After my meeting with Dumbledore my dreams seemingly began to go back to normal, even without the Sleeping Draught. However, this did not stop my friends from keeping a watchful on me despite my many reassurances.

Quidditch also became another preoccupation as Gryffindor's match against Slytherin was fast approaching. This had everyone on edge since Snape was refereeing and seemingly had it out for Harry's head.

So, on the morning of the match, none of them had much appetite for food. By the time Oliver Wood came around to collect the team, no one had touched their food or even spoken very much. However, Marnie and the others wished them luck as they walked by and headed of for the pitch.

Marnie and the rest soon followed as they made their way out to the stands with the rest of the school. Marnie ended up sitting in between Hermione and Neville as they waited for the teams to come out. By the time they did Marnie was on the edge of her seat in anxious anticipation. This also meant that she did not notice Draco Malfoy come and sit behind them while he taunted Neville and Ron.

Professor Snape blew the whistle once the captains had shaken hands and the teams mounted their brooms. So far it didn't look like he was targeting Harry, but the match had only just begun. The girls however were playing quite well as each of them had already put away a goal making the score 30-0. The twins on the other hand were not as quick since they closely surveyed Harry for his well-being.

Back in the stands Malfoy started mouthing off to Ron which eventually incited a physical brawl that went unnoticed by both Marnie and Hermione as they sat staring at the edge of their seats. It was during this altercation that Harry seemingly spotted the snitch, which Lee exclaimed over the commentary, and sent Harry barreling towards Snape in a downward fury. Snape moved out of the way in the nick of time just as Harry folded his hand over the snitch, ultimately winning the game.

Hermione and Marnie stood up in relief and exuberance as Harry came safely back to the ground and held the snitch triumphantly in the air. His fellow teammates soon followed as they all huddled in the center of the pitch in celebration. Marnie and Hermione turned to head down when they realized Ron and Neville were on the ground and had indications of being in a brawl. The girls then spotted Malfoy and worked it out for themselves what had transpired. Marnie helped Neville to his feet while Hermione helped Ron before they all headed down to meet everyone.

Once on the pitch Marnie ran over to Harry who was also standing beside the twins congratulating him. She grabbed Harry in mid-sentence and brought him in for a bone-crushing hug since she was immensely relieved that he was alright, and also that they had won the game.

"Oi, what about us?" Fred asked cheekily while I gave him a grin before letting go of Harry and moving over to him and George.

The team then decided to head to the changing rooms while the rest of us headed back to the castle. We were all in the common room, which was filled with rowdy students still jubilant from the recent win. Already there were snacks going around and music playing from somewhere. Gryffindor's definitely knew how to throw a party at a moment's notice.

However, I had a hard time joining in when my friends returned without Harry in tow. Since Snape had still been at the pitch when they left, maybe he had taken a chance to attack Harry when they were alone. But before my mind could go into complete chaos, Harry entered the room with a rather serious look on his face. He bee-lined for Hermione and Ron who were sitting on another couch and started talking in their usual hushed tones before going back out through the portrait hole. I starred after them for a minute with half a mind to follow before Fred came up to me and offered his hand.

"Care to dance Hare?" he asked with a goofy grin.

"You're out of your mind Weasley," I answered but not without a smile.

"Is that a no?" he asked cheekily before I accepted his hand and followed him to the opened space in front of the fire place where some of the older students had moved the couches to the side and were dancing to the fast-paced rock song that was playing.

It was highly suspect that the older students had some sort of secret stash of fire whiskey and were taking the recent win as an excuse to imbibe. However, Fred just spun me around as we both danced like idiots and laughed profusely. He even brushed off the students who came to congratulate him by smiling and then redirecting his attention back to me. It felt incredible to finally have a bit of fun and relax after the past month. The thoughts of Harry's suspicious behavior dissipated as our friends joined in and George stole me away from Fred much to his disgruntlement. Ange and Leesh were also dancing wildly together while Lee and Katie danced with blushes on their face despite their lack of touching. This lasted well into the night as we relished in our Gryffindor pride and the fact of just being with friends. It was only broken up when Professor McGonagall finally came in and ordered us all to bed. In fear of strict retribution, the entire Gryffindor Tower was silent and in their beds within the next five minutes.

