Disclaimer: As I am not the supreme being who is J.K. Rowling grovels, I do not own Harry Potter, any of his friends or enemies, Hogwarts, etc. etc. If I did I would not be writing fan fiction…
Authors Note: Yay! So this is my very first fic. Reviews make me happy! Constructive criticism is good. Flames are not fun.
Summary: It's the middle of the trio's sixth year at Hogwarts, which is quite uneventful, and Harry and Ron are, well, very, very, bored. Then, all at once, things start happening. Harry is haunted by dreams of a girl drowning, and then students begin to disappear…
The Quiet Before the Storm
The night was dead. No sound of the wind, no creatures rustling in the darkness, nothing was awake save one. Up in the tower of a castle, a 16-year-old boy stared into the darkness from his bed. He ran his hand through messy black hair, and then touched a rather peculiar scar that was on his forehead, shaped like a lightening bolt. There was a dull pain in it, but the boy was quite used to it. He sighed and rolled over in his bed.
Insomnia was now taking a hold of Harry Potter. He would lay awake in bed for hours and hours, always on guard. He had not had a decent night sleep since he came to Hogwarts in September, and it was now April (though he was able to catch some sleep in Defense Against the Dark Arts). It was eerie, really, this was a completely normal school year. It was so normal, it was abnormal. There were no monsters lurking in the halls, no suspicious new teachers (in fact the new one for Defense Against the Dark Arts was so boring his classes rivaled those of Professor Binns), and no outside forces were threatening the students. There was a time, however, when everyone thought the monster from the Chamber of Secrets was on the loose when what looked like blood appeared on the walls, but a closer look revealed that it was just Peeves being Peeves and writing some rather lewd limericks on the wall with red paint.
However, Harry had known something was going to happen. Never would a year go by where it was completely uneventful, especially given the current events of the Wizarding World. The Second War was raging outside the castle walls, but Hogwarts seemed to be like a safe haven, a distant country watching a war it did not seem to be a part of. Only hearing stories about horrors and not yet witnessing them first hand. It made Harry restless. He was such a big part of this war, so it seemed, and he was not fighting. Many people were dying. There was not a person at Hogwarts who had not experienced the loss of someone they knew.
Neville's loud snoring broke Harry interrupted his thoughts. Quietly, he laid his head down on his pillow and sighed. He might as well try to get some sleep tonight, or else he would resemble a zombie the next day, yet again, and causing his friends, Hermione and Ron, to pester him about getting more sleep.
…A figure cloaked in red stood at the edge of the lake. Harry could not see her full face as it wascovered with a hood,but he could see tears cascading down her cheeks and falling into the water. He lay on the ground beside the lake, weakly watching. How did he get here? He did not know who she was, but he hated to see her cry. He tried to move towards her to comfort her, but he found that he was completely frozen. All he could do was watch.
Shemoved forward several feet, so she was now standing in the water. Then shesunk down to her knees and placed her two very pale hands together, as if she was praying. Hands brought up to her lips she mumbled something Harry could not hear. Harry tried to take a step forward but couldn't move. He tried to look around, but he couldn't move his eyes away from the girl.
Her sobbing quieted. She lifted up her head, as if something had given her courage to continue. He still could not see her entire face. Suddenly she stood up, water splashing everywhere. "It must be done!" She cried to the world, her voice full of pain. She began to walk into the water, going deeper and deeper, until she was up to her waist.
She turned and looked at him "I am so sorry…". She said more, but Harry could not understand it... Then she turned back to the water, and with one smooth motion, dived into it completely. Harry could do nothing but watch. Then something odd happened. It was as if Harry could feel what the girl felt. He felt her take a deep breath underwater. He felt water fill his lungs, choking him of precious air. He tried to scream, but his body wouldn't respond. And then he felt nothing and knew she was gone…
Harry woke with a start, soaked with sweat. He gasped for air, as if he had truly been denied oxygen. Where had that dream come from? He had never seen that girl in his life. But it felt so real.
Immediately Harry ran to the window that overlooked the lake. He gazed outside, expecting to see the body of the girl floating in the water. He had dreams that had come true before, like with Mr. Weasel being bitten by the snake…but there was nothing there. Still he could not get the sound of her sobs out of her head, and he could see her diving into the water, again and again.
Harry stared at the lake for many hours, expecting the girl to come at any moment. Finally, the dawn broke the horizon, and Harry crawled back into bed so as not to worry Ron if he would awaken and see that his best friend had yet again not slept.
"I hope you don't think I'm going to let you borrow my notes again!" an angry Hermione said, as she, Ron and Harry left Defense Against the Dark Arts that afternoon "Sleeping again in Professor Kaschel's class. I thought you loved Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
"Well who could love that class, the way that man teaches it? He makes even the coolest lessons boring." Ron said.
