A/N: Age guides for new readers who weren't here for this mess two years ago.
Narcissa, Severus, Lucius - 13
Bellatrix - 17
Regulus - 12
Yes, yes, the ages are skewed. And another thing - I do not own Harry Potter or the characters. They belong to the wonderful JK Rowling. Also I think I will never be satisfied with this story's summary.
- w -
"I am impressed, Miss Black," Dumbledore said once the older Snape and the younger four unfortunate students launched through time left to go to the infirmary. Bellatrix noted how the air grew increasingly heavier the moment she was left alone with the headmaster. The lights which seemed to be everywhere before dimmed, giving the office an eerie, unwelcoming feeling.
Knowing herself - which she rarely does these days - it's probably because she isn't. "Your capability to put everyone around you in harms' way is astounding."
Bellatrix said nothing for a while because, honestly, what could she possibly say in response? She shoved her hand into the pockets of her robes, feeling the shattered pieces of glass that remained and the cold chain accompanying it. After what felt like an eternity, she met Dumbledore's eyes with a smile too innocent and out of place. "Yes, don't you know that putting people in danger is one of my best skills?"
- . -
Narcissa found herself staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling. She wasn't in her quarters - the air didn't smell like butterscotch and roses. An odd combination but one she grew rather fond of after three years. What was in the air was the obnoxious smell of Malfoy's perfumes. That didn't make much sense. Was Malfoy nearby?
It took a minute more before her sleep-muddled brain suggested she get up. What she saw was the strange sight of Malfoy and Snape conversing in hushed tones. She was quite assured by the narcissist that he was very capable of conversing with the half-blood in volumes 3/10 but she never quite believed him until now. She found her sister asleep on the bed next to the one she was on while a wide awake Regulus sat by the bedside and stared blankly out the window.
Malfoy was the one that noticed her first, "Good morning, Narcissa." He said. Snape murmured his own greetings which she replied in the most pleasant tones she could manage. "What time is it?" she asked, noticing how it was slightly dark outside. It wasn't quite nighttime - perhaps it was after the sunset or before the sun rises?
"It's six in the morning," Snape replied. "It's been roughly seven hours since we arrived."
"Arrived..." she murmured and then it struck her. Memories of the previous night became clearer. The mishap, the meeting with the headmaster and the battier Professor Snape. "Oh. It hadn't been a vivid dream, then."
"Sadly, no." the black-haired boy shook his head. "It's all very real."
"Hm." she mused, "You seem to have come to terms with what happened. And by that, I mean the 'time travel' - funny little fictional subjects in muggle books which aren't so fictional after all."
Snape shrugged a little helplessly, "After I was smacked with a book and reminded constantly half an hour ago that magic is generally thought to be unreal by many of the populace of the world, I resigned myself to the possibility that we may have somehow traveled forward in time." And judging by the pride that lit up Malfoy's face when Snape mentioned being hit with a book, Narcissa assumed he had been the one to do so to the other boy.
Narcissa got off the bed and stretched her limbs, fully waking herself up in the process. She took note of how they were the only ones in the... infirmary, right, they were in the infirmary. Older Snape brought them there to see if they were all in perfect order - completely human and with all organs functioning and accounted for. Speaking of which. She turned to her cousin. Regulus gave no indication that he heard them or that he even noticed her get up. "Regulus," she called, only to be met by silence. She tried again, "Reg!"
She succeeded the second time and the boy jolted in his seat, as if struck by lightning.
"Ah... Good morning, Cissa," Regulus said with a small smile. "Did you sleep well?"
She ignored the question by asking one of her own, "Are you alright? Have you talked to Madam Pomfrey? She usually talks to her patients about their ailments the moment they wake up, says what they should and should not do for the sake of their health, unless of course she's changed by then-" she didn't notice her voice rise in pitch and alarm until Regulus raised his hands in surrender and said, "Quiet down, Cissa. You'll wake Bellatrix."
