Chapter 9: Back to Hogwarts

The weeks back had been a disaster for Asia: she barely got any food, as a punishment from Father and Mother; she was forced to wake up before the sun every day to complete all her chores on time; she was abused more because the start of the new term was near; and she went to bed hours after midnight with her body aching.

The morning they had returned from the World Cup, Father had been furious at her. He was angry that she had received attention from the Minister and he even had the tendency to punish her for grabbing the attention of the Irish and Bulgarian Quidditch players. She was given a dose of the Cruciatus Curse and a few other wounding spells that created bruises and wounds all over her body.

After the episode, she had to clean up after herself – the blood and the broken artefacts – and then clean up her wounds before preparing breakfast and doing her regular chores. Her entire body was going through loads of pain, by the time she had served dinner and had cleaned up for the day. She grabbed the copies of the day's Daily Prophet before retiring to her closet, to read what the reporters had written about the incident that occurred at the World Cup.

Of course, she thought, Rita Skeeter would have a field day over this.

Rita Skeeter had given foul information that would definitely start rumours about deaths and missing persons. She read under the light of her dim candle.

"If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged sometime after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen."

The Ministry official was Mr Weasley she thought, resentfully, and there were no rumours! At least not before you spread them, you – cow!

She went to sleep immediately after that. But, as usual, her sleep was not peaceful.

Under water. She was under water. How could she breathe? She saw someone swimming towards her. Who was it? He looked a little familiar. Black hair, round rimmed glasses…

Harry!

Why was he under water? How was he so deep under water? How could he breathe? How could she breathe? He swam right through her.

How…?

She was dreaming. She realized just then. She should have known.

Why is Harry here?

She followed him, and saw that he was nearing four figures tied to something. Who were they?

Is that… Ron? Hermione? Who is that blonde girl? And is that Cho Chang? What are they doing?

As they neared them (Asia following Harry) she realized that they were unconscious.

What the…? Why are they in the middle of some…lake? Unconscious and tied?

Suddenly everything changed. She was once again standing within a crowd of spectators. This time it was in the Quidditch pitch stands. What was it now? Suddenly she saw a blue light. Then right where the blue light had been she saw two figures. One was who she immediately recognized as Harry. But the second…? She ran over to where Harry and the other person were. She had the advantage that no one could see her here. As she neared the two, she realized that the second person was none other than Cedric Diggory. His eyes were open, but…

Dead?

Harry was sobbing over his body. She was shocked. She could not move.

Then everything disappeared once again. She was standing on the top of the stairs that stopped into the Entrance Hall. She saw so many people there. They were all dressed in their best dress robes.

Surprised with the sudden change and still not over the initial shock of seeing a dead Cedric, she failed to notice someone walking down the stairs behind her. A few moments later, she felt eyes on her. She snapped out of her trance and looked down to see Harry, in the same dress robes she had chosen for him, watching her as if she was the only girl on the planet.

He cannot see me, can he?

Instinctively, she glanced over her shoulder to check if it was someone else he was staring at.

She was right.

Behind Asia stood an amazingly beautiful girl. She was wearing a gorgeous black dress that contrasted well with her fair skin. Her black curls cascaded down her waist like a waterfall. Half of her face was covered with a black and brown mask that made her bright, amber eyes stand out. Her arms were covered with delicate sleeves and the dress covered everything but her small feet in black sandals. She was wearing no jewellery or makeup, but a locket that Asia found strangely familiar and some brown gloss on her lips.

Asia could see as she pulled on her skirt. She was nervous; and did not like the attention she was receiving. She looked like someone Asia knew, but she could not put her finger on exactly who she was.

Standing on the same spot, Asia watched as the girl slowly walked down the remaining steps gracefully. Her elegant demeanour demanded attention, which was something she apparently did not want.

Asia watched as Harry walked up to her at the foot of the staircase and asked her, "Do you have a date for tonight?" She could hear the nervousness in his voice.

The girl said nothing, but merely shook her head.

"Would you do me the honour of being my date?" Asia's heart gave a hurtful pang as she watched the girl slowly nod her head and place her hand in a smiling Harry's, "Mind you, we have to open the first dance with the rest of the champions…"

Everything around them went black, as she watched Harry walk the girl into the Great Hall with three other couples, huge smiles on both of their faces as they chatted along the way.

Champions?

Asia woke up with a start. She was still in her bed inside her closet, back at the Manor. Her body still aching from the beating and torture she had received last night.

