╰┈➤ ❛┊ 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 ┊❜

to his credit, dumbledore didn't look shocked. the look on his face remained calm, but his eyebrows raised in question.

"1997, you say?" he asked. "i'm curious as to what made you use a time turner to come back to this time period."

brylee bit her lip. was it the time to tell him? did he deserve to know? besides, hadn't it been dumbledore's idea to let a death eater teach in a school in the first place?

"honestly, i wasn't trying to back this far. what twenty years? i was only trying to go back twenty minutes."

suddenly there was a loud creak in the quiet infirmary. brylee looked towards the door of the hospital wing as it slowly swung close. her thoughts wondered as she tried to figure out who it could've been. did someone crawl inside the room or was it something else? if dumbledore noticed, he didn't say a word. he just smiled.

it hit her then, the invisibility cloak that harry used. it had once been his dad's. and now she woke up in the time when his dad was alive. it probably had been james, sirius, her dad, and peter who snuck back in to hear her and the professor's conversation. she could honestly say she wasn't surprised.

she thought if it was right to continue. maybe she should just start from the beginning of everything with the death of james and lily potter. but did james need to have to burden of knowing his fate?

"miss brylee, i must ask, who really are you? i sense there is something you aren't telling me?" dumbledore asked, pulling brylee out of her thoughts.

brylee swallowed hard. "it won't matter if there's a way to get me back to my time, will it? besides, i don't think anyone should know the future, right?"

she knew there wasn't any reasoning with the headmaster, but she had to try. she had to get back to her parents, her older parents, and her siblings, no matter how annoying they could be sometimes.

dumbledore intertwined his fingers and set his hands on his knee. "i'm afraid that's where you're wrong. your time turner broke in the fall. though mr. potter caught it, it was already in horrible condition and until we can get it fixed, it seems you are stuck here."

brylee took in several deep breaths, trying to stop her panic from increasing. she pressed herself into the pillow situated behind her. the time turner underneath the pillow dug into her back. she reached a hand back and pulled it out.

oh, dumbledore was right. the glass of the time turner was completely shattered. there were scratches all over the golden part of the device. she hadn't noticed any of it before when she'd been in a hurry to hide from the boys who'd rushed into the infirmary.

brylee closed her fist around the broken time turner and looked back up at the headmaster of hogwarts. "how long do you think it'll take to fix it or get a new one? whatever it is?"

he shook his head. "i don't think you understand correctly. the turner is broken. for now, there is no way back to your time. just you being here and having interacted with the four gryffindors had changed your time. if you were able to go back, it will not be the same present you knew."

and that was the last straw. a tear slipped out of brylee's eyes and she rushed to wipe it off. but it wouldn't stop. the dam had been opened.

brylee cried for her parents, and her siblings, whom she might never see again as the same people. she cried for her friends, knowing she would forever be older than them, that they would never be her friends again. she cried for herself, knowing she would have to live in a time where she couldn't interfere with the flow of time. she had to hope that future-her wouldn't make the same mistakes in her life as she did.

but what if there wasn't even a future-her anymore? would her parents even name future-her the same, especially after learning this brylee's name for falling out of the sky?

her eyes stopped tearing up and she sniffled, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her clothes. she looked up at dumbledore, embarrassed of how she'd cried like a child in front of him.

"sorry about that, professor," she apologized.

he gave her a sad smile. "no, miss brylee, i'm sorry. it was too much to handle for anyone, and in such a tough condition."

brylee scoffed quietly. as if this was the worst he'd thought she'd ever been through.

"i believe, i have an idea for you, if you'd like to hear it," the headmaster said. his eyes twinkled and the corner of his mouth lifted.

brylee nodded. "sure."

"i believe the best course of action would be for you to stay in hogwarts, considering everything that's going on in the world. i'm sure you're aware of the situation if you've heard about it."

he paused and looked towards brylee for confirmation.

again, she nodded. "unfortunately yes, you-know-who is still alive during the time i came from. he'd been resurrected by pe–"

brylee paused, remembering who might be in the room right now. it was probably best she didn't say any names, especially of those in the room.

"–by some of his followers in my third year, so 1995, i believe."

dumbledore hummed. "i understand. for your stay at hogwarts, i was thinking. since we are near the start of the year, we could introduce you as a transfer student from beauxbatons. you speak a little french, yes? we could say you got lost and landed . . . in a most unfortunate situation. now, what year were you in when you were transported here?"

"yes sir, my mum made us learn it. and my almost at the end of my fifth year."

dumbledore stood up, and brylee sat up in the bed. "wonderful. well then you start again from the beginning of fifth. i will get you school supplies for now and we can get do your sorting at dinner tomorrow, if you feel well enough and get on with the year, yes?"

brylee wanted to argue that she'd already been sorted into ravenclaw and that she didn't want to move houses do the sorting hat decided something different this time. she wanted to say so many things, mostly not nice things, but she didn't. she just nodded.

"and one last thing, i'm going to need your full name, to write you into the list for this year and the following years."

brylee sighed. she knew this was coming. she had to answer this truthfully, or dumbledore would know. or at least she thought he would, and she didn't want to take the chances of getting caught. she gulped and prayed that if her dad was in the room, he would not be able to hear her.

"brylee nephele, sir, brylee nephele lupin," she whispered, sniffing.

dumbledore's eyes twinkled again. oh, how she wished she could reach over and smack the twinkle out of his eyes. he knew what he was doing. brylee was so sure he did.

