Forward In Time

Chapter Fourteen:

EDITED: Chapter Fourteen:

Three months had already passed.  I had been waiting so impatiently for the time to come when I could go back to my own year, but once again.. I was going to have to leave my friends behind.  If this spell worked correctly, it would be years before I ever saw my friends again, and even then they'd be children and would have no idea who I was.  

I sighed, pulling my knees to my chest as I stared out over the Black Lake, leaning against the tree where so many memories had come from.  The sun was just rising over the horizon, Louis the Giant Squid was coming up to play. 

He really enjoyed scaring children, I think.  But it must make him lonely, before he had Fred, George and I to keep him company, but I've been out of school for years apparently, and so have the twins.  Granted, I'd visited him once a bit over two months ago, but he needed interaction. He loved to be petted and loved on, he just also enjoyed scaring the living daylights out of first years.  

Shedding my school robe, shoes and socks, I stretched out in my t-shirt and jeans. It was chilly, though what had I actually expected? It was only February, after all.  

I slowly walked into the icy waters, trying to get used to the temperature and almost screamed as it got to my hips and then again and my abdomen.  Merlin, I was already starting to feel the freezing water soaking into my bones, making me shiver.  

"G-Good morn-ning Louis," I stuttered, shivering as he lifted a tentacle and placed it gently around my shoulders. It didn't matter how gently he'd done it, it weighed down on me and shoved me underwater, it must have weighed a good hundred pounds and all that weight on my tiny shoulders forced me under pretty quickly. I moved under it, surfacing the lake before swimming closer to Louis' body and rubbing my hand against his slimy skin. 

If I understood squid, I could bet that he was laughing or giggling, he loved to be tickled. Lee Jordan and the twins and I had always tickled him and he loved it constantly, the Twins were always slightly more scared of the lake dwelling creature though, and tickled him with sticks.  Sometimes it would even cut Louis but by the next day it was healed and he loved it, however once I'd realized that the sticks would cut through his skin, I'd started using my hands.  

Needless to say, I was Louis' favorite. I wonder if he remembered me or was I just another student?  It didn't matter. I'd be gone in a few hours anyway, and in time everyone here would forget about me.  

"Miss Snape, what in Merlin are you doing?" I jerked around, blushing as Headmistress McGonagall had caught me basically cuddling a giant, squishy slimy squid in nearly below temperatures in a plain t-shirt and now skin-tight jeans. Not that she could see past my colarbone, but still.  

"Uhm.. tickling Louis?" I smiled nervously, phrasing my statement as a question while her normally strict looking face broke into a small smile.  

"I see.  Well, come along Miss Snape, the Great Hall is open for lunch, and afterwards you should begin working on your goodbyes.  If you still choose to, we'll be sending you back to your own time tonight before supper."

Grimacing, I nodded, patting Louis once more before stepping out of the lake, feeling my body shiver and shake as the cold air whipped around my wet body.  McGonagall waved her wand silently and I instantly felt warmer and.. drier.  

"Thank you."  

I put my socks and shoes back on, throwing my robe over my shoulders and shoving my arms through the sleeves before following McGonagall back to a Hogwarts side-entrance and to the Great Hall.  I sat myself down three seats away from Scorpius as he was already surrounded by the Quidditch team.  They were playing a game tonight right after supper, and I felt a bit of regret and guilt that I wouldn't be able to watch him and cheer him on.

I hadn't even told him tonight was the night that I'd be leaving, that in just three or four hours I'd be gone..  I think he realized it was coming soon, but he didn't know when.  Would he miss me?  I made a mental note that in many many many years, when this Quidditch game happened, I would here. I'd be much older, but I would come to watch him if it was at all possible.  

I stayed by myself throughout the midday meal, every once in a while I'd notice Scorpius looking at me, and when we caught each others eyes, he'd smile before getting his attention jerked away by someone else wishing him luck tonight. I assumed he was checking to make sure I was eating, which I was. I ate slowly but I did manage to get some potatoes and a piece of grilled chicken into my empty hollow stomach.  

After the meal was over, I left before Scorpius could find me, wondering if I should even say goodbye.  I didn't want the heartbreak, I didn't want tears, I didn't want to hurt him.  I was scared he'd beg me to stay, and that if he did, I wouldn't be able to leave knowing he was begging me not to.  

"Spencer, wait!"  I heard a couple hours later, I'd been wandering the halls for a long time and I could feel it in my legs. I was tired, they were sore.

I stopped, turning to face the boy I'd just been thinking about as he raced to my side.  "I've been calling your name for the past few minutes, and looking for you for over an hour..  What's wrong?"

I crossed my arms in order to protect myself from the pain I'd feel as I told him.  "I'm going back to my own time tonight, before dinner.  I probably only have less than an hour left. I just didn't know how to tell you. I'm so sorry Scorpius," I rushed out, biting my lip as it began to tremble.  I wanted to cry.

I really just wanted to cry right that second, I wanted to be able to go back to the Marauders Era, back to my own time, and stay here all at the same time. I wanted to be with all my friends, all the time, in every year.  

But that wasn't possible.

Suddenly arms were encircling me, pulling me close to a body's warm heat and I realized that I was crying. Warm salty tears trailed down my face as I buried it in Scorpius' school robe and I sobbed into him.  

"I don't know what to do anymore. I'm tired of making friends and losing them and I want to go home but I'll miss everyone so much."

"I know Spence, but everything is going to be okay.  You'll feel better once you're in your own year and don't have to worry about going back and forth in time anymore.  Everything will work out once you're with your original friends and you have your family surrounding you.  You'll do great things in the world Spencer.  You're an amazing friend and I'll miss you a lot, but you belong in your year. Not ours.  Not now.  Everything's going to work out for the better, so no worries Spencer."

I sniffed, smiling up at him before nodding.  

"Thank you, Scorpius. Now come on, we should go spend the rest of our time together doing something fun yet entirely unproductive."