Now that Draco knew that he could enter dreams, he wanted to be able to manipulate them. There was no point in just plodding along complacently in dreams. Draco wanted to be in control. He wanted to be able to create and destroy things at will. He opened Dream Spells onto the corresponding chapter (Changing Dreams), and read.
'Changing a dream is one of the integral parts of dream walking. The process for creating, destroying and changing objects in a dream is a very simple one. There is just three spells involved: the Creato, Mutatifors and Destruito spells.
'Firstly, the Creato spell is used to create objects and people from unshaped dreams. The exact thing that is to be made must be firmly in the mind of the caster, otherwise the spell will fail, or worse, a half-made object will form. Once made, the objects and people act as if they are independent from the caster.
'Secondly, the Mutatifors spell is used to change objects, both those that have been created by the caster and those created by the dreamer. Like the Creato spell, the exact change must be in the caster's mind for the spell to work properly. If not, either the spell will not work, or the object will change into something random. This spell can be used to change an object to a completely different one or just to tweak something in the dream.
'Finally, the Destruito spell is used to 'destroy' objects in the dream. These objects can be only retrieved using the Creato spell to recreate them. It is integral to be thinking about the specific object being removed or other objects in the vicinity of where wand is pointed may also disappear.
'With all three spells, at the start it may be difficult to get what the caster wants exactly, but with some practice, it will become easier and easier. It takes much more practice to make changes to the dreamer. They are generally fairly resistant to change. But with enough practice and force it is possible. Also, casting the Destruito spell on the dreamer or a dream walker will cause them to wake up.'
Draco decided that it would be a good idea to use Blaise as practice again. It was easy to charm him before they went to sleep, and it was also easy to check if the dreams actually happened.
So before Draco went to sleep that night, he again cast the Somnus charm over Blaise. And as he lay in bed, he chanted "Incipe somnium!", and sank into Blaise's dream.
Again, Draco was faced by the chaos of undifferentiated dreams. Instead of panicking this time, he tried out a spell. He concentrated on a chair, one of the armchairs in the Slytherin common room, dark green leather and very comfortable, and said "Creato!". Nothing happened. Draco screwed up his eyes and thought about the armchair as hard as he could. Draco opened, raised his wand again, and yelled "Creato!". Suddenly, where there had been nothing, sat the armchair. It wasn't like the flittering shapes in the corners of his eyes. It was actually there. Draco walked over cautiously, and when the armchair didn't disappear, he gingerly sat on it. It stayed as it was. Draco smiled. He had succeeded.
In the distance (or what Draco thought of as the distance in the always-changing dream chaos), Draco saw an approaching island of stability. As this island approached, Draco saw trees pop into existence and sway is a breeze that began on one side and disappeared once it left the safety of the island. In the centre of the island was a figure. Draco knew, even before the dark skin, even before he heard the yell, that it was Blaise. Blaise ran up to Draco, and suddenly, the chaos was no longer there. Draco was sitting in an armchair in the middle of a forest. He looked around. In the distance he could see a clearing with a lot of grass. Maybe that was where he had been before.
"What's happening?" Draco asked Blaise.
Blaise looked at him up and down. "How did you get the armchair up the stairs?" he asked.
Draco looked around again. He blinked. The forest was gone. Instead, Blaise and Draco were in their bedroom in the Slytherin common room at Hogwarts. Blaise was standing in front of Draco in just a pair of boxer shorts. Draco looked down at himself. He was sitting in the armchair wearing the boxers that he had worn to bed. Draco thanked his lucky stars that he had not gone to bed naked tonight.
"Let's wake the others", Blaise said.
Draco looked at the other beds. There were only two four-poster beds in the room. On them were two boys, neither of them in Draco and Blaise's year. Draco recognised them. They were both on the Slytherin Quidditch team – Terence Higgs and Adrian Pucey. Draco wondered at why they were here. He would have expected Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle or Theodore Nott, who actually shared a room with Draco and Blaise. By this time Blaise had gone over to the beds and were shaking the two boys. Slowly, they sat up, rubbed their eyes, and grumbled about how it was too early in the morning to do anything.
"Come on!" Blaise told them. "We've got to get down to breakfast! If you two waste any more time we'll be late for History of Magic."
Terence and Adrian grumbled some more, but got out of bed. Terence, Adrian and Blaise rushed to the door, but the armchair was in the way. All three boys tried to move it away, but it didn't move. Draco could see that they were getting more and more annoyed as the armchair refused to budge. Sighing, Draco took out his wand. He pointed it at the armchair, and, concentrating hard on only the armchair, chanted "Destruito!". Immediately, the armchair disappeared. Adrian, who had been trying to push the armchair away, fell over. Then, without even wondering where the armchair had gone, he got up and followed Blaise and Terence out the door.
"Hurry up, Draco", Draco heard Terence yell.
"But... Umm..." stammered Draco. "I've got to get dressed."
"No time!" replied Blaise. He ran back up the stairs and dragged Draco down them with him.
The four boys climbed the stairs from the dungeon to the Entrance Hall. Draco was still trying to work out what was going on when they wondered through the doors of the Great Hall and towards the Slytherin table. The sound of people talking over breakfast stopped as everyone turned towards the newcomers. Draco heard a few snorts before everyone else broke into gales of laughter. Draco blushed. The other three boys didn't seem to hear. Draco guessed that they didn't hear the laughter at all. He sat down with them, and tried as hard as he could to disappear. Even though this was a dream, this was embarrassing for him.
