Disclaimer:I don't own anything.
The next few weeks were weird. Andrea couldn't stop thinking about the time she spent in the past and in the back of her mind, just barely reaching consciousness, was the feeling she was missing something. Something big and important, but it was so faraway from her that she couldn't understand it and she couldn't grasp it and most days she had to strain to feel the missing piece but it was slipping through her fingers like water.
Andrea didn't know if it was nothing but a very vivid dream or it really happened. While living there it seemed as real as everything and there was nothing strange that made her pause and think that maybe she was dreaming and she was sure she would have known if that was the truth. The only thing she knew for sure was while months passed in the past only a few hours ticked by in the present. So the weeks after her experience, as she liked to call it, were spent jumping from library to library trying to find out what?
That thought froze her in her tracks. What exactly was she trying to find out? How to get back in past? Why? If it was real or not? Again why? Why was she trying so hard..she didn't even finish thinking the question when a face flashed behind her eyes, Tom. She was doing everything she could to get back to him, after all there was nothing left for her here. Sighing she turned the water off and taking off her robe she stepped into the bathtub, letting the hot water wash away the tension that never seemed to leave her. Closing her eyes and bending her knees, she slipped under water, the silence welcoming. A few seconds passed and her lungs started to want air. She ignored that and closed her eyes,just a few more seconds.
She suddenly stood up, her eyes flying open, gasping for breath and looked around, only she wasn't in her bathroom, she was outside in the Hogwarts gardens, the sun just rising. Andrea stood up and only then realised that her clothes were wet. The normal thing to do would be to dry herself up and find out what happened and how much time had passed but the only thing she could do was laugh. She laughed like she never laughed, her voice carrying over the gardens. After her episode ended and she stopped gasping for breath she twirled her wand and cocked her head as glowing numbers appeared before her. 5.03.1945 6:55 AM. It seemed only a few hours passed here since she showed Tom her memories. Did that mean months would pass in her time now? Is this her body? And if not what would happen to her body in the tub? She had no idea and apparently no way of finding out how to stay in one time. She didn't notice that while thinking her feet started walking and she was making her way towards the dungeons, still dripping wet, until she collided with something. Looking up she was met with the disgusted face of Malfoy. He was looking at her like she was something dirty on his shoe and any other day she would have slapped that look right off his face but now she was just so tired. And maybe out of breath. Sidestepping him, her hold on her wand tightned and she continued on her way with her eyes wide open. By the time she made it to the wall of the common room she was panting and black spots were started to appear behind her eyes. Leaning on the wall she murmured the password making the wall to slide off. There were a few Slytherins scattered in the common room that threw her weird looks but she easily spotted Tom in a corner. The black spots were bigger now and she could barely breath but she forced her legs to work making her way towards him. He looked up when she approached and she could see the shock in his eyes at her state. Andrea had enough time to whisper a croacked,"I'm sorry.", before her legs failed and she collapsed, her eyes rolling in the back of her head.
There was someone screaming and a lot of pain. Her lungs were heavy and her throat was killing her and someone should really really take the pressure of her chest. Seconds passed but they felt like years and she realised in her subcouncious that she was drowing and the only thing she could think about was Tom. A few more painful seconds and she felt the water travel up her throat and she started choking and coughing water. There was a voice screaming at her but in her daze she couldn't make out the words or who was saying them.
Her coughing fit lasted a few minutes and left her starring at the ceiling of her bathroom, her eyes unfocused. Slowly she turned her head,and she distantly noticed that she was sprawled on the cold tales that decorated the floor. Next to her, breathing as heavily as her and with a look of pure madness, sat George Weasley in all his glory. Andrea opened her mouth to say something, anything, i didn't want to die, but her throat felt like sandpaper and every breath felt like knives piercing her.
Instead she turned her head towards the ceiling, her thoughts elsewhere.
Soon enough the monotone color of the ceiling lurred her into sleep. She hoped she would go back to Tom.
