To Steal Time

“To Steal Time”
By Stacy Galore

Chapter 2: Losing Time

A week later, it happened again.

Astoria failed her first Arithmancy exam and her father was outraged – how could the daughter of a celebrated Arithmancer dare to do anything but excel in the subject? She sought extra help from Professor Vector after dinner. Still convinced that somebody was out to get her best friend, Pansy offered to walk Astoria to Professor Vector’s office, which was in a less-frequented corridor of the school.

“I’ll come back in an hour, and I’ll bring Millie for backup,” said Pansy as she left her at the doors of the Arithmancy professor’s office.

“An hour and a half. I have a lot to go over,” said Astoria. “Are you going to be OK walking back alone now?”

“I’ll be fine. It isn’t even dark yet,” she assured her.

Astoria looked out the windows that lined the corridor. The sun was low in the sky, just about to dip below the horizon, making shadows on the stone floor. The heavens were a dark, hazy blue and the moon was visible, peeking through the trees. She felt perfectly safe and knew Pansy would be too.

After an hour, Professor Vector informed her that she had a staff meeting to attend to, but that Astoria could stay in his office to work on some practice questions she’d made for her. Well, that was good. She could remain in the safety of his office and have something to do while she waited for Pansy and Millicent to get her. But after fifteen minutes, she got anxious and bored. The office smelled like old people and reminded her of her grandmother’s house. If she departed now, she could find her friends before they left the Slytherin dungeon.

Astoria opened the door of the office and stepped out, but the corridor was not the one she should have walked into. It was another isolated corridor in the school. She turned around to go back into the office, but found there was no door behind her. She panicked, trying to figure out exactly where she was, running down the hall hysterically. From the moonlight shining through the windows and the dead silence, she knew it was later than a quarter past seven. She looked at her watch, and sure enough, two hours had passed since she decided to leave Professor Vector’s office, though it felt like seconds. Astoria had somehow breeched time and space. She reached a stairwell and peeked her head out the open windows – she was very high up in the castle, in one of the towers. She ran all the way down the winding tower stairs. As she exited the stair well, she nearly knocked into Headmaster Snape and gave a startled shriek.

“Miss Greengrass. We’ve been looking for you. Where in Merlin’s name have you been?” Professor Snape asked irately.

Theodore and Pansy were a few paces behind the Headmaster and ran to her side. Pansy threw her arms around her friend and rattled on like an over-protective mother, “Tori! Are you OK? Where the hell have you been? I panicked when you weren’t at Professor Vector’s office. Millie and I looked for you everywhere. We were so worried when you didn’t come back for curfew so I told Professor Snape that you were missing. What happened?”

Theodore put a domineering hand on Astoria’s shoulder and suggested, “You lost track of time at the library again, didn’t you?”

Astoria was overwhelmed. Everybody was asking questions that she couldn’t answer. She simply shook her head and said, “No,” while her mind spun, trying to wrap it around the strange occurrence.

“Do you have an explanation for disappearing for hours and being out of the dormitory after curfew?” Professor Snape asked with an accusatory tone.

Again, all she could do was shrug and reply in the negative.

Professor Snape huffed at her unintentional insubordinate reply, “Well then, Miss Greengrass, I’m afraid you’re going to serve detention in my office tomorrow night. Seven O’clock.”

“That’s not fair!” whined Astoria.

“Then explain your self, young lady,” said Professor Snape, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I just left Professor Vector’s office a few minutes ago,” she replied with a confused look on her face.

“Professor Vector informed me that you were not there when she returned from the staff meeting,” said Snape.

“But I swear. I was just there,” Astoria insisted, but not fully sure of herself.

The headmaster asked in a sharp, accusatory tone, “Are you calling Professor Vector a liar?”

“No sir, but,”

“If you do not come forward with a reasonable explanation, I maybe forced to give you detention every night this week until you do.”

“But,”

“Back to the dormitory. All of you,” he dismissed them.

