Time Twisted Fate

Chapter Two ~ The first lesson

It was only 5:30 am, but Lila was wide-awake and raring to go. She put on her swimming costume underneath her robes so that she didn't need to bother changing down there. Her robes swished around her, and she kept pacing around the room, praying that no one was going to drown with what she intended to do today. Going over her notes again and again, this fluttering in her stomach was a completely new feeling for her, having undergone pain, torture and embarrassment, but never anything like this. It almost made her feel... human. It was a feeling that she didn't like, either.

By 6:30, everything was done and gone over, and Lila had been retracing her steps around in a circle for ages. Eventually, she made her way down to the Great Hall. Strange. It was only last summer she had graduated from here, but it was technically thirty-three years ago for the people here. Dumbledore wasn't headmaster yet, old Dippet still had been. She knew who Dumbledore was, being a transfiguration teacher, but he had never taught her. She knew where she was in the castle; she was in the only bedroom in the castle that was on the ninth floor. She was on the floor that most couples making out went to. She was in the astronomy tower. Luckily, Lila knew all the shortcuts and secret passages that made her way to the Great Hall quicker.

Finally down at the hall, after descending numerous slides hidden within the walls, Lila straightened her robes and walked up to the teacher's table. To her surprise, Dumbledore was already up and munching a piece of burnt toast. "Ah, our new Professor! Why don't you sit in that seat there?" Dumbledore pointed to a seat that was fitted in between Professor Snape's and Professor Sprout's. Lila sat herself down to the practically empty hall and grabbed a bowl of porridge. Lavishly sprinkling treacle over it, Lila enjoyed the calming presence of the almost silence that came rarely to her ears.

She looked around, curiously and saw a few early birds at various tables, one of which particularly caught her eye. It wasn't just the stark platinum hair, either. A pale boy was reading an Arithmancy book at the Slytherin table. She had seen someone who looked like him before. Maybe it could have been his father. What was his name...? It began with L... L- Lu... Lucius Malfoy! That was it. He had been one of her father's closest followers the last time she knew. But his son, if he even WAS his son, seemed quite different. The aura around him wasn't the fathomless pitch black that Lila could practically sense wallowing around the people of the Dark side. Instead, it was probably what she would interpret to be an unruffled, but wary deep purple. Lila often wondered how she could tell the differences between these things, and came to the conclusion that she now practically relied on these instincts everywhere to guide her 'lost soul'.

* * *

Everyone stood huddled around the South of the massive lake, absent-mindedly grouping into his or her respective house. Lila looked around at the shivering seventh-years. Dumbledore had introduced her at breakfast, giving no one an explanation of why they were suddenly starting swimming lessons in the middle of term, but not many seemed to care anyway. Everyone wanted to know who she was, and where she had come from.

The weather was blustery, and quite a few people were glaring at her as though it was her fault it was so cold. The sun was out, but the lake was glinting, a sure sign that it was 'refreshing'- or what some might refer to as freezing. Lila's brain whirled, and her plans for this morning swiftly changed. "Here we go. Everyone gather round the bank. Doesn't matter if you can't swim!" she yelled into the wind. As soon as everyone was clustered closely around her, she almost grinned gleefully to herself. "Alright people, this is our first lesson, and I don't really want to sound that intimidating, so..." Lila stopped there, as she plunged into the lake, splashing almost everyone. "I just want to see how well you cope in water!" she finished, as she came up, her black hair looking like she'd been dragged through a very wet bush.

"Get in and enjoy!" Lila ordered, treading water. "If you don't swim very well, stay near the edge and I'll come around." This was something new to everyone- NONE of the teachers acted like that. Soon, almost the whole of seventh year was in the water, yelling and laughing. The people working nearby in a CoMC class were giving them odd looks, but Lila felt that she had made a good first impression.

Soon, she spotted two boys still on the edge, both completely dry. They were having an argument, and it was clear from the colour of their trunks that they were from different houses. Swimming almost perfectly over to them, she hauled herself out. "Boys, I'm sure you're discussion is FAScinating, but this IS still a lesson." Lila drawled, shaking her hair, which was plastered to her neck. They looked at her, and she noticed that one of them was that boy she had seen this morning. Standing next to each other, they seemed completely opposite, one with almost white hair, and the other with black. One was calm, while the other looked hot and flustered. However, they both shared that guilty expression as they looked at their teacher. Lila almost grinned. She was sure that the black-haired was actually feeling culpable, but the blond only looked guilty because he was looking and thinking about her in a way he really oughtn't be.

"Could you kindly tell me your names?" she asked, looking back at the rest of the class, just in case.

The boy with black hair gave her a slightly puzzled look, then sighed and pushed back his fringe. "Here, have a good goggle now."

Lila stared blankly back at him. "Pardon? Am I supposed to know you?" she was confused, and looked to the other boy for guidance, but he was too busy smugly gloating.

"Hah, Potter! Someone who doesn't think you're the hero of the world!" The blond was smirking outrageously. Then he turned to Lila, and mustered up as dignified a bow as he could manage, being in unsuitable clothing. "Draco Malfoy, please to meet such a gorgeous young lady." And kissed her hand. Lila blushed, as 'Potter' spluttered indignantly. "Oh, and that thing over there goes by the name of Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Is-Still-A-Virgin."

Lila looked at him. "Really?"

As Draco snorted, as Harry almost choked, "NO! I'm supposedly the-boy-who-lived, and defeated the Dark Lord!" He cast a dirty look at Draco. "That's why I have the scar."

Lila hid her surprise, and made a mental note to ask some adult about all this later. "Actually, I meant were you really called Harry... Uh, sorry......... I don't come from around this time. I was born about thirty years ago." Both boys stared at her. "Never mind........." she muttered. Clearing her throat, she said, "Ok, ok, enough chitchat. Delighted to meet you both, formalities are over, now will you please get in?!" Lila chivvied.

Harry cast one last dark look at Draco, and then dived in and swam to his friends. "Show off." muttered Draco scornfully. "That dive was absolutely terrible!" and dived in magnificently himself, coming up with a freestyle that could probably challenge Lila's. Lila gave him an appraising look, and then hurried towards some Gryffindor girl who seemed to be on the verge to suffocating, being about four feet under water and sinking fast. In short, Lavender Brown was drowning.