Harry Potter and the Time Fluke

Of No Importance Part 1

It was spring, on Hogwarts' grounds, with wildflowers dotting the grassy hillside that sloped down to the Black Lake. Small waves, barely an inch in height, rolled over the rocks and soaked the grass, leaving a soggy mess of mud.

Along the green, but never getting close enough to feel the water, strolled Harry, his hand clasping Ginny's delicate palm. It was a dream he'd so often entertained in years past–before Dumbledore died–and one he hadn't thought of in a long while. Happily wandering the grounds with her, not a care in the world. Voldemort was gone and his Death Eaters, captured. With her, he was just Harry.

The lake water rippled as the giant squid lazily raised a tentacle to bat at a low-flying owl.

Words were exchanged, and Ginny laughed, pulling him forward, urging him to walk faster. He complied, not letting her go even for a moment.

The image in Harry's mind blurred and refocused with the two sitting on a sizable, flat rock jutting out over the lake, with their feet dangling off the side, skimming the water with their toes. A soft breeze fluttered by, catching Ginny's hair and causing its red hue to shimmer enchantingly in the afternoon sun. It was picturesque, it was perfect, and all Harry wanted to do was kiss her, so he did.

It was sweet, it was innocent, and it turned into more. As passion overtook and hands groped with need. Breaking away for only a moment, he gazed adoringly at the girl he had been so in love with.

It took only a millisecond to register that, where there should be playful green, intense chocolate had taken its place. Where there should have been long, fiery red, there was now short, dark brown.

One thing was for sure; his conjuration was no longer Ginny.

Wrenching his eyes open, he let his head fall to the table with a dull thud. Why was Tom popping up in such a fashion? While it was an undeniable fact of nature that the Slytherin Heir was an extremely attractive male, Harry didn't appreciate Tom's continued appearance in his dreams, whether he was actually sleeping or not.

"Um, Harry? Are you alright?"

Bugger. The momentary shock of seeing Tom in place of Ginny had caused Harry to forget that he was most certainly not alone. That he was, rather, in the company of said boy and two others.

Blinking hard and letting out a shuddering breath he lifted his head and peered over his collapsed arm at three sets of questioning eyes.

"Yeah, fine. Completely fine," he said, carefully avoiding looking at Tom. It was Abraxas who had asked, and so he didn't necessarily need to make eye contact with anyone else.

"Why'd you hit your head on the table then?" Orion asked suspiciously, obviously not believing Harry.

"Erm..." Harry's brain worked itself like a supercomputer to speedily come up with a good enough answer. "My arm fell asleep," he said with a crooked grin. "I guess I'd left it propped up too long. Once it went numb, it kind of just... collapsed." He sat himself up and gave said arm half a dozen vigorous shakes in an "attempt" to get the blood flowing again. "Sorry if I disturbed your studying..."

"It's fine," Abraxas dismissed with a sniff. "I wasn't exactly studying anyway. I know all the material already for the rest of this term–"

"And will probably study the rest of this crap over the holidays," Orion muttered, dragging a hand through his hair. Abraxas shot him a rather scathing glare, but Orion ignored it, like he always did.

"What were you thinking about that had you so deeply out of it?" Tom queried, twirling his quill and looking politely intrigued.

Harry made the mistake of looking at Tom when he started talking, and by the end of the sentence, his head had whipped around in the other direction, a fierce blush staining his cheeks.