XXX

The next week got seemingly better after as the dreams remained at bay and life began to return to normal; all except for Harry who was acting outwardly suspicious. This was only cemented when he turned up one night with a sorrowful look.

"We have a detention tomorrow night," he said in a mournful tone.

"Aren't you being a little dramatic? It's not like you're a saint with the rules," I said while he just gave me a withering look.

"We have to go out into the Forbidden Forest," he said while my eyebrows shot up to my hairline.

"That's not possible," I said but he just sighed.

"All four of us have to go out tomorrow night with Hagrid apparently, Neville included," he explained.

"So, I'm assuming Malfoy was somehow the cause?" I guessed while Harry nodded dejectedly.

"Well, I guess having Hagrid there will be some sort of comfort," I said only semi-confidently.

Soon after, Hermione and Ron entered the common room with similar looks on their faces. Harry stood up to go and join them while I continued to stare after them. I had already confronted Harry numerous times about their suspicious behavior, but he had remained silent on the topic. Ron had even remained mum, despite my best efforts to worm it out of him. All I had to go on was Nicholas Flammel and Professor Snape; however, I was less certain about Snape's involvement in this scheme ever since the quidditch match. He had had plenty of opportunities, and obviously the perpetrator was not concerned with crowds due to the attempt made during the last match. But Harry had remained unharmed, thankfully, which left me unconvinced about our initial theory.

The following night I begrudgingly bid the four first years good luck as they set out to meet Hagrid at the Forbidden Forest. To make it worse, Filch had arrived to escort them with Malfoy in tow. After staring at my homework for a good hour without much progress, I decided to call it a night and went upstairs to bed. Sleep came easily enough though as the darkness of the room enveloped me.

I was now sitting in the same den that I had seen Harry's father's murdered body in my previous dream, however I was sitting on their couch as I looked between Lily and James' smiling faces. Sirius Black was also present and sitting beside me on our own loveseat. I could feel the nervousness in my body as I sipped my tea and listened to Lily and James discuss why they had called us here.

"Well, as you very well know, Lily is expected to have our child within the next few weeks," James explained as the obviously pregnant Lily beamed beside him.

"So, we wanted to discuss the idea of becoming our child's god-parents," James continued while I heard an audible inhale from Sirius.

"Padfoot, you had to know this was coming," James said keenly.

"Not necessarily, there was always Remus or Peter to consider," Sirius explained but James shook his head.

"It was always you brother," he replied before the two men fell into an emotive silence.

"I mean we had thought you and Lena-" James started after a moment before Lily audibly cleared her throat and threw a pointed look at her husband which silenced him.

"Lena, you are also an obvious choice to be this little one's god-mother," Lily added while she was smiling in an almost glow.

"Yea, plus we promised Marnie a sibling," James said with a chuckle.

I heard Sirius make an odd noise again while I finally turned to look at him. His eyes were focused on the ground before turning up to look and smile at Lily before James cleared his throat.

"In all seriousness, we know what this means during a time like this," James explained while the room exalted a palpable heaviness.

"That ruddy dark wizard is never coming anywhere near my godson," Sirius exclaimed.

James smiled. "How do you know it's going to be a boy?"

"Lena already gave us all our perfect little girl," he explained while I felt heat rush to my cheeks.

"Marnie and this little child will never be harmed by Voldemort, you have our word," I said ignoring Sirius' previous statement.

I woke up suddenly after that with a confused sense of what I had just seen. There were too many unknown variables to fully understand what I had just witnessed and what it meant. Thinking back to the conversation though, the topic was seemingly about the protection of Harry from Voldemort. After this realization there was no way in hell I was ever returning to sleep without knowing how and where Harry was. So, I ventured down to the common room to wait for his return. It was far later than I had expected when they came shuffling in around three in the morning.

"Marnie, what are you doing up?" Harry asked as the four of them came over to join me in front of the fire.

"I had another dream," I answered.

Neville looked confused by my answer while Ron feigned his own confusion.

"I thought they had stopped," Harry said anxiously.

"They had, and this one wasn't necessarily bad, but I was worried about what it could mean," I said while Harry, Ron and Hermione all dawned guilty expressions.

"It didn't by chance have to do with me and Voldemort, did it?" Harry asked solemnly.

"Why would you even say that?" I asked while I felt the anxiety rise throughout my body.