The days after that went as usual, with the exception of being abused more severely than before. She knew the reason was not only the fact that she had a good time at the World Cup, but it was because summer was almost over and they would not get the chance to bother her for an entire year. They knew she would have a good time at Hogwarts as she usually does, at least better than her time with them at the Manor. Every night, she would go to bed with bloody wounds and aching bruises all over her body. Every morning, she would have to clean these wounds and tend to the bruises with heated pads or some sort of medicinal potion she would find somewhere in the storage cupboards or the pantry.

There was pain in her ribs because of being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse almost every day. There was pain in her legs because of the running around for finishing the chores she had in addition to the usual kicks in the legs. The rest of her body ached because of the wounds inflicted on her from Father and Mother's wands and the regular punches and kicks.

Asia and Draco barely talked to each other during this time. After the things Draco had said to Harry, Ron and Hermione, she did not have the guts to think of him as someone who could ever improve to be a better person. She had given him a glare once when he tried to joke with her one morning, as if nothing wrong had happened, and that was the last time they had any communication for the rest of the summer.

She could not wait to get back. She wanted to go through all her things stored in the Room of Requirement. She had to buy new things and throw a few away. But then again, she would not throw anything away. She would donate them over to some orphAsiage, where she knew helpless kids needed things like clothes, books, and much more. She was once, and still is, one of them. She wanted those kids to have the luxuries she never received when she was their age.

Over the course of the last two weeks of summer, she had walked in on her foster family discussing some sort of event that was supposed to happen at Hogwarts. She knew now, through her dreams, that there was a formal all occurring this year, but they were talking about something else.

It was something that excited both Draco and Annika.

What could possibly excite Annika more than the idea of a ball? Asia thought as she prepared their last dinner before she left for Hogwarts.

Several times, she had walked in on the four Malfoys talking excitedly about the event, but they would immediately stop talking when she would enter. She vaguely wondered if this had anything to do with the dreams about the dragon, Harry being under water or the dream in which Cedric dies. She never even got the chance to think over it, due to the burden of chores and the sleepless and painful nights.

It was like the Sirius Black incident all over again. She was kept in the dark about Sirius Black's reality too, even though she lived under the same roof as the Malfoys.

Thinking about Sirius reminded her about the rescue mission she had taken up with Harry and Hermione last year. Asia did not even remember asking Harry at the World Cup if he knew where his godfather was. She smiled at the thought that Harry must have had a person close to a father that he would have written to this summer. He would get mail this year and for the years to come.

She felt happy. For Harry. She had always felt happy when she had the knowledge that Harry was happy. Asia knew that she could never be happy for herself, seeing the conditions she lived in, so she always tried to find happiness in that of others'.

The next morning, Asia woke up with the sun, as usual and she did not have any new wounds to treat today, so after having a slow and painful bath in the hallway bathroom, and tending to old wounds, she prepared breakfast for herself.

It was because neither Father nor Mother had touched her last night. They knew if she had difficulty in walking or felt pain with any movement, people would question her and would become suspicious. They were very careful when it came to others discovering the fact that the Malfoys abused their foster daughter.

After eating breakfast, doing her regular chores, and preparing breakfast for the others, Asia packed the remaining small amount of possessions she had into her trunk and pulled it out into the foyer, before going up to Annika's room and to do the usual last minute packing. Annika deliberately kept unpacking her clothes every day after Asia would fold and pack them, increasing her work and causing Father and Mother to be angry at her.

After spending another half an hour in Annika's room, packing and repacking her trunks – there were two of them – she dragged each of them down the two flights of stairs to the foyer. By the time she was done, her ribs ached severely and she was sure that still-fresh wounds needed cleaning up again. But ignoring her pain, she then sprinted up to Draco's room to grab his trunk, but Draco was already bringing his down when Asia reached the foot of the stairs. She ignored him and went back to the kitchen to make the tea for Father and Mother they had before leaving for King's Cross every year.

An hour later, they were walking through the barrier that gave them way to platform nine and three-quarters. They had taken Ministry cars to King's Cross and had twenty minutes till Hogwarts' Express left the platform. Annika and Draco, both, disappeared as soon as they crossed the barrier and Asia turned to Mother and Father knowing that they had some not-so-nice departing words to say to her.

"Do as Draco and Annika say," said Mother with something between a frown and a glare, "And I will have them keep an eye on you. If you so much as think of going to the ball, you will be dead before you can say the word 'Hogwarts'!"

"Just get your lousy face away from my sight!" snapped Father, in the same monotonous and cold voice.