Hermione ignored him, "Have you been able to sleep again? You really should try your best to..."shesaid worriedly to Harry.
Harry sighed. It was typical of his friends to be very worried about him, he knew they cared, but it still annoyed him. "I did sleep last night...I just had this really weird dream and after that I couldn't fall asleep again"
"Not another dream about the Department of Mysteries? Is Voldemort invading your mind again? Maybe you should go back to Snape and do more occlumency" Hermione said, her voice full of concern.
"No. At least I don't think it was him. It was this girl...and she was so sad...she was in the lake. Then she went underwater." Harry trailed off, thinking of the tears that had streamed down eyes hidden from view.
"Shehad drowned?" Ron asked.
"Do you think maybe its one of Voldemort's victims? What did she look like exactly? Oh, maybe you should go see Dumbledore about this." Hermione was always the one to give theories and answers.
"I don't think she was a victim. It was like she was committing suicide. I've never seen her before." said Harry, who still couldn't get the image of tears streaming behind the dark red cloak.
Hermione looked pensive.
"Maybe its You-Know-Who sending you random visions to confuse you? Like last time?" mused Ron, without thinking.
Harry walked away from his friends. He didn't want to be reminded again of his mistake. The mistake that had cost the life of a man that was like a godfather to him. He thought of Sirius almost everyday. What he could have done better. What he wouldn't have done. What he would do to just have five minutes alone with Bellatrix Lestrange...
Hermione glared at Ron from behind Harry. "Why do you always have to go reminding him about that? It wasn't his fault. He beats himself up about it everyday and he doesn't need you reminding him about it."
"Do you think I don't know? I didn't mean to say it like that. I just don't want anything else to happen. This woman could be in Harry's mind to just play tricks on him."
"I don't think so. We know about that now, so why would Voldemort do the same thing twice?"
"Well maybe he's trying to throw us off, by doing the thing that he knows we will think he won't do!"
"I don't think so Ron..."
Harry turned around. "Let's just go to the Dining Hall for lunch and can we please not analyze my life anymore?"
With that he turned and left the two standing there. Hermione glared at Ron and then ran to catch up to Harry. Ron sighed. "Why can't I ever learn to just shut up?"
"Don't you guys feel a bit...restless?" asked Harry suddenly, during lunch.
"Restless? Why would be restless?" inquired Hermione, picking up the potatoes.
"I dunno...because nothings happened. This year has been completely uneventful. It's boring." Harry said, swirling food around on his plate, not feeling very hungry.
"You're bored because our lives aren't in danger? I'm relieved! Its nice to see what a normal year at Hogwarts is like."
Ron looked up, "but Hogwartsisn't normal. It's completely weird to have nothing going wrong. We've had 5 years of life threatening experiences,that's what's normal. And yeah, I agree with Harry. It'd be nice to have a long fight for our lives to liven everything up a bit."
Hermione shook her head. "You guys are terrible. Enjoy this. It's gotten to a point where the next time we have to fight for our lives, we may even lose them".
Ron looked at Harry. "Do you think that's actually going to happen?"
"You never know. The Second War has already claimed the lives of so many...
This was greeted with silence from the entire trio. At that momentDumbledore entered in the Great Hall with a rather somber look on his face, causing all of the conversation to die in the room, save some Slytherins who seemed to thrive on the fear that came with the tension of these days. When Dumbledore looks this upset, it is never a good sign.
"What do you think is up?" asked Ron.
Harry didn't answer. Dumbledore always seemed tense these days, but today he looked even more strained than normal. The twinkle that always had inhabited eyes was now replaced with the worry of a world falling apart. Harry hated to see his mentor like this.
"Dunno. But it looks like he's going to make a speech or something."
Dumbledore cleared his throat. Immediately every student paid attention, knowing that something was happening. "I have a very important announcement to make. We are implementing a curfew for everyone. No one is to be out after 8:00pm and from now on no one is to be outside, at anytime, without a teacher supervising. It would be very wise to follow these rules, if you want to live out a happy life "
Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at each other in surprise. "Do you think its You-Know-Who?" asked Ron.
"Could youplease start saying his name? I don't know if it's him or not. But its obviously something much worse that what's already in the forest." said Harry.
There was silence. All three of them were thinking of the creatures that take refuge in the forest outside of Hogwarts. Werewolves, thestrals, giant spiders, disgruntled centaurs, Hagrid's not so little brother…what could be worse than these?
Ron grinned. "I have a feeling that things are going to get a lot more exciting."
Hermione sighed, "I was hoping for just one year of nothing…"