CH * ONE – The Dream

"Cedric?" Harry looked aghast, he had been here before. The night was moonless. Feral red and green lights streaked across the cloud cover like cracks in concrete. Nonplussed by his new surroundings harry sat up. He felt it straight away, the front of his shirt clung to him as if he had just left a pool. The heat coming from the liquid startled him, it was a cool night and he laid in a mess of warm water, he didn-

"CEDRIC! CEDRIC?" Realisation struck harry like a lightning. Now on his feet, he was already pulling his wand from his pocket. "LUMOS" He shouted but no light came. Not here. As he scrambled forward in the dark his feet met a wet thump throwing him off balance and leaving him in a knot on the floor. Regaining a sense of orientation his hands began fumbling across a mess of wet robes. Through the dim luminescence of the sky, harry could not recognise the boy before him.

"AVADA KEDARVA!"

A bolt of green light shot across the graveyard from his left, but Harry's eyes never left Cedric.

Harry woke in a fright. Covered in sweat with an all too familiar sticky feeling lingering on his shirt. He searched his nightstand for his glasses as his eyes darted around his room putting names to blurry objects. Once he had his glasses on he looked out his window over the Dursley's backyard. It was hardly light out, Hedwig hadn't returned from her hunt yet.

Harry's heart was still racing out of his chest. He could still feel the thick metallic liquid stained on his skin. He closed his eyes once more willing his heart to slow as he slowly pulled himself back out of his own head.

After a while Harry decided that he would go have a shower and wash away the feeling of death that he had woken up with.

Harry felt exhausted, and seeing himself in the mirror he realised he didn't look much better. After entering the bathroom, he quietly closed the door behind him. "Muffliato" Harry whispered, pointing his wand at the bathroom door. Before harry was even on the train home, Dumbledore had convinced the Ministry to lower the age of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery to help protect children against Voldermort. As long as you were 14 and enrolled in a registered school of magic within the UK, you were free of the restriction. Harry, much like everyone else, was pleased with this.

As harry stood in the shower he found himself falling deep within his own thoughts. 'Cedric was dead. It was my fault. He told me to take the cup, I didn't. I made him come with me.'

Harry wasn't sure what day it was, but it had been around 2 weeks since Cedric died. He had not had a good week with the Dursley's since returning, on the first night back he had the same reoccurring nightmare and awoke screaming in his unfamiliar surroundings. Vernon came and nearly strangled the poor boy to death thinking it was some 'funny business'.

Thinking to himself in the shower harry decided. It was time for a change, he didn't want to stay here anymore. He was sick of being locked away, no one had even written him to ask if he was okay since returning to the Dursley's. Harry more than anything, was lonely.

After getting dressed in his room he began to write a letter to Sirius.

Dear Sirius

I hope you're doing well, I'm sorry I haven't been allowed to come and stay with you over the summer. Trust me, I wanted to. I'm not really doing too well Sirius, I can't sleep, I can't eat, I don't even what day it is. I don't really know how to say this but, I'm leaving. I think I just need to get away for a while clear my head or something.

Harry wrote each word with finality. Confirming these actions were now not only in his head, this was happening.

I can't tell you where I will be going because I don't know. You won't be able to find me under my cloak either so please don't send after me, if I need help I will ask for it. I will be back before school starts and I will try to not to cause too much trouble whilst I am away.

I hope you can understand where I am coming from, if anyone can it's you.

Much love

Harry

Harry took the letter and put it in his left breast pocket of his flannel shirt. He pulled his trunk from under his bed and began to fill a backpack. He packed his only other pair of jeans and a spare shirt. he decided to save space by wearing his jacket, he didn't know any expansion spells yet. He made a mental note to ask Hermione when he saw her next.

"Hermione!" Harry startled himself with his own words. He knew that would be the perfect place to hide and keep away from Dumbledore and Sirius. If he stayed at the Burrow or the Leaky Cauldron then they would surely find him and send him back. 'No, this is perfect. I could get a tent from Diagon Ally and camp in the forest so Hermione's parents won't know I am there.' Harry thought.

Harry continued to pack as his brain exploded with the first happy thoughts to flow through it since he'd come back. It was easy to find excuses to go see someone you miss when you're alone.

As harry placed the last of his possessions he was bringing into his backpack. Hedwig flew through his open window, landing on her perch. Harry hurried over to her and quickly tied the note to her leg.

"Hedwig, I need you to deliver this to Sirius but not right now okay? I want you to do it in a few hours and then fly to Hermione's, okay?"

Hedwig nibbled on his finger in affirmation and continued to sit perched in her cage. Harry hoped she understood and turned back to his open trunk laying on his bed. Leaving his trunk behind isn't ideal but he knew he had nearly all the important stuff with him. Still, he searched through his charms book for something that might help. After flicking through the index Harry found a chapter titled 'Disillusionment Charms' and with a flick of his wand his trunk became invisible. After placing it under the back corner of his bed he sheathed his wand and began collecting his things.

The weather today was overcast with rain coming and going as it pleased. 'Typical' Harry thought, he knew it was a long walk to the Leaky Cauldron. Even still he was excited about where this adventure might take him, how Hermione would react to him turning up on her door step, if she would want to spend time with him over the holidays, maybe go on some adventures with him?

As he stood at the bottom of the stairs he wondered for a moment about leaving a note for the Dursley's but he figured the less they knew the better, maybe they would think he died and can have a nice relaxing holiday without him.

With wand in hand and his backpack on harry threw his invisibility cloak over his shoulders and began his journey.

Authors note - I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The second chapter will be out quite soon, all questions and feedback are welcome. I sometimes find the romance stories move too quickly so this will have a strong plot to keep it at bay. Also there will be no major character bashing I never quite understood the reasoning behind it. I hope you enjoy how i write Harry's internal conflict over Cedric and the relationship with Hermione. It will be super innocent and hopefully truthful to the characters. x