Live When There Is Time

When Maia woke on the next morning her first impulse was to burrow herself deeper under the blankets. Thinking fuzzily whether or not it was time to get up yet. A thought registered that there was something decidedly odd about her bed. It was the standard Hogwarts four-poster, yes, but what was in it somehow didn't match. The bed-linen, for example, didn't smell of conditioner, but had an odd herbal fragrance to it. Herbs? Also, the mattress and pillows were unfamiliar, suffocatingly soft being filled with something unresisting and fluffy. She was unpleasantly beginning to gain consciousness and, tit for tat, consciousness was beginning to gain on her. It didn't bring good news with it.

Suddenly Maia was fully awake. A facts were hammering her brain with gleeful violence.

She was in the past.

A thousand years in the past to be correct; in the time of the Founders

She was at the hands of one Salazar Slytherin. He hadn't thus far expressed any abundant sympathy towards her.

Well, what should she have expected? Yesterday had been worse than a nightmare, mainly because it wasn't one.

When she had arrived to this room covered by only her school robe and underwear she hadn't spared a thought for anything else but sleep and warmth. Dropping onto the bed she hadn't even bothered to investigate the room for trapdoors and such - an activity rather necessary and natural for a Slytherin. Sod it all, what could have possibly happened that would have made the situation worse on the whole?

Now, then, she had time to look around. Beginning to climb off the bed Maia whipped off all the covers and soon came to rethink this. She was wearing nothing under them. Scanning the room for a solution to this rather embarrassing problem she all the while feverishly hoped it had been the House-Elf , who had undressed her. Soon she noticed a set of clothing neatly laid on a stool. Glancing around to reassure herself of privacy Maia wrapped a sheet around her, just to be sure, and scuttled over to the stool. The stone floor felt like ice under her bare feet and the room was lit with cold winter daylight.

The clothes astonished her. What was planned for her? She was a stranger and intruder here, yet the clothes were of high quality and beautifully done, at least to her unpractised eye. It was an attire of an aristocrat. Luckily it wasn't too complicated to put them on as her teeth had started chattering.

First a whitish linen shirt, then a rose overdress the bodice of which was sleeveless and undecorated. It took some time to adjust the tight dress so that the linen didn't wrinkle uncomfortably under it. From the waistline, which was just below her chest, a slit went down, revealing the under-dress. Over the whole was to be worn a brown robe made of wool, like the dress. The robe was fastened with ornamental bronze clips on both shoulders, between which hung a thin chain. She had some difficulties attaching them, as her fingers were stiff because of the cold. She drew her hands inside the sleeves for warmth. Handily, there was a small ornamental case for her wand, hanging from the belt.

The shoes were soft little leathery things and didn't fit well. No socks, either. Maybe it was for the better, damn her big feet. Finally she was ready and warming, though it had taken an embarrassingly long time. Well, there was really no reason to hurry. Her next lesson would be starting in a thousand or so years. There was a wooden cup of water, which she didn't dare to drink; who knew how infested with germs it was? She sipped a little, though, and gurgled blissfully. There had been a horrible taste in her mouth

All in all, thought Maia as she twirled tentatively in front of a mirror watching the long dress sweep the floor, the situation had to be quite bad if you couldn't enjoy a pretty dress. Shallow, yes. Could she help it? No.

Of course her messy hair and rather un-medieval-princess-like looks somewhat spoiled the joy. Ah well, the hair she at least fixed with a braid.

After the game of dressing-up had got old she sat down on a window seat and enjoyed the thought-free silence. All the view she got was of the room, though. The window was too thick and bubbly to see through. The room would have to suffice nevertheless. Under no conditions would she venture out of this room on her own. There were four walls, bed and a chamber-pot. All her immediate needs were catered for.

The books from Slytherin which she had all but forgot. That could kill some time. They were piled on the same table with the cup of water.

Maia took the books, one by one, in her hands and studied them closely. Most of them were in Latin, some in old English and even a few in Greek. She applied translating spells on the English and Latin ones. The Greek tomes she luckily had no need to translate. Most Slytherins were quite apt in Greek, it being an old civilized language and thus taught at home.

Of course there was also the fact that it was an optional course in Hogwarts taught by Professor Snape. Since his taking over the course, the Greek skills of the Gryffindor students had decreased at a rapid rate. Only Hermione Granger, a seventh year, was known to take it. Maia, on the other hand, had even once done a comprehensive project on the effect of language used in spells and what was typical of Greek-derived spells as opposed to those based on Latin.

On top there was a thin scroll, which was apparently about Hogwarts. A pre-form of Hogwarts: A History. How amusing. In it was told about the origin of the school, which was now celebrating its tenth year of existence. Anno 961.

