Making Sense
As Y/N starts walking out of the Great Hall she hears a familiar voice yell her name, “Y/N! Over here!” Y/N turns around and sees Natalia running towards her.
“Hey Natalia, what class are you heading to right now?” she asks.
Natalia grins at her and hooks her arm through Y/N’s. “I have double Transfiguration, what about you?”
“Me too! I have no clue where the classroom is though…” Y/N sighs.
“We’ll figure it out together!” Natalia giggles and starts dragging Y/N with her. As they walk out of the Great Hall and through the Reception Hall they take in the sights around them. Four huge hour glasses with red, blue, yellow, and green sand at the bottom of the glasses stood in the Reception Hall. The sand at the bottom of each glass was at a different level, albeit the glass with yellow sand had the most so far. Y/N deduced that they were a part of the point system McGonagall told them about the night before, seeing as each glass had a colour that correlated to one of the four Hogwarts houses. Seems like Hufflepuff was in the lead. Going up the Grand Staircases, Y/N and Natalia kept getting lost and turned around with the constantly changing paths. At some point, they ran into a pair of Gryffindors. Literally.
Y/N grunts as someone collides with her chest. “Are you okay?” she quickly asks, crouching down, only to realise that the person who had run into her was the one and only Harry Potter. Natalia’s eyes widen in surprise and Y/N quickly helps Harry up, Harry is with Ronald Weasley, who scrunches his nose at her and his eyebrows furrow.
“Yeah, I’m alright.” Harry replies quickly after seeing Ron’s expression.
“Sorry about that, Harry. What class are you headed to right now?” Y/N asks casually.
“Ron and I are headed to potions, what about you and your friend?” He replies. Natalia gapes at the interaction, as does Ron. They were both questioning how the two knew each other. Ron remembers Y/N’s face from the boat ride, but that’s about it, even though Y/N remembers much more about him. And to add another layer of confusion, Ron and Natalia didn’t know each other. Natalia interrupted Y/N before she was about to speak.
“Hold up. How do you two know each other?”
Y/N and Harry look at each other before bursting out into a fit of laughter, Y/N was holding onto Harry for dear life—and he was holding onto her—as she was gasping for air. Ron and Natalia got so much more confused. “Why are you two laughing? What’s so funny?” Ron asked quizzically.
Y/N was the first to stop laughing. “It-it’s just, whew,” she interrupted herself with giggles, “it’s just so funny that we forgot you guys didn’t know we know each other.” After clearing her throat Y/N explained further. “We met when we got off the Hogwarts Express, bonded over being new to magic and all. Sorry for, ahem, confusing you guys.”
They nod, now understanding and introduce themselves to each other. After their brief introductions, Natalia says, “Me and Y/N are on our way to Transfiguration, but we keep getting turned around and going in circles trying to find the classroom. We suspect it’s in the Transfiguration Courtyard, but we don’t know where the courtyard IS.” She sighs. The two boys shrug and give awkward smiles.
“Wish we could help you, but we ourselves are confused on where to go for potions, we heard it’s in the Dungeon.” Ron says with a sorry look.
“All good, we just have to keep looking. Also, I’m pretty sure that the Dungeon is across the bridge from the Ravenclaw Tower, we can show you. We're Ravenclaws; after all, we know where our own tower is.” Y/N offers. Both of the boys give her a pleading look as if saying ‘yes please’. And so that’s what they do, the four of them go to the Ravenclaw Tower, across the bridge, and straight to the Potions Classroom. The two boys thank Natalia and Y/N, and head into class. The Ravenclaws, on the other hand, had to find their way to the Transfiguration courtyard from the Dungeon.
“Well, we better get going less we get in trouble for being late.” Y/N sighed. And with that, the two exited the Dungeon and into Central Hall.
