Charlotte's Trip

Disclaimer - I own nothing of the HP books or whatever associated, blada blada blada, you know the drill...

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Author's Note:

Creatress: There are many fics where the adults tumble into the future and meet their kids. How about one where the kid falls into the past?

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Charlotte's Trip

Prologue Charlotte

In a seldom-used corridor, with only a few torches to cast a small amount of light across the dark stone walls and floor, a solitary figure jogged and walked, hurrying to get to her destination. Her chestnut curls were flying about wildly behind her and a few strands fell infront of her face, but she paid them no attention, so focussed she was on getting to where she was supposed to be at the time she was supposed to be there. For one scary second, her long black robes seem to entangle both her legs together and the pile of books in her arms almost toppled to the floor, but in an uncharacteristic move of athleticism, she quickly saved herself the embarassment and the trouble. Torn between feeling exasperated at tripping and thankful for not falling, she moved along, determined not to be late.

She hadn't covered three meters when another obstacle presented itself to her.

All of a sudden, something crashed into her from the side and letting out a yelp of surprise, Hermione fell to the floor, losing her books as she reached out and caught whatever had fell on her. The thing rolled off her with a groan and Hermione's eyes widened as she realized it was a person.

"Are you alright?" she asked, sitting up, ignoring the aches that the fall had caused.

The person was girl. Under the dim light, Hermione saw that she had long, straight dark brown hair with side bangs and rather pale skin. The Head Girl couldn't tell the eye colour of this girl, who seemed to be about her age, because her eyes were firmly shut, long, dark lashes grazing against the top of her cheeks. For half a second, Hermione thought that she was gorgeous before shaking her head to rid the thought. The girl seemed to have attractive qualities, yes, but this wasn't the time for thinking about that. (She did wonder where the thought had come from, however - she wasn't lesbian and usually didn't even notice good looks in boys). Quickly looking over her clothing, the Head Girl saw that this young woman was indeed a student and from (she squinted under the light) Ravenclaw, judging from her dark blue and bronze scarf.

Hermione picked up her wand, which had fallen beside her. "Enervate."

Nothing happened. The girl didn't stir.

Growing a little fearful, Hermione quickly cleaned up her books and stuffed the whole lot of them into her bag before conjuring a stretched for the girl. She'd have to take her to the school nurse. As she gently placed the young girl on the levitating stretcher and put the girl's bookbag down near her feet, she felt vaguely grateful that now she had a reason to be late for Potions... Shaking her head at such a selfish and uncaring thought, Hermione frowned. Gods, she hoped this girl survived...

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Dumbledore looked the girl over. She was now lying in a hospital bed, black robes, blue scarf and black ankle-high boots removed. She looked even paler under the bright lights of the hospital wing.

She did not go here. Yes, the uniform suggested otherwise, but the headmaster did not recognize her and he knew everybody. Oddly, she did look a little familiar, though... "Did Miss Granger say where she fell from?"

"No. There were no doorways or anything. It's like she appeared out of thin air." The mediwitch didn't take her gaze off the young girl. She didn't recognize her either.

Albus frowned. "What did Flitwick say?"

"He didn't know her either."

The headmaster suddenly spotted her girl's bookbag near the foot of the bed. "This is hers?"

"Yes. It was on her when she appeared."

Exchanging a look with the nurse, Albus picked it up and set it down on a nearby chair before opening it. Pulling out a notebook, he flipped the cover open and frowned. "Poppy... You're sure she's alright?"

"Yes, sir. She's just in a deep sleep." Pomphrey scrutinized him. "Why do you ask?"

"Something's wrong..." Albus said. He fingered through the rest of her books. She appeared to be in sixth year. Turning back to the notebook in his hand, Albus couldn't stop a small smile from forming on his lips.

"Albus?" the nurse asked.

"This is dated September, 2016. This girl has travelled through time," the headmaster stated, matter-of-fact.

"What?" Pomphrey asked. "But that's impossible. No one's invented a way to travel back so far."

"They obviously have in the future." Albus pulled a small pouch out of his robes. "Lemon drop?"

Pomphrey frowned at the sweet and shook her head. "What will you do?" she asked.

After popping a small, yellow candy into his mouth, Albus shrugged. "I don't know. We'll just have to keep her here until we figure out a way to send her back." Here, he smiled a little again.

"What are you smiling about?" Pomphrey demanded.

"It worries me to think of how some people may react to her..."

"You smile when you're worried?" For some reason or another, the woman wasn't completely surprised.

Albus returned the pouch to his robes when he saw that the young girl was stirring. "I'll need silence for a few seconds, Poppy." He paused. "Get Severus, will you? Tell him it's an emergency. When he gets here, tell him what's happened." After Pomphrey left, he walked to the side of the bed and placed two fingers at the girl's temples. For a few long moments, he quickly took in the details of the girl's life - her family, a few friends... Certain events, however, were cloudy... He murmured a few things beneath his breath. The last thing he uttered was a little louder: "Spena. S-P-E-N-A." He removed his fingers.

"Speena?" Pomphrey asked. Severus Snape was now standing beside her, looking curiously at the new girl.