The Sorting Hat had already been created, she saw, but was still private property of Lord Godric Gryffindor. What really shook her was that the Houses were not what she was used to. Yes, the priorities were the same, but in this time Slytherin and Gryffindor admitted only boys and consequently Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff only girls. It seemed to all be about the appreciated masculine and feminine qualities. If this were common knowledge in the future, there would be plenty of embarrassment...

The next book was Slytherin family history, which she cast aside thinking it a waste of time. What purpose would that information serve? She would have at the moment given a lot to just be a simple Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, so that her overheated mind could have had a bit of rest. Now she had to consider all kind of devious and sinister plans Slytherin could have for her. She refused to think of his other less-redeeming qualities, like breeding a basilisk, for example. All of that was apparently yet to happen. She sat on the table, a bit of a manoeuvre with the skirt. The leather shoes did little to shelter her feet from the cold stones.

The third book was called Ars Grammatica. It was... a grammar of Latin? Was she going to stay here so long that she would have to learn to speak Latin well enough to be able to communicate? What a horrible, horrible thought. Tears stung in her eyes. There was an annoying aspect to time travel. It obviously made her as moody and sentimental as a little child. She wanted to go home.

It was just that home didn't exist anymore. Wouldn't exist for a long time. And how could she expect a rescue, when there was only this era? To her there was no other time. What happened in her departure? Would anyone notice her disappearance, or would her existence cancel out? She had never read anything about time-travel theory. No one here would certainly feel any need to rescue her, not even Gryffindor.

How odd a thought. It was one thing to feud with the members of his house in the future and one thing to think of even addressing him in this era. Sneering was probably out of the question.

She quickly hopped down accidentally taking the books with her as somebody knocked to the door. The someone waited a moment and entered.

It was a maid, for a change. Maia recovered from her fright. Why was there a maid at all, at that? Didn't house-elves do all the work. Oh, yes, now she remembered. The little creatures were a successful experiment by Rowena Ravenclaw and probably only employed at Hogwarts at this time. It was more than probable that there weren't plenty of them, yet. Magnificent. She herself could end up as a maid here, if she wasn't of use to Slytherin.

Well, the maid didn't look too starved or anything. There were most likely worse fates than that. The maid was carrying a tray on which there was some food and reverently avoided eye-contact.

The food didn't look particularly appetizing, consisting of a loaf or bread, sausage, kipper and a full goblet of some unknown drink. Maia looked at it, glanced at the maid and caught her peering at herself. The servant couldn't probably believe her luck of seeing the oddment of the year at such a close range.

The sausage seemed to be full of those disgusting odd bits and the kipper oozed salt. Finally Maia hazarded a sip of the drink, which tasted disgusting: strong and fermented. Deciding to ignore the maid she resolutely pulled her wand. It took a couple of tries, so tricky was the special holder..

Now... Swish and flick, with such a flourish it would have made Professor proud, and instead of the assortment earlier there was now a goblet full of pumpkin juice, a fried egg on toast and an apple. Though her last thoughts of McGonagall had been somewhat unfriendly, the hag knew how to teach.

Sighing with pleasure Maia tucked into the familiar food under the bulging eyes of the maid. She could almost imagine the tales already spinning in that cloth-clad head.

After the breakfast long dreary ours passed without any one coming in. After the high-spirits caused by a good breakfast had faded Maia was alternately horrified, bored, miserable or annoyed. She had inspected the rest of the books, which had been about various historical and educational subjects. All of them were boring. It was one thing to like history as a subject and completely another to pass the time reading about Roman and Norse invasions in Britain or trace the Slytherin family tree to Merlin and the Caesars of Rome. In lack of an instant time machine a good novel would have been heavenly.

However, when the door was thrown open with force and Slytherin himself stomped in, Maia soon began to think longingly of that boredom.

Without a word he proffered a vial of familiar foul-brown liquid. Maia glanced at him, once, decided wisely against insubordination and drank it with a gulp. Coughing cum spluttering ensued. Slytherin had obviously already had his dose, for he immediately began to talk.

"Good Morning. Now that you have rested and eaten I have few instructions for you. If you understand your own good you will follow them. First of all, no one but I and you knows about your true origin. I wish it to remain so, so I have devised a false reason for your being here."

Nodding seemed, once again, to be the best course of action. Who knew, maybe the sound of her voice would irritate him. Slytherin looked rather impatient and imperious, in his voluminous grey robe, hanging from his shoulders, and moss-green tunic. Maia wanted to do absolutely nothing to get on his bad side. This dependence would have been hateful, had she been coherent enough to think that far. Fear appeared to have an effectively stupefying effect, she had never in her life been this afraid.

