Harry stared out the window of his room. It was night out. It would continue being night out for upwards of three hours, seventeen minutes, and somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen seconds.

"You're far too restless." Commented Boris, curled up on a pillow across the room.

"Something just doesn't feel right." Harry said, leaning his forehead against the glass.

"What do you mean?"

"I've just got this bad feeling something's going to happen at the Cup." Harry explained. "No real evidence of it, but my instinct is telling me to be cautious."

"Instinct, huh?"

"Get chased by a monster or two, you learn to trust your instincts rather fast."

The snake uncoiled slightly to get a better look at the teen. "Perhaps. But there must be something to be said of common sense, as well."

"Common sense lost all meaning for me when I fought a guy with two faces." Harry said, dryly. After a moment, he scowled and turned away from the window. "It doesn't help that my odd dreams have been continuing."

"And what has your headmaster had to say about them?"

"Simple that he'll look into matters and not to worry. Same crap he says every time I send him a letter with a worry or problem. Dumbledore isn't my favorite person in the world." Harry said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"And why would that be?"

"He's the reason I keep having to return to Number Four. He's never around to help me out of these damned situations I keep getting into at his school. If he hadn't been out of the school in my first year, I wouldn't have had to go after Quirrell myself. If he had made any kind of move, I wouldn't have had to go and nearly get killed by a basilisk. The only time I think he might have helped me was when he condoned Hermione to use her time turner to help save Sirius! He refuses to speak to me about what, exactly, the blood wards are or why they're so special. He refuses to tell me where my parents are buried. He refuses to treat me like anything but a PAWN."

"Harsh words." Boris said.

"I've had all night to think about them." Muttered Harry, running a hand back through his hair. "He acts like he's my guardian or something. And I don't like it one bit, Boris. He'd never admit it and I doubt anyone but Tonks and I have noticed, but he's remarkably manipulative. I dunno if he's using wandless magic to influence people or if there's just something about him that people trust, but it's ridiculous. Personally, I think it has something to do with his eyes. That twinkle in them bothers me."

"Why?"

Harry leaned back on his arms, staring up at the ceiling with a frown on his face. "It's... hard to explain. It just feels like they're boring into me - like he's trying to force the truth out of me. That or read my mind. Gonna look into that this year. See if there's any way to read minds or control people. I trust him enough to say he's not using some form of the Imperius on anyone, though."

"So he appears to all as a kindly old man who can do no wrong. All the while, he's taken control behind the scenes and you feel he's moving those around him as though they were chess pieces?" Asked the snake.

"Something like that. He also never said why I even need the blood protection on Number Four OR why we can't erect something similar HERE. I don't feel right about Tonks' house being unprotected." Harry said.

"You should still try to sleep, you know." Commented Boris after a few minutes of silence.

"I wouldn't be able to drift off." Harry said. "I've just got too much on my mind. I'll probably pass out at some point from inactivity, but I doubt the rest will be sound."

"Well, is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"Too much. My mind's rather cluttered at the moment. I may not like being stuck at the Dursleys' for the summer, but it does give me time away from the wizarding world. Time away from him. Lets me think clearly. Unfortunately, it tends to take all summer to get my mind straightened back out. And each time I do, I find a few faults with the man. I won't believe for a second that he wouldn't be able to offer up wards here that're at least as strong as those on Number Four. Not with how everyone claims him to be the most powerful wizard around. That's another thing I don't like..."

"Him being powerful? Why?"

"It isn't though I haven't seen the headmaster perform magic - he's saved me a couple times I can think of. It just seems that if he's so powerful, like everyone claims, he should've been able to do something about all the stuff that's happened in his school. The most he's done is scare some dementors and use wandless magic to keep me from smashing into the ground. And he stopped a troll. Yet he left all the big fights up to me. A guy shouldn't have to kill before he reaches puberty." Harry said, a dark hint of amusement in his voice. "Yet that's exactly what I've done."