“Woah, look at that fountain! It’s moving and has mermaids!” Natalia exclaimed with excitement. Despite Natalia being from a long line of Purebloods, there were still things in the wizarding world that she didn’t know—mainly only the secrets of Hogwarts. She had little to no idea what Hogwarts had in store for her, as none of her family members wanted to spoil the excitement for her. Y/N smiled and nodded gently, grabbing her hand and taking her to an older looking student.
“Excuse me; I was wondering if you knew where the Transfiguration classroom is? We’re first years and are lost.” Y/N asked politely after tapping on a tall, red robed ginger. In her mind, though, she was thinking ‘What is it with Gryffindors and gingers? Ron, the twins, and quite a few others I’ve seen are ginger. My goodness.’
The redhead turns around, and lo-and behold, it’s the one and only George Weasley. He grins as he sees who was asking him the question. “Well, if it isn’t my favourite first-year, and a new friend?” Y/N smiles as she listens to George speak.
“Favourite, huh? Well then.” She giggles and then continues to speak, “Yes, it is a new friend. But can you answer my question? I’m not trying to get yelled at by Professor McGonagall.” George smiles at her, tempted to tease her, but decides against it.
“Yeah, the courtyard is down those stairs, you’ll find the classroom rather easy from there, as other students will be entering it.” He says with a smirk. Y/N giggles and thanks him as she and Natalia walk through the doors to the courtyard.
“Finally,” Natalia sighs and they walk into the Transfiguration Classroom. They find two empty seats close to the door and sit down in them. They both visibly relax. “So... Who, uh, who was that? The ginger boy, I mean. You knew him.” Y/N looks at her and nods.
“Yeah, I know him. His name is George Weasley. You know Ron, from earlier? He's his brother. He also has a twin brother named Fred.” Y/N explains to her. Natalia makes a noise of acknowledgement as McGonagall enters and the entire class quiets down. McGonagall looks around the classroom, seeing which students she had this year. Smiling as her eyes made contact with Y/N’s, she opened her mouth to speak.
“Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts,” she said with a stern face. “Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.” As she said this, she turned the desk in front of her into a cow, and then back into a desk. The kids sitting at that desk gaped in awe. Y/N looked at McGonagall with excitement. Sure, she had been working with McGonagall to learn magic and had been using transfiguration for the past few months, but man, she had never seen such a complex transfiguration done in person. McGonagall was just that cool. Not to mention, if she wanted to impress students, she could transfigure herself into a cat. Which Y/N thought was the coolest thing ever. She had asked McGonagall about it, but was brushed off and told that it could wait, as it was a whole process with the Ministry of Magic and if she was unregistered it could cause future complications that needn’t be present in her first year. But she managed to get McGonagall to promise to teach her how to become what was called an Animagus in one of her later years after she has learned more about the magical world.
Of course, despite McGonagall’s show of complex transfiguration to demonstrate what could be in the future, turning desks into farmhouse animals would have to wait a while. They were starting with the basics and began with learning the formula to transfiguration and later moved to more complicated notes. Over the course of her time with McGonagall, Y/N had already learned all of this, but she still took notes and paid attention, as she learned that lazing about around McGonagall was just asking for discipline. As well as the fact that it was easier to retain information if you use it rather than let it lay dormant. After all the notes had been taken, the class moved onto the real deal, they were given matches and were instructed to turn them into needles. The rest of the class period was dedicated to attempting to complete the task at hand. Y/N was quite familiar with this exercise, as she had already surpassed it in her summer learning. With ease, Y/N turned the match into a needle within the first five minutes that the class was released to try and transfigure the object. McGonagall noticed this, and with a proud grin, which was rare to anyone that wasn’t Y/N, announced Ravenclaw would be getting 10 points for academic excellence from Y/N. Natalia looked at her with wide eyes, and then grinned at her and gave her shoulder a nudge.
“Look at you, Miss Muggle–born prodigy!” Natalia giggled at her. Y/N scratched the back of her head at the praise and noticed quite a few heads turned in her directions. She blushed even more and looked down at her hands in her lap, but not before making eye contact with a curly haired boy in yellow robes who had wide eyes.
