Chapter Text
——SHIVANI’S POV——
*ੈ✩‧₊˚˖⁺‧₊˚◑﹏◐˚₊‧⁺˖˚°❀.ೃ࿔*
❝ Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead. ❞
“Silence speaks louder than words."
Yeah, I suppose that quote is true in this scenario. The silence was thunderous; you could hear the smallest of pins drop.
Not a single muscle was in motion. No sounds were brave enough to disturb the heavy, frozen atmosphere.
Madeline and I were simply stunned. More like flabbergasted. I’m sure that Professor Fontaine mispronounced the actual person’s name. I mean, how in the world did our names get into that Novel? There is only supposed to be one person going on the time-traveling adventure, which is Lucy, not anyone else. Only one singular person’s name can fit onto the slip, so how did our names even get into the Novel of Enchantment?
There was no applause; the silence was louder than the cheering for Lucy. Once our names were called by the professor, everyone shifted their focus to us. Students' happiness was immediately replaced with angry scowling looks and… confusion?
Up at the staff's table, Professor Pinehurst stood up and swept past the MACUSA members, who were still in shock from the recent moment, to whisper urgently to Professor Fontaine and Professor Vablatsky, our divination teacher. We were sitting near the teachers' table and could make out some words from their conversations. I heard the word ‘prophecy’ thrown in multiple times, along with ‘they have no choice' and ‘just like the TriWizard Tournament.'
I took a glance at Madeline, who looked as shocked as I am. We had no idea that this was going to happen, and there was no way that people would believe us. They would think that we entered because we had ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ to back us up, that someone put our names on purpose. Whoever is playing this joke on us has to reveal themselves now so we can get out of this dilemma and never have to worry about this ever again.
After, I turn to face the entire school, whose mouths are agape as they watch the two of us slowly get up on our feet to head towards the Novel. Lucy looked shocked, but she gave us a kind smile and mouthed, ‘I know you didn’t enter.'
At the front, Professor Fontaine and Pinehurst straightened up and held the door that Lucy was entering while Fontaine went up the stage to repeat our names.
“Madeline VonMoss and Shivani Chowdhury! Please make your way up to the podium.” Ari—who was aghast by this announcement but, luckily, didn’t believe that we signed up for this—nudged us to move forward, which made us get up on our feet, causing everyone to glare at us. The two of us walked past all the students who were staring at us with astonished looks and made our way to the door and entered it. The room is the staff’s lounge—located near the front of the dining hall—with a warm, elegant lounge filled with dark wood paneling and detailed looks. A large, ornate fireplace with a painting above it. The built-in bookshelves and leather armchairs created a dark but cozy setup. Its soft lighting and rich textures make the space feel both luxurious and inviting, if we weren’t in any panic of some sort.
Lucy gave us a faint smile and patted the couch next to her, signaling us to sit. We obeyed, trying to make ourselves comfortable in this bewildering situation. Unfortunately, we didn’t feel any more at ease, so we patiently waited on the large sofa, sitting up straight with alert expressions.
All the teachers entered the room after they dismissed the students back to their common rooms. You would have thought they could form a plan to resolve this situation and return everything to normal, especially since it is against the rules. Instead, they accepted it and told everyone we would be participating in this adventure. Professor Fontaine was the last one to come in and cast a spell to close the door behind him, approaching us as if he were about to break the bad news.
“You two will have to participate in this time-traveling adventure.” He must’ve expected us to start cheering and whooping, but we just stared at him blankly, which shocked him (as if he could get any more shocked).
“Oh wow, fantastic! I am so excited; I really can’t wait for this,” I said dryly, clapping my hands together after I finished my last word. At this point, Merlin just hates me a lot to put me in this position. I probably did something wrong in my previous life, like murdering someone or some shit like that. Madeline probably did something similar; I guess we both were truly made for each other.
Madeline sighs and forces a smile for everyone at this awkward and uncomfortable moment.
“History really does repeat itself here.” Everyone let out a hollow laugh that died quickly in the air. That humorless laugh was definitely forced. No one in their right mind would be laughing in this kind of situation.
Suddenly, Lucy stands up and shouts at the teachers.
“You seriously can’t let them join! This is outrageous!”
