Holiday From Real

I did my best to be quiet once I got into my room, but I ended up waking Lauren. She quietly crept into the bathroom while I took a quick shower and groggily yawned, "Are you okay?"

I jumped from shock; I thought I was alone. I finished rinsing my hair before saying, "I'm just tired, and I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy."

She laughed, "Why are you going crazy?"

I chuckled from disbelief, "Are you serious? We're in the HP world, Lauren. A diary sucked us into this place. And I'm so worried about Nalo—"

Lauren said barely above a whisper, "About that,"

I turned off the water and looked at her, well, at the curtain. "…And?"

She tossed my towel over the rail that holds up the shower curtain; I caught it with my left hand. I lazily dried my hair and then dried off my body. I wrapped the towel around my body, stepped out of the shower, and looked her right in the eyes. She drew in a deep breath, "I don't know if it'll work for you, but I've tried it out, and it worked for me."

"What worked?"

"If you close your eyes and concentrate on what you want the most…" She paused for a minute, "Bueno's trunk is enchanted or something and—"

"Are you telling me that you can get things from back home through his trunk?"

She slowly nodded up and down.

"How long have you known this?"

"Since the second day we've been here."

I popped my neck and bit my bottom lip before looking at her again, "Who else has used it?"

"I don't know, like half of us—"

Obviously angry, I told her, "And no one could tell me this?"

Lauren quickly became defensive; "We didn't want to tell you until we were sure it worked. We started off with inanimate objects, but then Harper got his cat so we figured—"

I sighed angrily, "Hand me my clothes, please, they're behind you."

She tossed me my red short shorts and my black sports bra. I dressed in front of her and she either looked away or just at my face; we've had lockers to next each other in the locker room since eighth grade, we've seen each other dress before. She then tossed me my small, rather trashy, tank top. I slipped it on and said, "How do I use it?"

He walked up to me and said with a very calm voice, "You have to be completely relaxed."

I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing.

"Relax as if you're meditating."

It took me a few minutes, but I fully relaxed.

"Only think of Nalo, only Nalo. Concentrate only on Nalo. Not his environment, not his possessions, only on Nalo."

I did so.

She remained quiet. After a while she gently squeezed my shoulders, "Stop."

My eyes fluttered open, "How do I know if it worked?"

She whispered, "You'll feel it."

I gulped, I didn't feel anything; Lauren took her hands off of my shoulders and watched as I quietly put towel up and then got into my bed. It was pretty hot in the room, so I took off my tank top and tossed it onto my trunk. Then, I pulled the thin fabric around the four-poster bed so that I'd be completely closed off from my roommates, and quietly cried into my pillow. I shouldn't have put so much hope into something that sounded pretty iffy. Just as I was about to cry out, I felt a large pang in my chest. I shook for a very small, but powerful second; it was like a second heart was beating in my chest. I shot up and jumped out of my bed, "Lauren!" I hurriedly felt around for my wand, but to no avail. Much louder now, I shouted, "LAUREN! LAUREN! GET UP!"

She didn't question me; she slowly sat up, "What?"

"Where's my wand?"

"Uhm…in the bathroom, still. Why?"

"Get up, I feel it."

"Wha—OH!" She jumped out of her bed, grabbed her wand from the nightstand to her left, and followed me out the door. As soon as I grabbed my wand I shouted, "Lumos!" and sprinted out of the dorm room. Lauren sprinted too, but she was about four feet behind me. I smacked into many walls since I was running through the castle barefoot; I didn't even bother to put my shirt back on, so I'm running around in a sports bra and athletic short shorts that show a little bit of my butt. When we finally got to the brick wall entrance of the Slytherin House I tapped my wand on the bricks numerous times in numerous different ways, but to no avail. Lauren tried too, but she couldn't figure out the pattern either. The second heartbeat in my chest was pounding like never before; I could feel Nalo's fear, I could feel how close we are.

I started to pound my fists against the brick wall and shouted, "OPEN UP! OPEN UP! PLEASE! PLEASE OPEN!" Lauren quickly joined me; we pounded our fists and shouted until a very agitated and very tired Slughorn opened the wall up to us. We stumbled forward and he asked us why in the world we were here, but I sprinted away to Bueno's room while Lauren did her best to come up with believable bullshit while on the spot. I slammed open the large, circular wooden door to the boys' dormitories and rushed down the stairs; I didn't know where I was going, so I just followed the sound of Nalo's heartbeat. I slammed open the door to Bueno's room and shook him awake with my right hand while holding my lit wand in my left hand. "Bueno! Bueno! BUENO!"