"You are my cousin's daughter from Constantinople. You have escaped the too-persistent attentions of a feuding family's son. The clothes you were wearing were a special young maiden's attire, used only in the high-born Muggle families. You had an ill-advised friendship with a daughter of one. On the canal a storm sunk your ship and one of the other passengers sent you off with an emergency port-key you had in your belongings. Along with it was a letter to me, as an owl could not have been sent beforehand. I have not seen you before, as I only conduct business with the men of the family. No one here speaks Greek, the barbarians, so that should not present a problem. Do you understand?"

Nod.

"You have been resting from your shock this morning, but now you must be presented to the rest of the school and to my colleagues, who are somewhat overly curious about you. The less you attempt to communicate, the better. After meeting them you shall have to be measured for clothes fit for a maiden of your status. Dare to make one wrong move and damage my honour and you will hope you had never been born. You do remember, what could happen to a lonely young woman in these times, that is, if I don't sell you to slavery. Magical slaves are rare and expensive. Do you have anything to ask, which you deem worth my while?

"Um.." She should speak clearly. She did not want to annoy this man. Now, she wanted to ask something, but everything just slipped of her mind. It was worse than Father after a Ministry meeting. Oh, Father... The tears were near again, she was so alone. It was astonishing that she hadn't crumpled yet. It wasn't as if she had strength of character in abundance. She needed to know something, though. There was no way out of it.

"Um... er... Why are you doing this, sir."

"So, you can talk. I was beginning to fear that you had miraculously become mute overnight. I do have my motives but no reason to disclose them to you. However, I think that you can be of use. What use, that I will decide later. My family wouldn't be where we are today, if we had overlooked the smallest opportunities. So you had better be of use, hadn't you?"

With the last sentence he smiled lightly and escorted her with outward courteousness suitable for a cousin out of the room, her haven.

The journey through the hallways was silent and awkward. Everywhere were students, who were so completely different from her own time, that she couldn't think of them as ordinary students at all. This wasn't her Hogwarts, this was hostile ground and she was on the defence. Maia wiped her face blank as well as she could and tried to look like a proud Byzantine sorceress. Probably her efforts didn't matter, as Slytherin's imperious air could have supported ten insecure impostors from the future.

There were less portraits on the walls, and more tapestries. Everything seemed newer, which of course was only natural. Maia didn't dare look closely as tripping on her feet wasn't an option now. She shuddered at the thought alone and got a nasty, though well-veiled glance from Slytherin. The doors of the Great Hall were in sight now and she saw that they were the same. That probably was natural, considering the conserving charms and talented restorers throughout the ages available at the magical community. Yet it was disturbing to see how far back they actually dated.

Inside there were the same long tables, though in different order from the present... future. There was no enchanted ceiling and floating candles. All light was apparently provided with torches and oil lamps. To her utter horror Maia noticed that she was being led to the Head Table. Of course she would sit there. Would the "cousin" of Lord Slytherin sit amongst the students? As if in a dream her feet walked on as all of her being concentrated to the three figures sitting in the middle of the table. From them on other staff were seated, probably in some sort of pecking order.

Maia was firmly placed on a chair to the right from Gryffindor and on her left sat Slytherin. Gryffindor gave her a benign glance, somehow similar to that of Dumbledore and she nearly hiccoughed. Gryffindor swiftly glimpsed at Slytherin, who smiled slightly, said something lightly and squeezed her shoulder, hard.

The Hall was full of noise and curious looks at Maia. She could guess that the maid had been busy indeed. It all quieted down as Slytherin rose to make an announcement. She could guess the subject of that, too. The words of Slytherin she understood, because of the potion, but all else was incomprehensible to her.

"I want you all to welcome Maia Porfyra, my cousin from the great city of Constantinople. She has come to visit us and I expect you all show her the respect she is due. Only the two eldest classes from the House Slytherin have the permission to socialize with her. She speaks very little Latin and besides that only Greek. I'm sure she will appreciate the possibility to have practise in the language besides just studying the grammar. Her arrival here was somewhat harsh due to an unexpected tempest, so I am sure she will appreciate if such a painful topic is not conversed."

To Maia. "Lady Porfyra, meet the students and staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Cheering echoed through the hall and Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff turned to welcome her officially. It occurred to her, as they bowed lightly, that she should probably now start to think of them with their titles. Maia, "Lady Porfyra" from now on, sat there, dazed once again and almost welcomed the familiarity of the feeling. All in all, the situation wouldn't perhaps have been so frightening, if the hand of Slytherin hadn't still rested on her shoulder, heavy and oppressive.