Chapter One
Harry looked around the forest, squinting his eyes and peering into the shadows. He could feel his heart racing, and he swallowed hard. He knew he had to be brave, that something was coming, although he didn't know what. He tried not to think about how much trouble he'd be in if anyone found out that he was in the Forbidden forest at night. He'd be suspended, possibly even expelled. Still, he needed to be here. He wasn't sure why, but he could tell it was important. Very important.
He tried to calm himself down, and walked forward, breathing deeply. Suddenly, he felt the hairs on his neck begin to stand up. He broke out into a cold sweat, and his heart began to beat faster than ever; his breath was short. He looked into the bush in front of him, and felt someone -- or someTHING -- staring back. Suddenly, two yellow eyes appeared, and they looked right at him, bloodshot. The leaves began to rustle, and the body attached to the eyes leapt out of the darkness.
"AAAHHH!" Harry screamed, sitting straight up in his bed. He sat there panting for a few minutes, wondering what was going on. Where was the creature? Where was the forest? Where was he?
After a few moments, Harry realized that he had been dreaming. He breathed a sigh of relief. He blinked to focus his eyes, and looked at the clock next to his bed. The numbers were flashing 6:66.
Harry stared at the flashing numbers for a second, and felt the hairs on the back of his neck spring up. There was no such time as 6:66. He didn't think there was even a six hundred sixty-six hours in military time.
He closed his eyes, and rubbed him so hard, he could see different colors flashing around his eyes. When he opened them again, the clock said 4:25. He was now very confused, and he rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. Again. The numbers had changed again, but this time only to 4:26, which wasn't anything unusual. His heart was beating so quickly, he knew he would never get back to sleep. So he climbed out of bed, and brought a scroll and quill down to the library. He might as well use the extra time to work on his History of Magic essay.
* * *
"Harry!"
Harry looked up to see Ron and Hermione coming down the stairs.
"Harry, what are you doing down here?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I woke up and you weren't in your bed!" Ron exclaimed.
"Calm down, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to work on my History of Magic essay. See, Hermione? I just finished!"
"Oh, that's wonderful, Harry! I finished mine yesterday. The scroll is 20 feet long!" Hermione smiled proudly.
Harry looked down at his own 3 1/2 foot scroll, and sighed. "Well, mine isn't nearly that long, but I think it's pretty good. It's all about boggarts' effect on the civilization of Europe. I'm so glad I got it over with."
"Uh-oh, I didn't even start mine yet!" Ron said. "It's not due until tomorrow, though, right?"
"Ron, how could you not -" Hermione began.
"Don't worry, it's not due until next week. I'm pretty busy today, but if you want, I could go to the library with you tomorrow. I have to do something for Transfiguration, too." Harry offered.
"Sure, that'd be great. Um, do you want to come, Hermione?" Ron asked, blushing a little.
"Of course I do! I have to return some scrolls, and I heard there's a splendid new one out about the history of house-elves." Hermione answered enthusiastically.
"Great!" Ron said.
"Umm, Hermione, could you excuse us for a minute?" Harry asked. "I have to ask Ron something really important."
"What, may I ask, do you have to ask him that you can't talk about in front of me?" Hermione sniffed.
"Umm, something about Quidditch." Harry answered.
"Oh, well, that's boring anyway. I'll go back up to my room and study for arithmancy." She turned and went up the stairs.
"Ron, what's with you lately??" Harry asked Ron. "Every time you ask Hermione
something, you start blushing!"
"What? I don't know what you're talking about," Ron said with a twinge of nervousness.
"Then how come your cheeks are getting red right now?" Harry remarked.
"What?" Ron felt his warm cheeks. "Oh, that! Umm, I've been meaning to tell you, I haven't been feeling very well lately. In fact, I think I'd better go to Madame Pomfrey right now, I might have a fever!" Ron stumbled out of the room.
Harry sighed. Ron had been acting very strange lately, but whenever he brought up the subject, he always ran somewhere. He'd have to get an answer out of him pretty soon.
Suddenly, he yawned. He looked at the large clock hanging above the door, and saw that it was only 7:00. He hadn't realized how tired he was, and he still had some time before classes started. He stretched out on the couch, and began to take a quick nap.
* * *
He was back in the forbidden forest, running away from whatever it was that was chasing him. He kept looking behind him to try to see what the thing was, but it was too dark to see anything except the stars in the night. He knew, however, that it must be very close by. He could hear the monster's heavy breathing, even it's heartbeat. It sounded like an animal, closing in on it's prey. A very HUNGRY animal, which would stop at nothing before it had killed and ate his meal.
Harry ran faster, wishing he could fly. He reached into his pocket for his wand. Perhaps he could use the Imperius curse. Even if it was illegal, and would get him kicked out of Hogwarts, it was better than being eaten alive. He reached in, but his wand wasn't there. Harry couldn't see, but by feeling as he ran, he could tell that he was in his pajamas.
He continued to run, his feet pounding the ground with every step. His legs were beginning to hurt, but he didn't dare stop running. He could feel the monster's drool on his back.
Suddenly, he was no longer in the Forbidden Forest. He was in a large, grassy field. The sun was shining, and he could see the HOgwarts castle far in the distance.
"Where am I?" he wondered.
Then, he heard a howl that sent chills running up and down his spine. He didn't know how he knew this, but something told him that it was the monster. His legs ached with a dull pain, but he had no choice but to run towards the castle.
After 10 minutes of running, he saw that the castle was not getting any closer.
Suddenly, he realized that he was having a nightmare. He thought to himself,
"Okay, I'm having a dream, which means that I am in control. All I have to do is concentrate on waking up."
He turned around, and saw a blur a couple hundred yards in the opposite direction. He heard the howl again, which was coming in the same direction as the blur. He was scared, but he knew that running in the other direction wasn't going to help. So, he ran quickly to the blur. He just knew that that had something to do with the way out of his dream.
As he got closer and closer, he realized that the blur was, in fact, a door. HE was only about 50 yards away now, when he saw another blur advancing toward him, another 100 yards behind the door. This blur was large and black, but any other details were invisible. But the chill it gave Harry alerted him that this was his monster. Still running, but as if in slow motion, Harry looked at the door. It seemed to be standing there in the middle of nowhere. What if he ran through it, and found himself directly in the path of the black blur? He had no other choice. He was to tired to run from the monster anymore, but if he started now, he could get to the door before the monster could get to him.
He forced his legs to keep moving, and in a few moments, he was at the door. He glanced around the door, and saw that the blur was only 25 yards away. He looked up at the top of the door, and saw that there were three large numbers at the top, like the numbers above a Muggle classroom. The numbers said: 666.
For a second, he just stood there, frozen. For some reason, those three numbers put together terrified him. But the howl of the monster forced him to ignore his fear of the numbers, and leap through the door. As he went through, he saw a flash of yellow, bloodshot eyes.
Harry woke up screaming, with the numbers '666' flashing red in his mind.
Author's Note: First of all, I know that Hogwarts would not have digital clocks, but I used creative lisence to make it work for the story. And as for the R/H thing, all of you who are against that, don't hate me! I promise, it'll probably only show up one more time in the entire thing.
Disclaimers: All the characters are the invention of J.K Rowling, except for Harry's monster, and the plot is entirely mine. Any resemblance to any of the thousands of other fics I haven't read yet is not intentional. Please review!! Oh, and I know that they probably wouldn't have digital clocks in Hogwarts, but I used creative liscence at that part.