"you're going to have to say that again, i'm afraid. old man ears, you see?" he smiled.

brylee glared at him and turned her head down to her sheets, fiddling with them nervously. "brylee lupin. my name is brylee lupin."

something on her left clattered. out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a metal cart drifting towards her, the wheels squeaking as they moved. out of thin air, appeared the bodies of four boys. the same ones who'd been on the room barely a half hour earlier.

brylee watched them stumble for a second. james fell towards the ground with a shocked peter pettigrew behind him. remus lupin stared at her in horror, or shock. she couldn't tell but she knew it wasn't a good emotion. sirius black had all but shoved james to the ground in what looked to be a mix of shock and excitement.

james jumped back up quickly with excitement written all over his face. "mini moony!" he exclaimed.

brylee felt a rush of nostalgia as she remembered sirius black calling her that the first time they'd meet, they near the end of her second year. oh how she'd missed that nickname, no matter how annoying it was.

dumbledore feinted surprise but she knew he knew they were in the room. she knew he had asked her that question on purpose. he wanted to her identity to be revealed to them, almost like he knew who she was. it was honestly kind of terrifying and a bit of a bitchy move at the same time.

"oh my," he exclaimed, "well i certainly did not see your four there. i thought i told you four to get to bed."

james and peter flushed red in embarrassment. "sorry, professor, but we were curious," peter said.

sirius grinned. "and looks like we made the right decision, didn't we?"

he bumped remus lupin's shoulder. but brylee's dad's stoic face remained. she wondered if he hated her right now. or was he embarrassed by her? confused? angry? she could never tell, even in her time, and certainly not now.

the headmaster of hogwarts sighed, his eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses. brylee just wanted to knock those dumb glasses of his face for what he'd done. "well then, i will leave you five alone for now, yes? but i expect your four back in bed before midnight and leave miss brylee to rest. she needs her energy for tomorrow. goodnight now."

the moment he walked out the door, the three boys who weren't in shock immediately ran over to her. remus continued staring at her with wide eyes. brylee's stomach did cartwheels in stress and anticipation.

"i'm sorry," she blurted out, "i didn't want you to find out this way. it would've been better if you never found out."

remus blinked and dropped his gaze to the floor. "are . . . are you like me?"

brylee swallowed. she immediately knew what he meant. it had been such a controversial issue in her childhood and then when her siblings were born. her parents had watched her every move from as long as she could remember. they hoped she wouldn't have to live how remus lupin had to, suffering from the injustice of being a werewolf. it wasn't like he had a choice in that, but no one seemed to understand.

"no, but the full moon makes my magic stronger. my hearing is better around those days. but no, i don't turn into a . . . werewolf," she said.

"please don't lie to me," he begged, "all children of werewolves are like them. how can you not be?"

"because," brylee tried reasoning, "mum is a witch, not a werewolf."

his neck snapped up. "what? who would be mad enough to–? how? who?"

james, sirius and peter had gone quiet watching the two talk. they all had a feeling that this would be an interesting year for all of them.

brylee looked away. "i can't say, i'm sorry. it might change things and if you and mum don't happen, then i might cease to exist here." she turned back to her dad. "and honestly, life hasn't gotten that bad that i don't want to exist anymore."

remus sighed and walked closer to brylee's bed. "tell me one thing then, is she a muggle or someone at hogwarts."

"witch at hogwarts. but don't go getting any ideas about trying to get more information out of me. i'm not an idiot, most of the time."

sirius laughed and slung his arm around remus's shoulder. "well of course not, you're related to this one, aren't you?"

brylee grinned. "sure, but he's not the only reason i'm a ravenclaw, you know?"

james gaped at her with wide eyes behind his glasses. "ravenclaw?! did we–" he gestured to himself, sirius and peter "–not raise you to be an unhinged chaotic zoo animal like the rest of us?!"

brylee suddenly became very interesting in the fabric of her shirt. "oh you see, i had never met any of you in my childhood. in my second year at hogwarts, is when i first met sirius and peter. it's complicated and better if you all don't know much about it."

they all got quiet. an awkward silence filled the air.

peter coughed. "i think we should just let her rest now."

remus shuffled closer to brylee's bed. "we'll come see you tomorrow during lunch. just rest, yeah?"

james and sirius let out a hearty laugh and clapped remus on the back hard. brylee flinched but remus looked back at them unamused.

"look at him with the dad talk, being all mature," sirius stated.

brylee giggled. "well someone has to, especially since the rest of you are 'unhinged chaotic zoo animals.'"

james smirked. "just like you, moony."

remus rolled his eyes at his friends, trying to be annoyed. but a little smile peeked through and brylee knew he was glad to have his friends. she sighed and wondered how long it'd been since she'd seen that smile on her dad's face.

too long, she decided, it had been too long.

╰┈➤ ˗ˏˋ ❝  𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 ¡! ❞

hello darlings!!
how are you all doing today??
i hope you drank some water?
if not, this is your reminder to do so

i had so many thoughts for how this
chapter would go, but i kinda wanted
to take it slow here, so i didn't add too
much stuff. i swear regulus is going to
come in next chapter, hopefully. just
be patient. this is kind of a long process

anyway, let me know your thoughts
and i will see you all next time <33