Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Lottie of Lallybroch

Disclaimer: I don't own characters on Outlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story.

CHAPTER 4

She was late.

All the children were already inside and she hurried to find a place by a tree that was visible from a window. She placed Mathanas under that tree and crouched in front of him.

"I have to go in now. You stay here and wait for me. Don't go anywhere. I'll be back."

She got up and started for the school. As she glanced over her shoulder she saw Mathanas take a hesitant step to follow her and she spun around.

"No! Stay, Mathanas!"

The pup stopped dead in his tracks and sat down again with a small grunt.

Lottie turned back and hoisted her satchel onto her shoulder and took a deep breath.

"Here we go."

She crossed the rest of the meadow to the stone building and the oak door. Should she knock? Or just enter? Either way she was late, there was no helping that.

She finally gently pushed the door open with a creak. She bit her lip and entered determinedly. No point in putting it off, she was already half inside. Only a single voice was heard from inside. It was nasal and was repeating something over and over again. Names. It was taking attendance of the pupils present in the classroom. Lottie realized that she actually had a chance to salvage herself from being late.

Encouraged and hopeful she rounded the back of the fireplace separating the entrance from the classroom itself and stepped forward. The children were seated on long wooden benches, about three metres each, placed next to each other in rows to the children were facing a desk. She hurried forward, carrying her satchel, to take a seat in the back row at the end of the bench. She wasn't trying to hide her appearance from the schoolmaster, since she was after all technically on time. So she simply slid into her seat next to a girl her own age, who just stared at her with big round brown eyes.

At first Lottie stared back but figured she might as well start her first day by making a positive impression, so she offered the shocked girl a quick smile, which wasn't returned. Lottie quickly realized that the schoolmaster had suddenly become silent, and without turning her head towards him she could feel him looking at her.

She turned forward and met his stare. It was icy and she tried not to become nervous. Why should she be? She wasn't late and she hadn't spoken out of turn, which Jamie had warned her of doing.

The schoolmaster was a man in his mid twenties. He was slim and had dark hair, which, like many highlanders around Lallybroch, he wore tied with a string in a ponytail that touched his neck and upper back. His slender figure moved to stand in front of his desk and his nasal voice was heard again as he snapped at Lottie.

"Late!" he yelled. "Trying ta sneak in," he stated self assured of his own assessment.

Lottie looked around at the twelve other faces around the room who were now gawking at her. Twelve people weren't all that many, but right now it felt like they were twice that many. And the schoolmaster's piercing icy glare didn't help much either. Lottie tried to gather her senses and took a breath.

"I wasn't late."

The eyes became even more piercing and the schoolmaster took a couple of steps closer across the wooden floor to the back row, where Lottie was seated.

"I beg yer pardon?"

He looked perplexed and angry at the same time and Lottie knew she unfortunately had to continue explaining, since he seemed too stupid to get it himself.

"You haven't called on me yet, have you?"

The room fell silent for a moment. Only the nervous hitched breathing of some of the younger children and the occasional creaking of a board in a bench as a child shifted in his or her seat was heard. Lottie had thought he would understand what she meant, see her point and carry on with his class. But she now realized, due to the expression on the schoolmaster's face, that he wasn't going to react that way.

"Who are ye?"

"Lottie Fraser, Sir. From Lallybroch."

He finally stopped staring straight at her and turned around to return to the book on his desk. He used his index finger to search for her name on the page he had been reading and finally stopped.

"Ye have not been registered, Lottie of Lallybroch," he said and almost spat at the last syllable of the last word.

She shook her head.

"No. It's my first day," she said in a low voice.

"So, how could I get to yer name in my book then, if ye havena been registered? " He didn't wait for an answer. "I couldn't! Because yer name isna in here."

It was Lottie's turn to stare perplexed at him. He leaned forward a little and looked like he was explaining something to a simpleton.

"Ye're late."

She swallowed. She didn't think it seemed fair to call it late arrival since he technically wouldn't have noticed her absence since her name wasn't in his book. Unless he had happened to look up as she entered of course, which he unfortunately had done. But she decided to not argue with him about it now.

"I apologize. Some unfortunate circumstances made…"

The schoolmaster waved his hand and adjusted the sleeves on the black wool coat that he wore over a vest and shirt.

"I have nay interest in yer excuses so instead of pladdering ye can come up here and give me yer full name so I can register you."

He picked up a pen and Lottie made her way to the front of the classroom. Four young children were seated in the front row, two girls and two boys. The girls looked scared and kept looking at their laps and the boys seemed sort of restless, kicking their legs back and forth now and then and kept alternating between looking ahead and turning to look towards the door, for some reason.

"Name," the schoolmaster's nasal voice demanded.

"Lottie Fraser of Lallybroch," she repeated with a frown.

He sighed and looked up at her impatiently.

"Yer full name, lass, and be quick about it."

"Oh, it's Charlotte."

He glared surprised at her from his position bent over his book.

"Sir," she hurriedly added.

He scribbled her name down at the bottom of the page with the neatest handwriting she had ever seen.

"Aye, then. In this school we are always punctual and arrive on time, every morning." He scrutinized her intently from head to toe. "I must say I am appalled that a lass would be late on her first day of school. A lad perhaps, but a lass..."