She did as she was told despite knowing how Bellatrix slept like the dead.
"I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey says it was just due to exhaustion. Before you ask, I am aware of what happened. The... time travel," he hesitated, as if the words felt awkward and out of place. "Severus informed me of what happened during my blackout. Malfoy contributed by making puns."
"Of course he did."
The conversations dissolved and turned into companionable silence. Narcissa took it as an opportunity to think. How will they get back, she wondered. Will they ever get back? According to the books on time-turners that her mother supplied her before fully giving her the timepiece, time-turners are supposed to go back in time but too much would damaged time or the witch/wizard themselves. And on another note, if the time-turners are supposed to go back, why did the accidental breaking of one time-turner send them hurling nineteen years into the future? There are too many things she doesn't know. She hated that feeling of being unaware, of not knowing.
"Bella said that the headmaster will 'send for us', didn't she?" Bellatrix had stayed a bit longer with the headmaster for to talk about living arrangements.
"Mhm."
Regulus asked, "What are we going to do now? Are we going to have to hide around unseen until we somehow find a way to go back to our own time?"
"Dumbledore said he'll possibly enlist us for class this year so that we won't miss anything." Snape said, recalling the bits of conversation he bothered listening to last night. He wondered just how the old man was going to do that. Does he intend to announce 'an accident with time has caused five students to appear here in Hogwarts' or something? He distantly recalled transfer students back in his second year, students who were running away from the rising power of the Dark Lord. Perhaps the headmaster planned to disguise them as transfer students?
- . -
An hour or so passed before Dumbledore entered the hospital wing. They couldn't help but stare at the man. He was wearing fuschia robes. Fuschia, with orange trims.
"Good morning everyone," he greeted with a smile. "I am glad to see you all awake... or perhaps not." Narcissa bound over to Bellatrix and shook her harshly. It took a long minute and a half or so before her sister began to stir. It took three seconds before Bellatrix had her wand pointed at her neck.
"Bellatrix, Professor Dumbledore is here." She said calmly, mindful of her sister's sleepy state and the headmaster's gaze. It would do no good to set Bellatrix off early in the morning nor was it good to make the headmaster witness her sister's less that stellar sides.
Fate seemed to be smiling on them that day for Bella lowered her wand and yawned out a 'good morning'.
As if nothing happened, Dumbledore continued speaking, "I have discussed the matter of your arrival with the other professors and we've concluded that your education is important and that it is better if you are all enlisted to classes. To 'keep you occupied and keep you from going mad', Minerva's words, not mine. And miss Black - Bellatrix - was supposed to take the N.E.W.T.s this year." He paused when Bellatrix cackled, "Forgive me, that's a bit of poor wording. I mean nineteen years ago."
"We cannot let you wander around just as you are, of course. Perhaps you'll be pleased to know that each of you are famous in your own ways. We have some very perceptive students in Hogwarts who will be suspicious as to why mini versions of well-known witches and wizards are running around the halls. Not to mention the fact that you all basically appeared out of thin air. Disguises and creative backstories are needed."
"Will we be constantly drinking polyjuice to disguise our appearance, then?" Malfoy asked. Dumbledore shook his head, "No, glamours are much practical. The polyjuice potion allows the drinker to copy someone else's face and body. Glamours are disguises that can exist without copying someone else's appearance. Also, it's not good for the body to constantly induce the substance."
"Oh... I see."
Dumbledore nodded. "And on another note: your houses. You'll be in Slytherin unless you wish to change that-" Narcissa interrupted, "We can choose?"
"Yes. I'll only allow this for this specific cirucmstance. If you have business you wish to do in other houses, you are very free to leave Slytherin and switch to something else, but when you return to your proper time period, you will be returned to your original house."
"I'm staying in Slytherin," Snape said almost immediately. He refused to be put in another house. Hufflepuff was just too friendly, Ravenclaws all seeemed to be know-it-all snobs, Gryffindors are disgustingly golden - he'd like to stay in his own house, thank you very much.
