Albus gasped and awoke once more, his eyes darting back and forth towards more and more darkness. No matter where he turned, pitch black, as if the world had a light switch and it was turned off. He sat up slowly, ignoring the dizzy feeling in his head, and stood up, his feet cold against the hard tile.

Barefoot, Albus made his way down the hall, his hand grazing the rough stone wall as he did so. Keeping his eyes open, despite the pitch blackness, Albus was able to maneuver down the hall. Something about the setting seemed familiar, and he found himself filling with dread over something he seemed to know as about to happen, though he couldn't remember what it was.

Albus took another step, and suddenly a few lights began flickering to life, creaking and groaning from their place on the ceiling. He took a few more steps, and the lights flickered again.

A few more, and the lights switched on.

Suddenly, a raging, hoarse cry broke out, and Albus jumped as goosebumps spread across his arms and back. He crept stealthily down the hallway, and jumped again when a shadowed figure appeared at the apparent end of the hallway, just twenty feet away.

"Hello?" Albus called, hoping to get some information from the figure before something went wrong. In his core he knew something terrible was about to happen, and he wanted to be ready for it, whatever it was. "Hello? Who are you?"

The figure remained silent, but seemed to be rummaging around for something. Albus took a few more steps, and tried again.

"Hello, can you hear me? Who are you? Where am I? What's happening?"

Again, the figure did not say a word, but Albus was able to identify what it was rummaging for. A wand. It gleamed lightly in the dim lighting, but Albus saw it. The figure was holding a wand, and seemed to be about to do something with it.

"What's happening?" Albus tried one more time, before the figure suddenly made a mad dash at him. Albus cried out as the figure clamped a hand around his throat and shoved him against the wall, fingernails digging into his skin. Albus felt the tip of the man's wand poking him in the neck.

"No one can save you, Albus Severus Potter," the figure spat.

The last thing he saw before everything went black was a bright flash of green light.


A terrified, choked cry sounded around the common room, and Albus jerked awake, still screaming, his throat raw and head aching just behind his eyes. He hurriedly rid himself of the bunched up comforter resting on top of him, as his body was burning up, his skin red with a fever.

"Albus! Al! Albus! Calm down, mate! It was just another dream!" Albus registered Scorpious' voice, but he couldn't say a word. He couldn't think, he couldn't even see anything other than a bright green light flashing in and out of his vision.

"I can't, it wasn't a dream it was a nightmare! I can't calm down, he's going to kill me, I'm going to die, I'm-"

"Albus, stop!" Scorpious tried again, but Albus screamed again in response, raking his fingers through his hair and pulling tightly on the strands, sighing as the pain behind his eyes eased up as it refocused itself on his scalp.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die," he continued, saying it as it if we're some sort of chant, rocking back and forth on the bed and wrapping his arms tightly around his legs, pulling his knees to his chin. Albus sobbed openly as Scorpius sat, seemingly unable to do anything to comfort his friend, and his other roommates looked on in mild discomfort.

"I'm back!"

Albus jerked to find Rose bursting into the dormitory, Professor Flitwick and Headmistress Mcgonagall hot on his heels. Albus' eyes widened and he jerked away from Scorpius, who had just been about to reach out for him, and cried out in agony.

"No! Please, I'm fine! Please don't take me anywhere, please just let me sleep, please just let me sleep, please! Let me sleep, let me sleep, sleep!"

Scorpius turned to his friend, shock lacing his expression. He was terrified, to say the least, but he couldn't let Albus know that, or he might have another fit and burst out again. Rose and the professors at the door didn't know what to do, Scorpius could see it on their faces, and his worry only grew. Was he wrong to get Rose and inform her of what was happening? Nightmares had never lead to anything good in the Potter family, so Scorpius knew in the back of his mind that getting faculty involved was a wise decision, but still, he doubted. Scorpius only wanted his friends safe, they were few and very sacred to him. He didn't want anything happening to the people he cared about, ever.

"Albus, dear, we need you to calm down, maybe focus on your breathing a little, bit you must calm down. It is imperative that you calm down so you can tell us what happened," the Headmistress said as she slowly neared the bed. She didn't want any sudden movements to frighten the young boy.

"What happened?! I can't tell you what happened! It was horrifying, being in that room, that man, he tried to kill me, and I almost let him, but I woke up before he could... There was green, bright green everywhere and I couldn't do a thing to stop it!"

Both Rose and Mcgonagall had come to join Albus and Scorpius on the bed, while Professor Flitwick ushered the other students out of the dormitory. Scorpius immediately gravitated towards Rose, allowing the adult to handle the situation better. The two wrapped their arms around each other and looked on worriedly as Mcgonagall tried to assess Albus' source of fright.

"What man, Albus? Who was the man who was trying to kill you?" The Headmistress' voice was unnervingly calm, and Albus wanted nothing more than to scream and yell once more, until his throat was hoarse and he couldn't speak another word about his dream.

"He was cloaked, I couldn't see him. But it was a man, I could tell because of how deep his voice was. He got so close to my face, he had his wand to my throat. He was so angry at me."

Mcgonagall sighed and closed her eyes, her worry lines creasing even more. Scorpius and Rose unwrapped themselves from each other, but still stood near each other, shaking and afraid for their friend.

"Headmistress?" Rose finally asked, her voice cracking three times before she got the word out.

"Yes, dear?" Mcgonagall said, looking at the two students and wondering if she was every going to catch a break.

"What's going to happen now?"

Headmistress Mcgonagall signed again, something she seemed to be doing a lot of, and finally uttered,

"I think it's time we get Albus' parents involved in this."


A/N: Yes, I know you probably didn't miss me, but for those who did, may I just say how sorry I am.

No wait, it will never be enough to make up for being absent for one, two, three...oh yes, FIVE MONTHS!

But wait, didn't I say I was going to start updating regularly because Spring Break was upon me? Well, I got oddly busy and couldn't update. But then school ended, and summer basked me in all its glory...but I still didn't update. I've had a lot of personal and family issues in the last few months, and now I know not to make any promises. So no, I will not say I am back for good, the only thing I can say is, I will try to update as regularly as I can.

Sorry if this chapter is too short for your liking, but I threw this together last minute so you'd have something to read from me. Again, my apologies for disappearing for five months. Thank you to those who actually might have noticed.

P.S. A couple of announcements before I leave.

For those of you who might've checked out my other stories, you might notice that two are missing. I have discontinued both Cold Ones and Fragments, and rather than just post a note I the summary saying I discontinued the stories and bask in the shame of never finishing a project I started, I instead did the mature thing...and erased them both from existence. What a grown-up I am, truly.

So yes, to anyone who might've actually cared and/or noticed at all, I am sorry if you enjoyed reading either of those stories. It just wasn't working out. I have too many things on my plate already, without adding another two books to the mix. I'd rather just work whole-heartedly on this one rather than distract myself with other books and only out minimal effort into this one. This book went up first, therefore, it is my baby, and I will treat it as such.

Again, my apologies, and thank you to anyone still reading he trash I post randomly on the Internet for all to read and mock.

~Clary.