Chasing Time (sirius black)

NEW ROMANTICS

A wet nose nudged my hand. Cracking my eyes open, sunlight burned into my retinas. I pulled the comforter over my head but Tux whined in frustration. Get a dog they said, it would be fun they said-

I gasped and sat up straight in my bed. Maroon curtains surrounded me, Tux's head peeking in where the curtain met the bed, watching me expectantly. Yesterday came crashing back as I flopped back onto my pillow. Hogwarts. Voldemort. Potters. Not a dream.

Tux nudged my hand again. Regardless of where I was, Tux still needed to go out. I couldn't neglect him just because I was having a mental breakdown. Glancing at the watch on my wrist, I saw it was a little before 7am. One thing I had insisted on getting yesterday was a watch. When I chased Tux into another plane of existence, I hadn't brought my phone. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't but I at least needed to know what time is was. And it was comforting knowing the time, something that hadn't changed when I 'traveled'.

Unsurprisingly, no one was up. Dumbledore had told me the day before that it was Saturday October 1, 1977. Which meant today was Sunday and the entire castle of students had the weekend off. Unless I time traveled in my sleep. Damn it, please don't let that be a thing. I rolled out of bed quietly and threw on my black noodie and new converse. There weren't a lot of shoe choices when we had gone shopping but at least I had shoes now.

Tux and I wandered down towards the front entrance. Or what I hoped was the direction of the front entrance. I assumed Tux knew where outside was and followed his lead. Luckily, a few minutes later, I was proven right and opened the front door to let him out. I kept a careful eye on him, considering last time he ran off and I jumped into another plane of existence. I wasn't going to get over that any time soon. My fingers ran over the smooth wood of my wand. Acacia wood with a phoenix feather core, 12 and 1/4 inches. Dumbledore had impressed upon me that I keep it with me at all times. Thinking about it, I could see his point. I didn't know how to use it yet, at least I didn't think I did, but it would be suspicious if a witch didn't have her wand with her. Jesus fucking Christ. I was a witch. An honest to God - honest to Merlin? - witch.

Tux raced back towards me, tail wagging and we walked into a quiet Great Hall. A few students sat at their respective tables, eating breakfast. As I looked around, two dog bowls sitting beneath the middle of the Gryffindor table caught my eye. Well, I guess that's my seat.

I sat down as Tux scarfed down his food below me. As I was reaching for what I hoped was a coffee pot, I felt two thumps on either side of me.

"Good morning." Sirius grinned next to me, reaching past me to steal the coffee pot from my hand.

"Uh, good morning." I replied, trying to grab the coffee back but Sirius just passed it to James, avoiding my grabby hands.

"You left last night without even telling us your name, love." Sirius said with a pout, directing my focus back to him. Damn, that lip was just made to -

STOP. No, bad Maddie.

"Just plain rude." He teased.

"The rudest." James interjected, placing the coffee pot on the other side of him, farther from me. I raised an eyebrow at him and leaned over, getting up in his space as I grabbed the coffee pot and finally poured myself a cup.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." I countered, blowing lightly on my cup. The right side of Sirius' mouth twitched up. Two could play this game, buddy.