. The blonde is Adelphia Yaxley. The twins are Isabella and Padilla Crabbe. That brunette is Cassiopeia Black, the other Adele Parkinson. The two girls with the charcoal hair are Eileen Prince and Wilfreda Vaisey. And the ginger is Lillian Weasly, but everyone calls her little red."
She giggled at the girl's nickname. "Well, what do you crazy girls do for fun around her?"
Lillian answered. "Well, before you showed up, we were drinking and hanging out in the common room."
Hmmmmm. Think back to the goblet of fire, what did dad say? "The power of musi…" Oh my god, why haven't I thought of that before! It's perfect. She wondered if the girls would mind her tagging along with their little band of merry snakes. "Say, do you think we could go back down and unwind, it's been a long day."
Alicia looked surprised. "Oh, we didn't think you'd be up to it, but of course. Do you want to unpack first?"
"Yes, please, thank you."
Alicia began to help her unpack her trunks. "So where are you from, I haven't seen you around?"
Allie rummaged through her pockets until she found her tiny suitcase. "Yeah, my dad is kind of overprotective, so he placed me with a muggle family in America to grow up with. I miss them so much." She placed her tiny trunk on her bed, and then cast a Finite on it. It returned to its normal size, and from it she removed her new guitar.
Alicia look stunned at the news. "Muggles? Dirty, filthy muggles raised you?"
Allie was livid. "You know, all my life I wondered what the hell was ya'lls problem. Why do ya'll hate muggles so much? What makes them so different then you? You know, some preferences I can understand, but can any of you girls say you've ever even met a muggle. Huh, can you?" Her southern accent leaked in to her voice whenever she was extremely upset, like she was now.
Lillian spoke up. "I…I-I have. My family was on vacation in Egypt, and his name was Garrett. He was my first kiss, and I still wonder why, if he was so dirty and bad, why he didn't look like it or act like it.
Allie was impressed. "Because he wasn't. Take it firsthand from me; there is no difference between any of you and a muggle. Except magic. And that only makes us cooler." The room settled into an awkward silence after her outburst. She figured for her plan to work she would just need to play a couple of riffs until she impressed someone or they got over her tirade. With magic, she placed her belongings in their respected places and sat on her bed faking boredom. As soon, as she strummed the first chord, she got a chime of questions about this strange instrument. They wanted to know what it was, why it was so small, and if she played it BY HERSELF. She grinned at all their amazement, and silently blessed Adele when she suggested, "Why don't you bring it downstairs and show us how to work it?"
Her answer was cordially indifferent. "Why, that sounds lovely."
Allie would become Alastrina, and she would play the part. Yet, instead of rising to the occasion she would show the pureblood prudes what they were missing in the muggle world. And she would use a medium that had yet to fail her. She would work her way into the hearts of these aristocrats with the one thing she had left to her, and only her: music.
So, I know it's going somewhat slow but bear with me. I think the first song is being introduced next chapter. I'll put it up when it's done. Thanks. LOTS OF LOVE.
So, I know it's going somewhat slow but bear with me. I think the first song is being introduced next chapter. I'll put it up when it's done. Thanks. LOTS OF LOVE.