The Next Great Adventure, Yeah Right Albus

It Is All Muddled?

As they walked into the great hall trailing behind Minerva- Professor McGonagall, Phyllis would have to be sure to keep an eye on her tongue so she did not slip up, the raven-haired girl spied Dumbledore sitting at the teachers' table with his obnoxiously twinkly blue eyes. Damn, that bastard and his omniscient blue gaze. Phyllis would be sure to avoid looking him in the eye until she was completely certain her occlumency was up to par again, not that she thought Dumbledore would go around using legilimency on students. But it never did hurt to be careful, a lesson Gryffindors really ought to learn.

Phyllis mostly ignored the sorting, it's not like any of her former-current?, Time travel was an odd thing, classmates were going to end up in a different house. Though she did pay attention when it was Lily's turn, maybe she has influenced the girl enough that she won't end up in the revolting house of red and gold.

Phyllis waited with bated breath as the hat was placed on the green-eyed girl's head. Praying to Hecate herself that Lily wouldn't end up in the same house as James bloody Potter.

And the old sorting hat yelled... Hufflepuff.

Phyllis let out a breath of relief that Lily wouldn't be in Gryffindor and that there would be no major house rivalry to break their friendship.

Phyllis watched as Lily petulantly walked to the table of the badgers, where she received a warm welcome. Shooting the redhead a slight smile when she looked her way seemed to settle the young girl's temper slightly.

The raven-haired girl waited tiredly for her name to be called. She wanted to get this second sorting over with. All of her arithmancy equations showed a high probability of obtaining her preferred outcome if she left her mind unguarded to the hat, so that's what she would do.

"Snape, Phyllis," Minerva- Professor McGonagall's Scottish accent called out.

Phyllis strode confidently to the platform, attempting to have the same intimidation and swish to her robes as when she had been a teacher. Though she's sure the effect was not quite the same.

She sat on the old rickety stool, feet not even touching the floor with her short frame, as the sorting hat which was in desperate need of a wash was placed upon her head.

"I can hear you, you know," the voice of the sorting hat echoed through her mind for the first time in well over thirty years.

"Yes, but you must admit I am not wrong," Phyllis thought back, perhaps being so blunt and borderline rude to the hat was not the best thing to do, but it was simply the way she spoke. She saw no need for pretence or to sugarcoat things.

"A very interesting mind you have here."

"And what will you do about it."

"I will simply look back at this fondly to help me get through year after year of sorting through the rather dull minds of eleven-year-olds. And that is all Dumbledore will know as well. I am rather miffed that he doesn't keep up with my cleaning as well as some of the previous headmasters. Though I do implore you to get help with your tasks, they will not be easy."

"Ravenclaw!" The sorting hat finally shouted to the great hall.

Phyllis walked confidently to her new table with her head held high and long black plait swaying behind her; Lily did eventually get her hands on the dour girl's hair and Phyllis had to admit she rather liked the style. It did a superb job at keeping her long hair out of her face, perfect for working with potions, and it was also good for disguising just how greasy her hair could get at times.

Phyllis took the seat next to Pandora Chronis, the girl could be odd at times, not to the same extent as her future husband and daughter, but odd nonetheless that however did not change the fact that she was still exceptionally smart and would be a good academic peer to have in the future.

"Your past, present, and future are quite muddled," the young blonde spoke, her eyes had a strange look to them that Phyllis couldn't place, it was somewhat similar to the look of a seer as they made a prophecy but it was not that. Perhaps some research into the Chronis family bloodline and any abilities that may be passed down would be an enjoyable pass time.

"Is that so." It never hurt to fish around for extra information in Phyllis' expert opinion.

"I'm sorry about that, that was quite rude of me. It's just you're very perplexing to look at. I've been trying to figure it out since we met on the train and it finally dawned on me during your sorting."

"Do you mind me asking how it is you know this?" Phyllis didn't see the point in all the extra words for the sake of perceived nicety, to her it would be much kinder to cut to the chase and stop wasting everybody's bloody time. That unfortunately did not negate the fact that such niceties often made it easier to get what you wanted out of people.

"It is... somewhat hard to explain. Sometimes I can just see things, sometimes something as simple as a swirl of magic no one else can. Other times, such as in your case it is much harder to explain, there are not exactly words to explain what it is I see when looking at you. Sometimes there are swirls of magic around you but they're never consistent as they would be when proclaiming one's magic type, they always seem to be in conflict with one another. Other times it almost looks like your features morph and there are all these reels of images that seem to flow in and around you but it all moves so fast it's hard to tell. When I look at you all these symbols flash into my mind, some so pretty I wish to draw them to be able to constantly see their beauty, and some that give off such an evil feel I almost want to shudder. It was all very confusing, then during your sorting it was almost as if mother magic herself whispered in my ear the words past, present, and future. That was when it dawned on me that your past, present, and future were muddled, though I have no clue as to how that can be."

Phyllis listened intently to the eleven-year-old's explanation. It certainly seemed like Chronis had some sort of seer-like ability. The fact that her past, present, and future are muddled could mean a lot. There are infinite explanations as to what the meaning behind those words could be. Perhaps it is just a side effect of her being reborn into this... alternate reality, timeline, dimension... the possibilities of where it was she was reborn are also infinite and mattered little at the moment, though could make for some very stimulating pondering. It could also have to deal with how far she strays off the course of the path that had been laid out for her in her previous life, at the moment very little has changed in the grand scheme of things from her past life, that could be why it is all muddled. She will have to speak with Chronis about what the girl sees when she looks at her after she makes more changes to this... timeline? She'll go with that for now, to see which of her theories turns out correct.

Notes:

This was written between a series of exams and stressful life situations, so I hope its still good. Its a bit of a short chapter but I didn't want to drag it out. As for Lily's placement in Hufflepuff I thought it was fitting given she has just discovered the truth of her friends home situation and wants justice for her friend and for the world to treat Phyllis Fairly. And Phyllis needs to just admit she wants to be Pandora's friend and stop making all these excuses and justifications to herself.