Playing with Time
Chapter 4
September 1996
As they exit the Great Hall, Ella leans in close causing Tanis to instinctively slow her step. She takes in the a deep breath and tries to exhale the tension in her shoulders.
"Looks like someone has taken a liking to you." The girl smiles, looking up at her. "Though I would be careful, Draco is a real handful; and definitely watch out for his girlfriend." The thought makes her smile, and she temporarily forgets the closeness of the other girl. Good to know her mom is so over protective of him. "She's a real witch when it comes to them. They've been together since before they came here and apparently are suppose to be married after school." Tanis nods, though knows it never happens because of the war. "Even still, I'd just try to keep your distance." The new witch nods again and a silence falls between them.
It doesn't take too long for them to reach the common room. The hallway they walked down was rather familiar and was in fact, the one she was in just last night.
"The password is Aetas. Just tell it to the portrait here and it'll let you in." They walk through the newly opened doorway and Tanis takes in her apparent new home for the next undetermined amount of time.
For people calling this a dungeon it sure doesn't live up to its name. Yes, the walls are made of stone, but there are enough tapestries, painting and torches to cause any room to feel comfotable. And even though the flooring is all concrete, there are giant Renaissance rugs that cover most of the grey slate. Green and black are the predominate colors and everything together creates a very aristocratic feel.
Tanis takes a bite of the forgotten pastry in her hand as she follows the other witch up a staircase. After passing five rooms, each labeled with the numbers one through five. Elle pauses in front of the sixth one and steps to the side.
"You need to open the door. It reads your magical aura and will take you to your room." She smiles as she watches the look of fascination across the new girls face. "It is pretty cool. I, myself, was entranced by it for my first year or so."
She turns the knob and can feel the magic coursing under her fingertips. As she pushes the door open, she takes in the room. A large stand alone fireplace adorns the middle and is encircled by three emerald couches. Outside of those are six full canopied beds, each complete with a side table, trunk and other various items which Tanis can only assume is the other girls' personal belongings.
Her eyes land on on the only bed without the curtains pulled. Lying on the trunk is a piece of parchment with the name Tanis Abben written on it. As she walks up to it, the girl behind her lets out a little yelp.
"Oh no! Look time. I'm going to be late! I'll see you later. Flitwick is going to give me detention for sure." Ella rushes out of the room and for the first time since she got here, Tanis is by herself.
She looks through the things spread across her bed. Among the stuff is a few rolls of parchment, two quills, a pile of books, and on the pillow is a folded clock, with what she can assume is the uniform.
She goes back to parchment on the trunk and unfolds it.
I thought you could use somethings to help you find what you need.
Dumbledore
"What I need?" Tanis thinks, putting it down. How much does he know about me? She shakes her head. Grabbing her wand from her back pocket she point it among the things says a quick spell. Aperio periculum. Reveal Danger. It was a quick spell that Ernie taught her in one of their many safety lessons.
After changing her clothes and giving up on the tie, she leaves the room and walks down the steps. Sure enough, as promised, Draco is sitting on one of the couches, looking into the fire.
"What in the world took you so long. We're already late for the first class." He gets up and turns around. "Where are your things?" Draco stands and looks at her, annoyance etched into his face. Tanis, mirrors his features.
"I don't even know where I'm going, so how in Merlin's name am I suppose to know what to grab?" He sighs, but steps in front of her.
"Whatever, Snape is the head of our house anyways. He'll give us leeway." He reaches forward and she instinctively steps to the side, out of his reach. "I'm just going to fix your tie."
"Oh." Her face has the audacity to turn a slight pink in embarrassment as he steps towards her again. This time, he grabs her tie and expertly loops it around into the proper knot. Without another word, he turns and motions her to follow. "You can just borrow some of my stuff for now."
It doesn't take long before a conversation starts up between the two as they walk down the hall.
"So, who are you exactly?"
"Tanis Abben; and you're Draco Malfoy. Correct?" She replies, and watches as a smirk spreads across his lips.
"I suppose my fame does precede me, though, that shouldn't surprise me. But...You remind me of someone." Draco glances over at her as they walk down the empty hall.
"People always say I look like my father." She replies, and looks down.
"And who is he? Should I know him?" He sees her hair move as she shakes her head.
"I've only recently met him."
"Then why should it matter if you look like him?"
"I suppose it doesn't. Though he is the reason I'm here."
"He sent you?"
"No actually, my mom did, but I think he's the reason she sent me here."
"Is it now? So exactly what is the point?"
"You tell me. You're the one who started this conversation. I'm assuming you wanted to get to know me." Tanis finally looks over at him. The conversation went quick, and the responses were short. She feels comfortable though, even if she is talking around his questions.
"Well, I'm just trying to figure out-" Draco is interrupted by the sound of his name, echoing through the corridor.
"Draco Malfoy! How dare you leave me. We were suppose to- Who is this?" Before he turns around, Tanis notices the irate look on his face. As he faces the oncoming girl, he lets out a deep sigh before replying
"Pansy, like you don't know, its the new girl from this morning." He drawls, clearly uninterested in her presence. "You know, you were talking about her 'horrid sense of style' through the whole sorting." He turns about around, knowing she wouldn't leave it alone, but waves for Tanis to continue walking anyways.
"Don't you act all high and mighty with me Draco!" Pansy grabs his arm, and spins him around. "Now come with me."
"Pansy, first off. We are all going to the same class. Which would be in the direction we're heading. Second," he yanks his arm from her grasp. "Don't touch me."