“Lucy, it’s fine—” Madeline says before being interrupted by Lucy, who was trying to continue her rant about not letting us join the quest.
“NO! Nothing about this is fine! This is a SCANDAL! You are supposed to maintain the safety of our students! And you are letting this slide? You specifically said that only fifth years and older can join, and these are THIRD YEARS, for Merlin’s sake!”
“Lucy… we can’t do anything about it,” Professor Fontaine said, trying not to make Lucy too angry.
A scowled look was smudged over her face, and her next words nearly made me burst into laughter at the tense situation. “My father will hear about this.”
“Dearie, your father has already heard about this. He was there,” Professor Pinehurst said gently to Lucy, whose jaw was clenched so tightly that a muscle in her cheek twitched. Lucy argued back, even though Pinehurst seemed unlikely to fight back or even assign a detention.
“It’s too dangerous for them! They are just young teenagers! What if they die? What if they get hurt?” Professor Pinehurst sighs and then says, “We can’t do anything about it. Once a person's name comes out of the Novel, they have to join the event.”
Given up, Lucy sat back down in her chair while I tried to come up with a plan to get us out of this conundrum. I failed and copied what Lucy did; I fell onto the couch with Madeline following behind me. My entire life is about to change, and no one can do anything about it. At least I have Lucy and Madeline with me.
“Madeline, Shivani. You two will be time-traveling back to the Golden Trio’s era in 2 minutes.” “Already?! Isn’t it too soon, Professor?" Madeline said, shocked by the abrupt changes.
Professor Fontaine ignored her and switched his focus to Lucy, who looked like she was about to jump out of Ilvermorny’s Astronomy Tower.
“Lucy, we have a separate task for you. Go with Professor Pinehurst and Professor Vablatsky. They will explain it to you.” Lucy followed Pinehurst and Vablatsky to a private room in the lounge. Fontaine pulled out the special MACUSA time-turner and tied the chain around both of our necks. This was unlike the regular time-turners that the government has; it could transport people from one place to another and time-travel back years.
"This time-turner will come back to you at the right moment," he said, stepping back. Too fast. Everything was moving too fast. My chest felt like it was going to explode.
“When are we going to come back?” I asked, wondering whether I would be the same person after I came back.
“To us, it would only be for a couple of seconds. For you two, it would take a couple of years. Any other questions?”
I had another genuine question, but I guess Madeline read my mind and said the same thing.
“Are we going to look the same when we come back?” The professor simply smiled at us, then shook his head.
“At first, yes. But after a couple of seconds, your body will begin to change, and however old you were before you time-traveled, you would be that age here.” I took a deep breath and offered him a warm smile. All of this was happening too fast, but I had to deal with it. I have to help MACUSA, or else they would be disappointed in me. My parents would be dissatisfied, thinking that I let them down. I have to do this.
“See you… soon, Ms. Chowdhury and Ms. VonMoss.” He flashed us a smile with an apologetic look, telling us that he never wanted this to happen to us. Before we could reciprocate, the dark surroundings dissolved into a dizzying blur of colors and shapes. I felt a sickening pulling sensation in her stomach, as if we were plummeting backward. The quiet sounds of the Ilvermorny staff lounge vanished, replaced by a rushing sound in her ears. A sudden, jarring halt as they land on unfamiliar castle grounds.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The same school where Harry Potter and his friends attended.
Madeline and I were both in his timeline. There was no way this was real! This has to be a dream!
“Shivani, poke me,” Madeline suddenly said, causing me to zone back in. I gave her a puzzled look and then stabbed her with my finger on her shoulder.
“Oowww! Not that hard!” She said dramatically, rubbing her shoulder subconsciously, trying to work out that ‘injury.’ I rolled my eyes and was about to retort when some guy whose aura seemed very familiar approached us and spoke to us.
“Come on, ladies. Now isn’t playtime. You should start heading to the Great Hall; the first years are about to get sorted.” His appearance caused our breath to hitch. He had light brown—or what some people call 'mousy' brown—shaggy hair with some grey strands growing out of it. He had a pale, lined face that looked quite ill and tired. His clothes looked second-hand, patched, shabby, and something that no rich pureblood would wear. He had a wolfish grin smothered on his face. Madeline’s eyes widened as she realized who he was. I nearly tripped over myself. There was no way. It was… the best marauder (in my opinion, of course; Madeline favors Sirius more).