"I hope you have a good year, Father, Mother," Asia said politely before turning to disappear into the crowd of other Hogwarts' students and their families saying goodbye to each other.

She dragged her trunk behind her and found an empty compartment halfway through the train. She sat down, sighing with relief to have her aching body relax, and stared outside at all the happy and excited faces of both, kids and parents. She felt a little depressed that she did not have parents like these loving ones to say goodbye to every summer. But she did not even get enough time to dwell on the thought as a second later, she heard someone sliding the door open to her compartment.

She turned to see that it was Hermione carrying her trunk and Crookshanks, followed by Ron and Hermione. They did not notice her sitting beside the window at first, but then Hermione was about to stow her trunk onto the luggage rack over the seats when she saw Asia.

"Oh hi, Asia," she said to her with a surprised smile.

"Hi," Asia replied with a small smile of her own.

"Hey, Asia," said Ron from behind Hermione with a goofy grin, "Why is it that we always end up finding a compartment to sit together when we don't even plan on it?"

"Ron!" Hermione nudged him in the ribs.

"Maybe it's fate," piped Harry from beside Ron as he hauled his trunk onto the luggage rack, "We're supposed to be friends who stick together despite all the hardships." He turned to look at her and smiled.

Harry had said something that touched a nerve, but she had no idea how he had put his finger on exactly what the problem was. Asia knew Harry was aware of her hesitation on being friends with anyone at school, but she had never up and said anything about it to him. He understood. And that was all that mattered.

"Come," he said to her after the three of them were done stowing their luggage, "Come and say goodbye to Mrs Weasley and the others."

Asia did not argue and wordlessly stood up and followed the trio out of their compartment and out of the train, onto the platform where Charlie and Bill stood with Mrs Weasley. She did not see Mr Weasley or Percy anywhere, so she guessed that they were at work.

"Hello, Mrs Weasley," Asia said as she reached her.

"Oh, Asia!" said Mrs Weasley, "How wonderful to see you again! How are you, dear?"

Asia merely smiled and shrugged in response, not in the mood to lie to the lovely woman by saying that she was fine. But she did not even need to say anything because the next second she was being squashed in her tight embrace, causing her wounds and bruises to cry in pain. She must have winced or flinched because the next thing she knew was someone had grabbed her arm and was pulling her out of the hug.

She turned to see that it was Harry.

"Are you okay, Anya?" he asked her. He was looking at her worriedly.

She just nodded and looked away to smile at a confused looking Charlie.

"Hel –"

"Don't lie to me, Anastasia," Harry interrupted Asia as she was greeting the two older Weasley sons, causing her to look back at him and then close her eyes because of the look on his face. He still had his hand on her forearm which caused sparks to flow from where his hand touched her all the way to her toes. "What happened?"

"Harry, what do you think?" she whispered to him with her eyes closed as she felt her ribs protesting in pain.

"They hurt you," Asia opened her eyes and saw that he had his eyes shut tightly and his jaw was clenched.

"It is not that bad, Harry," she tried to persuade him which she knew was useless, "I will be fine after a good night's sleep."

"What's going on?" she heard Mrs Weasley's voice as Harry was about to say something.

Why is he always interrupted whenever he tries to say something to me? She thought.

"Nothing, Mrs Weasley," Asia replied quickly, looking away from Harry and smiling up at her, "Harry was just asking me something."

"Hmm," she said with a disbelieving look on her face but she let it go when she saw Fred, George and Ginny walking toward them through the steam.

Asia looked back at Harry and sent him a pleading look.

Just let it go, please… she said to him in her head, hoping he would get it, At least for now.

Apparently he got what she was saying because he rolled his eyes and nodded his head slightly before looking away to shake hands with Bill.

She turned to back to Charlie and smiled at him. He was staring at her suspiciously.

"Hello, Charlie," she greeted him, "How have you been?"

"Better than you, I'm pretty sure," he said slowly, as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I am pretty sure too, Charlie," she replied with a light laugh, "Are you going to go back to Romania soon?"

"No," he replied with a small smile, apparently deciding to let it go, "I am staying for a little longer. I'll probably still be here by next summer."

"That is wonderful," she replied with a smile.

Before she could say anything else, Bill came to stand beside Asia.

"Hello, Asia," he said to her.

"Hello, Bill. How are you?"

"I'm good! You?"

"I am okay, you could say," she said with a shrug.

"Hello again, Asia," she heard the twins chorus from behind her.

