"Time is making fools of us again." (Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)

He popped one in his mouth before offering to the children; "Lemon drop, my dears?"

Anne Shirley was absolutely furious. She should have known that anyone in the vicinity of Gilbert Blythe was doomed to get into a ridiculous situation like this.

It was a fine mess Gilbert had gotten them into. Not only did he manage to land them in a completely different time, but also, a completely different universe for goodness' sake.

She deliberately avoided his gaze, not noticing the bewildered expression he on his own face. Instead, she settled on intently watching the old professor, who seemed to be talking to the fireplace.

Even Professor Dumbledore was befuddled. Anne remembered how frustrating it had been for him, trying to ask the right questions without revealing too much for himself.

Glaring daggers at him, she spluttered, "Gilbert Blythe, what in the world did you do?"

Right then, an old man with a long silver beard entered the room, his eyes twinkling maddeningly. After toning down the general chaos in the room, and seating a dazed Gilbert and rather disgruntled Anne, he spoke.

"Now then," he said, calmly folding his hands on his desk, "Would you care to explain how you've ended up in my office?"

As Gilbert slowly came out of his glazed over state, and launched into the story of what happened on the avenue, Anne took in her surroundings. Curious, delicate instruments were on the professor's desk, and they were – floating? In mid air? One even seemed to be spitting red sparks by itself. Suddenly, Anne realized the enormity of the situation. Where was she? And how would she get back?

Dumbledore's voice interrupted Anne's thoughts.

"Most intriguing," he said fingering the metal watch, "It seems that you and Ms. Shirley have managed to cross two boundaries with this – watch, as you call it – one between your time frame and ours, and one between your universe and ours." Anne's eyes widened.

Dumbledore continued. "Most astonishing, however, is that you've managed to penetrate through Hogwarts' multiple wards." He paused. "Although I am getting a bit ahead of myself, aren't I? Allow me to explain…"

What followed was a lengthy description of the world they had landed in. Magic existed, and was all around them in all shapes and forms. They had landed themselves at Hogwarts, one of the best schools of witchcraft and wizardry, of which Dumbledore was currently headmaster of. The gadget that had transported them here was apparently called a time turner, which actually was much better developed in this time. But to land on the other side of the world andan alternate universe would require huge outbursts of raw magical energy. What's more, they were able to Hogwarts, even breaking through its heavily reinforced barriers, which could only mean...

"I'm a witch?" gasped Anne. Gilbert's eyes popped out of his sockets and he nearly went catatonic again. "How is that possible?"

Dumbledore looked intently at the both of them. "Has anything strange ever happened to you?" he asked, "Anything out of the ordinary – when you were feeling more powerful emotions? When you were hurt, or angry?"

Anne thought about this. She remembered when Josie Pye had dared her to walk the ridge pole of that roof, and she had survived with only a sprained ankle - and how quickly that had healed afterwards. And very vaguely, in the very deepest of her memories, she remembered a red-haired woman, lifting objects with the wave of a stick…

Seeing that the two children understood, Dumbledore's eyes sparkled again.

"Young witches and wizards often experience accidental magic when they are less emotionally stable; when they have little control over their magic. As they grow older, however, they learn to control their magic."

A witch! thought Anne. And this time, she was almost sure it wasn't simply her imagination running wild. What would Matthew and Marilla say? Would they still accept her? Matthew and Marilla! And everyone else she held dear in Avonlea. Would she ever see them again? In this universe, had she even existed? Or was she all alone once more? Strange, how much a person realized they cherished something once they had it taken away from them.

Dumbledore's voice cut into her thoughts. "Now, as we know very little about the nature of this time turner, we cannot be sure as to what is or is not safe to reveal, so for now, I must ask you to say as little as possible about past events regarding time; only what is necessary. My colleagues and I will be trying figure out this time turner issue, and we will inform you as soon as we have solved this mystery."

"The most immediate issue, however, is where you'll be staying…"

Professor Dumbledore's head finally popped back out of the fireplace.

"I've found a temporary home for the both of you," he said, "You will be staying in Diagon Alley, a main center in the English Wizarding Community, with my good friend Tom. Now, travelling there by Floo is very simple. All you need to do is stand in this fireplace, throw a handful of this Floo powder, and say very clearly, 'the Leaky Cauldron'."

Anne and Gilbert stared at him incredulously, questioning his sanity.

"Come along, children," he said merrily, "We haven't got all day."

Haltingly, Anne and Gilbert followed his orders. Anne stepped into the oversized fireplace first, feeling rather silly.

"Before you leave, I must stress the importance of not revealing from which time you come from," Dumbledore said seriously, "You could very well find yourself wiped from existence if the wrong phrase slipped out."

Anne and Gilbert nodded solemnly. Anne saw that she would have to be very careful with her wording here. She couldn't afford to speak before she thought.

"Of course, Professor Dumbledore. My lips are sealed forever." Anne added with more than a touch of melodrama.

"Good," he said. "Now, Ms. Shirley, if you please, a handful of Floo powder…"

Anne grabbed a handful of the dust. "The Leaky Cauldron," she said clearly, before choking on the green fumes that leapt up around her….

Gilbert walked aimlessly down the short hallways. Tom had given Anne and Gilbert two rooms in the living quarters of the Leaky Cauldron. Much to Anne's despair, however, they were directly across from each other.

She was still avoiding him – probably still steaming about the time turner incident – but how was he supposed to know they would be transported to a different universe? How was he supposed to know they would be transported anywhere?