“I studied with Professor McGonagall before the year started because I’m a Muggle–born witch, but I understand that not everyone who came from Muggles was given that opportunity.” Y/N said quietly to Natalia after her comment, “I’m at a fourth year's level in terms of Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. It’s an advantage that I am very lucky to have, and I am extremely grateful for Professor McGonagall. She’s like a second parent to me. I appreciate her so much.”
Natalia looks at her with a gentle look, “You are just the sweetest. I’m happy for you, I’m also ahead, but I wasn’t taught Transfiguration by a master, so I’m only around third year.” she giggles and gestures to her needle and then puts a hand on Y/N’s shoulder, “From what I know of you, you deserve the advantage you were given. You’re the sweetest thing, and besides, you seem to have a penchant for all things learning.” Y/N’s eyes tear up at that. Natalia was so kind to her. Y/N pulls the taller girl into a side hug and softly smiles. McGonagall sees this interaction and lets a tiny smile grace her face before congratulating Natalia on her needle and giving Ravenclaw 5 more points. Y/N and Natalia were the only ones in their class to complete the transfiguration, but there were others in the class that made small differences in their matches. The curly haired Hufflepuff that looked at Y/N when she finished her transfiguration, whose name she found out was Justin Finch-Fletchley, turned his match silver; and another Ravenclaw had turned theirs pointy.
When the transfiguration class was let out, it was lunch time. The two girls—who now knew the way to the Great Hall from the Transfiguration Courtyard thanks to a crowd of fifth-years heading that way—sat at the Ravenclaw table when they entered the Great Hall and filled their plates with food. While sipping her Pumpkin Juice, Y/N felt a pang in her head, which caused her to sputter and cough on her juice. Natalia gave her a concerned look, but Y/N just waved her off.
“It’s just a headache, I thought it went away. It’s been on and off for the past few days… since that last dream” she muttered the last bit so Natalia wouldn’t hear her. Natalia nodded but put a hand on Y/N’s back.
“If it gets worse, we are going to the nurse. That is non-negotiable. Alright?” Natalia raised an eyebrow and gave Y/N a firm look. Y/N nodded in response.
Y/N stepped out of her last class with the worst headache of her life. ‘Ugh, I’m going to actually cry. This headache keeps getting worse. It’s been going on since… wait. Could that be the reason? No. It can’t be. I have to find out more about this!’ Y/N thought to herself. She ran as fast as she could to the library, bumping into a few people here and there and getting yelled at by prefects to stop running. She makes it to the library and with no time to waste starts searching for a book that could describe what’s going on with her mind. Y/N notices what looks to be the librarian stocking books onto shelves from a cart and decides to take the risk and walk up to her. “Excuse me, are you the librarian here?” Y/N asks quietly
The lady stops putting books onto the shelf, turns around and looks down at Y/N. “Yes, I am Madam Pince, The librarian at Hogwarts.” Y/N nods at her and decides to ask a question that has been plaguing her mind.
“Is there, uh, any books on dream magic and amnesia or forgetfulness?” Y/N shyly asks. Madam Pince gives her a strange look, but nods.
“Yes. In the aisle across this are forgetfulness potions books, and books on amnesia. Dream magic, on the other hand, belongs in the restricted section. You’ll have to get a professor's permission to get into the restricted section. Dream magic is very dangerous and that is why it is restricted.” Madam Pince explains with a sceptical face. Y/N nods and thanks Madam Pince before she hurries off to the amnesia section.
“Shit.” She whispers under her breath. “I bet if I ask McGonagall she’ll give me a pass to the restricted section. Probably after I explain, she would never give me one if I just ask.” Picking a few books off of the shelf, Y/N stays deep in thought. Placing her books on a table in a small corner in the library, Y/N starts to read the first book. She had found a secluded area of the library to avoid being interrupted, but studying in that secluded area had led to much more than she could ever imagine. After a while Y/N started nodding off, and eventually fell asleep.