“No way…” Madeline started, then turned to me, sharing a look with me, saying that we both knew who he was. Lupin looked extremely confused; we don’t blame him. If a random pair of girls approached me and ‘fangirl-ed’ over me with their eyes, I would’ve been hella confused.
“Are you really the Remus Lupin?” I ask him; his face lights up when he hears his name. Lupin gave us the kindest smile we ever received. I adore this man sooooo much; it’s literally unreal how much I love him.
“Yes! More like Professor Lupin to you. Are you two Ilvermorny transfer students?“ Remus questioned with a perplexed expression.
“We can’t tell you right now. We need to see Professor Dumbledore right now. It was nice meeting you!” Madeline and I quickly run away from that scene, waving goodbye to him as we make our way to Dumbledore’s office. As soon as we were about to make a turn into one of the long corridors that led to his office, a student bumped into us. But it wasn’t any random student—it was a Slytherin one… with platinum blonde hair.
“Watch it, mudbloods!” Draco Malfoy sneered at us, immediately standing up and grabbing both of our wrists.
Ouch. That hurts.
I always had a massive crush on Draco Malfoy. No matter what my friends said about him, like how he was an arrogant, privileged, spoiled, and snobbish Slytherin student who supported blood purity. I always thought, as my delusional self, that he was just a boy who had no choice. I strongly believe that he was raised to believe in the blood purity nonsense from his eyesore parents. I hated Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy until the seventh book, where my hatred for Narcissa disappeared.
I also thought that Gryffindors were just as prejudiced as the Slytherins. The Slytherins displayed bias towards the purebloods and were unfair towards those raised by Muggles—why not just call them no-majs?—while the Gryffindors showed a lot of discrimination towards the Slytherins (house animosity). They were both as bad as the other.
Anyways, Draco was wearing a crisp white shirt, a Slytherin necktie (green and silver), a tailored sweater, and a black Hogwarts robe with the Slytherin crest. Let’s just say that he looked really good, but his attitude and personality are the exact damn opposite.
“Well, ‘hello’ to you, too,” I said sarcastically—both of us snatched our hands back and stepped away from him. A warm smile spread across my face as Draco raised an eyebrow. Maybe this boy needed to receive some kindness from someone for his future redemption arc! I am so delusional.
“Violence is one way to greet someone,” Madeline replied dryly, rubbing the place where Draco grabbed us from, giving Draco a big glare.
At that moment, my infatuation with Draco died. He is no longer going to be the man of my dreams. There was no way I would continue to crush on this guy who was arrogant, pompous, and snobby (there were so many negative traits to describe Draco).
“Well, excuse us, but we have somewhere to be.” We pushed him to the side and ran to Dumbledore’s office.
“Wait! Where are you all-american bitches going?” His voice faded in the background as we ran further and further away from him. Thank Merlin, he’s gone now. It’s official now, I can’t stand him.
The entrance to Dumbledore’s office was located on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, at the end of the quiet corridor, hidden behind a large, ugly stone gargoyle.
We approached the door and spoke aloud the password. “Peppermint Humbugs.”
“Come in.” A voice that we know all too well spoke. It was a large, beautiful, circular room filled with curious, whirring silver instruments; numerous portraits of previous headmasters and mistresses; and a large, claw-footed desk. The Sorting Hat usually sits on a shelf that is behind Dumbledore’s study, while Fawkes the phoenix resides on a perch. The Pensieve, a stone basin for reviewing memories, is also present beside his desk. Once we entered the extravagant place, Dumbledore looked up from his papers, and his lips fell into a grin.
“Ah. Our visitors from the future. I was expecting you guys.” Madeline and I raised our eyebrows at each other, then realized that MACUSA would obviously go back in time to warn the headmaster about our presence, so it wouldn't cause any confusion that would delay events. Then why would MACUSA send young students who attended Ilvermorny to time-travel when they could have done it themselves? Oh well, there are a lot more things to worry about now.
“Take a seat.” He gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk and signaled us to sit there, which we obeyed. “MACUSA told me that only one student would be coming back, and you two look a lot younger than a fifth year.”