Dumbledore looked like he expected the answer. "Miss Narcissa?"
"Like Severus, I'd like to stay in Slytherin. It's the only house befitting a Black." And I'm not quite sure how my sister will react if I choose otherwise, went unsaid but heard by the majority in the room.
Surprisingly enough, Bellatrix turned out to be the one to question Narcissa. "Really, sister? Mommy and daddy aren't here though. You can do whatever you want." She said, matter-of-fact.
"I personally believe switching destroys the purpose of being sorted in the first place." The younger sister argued.
"Alright, alright. Mister Malfoy?"
"Slytherin."
"Mister Black?"
"Slytherin."
Dumbledore hummed. "Miss Bellatrix?"
With a grin too wide to be completely sane, Bellatrix replied, "Gryffindor."
- intermission -
"Lily? Who are you looking for?"
Lily stopped staring at the table across to cast a sheepish look towards her friend. "Are you looking for Snape?" Marlene asked, looking towards the Slytherin table. It was still early and only a few students were present. Lily recognized one of them to be Andromeda Black, the sweetest Slytherin she's met in the entirety of Hogwarts. She briefly considered asking her but also considered the hostility that would be aimed towards her by the others sitting around the table. She's learned from experience that most Slytherins don't like muggle-borns.
"Yes," Lily replied. She breathed a small sigh upon seeing Marlene's lack of a sneer when mentioning her friend. Not many people like Severus and not many endeavor to address him nicely and those who do only do so because they need something. So Lily is quite glad Marlene isn't like the majority. "He's usually one of the earliest to enter the hall. 'To avoid those miscreants' - his words, not mine."
Marlene hummed a little, "Maybe he wasn't referring to Potter's crew, then," she admitted after a while. Lily gave her a curious look. "Who referred to what?"
Marlene tapped her chin, "On my way here I passed by Evan Rosier - second year Slytherin-" how Marlene knew everyone was beyond Lily, "-and I overheard him muttering to himself. Something about 'missing' and 'worrying everyone'. I asked him 'is there someone missing?' and perhaps he was too preoccupied with his thoughts that he forgot to scowl at the passing Gryffindor- but anyway, he replied with something along the lines of 'bloody idiots who got into trouble on the second day'. I thought he was talking about those 'Marauders'. Come to think of it, why would he even look peeved if they got in trouble? From what I know about Evan-"
Lily began to tune her friend out as she contemplated what her friend said. According to one Evan Rosier, there are people missing. She looked towards the Slytherin table and found it awfully bland and spaced. As if there were pieces not in their proper places.
"Do you think..." she started, cutting Marlene off. "If he's to be believed then - do you think Sev is one of them? One of the 'idiots'."
Marlene shrugged, "I personally think Snape is quite bright under all that gloom. Also secondly, I don't think he's the sort of person to get in trouble a day after returning to school. That's more of Potter's style... But also Snape is a friend of Malfoy's, and Malfoy is a walking human disaster. A narcissistic human disaster. I think Malfoy's one of the idiots that got in trouble and that Snape's collateral damage."
"That's not a nice thought, Marlene."
"You didn't ask for a nice one, Lily - you asked what I thought." Marlene clarified, "But don't worry. My answers are just based on guesswork and supposition. Perhaps Snape is fine and probably just sick, he'll probably turn up later."
- w -
A/N: I'll be honest, I'm not at all satisfied with this chapter but I've scrapped this one too many times. I know if I keep being unsatisfied I'll never move forward and be stuck here until the next two years. Yikes. So! That's that. Tell me what you think - reviews are appreciated, it gives me encouragement to write - but if you don't want to either it's fine. You can say nice things, or point out mistakes, or tell me what I can do to improve the flow.
Thank you to those who already reviewed, bless your kind hearts and in response to the majority of messages: yes, I will continue this story to the best of my ability, don't worry. And I'll see you next time.