"Ahh, back to this train of thought." Said the snake.

"Can't help it. Death bothers me. Especially since it seems to follow me the hell around." Harry said, flopping back and crossing his arms. "It's part of the reason I'm so paranoid about the Cup. And you remember the stuff I read to you from the Prophet. Something's going on at Hogwarts, only no one's bloody saying what it is. Hogwarts doesn't need any spectacular events or anything. There's more than enough 'excitement' coming from the things out to kill people!"

"It's going to be an interesting year for me, isn't it?" Asked Boris.

"Probably. I'm getting used to this stuff happening, eerie as it is to admit. Can't imagine you'll be very thrilled with it all by the end of the term, either." Harry said.

"Lovely."

Finally, Harry closed his eyes and yawned. "I need to be stronger, Boris. I'm just not sure how to do that while I'm still learning about the basics. Kinda hard to work out advanced magic when you still don't have certain points of the simpler stuff down, y'know?"

"You'll find a way."

"Sooner or later. I'm hoping for sooner." Harry murmured. "Too much happening this year. Too many chances for trouble. It's well and good for me to claim I want to protect Tonks and keep her safe. It's harder to follow through on. What if we get seperated? There's more than one way to spirit a person off. It bugs me that Voldemort didn't reappear last year. It really does. Trelawney's damn prediction keeps coming back to me. It feels like pieces are fitting together in a twisted sort of puzzle, only I'm not allowed to watch.I just have to guess what's gone where. I don't like it."

"Few would, Harry. Few would." Said Boris. He coiled back up on the pillow, watching Harry until the boy had drifted off into another restless sleep. "Let us hope the puzzle doesn't get finished before you're ready to see the picture it forms."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry felt his way forward, being unable to properly see in the dark yet. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew it felt familiar for some reason. The familiarity was outweighed, however, by the creeping dread. This place was too silent - too still. There were no people moving around. There were no cars driving along the streets. The mere sounds of noctural animals and insects was not present. Not even the wind would blow to help Harry try and establish some sense of direction in this place.

The only beacon in the darkness rose above the rest of the buildings, at the end of a long street. A small mansion of sorts with a light coming from a lone, upstairs window. It almost seemed to phase in and out of reality - Harry was having a hard time keeping track of it despite the fact that his eyes never left the spot once he had locked onto it. There was a vile fog in the air, which seemed almost supernatural in and of itself.It wasn't being helpful, in any case. And the distinct feeling of cold, like he got when dementors drew near, had been coursing through his veins ever since he awoke in this dismal, dark location.

The hair on the back of his neck rose when the silence was violently broken. A siren, somewhere behind him, had started to go off. Loud and seemingly unending, it tore through the darkness like a knife. The window once more became visible and, feeling as though death itself was coming for him, he took off running.

The street was half destroyed, as though heavy objects had smashed into it and then subsequently been removed. Harry did his best to keep himself from tripping. He had long since tried to find his wand, only to realize that he had lost it at some point. Chills were running down his spine now as he collided abruptly with the large, iron gate in front of the mansion. For once, it seemed as though luck was on his side, as one half of it was open. After passing through, the siren in the distance was cut off. The noise didn't wind down slowly, it had simply stopped dead. There was nothing natural about this place in Harry's mind. Something had cleared the town out - something had removed all traces of life. The question was what. And if no one was around, why was the light upstairs on?

One of the two doors leading into the building was open. But unlike the gate he had previously been through, this passage forward made Harry once more fill with dread. Though there was no wind to push it, the door blew back and forth slowly, as if rocked by some unseen hand.

Carefully making his way inside, Harry was met with an even stranger sight. The mansion, though it looked new from the outside, looked as if it should have been condemned and destroyed ages ago. Everything was black with dirt and rust, along with the unmistakable splatter marks that could only be made by blood.