Unfortunately when she woke up, she wasn't in Hogwarts. She was tucked in firmly in the bed sheets and she sighed deeply as she threw the covers off her, the cold making her shiver.
In the kitchen George was reading a muggle newspaper, though it was obvious he wasn't really paying attention, his mind elsewhere.
"I didn't try to kill myself, you know.", she said casually as she started to make some coffee.
"Really?",he asked in a dry tone, still not looking up from the paper. Andrea made a noncommital sound and ripped the paper from his hands, forcing him to look up at her,"I can't explain but it's definitely not what you think."
"Really? Because it seems like i came to see how you were doing and you were half-drowned in your own bathtub. Please tell me how it looks like because i don't see anything else!", he had stood up during his small rant, his voice hard and low.
She turned her back on him and contemplated the idea to tell him everything as she poured the coffee in two cups. On one hand he could help her or he could commit her. In the back of her mind she noticed that her wand was missing and for a moment panic installed in her bones, but the feeling was dissipated as soon as it appeared. This was George. She trusted him to have her back on the battlefield she could trust him with this.
And so she told him everything.
By the end his eyebrows had relocated in his hairline "That's the truth. Wether you believe me or not that's your problem."
"I never heard of anything like this. Are you sure..., he paused for a few seconds, are you sure it's not just an illusion?"
"I thought about that obviously but i couldn't find a spell that resembles these...incidents."
The kitchen lapsed in silence, George starring thoughtfully in his coffee like it could give him the answers.
Suddenly a cold tremor made its way up her back and she involuntary gasped.
She blinked. The kitchen slidded out of focus.
She blinked again and realised she was lying down, the sun shinning down on her face and a sanitary smell burning her nose. She spent enough times in the Hogwarts Infirmary to recognise it in seconds. What the...? Her thought trailed off when she noticed Tom sitting by her bed reading what looked like Most Potente Potions. Something told her it wasn't that.
She took the time to study him. His hair was darker somehow, and there were dark circles under his eyes that weren't there before. Andrea opened her mouth to say something, anything but the only thing that she could do was cough.
In seconds there was a glass of water at her lips and her throat welcomed the cool liquid. When she could finally breathe normally and the world wasn't so blury she saw Tom's eyes flash with concern before it was replaced by curiosity. Andrea smiled thinly,"Perhaps you could tell me what happened?"
"You were drowing, there was water in your lungs, a few more minutes and you would have died.", his voice was smooth and low and she bit her lip. She hadn't realised exactly how much she missed him. They stood in silence for a few minutes, staring at each other and Andrea sighed and started telling him everything. For a few seconds she had a feeling of deja vu as she told the exact same story a few minutes ago to George. That raised even more questions that she had no way of answering. After she finished she stood there silently, tense with her head bowed, waiting for his reaction. Soft, pale hands raised her chin, forcing her to look into his blue eyes,"We'll figure out how to make you stay in one place." At his words her own eyes widened and realised he was going to help her even if it meant she would never return to him. She kissed him then, passionately and without holding anything back. Tom returned her kiss as feverishly as her.
The weeks flew by and soon March turned into April. Her and Tom's reasearch concluded absolutely nothing. No book, not even in the restricted section(or the Chamber for that matter), showed any indication that something like this ever happened before. Thankfully Andrea seemed to have stopped transitioning, for now. Things were peaceful, well as peaceful as they could be at Hogwarts. Malfoy stopped bothering her entirely when he finally noticed her relationship with Tom. Apparently even Malfoys have self-preservation. The same thing couldn't be said about Weasley and his gang. They didn't do too much but it was enough to make them a pain in her ass. And if there was one thing Andrea hated was having daily stupidity in her life. She thinks that if she rolls her eyes once more they are going to jump out of her head. So to alleviate her stress she pranked them endlessly. Tom would roll his eyes at her childishness but she knew he enjoyed seeing the Gryffindors turn up at breakfast purple and in tutus. Andrea was good enough that they didn't know who was doing this but she thought Potter suspected it. She and Potter had a weird relationship. He was her grandfather, but of course he didn't know that, and sometimes when Tom wasn't helping her study, Charles would join her. He wouldn't say anything, just read and when he was done he would get up, murmur a soft goodbye and leave. Alas she had more important things on her mind than her weird friendship with her would be grandfather.
