Dreamer of Fears
By: Shadow Chaser
Author's Notes/Disclaimer:
All characters with the exception of my own belong to J.K. Rowling and her wonderful sense of creating a massively great universe to play in. Also, my version of the King Arthur/Merlin myth is based partially on the book the "Crystal Cave" and on the TV movie "Merlin" that played here in the U.S. back in the late nineties.
Story:
Chapter 10 – The Dreamer Merlin
"You've that frown again," her gentle voice was always soothing to his ears before she placed a light hand on his shoulder, bringing his gaze up to meet hers.
His mouth automatically curled up into a smile, and he realized that he was frowning. He had been frowning since he stared at the latest parchment of reports from the front lines. Queen Mab must have been rebuilding her army even before she had disappeared, he decided. Just when they had thought to retake a part of the lands, she had taken over another one of their strongholds. How she had controlled so many Yrcs and other dark creatures was beyond him.
Her beautiful brandy brown eyes sparkled with mirth before she plucked the parchment from his hands and scanned it. "Why do you do this to yourself?"
"Because if I don't I don't feel human…I feel distanced from everything," he replied heavily as she placed the parchment down and shook her head sadly at him.
"Why? Do you not trust your brother?"
"Sal?"
"I was meaning to say Godric," she gave him a pointed look and he rubbed his knuckles in a repetitive gesture. "But since you brought-"
"Enough," he was getting annoyed, "can we not talk about this, Nimue?"
"Of…of course, I'm sorry," she leaned her body down on top of his back, her arms encircling him and he was deftly aware of each movement of her body pressed against his. He closed his eyes and rubbed them in an effort not to succumb to her charm this time around. He knew he was trapped…he knew that if he had the power just to get up…to leave-
"That's enough," the harsh voice immediately clouded the dream Harry was having and he suddenly found himself out of the walls of the keep that Merlin was trapped in by the witch Nimue and in a white fog-like area.
His first thought was that there was another Fayde attack before he realized he vaguely recognized the whiteness of the fog-like surroundings. He had been here before… As he turned around in a circle, he suddenly came face to face with a young man, probably in his early twenties, if he could guess.
The young man was wearing simple garments, ones that looked a lot like something a peasant from medieval times would wear. His feather and fur-lined pullover was something of a mottled color, but it looked comfortable. He had a strong jaw, a bit square, but otherwise unremarkable. His hair was a dark shade, and his eyes, glittered like twin orbs of sapphire.
"M-Merlin?" Harry ventured a guess and the young man nodded.
"Was that-"
"Of no consequence," Merlin frowned a bit and Harry knew he wouldn't ask about it again.
"Are you real?" he had to ask. It was eerily like his encounter with Dumbledore after Voldemort had killed him with the Killing Curse, except no King's Cross station nor was he stark naked. There was just whiteness around them, surrounding them, giving them neither warmth nor cold. Harry realized he was in Muggle clothing…the ones he had worn when he had his final confrontation with Voldemort.
When Merlin smiled, it was eerily like looking into a mirror and seeing his own reflection. However, there were differences as he continued to stare at the young man. Definite differences besides their appearances. "Now that's a relative question, isn't it Harry?"
"Then…" Harry pursed his lips in thought, "is this where I'm supposed to communicate with you like a Dreamer?"
Merlin stared at him for a split second before bursting out in laughter. Harry goggled at the sight before the young wizard got his chuckles under control and shook his head, "No…I am sorry to say, this is not the part where you understand what it is to be a Dreamer nor is it where you understand your own strength and power. In time…hopefully in time, we will be able to communicate like that, but now…"
Harry kept silent, having learned from so many meeting with Dumbledore in his world that usually one would get to their eventual thought soon enough.
"I am here to keep you alive, Harry."
That shocked him and he stared.
Merlin sighed, all traces of mirth gone from his face as he sat down on a rock that appeared out of nowhere. He gestured for Harry to also sit down on a rock opposite him and Harry took the offered seat. "By all accounts, you should be dead, young man."
"I know myself in this world is dead, what do you-"
"I don't mean him," Merlin shook his head, "I meant from the Faydes. Even with the aid of my powers, you should not have survived. Yet, there is something about you, something that clings onto life where it should have ended. You stubbornly refuse to let the threads of Fates bind you and kill you.