Frustrated, Astoria stormed all the way back to the Slytherin dungeon, her friends walking quickly to keep up with her.

“It happened again. Didn’t it?” asked Pansy angrily. Astoria didn’t have to answer, for her guilty facial expression revealed everything. “Tori! Why didn’t you wait for us?”

“I was bored,” she answered meekly.

“What are you talking about? What happened again?” probed Theodore.

“It was a quarter after seven when I left Professor Vector’s office. I’m absolutely positive of that. But when I stepped out the door, it was a quarter after nine. And I wasn’t in front of her office anymore. Its like I was transported to some place else and time sped up,” Astoria explained.

“You know how preposterous that sounds, right?” said Theodore dismissively.

“Tori, you must tell Professor Snape,” urged Pansy as they entered the Slytherin common room.

“Absolutely not. He’ll think you’re mad. He won’t believe you,” said Theodore to Astoria, giving Pansy a scathing look for even suggesting such a ridiculous thing.

In the common room, Pansy saw Draco sitting on the black leather sofa, flanked by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Millicent was perched on the arm of the sofa, playing with Vincent’s hair lovingly, but jumped up when she saw Astoria enter the room. She ran to question Astoria, and Pansy quickly took the seat she just vacated.

Pansy crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “Are you boys messing with Astoria? If you are, you better fucking stop it. It isn’t funny.”

Draco scrunched up his nose in disgust and snorted, “Greengrass? No. Why would I waste my time on that?” With the last word, he motioned his upturned nose at Astoria with distaste.

“That happens to be my best friend, Draco. And if I find out you’re playing stupid pranks on her, I swear, I’ll fucking hex you into next week,” spat Pansy furiously.

Draco laughed condescendingly and his two friends were quick to follow suit. “Pans, darling. Come here.” He motioned for her to sit on his lap. Pansy did so grudgingly, her arms still crossed. He put his arms around her waist, rested his chin on her shoulder and spoke quietly into her ear, “I know I’m rather vocal about my disapproval of your choice of friends. I’ve told you a million times that you can do so much better than the daughter of a simple academic. Still, your choice to align yourself with somebody so, erm,” he paused to find the right word, “so common is your prerogative. I haven’t the time to waste on, nor the slightest interest in, sabotaging your friends. Honestly, darling. Don’t you think I have better things to do?”

Pansy let out a slow, defeated sigh. “I guess.”

Theodore, Astoria, and Millicent approached the couch. Like gentlemen, Vincent and Gregory stood up to offer their seats to the girls. Millicent took the seat to Draco’s left and he quickly slid his girlfriend into the other seat before Astoria could sit down. Vincent sat on the arm of the couch and took on the role of Millicent’s hairbrush. Astoria sat down on the fluffy, white bearskin rug with the other boys.

“So, what’s this I hear about your girlfriend getting jinxed or something, Theo?” Asked Draco, speaking to his friend as if Astoria were not sitting there directly in front of him.

Theodore put his arm on Astoria and rested it heavily over her shoulders. “Oh, it’s nothing, Draco. I think the stress of school is getting to her head.”

Astoria whined, “I’m not imagining it. It really happened.” Pansy nodded her head in agreement.

Theodore rolled his eyes at her and said patronizingly, “Sure, Tori.”

“Theodore,” she started irately and pushed his arm off her shoulders, “This is the second time it happened. I’m not imagining it. It really happened.”

Draco raised an eyebrow, intrigued slightly. “I’ve got to hear this. What happened, Theo?”

“You don’t want to hear it, Draco. Its silly,” Theodore said, trivializing his girlfriend’s concerns.

Astoria jumped up. “Its not silly. It happened. I’m not going mad.”

Draco turned to Pansy and said, “Alright, well if Theo won’t tell me, you explain it, darling.”

