––– CHAPTER EIGHT –––

The Potion

After the holidays, everything went back to normal. Everything was calm. It was the beginning of spring, and all the students were very lively. Harry, on the other hand, was having a hard time focusing. He had been having more nightmares. They weren't all the same dream, but they still made Harry tense. The dream that scared him the most, was the dream with Tronks. He couldn't understand what was meant by it.

It was near the end of March, and the beginning of April, when Harry decided to go for a walk one day. As Harry passed through the courtyard, he saw Malfoy and some other Slytherins laughing around a tree. Harry tried not to be noticed.

"Hey Potter," yelled Malfoy "I hear that you've been having nightmares. Is Gwen scaring you again? You know you really should find someone that doesn't give you night terrors."

"Shut up, Malfoy." said Harry.

"Why don't you make me?" asked Malfoy.

"I would, but then I would be wasting my time."

"You're just scared." Harry really wasn't in the mood to fight with Malfoy, so he just walked off. As he was walking, Neville past him.

"Harry," said Neville "Professor Dumbledore told me to tell you to go to Professor Snape's potion classroom."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. He didn't say. He just said it was urgent."

Harry knew that if Dumbledore says it's urgent, then it must be important. He ran down to the classroom as fast as he could. When he arrived he saw Tronks standing at Snape's desk.

"Hello, Harry." said Tronks.

"Tronks. You're all right!" said Harry, as he ran to give her a hug.

"Yeah, I thought it was time for me to leave."

"How do you feel?" asked Harry.

"Better. It feels really good to be out and about again."

"Why are you here?" asked Harry.

"Well, Bobel and Janez told me that you have been having dreams of the future?" said Tronks sarcastically.

"They're not really dreams of the future, their more like nightmares. I can see something happening while it happens." said Harry "But that still doesn't explain why you're here."

"Well you see, I have been taught to help people with things like this. I make potions that help calm the tension that the dreamers get.

" said Tronks.

"So that's what you do for a living?" asked Harry.

"Oh no. I'm an Aura. So are my sisters. I just do this sort of thing to the people that I know and care about. Mostly friends."

"And how are these potions going to help me?" asked Harry.

"Well you see Harry," said Tronks, as she took out a bright green vile from her bag "The potion is to help calm the nerves in your body. When your nerves get tense from a dream it can cause you to lose control when you dream and then the dream, or nightmare, can seem as real or scary as if it were really happening. What you do is, just before you go to sleep, you drink the liquid in the vile and as you sleep, your dream transfers into the empty vile. The liquid controls the dream and when you wake up, you won't remember what you've dreamt."

"What if you do remember the dream? Does the potion still transfer the dream?"

"Yes, but most of the time you won't remember." said Tronks.

"What happens to the dream once its been transferred?" asked Harry.

"The dream stays in the bottle. You can look and see what it is that you dreamt, but I don't recommend it. It's safer not knowing." Then Tronks gave Harry the vile "So tonight, I want you to use this and in a few days came back to this classroom and see me. Okay?" Harry nodded.

That night, just before Harry went to bed, he drank the potion, and instantly fell asleep. As he slept, he found himself in the cavern again. The dream was the same as many before, but this time Harry didn't get past the blinding white light. Before Harry could see any more, he was awakened byRon. Harry had slept in and was going to be late for Potions class again. Harry's nightmare had been keeping him awake at night, causing him to be too tired to go to class. As soon as Harry was dressed and ready to go, he and Ron ran as fast as they could to Professor Snape's classroom. When they burst into the room, everyone turned their heads. Harry could see that Snape was not pleased and quickly took his seat. Both he and Ron sat across from Gwen and Hermione.

"Sorry we're late profess..."

"I don't want to hear it." interrupted Snape "Just take out your books and turn to page 345."

"Harry, where have you been?" asked Gwen, as Snape's back was turned "You've been skipping classes, you're constantly late, and you vanished from me at lunch yesterday. What's going on with you? Is there something I need to know?"

"Actually, now that you ask..."