“Oh! Did they forget to tell you about how our names—yes, we are third years—came out of the Novel of Enchantment and we were forced to participate in this adventure? Or is it your dementia?” I pondered to myself, going deep in thought while Madeline’s eyes widened in horror.
“Shivani! You can’t say that!” Madeline practically screamed at me while Dumbledore chuckled lightly in the background, finding this entire scene amusing.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” I said, confused as to why Madeline was freaking out. It’s like the same reaction she would have if I insulted Professor Dumbledore. Oh shit. I insulted Dumbledore.
I kept apologizing to Dumbledore and saying that I was out of my mind, while he giggled and forgave me constantly as I tried to continue apologizing.
“Professor Dumbledore, what are we going to do about our identities?” I nodded along to what Madeline said and looked at Dumbledore.
“Well, you two would still be Shivani Chowdhury and Madeline VonMoss, but you would tell everyone that your wizarding parents died when you guys were 2, and you were sent to live with Muggles—who were excellent parents and handled the ‘magic’ situation greatly and recently died—before you attended Ilvermorny. Now, do you two want to get sorted in front of everyone or in here?”
Madeline leaned in to me, placing her ear near my mouth as she heard me murmuring my choice. “I think it would be best to get sorted in front of everyone. No one would perpetually question us on how we got into the school.” She smirked at me, and then we told Dumbledore our idea.
“Alright! Let’s go to the Great Hall to get you two sorted!” He stood up and motioned us to follow. We exited his office and made our way to the enormous great hall. The Great Hall was made of authentic stone and wood, featuring a fireplace, a main entrance, and a door behind the staff table for entry. The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside, reflecting weather and time of day, and is often described as velvety black and starry in the Harry Potter books. It featured four long tables—one for each house—and a raised High Table for teachers at the top of the room. Hundreds of candles float in mid-air, providing a warm, flickering light, with golden plates and goblets set on tables. This place was a magnificent, truly magical place.
“Sir, what year is it?” I whisper to him as everyone’s heads turn towards us.
“1993.” Our eyes widened. We traveled 30 years into the past. Wow. This must mean that Sirius Black, the supposed mass murderer, has escaped Azkaban to ‘kill him,' and dementors are stationed at Hogwarts. This is also the year when everyone goes through puberty—Madeline and I call it their ‘prime year.'
“Aw! We missed the first year's sorting. Bummer. I guess it is time when you two are going to get sorted!” He said joyfully. This man sure was quite jolly during arbitrary moments.
Dumbledore made his way towards the staff's table just when Professor McGonagall came in with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
The tiny little wizard with a head of white hair, whom we immediately recognized as Professor Flitwick, was about to carry an ancient hat and a four-legged stool out of the hall before being stopped by Professor Dumbledore and told about the ‘new transfer students.’ McGonagall overheard and made an abrupt announcement.
“Before we begin the feast, we have two new students who will get sorted! Welcome, Shivani Chowdhury and Madeline VonMoss, transfer students from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” I felt my neck turn hot, a familiar burning sensation creeping up to my ears under the weight of their attention. Madeline dragged my hand towards the podium to get sorted in front of everyone. Oh dear. I was about to object, but I was forced into the chair, and a hat dropped over my eyes.
“Ooohh… this is a difficult one,” a voice said in my ear. Uh oh. He was about to make a decision. What if I don’t make it to any of the houses? What if I become an outcast in my house? What if… Just what if?
I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I am merely nervous about what house I am going to get sorted into. Everyone has gone through this. It’s going to be alright. It’s not like a life-or-death situation here, just a sorting.
“Mmm… my oh my. I haven’t seen this in a century. You have plenty of bravery and courage. You show loyalty to your true friends, and you are very hard-working. You've got a great deal of leadership and ambition, and you are quite cunning yourself. You are very creative, intelligent, and witty, and you have a passion and curiosity for learning.” The Sorting Hat paused for a moment. No. It can’t be. The rarest house of them all. Many people know about it, and the hidden founder’s story.
“No one has been sorted in this house for a hundred years. It’s very rare; I guess the prophecy was right about you and Ms. VonMoss after all!” Prophecy. What prophecy?
I certainly was shocked, but nothing could make me any more surprised than the next word that the Sorting Hat shouted.
“LUPVALERE!”