"Hi, you two," she said.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as he hugged Ginny good-bye.

Asia turned to him and gave him a questioning look.

"Why?" Fred asked suspiciously.

"You'll see," said Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it… it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

"Has this got something to do with that ball they are having this year?" Asia asked them.

"Yeah. I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost longingly at the train.

"Why?" George asked, impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," said Bill, with a twinkle in his eyes, "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it."

"A bit of what?" said Ron.

Before any of them could say anything, the train started whistling and they were ushered toward the train entrance by Mrs Weasley.

"Thanks for having us to stay, Mrs Weasley," Hermione said after they were on board and were leaning against the closed door to say good bye.

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mrs Weasley," said Harry.

"Oh it was my pleasure, dears," said Mrs Weasley. "I'd invite you for Christmas, but… well; I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with… one thing and another."

"Mum!" said Ron irritably. "What d'you three know that we don't?"

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs Weasley, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting - mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules -"

"What rules?" said Harry, Ron, Asia, Fred, and George together.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you… Now, behave, won't you? Won't you, Fred? And you, George?"

There was a loud hissing sound from the train's pistons and then the train started to move.

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out of the window as Mrs Weasley, Bill, and Charlie sped away from them. "What rules are they changing?"

But they got no answers but a smile from the three of them as they Disapparated before the train could even turn the corner.

Asia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to their compartment.

Asia sat back beside the window but it was useless to watch outside as the rain was too heavy to make anything visible. So instead she watched as Ron undid his trunk, pulled out something lacy and maroon, and flung them over the cage, in which sat the owl Ron had got from Sirius last year, to muffle his hooting.

"Bagman wanted to tell us what's happening at Hogwarts," he said as he grumpily, sat down next to Harry, "At the World Cup, remember? But my own mother won't say. Wonder what —"

"Shh!" Hermione suddenly whispered while pressing her fingers to her lips.

She pointed toward the compartment next to theirs. Asia, Harry and Ron listened, and heard a familiar drawling voice drifting in through the open door.

It was Draco, as usual. Asia sighed as she strained her ears to listen to exactly what he was saying.

"… Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do…"

Asia sighed once again, but this time in exasperation, before slowly standing up and walking to the compartment door and shutting it silently to block the annoying boastful voice of her foster brother. She walked back as slowly, but this time because her ribs still pained from the tight hug she had received from Mrs Weasley.

"So he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?" Hermione said angrily, "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him."

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" Asked Harry.

"Yes," Asia answered rather sniffily, "and it has got a horrible reputation. According to what I have heard and read, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

"I think I've heard of it," said Ron vaguely. "Where is it? What country?"

"Well, nobody knows, do they?" said Hermione, raising her eyebrows.

"Err - why not?" said Harry.

"There has traditionally been a lot of rivalry between all the magic schools. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons like to conceal their whereabouts so nobody can steal their secrets," Asia said with a sarcastic smile.

"Come off it," said Ron, starting to laugh, "Durmstrang's got to be about the same size as Hogwarts — how are you going to hide a great big castle?"

"But Hogwarts is hidden," said Hermione, in surprise. "Everyone knows that… well, everyone who's read Hogwarts, A History, anyway."

"Just you, then," said Ron, "You and Asia," he added when he noticed Asia's raised eyebrows, "So go on - how d'you hide a place like Hogwarts?"

"It is bewitched," said Asia, "If a Muggle looks at it, all they see is a mouldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE."

"So Durmstrang'll just look like a ruin to an outsider too?"

"Maybe," Hermione answered with a shrug, "or it might have Muggle-repelling charms on it, like the World Cup stadium. And to keep foreign wizards from finding it, they will have made it Unplottable–"

"Come again?" Harry said.

"You can enchant a building so it is impossible to plot on a map," Asia said.

"Err… okay," said Harry, clearly clueless about what the piece of information he just received.

"But I think Durmstrang must be somewhere in the far north," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Somewhere very cold, because they've got fur capes as part of their uniforms."

"Ah, think of the possibilities," said Ron dreamily. "It would've been so easy to push Malfoy off a glacier and make it look like an accident… Shame his mother likes him…"

Asia laughed at that, but the immediately stopped when she felt the pain in her ribs intensify. The trio noticed but did not say anything knowing the reason behind the pain and also aware of the fact that she was now safe for a few months before they had to go back for next summer.

By midday the rain had become heavier, as they had moved farther north, and the lanterns were also lit early because of the windows being so steamy due to the rain. When the lunch trolley came, Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for them to share.