Seeing as she fought in a war, classes were easy. She did everything from memory and if she didn't remember something than it wasn't important to begin with. The professors loved her, with one exception. Martin Andrews was a former Ravenclaw who was impartial when it came to houses, except her. He was the DADA teacher and Andrea knew it bothered him when she clearly showed she was better than him at theory and in practice. After all DADA was partially the reason she survived the war. Every chance he got, Andrews would ask her questions beyond the knowledge of a seventh year. Of course she answered them correctly every time and every time she could see his anger grow. Right now, for example, he was talking about the Patronus charm and its properties. Andrea tuned him out already knowing everything there was about this charm.
"Miss Evans, perhaps if you think you are so knowledgeable in this charm to not pay attention, then you could come in front of the class and demonstrate.". Andrea hated his voice. It was high pitched and got even worse when he was angered, like now. It sounded like cats scratching the blackboard and she flinched at his implication. Saying nothing, she sighed, and stood up not even bothering to move from her place. Taking out her wand she concentrated on one specific night she spent with Remus and Sirius in Grimauld Place, with them telling stories of their adventures at Hogwarts. Making sure their faces were strong in her mind, she raised her wand and calmly intoned,"Expecto Patronum". Just like she expected, out of her wand burst Padfoot, hair sticking up and snarling, eyes fierce and looking around for a foe. The Hufflepuffs in its vicinity retreated at the sight, of what looked to them, to be the Grim. The professor's mouth was hanging open and she smirked, still keeping her wand raised. Andrea concentrated once more on her memory and from her wand burst Moony on its hind legs, howling at the invisible moon. A few girls screamed and at that moment Andrews' eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled, his head hitting his desk on his way down. Everyone was watching her in fear and awe. Moony and Padfoot circled the room a few times and discovering no dangers they came back to her, Padfoot bouncing, tongue sticking through his teeth and his tail wiggling happily. Behind him Moony looked like he was shaking his head and as they reached her they disappeared. Smirking she sat down again, arms crossed. Next to her Tom shook his head and rolled his eyes, but she knew he was impressed. Not many people could produce a Patronus, never mind two. It took her one year to call two patroni and another one to be able to sustain them. Dumbledore and Voldemort(of her time) were both capable of sustaining multiple patroni.
The good part came after her demonstration when Andrews simply choose to ignore her, even going as far to not say anything when she passed him in the hallways.
She was reading in the library one saturday afternoon, Potter across from her concentrating on his Potions homework, when the air seemed to thicken and sizzle with magic and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Without even registering what she was doing, Andrea gripped her wand and casually looked up from her book and froze. Tom was behind Potter his wand digging painfully in Charles throat. Andrea had to give it to Potter. Despite having a wand digging in his throat by one of the most dangerous person in Hogwarts he appeared to be quite calm. His arms were raised above his head, in the universal sign of "i surrender" and aside from breathing he stopped moving.
"Tom, what in seven hells do you think you are doing?", she asked angrily completely forgetting where they were, her own infamous temper rising slowly. Tom didn't answer her but she managed to catch his eyes, and if she were anyone else they would be cowered underneath his gaze. After a few seconds Tom went back to glaring at Potter and she could see smoke rising from the tip of his wand, undoubtely burning Potter, who aside from narrowing his eyes didn't even flinch.
Andrea wondered if she could get to her wand in time before Tom did something he wouldn't regret. She was fast at drawing a wand but Tom already looked like the smallest movement would make him blow Potter's head off.
