Pure

Little Shoppe Of Horrors

I woke up Saturday morning to the bright rays of sunshine that were peeking past my curtains. They shone brilliantly on my face, contrasting the dark nightmare I had been pulled from. I groggily opened my eyes, and sat up in bed. It was Saturday already. I was thankful for the break in studies, and was even more so when I awakened enough to remember that today was my Hogsmeade trip with Abraxas.

Saturday had come quickly. The remainder of my week had kept me busy with school work, even though I had caught up quickly on the days I had missed at the start of term. Riddle seemed to be quite the intellectual, and it took a lot of extra work for me to academically catch up to him. I constantly berated myself for avoiding Riddle, but I knew I couldn't hold my composure enough to be near him for long periods of time.

I learned that I not only fear the unknown of Riddle, but he annoyed me above all else in this time. All of the teachers and students loved him, except Dumbledore, who annoyed me just as much as Riddle because of his incessant twinkle of the eye.

Thana had been nothing less than a delight to be around.  On Friday evening, I actually sat in the Gryffindor Common Room for the first time since I'd shown up in 1943 with her. Thana's friend, Clive, was on prefect duty that evening with some Hufflepuffs, so I was safe to be with her without having to see her rude friend. I still hadn't even seen this Clive yet. Thana had the same ideas about studying as I did, which was refreshing for once. She and I worked ahead on our arithmancy project that had been assigned before I had to leave for an evening Astronomy class.

I checked the time and saw I was running slightly late for my Hogsmeade trip.  I showered and adorned a black skirt, stockings and a red sweater that I had found mysteriously in my room that morning-- classic to the 1940s wizarding fashion. The days were starting to get colder already, but if i remembered correctly, 1943 was a stormy year.

Abraxas had told me to meet him outside of the Great Hall, so I skipped lightly down the stairs, holding onto the handrail. Another thing I'd noticed about 1943 was that the staircases changed more rapidly. It seemed as if the stairs themselves had aged with the castle to the slow motion that they traveled at in my time.

I turned the last corner towards the Great Hall and saw that Abraxas was already waiting with a bored look on his face which brightened ever so slightly when I turned the corner, yet darkened again after a moment. He waited until I fully approached him before nodding at me and moving to walk. He placed his arm over my shoulder like he had for the past week, but failed to add a snide comment like he usually did.

Our feet crunched on the grass as we moved past the Hogwarts gate and towards Hogsmeade. I smiled a little. I could almost picture myself with Harry and Ron. The breeze swirling towards Abraxas and I shifted my hair, and I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, letting Abraxas guide me down the road. I did not see my eyelids though, when I closed my eyes. I saw Neville, five paces in front of me, talking animatedly with Luna. Harry and Ron were beside me, laughing at the look on Malfoy's face in the last Quidditch game when Gryffindor beat the Slytherins again. I wondered if they were laughing right now... without me.

I sighed and opened my eyes again. Abraxas was looking at me with questions in his eyes. I realized we had stopped walking.

"You okay, Sunshine?" Abraxas asked. His face showed concern for once, which was not generally what I was used to from Abraxas.

"I'm fine," I said with a smile, "Just thinking of home," I gazed up at the sun. It was still brilliant this morning. For the first time since I got here, in 1943, I felt completely at peace in that moment.

"Okay, well we should go," he said, looking forward, then walked briskly to the entrance of Hogsmeade, moving past me. He was acting quite odd, which dampened my elation of the day. I followed quickly, and found myself within Hogsmeade.