"You have to understand, Harry. I am not Merlin. I only take his form, this younger form, because it is something you may be familiar with," Merlin shook his head, "and it is not because of the Dreamer power within you that saved you, it was because of your tenacity and will to live. You cling onto everything so dear to you, I included, and that enables me to ensure your survival from the Faydes."
"So…I'm supposed to be dead?" Harry did not know what to feel, except confusion.
Merlin nodded, "Yes. No one has survived such an amount of damage from a Fayde. It is from experience, the experience of countless of Dreamers within me that know such knowledge."
"Then, how come we never have Faydes in my world? Why in this one?"
"I presume it would be similar to why you do not have Dreamers in your world. Yet your book only tells you of the legends. Perhaps it was the creator of the world or events that made it so Dreamers, Faydes, and perhaps a host of other things that exist in this world have either died out or were non-existent in your world," the sapphire-eyed man shook his head, "but you have to understand, I…we, as Dreamers, do not seek to harm you or your friends who have come to our world. We only seek to aid…"
The unspoken question lingered in the air before the young wizard gave a small chuckle and shifted on his rock to a more comfortable position, "Perhaps now may be the best time to understand what we are instead of later. To answer your question, Harry, I am…a magical entity."
"A magical entity, like pixies?" was the only thing Harry could think of.
"Err…no," Merlin looked a bit put out by his question, "we do not have a form per se, not like you and your friends do. We manifest within those who have been chosen by the Weavers Council or even those who have been selected as heirs to the powers. We are a unique branch of magic that is far older than you can ever imagine."
"Like my mother's love-"
"That helped destroy Voldemort in your world, yes. Similar to that, but we provide the memories of our previous incarnations and provide those memories and experiences to the next generation of Dreamers," Merlin nodded, "we are not corporeal or even have our own personalities, but we take the traits of those we are bonded to at the moment to help them understand their power and purpose."
"What is mine in this world?"
"I'll get to that soon, but right now I want you to focus," the young wizard shifted in his seat again, "Essentially I am you, but not you."
Harry furrowed his brow in an attempt to process what Merlin was saying, "So you're saying that you're part of me, or at least you are there to help me. Why couldn't you appear in a different form? It feels like you were trying to take over me sometimes whenever we were talking? Those times I feel like I'm watching myself move and answer and can't even regain control…"
"Ah…yes. I'm like this," he indicated himself, "because some part of your mind wished to become like Merlin when the Headmaster had suggested that you and your friends take up Merlin and his Knights' personas. It wasn't the strongest of suggestions as I admit, you really had wanted to manifest Sirius Black, but the first time you felt my presence, a part of you accepted it and in turn, it fed on the urge to protect who you were in this world and to never reveal your identity in times of crisis.
"I suppose it is also why you were able to communicate with your friends easily with your persona dropped and while you were in the presence of others who did not know your true identity, you used the Merlin persona. All subconsciously of course…"
"Really," to Harry, the young wizard in front of him seemed as real as a separate person from him.
"I do have to confess though," Merlin leaned closer to him and stage-whispered, "one my previous incarnations was Merlin." He leaned back again and grinned, "It does lend credence to why you're having such vivid dreams and waking dreams too. I felt it was necessary in order for you to play the part to protect your identity."
"It's uncomfortable, especially if they're waking dreams. I don't want to lose focus, especially when I'm talking to someone. If you know me so well, you should know what happened when Voldemort tried to possess me," Harry frowned, his voice a bit heated with anger.
Merlin looked around in the white fog-like area and narrowed his eyes. Harry saw flashes of images of his battle in the Department of Mysteries and Voldemort's attempt to possess him flit through the fog in an almost bizarrely third-person like image before the whiteness resumed. "I apologize…I had grasped the surface of your thoughts, which were immediately focused on the defeat of Voldemort and did not realize the extent of my influencing you would be construed like this. I suspected something when Ginny was talking about the diary and her talk with Selwyn, but nothing like this…"
Harry made a noise of agreement. He did not want to forgive the Dreamer entity entirely. A short silence resumed before Merlin looked at him again, sapphire eyes solemn and serious.
"I know what you are thinking; after all, we are in your own mind. You can banish me, get rid of me, hide me in a corner and leave me there if you wish. You will not be the first one to do so…my previous…host, is definitely not a good word mind you, did that to the point where the Weavers decided to forcibly extract me out of him and hold me for the next generation they deemed worthy."
"That's twice you've said Weavers. Who are they?" Harry made a mental note to figure out something different for Merlin or at least the Dreamer who called his current form Merlin, to say instead of 'host.' He had to admit, 'host' made the Dreamer sound parasitic.