Harry briefly pondered his options. He could either take his chances back outside, in the fog, cold, and darkness... or continue pushing forward into the rusted, blood-soaked abode. Neither was particularly pleasant.

It didn't take him long to find the room with the light coming from it. He had made sure to glance up as he ran between gate and door. He was having trouble navigating the place, however, as his feet kept piercing the ground beneath him. Near the top of the stairs, he had nearly snapped his ankle as his foot suddenly pushed through a step rather than come to rest on top of it.

A foul odor was eminating from the room, and Harry could very faintly hear a voice. Though quiet, it was very high-pitched and scratchy, as though the speaker hadn't talked in years. Harry felt he should remember this voice, as it certainly felt as if he had heard it before, though he wasn't able to recall where.

Harry reached out and took hold of the old, crusted-over doorknob and twisted it, pushing it open. Light flooded Harry's eyes, causing him to gasp aloud and clamp his eyes shut. Slowly, so as to allow them to adjust, Harry let them open once more.

He immediately wished he hadn't.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Boris' eyes snapped open as Harry let out a strangled scream. The boy's eyes then opened as wide as they could and, before the snake could ask what was wrong, Harry had bolted out of bed, slammed open his door, and ran out.

The Tonks women had been awakened by the scream - it wouldn't have surprised Andromeda if everyone around them had been, as well. The two had met out in the hall, immediately turning to face the bathroom, where the sounds of violent retching could be heard. Tonks made a face, looking to her mother. Andromeda nodded and motioned for her daughter to wait in Harry's room.

"Harry...?" Asked the woman, stepping into the doorway. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

When Harry's head rose from its position over the toilet, the look he gave her made her blood run cold. His pupils were smaller than Andromeda had ever seen on a person, and that included both victims and attackers back in Voldemort's reign. There was an unbridled horror lurking in that reduced blackness. Harry tried opening his mouth to speak, but had to quickly reposition his head over the toilet.

"Harry, what happened!" Andromeda asked, quickly crossing the room and kneeling down next to the boy, rubbing his back slowly. "Was it a nightmare?"

Harry quickly nodded his head between heaves, drawing in a shuddered breath.

"It's okay, Harry. It was only a dream - you're awake now. Whatever it was, it's gone now. It can't get to you here." Said the woman soothingly.

A good minute later, when Harry had emptied his tank and the dry heaving had stopped, he was sitting, leaning back against the wall opposite the toilet. Andromeda had gotten him a cup of water and a peppermint to get the taste out of his mouth. He had also calmed down, his eyes returning to normal, for which Andromeda was more than happy. She didn't want to see that look on anyone ever again. By this time, Tonks had also entered the room, Boris coiled around her left hand.

"Feel like talking about it?" Asked the elder of the women.

"Was... was just a bad dream. That's all it was." Harry murmured, his voice hoarse. "It... it was just a dream."

"You scared your snake." Said Tonks, crossing the room to sit next to Harry, holding her hand up.

"Sorry, Boris." Harry whispered, offering the creature a ghost of a smile.

"What happened?" Asked the snake. "One minute you're sleeping peacefully... then you jack-knife out of bed!"

Harry let out a weak laugh. Then, seeing the confused looks on the women, he explained what Boris had said. Turning back to the snake, he asked, "Where did you come up with that term?"

"You'd be surprised." Replied Boris.

After a few minutes, the headache Harry had gained was ebbing away. He had been able to replay the events in his mind without getting sick again, though he saw no need to induce vomiting on the women with what he had seen. Instead, he gave them a vague rundown of the town he had been in; of the race towards the mansion. How, once inside, he had made his way to the lit room and how he had opened the door leading in. From there, all he would say was that he hoped to never see any living creature in such a state for as long as he lived.

Some of the fear Andromeda had seen in his eyes had returned slightly, threatening its way inward. Tonks had slipped an arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him close. He didn't fight it. Rather, the warmth he felt reassured him that he really was awake and that the skinless, dripping humans from his nightmare wouldn't be able to find him now. His eyes closed again, his mind trying to find an image to counter the hellish scene he had walked in on.

