Parallel Universes • s.black

XXV

"Sorry, just tired." I mumbled, getting up and moving over to my bed.

"From making out with Dean?" She teased, dragging out Dean's name and I laughed halfheartedly.

"You can thank me anytime now." She continued, smirking at me.

I sighed.

"Thanks Bella."

She raised an eybrow at me.

"Don't tell me we're actually becoming friends, Stella?"

I laughed, genuinely.

"Absolutely not."

~~~

It seems that I'm not the only thing that's slipping these days. Time is also slipping.

It seems the days, the weeks, the months are wandering past me and I'm only catching glimpses, pieces of the puzzle that don't fit together anymore.

Remus missing three weeks in a row after a particularly bad full moon.

Dean bringing me flowers after a month of being sort of together.

Watching Peter drop about nine textbooks on the floor while Bellatrix and Narcissa howl with laughter and doing nothing.

Not talking to Lily as much.

Sirius flirting with a striking brunette from Ravenclaw.

James and I passing in the hallway and smiling that polite smile at each other, like we're strangers or something.

And me, slipping.

It's getting worse. Sometimes, when I slip, I black out and wake up in weird places I don't remember going to, and that look behind me eyes doesn't go away anymore.

And my mother couldn't be happier.

On October 31st, Halloween of 1976, my day started off with the post.

Bella and I had just walked into the Great Hall when the owls flew in, like they do every Sunday morning. I didn't pay much notice to them, I've never needed to, I hardly ever receive mail.

But when I slid into the seat beside Dean, he pushed a large envelope toward me.

"Post, love." Dean attempted to say through a mouthful of toast.

"Hmm?" I hummed taking a bite out of the piece of toast in his hovered hand. It was coated in a thick layer of apricot jam.

He chuckled and pushed the envelope again.

"Letter came for you." He told me and I finally paid it some attention, prepared to tell him that it was some kind of mistake.

But it wasn't a mistake.

Sure enough, my name was written in careful, linked black ink across the customised stationary. I could just make out the Hart family sigil on the other side. My heart jumped slightly.

I handled it like it could have a bomb concealed in it or something- very, very gently. Inside there was a single piece of thick cream paper.

Dearest Estelle.

I am writing to commend you on your adept start to your sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I would like you to know that your efforts do not go unnoticed by me- nothing does- and that your father and I are proud at the level at which you are conducting yourself in your schooling and in your socialising. You have begun to conduct yourself like a true Hart, a true Slytherin woman. Aligning yourself with Bellatrix and Narcissa Black has been a smart choice and it is benefiting you well.