"I…" Merlin fell silent before looking up at him again, "can't tell you. You and your friends will meet them, hopefully soon, but I can't say anything else about them."
"They're real?"
"Yes," Merlin nodded, "they do exist and they are flesh and bones. The only thing I can say is that they have the abilities like gods. They have the ability to choose who becomes a Dreamer and who doesn't."
"Then…how come they let this war with Grindelwald and Voldemort in this world fester to such a point?"
"Because they can," for the first time Harry saw a helpless look on Merlin's face, "You remember the story about the Dreamers? Seven of them opposed to six of them. The Weavers are inherently neutral…"
"And they decide who can become Dreamers and can take away the powers of a Dreamer, essentially stripping them bare in the midst of a war," Harry narrowed his eyes, anger building in him. He barely noticed the white fog changing to a light grey around him as his anger mounted.
"Yes."
"So pretty much they can decide that okay, we'll have Seven Sins incarnated at once and leave the Six Virtues out hanging right?!"
"That is not-"
"But you just said-"
"It is not-" Merlin suddenly made a noise of frustration at the back of his throat and the fog turned a brief dark grey before lightening to light grey once more, "I can not tell you any more, all right? Please…do not ask me of this!"
Harry could see the frustration and the willingness of those sapphire eyes, pleading him not to question anymore. He could see that Merlin wanted to tell him everything, but somehow was forbidden to. He sighed, finally noticing the fog returning to its whitish stage. "Sorry," he knew he sounded gruff.
"It is not your fault. Every one of my…hosts…has asked me these questions. You, however, are the most curious of all of them. You have not once seized my knowledge and experience and use it to your advantage. I would say it is because you have not accessed your full abilities or 'awakened' as Ginny and Selwyn have told you, but instead, you seek to push it away and use your own abilities…"
"So how do I awaken? I mean, I don't even know what Dreamer of the Six Virtues I'm supposed to be…I know Ginny is the Dreamer of Faith because my mum was her previous…err…host, but…" Harry trailed off, absently scratching the back of his head.
Merlin smiled slightly, "That is something each Dreamer has to undergo. It is a trial in which you will either be judged worthy of your powers or it will be stripped from you. I can tell you which Dreamer I am, but that won't help you get any closer to 'awakening.'"
"But I thought-"
Eerily calm sapphire eyes met emerald ones. "It is because as the Dreamer of Hopes, you are the leader of the Virtues. You are the littlest Dreamer in The Tale of Beetle the Bard, and your trial to awaken your true powers, is also one of the vaguest and hardest to accomplish."
The sun shone brightly down upon Hogwarts and its surrounding countryside, the perfect day for students to enjoy one last Hogsmeade day before exams started. However, Remus did not find himself walking outside and enjoying the fresh air as he was prone to do on such beautiful days. Instead, he found himself sitting in the brightly lit hospital wing, perched on a chair, a Muggle fantasy novel called Royal Assassin in hand as he absently read while glancing over at the three remaining patients in the wing.
It had been two days since the Faydes attacked, three days since the Hellhounds, and throughout all of this Remus knew it wasn't a coincidence on Grindelwald's part. No, the Dark Lord knew of their guests and knew who to send to attack them. Dumbledore had arranged for ever more vigilant patrols throughout Hogsmeade and Hogwarts and had even begun plans to infiltrate more of the other Ministry through use of Crouch's Aurors since they were heavily associated with the Dark Arts.
However it all had to be carefully planned and spaced out through a number of days or else those in the other Ministry would get suspicious and could potentially compromise their already inserted spies. The way Dumbledore had arranged for such things was very similar to the novel he read and he had briefly wondered if the Headmaster had ever considered using Muggle novels and literature as a basis for his plans. It would make a lot of sense, especially since those who were under Grindelwald and the Black King were fanatical pure-blooded purists and would consider Muggle literature and plans to be beneath them.
All of the students, Hagrid, and a few Aurors who had been injured by the Faydes had recovered in a day, but there was still three who had not moved a single bit during their stay in the hospital wing. For Merlin, Remus knew that the young man's condition was very grave and warranted a lot longer stay, and he had heard one of the nurses in the ward whisper to another that they had nearly lost him a few times during the five-hour surgery Madam Pomfrey had performed on him.