Blinking her eyes open, Y/N lifts her head from the open book and looks around. Her vision is blurry for a second before everything comes into focus. Looking around, Y/N notices how dark it is around her. Blinking hard a few times and rubbing her eyes, she realises that she is awake, instead of being in another strange dream. Slowly standing up, she hears whispering echoing all around her. No one else was in the library. Walking towards the exit of the library she follows the whispering, each step she takes the voices get louder. The voices lead her to an empty classroom.
She pushes the door open.
Creeeak
Y/N is met with Riddle’s face in a mirror. Riddle looks at her and starts tearing up, he shakes and asks “N-N/N? Is that you?” Y/N’s eyes widen in surprise, her jaw drops.
“WHAT.” Y/N just about screams, but she realises it’s night and if a prefect catches her, she’s going to get detention in the first week of school. ‘Not happening’ Y/N looks around before responding to him. “I… Riddle?” Riddle smiles huge.
“I finally have been able to contact you. I have been trying for months. I- I can’t believe it. The best I have been able to do is send messages to you through dreams.” Riddle says joyfully, his face looks blissed out. Y/N just stares at him before fully processing his words.
“You- what? You’re the one who’s making me see those weird things in my dreams?” She says with tears in her eyes. Riddle nods and continues.
“Yes, I have missed you so much, N/N. Mother has gotten so much worse since you left. It took me so many hours reading—studying—on how to track someone; none of it ever worked. I always got so frustrated; I never understood why it never worked. That was until two weeks ago, when I found out about people being pulled through mirrors and going down rabbit holes into other dimensions. That’s when it hit me; you would never leave me alone with mother on your own will. You’re not cruel. So, I found a way to create inter-dimensional mirror portals to contact you, and it worked.” Riddle explained, “Why did it have to be you? It’s been so hard.”
Y/N’s eyes widen as it all comes back to her. Everything. All of these memories suddenly flooding Y/N’s mind haunted her—she didn't want to remember these things; she enjoyed her current life. These dreams caused her to remember the pain and torture she suffered; they caused her to remember all of the "Yes mother”‘s the "Forgive me mother”‘s, the abuse she and her older brother endured at the hands of their mother, all of it. Riddle had forced these dreams onto her, caused her huge headaches, made her wonder what was happening to her, made her wonder what was wrong with her. Nothing was wrong with her, though, she just wasn’t in the proper world. And that just didn’t sit right with her. Why was she taken away if not to have a better chance at life? She was given a second chance in a world without an abusive mother, why wasn’t she allowed to enjoy it? Nothing was wrong with it, right?
“Riddle,” Y/N said, voice shaky “what if… I don’t want to go back?” Riddle’s eyes widened at her words, and he started to panic.
"No, please don’t leave me alone with mother. Come back, you belong in Twisted Wonderland. Please.” Riddle says, his shoulders start shaking as he becomes hysterical. Y/N started to feel bad.
“I- I’ll go back, just.” Y/N sighs, “Just give me a little more time. I want to experience this for just a little bit longer. I’m a witch. I can do magic with a wand. Not like how we do it in Twisted Wonderland. This magic is completely different. I could become an extremely powerful mage if you just let me spend more time here to learn this magic. I beg of you.” Riddle nods and solemnly looks at Y/N.
“Fine. I want you to reach your fullest potential, but please contact me when you’re ready to come home.” Riddle’s hand reaches through the mirror and hands Y/N a hand mirror. “Call me occasionally with this mirror, I enchanted it to be like a phone, but inter-dimensional.” Y/N takes the mirror with wide eyes and nods, agreeing to call him. Y/N walks away after saying goodbye and heads to her dorm, crashing on her bed for the night after changing into her pyjamas.