Oleandra's eyes flew open.
She breathed a sigh of relief— the familiar ceiling of her dormitory was once again overhead. Blinking, she lay still in her bed, as memories of her strange experience flooded into her mind. Had it all just been a dream? If so, then it had been an unusually vivid one…
"Ugh, it reeks in here," sniffed Pansy Parkinson, wrinkling her nose. "What smells like wet dog?"
Feeling damp fabric clinging to her skin, Oleandra lifted her bedcovers, and her breath caught in her throat. The fur coat from her dream was still wrapped around her body— heavy, dank, and unmistakably real…
"Cambio Exuvia!"
With a mudra and a wave of her hand, Oleandra's Quick-Change Charm sent the stinky furs into a fold of spatial magic. She then jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom before Pansy and Millicent could figure out the stink was originating from her...
…
One quick and thorough bath later, Oleandra returned to her room.
On the way back, she passed a few of her fellow Slytherins, noting their tired eyes and frequent yawns. In general, it was difficult to tell the time in the common room due to the lack of direct sunlight, but something told her it was the early hours of the morning— a theory she soon confirmed, when she put on her watch after getting dressed.
"Good morning, Oleandra!" said Tracey brightly, as she emerged from her own room, followed by an exhausted-looking Daphne. "Ready to head upstairs for breakfast?"
She was in an excellent mood— it seemed like she'd completely forgotten about their lovers' spat.
"I'm starving, actually," Oleandra admitted, rubbing her stomach. "It feels like it's been years since I last had something proper to eat…"
As they headed to the Great Hall to begin the day, Tracey began talking about the Gryffindor Quidditch Team's tryouts— she found it incredibly entertaining that Astoria had managed to best Harry, the strongest Seeker in Hogwarts's history (statistically speaking, as Oleandra hadn't played as much as he had), and managed to seize his place on the team, forcing Captain Harry to sheepishly give one of his new Chasers the boot, so that he could stay on the team…
Tracey continued talking about Quidditch throughout breakfast, elaborating at length about how much she was looking forward to the Slytherin team's first match of the season, but Oleandra's thoughts were obviously elsewhere, and Daphne couldn't be bothered to listen to Tracey's predictions.
"Where are you going?" said Daphne, interrupting Tracey's ramblings as Oleandra took a right at the Central Hall. "Ancient Runes is that way."
"Eh?" said Oleandra in confusion. "Isn't it Tuesday?"
Tuesday morning was Herbology, so she'd been heading to the Greenhouses.
"It-is-a-Monday," said Daphne slowly and clearly, giving Oleandra a strange look.
It was the same sort of look she sometimes gave Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle, the kind that said, 'Is this person actually sentient, or am I talking to an animated lump of clay?'
"Okay, full disclosure," said Oleandra, as they entered the Study of Ancient Runes classroom a few minutes later. "I think I time-travelled in my sleep yesterday."
Daphne's face imperceptibly twitched; she was now looking at her sister as if she'd just suggested they invite Lord Voldemort to their birthday party on the 30th of June.
"So, like sleepwalking, or something?" said Tracey doubtfully. "Sleep-time-travelling?"
Oleandra's face fell.
"You don't believe me," she said accusingly.
Just like Cassandra Trelawney of yore, she had told the truth, yet others refused to believe her words…
"Maybe you just dreamed you had time-travelled?" said Tracey tentatively. "It wouldn't…"
At this point, Professor Babbling began her lesson, so Tracey was finally forced to shut up.
The number of auditing students had drastically dwindled since the start of the year— once the curious drop-ins realized they couldn't understand a word Professor Babbling was saying, and that they didn't have any time to waste on a course that wouldn't even earn them credits (especially with their own workloads piling up), most had chosen to give up on Ancient Runes within the two first weeks of classes.
After Study of Ancient Runes, Oleandra had a free period, but Tracey and Daphne had Defence Against the Dark Arts, so they parted ways. Thinking that her jaunt through time might have something to do with Theo's Alchemical experiment going awry, Oleandra went to find him in the common room. When she found him, he was alone— Draco, his usual companion, was currently in Defence Against the Dark Arts, along with the vast majority of the other sixth-year students.
"Good news," said Theo, spotting her coming through the common room's secret entrance. "I've had my family's House-Elf root through my father's old research files, and it found some old letters marked with the Rookwood family's seal. They're coded, naturally, but with any luck, I'll have found someone to break the encryption before long, and then maybe, we'll have the missing information we've been trying to work out for ourselves…"
"Didn't the Aurors raid your house after your father's arrest, last summer?" asked Oleandra suspiciously. "I remember reading in The Daily Prophet that tons of misappropriated documents were taken from your house..."
"Let's just say things get lost," said Theo, his lips twisting into a smirk, "and we'll leave it at that, shall we?"
It really was none of Oleandra's business what others did on their free time, as long as it didn't involve her or couldn't be traced back to her. Naturally, she reserved the option to report him, but then who would help her with her Alchemy homework?
"I think our last experiment was more successful than we first thought," said Oleandra. "When I went to bed yesterday evening, I travelled through time in my sleep."
She then released the soggy fur coat from the Quick-Change Charm's spatial fold, and she slammed it on the table in front of Theo, as if that were enough to prove her words.
"How far back?" said Theo, poking at the furs with his wand.
"Haven't the foggiest," replied Oleandra, "but it was before the castle was built— so anywhere between a thousand years ago and 4.5 billion years ago."
Theo's eyes twinkled— now, this was the sort of time-travel he needed to return to the fourteenth century!