Throughout the journey, many of their class fellows visited them, including Seamus Finnigan who still wore his green rosette from the World Cup, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. After half an hour or so, Hermione grew tired of the endless Quidditch talk and buried herself in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, and started trying to learn a Summoning Charm. But Asia was comfortable with just listening to the conversation even though she did not contribute to it, not even once.

She watched as Neville listened jealously to the others' as they relived the Cup match.

"Gran didn't want to go," Neville sad miserably, "Wouldn't buy tickets. It sounded amazing though."

"It was," said Ron. "Look at this, Neville…"

He rummaged through the stuff in his trunk, up in the luggage rack and pulled out the miniature figure of Viktor Krum.

"Oh wow," said Neville enviously as Ron rolled Krum onto his hand.

"We saw him right up close, as well," said Ron. "We were in the Top Box -"

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley."

Draco had appeared in the doorway, unnoticed even by Asia as she was too busy watching her fellow Gryffindors talking.

Behind Draco stood Crabbe and Goyle, his two cronies, both of whom appeared to have grown at least a foot during the summer.

Looks like he was listening into their conversation through the compartment door she thought, feeling quite annoyed that he had to come and disturb their peace.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy," Harry said coolly.

"Weasley… what is that?" said Draco, pointing at Pigwidgeon's (she found out what the owl's name was from Hermione) cage. A sleeve of the maroon piece of cloth, what looked like robes, was dangling from it, swaying with the motion of the train. The sleeve was mouldy and lacy. Asia's eyes grew wide as she sensed what was to come.

When Ron tried to hide the robes, Draco had already reached for it and pulled it off the cage.

"Look at this!" he exclaimed in ecstasy.

He was holding up Ron's robes and was showing them to Crabbe and Goyle, "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean - they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety…"

Asia realized that they were indeed dress robes which Ron was to wear to the formal occasion.

"Eat dung, Malfoy!" Ron said as he flushed to the same colour as the dress robes.

He snatched them back out of Draco's grip as he howled with derisive laughter; Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly.

"So… going to enter, Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved as well, you know… you'd be able to afford some decent robes if you won…"

"What are you talking about?" Ron snapped at him, clearly not in the mood of Draco's teasing.

"Are you going to enter?" he repeated. "I suppose you will, Potter? You never miss a chance to show off, do you?"

"Either explain what you are on about or go away, Draco," Asia said to him irritably.

A pleased smile spread across Draco's pale face.

"Don't tell me you don't know?" he said delightedly, "You never heard us talking about it?"

Asia then remembered the times the Malfoys had stopped conversing because of her presence in the room.

"I would have if you lot would tell me," she snapped at him, "You went silent whenever I walked into the room."

He laughed at her expense, but said nothing to her before turning back to Ron.

"You've got a father and brother at the Ministry and you don't even know? My God, my father told me about it ages ago… heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry… Maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley… yes… they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him…"

He laughed once again and walked out of their compartment, beckoning Crabbe and Goyle to follow.

Ron angrily got to his feet and slid the door shut with such force that the glass shattered. Asia winced with the sound, clearly familiar with it from all the times she had been hit with it at the Manor.

"Ron!" Hermione chastised before pulling out her wand and muttering "Reparo!" making the shattered pieces change back to a single glass pane and back into the door.

"Well… making it look like he knows everything and we don't…" Ron snarled. "'Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry'… Dad could've got a promotion any time… he just likes it where he is…"

"Of course he does," said Hermione quietly.

"You should not let him get to you, Ron -" Asia said.

"Him! Get to me!? As if!" he said as he picked up one of the remaining Cauldron Cakes and squashed them into pulp, out of anger.

They sat quietly for a few more minutes before Dean, Seamus and Neville decided to leave and get back to their compartment. Ron kept quiet and stayed in a bad mood while Asia and Hermione quietly talked about the Summoning Cham. It was not that hard. Asia had been on the receiving end of the charm for the past six years anyway. It was not a big deal for her to learn it. She had already mastered halfway through Hermione's practice. It was after she was done mastering it, that she remembered something and began a conversation with Harry, who was trying to find something to do with himself when Ron was in a bad mood.

"Harry," she said making him turn to her expectantly, "have you heard from… from… Padfoot?"

The reaction was sudden: Ron snapped out of his anger and stared at her curiously; Hermione stopped her practicing; and Harry's face split into a small smile, clearly remembering their adventure last year.

