Aleena Collins and the Secrets of Time

Shopping Spree in Diagon Alley

I woke up slowly, stretching out my arms, a groan escaping my lips. My eyes were still half-closed, everything around me blurry and undefined. I blinked a few times, squinting at the vague shapes of the room. Where... am I?

Instinctively, my hands moved across the bed, feeling the soft sheets beneath me. Something hard touched my fingers, and I brought it closer to my face. Glasses? My glasses... With a sigh, I slipped them on, and the world around me sharpened into focus.

Oh. Right.

I let out another groan, dropping back onto the pillow. So, it wasn't a dream. All of it—Selene, time travel, magic—it had really happened.

My eyes scanned the room as I sat up, rubbing my temples. Scattered across the bed were my things—my laptop, phone, the train ticket to Hogwarts, and... I frowned. The Harry Potter books. They were lying haphazardly on the duvet, pages slightly crinkled from being tossed around. I thought I put all this stuff back into my bag.

Knock, knock.

"Breakfast!" called a voice from the other side of the door.

I froze, heart hammering in my chest. It wasn't Selene. Someone else was on the other side. Crap! I darted around the room, frantically shoving my belongings into the bag. No one can see this. Definitely not the books. Not Harry Potter. The thought of anyone seeing Harry Potter written across the covers made me break out in a cold sweat. I scrambled to gather all of them, stuffing them back into the Bambi backpack. How could this even fit? Oh, extension charm, right.

"Just a minute!" I yelled, my voice shaky as I zipped up the bag and tossed it onto the bed.

Another voice filtered in from the hallway. "I'll let her know, thank you." The door creaked open, and I tensed.

Before I could even take another breath, Selene stepped inside, a croissant in hand and a smile on her face.

"Good morning, kiddo."

"Not a kid," I muttered.

Selene chuckled, dropping onto the edge of the bed as if we'd done this a thousand times before. "Here, you are. You're eleven again, remember? Ready for breakfast? After that, it's Diagon Alley time."

I blinked; my thoughts still scrambled from my earlier panic. "No, I panicked. All my stuff was out... didn't even wash my face yet. You couldn't at least get me a toothbrush?"

"There's already one in the bathroom," Selene replied between bites of her croissant, clearly unfazed by my mini crisis.

I glanced at the bathroom door, then back at her. She was way too comfortable, sitting there like we were just hanging out. I was on the verge of a meltdown.

Selene leaned back on the bed, propping herself up on one elbow, crumbs dusting the blanket. "Did you get a chance to read your letter?"

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. "No... did you miss the part where I just said, 'I panicked'?"

Selene giggled, as if the whole thing was no big deal. "Oh, right. Well, go freshen up. I'll wait out here."

I sighed and headed toward the bathroom, closing the door behind me. It was the first time I'd had a moment to look at myself since this whole mess started. The mirror greeted me with a reflection I hadn't seen in years—hair long again, down to my elbows. I just had it cut last week, but then again... last week I was twenty-one. Now, it was like I'd stepped into a time machine. This was exactly how my hair looked when I was eleven.

I leaned in closer, squinting at my face. The baby fat had returned to my cheeks. I smiled at the sight—wide and goofy—and watched as my cheeks bubbled up, my face rounder than it had been in years. I wasn't exactly a skinny kid, always on the chubbier side after I turned five and I'd worked hard to stay fit as an adult, mostly because I was a die-hard foodie who could never say no to good food. Now, it looked like all that effort had vanished along with the years. I looked like a kid again.