"Try not to fall asleep on me, 'kay?" Murmured Tonks, leaning her head against Harry's.

"I'm not going back to sleep tonight." Harry replied, voice still soft. "I don't think I'm gonna eat much today. ...and... and I'd appreciate no one having any... any meat for awhile, if it isn't too much trouble..."

"No trouble at all." Andromeda said. She had taken to sitting up on the long counter in the room, watching her daughter comfort their poor guest. She was doing an admirable job of it, too - Harry's breathing was slow and steady again and he had smiled a few times. It was definitely the right direction to go in.

That being said, distraction was certainly on Andromeda's mind. The odd request left her wondering what, indeed, he had seen in his dream. For a moment, she had considered asking if she could borrow Albus' pensieve, but quickly erased that idea. She didn't want Harry to remember that scene at all if she could help it.

Instead, she chose to hop down from the counter, heading for the doorway. "It's almost seven, anyway. I'm going to go make some breakfast. Just some pancakes and toast, if that's alright. Something simple."

"Sounds good to me." Tonks said, glancing and smiling over at her mother. Then, looking back at Harry, she asked, "Sure you don't feel like eating? Not like you don't have room now."

"Urgh... don't remind me..." Harry mumbled. "...I think some dry toast might be good, though."

"That's the spirit. I'll call when it's ready. You two can stay right where you are for now. I don't think Harry should be moving quickly for awhile." Andromeda said. "It's still a good five hours before we need to be in place to get to the Cup. Rest for now."

"Be in place?" Harry asked, opening his eyes and glancing to Tonks as Andromeda headed downstairs.

"Portkey." Tonks responded. "I've travelled by it a couple times - can never land quite right. It's... sorta like apparating, only more nauseating."

"Oh, great." Harry said. "Just what I need."

"Ah, you'll do fine. Just don't spew on me if the urge arises, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am." Harry muttered.

Not long after, Andromeda sent out the call that breakfast was done. Tonks helped Harry up and the trio - Boris had made his way back onto Harry's arm - headed downstairs.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Author's Notes: Original notes follow, current notes after that.

Bit different this chapter, huh? Bet none of you expected something that random in the middle of the boring setup chapters, didja? You can blame that on Silent Hill. Not the movie - I've heard nothing but bleh about that. Turned from an atmosphere game series to a generic gorefest.

So what did Harry see in his dream? Well, you got a brief description - do you honestly want to know the full details? I'm sure they'll show up somewhere down the line. Don't worry, I'll give a warning or something if I decided to describe the scene or have Harry show it to someone. That or you could just manually skip past it. I think I'd need to ramp the rating up to a temporary M for it, though. Just in case I have any younger-type readers out there.

On to the new stuff: This chapter, exactly as it is now, has sat here for a month or so. Howeverlong it's been. Why? Because originally it was going to include getting to the World Cup too. But given the difficulty I've had in motivation lately, combined with the fact that I just couldn't work out a proper way to continue from there, I've decided to up the chapter as is and then just do a fresh start on chapter 5. I hope nobody minds. I know this chapter is shorter than the new norm. But any update is better than none, right?

I'm not making any promises for updates past this, though. Like I've said - my motivation is in the hole. And I'm pretty burned out from just all the almost nonstop writing I've done this year. Blame the rapidfire way I wrote the last half of Prisoner in like two months or so. I'll try to get chapter 5 out soon, but 'soon' may be anywhere from a week to two months. Sorry, all.

Post-Edit Notes: Sorry if I missed any typos. I slept like crap last night. Urf. Anyway, just wanted to letcha'll know that I HAVE actually started Chapter 5. There's not a whole lot THERE at the moment, but the wheel's rolling again, no matter how slowly. Don't worry - I've wasted enough of my life on this that I won't quit. I just might need long breaks from it occasionally.