He pushed me away from him and sat up straight, "What the fuck do you want at this hour?"

I panted out, "Open your trunk."

He rubbed his eyes, "Why?"

"Just open it!" I shouted and walked over to his trunk. His roommates ended up sitting up and staring at us; three of them used their wands to light up the room.

Bueno got up, grabbed his wand, and then walked over to his trunk to see that it was rattling. He looked at me and whispered, "What's in here?"

"I don't know!" I shouted and stomped, "It could be that demon kid from The Grudge here to kill me! I! Don't! Know!"

"Then why am I gonna—?"

"JUST OPEN IT!" I screamed, "OPEN IT! I ASKED FOR NALO! I ASKED FOR NALO! SO OPEN THIS DAMN TRUNK BEFORE I FUCKIN' KILL YOU!"

"OKAY! CALM DOWN!" Bueno shouted at me and quickly opened his trunk; the top immediately popped open. I jumped to the front of the trunk and cried out with happiness; Nalo was trying to crawl out. I grabbed him from under the arms and pulled him out. I held up my ten-year-old brother and then squeezed him to me. A waterfall of tears came from my happy eyes while I spun in a circle.

Nalo panted out, "Karma, you're crushing me."

I laughed and got down on my knees so that I could gently put him down. I held him slightly less tight and looked at his face, "Have you missed me?"

He speedily shook his head up and down for a minute and then said, "I thought you guys were at some camp thing."

I looked at him curiously, "What are you talking about?"

With a quiet and tired voice, he told me, "We all got letters about you guys at some camp for a while, some new school thing—"

I laughed, we've all been worrying about our families and how things are working out back home, and someone, somehow, cleared it all up? I squeezed Nalo to me and asked, "Do you want a piggy back ride?"

He smiled and said, "Yes."

I let go of him, stood up, turned, and then squatted down so that he can climb onto my back. I held onto his legs while he wrapped his arms around my neck and laughed as I jumped up. Bueno and I made eye contact; his bottom jaw was practically on the floor. I looked at him with large, scared eyes, "Have I gone completely crazy? Is he not really here?"

"No, no, no!"

I almost cried; with a cracked voice, I said, "He's not here?"

"He is!" Bueno ran his hands through his hair, "No to you being completely crazy. I'm… I'm just so shocked."

I laughed and said, "Then I'll see you later." I ran out of the room, back up to the Slytherin Common Room, past Lauren and Slughorn, and up and down the corridors of Hogwarts. Nalo laughed happily the whole way; I eventually found Dumbledore's quarters and knocked on his door. He opened it within the moment I knocked; it's five o'clock in the morning now and he's looking over student papers.

He smiled politely and ignored my outfit, "Good morning, Ms. Kinzek, how may I help you."

I smiled widely, "I don't know how, but my little brother is here now—"

Dumbledore chucked and sighed, "There's a large pile of things in my quarters, I figured someone else came, so…" He stood to the side and motioned for me to come in; all of my clothes and all of Nalo's clothes are packed away in boxes in the middle of Dumbledore's room. I squatted down so Nalo could get off of my back and run over to our stuff. Dumbledore gently picked up the sorting hat from his desk and looked over at me.

"Nalo," I whispered, "Nalo Taylor."

Dumbledore gave me a curious look.

"Different fathers."

"Ahh…" he politely nodded his head and then looked over at Nalo, "Nalo, will you please come over here?"

Nalo slowly approached Dumbledore, "Yes, sir?"

I smiled; Nalo remembered the manners I've been teaching him.

Dumbledore smiled, "Are you ready to be sorted?"

Nalo beamed, "Like Harry Potter?"

Dumbledore laughed, "Yes."

Nalo nodded up and down a few times. Once he stopped nodding, Dumbledore gently sat the hat down on Nalo's head; it fell to the bottom of his ears. The hat was silent for a few minutes before calming saying, "Gryffindor, definitely Gryffindor."

Nalo was quiet, but very happy. Dumbledore took the hat off of him and back onto his desk; I squeezed Nalo and said, "I'm in Gryffindor, too."