"No. Spena. Pronounced Spainya. Like 'El Nina. El N - een -Ya.'" Ignoring the confused look on his colleagues' faces, Albus turned to the girl to find her eyes fluttering open. His smile widened a little when he saw her dark irises. They were familiar in one sense, but quite new in another. "Good afternoon, child."

The girl looked up at him, obviously confused. "Professor?" she asked, softly. Her voice was hoarse.

"Yes..." Albus paused and gave her a kind smile. "What is your name?"

"Charlotte."

Albus glanced at the other two in the room before quickly turning back to her. "Your full name?"

"Charlotte Semele... " Her eyes narrowed here. "Spena," she finished. "Charlotte Semele Spena."

Albus sat down in a nearby chair. "Do you know what year it is?"

"2016," Charlotte replied, starting to get up. Pomphrey was quickly at her side, pushing her back down. Charlotte gave her a puzzled look, but didn't say anything.

"It's 1998."

Charlotte turned to Albus. "1998..." She repeated. She looked away, narrowing her eyes in confusion and disbelief.

"Do you remember what you were doing?"

Charlotte thought for a second, only aware of Dumbledore's voice and a pounding between her brows. "No..." She finally answered. Not completely true. She might have drunk something...

"So this wasn't planned?"

Charlotte's head was starting to hurt. There was breaking glass - she saw it hit the floor.

Not good.

Clean it up and leave...

Quickly. Now.

Now!

"Charlotte?"

Charlotte started visibly when Albus's hand fell on her shoulder, but she didn't turn to him.

"You've travelled through time."

This time, Charlotte turned to him sharply and her eyes flashed in a kind of indignant irritation. Albus almost started a little in shock at the feeling he got when he looked into her eyes then. There - now those dark orbs were completely familiar to him as they showed aggitation that he'd pointed out the obvious. This fact almost made the headmaster laugh out loud. Instead he nodded toward Madam Pomphrey. "Do you know her?"

Charlotte turned and eyed her. "Madam Pomphrey," she stated.

Madam Pomphrey nodded before breaking out into a smile. "Do I still work here in the future?" she asked.

Charlotte nodded, causing the woman in grin in delight.

"How about him?" Albus asked, slowly.

Charlotte turned to Snape, who was gazing back at her with a calculating look in her eye. Charlotte narrowed her eyes as she thought. Albus waited with a baited breath, waiting to see if his magic had done it's work. After what seemed like an hour of silence, Charlotte shook her head. "No."

"Professor Snape?" Albus pressed.

Charlotte didn't even blink under the mention of the name. "No."

Albus rose, trying to hide the pleasure he felt that he'd done his job correctly. "Well, then, I guess you won't be working here by 2016... Or 2009, since Miss Spena is in her sixth year."

Snape smirked wryly at this and didn't try to hide it. And then he frownned. "I was told there was an emergency?"

"Oh, there's a bit of an emergency," Albus intoned. He looked at the nurse and the young girl. "I'm sure Charlotte here has some injuries from the fall she needs to have taken care of." Charlotte opened her mouth to protest, but Albus continued. "I will come by a little later to talk to you about classes."

"Classes?" Charlotte asked. "I'm staying?"

Albus nodded. "Until we can figure out what to do with you."

Charlotte seemed to not know how to react to this as she lay back down. As Pomphrey started fussing over her, Albus stepped out and closed the curtains before turning to Snape. "You aren't going to like this," he stated.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me I'll have to babysit the girl?" he scowled.

Albus looked at him. "No." He glanced at the curtains before turning back to Snape. "When I looked into her thoughts when she was asleep, I couldn't figure out how she managed to time travel. She doesn't know either... Memories of days before the actual moment she stepped into the rift in time are just gone. There are some blank places in the weeks before, as well... Obviously, this whole ordeal has messed with her mind. So, I figured that it was certain that she'd be around for a while. So it seemed necessary to modify her memories and change her name, names of family members, and what they may look like... So that she wouldn't cause trouble - you know, people speculating on her last name or her running into her parents..."

Snape frowned. "What is her real name then?"

Albus didn't answer. "You tried reading her mind just now."

"I couldn't. She seems to know occlumency. Actually quite strong for someone her age."

A small smile appeared on the older man's face. "Makes sense. So you looked into her eyes?"

Snape was starting to grow a little irritated. "Yes. So?"

Albus looked at him. "They weren't... familiar?"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "No." He eyed the headmaster. "What are you smiling at?"

Albus sighed and pulled out Charlotte's notebook out of his robes. It was dark green with a golden felt bookmark. "I do appologize if it seems I am not taking this situation seriously. Be assured, I am. I just can't help..." With a small shrug, he held the book out to Snape, who took it from him. "Her name is on the inside cover."

Snape flipped the cover back and looked at it, his heart suddenly thudding loudly in an emotion he couldn't quite place.

In neat, golden cursive: Charlotte S. Snape

"She has your eyes, Severus."

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A/N-

There's the prologue - it's rather short, but, again, it is the prologue. I'm done the first chapter; it'll be up by tuesday afternoon after a bit of editting.

Please review!!

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The Creatress