Chapter One:

He crept to the edge and prepared himself for the hundred and fifty foot jump below. Now

he had to decide how we would go about accomplishing his task. He played the situation over

and over in his head many times prior to today. All scenarios started differently, but all ended

exactly the same way. He backed up five feet then walked slowly to the edge once more. Just as

he was about to place his right foot in thin air he winced and backed up once again. This time

fifteen feet. He broke out into a run and once again halted at the very edge. He flailed his arms

wildly in attempt to regain his balance. Harry Potter's eyes grew wide in terror as he plunged

over the top of the South Tower of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The harsh

night air whistled in his ears as he fell. His surroundings became a blur and he shut his watery

eyes and held his breath. This was going to hurt.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!"



"Hey mate, you alright?"



"Yea, only a nightmare," Harry sighed. "A normal one," he added as an afterthought.

Ron eyed his friend suspiciously before turning back over onto his stomach and burrowing

under his maroon comforter. His snores could be heard a minute later. Harry, however, could not

sleep. It hardly made a difference though. Just another sleepless night. Harry counted out the

hours of sleep he had gotten in the past week. Seven. That was how much a normal person

should get in one night, not six days.

"But the key word there is normal," He said to himself.

Every time Harry had gotten around to falling asleep he would be woken up by a

nightmare an hour later. This particular nightmare had been reoccurring ever since that horrible

night Sirius had fallen through the veil. Though it happened two weeks ago, the pain was still

fresh for Harry, and it would be for quite sometime.



There was one thing Harry had been somewhat happy about. It was his last night at

Hogwarts. Tomorrow he would be returning to the Dursley's. Now, one would automatically ask

what possible happiness Harry could retrieve from that thought. Harry's concerns of sleep

deprivation were hardly anything to be worried about when it came to his screaming. Every night

he feared how he would wake up, because it usually resulted in pandemonium throughout the

boys' dormitory. He'd be shaken awake by Ron or Neville would appear by his side with a look

of fright upon his face. It always took a while before he could reassure Neville that it was just an

ordinally nightmare. One night Dean Thomas even came to his aide.

After five hours of staring at the hangings around his bed, Harry noticed the sun began to

peak above the horizon. He slowly sat up, grabbed his glasses from the night stand, and made his

way to the common room to wait for his fellow Gryffindors to wake up from their slumber.