Lottie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him and his ridiculous accusations and reasonings.

"Aye, but I shall let ye off with a reprieve this time, Charlotte. But if it ever shall happen again I shan't be so kind hearted." He appraised her from head to toe and frowned. "So, the laird has a sassenach living at Lallybroch. I had heard that. Surprising...can ye enlighten me as to why …"

Lottie closed her fist in irritation, but decided to not get upset. She simply nodded as the schoolmaster spoke and hoped she could return to her seat now that the registration part was finished.

Just as she was desperately seeking for some sort of answer to the rude and curious inquiry he had started she heard a very familiar sound that made her freeze and her stomach turn to ice. A yapping sound coming from behind her by the entrance. Slowly she turned and hoped her green eyes wouldn't see the sight that she feared. But she did.

All the children stood up and were now facing away from Lottie but suddenly one blond girl turned around. Her expressions showed how unseemly she thought the situation was and she spoke directly to the schoolmaster.

"Schoolmaster Fordyce, Sir, it's a dog! Is that permitted, Sir?"

Schoolmaster Patrick Fordyce shook his head and stared first at the dog and then at Lottie. Maybe he wasn't as slow as she had first thought after all.

"It be yers, " he stated. "I suppose being tardy wasna enough fer ye. Ye had to show further complete disregard fer the rules we have here. Get that animal outside and then get back in here. I'll deal with ye then," he roared. His face had begun to acquire a color of red¨and he pointed with his entire arm at the door so fast that Lottie had to duck to avoid getting hit in the head.

The girl who had spoken up put her nose in the air smugly and gave Lottie a triumphant look before she smoothened the back of her simple brown dress and sat down on the bench again. Lottie didn't have time to ponder the girl's behavior any further right now though. She was too busy noticing for the first time the shelf mounted on the wall next to a window. There hung a cane, a strap and a birch switch.

Just as she was about to run and grab Mathanas, who was now busy nibbling at a boy's pant leg and growling at the same time, there was the sound of the door opening and closing. In came a boy. He had chestnut blonde hair that almost seemed to flourish around the top of his head in curls. He met Lottie's worried eyes as he sauntered by her and gave her a curious stare like he wanted to ask where she'd come from but couldn't.

"Coinneach Shaw!" Schoolmaster Fordyce exclaimed. It was like the teacher's full attention shifted from her and Mathanas to the boy, and Lottie wasn't one to pass up an opportunity. She hurried to get to Mathanas and grab him and then discreetly moved towards the door. As soon as she was behind the fireplace and out of sight she pushed the door open and let the pup outside again with a firm "stay". He seemed to get it this time because he trudged off sulkily.

As she returned she expected the schoolmaster to continue addressing her, but he seemed to have lost interest in her. He just waved annoyed for her to take her seat again so she slid into her seat in the back row without making a sound.

"Ye're late AGAIN. Ye ken verra well that I don't tolerate tardiness." Mr. Fordyce spoke to Coinneach Shaw.

Lottie had only heard spoken of this boy at home. His parents were old friends of Jamie, Jenny and Ian it seemed. Mr. Shaw was a hunter and a farmer and he brought meat for his family as well as for other tenants of Lallybroch. It was his job to organize the hunting and then divide the meat.

"Yes, sir. I am," Coinneach answered very self-possessed despite of the situation. "And I do ken it, Sir."

Schoolmaster Fordyce grinned using only half his mouth. The grin didn't reach his gray eyes though. He slowly moved closer to that shelf and Lottie felt a tingle of worry run through her body.

"Well, then I guess ye ken what to expe…"

"I stopped to help old grandpa Thomson look for a coin he'd dropped in the street, Sir," he spoke innocently.

Coinneach stood in the middle of the classroom calmly facing the schoolmaster with his hands clasped behind his back. Surprise was evident in Mr. Fordyce face as the boy spoke and he tilted his head suspiciously.

"Ye what, Mr. Shaw?"

Some of the younger boys seemed to look at Coinneach with admiration in their round eyes, especially the little ones in the front.

"Ye stopped to assist Thomson?"

"Aye, Sir. I did. His eyesight being so poor an all so he had a difficult time seeing it. Ye can ask him if he lost it if ye doubt me to speak the truth, Sir."

The schoolmaster's eyes became slits as he scrutinized the blond haired boy with the sincere face in front of him. He didn't seem to buy what he was saying completely but there was something stopping him from just grabbing that switch. All that thinking he was doing must have made him lose the thread and he looked almost disappointed when he signalled for Coinneach to take his seat at last.

"Did ye find it then?" he asked in his nasal voice as the boy made his way to take a seat.

Coinneach nodded and took his seat next to a boy who made room for him on the bench.

"Aye, sir."

"I hope he was grateful to ye, " Mr. fordyce almost growled irritated as he made his way back to his desk and picked up another book that seemed to be this lesson's topic.

"Oh, I dinna ken, Sir. He was still looking fer it when I left," he answered with a mischievous grin of his own.

To be continued

Author's notes: Thank you all for all your encouraging reviews. I hope you liked chapter 4 of this story. Please help me go on writing by sending me some thoughts after reading it. It's greatly appreciated.