He could have easily asked Astoria to explain it, but he rarely spoke directly to her if he could help it. And Astoria, who had a general aversion to the discourteous boy, was all too pleased to do the same. She knew Draco regarded her as inferior and disapproved of her position in their little circle. For whatever reason, Astoria wasn’t good enough to be Pansy’s best friend and certainly not worthy to be Theodore’s girlfriend. Maybe he looked down on her because she was a year younger than all of them, or because the Greengrass family was new money, though they were just as filthy rich as the Malfoys. Perhaps Draco’s contempt stemmed from the fact that she hadn’t been friends with them as long as they all had been friends with each other. In any case, he never voiced a solid reason for disliking her – to her face, at least. It didn’t matter to her anyway, so long as their unspoken agreement to avoid direct interaction was honored.

Pansy obliged and explained both strange occurrences to her boyfriend. Draco sat quietly with one raised eyebrow and a haughty smirk on his face. When she was done, he snorted, “You’re right, Theo. You’re girlfriend is losing her mind. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“You see, Tori?” Theodore said, as if Draco’s word was the final authority on the matter.

Astoria huffed at Theodore’s stubborn incredulity and stormed off to the girl’s dormitory. Pansy got up to follow her, but Draco held her back. Astoria reached the bathroom and flung the door open, practically knocking over a third-year girl. There was another young girl at the sink. Astoria gave her a scathing glare and said, “Get out.” Now alone in the room, she could be free to cry. She leaned over the sinks and sobbed. Why wouldn’t Theodore believe her? It was maddening. She felt so insignificant and silly and she began to doubt herself. Perhaps there really was a benign explanation. After all, they were at a school for witchcraft and wizardry. Anything was possible. Maybe the boys responded the way they did because she over-reacted to something that was actually commonplace. However, she was pretty sure she’d never heard of such a thing occurring before.

The more she contemplated it, the less frustrated she became, and the tears ceased to fall. She turned on the cold water tap to wash her face. She rolled up her sleeves and gasped at what she saw – the skin on both of her wrists bore reddened marks encircling them, as if she’d been wearing very tight, irritating bracelets all day. She touched them – the skin was rubbed raw and sore. The dreaded Unknown washed over her again as the mystery deepened, and worsened. There was no way these marks were self-inflicted. Somebody did this to her while she lost time.

She ran out of the bathroom, neglecting to turn off the water, and found Draco and Theodore sitting alone in the common room. She strode angrily up to her boyfriend and said, “You don’t believe me? Then look at this.” She brandished the red sores on her wrists as evidence.

Theodore was furious. He stood up from the couch, grabbed her by the wrists right where the marks were, causing her to flinch in pain. He hissed quietly in her ear, “Don’t you dare embarrass me in front of my friends again,” as he pulled her to the opposite end of the deserted common room. He glared at her intensely and reprimanded her like a child, “I don’t know if you’re doing this for attention or what, but it has to stop. You’re making a fool of yourself. And of me. Do you think I want to be known as the boy who’s dating that crazy girl?”

Astoria looked down and examined her wrists with shame. “Is that what people are calling me?” she asked in a whimper.

Theodore continued to speak to her with a condescending tone, reminiscent of her father’s. “Not yet. So quit while you’re ahead. You’ve earned nothing but detention, so can’t you see it isn’t worth it?”

“What do you propose I tell Professor Snape?” she challenged.

“The truth, of course,” he said, as if it were obvious.

“Which is . . .” she probed him to fill in her blank.

“I don’t know, Astoria. You tell me. What have you been doing after hours outside the dorms?” he asked her angrily.

“God, why don’t you believe me?!” she threw her arms up exasperatedly. “Why can’t you trust me and be on my side for once?”

Theodore’s hard countenance softened. He looked down at her distraught face with pity. “Tori, I am on your side. I love you. Which is why I want you to come clean and tell me the truth about what you’ve been doing.” He gently picked up her wrist, smoothed a finger over the red marks, and placed a soothing kiss on her raw skin. “And tell me why you feel the need to hurt yourself.”

Astoria pulled out of Theodore’s light grasp and scowled at him. “Fuck you, Theodore.” She fled to the girls’ dorms and cried bitter tears of anger and frustration. The next day, she avoided Theodore all together, unwilling to get into another useless confrontation with him.

