Scream
AN – I don't own Harry Potter
Scream,
Scream,
Scream,
The way you would if I ravaged your mind!
Avenged Sevenfold – Scream
I sat on the Hogwarts Express with Harry, Ron and Hermione, speeding through the countryside towards our third year. I was chewing my lip nervously as Harry filled us in on what Arthur Weasley had told him before we had left. All the while we were shooting furtive glances at the shabby looking man who was sleeping in the corner, hoping he didn't wake up.
"Is he still definitely sleeping?" I whispered. Ron peered at the man, Professor R J Lupin according to 'Mione, and nodded.
"So, Sirius Black, escaped Azkaban to kill you?" Harry sighed and nodded at my question. Although a rush of fear flooded through me, I couldn't help but give a small, bitter laugh. "Bloody hell Harry, we're never going to have a normal year are we?" My three best friends laughed along with me, but the sound was completely without humour.
"What I don't understand though is something else Mr Weasley said. Well, demanded really." Harry said, eyebrows knitting together in a frown. Automatically, Ron, 'Mione and me leaned closer towards Harry. "He wanted me to swear that I wouldn't go and look for Black. I don't get it." Out of the corner of my eye I could have sworn I saw Lupin twitch. Ignoring it, I cocked my head. "Why would you go looking for someone that wants to kill you?" I asked. Harry shrugged, and threw his head back sighing. Meeting my gaze again he shook his head. "That's exactly what I said."
With a sharp jolt, the Hogwarts Express screeched to a sudden halt. "We can't be there yet!" Hermione exclaimed, her tone confused and tinged with worry. Ron peered out of the window, leaning on it with his hand. "There's something moving out there." He whimpered. As he did so, frost began to spread along the window. The patterns it made were beautiful, yet somehow creepy. Ron jerked his hand back, blowing it to try and warm it up.
A skeletal hand slid the compartment door open, and I snapped my gaze to it along with Hermione, Ron and Harry. A chill seeped through my bones as the temperature in the compartment plummeted. My breath rose in front of me in misty puffs and my teeth started chattering. A tall, hooded figure glided into the compartment and I started struggling to breath. Images flashed in my head. All the times I was slapped about at the orphanage. All the things the other kids said. The time that Matron taunted me, telling me that my parents ditched me because they didn't love me, no-one ever would. All of the worst moments in my life flashed before my eyes. I could feel tears rolling down my face. Instead of being hot, as they would normally be, they seemed to freeze on my face. Another image flashed in front of me, Harry, Ron and Hermione in the hospital wing at various times. By this point I was shaking uncontrollably.
There was a sudden flash of silver-white light in the compartment, and whatever the hooded figure was glided away. The temperature in the compartment returned to normal, and the images which had been plaguing my mind vanished, although I was still shaking. The shabby man, Lupin, handed me some chocolate with an order to eat it. I nibbled on the corner of it gratefully, and warmth flooded through me.
I looked around the compartment to see Hermione and Ron looking just as pale as I knew I was. Harry was pure white, his scar standing out a dark purple, his emerald eyes wide and blazing with fear and confusion. "Who screamed?" He choked out, looking wildly between me and Hermione, trying to decipher which one of us was hurt. "No-one screamed mate." Ron muttered, looking at Harry like he was slightly mad. "No, I heard a scream. 'Mione? Leo? Was it one of you?" Hermione and I exchanged a worried glance. "No-one screamed Harry." Hermione told him in a soothing tone.
An hour later and we were sat in the Great Hall. Professor Lupin, who had given us the chocolate had explained that the thing that had made us all feel so strange was a dementor. It was an Azkaban guard, looking for Sirius Black. According to Dumbledore in the welcome speech, there were going to be a lot of them around this year, posted at every entrance to the school. Of course this sparked speculation as to why, after all, no-one expected that he would just waltz into the school. It made me worried that we were going to have dementors around, it proved that Black was after Harry. And since Harry had such a penchant for getting into trouble, I had a feeling that Black just might find him before the year was out.
Draco Malfoy was being his usual prat self, mocking Harry from across the hall. Laughing with his fellow Slytherins about the fact that Harry had fainted. Swooning and pretending to pass out anytime Harry looked around. I desperately wanted to hex him, but Dumbledore's sparkling blue eyes kept meeting my gaze, and I knew he knew what I was thinking.
It took a great deal of restraint to last through dinner without hexing him, but finally we were off to Gryffindor tower to sleep.
Well, I say sleep. We could hear really odd and random sounds coming from the guys dorm, and knew that they were catching up and having, for want of a better term, a sleepover party. So we decided to do the same. Hermione, myself, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patel all chattered away about boys, summer, school, Sirius Black, fashion, books and all sorts of other things. Whilst neither Lavender or Parvati were really the kind of girls I was close with (both were far too girly for my liking) I had to admit I had a fun night.
