03/08/1991
It has been 30 minutes.
You were hungry, and your fingers strummed against Professor Sprout's desk while your heel tapped mercilessly against the floor.
You found yourself once again in a pitiful situation. The last two days have been a complete disaster and now, instead of being stuck having detention with Snape, you were held to much larger consequences. Wandering late at night and punching a student on the first week of school was not the brightest idea, but nothing you could have done then would have changed the outcome.
Silence filled the void that was your mind. You felt like you were in a white room, doomed and desperately trying to get out, only to be held back by chains. When you stumbled upon this world, you were terrified. Then, you began feeling powerful. You thought that, because you knew the future, nothing could get past you. You knew everything and everyone, so naturally you were immune to unpredictability. You could not have been further from the truth.
"Wrong", you kept telling yourself. "Wrong, wrong, wrong."
The door opened behind you and made a large creaking noise. You turned around, your heart starting to jump in every direction. Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff, waltzed in front of you along with Professor Snape and Mcgonagall
You sat in front of Sprout's desk, which was littered with mountains of herbs, and the three adults stood across you. Mcgonagall gave you a disappointed look while Sprout looked at you pensively. Snape's eyes, on the other hand, shot you daggers mercilessly.
"Do you know why you're here?" asked Sprout. It was obvious, and yet, you did not want to answer. With everything that had happened during the first week of school, you should have been expelled on-the-spot. You knew about Hogwarts' strict policy, and you were about to fall victim to it. You could not bring yourself to see anything, so you looked down in front of the three imposing adults.
"First day: caught wandering late at night. Second day: attacking a student in the Muggle way," Snape said, making your eyes divert to him. He held hatred in his eyes and pure disgust, and you could only furrow your eyebrows at him. They all kept silent, waiting for you to say something for yourself.
"I... I'm sorry," you finally said. Mcgonagall straightened her posture. "But–"
"No buts," Snape spat, leaning on the desk and earning a critical look from the two women beside him.
"Do not fret," Sprout called your name politely, her voice ringing in the room like sweet chimes as she put a hand on Snape's shoulder. "You still have a chance to redeem yourself." You visibly relaxed at this, your shoulders slumping and your muscles decontracting. "However, you need to acknowledge that your behaviour has been inadequate, and that further misconduct will result in expulsion."
Your heart dropped, but you nodded nonetheless. "Yes, ma'am," you said.
"And you will have a month of detention with me," Snape snarled, looking down at you as if you were a rat.
******************
You walked to find Susan and Hannah in your dorm. Their eyes widened and the redhead ran to you, jumping on you and wrapping her arms around your frame.
"Thank you!" she almost screamed, followed by Hannah giving you an embrace as well.
You yelped, "Woah, what is this for?"
"For literally saving my life, there," Susan said in genuine gratitude. You hesitantly rested your hands on the girls' backs, awkwardly patting them.
"It's true," Hannah jumped in, breaking out of the hug, "You were 'mazing back there. I mean, d'you see Malfoy's face?" she laughed, followed by you and the freckled girl, who followed the blonde.
"I mean as much as I enjoyed it, I got some nasty consequences–" you started. Both girls looked at you, guilt replacing their features.
"What?" the chubby girl blurted.
"–but it was worth it!" you tried reassuring, resting your hand on her shoulders. "It really was, don't worry about me," you said, going over to your wardrobe.
"What happened? You're not getting expelled or anything, right?" Hannah asked, her eyebrows furrowing while she slumped on your bed, Susan doing the same.
"No! Absolutely not!" you laughed, picking out your pyjamas. "It's fine, I swear," you said, too exhausted to continue. You shot them a comforting smile. "I'm tired, though. We can talk about it later?"
Your two friends groaned and intentionally sprawled further on your bed. You rolled your eyes at them and changed behind a dressing screen.
"It's too early!" you heard Hannah complain, followed with a hum of agreement from the other girl.
"Oh stop it," you began. Done changing, you faced them. They glanced up at you and, before they could react, you threw a pillow at them.
"MOVE!" you yelled, laughing. The blonde yelped and Susan gasped, her hair flying in every direction possible.
And soon enough, a pillow fight ensued, leaving everyone breathless on their own bed.
"...Goodnight," Susan tried saying, only for you to giggle again. The blonde girl across the large room from you joined in the laughter.
"No, seriously, we need to– we need to sleep," the redhead tried to reason with you both, only to break out laughing again. You all continued talking about everything and nothing for another half hour, making it past 11:00 p.m.
