Chapter 1: Starting Over

Madam Fuller bustled around the room, dutifully checking on her patients. Anthony Knapp was still in there after his Quidditch injury. Karissa Bennett had sprained her ankle after getting caught in a trick stair. There was a new young lady there as well. A new student, Dumbledore had told her. She looked like she had been through a war, all cut up and broken. Madam Fuller had managed to clean her up and to heal her cuts, but a few scars remained. She had a few broken bones, all of which had been healed overnight. Madam Fuller finished writing notes and started heading back to her office for potions.

Lydia woke up to the sterile smell of a hospital surrounding her. She tried to sit up and gasped as shooting pain surged throughout her shoulder, back, and stomach. Madam Fuller turned around, having heard her. She arrived instantly at her bedside. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Like I got run over by a hippogriff," Lydia grimaced, trying again to sit up.

Madam Fuller gave a sympathetic smile as she gently pushed her back down. "Where am I?" Lydia asked, thoroughly confused.

"Hogwarts infirmary, dear."

"How?"

"Two of our students found you. You appeared on the grounds while they were out walking."

"Where's Madam Pomfrey?"

"Who?" Madam Fuller asked, confusion etched into the lines of her face.

"Madam Pomfrey, she's the nurse here."

"I'm the nurse here, miss."

Lydia's head pounded. "What's the last thing you remember?" Madam Fuller asked.

"I was fighting in a battle. You-Know-Who was here at Hogwarts and he was trying to get to Harry Potter and…"

Madam Fuller interrupted. "I think that's enough, dear."

"No," Lydia insisted, "I want to know what's going on. This isn't the Hogwarts infirmary; there's no Madam Pomfrey. I don't recognize anyone here. Where am I?"

"Calm down, miss."

"No, I won't calm down!" Lydia yelled, tears streaming down her face. Madam Fuller silently fired a spell at her. She started feeling drowsy. "I want… please…" she said as she dozed off.

Margaret Fuller stood in one of the private hospital rooms with Albus Dumbledore, the girl between them. Madam Fuller took a deep breath. "You didn't see her, Albus. Something is wrong with her. She kept going on about there being a battle at Hogwarts and You-Know-Who coming to the castle."

"Can you revive her? I'd like to have a word with her," Albus asked.

"Certainly," Madam Fuller acquiesced. Upon having completed her task, she left the room.

Lydia came around slowly. When she noticed Dumbledore, she gasped. Her eyes grew wide. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"This is my school," Dumbledore said, quite calmly.

"But you… Snape…" Lydia shook her head. "I think I'm going crazy, sir. This has to be some kind of dream."

Dumbledore chuckled.

"Everything is different, sir. I've never been so confused."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "Can you give me today's date?" he asked.

"Er, I guess it would be the 3rd of May, 1998."

Dumbledore's eyes widened for a split second. "Today is the 9th of September, 1977."

"You're lying," Lydia said automatically.

"I assure you I am not. What is your name, miss?"

"Lydia… Lydia Serrao," she responded, giving Dumbledore her mother's maiden name as her surname.

"How old are you, Miss Serrao?"

"18, sir. I was at the end of my seventh year."

"Would you be terribly offended if I asked you to repeat your seventh year here, in this time?"

Lydia hesitated. "Repeat this year? Is there no way to send me back home?"

"There are no records of time travel other than through the use of a Time Turner, which allows only for short, controlled rewinds. No one has ever tried to return to their time because they weren't going but a few hours back but then again no one has ever gone this far back into the past either. You are quite a unique individual, Miss Serrao."

"So I'm stuck here?" Lydia said, a look of despair spreading across her features.

Dumbledore nodded. "And as a student, I'm afraid. I told the staff you were a transfer student."

Lydia nodded. This was not going to be a fun ride.

Lydia felt a bit better after she and Dumbledore finished their talk the previous day. She would be allowed to go to her new dorms tonight and had ordered new clothes from magazines she had been given by Dumbledore. She had already been given new uniforms and one of the teachers had a daughter about her age, so she had something she was able to wear in the meantime. She was particularly grateful to Dumbledore, who was being rather generous in light of her circumstances and was paying for everything she needed.

She was in a bed next to a boy about her age. He had been unconscious for quite a while. Madam Fuller said he had been hit by a rogue bludger at Quidditch tryouts. The boy's name was Anthony Knapp and he was the captain of the Ravenclaw team.

It wasn't until about two in the afternoon that Anthony began to stir. "Bloody hell," the boy said, rubbing the back of his head. "What happened?"

Lydia spoke to him, "Madam Fuller said you had been struck by a bludger during beater try-outs'."

"That would certainly explain the throbbing pain. My name's Anthony," he said.

"I'm Lydia."

Anthony smirked. "Very nice to meet you, Miss Lydia. I've not seen you around before. Are you new?"

"Yes, actually. I used to attend Phoenix Academy."

"New and already in the hospital wing? Couldn't wait a month or two?"

Lydia snickered. "What house are you in?" Anthony asked.

"Ravenclaw."

"Excellent," Anthony said, "And what year?"

"Seventh."

"Even better."

Madam Fuller entered the room. "Mr. Knapp and Ms. Serrao, you are both being released. Before you go, I'd like for the two of you to take these potions."

They both followed orders. Madam Fuller turned to Lydia. "Your bones have healed, but you are still likely to have some back and shoulder pain. Try to avoid putting pressure on your right shoulder. You two are officially discharged. I hope I don't see either of you here anytime soon. Mr. Knapp, I'd appreciate if you could show Ms. Serrao the way to your common room."

Anthony and Lydia left the hospital wing and headed for the Ravenclaw common room, talking all the way. They finally arrived at the door leading to the common room. There was no handle, just a knocker in the shape of an eagle. Anthony knocked once and the eagle's beak opened.

"What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?" it asked in its soft, almost musical voice.

"Man," Anthony replied.

"Correct."

The door swung open to reveal a large circular room. Lydia stepped inside. She was excited to see that the common room hadn't changed much over the years; it was a comfort to know she at least had a home somewhere. "Girls' dorms are on the right," Anthony told her, pointing to a staircase.

Lydia walked up the stairs until she arrived at the floor labeled "7th year girls". She entered the room. Her bed was on the far right. Dumbledore had already had a trunk brought up for her. She opened that first. Inside were some of the things she had picked out yesterday. Finally, she had her own clothes again. A stack of books was laid on her bedside table. On top was her schedule: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Herbology, and Fundamentals in Healing. Her first class on Monday would be double Defense Against the Dark Arts. She wondered what that class would be like and if it would be more useful in this time than in hers.

A group of girls walked in. "You must be Lydia," a short girl with pretty green eyes and strawberry blonde hair spoke out. Lydia nodded. "I'm Rachel Summers."

A slightly taller girl with brown hair and brown eyes was next to speak, "I'm Mary Brown."

"Kaitlyn Johnson," said the girl with black hair and brown eyes.

A girl with short brown hair and brown eyes was standing behind the rest. "I'm Heather Nichols," she said.

"You'll love it here," Rachel predicted, flopping down onto her bed.

Lydia laughed. "I'm glad to hear that."