Then breakfast was over. Draco had not even touched any food. It felt like the meal went to no time at all. Then Draco remembered. This was a dream. In dreams, time can jump from place to place. Everyone was standing up, Blaise, Adrian and Terence included. Draco stood up as well, and was swept with the crowd as it moved down the corridors. Eventually, they reached the History of Magic classroom, and the crowd disappeared. The four boys entered the room, and snuck to four desks at the back. Professor Binns was droning on about something. It sounded like the Goblin Wars again. Draco saw people begin to nod off.
Draco took out his wand from where ever it had been. He pointed it at the empty desk in front of him, concentrating hard. "Mutatifors!" he whispered, and with a loud pop, the desk became a blue duck. It quacked loudly. Professor Binns gave it a disapproving look
"Damn it!" Draco said aloud.
He tried again. With another pop, the duck disappeared and turned into a large dog. Draco smiled. He was starting to get the hang of this. In succession, he changed the dog into a mug of butterbeer, an angry owl, a purple quill and finally back into a desk. Draco was jubilant. The spell worked, and he was getting better at it! It had worked most of the time, and he had to concentrate less and less each time. The thing that interested him the most, though, was that no one commented. No one even looked. Even the three boys that were sitting next to him were continuing to write their notes from the class (which was strange in itself – no one took notes in History of Magic!).
Jubilantly, Draco decided to step things up a notch. He remembered reading that it was possible to change people as well as inanimate objects. While he didn't think he was practiced enough to change Blaise, the dreamer, he may be able to work something on some of the other people here. Draco suspected, though, that this would be harder than just changing objects' shapes.
Draco decided on his first subject. He pointed his wand at Pansy Parkinson, who was sitting two rows in front of him. In his mind he concentrated on a simple task. To start off, he just wanted her to do five star jumps. Not too difficult, and easy to see if it worked. Draco whispered "Mutatifors!" and hoped that it would work.
Pansy stood up, knocking her quill onto the floor. Draco held his breath. Everyone turned to look at her.
"Yes, Miss Pearce?" Professor Binns asked, bemused.
"I just had to stretch", Pansy replied.
"Go ahead then", Professor Binns said, blinking. "But be quick about it, Miss Parker."
Pansy began to stretch. Professor Binns continued to drone on. She moved over to the window.
"It's pretty hot in here", Pansy told no one in particular. She tried to open the window and failed, so she took off her school jacket. Draco could see that she was sweating. One by one, Pansy undid the buttons of her shirt. All she had on underneath was her bra. Feeling better, Pansy returned to her seat. No one seemed to notice anything strange. As Pansy reached down to pick up the quill off the floor, her shirt slid off her shoulders.
'That didn't seem to work', Draco told himself. 'Though I don't mind the consequences.'
Draco decided to try again. He turned to Terence next to him, and concentrated hard on Terence reaching over and snatching Blaise's quill from his hands. He muttered the spell again, and waited, hopefully. Terence reached over to Blaise and without a word, snatched his quill away. Without responding, Blaise took Terence's quill, which was lying on the table. Both boys continued to write. Draco smiled happily. It worked!
The bell rang. Professor Binns drifted through the chalkboard, and then, all of a sudden, all the students were in the Slytherin common room again, sitting on the armchairs. Draco, drunk on success, wanted to try out the spell a third time. He pointed his wand at Adrian and concentrated on him getting Draco snacks from the kitchen, and cast the spell.
Adrian stood up, but didn't leave the common room. He walked towards Pansy, who was sitting across from Draco still without her shirt on. Adrian began to dance to some silent music, but Draco felt as though he could hear it. Pansy squealed in delight. It wasn't every day that a guy dressed in just his underwear danced in front of her. Adrian began to gyrate his hips and move closer and closer to Pansy. Suddenly, he leant forward and placed himself in Pansy's lap. Pansy blushed. Adrian put his hands behind Pansy's back and pulled her in for a kiss. Pansy happily complied.
Adrian and Pansy were kissing for a few minutes. Everyone was looking at the couple, but no one said a word. When they broke away, Pansy's bra fell away too. Adrian's hands had been busy. Draco stared at Pansy's breasts. He had seen them accidentally once or twice – nothing was ever a secret for long in the Slytherin common room – but he had never had the honour of studying them face on. They were nice and round, with pert nipples in the centre. Draco sighed. This was turning out to be a very good dream. Adrian's hands began to massage Pansy's breasts. Pansy groaned. She reached a hand down and slid it inside Adrian's boxers. With her other hand, she manoeuvred the boxers so that they slid down Adrian's lower half. Draco could see Pansy's hand sliding up and down Adrian's half-hard penis. They kissed again.
This went on for a few minutes. Suddenly, Adrian stood up. He reached down and pulled his boxers back up. Pansy picked up the bra that was lying on the floor and put it back on. They both sat back in their seats, and conversation began to hum around everyone.
Draco felt a tap on his shoulder. Blaise was there.
"I'm going to go to sleep now, OK?" he said. Draco followed him up the stairs to their bedroom. But before the two boys had reached the top of the stairs, the Slytherin common room had morphed into the forest that they had been in at the beginning of the dream.
'I guess that's all', said Draco. 'I should go back now.' He took his wand out of his pocket.
"Finem somnium!" Draco chanted, and found himself back in his bed.
'At least I know that some of this stuff works', Draco told himself. He settled himself down for his own dreams, smiling at all the fun he would have with this new talent of his.