"That being so," Dumbledore looked at us from his desk, "I'm sure you can escort him back to the Gryffindor Tower." He picked up a quill and a piece of parchment, "I will write to Headmaster Dippet; I'll meet you there with a tailor and room arrangements. I'll have your things sent to your rooms later."

I stood back up and held Nalo's right hand in my left, "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, for everything." He smiled and watched us walk out of his quarters.

I explained everything to Nalo on the walk up and told him not to tell anyone, no matter what. Even if he thinks it's me talking to him about it; I told him that if we're going to talk it at all, we'll have to use our code phrase casually in conversation before the subject of home and time traveling, the phrase being, "Emo party." When we got up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, I said the password and told Nalo to remember it. He repeated it a few times, but stopped and looked around with wide eyes at the common room. He was quiet while the tailor took his measurements and told me that his uniform and robes will be finished within the next two to three days. I told him thank you while Dumbledore walked up to Nalo and showed him to his new room; I followed them to it. There was an empty bed in a room with several other first years, Kevin Thomas, Christopher Finnegan, John McKinney, and Brandon Banks. All of his clothes magically fit into his dresser; Dumbledore supplied him with a trunk and a messenger bag filled with all the books and other things he'll need for the school year. I smiled, yawned, and hugged Nalo. "I need to go sleep, Nalo, I haven't slept in twenty four hours."

He hugged me and said okay. Before I left for my own dorm, I saw that he was quickly making friends with the boys in the dorm. I instantly felt less stressed; I love that Nalo is here with me now, but I'm also very scared. How am I supposed to protect him from a world I don't understand? Not even the world, but that damn Tom Riddle! I don't know if I'll even be able to protect myself against Tom; when it comes to Nalo, I'll always be able to make the right choice for him, but right now, I'm at a total loss.

I easily fell asleep once I crawled into my bed. I didn't wake up again until about nine thirty; I took a quick shower and took my time with brushing and flossing my teeth, it helps me feel clean. Thanks to Dumbledore, actually, probably the house elves, all of my clothes from home are neatly put away in the dresser next to my bed. I pulled out the top drawer and I put on the first pair of panties and bra I found. I slipped into a comfortable pair of grey sweats, tightened and then tied them, and then decided to wear a purple, long sleeve shirt; it's almost October, but it's ridiculously cold. That being so, I wore the first two socks of equal length I saw and then slipped my feet into my purple Converse. I put my wand behind my right ear like a pencil and then walked out of the room. I saw Nalo and told him that I'm not coming back into the House for a few hours since there's another Slug Club meeting tonight.

I snuck into the Hogwarts kitchen and asked a house elf to make me a plate to go. He looked confused, so I told him, "I have to go to a Slug Club meeting, but I missed dinner today; will you please put some food on a plate for me, and then wrap that plate up a bit so I can take it to the meeting?"

"Oh," the small creature squeaked, "Please wait here, Miss."

I slipped my hands into my pockets for comfort, "Okay, and thank you." It came back with a plate of food within five minutes, "Here you go, Miss."

I gently took the plate of food out of its hands and said, "Thank you very much."

It smiled and then disappeared. I was going to be scared, but then I remembered that house elves have their own type of magic. I then left the kitchen for the Great Hall, and then for the corridor in front of the doors. I walked to the staircase that goes to the dungeons and saw Abraxas coming from the opposite corridor in my peripheral, but I didn't acknowledge him. He started to walk faster to catch up with me, but I pretended to not notice him until he was walking next to me. He drew in a deep breath before saying, "You walk fast."

I smiled and shrugged, "What can I say? Boxing makes me fast."

He smirked, "I've never heard of a female athlete."

I stopped walking and looked up at him; my head is slightly tilted to the right and my mouth is slightly open. "Say what now?"

He laughed somewhat nervously, "There aren't any female athletes here, at least, not any female Quidditch players."

I slowly started to walk again, but I continued to look up into his grey eyes. I smirked, "I guess I just prefer punches instead of balls."

Abraxas laughed and then looked me over without bothering to pretend he wasn't checking me out, "And I guess I just prefer purity."

I laughed very loudly and turned the corner before looking back up at him, "Then you best stop lookin' at me, boy."