Rowena looked like she was recovering nicely; color inching its way back into her cheeks and Remus knew that the young witch would wake up probably later in the day. He had to admit; he enjoyed Rowena's presence in his classes and found that her intelligence rivaled that of Lily's, except she had the young hunger for more knowledge. By the end of classes before lunch break that fateful day he had considered asking her to perhaps take over and teach along with Sirius during his full moon cycle, but he had also wondered how she felt about werewolves.
He had seen far too many prejudices formed by people he had thought were friends or whom he had thought were open minded enough, only to see it shattered when he told them that he was a werewolf. However, he held a slight sliver of promise, especially when Lily told him about Merlin's misadventures in the Potions dungeons and how he believed that werewolves should not be persecuted as dark creatures. Perhaps if Merlin thought that way about werewolves, maybe his friends felt the same way too?
Remus flipped another page in the book and read a few lines before glancing up again, this time staring at Godric, a half-frown on his face. Godric was an interesting case…the young man was obviously not injured by the Faydes due to his unconscious state, but the only explanation Lady Selwyn or Nathan had given was that he was either undergoing his awakening as the Dreamer of Courage or having a nice long nap. That latter statement came from the High Elf to whom Remus almost thought it was serious until he caught the undercurrent of sarcasm in her voice.
He had never known the High Elf to have such a sisterly sarcastic personality towards Godric and it had made him laugh for a long time.
And speaking of the two, he knew that both of them would much rather sit by their friends on such a sunny day, but Headmaster Dumbledore had requested that they accompany the students to Hogsmeade just in case Grindelwald decided to attack again and they had reluctantly agreed.
It was also one of the reasons why Remus offered to stay indoors for the day, as a Dreamer himself, he would be able to send word through the bond that formed with all of the Virtues after they had awakened, if any of the three showed any signs of waking up. He first felt the tenuous bond of Lady Selwyn when she had abruptly awakened and stormed out to stop the Faydes and had briefly felt a thrill of shock before his body and mind remembered what it was like to feel the bond between the Dreamer of Faith and Dreamer of Temperance.
It had been too long since he had felt the Dreamer bonds…and it was also one of the reasons why he had rushed out so late with Dumbledore. He did not know what it felt like after such a long time of dormancy. The second time he had felt the bond was when Nathan had abruptly threw off the cast he had been wearing and opened himself up to his powers. The surge of power through their bond, a subtle mental link of sorts, had nearly floored him to the ground.
He had never known the previous Dreamer of Justice to wield such power; Nathan wielded it like a finely honed sword. He knew his own powers as Temperance manifested themselves like an arrow that always found its mark, at least according to what James had told him when he had been Courage. Lady Selwyn's powers as Faith was exactly like Lily's, a shield. It was also one of the reasons why Faith was best suited for defending against Faydes or other dark creatures that sapped emotions, dementors included.
Their bonds as Dreamers was just a subtle mental link, unable to share thoughts with each other, but something innately within them carried their emotions towards another whenever they wanted to. However, Remus wondered if the two would perhaps need at least some kind of training exercise in order to stop the current flow of emotions he could subtly feel at times from them. Both Lady Selwyn and Nathan were definitely worried about their friends and while Remus did not mind the waves of emotions, he was adept at blocking it for so many years; it wouldn't be very good for the three others if they awakened to their powers.
The soft noise of the hospital wing door opening and closing made Remus glance up from the page he was reading to see three pairs of curious eyes staring at the three forms on the bed. Remus felt the tug of a smile on the corner of his lips and quickly killed it. "Shouldn't the three of you be in Hogsmeade instead of wandering the grounds?" he asked quietly, bringing all three pairs of eyes on him. "What can I do for you, Mr. Potter, Miss Potter, and Mr. Creevey?"
"Erm…" Iris Potter looked guiltily down on the ground before shooting a glare to her older brother, "you explain, Eddie!" She unceremoniously shoved Edward forward a few steps.
Edward Potter, or Eddie as he was called by others, shot a glare back at his younger sister before drawing himself up in a haughty posture. Remus noted that the young man had not changed since he had arrived at Hogwarts. He personally felt a bit sorry for the young teen, especially in light of James and Lily's separation, but he also knew that many of the professors did not share his sentiment about Eddie and instead thought him a spoiled, albeit talented, brat.
"Mum and Dad said that I should apologize to Lady Selwyn and to Merlin…" Eddie looked completely put out at the prospect.
"And?" Remus prompted gently.