Nevertheless, she was still sending him scathing looks whenever he tried to talk to her, storming off immediately afterwards. He might have preferred the time when she would smash slates over his head to this stony silence.

Tom couldn't understand the animosity between the two, either. Because Dumbldore had said to only mention what was necessary, he was forced to keep Tom in the dark. It was a shame, really, Tom was amazingly easy to talk to – he supposed it came with being a innkeeper for many years. He might have been able to help Gilbert settle things with Anne. For now, though, Tom just had to settle for the lame explanation of a childhood feud.

Gilbert came to a wall of pictures. Black and white photos showed Tom's family and friends through the ages as they moved and interacted with each other.

Wait – was that –? Gilbert stopped dead. In an old wooden frame was a dark haired couple, grinning and waving. It was picture of his parents from their younger days.

How could Tom have known his parents? They lived nearly a hundred years before, and he highly doubted that Tom was that old. Unless – were they related? Had Gilbert existed then? Or had his parents given birth to siblings he'd never know? He gaped openly.

Tom passed by, chuckling, misinterpreting the shock on Gilbert's face. "Dumbledore told me you were muggleborn – pictures in the Wizarding world move. It's a simple spell they put on the photo before it's developed. Bit of a shock, isn't it?" he grinned. "I imagine you'll get used to it after a while. It's a bit like what those Muggle contraptions do– what are they called? Tellys?"

"Y-es," Gilbert choked out, clearly not taking in a word of what Tom was saying.

"Lunch will be ready in half an hour," said Tom, "Come down when you're ready, alright? And try to drag Anne out too, will you? She spends far too much time in the room of hers. It's a wonder she's able to keep herself amused."

After Tom left, Gilbert sank down. He made a mental note to ask Dumbledore about this later on, when he had the chance. It was just too much- he'd had enough surprises this week.

He made another mental note to ask the next Muggleborn he met what a "telly" was.

Anne stared out of her window, as she had done every morning for the past week. She still hadn't gone out of the Leaky Cauldron at all, except for one trip to the bookstore and another trip to Florean Fortescue's. Anne had decided that she loved ice cream, despite the rather unusual flavors Florean offered.

Tom, the innkeeper of the Leaky Cauldron, seemed nice enough, but he and Anne just hadn't clicked. Gilbert and Tom, on the other hand, had hit it off immediately. It seemed Dumbledore might not have to find Gilbert another home after all.

Today was a Sunday, which meant not too many people would be out and about. She decided to go shopping for her school supplies.

After dressing and walking down the stairs, Anne realized that part of the reason she had delayed this shopping up until now was that she had been hanging onto the hope that Dumbledore would find a way to send them home before the school year began. School started in just a few days, so there was no point in postponing it any longer.

Not paying attention to where she was going, Anne was torn out of her musings when she collided directly into Gilbert.

Anne straighted, and brushed herself off. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Blythe. Please excuse me." Anne said icily, then swept about to continue on her way.

"Look, Anne – " Gilbert began, but one frigid look from Anne stopped him.

Still fuming, Anne walked down the street of Diagon Alley. She then remembered that she had forgotten to bring her school supply list.

"I get dropped halfway around the world, more than over one hundred years after my original time, in a whole different universe, and I'm still just as heedless as I ever was…" she muttered to herself.

She finally decided to go to Flourish and Blotts and browse, since she didn't want to go back to the Leaky Cauldron. Not if there was the slightest chance of running into… No! She would not let her thoughts go in that direction.

She walked into the shop and immediately went for the nonfiction section. Maybe there was a book about time turners in there that she could look at…

"Oh! I'm sorry…" Anne felt something hit her in the back and turned to see a girl with bushy brown hair and pretty eyes apologizing. She appeared to be walking and reading at the same time.

"It's alright," Anne said with a smile. She turned back to the shelf and saw Hogwarts, a History on the spine of one of the books. She reached out towards it and found herself bumping hands with the girl.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" the girl stammered out again. "Do you want that book? It's supposed to be very interesting, all about Hogwarts! Of course, it doesn't have everything, but Hogwarts is a very big school. I already have a copy, of course, but I just wanted to look at it again since I left mine at home."

Anne laughed. "I'm Anne Shirley," she said, holding out her hand. "It appears that we have similar taste in books."

The girl smiled back. "Hermione Granger," she responded, taking Anne's hand. "What year are you going into?"

Anne had to think for a moment. "First," she replied.

"Me too!" Hermione exclaimed. "I only just found out about magic, but I'm looking forward to it so much! I'm a Muggleborn, you see – "

"A what?" interrupted Anne confusedly.

"A Muggleborn. Someone with parents who don't have magic. What about you?"

"I never knew my parents," Anne confessed. "But I think that they were wizards. I only just found out about magic too."

This prompted a discussion about what they had read about magic in books. After Anne bought Hogwarts, a History, they ended up going to Fortescue's to continue their conversation, which quickly diverged to new topics.

" – and I broke the slate over his head."

Hermione laughed so hard that she nearly choked on her ice cream. She looked down at her watch. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I've got to go meet my parents. You'll meet me at the platform, of course? It'll be so nice knowing someone already!"

"Definitely," Anne assured her. "See you then!"

Hermione departed. Anne sat alone at her table for a while, reading Hogwarts, a History and staring off into space, imagining. She'd finally made a friend in this strange new world.