"Hold on, you all listen to Muggle music, right?" Susan asked. This greatly attracted you and Hannah's attention.
"Merlin, I've been dying f'someone to ask this!" the blue-eyed girl groaned. "But really, who listens t'wizard music for fun?" she said with disgust.
"Wizard music is a thing?" you questioned, curiosity morphing on your face.
"It's awful," the girl on your left said, tucking in deeper in her bed. "Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl."
"You don't know wizard music?" Hannah asked. It was dark and you could not see her, but you knew she directed her question towards you.
"No..."
"Lucky," she just said.
Eventually, the two girls fell asleep, leaving only you awake. You stared up at the ceiling, thinking.
It seemed like the whole world was against you being here, in Hogwarts, and honestly, you understood. You missed your family, your friends, and just people around you. Back in your universe, everything seemed to be working in harmony. You even began missing the people you hated, making you wince. In all seriousness, you knew you did not belong here. From Hermione, Ron and Harry ignoring you after meeting the Three-Headed dog, to almost getting expelled, you felt like you were an extra pawn on a chess board.
On the other hand, you also had two very good friends in the room with you, ready to support you no matter what. You might even have Neville, who had proved himself to be an extremely sweet boy. The trio gave you mixed feelings, though.
On that, you finally enjoyed a dreamless sleep.
******************
04/08/1991
The first thing you did as you arrived at the library with your girl friends was check your schedule, only to find something you dreaded written in big, bold letters:
9:00 a.m. - 10:20 a.m.: potions
10:30 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.: potions
You wanted to jump off the astronomy tower.
You enjoyed your last moments alive and well with your friends, until you finally sat on a cold, hard stool in front of a cauldron. It was nearing 9:00 a.m. and everyone was sitting patiently, waiting for the professor's arrival. Hannah, Susan and you respectively sat next to each other.
You felt something shift beside you and you glanced towards your left, only to see Harry and Ron sitting on the stools next to yours. They turned to each other, nodded, then you. Harry said your name, then continued.
"We're um..." he looked once again towards Ron, then you. "We're really sorry."
You furrowed your brows as you stared at the boys, guilt dripping from their faces. "For what?" you asked, earning a "huh?" from both of them.
"We left you alone that night! The night when we, y'know–" Ron said, approaching you and looking around him to make sure no one listened. "–when we found that dog..."
Thoughts swirled around your head, but your reflex took over.
"It's okay," you smiled at them, leaving them flabbergasted at your quick acceptance. "I understand you were all startled, so I'm not mad or anything. I mean, of course a quick 'goodnight' would have been nice, but it's fine, it can happen."
The boys simultaneously sighed in relief, the corners of their lips tugging up. Harry impulsively grabbed your hand, giving it a squeeze. "Thank you," he said.
"But there's something you should know," you revealed, leaning towards the boys. They both leaned towards you too, creating a slightly intimate feeling between you three. "Snape caught me in the halls at night."
Harry winced and let go of your hand while Ron gasped, grasping the table in front of him.
"What'd he do, then?" Ron asked, eyes bulging out of their sockets.
"He might've put me in detention..."
"What?" Both boys exclaimed, earning a shush from you.
"He only gave me a day in detention for it," you said, but the duo was still worried. "But did you-"
You were cut off by Snape entering the classroom. His cloak wooshed behind him as the boys straightened up on their seats. The man stood in front of the classroom and analysed every one of you, until his eyes landed on you. He squinted and you shifted uncomfortably.
"The Wiggenweld potion..." he started, his voice as monotonous as ever. "...page 41, is the most rudimentary healing potion. A house-elf could make one... it would be a shame–" he stared at you, "–for it to go wrong..." He took a scroll on his desk and unrolled it. "I will be naming your teams of two and your station number." He went through a whole lot of names. Hannah and Susan were lucky to be together, but Ron and Harry were separated, Ron worked with Neville whilst Harry worked with Lavender Brown. Strangely, but obviously, every Slytherin was paired with their friends. Draco with Pansy, Crabbe with Goyle, and even Nott with Zambini. You, on the other hand, were stuck with–
"–Wayne Hopkins, station 8"
...Who?
You walked over to station 8 with your goggles, your gloves and your textbook. You looked at the table to find everything you needed for the potion. Your partner came up to you.
"He doesn't look too bad..." you thought.
He had black curly hair that was slightly longer than the average male and wore the Hufflepuff emblem on his robe. He was slightly taller than you and pretty skinny, but he held an innocence to his eyes.