"I don't know why you're acting so weird, but you should be walking with me. Not this blonde bitch over here." The brunette looks over at Tanis and has a smug smile on her face. "So, why don't you just hurry off, and I'll walk him to class."
"You know, Pansy, was it? Why don't you just take you're head out of your ass and your foot out of your mouth, and realize that he doesn't actually want you here." Pansy stomps her foot and looks over at Draco. A smirk forms on his lips and he does all he can not to laugh.
"Aren't you going to say something to this whore? I am your girlfriend after all!" Tanis chokes and her eyes go wide. Girlfriend?
"Yes, Parkinson, I suppose you are. So why don't you just move along to class and I'll deal with it. A lady's ear shouldn't hear this." Pansy grins and walks past them both, but not before shoving Tanis into the nearby statue. Draco reaches out and grabs her before she falls into the stone bust of one of the founders. "You okay?"
Tanis doesn't say anything as she rights herself and begins to walk. Her companion falls into step.
"That was a nice comeback back there." Tanis closes her eyes. Too many thoughts are running through her head, and her heart is pounding a a ridiculous rate.
"Gir-girlfriend? She's you're girlfriend? You...you mean you're not with Hermione?" Draco stops and reaches for her.
"What in Merlin's name does that mean?" He shoves back his surprise quickly, but allows the suspicion to show. "Wait...how do you know her?" Tanis doesn't reply. She yanks her arm from him and continues to walk. How is that possible. How is he not with her mom? And now, thanks to her stupidity, she just put herself in a very bad predicament. According to the Headmaster, it should be exactly one year before she is born, which means that they only have three months until she's suppose to be conceived.
"This isn't right." She shakes her head, speeding up her pace. "Me being here must have done something, maybe? Does time work like that? Oh, I don't know, but I have to do somomething...anything." She continues to mumble thoughts to herself, unaware that Draco had caught up to her.
"Tanis, stop." She doesn't listen. He says her name again, this time anger seeping through and she still ignores him. "That's it." He grabs her once more and spins her on her heels, causing her head to go crashing into his chest. He looks down, livid. "Who the hell are you?" She doesn't reply. The shock of being this close to him still predominates her actions.
"I asked you a question." His voice is low. "Now answer." The girl shakes her head and clears her mind. Realizing whats going on she quickly raises her arms and shoves herself away. Surprised by the sudden movement, Draco lets go and she is instantly a few feet away.
Tanis can feel her own anger rising. At this point she couldn't care if he is her father. No one speaks to her that way.
"Me?" She looks up at him, defiance glowing through her eyes. "I am a girl with too many problems to have another one added on by you prying into them." She steps forward again, allowing herself to close the distance she just created. She stabs him in the chest with her finger and looks back faces are inches apart.
"Who the hell Draco, do you think you are, that you can speak to me like that?" He doesn't respond to her outburst; instead he just stand there for a moment. Silent. He realizes there is only one person he allows to speak to him that way. In fact, he concludes, that one person happens to be the same one this particular girl reminds him of. As the thought of her enters his mind, he instantly calms.
"Whatever. Come on, we need to get to class." This time it's Tanis with the look of surprise as he walks past her. Neither speaks as they finish the walk to Potions.
"Nice of you to finally join us. Mr. Malfoy, Miss. Abben. The three of you better not make this a habit." The professor looks at the two and then to Pansy who is sitting in the back corner. They both look up at him as they close the door behind them, and apologise simultaneously. Professor Snape waves them off.
"Take you're seats." He turns back to the board behind him. "As I was saying, you will be put into partners for this first assignment. I figured if you all got this far, we don't need to start with anything simple. The Felix Felicis Potion is hard to conjure and will take a total of how many hours to complete?" He turns about around and sighs.
"Of course, Miss. Granger. Couldn't let anyone else have the first day? Obviously not." He motions her to carry on.
"47 combined hours, spread over six or seven days. You can only be around the fumes of the uncompleted potion for six hours a day, as they are incredibly toxic. After that you have to let it sit for 6 months before you can consume it"
"That is why we are making it first." Professor Snape completely disregards praising the Gryiffindor, but Hermione beams just the same. There are things you have to get used to when dealing with him, and this would just be one of the many on the long list. "That way it has time to stew and you can all try it out at the end of the term; and because of some, how shall I put this...nicely, idiotic rule our dear headmaster has created, all partnered projects must consist of student from opposite houses." Groans are heard through the class and the professor clears his throat.
"Quiet. All of you. I don't care how much you all may hate it. Now," he glances through the students and begins to pair them off.
"Miss. Granger, since you have the highest marks in the class, you shall be paired with Miss. Abben." Hermione turns and for the first time since she got here, Tanis is able to make solid eye contact with her mom. She smiles and those happy memories come flooding back.
Snape continues to list off names, but Tanis fails to hear. Hermione on the other hand raises her hand when she hears the partner of one of her closest friends.
"Professor, don't you think it's a bit unfair to put Neville with her? He needs someone who could help him, you know she won't do that."
"Are you questioning my decisions Miss Granger?"
"No it's just that-"
"Fine. Mr. Malfoy, since you have the second highest grade in the class. You can take on the liberty of making her Mr. Longbottom over there passes the project. Miss. Parkinson. You are now with Mr. Weasley." Hermione blinks a few times after he finishes and then sighs before lowering her head, but says nothing more on the matter.
"Now, get to work. Class is over once you finish the first part of the brewing."
To be Continued...
Author's Note: I was going to include the actual class in this chapter, but it got a little lengthy, so I put that in it's own chapter.