... Don't kill me. Please.

*cowers behind large desk*

I'm sooo sorry for the long wait. I swear that, from now on, we will be returning to the normal schedule, which was, as some of you may know, a chapter every weekend. I will be trying for Saturday. I may post it on Sunday or Friday, though. It WILL be on the weekend. No fear.

EXPLANATION: (you don't have to read if you don't want to)
As for where the heck I was and what the heck I was doing, I don't want to go on a rampage. Lets just say I went through a helluva rough spot where I wasn't really even writing on my personal stories, which are usually first priority. I was falling into a small depression, and I lapsed into insomnia for a short period of time. I'm fine now, and I don't mean to complain. I brought it all on myself, anyhow. It was just shit for a while, and I won't do it again.

Please review, if only to tell me how much I disgust all of you.

Sorry again.

~Cassie

I sleep fitfully, thinking of things that might happen the next day.

Maybe Dumbledore wouldn't want to help us. Maybe he would think we were crazy. Maybe Voldemort would kill us. Maybe...

Maybe we're stuck in this time period. Maybe I'll never see Hermione or Ron again.

I choke back a scream as I wake up from a fitful nightmare of something I can't quite recall. Luna is curled up next to me on the bed, unconsciously seeking my warmth. I ruffle her hair lightly as the feeling of horror slowly washes off of me.

Try as I might for the next few minutes, I can't seem to fall asleep. I get up and enter the small bathroom adjacent to our room, changing into a Hogwarts uniform and looking at my reflection critically in the mirror.

Something is different about this uniform. The lines are subtly changed near the collar, and it sits around my shoulders in a more refined, elegant way.

On the other hand, I still look like I don't quite fit in the uniform. It looks like something out of the nineteen forties, but I am still clearly part of the 90's. I feel out of place, like I'm playing the part of a character that I don't work as.

Oh well. Hopefully I won't have to be here long.

"Harry?" Luna's voice echos from the bedroom, drugged and lazy sounding.

"Yeah," I say softly. "I couldn't sleep."

There's a pause, and I hear her murmur, "Lumos."

"What time is it?" I ask her, eying the suit again and fiddling with the collar.

A pause. "Around 7:00am. We slept in."

I curse. "If we hurry we can make it, yeah?" The trains left at 7:35.

"Yeah." I hear rustling in the other room as she begins to change. I run a nervous hand through my hair, trying to tame it, before splashing water over my face and taking a deep breath. I needed to calm down.

"I'm ready," Luna's voice rings out, and I walk out of the restroom.

Her skirt, ending just over her knees, is a soft grey near the same as her eyes. The robes go down to her mid-thighs, and her pale curls fall over it with the distinct contrast of ivory over black. The time-turner is around her neck, the chain disappearing into her white blouse.

She looks like she was born here, in this time she was never meant to be a part of.

"Are we ready to go?" I ask her softly.

"Unless you want to let something stop us." she said lightly, smiling dreamily and opening the door.

I follow her, even though I'm not quite sure what she means.

...

We get to the train uneventfully, with nearly no delays. The station is crowded, filled with people bustling and parents hugging. Luna and I find an empty compartment quickly and sit on opposite sides of it.

I hear people shouting "I love you"s and "Write soon"s as the train starts moving.

Luna shivers softly, looking out the window.

"Just think," she murmurs, "Tom Riddle is on this train with us. He's here."

"I never will escape Voldemort, will I?" I murmur softly.

Her grey eyes pierce mine. "Oh, but he isn't Voldemort. At least, not the Voldemort we know. Not yet."

"What is he, then?"

"He's a teenage boy." She says with a fanciful tone. "Merely a small boy in front of a small army with big plans."

I pause, letting her words sink in.

"Do you- do you think that, if we tried, we could fix things?" I ask hesitantly. "That we could save him? Save everyone?"

"Time is a circle, never ending and always adapting. It's possible."

I pause. "Has anyone ever done it? Changed what would have happened?"

She looks me in the eyes with a burning gaze.

"If they had, would we know it?"

...

As we were filed into the dining room, I spent merely a moment wondering at how easy it would be to invade Hogwarts this way. Simply riding a train and walking in-no one has done it because everyone assumes it is impossible.

I eye Dumbledore immeadiatly as he sits at the teacher's table, chatting with a thin woman with a pointed nose and wide-set eyes.

"Should we speak to him now?" I ask.

"Does time matter when we are already warping it?" I choose not to answer her, instead heading directly for the table, ignoring the many eyes following us.

"Mr Dumbledore," Luna says politely. He turns to us, and I take a moment to marvel at how young he is now, with auburn hair and smooth skin free of the harshness of age. "May we please borrow you for a moment before the sorting begins?"

He looks at us for a second behind piercing spectacles before nodding. "Surely I can spare a moment."

We slip into the hallway quickly, and the door closes behind us with the soft sound that something might make at the end or beginning of it's life.

"Mr Dumbledore, we're lost." Luna says. "We were staying with family friends when an accident occurred and we were sent here."

"Oh, my," he says. "And where do you live? I can send for you to be brought home as soon as possible."

"1999." she says softly. "We belong in 1999."

He pales visibly. "And how did this happen, my child?"

I spoke up. "One of our friends found a time-turner that was broken"-Luna lifted said time-turner out from under her shirt-"and fiddled with it just a bit. We were spiraled into time."

Dumbledore held out for the time-turner with shaking fingers. Luna gave it to him quickly.

"We need help," Luna said softly. "In our time, we trusted you very much. We were hoping you might be able to show us what we need to do."

Dumbledore's sparkling blue eyes were fixed on the time-turner.

"Marvelous..." he murmured. "What does it do? When it's not broken, I mean?"

I pause, and Luna chuckles softly.

"I hadn't realized they weren't invented yet," she softly chortled. "Working properly, they are used to send one back in time as much as two days. This one is broken."

Dumbledore softly handed the necklace back to her with an almost reluctant expression.

"If that didn't prove your story," he said slowly, eying the time-turner, "nothing would've. I'm assuming there is no known way for a person to travel forward in time for you, am I wrong?"

"Not beyond the usual way."

"Well, then," he mused. "What year were you attending at school?"

I paused. "Due to harsh circumstances, we both were more of less absent during our seventh year."

"Harsh circumstances?"

"A war," Luna said softly. Dumbledore nodded in an aged way.

"I see. As is Hogwart's policy, I can allow you to be resorted and admitted into the school as exchange students. Until we can find a way to send you back to where you came from, I'm afraid you're stuck here."

My heart plummeted because, loathe as I was to admit it, part of me had been expecting Dumbledore to just give me an explanation and send us back quickly.

"Okay," I say softly. Luna wraps her hand around my wrist for just a millisecond, squeezing softly, and some part of it reminds me of Hermionie grabbing my hand when I was lost or Ron clapping me on the back awkwardly.

Part of the small touch reminds me of home.

Part of it gives me hope.

So I take a deep breath and stand tall when I'm directed to the Sorting Hat.

We will get back home. I don't let myself doubt it.

This hasn't been beta'd so please tell me if you find any errors. Thanks. :)