She tensed when she saw his mouth open, and expecting something else entirely, she was shocked at his words. His voice was soft and dangerously low,"You have 5 seconds to leave or else you wouldn't like to find out exactly why Slytherins are considered dark."
"Is that a threat?", asked Potter and Andrea suddenly knew why she always seemed to get in trouble.
"It's a promise. 4 seconds." Tom backed off watching Potter carefully gather his things and start to leave when, in a move she considered extremely stupid, he turned around took her hand in his and kissed the back of her hand. Then he ran off just as Tom was raising his wand again, magic rolling off him in waves.
Without missing a beat Andrea took her wand out and intercepted Tom's castration spell in the middle, causing a sound loud enough to rattle the books on the shelf.
"Are you trying to erase me from existence?", she asked, looking around and throwing a couple silencing spells around them.
"What were you doing with that vermin?", his question threw her off and she blinked a few times before she realised why he was so angry. Tom Riddle was jealous.
"Oh this is rich Thomas. The man is my fucking grandfather. Unlike other purebloods the Potters do not condone incest." She saw his eyes darken even more at her wrong use of his name and she instinctively gripped her wand tigher. Growling he adavanced on her and started kissing her ferociously, his fingers knitting themselves in her long hair.
When they finally separated, her lungs were screaming for air. Tom licked his lips and smirked,"You are mine. And it would be no good for Potter to approach you again."
Andrea rolled her eyes,"If you say so."
April soon turned into May, and as the NEWTs approached the tension in castle seem to grow tenfold. It was not uncommon to see fights break out or the ocasional seventh year have a nervous breakdown. Andrea was simply uninterested and couldn't care less about the exams and Tom seemed to share her thoughts.
It was the second Wednesday of the month, and she was enjoying the quietness of the Slytherin common room, Tom beside her reading something or another. Well she would have enjoyed it more if not for Black pacing like a caged animal in front of the fireplace. She sighed,"If you don't stop pacing Black i am going to kick you in the fire." Black turned frantic eyes on her,"The bloody fucking Gryffindors put Nott in the infirmary and we don't have a seeker for the final game", he nearly shouted. She rolled her eyes,"If it's going to stop your pacing then i'll be your damn seeker."
Beside her Tom closed his book, turning to face her and Black's eyes narrowed,"Have you ever been a seeker or played Quidditch for that matter?"
"Yes to both. Once caught the snitch in 5 minutes flat.", she answered smirking and enjoyed seeing Black's eyes bulge out of his head.
"You're in."
"I don't have a broom."
"You'll take Nott's, it's one of the best brooms. I'll talk to him." Andrea nodded,"Very well. The match is on Friday?" It seemed all that Pollux could do was nod and then he turned on his heel and nearly skipped out of the common room. Andrea smiled and turned towards Tom who was watching her a little shocked,"What? I'm bored." and with that she stood up and made her way towards her room.
Thursday passed and finally it was time for the game. If she knew what pain in the ass Black could be about Quidditch perhaps she wouldn't have been so keen on jumping on the team, but alas it was worth knowing that she was going to beat Weasley, who was the Gryffindor's seeker.
She was the only girl in the team and her team mates were wary of her, all except Pollux who was giddy,"I don't care what you have to do we are going to win this match even if it's the last thing we do. Crabbe, Goyle aim for the chasers first, then if you see their seeker after the snitch you take him down. Chasers you know what to do. Evans," at her last name she raised a questioning eyebrow,"just stay on your broom and get the damn snitch. Alright lets win this."
With that they entered the pitch where the Gryffs were already waiting. After Weasley and Black shook hands they all mounted their brooms and were off. Andrea took a few moments to enjoy the feeling of flying once again, spinning slowly in circles above the pitch. Then she flew up at a distance that enabled her to see everything on the pitch and not interfere. Weasley was across from her and she had an idea. Suddenly, to not arose suspicion, she flew into a dive and soon enough Weasley was on her trail. The ground was coming closer and she accelerated knowing Weasley wouldn't back down if it meant she was getting the snitch. Weasley was gaining on her and as he did she could practically feel the moment he realised that she was playing with him, but it was already too late. Andrea pulled out of the dive barely avoiding the green grass of the pitch. The same couldn't be said about Weasley who crashed loudly and painfully.