"Found her at Hogsmeade…apologized," the teenager said sulkily, "now doing the same here."
"Perhaps you should wait until Merlin is awake?" Remus made sure his own voice was mild, but definitely made sure that Eddie heard the rebuking tone in it. When Eddie was born, he had become Godfather to the young man and more than once had ended up disciplining the young man whenever James or Lily wouldn't share responsibility.
Eddie muttered something that even his enhanced senses from being a werewolf couldn't quite catch and tilted his head. "Pardon?"
"I said…" Eddie huffed, "people have been saying that Merlin's not going to wake up again. They said that he died a few times on the operating table…so how come I can't apologize now when he's not going to wake up?"
"You do not know that," Remus set his book down and frowned at Eddie, "whatever you may have heard, they are baseless rumors. Merlin is currently recovering and he will be awake soon."
Eddie looked away and Remus shook his head before gesturing for the three of them to come closer. Both Iris and Colin came forward, dragging Eddie along. "Eddie, who's been spreading such rumors? Is it Draco?"
"No! Uncle Remus!" Iris looked highly affronted that he had even suggested that her boyfriend would do such a thing.
"No? Iris, you do know who is his father?" he and James had their strong reservations regarding Iris dating Draco Malfoy, especially considering that his father was the Minister of the other Ministry and rumored to be the Black Bishop, the chief distributor of information for Grindelwald. However, Lily and even Marion had thought that having Draco dating Iris, was a risk itself, but it had also softened the once hardened edges of the young man. Dumbledore had cautioned it too, but had also discussed the merits of having him as a potential recruit into the Order or even as a spy for his own father.
"I do, but I don't care. Draco knows better than to spread rumors about someone as famous as Merlin," Iris looked stonily at him before he nodded.
"All right," he held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Then who would be spreading such rumors?"
"Susan Bones," Eddie muttered, "she said she had asked her mum about Fayde attacks and her mum had said that no one survived a Fayde attack and those who did with the amount of injury usually either died after a while or never woke up."
Remus quickly hid the surprise from his face as he schooled himself to maintain a neutral expression. Amelia Bones was one of their spies within the other Ministry. If she had been telling Susan this…could she have been the one to inform Grindelwald or even Voldemort the Black King of the arrival of Merlin and his Knights? Did she know that Merlin and his Knights weren't who they seemed?
It was impossible, it had to be. None of their spies knew anything about their mysterious visitors until they had been introduced in the Great Hall. Plus, Amelia was one of their best spies and she was no traitor, he was sure of it. Dumbledore would have told him of anything that happened…the Headmaster relied upon his powers and on him more than ever since he was the only Dreamer left in his generation.
"I'm sure as a Hufflepuff, especially a seventh year at that, would not betray her loyalties to Hogwarts or to the Ministry," he decided that Eddie was probably telling him a half truth, "her mother wanted to test her loyalty to us."
"But what about family loyalty? Doesn't that count?" Eddie countered and Remus suppressed a grin. There were times when Eddie's brilliant mind worked out counter solutions to each and every one of his questions.
"I'm sure it does, especially to a Hufflepuff, but I believe Headmaster Dumbledore is not trying to break the Bones family apart, but rather hope to see that Amelia could see the error of her ways and join the true Ministry," he made sure his voice was smooth so none of the three children could figure out his lie within the statement.
"Oh…well…can I still apologize?" Eddie could not think of anything to say and instead repeated his question.
Remus sighed, this time letting his frustration bleed into his expression. "Eddie…"
"Fine, I get it," the young man sounded resigned and annoyed at the same time, "I'll wait until he gets up. Geez..."
Remus was secretly glad that Dumbledore was not there to hear his words. He knew how much hope and trust the Headmaster had placed on the five who had arrived from another world. He had seen the glint of worshipful fanaticism and knew that Dumbledore would not hear anything against them that may be perceived as a slight. But he also knew that such fanaticism was dangerous. He had counseled and cautioned Dumbledore, but there was only so much he could do. After all, the Headmaster was the former Dreamer of Hopes and therefore their leader.
But he also knew that Eddie should have known better than to sound like a sulky little child. He was already fifteen; two years shy of the age of recognition and should already be acting more like an adult and less like a child. "Eddie-"
"Sorry, Uncle Remus. I know I could blame my O.W.L.s next week, but I just don't understand why everyone's so up in arms about the hubbub? Yeah, it's Merlin and his Knights, but these guys haven't even lived their full history yet! How do my parents, even the Minister think that they'll help us win this god awful war?" Eddie frowned, "I just don't like them. There's something about them that makes me uneasy. I think they're full of it...Iris agrees with me too, so does Colin." He looked at his friends and Remus saw hesitant nods from the two.