"Hi," he greeted shyly, obviously struggling with putting his goggles on. You looked at him up and down before glancing at Snape, who offered a sneer. You turned back to your partner, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Um– let me help," you said, grabbing his goggles and putting it around his head, going behind him to try and adjust the strings. Most teams had already started working on the potions and you were still struggling. Eventually, you got it to fit.
"I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry," the boy kept mumbling, which made you pat his back.
"It's okay, it's okay," you repeated all the time, trying to just get on with the potion.
You two began working the potion, pouring Horklump juice in the cauldron and bringing it to a light steam. As your partner stirred the potion whilst you read through the instructions, you could not help but think that this was similar to cooking. The process was almost identical.
You could hear Snape's voice flow across the room as he inspected other students' work, never missing an opportunity to diss their work.
"We are concocting Wiggenweld, not Draught of the Living Death."
"This looks like my grandmother's stew."
"Fantastic work, Mr. Malfoy."
He then stopped next to the team in front of you, which was made up of a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor student. The Gryffindor boy was cutting up Dittany leaves with precision.
"...Do you happen to be left-handed, Mr Finnigan?" Snape questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"N-no sir," the boy began sweating.
"Then explain why you are cutting with your left hand... Use your right," he snapped.
"Yes, professor," he gulped.
"Might as well start using your head," the man concluded.
As Snape strode over to you, you added the Dittany leaves in the cauldron, turning the potion purple. Then, your partner suddenly added more.
"You left some on the table," he said.
You visibly paled and your breath stopped. They were waste leaves.
The mix began to bubble violently and sending splashes everywhere, making you and the people near your station back away in a hurry. Small yells were heard across the room and the drink became fizzy and sent small fireworks everywhere, making students hide under their desks. Snape quickly pointed his wand at the cauldron and all traces of liquid disappeared. People began standing, murmuring and looking at your team while you looked down in shame.
You felt a bit of resentment towards your teammate bubbling in your stomach while he seemed as if he was almost hyperventilating. You looked up at your professor who stared at your cauldron, reminiscing about everything that just happened. He puffed his cheeks and let out a slow sigh through his mouth, raising his eyebrows in disappointment. He shook his head and continued along the stations, watching students who had already begun working on their potions again.
"Why did I expect more from them..." he asked himself.
And you heard every bit of it.
A pit of sadness formed in you and your shoulders dropped as you leaned on your table, hands supporting you on either side of you. You glanced at your partner, who looked ten times more disappointed.
"I'm so sorry," was the only sentence he seemed to know. You gave in and felt slight sympathy for the boy: he truly did not have bad intentions.
"Don't worry, we'll do better on the next one," you smiled, but your eyes betrayed your look. You sighed.
The rest of the class was nothing short from boring. Your partner was still sulking, and when your class was dismissed, you tried to talk to him. However, the black-haired boy simply ran away.
"What...?" you wondered out loud, questioning yourself as to why the boy simply ran– no, sprinted away from you.
"Don't worry about Hopkins, he's always like that," a voice popped next to you. You jumped and looked next to you to find a tall boy with dark brown hair gently parted to the side. He had dark blue eyes and, for his age, his facial structure was strong.
"Oh," you said casually. "You're Nott, right?"
"Yes, I am. And about little Hopkins," he started, getting closer. "He's just a little barmy. He acts as if he'll be skinned if he doesn't attend his next class on time."
"But... It's lunch."
"Like I said, barmy," he chuckled. "You already know me, but you can call me Theodore," he extended his hand for a shake. It caught you off guard, but you shook it nonetheless. You told him your name.
"Yeah, love the accent. Actually, I'm just waiting for my mate Zambini over there–" he pointed towards his dark-skinned friend, who was talking to Snape at his desk. "–real sucker for grades, he is."
"I've seen him a couple of times," you admitted. "He's real strong in potions."
"Easy for you to say," he laughed. This made him earn a frown from you, so he corrected himself. "Meant that the thing you did earlier– that was gnarly, in all honesty."
All you could wonder was why he was talking to you. You had asked for nothing and Ron, Harry, Susan and Hannah were all waiting for you near the entrance. They began conversing with each other, asking what you were doing.
"Listen, I really have to go, but it was nice meeting you," you shot him a smile that he reciprocated. He watched you as you took your books and followed your friends.
"What did he want?" Ron urged on you. You simply shrugged.