He laughed, half out of embarrassment, half from being humored. We walked the rest of the way to Slughorn's office in silence; he walked a couple feet behind me, I could practically feel his eyes burning into my hips. I am short, and I am muscular, but I'm not bulky, I'm just very toned. And I'm still curvaceous, I may not have large curves, but they're not small, either. I rounded the last corner and started to walk down the corridor with Slughorn's office before Abraxas said, "Where were you all day?"

"Sleeping."

He walked up to me again, "Why?"

I didn't bother looking at him, "I was literally up until six in the morning, I was awake for twenty six straight hours."

"Oh… was that you in the dorm this morning?"

I quickly looked up at him, "Yes, do you share a dorm with Bueno?"

"Yeah," his eyes quickly scanned my face, "So does Tom and Jeremy and Corbin."

I raised my right eyebrow to show my confusion, "Who are Jeremy and Corbin?"

"Jeremy Goyle and Corbin Crabbe."

"Oh," I looked in front of me again, "Are those the two trollish like fellows?"

Abraxas laughed and then stood in front of me, forcing me to stop walking. Abraxas slipped his left hand into his front left, pants pocket and casually twirled his wand in his right hand, "Why don't we skip the meeting tonight?"

I breathed in deeply before replying, "If I skip the meeting tonight, that means I skip my chance to eat dinner, so… Perhaps another night."

Abraxas smirked and took a step closer to me, I took a step back while he said, "You can eat at other places than Slughorn's office."

"Yes," I nodded and looked into his eyes; the grey of his iris are the clouds concealing his lust, "but I want to eat in Slughorn's office, so please move out of my way."

Abraxas smirked and said barely above a whisper, "Why should I move?"

Before I could say anything, someone walked up behind me; I was going to scream, but I quickly recognized the silky voice, "Move, Malfoy."

Abraxas looked up at Tom with surprised eyes. He didn't challenge Tom, but he did sneer at him while stepping to the side. Tom stood to my left, physically blocking me from Abraxas. Tom started to walk to Slughorn's office, so I started to walk to; we walked in complete silence for about a minute before I asked him barely above a whisper,

"Why did you just do that?"

Without any expression on his face or in his voice, he replied, "In order to start the assignment on Monday, I will need a partner. I can't have my partner compromised in any way."

I drew in a deep breath and thought to myself, "Of course. I can't believe I actually thought that maybe he was just doing the right thing."

The rest of the two-minute walk to Slughorn's office was silent; I occasionally looked up at Tom's gorgeous face, but only for a second or two, I didn't want to be too obvious. I took a seat next to Bueno at the small table, said hello to Slughorn, and then transfigured two of the broken quills on the table into a fork and a knife. I uncovered my plate, drew in a deep breath, and smiled. I took a bite out of the still warm mashed potatoes and smiled goofily. Bueno saw this and laughed; I shot a mean look at him and said with a full mouth, "I'm hungwy."

He laughed loudly, "Hungwy?"

I swallowed half of the potatoes, "Don't inshult me."

Bueno laughed again and saw my black hair band that I forgot to take out after my slumber. To my surprise, and to my relief, my hair wasn't a rat's nest and the hair band did move a little bit, but it is pretty close to where I'd want it. My hair did look rather silly, but it didn't look bad. Bueno smirked and waited for me to take another large bite of mashed potatoes before telling me, "You look ridiculous."

I glared up at him, "YOU wook ridiculews!"

He laughed and leaned back against his chair, "You sound funny when you talk with your mouth full."

I took thirty seconds to chew and swallow the potatoes in my mouth, "I'm going to eat my food and pretend you're not here."

Bueno laughed again and answered Slughorn for me when he asked why I was eating now. Slughorn looked excited when he heard that I spent twenty-six hours awake because of the unexpected arrival of my little brother. Bueno told him that Nalo had to come late because of final exams at his previous school; Slughorn immediately accepted that, which is pretty amazing since he saw me run out of Bueno's room with Nalo. I guess he was too tired to care about what happening. He got up and walked over to his desk, "I am in charge of all the paperwork for the first years."

I finished up the last of the mashed potatoes and started to eat the steamed vegetables.

Slughorn quickly looked through papers before saying, "I don't see a Nalo Kinzek."

I swallowed the little bit of vegetables in my mouth before saying, "His name is Nalo Taylor."

Slughorn looked confused, "Isn't he your little brother though?"

"Yes, sir, but we have different fathers."

Slughorn looked almost disgusted for a second.

"My father died, my mother remarried."

