Harry Potter & The Talisman of Prongs
Chapter 2: The Nightmare
Sirius Black whistled lightly as he set a couple of logs into the warm fireplace. He stood back in the dark room and smiled to himself as he watched the flames dance. He started whistling again and sat down onto the old beat-up sofa that was in the living room, picking up a copy of the Daily Prophet.
The song that he whistled was very distant in his past but he knew it like he'd heard it yesterday, though he couldn't quite remember the words. It was a lullaby his mother had sung to him when he had been a child.
Just then, the fire went out, leaving Sirius in complete darkness. But a second later, the fire roared back to life, and even more powerfully than before. And in the middle of the room stood a man. Or at least it looked like a man. His face wasn't visible because he was wearing a long black hooded cloak. The man stood haunched over and then slowly approached the sofa.
He raised a cloaked arm, in which his hand held an old wand. A low growl came from the man's lips and he spoke an inaudible spell. A flash came from the tip of his wand and Sirius fell to the floor.
"HARRY!" The scream echoed through the house
Harry remembered seeing Voldemort feed off of a unicorn in the Forbidden Forest during his first year at Hogwarts. It seemed horrible to him that someone would harm such a beautiful creature. But he knew how evil Voldemort was, and it didn't surprise him that he would kill anything. Harry knew what Voldemort was capable of. The subject was always so painful to think about because he'd murdered so many people that he knew. His parents, Cedric Diggory…
The setting of the place was so dark that Harry couldn't see the walls. All he could see was a small light about twenty feet away, and all he could hear was a muffled crying. It sounded like Hermione, and that scared him. He'd only seen her cry a couple of times in all the years he'd known her.
Harry tried to move but there was a big weight holding him down. It felt like rubble. Stone and wood. He tried to call out to Hermione but his voice wouldn't work. The weight was so heavy that he could barely breathe. Everything was blurry but he could see Ron.
Ron was lying on the floor a few feet away. There was an enormous gash on his forehead and blood on the floor next to him. Then he saw Hermione leaning over Ron. She was lightly shaking him and calling for him to wake up.
Something sank in the pit of Harry's stomach that told him Ron wasn't going to be waking up for a while—if at all.
The black figure appeared behind them and Hermione screamed but the scream faded away and suddenly the cloaked figure lunged at Harry, and a deep voice said, "I'm coming for you."
A flash of light and a loud crackle woke Harry. He was back in his bad at the Weasley house, sleeping in Ron's room. Rain poured outside and another bolt of lightning lit up the sky accompanied by the rumbling sound of thunder.
He lifted his hands to his face and discovered that he was covered in sweat. He was suddenly aware of how cold he was. Harry closed his eyes and waited for his heartbeat to steady. His senses returned and the room filled with Ron's snoring.
With his hands and legs still shaking, he put his glasses on and went to the window to look out at the yard. He sighed, seeing that it was only a dream and nothing more. Sirius was safe in Hogsmeade, Ron was safely snoring in his bed, and Hermione asleep in the other room. Harry was about to go back to sleep when something outside caught his eye.
Lightning had revealed what looked to be a person standing in the middle of the Weasley front yard. Harry rubbed his eyes and squinted, trying to see better, but when the next bolt of lightning struck, the yard was empty.