He smiled kindly at them, "I understand your concerns, but you should keep your thoughts to yourself for now. I'm sure you've noticed, but some of your classmates and even some of the Aurors around here are filled with a renewed hope. Do you really want to take it away from them?"
"No..." Iris answered for her brother, "Dad's...happier...."
If Eddie was a boisterous one, Iris was a quiet little girl who never ceased to amaze Remus with her intelligence. "Yes, your father is happier..." He knew that of the two remaining Potter children, Iris was the most affected by her parents' separation and sometimes blamed herself for it. He, Sirius, Peter, Marion, even some of the other teachers had tried to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but Remus knew through his powers that she rarely believed them.
Remus caught a change in scent before Iris suddenly beamed at him for no apparent reason before hurrying over to Rowena's bedside and noisily pulled up another chair to sit next to the young woman. He glanced over and saw that the young witch was slowly blinking her eyes open and looked around before focusing her eyes on Iris' happy face.
"You're awake!" Iris said excitedly in a hushed whisper before Remus got up, brushing past Colin and Eddie who hung back near his vacated chair and approached Rowena.
"Lady Ravenclaw," he greeted, bringing her slightly bewildered gaze onto him.
"How..." she cleared her throat, "How long?"
Iris apparently snatched a small cup of water that had been sitting at her bed stand and offered it to her to which she drank a few sips before leaning back on her pillows. Her bushy brown hair looked a bit lighter than usual a few minutes ago but was darkening again. Remus had his own suspicions on the ever changing hair color and seemingly slight differences in appearances of Merlin and his Knights, but had decided not to question it at the time.
"Two days," he replied and saw her eyes widen in dismay before she glanced over beyond Iris to see both Godric and Merlin still in their beds.
"Godric...Merlin?" she looked extremely worried, "what about Selwyn and Nathan?"
"Lady Selwyn and Nathan are fine," Remus mentally skirted the edges of the Dreamer bond and touched both Selwyn, who seemed like she was preoccupied with something and to Nathan who apparently was amused with something else. "I've just notified them of your awakening. They should be returning from Hogsmeade shortly."
"Oh..." Rowena looked a bit bewildered and Remus surmised that the young woman had not been in too many hospital wings in her life. She may have been more used to a battlefield triage or something of that nature.
"You're in the hospital wing of Hogwarts, Rowena," he said and she absently nodded before shaking her head at Iris' offer for another sip from her cup. "Lord Godric and Merlin have not awakened yet. Lord Godric's condition, I believe is similar to Lady Selwyn's as he was not injured by the Faydes."
"That's good," she sounded hopeful and relieved and Remus briefly wondered if something was going on between her and Godric. He did not remember much of the history he had read and heard from Marius, but he supposed there could have been something budding between the two.
"I'll get Madam Pomfrey and the three of you should return either to your dorms or back to Hogsmeade. I doubt that your chaperons or the Aurors sent to keep an eye on you would be happy to find you wandering around," Remus gave a pointed look at the three children who mutely nodded before they got up and headed out of the hospital wing.
Remus noted that Iris was very reluctant to leave Rowena's side and it was only because the young witch had murmured a few words of reassurance to her that she left. They had exchanged a few more words and he had no doubt that Iris was going to bring her student mentor, Hermione Granger over to visit Rowena after her Hogsmeade visit. It seemed that James and Lily's youngest was quite fascinated with the bookish Lady Ravenclaw.
He waited a few minutes after they left to make sure that they did not attempt to come back in before going over to Madam Pomfrey's office and knocked on her door to summon her. Glancing back once more, he reflected that it felt more like the calm before the storm, but did not know what kind of storm they were headed in.
Author's Notes:
A sedate chapter, I know. Like Remus said, it feels like the calm before the storm. After this chapter we will be digging deep into the story and things will be speeding up. I dedicate this chapter, especially the Remus part to my beta reader Algae09... She has a soft spot for the werewolf. Oh yeah, the book Remus is reading is a real book. I happened upon it a few weeks ago and was dismayed that I did not read it when it was actually published. It's a trilogy by Robin Hobb called the Farseer Trilogy. Highly recommend it! Anyways, thanks for reviewing and reading!