t o u c h

e l e v e n

"Page eleven, page eleven," Alexandra mumbled to herself, flipping through the book she had read about love potions earlier in the term. She hadn't noticed until now, but the pages in this specific chapter looked newer than the rest. It was as if-

"They're fake."

"Why are you always breathing down my neck?" Alexandra asked Tom angrily, shutting the book.

"If you had let me read that book when I asked, I would have been able to tell you weeks ago," Tom smirked, taking the book out of her hands and examining it himself. He waved his hand over the now-opened book, and Alexandra saw the words on the pages transform into the original ones. The color of the pages became more yellow, and the corners were crinkled and ripped. "I have to say, I'm disappointed. Professor Dumbledore was.. a mentor, I suppose. He lied about this; who knows what else he's lied about?"

Alexandra could tell by the tone in Tom's voice that he was faking every word he said, yet she went along with it. She no longer had a plan, and was honestly clueless about what she wanted to do next. She wanted to go home more than anything, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

"I need your help," she told Tom. Tom raised a single eyebrow in amusement.

"With?"

"I need to find something."

"You mean Professor Dumbledore's time turner?" Tom asked, smirking when Alexandra's face fell with complete and utter shock. "You need it so you can return home."

"What are you talking about?" Alexandra asked quickly as she began to panic.

"You're from the future," he smirked, pulling her picture from his pocket and handing it to her. When looking at it the night before, Tom noticed something rather odd about it; Alexandra had started to fade. It was barely noticeable at first, but he noticed it had gotten worse this morning; it was as if she was fading out of existence. There was only one explanation he could think of that would explain the phenomenon, and, by her current reaction, he knew he was correct.

"If you knew, why haven't you killed me?" Alexandra asked shakily, putting the picture down.

"Because I need your help," he smirked, picking up the picture and throwing it into the fire in front of them. Alexandra watched as her and her friends burned into nothing. "You're going to help me kill Dumbledore."