That night, she served detention with Professor Snape and decided the best thing to do was to tell him everything. The Headmaster sat behind his desk with his finger on his pursed lips contemplatively as he listened to Astoria’s honest explanation of why she was out after curfew.

“And you said this happened to you once before?” he asked for clarification.

“Yes, sir. Please believe me. I have no reason to make this up,” she said, bracing herself for more ridicule.

“Can I see your wrists?” He asked. Astoria pulled up the sleeves of her sweater and showed the Headmaster her scars. He eyed them with moderate concern and suggested, “You should see Madame Pomfrey about that.”

“I swear that these are not self-inflicted wounds, professor. Please believe me,” she pleaded.

Professor Snape relaxed into his high-backed chair and said, “I do believe you Miss Greengrass. And I agree that these occurrences are mysterious, indeed. But in light of the current,” he paused searching for the right word, “political situation, I’m sadly not surprised that somebody in the school wishes to harm my students.” He gripped the arms of his chair, leaned forward, and looked at her sternly. “Though I can not offer you an explanation, I can suggest that you be more vigilant. If Death Eaters can break into the school and,” he stopped short and cleared his throat, looking away uncomfortably, unable to finish his sentence. “Let’s put it this way. No place is safe anymore. Not even Hogwart’s. So please, Miss Greengrass, have more common sense and don’t walk around the school at night alone asking for trouble.”

Astoria looked down dejectedly and mumbled, “Yes, sir.” It was hardly the validation she needed. But at least he believed her.

“I see no reason for you to stay and serve detention. I’ll walk you to the dormitories,” he said with a heavy sigh, as if he were being terribly inconvenienced, and rose from his desk.

“May I ask you something first?”

Professor Snape slowly sat back down and folded his arms. “What is it, Miss Greengrass?”

“Is there any way of getting back those memories I lost?” She asked. “Perhaps it would reveal who was doing this to me.”

The headmaster looked up, as if searching his head for the answer then let out a long, slow breath through his hooked nose. “There is. I could attempt to extract the memory from you.” He pointed to a tattered, old sofa on the other side of the room and said, “Please sit over there and try to relax.”

Whatever Professor Snape did, it failed to work. He could only conclude, “Its just not there. Your memory of last night is gone.”

“Gone?” Astoria asked, unwilling to believe.

“Yes, Miss Greengrass. That’s what I said. Gone. Now, unless you know how to extract your own memories for later viewing in a pensieve, which I highly doubt, then I suspect somebody has taken the memory from you.”

“Taken?” she asked, still shocked.

“Are you hard of hearing, Greengrass?” he asked, annoyed.

“No sir. I’m just . . . surprised. I can’t imagine who would want to do that to me.”

Professor Snape pinched the bridge of his aquiline nose and screwed his eyes shut, as if it were painful to explain this to Astoria. “Young lady, you can not afford to be so naïve in this day and age,” he began with a sigh. “You come from an upstanding pureblood family – a family with, as far as I’ve heard, no connections with Death Eaters.” Astoria nodded emphatically. “There are people who believe that any pureblood wizard who doesn’t align themselves with The Dark Lord is a . . . traitor.”

This chilled Astoria to her very core because of all it implied. Snape was correct about Astoria’s family. But unlike some old pureblood families, such as the Weasleys, her parents did not take any stance against Voldemort, per se. They simply didn’t take a stance for Voldemort, and carried on as if the threat of his imminent return to power were nothing but unsubstantiated rumors. Even in the days when The Dark Lord was strong, back in the seventies, her parents remained non-partisan and apathetic, turning a blind eye to the evil that loomed secretly in the pureblood high society circles with which they consorted. Astoria grew up surrounded by families with suspected ties to Voldemort. In fact, she could only name a handful of acquaintances whose family names were completely clear such as hers. Astoria didn’t want the thought that was beginning to form in her mind to surface and suppressed it as best she could, just as she had done her whole life. But the truth was overwhelming and belligerent. Oh my god, all my friends are children of Death Eaters! Her boyfriend, her best friend, her best friend’s boyfriend, everybody in her most intimate circle of companions: all of them were children of dark wizards, and many were poised to join Lord Voldemort’s ranks soon. In fact, one of them gloated that he was already a Death Eater, though everybody, her self included, knew he was full of shit.