"Yeah, I have," he replied, "He asks about you a lot."

"Really?" Asia smiled, "How is he? Any idea where he might be?"

"He's alright. At least better than before when he was where he came from," he shrugged, "But I have a vague idea that he might be somewhere in the South. The birds he uses to send his letters are… tropical looking, you could say."

"That must be good for him" she commented, "Are you expecting a letter from him, or maybe about to send him one…?"

She was uncertain that Harry would want to answer that. But to her surprise, he did.

"As a matter of fact," he said with a glance at Ron and Hermione, "I am expecting a letter from him. And I wanted to talk to you about what I wrote in it."

Asia looked at him curiously before glancing at Ron and Hermione as they exchanged a fleeting look. This heightened her curiosity and she turned back to Harry and nodded her head for him to continue.

"My scar hurt this summer at Privet Drive," he said so quickly, she almost missed it. But when she comprehended what he had said, her eyes widened and she suddenly remembered her dreams.

"What?" she whispered.

"I had a dream," he said slowly, examining her reaction, "It was about him, Voldemort," Hermione and Ron flinched, "and Pettigrew. It was a house beside some sort of graveyard –"

"Graveyard…?" Asia gulped, feeling the Cauldron Cakes making their way back up her oesophagus. She took a deep breathe, "Okay… continue, please…"

"They were planning on something," he continued while eyeing her suspiciously, "They were planning to kill…"

He did not need to continue. She knew who they were planning to kill. It was him. Harry was the only person Voldemort would want to kill now.

Why did he have the dream? Does he have them like I do? Or was it only a one-time thing? She thought as Harry explained the entire dream to her.

"… So I sent Sirius a letter as soon as I woke up, explaining to him the entire dream. And now, I'm waiting for a reply. I told these two about it the day we came back from the World Cup. Any ideas what it could be… or what I should do…?"

"Why are you asking me?" she asked him amusedly.

"Well, you always have good advice," he replied as his cheeks tinged in pink.

"Well," she said, not wanting to make him uncomfortable, "It could either be just that; a dream. Or it could be what really is happening…"

Hermione took in a sharp breathe and Ron's eyes widened as she said that.

"Voldemort could not have been around in Privet Drive, right?" she ignored the flinches of Hermione and Ron, "And… do you remember Professor Trelawney's prediction, Harry?"

"Yeah," he replied, "That's what I said."

"You… you don't think he's… coming back… do you?" Ron asked, tentatively.

Yes "I would rather not say anything about it…" Asia sighed instead of saying it out loud, and turned to look out the window into the heavy rain, ending the conversation.

She did not think that he was coming back. She knew that he was. She was sure that his plan was already in action and they were walking right into it. Someone needed to be informed. Someone…

"Tell Professor Dumbledore," she said so quietly, she was sure no one would have heard her if they were completely quiet.

"Sorry?" said Harry.

"Tell Professor Dumbledore," she repeated without looking at him, "He needs to know."

Nothing more was said. The rest of the journey went by with Asia staying quiet, thinking about what she had just found out. Ron's mood still had not changed since Draco left their compartment so he did not talk much after that. He did not talk even after they had changed into their school robes, and by the time the Hogwarts Express had stopped at Hogsmeade Station, he was still glaring at nothing and everything.

It was pitch dark outside, when they stepped off the train onto the platform, and thunder rumbled over their heads. Hermione bundled up Crookshanks in her cloak and Ron left his dress robes over Pigwidgeon's cage. The pain in her body had reduced considerably, but Asia was sure that by the time they would reach the Great Hall, her body would be hurting all over again. The rain was really heavy, and she also knew that she would have to take extra care of her wounds while changing later.

The rain felt as if buckets full of water were being thrown over their heads repeatedly. It was hard to see where they were going, as they had their eyes narrowed and their heads were bowed to avoid the rain hitting their faces.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Harry yelled, as he spotted a large silhouette standing at the far-end of the platform.

"All righ', Harry?" Hagrid bellowed back, waving. "See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"

"Hey, Hagrid! I am here too, you know!" Asia shouted out to him. She liked teasing the giant, his reactions always amused her.

"I already saw yeh, Asia!" he replied before yelling for first-years to line-up before him as they had to sail across the lake with him.

Asia chuckled with Harry as Hermione said, "Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather."

They all shivered as they slowly made their way along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd. A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the station. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Asia, and Neville climbed gratefully into one of them. The door shut after them and a few moments later, the long convoy of carriages started making its way toward the Hogwarts Castle.