When I did finally manage to get some sleep, my dreams were strange and horrible. They were plagued by all the images the dementors had made me see. But they were also plagued by images of Sirius Black, the manic smile plastered to his face as he murdered Harry in front of me, followed by Ron, then Hermione, before finally killing me too. I woke with a start, my hair plastered to my face, sweat drenching me. Silently crossing the dorm room to the window, I perched on the windowsill, gazing out at the moon. There, on the outskirts of the Dark Forest was a giant dog.
Its fur was black and shaggy, making it look bigger than it was. I couldn't see too much detail, but I could see the faint gleam of the moon reflecting in its eyes. I shivered and walked away from the window, crawling back into bed.
The next morning I awoke, tired and groggy. I don't know what time I eventually fell back asleep, but it didn't feel like I actually had slept.
I took a quick shower in the girls bathroom that adjoined our dormitory, using a charm to dry myself and my hair. Dressing quickly, I braided my hair into a messy fishtail plait. I grabbed the textbooks, quills, ink and parchment I would need for the day before heading down to the common room to read whilst I waited for the others.
I tried to read my DADA textbook, but found it difficult to concentrate. My mind was too focused on the dreams I had, an the dog. Especially the dog. I couldn't explain the way that dog made me feel. Like a deep fear, but I had never been afraid of dogs before. Shaking the feeling off I tried to read again. "Morning Eleonora." A voice sounded from my right. I looked up to see Hermione grinning at me. "Don't use my full name 'Mione. You know I hate it." I pouted.
"Come on, lets go down to breakfast. Harry and Ron'll be a while, they've only just woke up according to Dean." I rolled my eyes and followed her down to the Great Hall, telling her about the dog I had seen, and the dream about Sirius Black. In typical Hermione fashion, she used her cool logic to calm me down and make me feel better. "Well of course you had a nightmare about Sirius Black. Harry is like your brother, and you were obviously still a little bit delicate from the dementors. Plus the fact we know Black wants to kill Harry, that makes perfect sense that that's what you'd dream. As for me and Ron dying, we're your best friends too. I wouldn't worry, we're all perfectly safe here." She smiled comfortingly before continuing. "As for the dog, it probably only made you nervous because of the dream you had, you were already on edge, and it was a surprising sight." I laughed and hugged her. "Thank 'Mione. You're right as usual. Now lets eat."
After a scrummy breakfast of crumpets, I headed to my first class with Ron and Harry. For some reason, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. We all shrugged it off, assuming she had made a dash for the loo or the library or something.
Our Divination teacher was called Professor Trelawny. I immediately named her Professor Tre-Loony in my head. She looked like a giant insect, and her voice was all misty, almost like she was stoned. She explained what we were required to do in our lesson, and the only part I was happy about was it was an excuse to drink tea. We had to exchange cups, and read the leaves. I glanced in mine as I handed it to Ron and frowned. It looked like the dog from last night. I remembered what Hermione had said and shook my head, clearing my mind of any thoughts of the dog, and turned my focus to my lesson. So far I thought it seemed a little bit woolly, but I was determined to work hard anyway. Harry handed me his cup (he had Ron's, Hermione was still AWOL) and I gasped.
"What's up Leo?" Hermione asked. I jerked my head to face her. "Where did- what? Where did you come from?" Ron spluttered. Hermione rolled her eyes, and in a dignified tone replied, "I've been here the entire time Ronald." I narrowed my eyes at her, letting her know I knew something was up. She raised her eyebrows a fraction, communicating that she would explain later. I gave a small nod of assent, and Ron huffed. "I hate it when you two have silent conversations!"
Neither Hermione or myself could reply however, as Tre-Loony landed at our table. She asked Ron to explain the leaves in my cup. According to Ron, there was a dark cloud, which meant heartbreak, a swirly thing that meant change and a heart that meant love. Tre-Loony sighed in exasperation, and snatched my cup away from him. She dropped it immediately with a sharp intake of breath. As she leaned closer to me to explain, she caught sight of Harry's cup and emitted a small scream.
"My dears. It is almost too horrific to say. Two in one class...so young. My dears, you have The Grim." I raised an eyebrow, and Harry looked nonplussed. A random boy in the class answered our unspoken question. "The Grim takes the form of a giant spectral dog, and is one of the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen of death." The room went deathly silent. Lavender and Parvati gasped, looking horrorstruck. Ron was pale, muttering something about some great-uncle or another and Hermione bit her lip, trying not to laugh. At least until she saw the dog in Harry's cup.
AN – Chapter 2, hope you like it! I'd like to say a huge thanks to my first and only reviewer – .Uchiha it means a lot to me that you took the time to review, and I'm immensely grateful for your positive comments :)
Let me know what you think of the story so far, I'll try update again soon! X