Astoria refused to believe any of them would try to harm her. She didn’t put childish pranks past them, but to hurt her with motives stemming from an evil agenda – it was too awful to even fathom. As they walked in the darkening corridors back to the Slytherin dormitories, Astoria quietly cursed Professor Snape for turning her into a paranoid mess. If she couldn’t even trust her closest friends, there was nobody she could talk to. She felt utterly alone and frightened. The truth behind her mysterious lost time was worse than she originally thought. Astoria wasn’t just the butt of a joke; she was a target of terrorism. When she reached the common room, she internally fought the urge to go running to Pansy with her latest revelation. The shame of not trusting her own best friend made her sick to her stomach. As the heavy doors opened with the utterance of the latest, chillingly appropriate password (Purity), she begged, please don’t let them be there! Not in the common room! But where else would the royalty of Slytherin House preside but in their royal court? Her throat clenched and her mouth became painfully dry when she saw her friends in their usual spot – the black leather sofa. It didn’t help her in the least when Professor Snape put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Remember, Miss Greengrass. Be smart. Stay vigilant.” She could have sworn that he gave her friends an accusatory glare from across the room before turning away with a dramatic swish of his thick robes.

She studied the faces of the group encompassing the most comfortable place in the common room as she walked towards them slowly, calculating what she would say. Pansy was smiling up at her, probably pleasantly surprised to see her back from detention so soon, with Draco’s head in her lap – he was monopolizing the entire length of the couch. Theodore was sitting on the floor in front of the couch prodding Draco’s side with his wand and laughing, “Come on, Malfoy. Move over, you prat,” causing the boy to squirm.

“Stop, that tickles, you cock sucker,” Draco giggled (yes giggled) as he half-heartedly pushed Theodore by the shoulder.

“Oh, does it?” Theodore asked, incited to poke more, teasing more child-like laughter from the other boy.

Millicent was sitting on the wide arm of the sofa, unabashedly snogging Vincent who stood before her – both were too engrossed in each other to notice Astoria approaching, or anything else around them for that matter. Gregory and Blaise were sitting on the floor, hovering over the black, marble coffee table with quills scratching swiftly over parchment strewn about them, giving the impression that they were studying, but more likely copying somebody else’s homework.

Astoria had to smile at the sight of them all as she heaved a warm sigh of relief. How could she doubt that her friends were anything but normal teenagers doing typical things? How could she even entertain the thought of any of them terrorizing her purposely? She laughed internally.

“Hey, Tori! That was quick!” Pansy called out to her when she was within comfortable earshot.

Theodore turned away from Draco and his impish grin turned into a weak, forced, smile. It was like he was disappointed to see her. He was probably still sour about the fact that she avoided him all day. “Astoria,” he regarded her coolly with a slight nod.

She put her hands on her hips and returned the chilly greeting with another. “Theodore.” She paused, waiting for him to apologize for last night’s outburst. When none came, she went to sit on the other arm of the couch beside Pansy.

“So?” said Pansy expectantly.

Astoria gave her boyfriend a triumphantly smug look as she declared, “Professor Snape believes me.”

Theodore was aghast. “You told him? And he didn’t give you detention for the rest of the month?”

Confidently, she replied, “Yes, Theodore. I told the Headmaster everything and he believed me.”

Before Theodore could make a condescending retort, as the expression on his face dictated he was about to do, Pansy asked, “And what did he say?”

“He thinks somebody stole my memory.”

Draco feebly stifled a snort, and mumbled, “Who the hell would want to do that?” Pansy gave him a little reprimanding slap on the cheek, which did nothing to tame the boy.