Ignoring the boos of the stadium and the comentary she flew to her spot and waited while they patched up Weasley. All he got was a broken nose and arm, which were fixed right away and soon he was again in the air. The Gryffs were leading 60 to 40 and if she didn't get the snitch soon they would loose either way.
The score was 80-50 when she noticed the snitch fluttering between Weasley and her. The moment she started moving so did Weasley and unfortunately he was closer to it than her. They hurtled past bludgers and a few chasers and it was apparent that the snitch had not intention of getting caught soon. It abruptly started going up, rising until the pitch was no bigger than her broom. She was hot on Weasley's tail but the broom was not fast enough.
Suddenly the snitch started flowing down again, they dived after it but Andrea was still behind. In seconds she decided to do a move that she only performed once, trying to escape from Death Eaters. It was an incredibly stupid move but there was no way in hell she was losing this match. Mind made up she moved a bit to the left and she did something she knew she was going to regret. She let go of the broom and started free falling. Standing completely straight and using the robe to fall faster she soon reached Weasley. He turned to look at her and nearly chocked when he saw her. Andrea smiled and did a small salute before she passed him. The snitch was closer now and she narrowed her eyes, completely ignoring everything around her. Her fingers were so close now, just a bit and...there. Finally the snitch was hers. Now came the hard part. Twisting in air so she had her back to the ground, she whistled and spread her arms waiting. She didn't dare to look behind her, knowing she was cutting it extremely close. Weasley was above her staring at her falling form and from behind him she finally saw the broom speeding up. She tensed and soon the broom was near her. Andrea grasped the handle with one hand, she mounted it and without looking at the ground, pulled the broom handle with both her hands and feet. She felt the broom quiver under the sudden change of directions but it obeyed her and soon enough she was flying safely merely ten meters from the ground. Around her the stadium was silent, even the teams stopped playing. Seconds later the cheering started and she was crowded by her team mates.
The next few weeks the whole school was talking about the last Quidditch game. The Slytherins were shocked at her move but extremely happy that they won. The Ravenclaws called her crazy. The Hufflepuffs were awed and the Gryffindors, while completely sore that they lost, were impressed with her move. Black was in heaven and it seemed he would remain there for a while. He had looked ready to kiss her when she gave him the snitch but the only thing that stopped him was a glaring Tom.
To say that Tom was not happy with her move would be an understatement. After the party in the common room was over he had dragged her to the Room to tell her exactly what he thought about her "move". He stopped when half-way through his ranting when she kissed him. Even though he wouldn't say it, Andrea knew he had been scared for her, scared that he was going to lose her. Andrea spent that night showing him she was not going anywhere.
Now they were walking towards Transfiguration when suddenly a cold tremor made its way up her back and she involuntary gasped.
She blinked. The hallway slidded out of focus.
In front of her George was staring at her weirdly,"Andrea what's wrong?"
She blinked again. Above her Tom was staring at her his face full of concern. Andrea realised she was laying down on the cold stone. Using Tom she stood up,"What happened?", she asked looking around. "You collapsed out of knowhere. Did you...?", he trailed off and she nodded,"For a few seconds. Then i blinked and here i was. It seems like seconds passed there too."
"I don't think something like this ever happened before.", he said slowly as they started to walk again. Andrea sighed, just my luck.
AN: Here is the second chapter. I want to apologise to everyone for taking so long but when i first wrote YOLT i planned it to be a oneshot and i had no idea you guys would enjoy it so much. There is going another chapter before the end and i promise that one won't take so long since i already have it outlined i just need to work out a few kinks. There are some parts in this chapter that i'm not happy but overall i think(hope) you liked it. Please review so i know what you think.