"Ahh," he looked content again, "I'm sorry for your loss, Karma."

I shrugged my shoulders, "I was too young to remember, but thank you anyway, sir."

Bueno smirked at me and rolled his eyes. I whispered barely loud enough for Bueno to hear me, "What was I supposed to say? My mother had unprotected sex the night of her graduation party and then BAM, nine months later she had me?"

Bueno laughed while I continued on eating my food. Slughorn pulled out my brother's file and sat back down at the table. He laid the file down in front of him and opened it; "He's also in Gryffindor…"

I nodded my head up and down.

"Says here that he's a smart boy, almost sorted into Ravenclaw."

I smiled but continued eating.

He read the file for another minute before smiling widely, "It says here that he's very good at the sciences and arithmetic."

I cut a piece of the steak that the house elf packed for me and I smiled rather proudly, "Tutored him myself."

Slughorn got up to put Nalo's file away, "You should be proud, then, Karma. He seems to have a lot of potential."

I smiled and continued eating. The boys chatted away about the first trip to Hogsmeade this year, even though the visiting day is a week form today, they're all still pretty excited to get off campus for a little bit. I finished up all my food, magically cleaned my utensils, and then transfigured them back to broken quills. I mindlessly played with my hair; ever since we got here, my hair became curly, and the color has changed to medium brown with some red undertones. I missed my wavy hair, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like this new look. It's pretty fun, it's a pain to brush, since you can only brush it when it's wet, but it's fun to play with. I gently pulled my hair over my right shoulder and played with it with my right hand. Bueno nudged me while Slughorn said, "What about you, Karma? Are you excited for the Hogsmeade trip?"

I shrugged, "Not really, to tell you the truth. I'm mostly excited to catch up on my work."

Slughorn seemed shocked, "Are you falling behind in your classes?"

Bueno loudly blew air out of his mouth and chuckled.

I smiled, "No sir, by work I mean sleeping in."

Bueno and I laughed while Slughorn chuckled politely.

When our laughter died down, Abraxas said, "Why don't you give Hogsmeade a try, Karma? I can show you a good time there."

Tom and I drew in a deep breath at the same time; I looked over at Tom and he locked gazes with Abraxas, "She'll be going with me."

I looked curiously at Tom for a second or two, but knew that would blow whatever he was setting up, so I knocked that look off of my face. Abraxas raised his right eyebrow at Tom, "And what will you two be doing?"

"Our plans are none of your concern, Malfoy." Tom then whispered to me, "It's a long project; doesn't end 'til next month."

I silently chuckled, crossed my arms across my chest, and then rolled my eyes; I need to stop being flattered. This is Tom Riddle, he's not Voldemort yet, if he was, Abraxas wouldn't continuously talk back. It's still obvious that Tom is the alpha dog here, no one challenges him, and no one talks back to him. I guess Abraxas is pretty smitten with me, which is weird on several different levels. Kinzek is not a pureblood name, and Malfoy's only go for other purebloods. And I've never met a boy so persistent; sure, I've had relationships, I've had lovers. Don't go thinking that I'm a whore now, I respect myself, but I'm not celibate. I've only had two boyfriends, both of them long term, and I've made love with both – not had sex, made love.

Keep a secret? I've had sex with Doug a few times; we're friends with benefits, but that's on the down low. He's exactly one floor above me, his apartment is empty half the time, he likes me and I like him, and we care deeply for each other, so why not? I mean, sure, there's the argument of it being morally wrong; we're not in a romantic relationship or think about getting married or anything, our love is platonic, but there have been a few times that we went on dates. It's not like we don't feel for each other, there's just no spark. I'm not quite sure how we started having sex, but it was great, so we kept doing it.

Anyway, I don't know how to take any of this. Abraxas is extremely cute and pretty smart, we could have something, but I don't feel good about him. I barely feel good about him on a friend basis, and what's weirder than that is that I actually feel rather safe around Tom. Which is hilarious, right? Future darkest wizard on the planet, and he scares me and makes me feel safe all in the same minute. I wonder if he likes girls with curly hair? I mean, he chose me to be his partner, he literally chose me. I don't think it's too far fetched of an idea that I'm the key kid in Operation Save Tom, or whatever this is. Mission Impossible: Hogwarts, or maybe Riddle Identity. Hahahaha, I'll have to tell those to Bueno once we're alone, or in the company of our friends.