Cough, Cough

Both Gwen and Harry looked up, and saw Snape standing in front of them.

"For your own safety Potter, I would advise you to stick to your work, unless you want detention for the next week."

Harry then turned and started to read his potion book.

"And as for you Miss. Gryffindor, I suggest you do the same."

Gwen slowly turned around and read.

A couple days had gone by and Harry couldn't understand why the potion wasn't working. At lunch, Harry slipped away from his friends and went to go see Tronks, and told her what had been happening. Tronks told Harry to just keep using the potion. She said that it might take time before it started to work. Two weeks went by, there was still no change with Harry's dreams.

"I don't understand what's going on. It should be working." said Tronks, "Maybe you need a stronger potion. Wait here. I'll be back." said Tronks leaving the room.

Harry did as Tronks told him to do. As time passed, he started to get bored, so Harry decided to look around the classroom. As he was looking through some papers on the desk, he knocked something out of Tronks' bag. It was a purple vile. The same kind of vile that Harry was using. It didn't have a name on it, but Harry's curiosity got the better of him. As Harry took the cork out, he could smell the most foulest smell ever. Harry plugged his nose, and looked in. At first there was just a cloud of smoke, but then, Harry felt like he was somewhere else; not in the Potions room.

It was dark out, and Harry was standing outside of a house. There were no street lights on and it was very cold. Harry soon realized that he was in the dream that was in the bottle, but who's was it? Suddenly, Harry could see a man and a woman coming out of the house. They where running very fast. The two of them didn't seem to notice Harry. As they ran, a dark figure appeared. The man and woman just stopped and dropped to their knees.

"No please, don't." begged the man.

"We'll do better." said the woman.

"You lie." said the dark figure.

Harry recognized that voice. It was Voldemort.

"You have done nothing but lie to me. You are both a waste of skin and are useless to me. I am done with the both of you." and he shot a spell, and both were killed instantly. Harry couldn't believe what had just happened. Seconds later he could hear crying. On the grass outside of the house was a baby. Harry hadn't noticed it before. The man and women must have brought it with them. Harry seemed to be quite interested, and so did Voldemort.

"Now to deal with you."

"Leave her alone." said a voice in the distance.

Harry looked over and saw Dumbledore walking over.

"You will not harm her."

"How did you find me?" asked Voldemort.

"I knew that you would be after Gwen." said Dumbledore.

Harry couldn't believe it. Gwen was the baby. Now it all made sense. This was when Gwen was abandoned by her parents. This was Gwen's dream. Suddenly, Voldemort swooped in on Gwen. Harry tried to stop him, but Dumbledore got to him first. Voldemort realized he wasn't safe, so he vanished. Dumbledore then picked up Gwen.

"You're safe for now, little one." he said as he rocked her.

Then, everything around Harry had turned into smoke. Harry couldn't see anything. When the smoke cleared, Harry found himself in front of a small hut. The hut was grey with a black roof, it had vines growing all over it, and there was a small porch in the front. Around the hut, there was a small garden growing along one of the walls, and a fire pit on the other side. The hut reminded Harry of Hagrid's hut. Harry was happy and felt safe, until he heard a noise. There was some rustling coming from a forest in front of the hut. Harry didn't know what to do, so he hid behind a bush. As the rustling got louder, Harry became more scared. Finally the rustling stopped and a little girl came out of the trees. Harry recognized who it was. It was Gwen, but looked to be only 5 years old. She had long brown hair and wore a blue t-shirt with blue jeans. Harry followed her as she walked into the hut. Gwen didn't seem to notice him. As they walked further into the hut, Gwen suddenly stopped and dropped the basket she was holding. She let out a scream that could have broken glass. As Harry looked around, he saw a creature laying on the ground, in a pool of blood, dead. Gwen then ran out of the hut. Harry followed her.

