The Dark Lord, The Witch and The Time-Portal

IV - A talk with Headmaster Dippet

Holly walked in silence beside Armando Dippet through the Gargoyle Corridor on the second-floor. They reached the Gargoyle Statue at the end of it, and surprisingly the witch spotted a golden Time Mark painted on its forehead – an hourglass shape indicating that was a place of help to time travelers.

The statue gave passage to them after Dippet gave the password 'silentium est aureus', revealing the stairs leading into his office.

The Headmaster's Office was just like Holly saw inside the memories of Tom Riddle's Diary, with the exception that now she could see the glowing time symbols on the spine of some books, walls, items and even in a few portraits of the old Headmasters of Hogwarts. Holly looked up at the ceiling and saw a silver glowing circle drew with symbols and patterns she couldn't identify. All of them probably holding knowledge about time magic.

Hogwarts is indeed a place full of secrets.

The Headmaster sat down on his chair and made a gesture indicating Holly could do the same at the chair on the opposite side.

"This afternoon I received a warning about your arrival so I could anticipate a few arrangements for you." The Headmaster stared Holly, his hands clasped on his lap. "The House-elves prepared a trunk for you with your new belongings. Right now it must be near your bed in the dormitory you'll share with your Slytherin roommates. I asked them to fill it with the proper things for a girl at your age and whatever you may need for your classes, like books, ink pots, quills..." He waved his hand and opened a gentle smile at her. "If they forgot to provide anything essential to you, don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

Holly smiled sheepishly at the Headmaster, feeling awkward about a strange providing her with so many items. "Thank you for the trouble, sir. How shall I repay y—" The old wizard raised a hand, interrupting her.

"You don't need to repay me, I'm only doing my duty helping you to settle down these first days," He put his hand back on his lap. "Considering you are still a minor, I was requested to act as your legal guardian for the time being, so until you need my help, I'm here to aid you with anything in my reach."

"Thank you, sir," Holly flashed a shy smile at the old man. "I think money won't be the problem, it was given to me a vault in Gringotts, but I know nothing about a guardian, so that will help a lot, sir." The Headmaster gave her a reassuring smirk and took some papers and a quill from a drawer in his desk.

"I need to know a few things about you. Of course I don't want to know meticulous details...I assume you leapt some years to the past, right?" Holly nodded. "Hm, I see... Time is a treacherous thing to meddle with and it could be dangerous if I became aware of any future events, so just answer me the minimum necessary, Ok? I need to fill some paperwork," Holly nodded again. "Tell me only the day and month of your birth date."

"July 31st, sir."

The old man scratched it down and paused a few seconds while his brain made a few calculations. "Fine, the year you was born from now on is 1927... Are your blood parents already born?"

"Not yet, sir."

The old Headmaster widened his eyes in alarm. If the young witch was back so many years in the past, it was likely something critical happened in the future, but he had to make this question to avoid name conflicts.

"You must be aware there are two wars happening at this moment. A wizarding war and a muggle one, so there's a lot of people disappearing and registers vanishing. If your parents don't exist yet, I think it will be fine if you give me only their first names but you can use fake ones too if you prefer."