“Like stealing memory from a goldfish.” Theodore muffled a laugh behind pursed lips.

Astoria gave the two snickering boys a scathing look, with particular scorn reserved for her insolent boyfriend. When they were sore with each other, Theodore could be such a jerk. “You know what, Theodore? You can go fuck yourself. And your arsehole friend Malfoy too.” She turned to leave, but he shot up from the floor and caught her by the wrist. The sores were still painful beneath the scabs and she flinched.

“Astoria Ivy Greengrass, don’t you walk away from me,” he huffed, sounding eerily just like her father with the same haughty, indignant voice.

She spun around to face Theodore with her eyes shooting blue flaming daggers at him. “Let go of me,” she growled in a hushed but seething voice.

“Calm down, Astoria. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Let go, Theodore, you’re making a scene.” Asking Theodore to not draw negative attention to himself was like asking Lord Voldemort to cede to Harry Potter.

“Both of you, sit down!” commanded Pansy like a mother refereeing two squabbling children. “I can’t stand to see you fighting anymore.” Theodore and Astoria stood deadlocked, her wrist still firmly in his grasp and their eyes trained furiously at one another. Pansy put a hand on Theodore’s shoulder and said soothingly, as if attempting to project her calmness onto the boy, “Theo, you go sit over there next to Draco and I’ll go have a word with your girlfriend. OK?” After another tense moment, Theodore finally relented, still glaring angrily at Astoria as he perched on the edge of the couch. Draco put an arm on Theodore’s back and they both scowled at Astoria in camaraderie. “Girls,” Malfoy scoffed dismissively.

Separating the two did little to diffuse the situation. “I swear, Pans, I’m so close to breaking up with him,” she said, fighting angry tears as she glanced at Theodore from across the crowded common room. Draco was talking to him, probably telling him Astoria wasn’t worth the aggravation. “I should do it now before he breaks up with me.”

“Tori, just stop for a minute. Think about it.”

“I am thinking about it. Isn’t it a little odd that Theodore is so adamant about not believing me? He knows something. He’s probably trying to cover up for one of his friends.”

“Now you are starting to sound crazy. Theo loves you. He would never choose his friends over you. Yeah, he acts like a prat around the boys, but that’s just a front. Believe me, Tori. I’ve known him for a long time. He wouldn’t cross you like that.”

Astoria relented. Pansy was probably right. But her fears were still not at rest. “Professor Snape said something that really got me thinking.”

“What?”

Astoria sighed, not really wanting to ‘go there’, but unable to keep her suspicions to herself. “Do you think its possible that I’m a target of the Death Eaters? Since my family is so staunchly neutral and all?”

“Sure its possible. But Tori, come on. You’re friends with all the up and comers. I know first hand that they’re pretty good about not hurting their own. They’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

Astoria began to sob into her friend’s arms. “Oh, god, Pans. I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

“Well I’ve got your back. You know that, Tori,” Pansy said as she gave her a comforting squeeze. Astoria nodded and continued to cry silently with her head resting on her friend’s shoulder. After about a minute, she felt a larger, heavier hand on the back of her head, stroking her smooth, blonde hair.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Theodore said earnestly. “Come here,” he whispered and pulled her into his embrace. His arms were long and gangly, but they felt so reassuring around her. She buried her face into his chest. “I’m so sorry I made you cry, Tori.” His smooth, deep voice melted away all her anger.
He kissed the top of her head and then rested his cheek lightly where his lips had been saying, “I love you, Astoria. Let’s not fight anymore.”

It had only been a day since they last shared an intimate moment, but the rush of warmth she felt just now made it seem like she’d gone a month without his love. Astoria closed her eyes and lost herself in the heat of Theodore’s breath, in his comfortingly familiar smell, and in the lull of his steady heartbeat in her ear. “I love you too, Theodore.”

[Thanks for reading, and PLEASE leave a review. I'll take anything, including constructive criticism. I'm new to the community and could use a little guidance.]