As they ran, Harry started to lose Gwen. She was running so fast that Harry couldn't keep up. Soon, Harry found himself in front of another hut, much like the one before. The hut was light brown with a grey roof. It had a very large garden filled with fruits and vegetables. There was also a little flower garden next to it. Harry couldn't see Gwen anywhere. He thought she might be inside, so Harry went in. When he arrived inside, he saw a whole bunch of stuff scattered everywhere. It reminded Harry of the Weasley's burrow. To the left, was a small kitchen. There were a few plates on the counter and some glasses in the sink. In front of him was a big, black bookshelf. Harry walked over to get a better look at the books. They were all different spell books. There were books for cooking, casting, healing, transforming, defending, and a couple Care of Magical Creator books. Most of them were year six and seven spell books. When Harry looked around, he could see a night stand. Next to it was a small bed. As he looked even further he could see Gwen standing there fixing a picture. Gwen looked to be about 12 or 13. She had copper brown, shoulder length hair, wore a light blue sweater and a pair of jeans.

As Harry looked at her, he could see that she was happy. It made Harry feel good inside seeing her smile, but then her smile faded and she started to tremble. She then fell to her knees and was clutching her head. Her face went from happy to pain. Harry didn't know what was happening.

"No... stop it." said Gwen in terror.

"You will listen to me and do as I say." said a voice that seemed to echo all through out the hut.

It sounded like Voldemort and it was. Harry then realized that this part of the dream was when Voldemort had taken over Gwen. He was corrupting her.

"You will listen." said the Voldemort.

"No. Why are you doing this? Why are you tormenting me?" cried Gwen.

"Go to Hogwarts."

"I will not. I'M NOT GOING TO HURT HARRYPOTTER." Screamed Gwen.

"Yes, do as I say." said the Voldemort.

"NO... NO STOP TORMENTING ME. I WILL NOT GO TO HOGWARTS. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE. NO. I WANT TO BE ALONE." Gwen fell to the floor. She was crying. Harry didn't know what to do.

"Please just... just leave me alone." cried Gwen.

Suddenly, Harry couldn't see anything. The air around him had gone all smoky again.

"No. I want to help her." yelled Harry.

Harry was then jerked out of the vile and was standing in the Potions Room again. He was so wound up that he could hardly breathe.

"Have fun?" asked a voice.

Harry looked over and saw Gwen standing there.

"Gwen... I...um..." stuttered Harry. He didn't know what to do. He was afraid to tell Gwen that he had seen one of her dreams.

"It's okay Harry. I'm not mad." Harry was relieved.

"Gwen, that was... "

"Scary, frightening, terrifying." interrupted Gwen.

"Intense. Why didn't you tell me about this?" asked Harry.

"It's not really something to brag about." said Gwen.

"Yeah I guess... wait, why are you here?"

"I was looking for you. You ran off again and I went to go find you. I then ran into Tronks and asked her if she had seen you. She said yes and told me where you were. " said Gwen "Why didn't you tell me Tronks was helping you with your dreams?"

"The same reason you didn't tell me. It's not something to brag about." said Harry. "Gwen, that was a pretty scary dream. Did it really happen?"

"Oh it really happened and I have been trying to forget about it for years now. I told you about this."

"You told me about being abandoned and having to live alone, but you never mentioned that pain you had to endure."

"Sorry."

"No it's me who is sorry. Sorry this happened to you." said Harry

"It's not your fault."

"I wish I could have done something."

"There was nothing you could have done. I couldn't even do anything. Harry there's a reason I kept this from you. You have had to deal with so much and it's not fair to make you worry so much about me." said Gwen.

Harry held her by the shoulders.

"Gwen, I understand and you don't need to tell me every little detail about your life. It's okay, but what I need you to know is that no matter what, I will always be there for you and will always love you." he then gave her a hug "I just don't want it to always be a surprise when I find out something about you."

Harry then gave Gwen a hug. As they were hugging, Tronks walked into the room.

"Okay Harry. This vile should do the trick. Oh…" said Tronks as she noticed her bag opened and Gwen's open vile.

Harry was trembling, and Tronks could tell that he had seen something horrifying.

"You know I did tell you not to look inside the viles."

"Yeah I probably should have listened to you." said Harry.

Gwen and Harry just looked at each other and smiled.