"Well, I think I might have just run into him," Harry said in a rare shaky tone.

The four of them then went into a rehash of the night's events which left me speechless.

"So not only was it the most idiotic plan to let first year students serve detention out in the Forbidden Forest, but you just had a run in with the darkest wizard of all time who just happens to have a vendetta against you?" I asked incredulously while the others remained silent.

We remained sitting there in silence for a long time while it was evident there wasn't much more to say. Neville ended up falling asleep on the end of the couch before Hermione eventually decided to head up to bed. Ron and Harry eventually went up to their own dorms, leaving Neville asleep on the couch. I pulled one of the faded quilts over him before deciding to head up to the third-year boy's dorm and crawled into bed with Fred. The beds weren't pushed together anymore since I had been regularly staying in my own dorm but Fred didn't even wake as I crawled in next to him. I did see however a smile cross his face as he rolled over and put his arm around me.

I hadn't planned on falling asleep but I awoke to the room filled with daylight and Fred laying on his back while he looked over the map.

"How long have you been up?" I asked as Fred shifted his attention to me at the sound of my voice.

"Not long," he answered in a non-committal sort of way. "I am worried as to why you are here though. I thought you weren't having nightmares anymore," he continued with his brow furrowed in concern.

I then explained my dream and what had happened to Harry during his detention. When I finished Fred remained quiet while he took in all the information.

"I sometimes worry that you and my brother hang out with the bloke," he said before I took a pillow and hit him over the head.

"This is serious!" I exclaimed.

"I know that Hare, I'm just nervous," Fred explained while I gave him a small smile.

I knew anything other than feeling pure bliss made Fred uncomfortable which made it lucky that not much fazed him.

"Well, I guess we better head down and go find them," Fred suggested while I nodded.

Fred then pulled back the curtains to reveal George pretending to read a book on his bed.

"You knew he was here didn't you?" I asked.

"I don't know how you could accuse me of that Hare. I can't see through opaque curtains," Fred answered with a shrug while George closed the book he had supposedly been reading and shrugged as well.

I huffed and stormed out of the room to return to my own dorm to get dressed. But before I left George called out which made me pause.

"I thought McGonagall warned you about spending the night with us untrustworthy boys," he said cheekily.

"Shut it Weasley," was all I said before I turned and exited the dorm.

XXX

The rest of the day, just like those to come, were filled with heightened anxiety and a necessity to study for the upcoming exams.

Harry had apparently started having nightmares after his run in with Voldemort which had undoubtedly made him uneasy. He and Marnie spent a lot of their nights sitting together in silence while they tried to study. It had become an unspoken rule between them not to talk about Voldemort or anything related since they had seemingly gone through every scenario to no avail which had only left them frustrated and strung out. Harry also wouldn't talk about whatever it was he had been doing over the past few months, so Marnie settled for spending all their free time together so she could keep an eye on him.

Finally, the last day of exams arrived and Marnie spent the latter part of it sitting outside by the lake as her friends all basked in the relief of making it through. The last exam for the first years followed that of the third years so Marnie hadn't seen much of Harry or the others. Her friends had also called in an early night since most of them had been studying well into the previous night; except of course for Fred and George.

Marnie drifted off into a fitful sleep, much as she had over the past weeks, since one did not sleep well with the threat of a certain dark wizard on the loose. Marnie had been consistently having the same dream as before, where Lena was sitting in the Potter's den and receiving news of becoming Harry's godmother, all the while promising to protect us from Voldemort himself. However, on this night, the routine dream transitioned at the end to my mother ascending the stairs of the Potter house, except I knew it wasn't the same day as the four adults sitting in the living room. There was an eerie silence that filled the house and I could feel the terror emanate throughout my mother's body. Reaching the top of the stairs I turned to go down the hall and finally heard the sound of a crying baby. This made my mother start running towards the room in the middle of the hall. Seeing Harry in his crib brought a rush of relief which was severed at the sight of Lily's body lying still beside the it. Tears were furiously cascading down my face as I held back the dire urge to bend down and hold my best friend who was no doubt dead. But somehow Harry was still safe and I needed to take him away. I went over to the young boy who was sobbing profusely but held his arms towards his godmother as a sign to pick him up. My mother slowly took the boy from his bedroom and left without looking back at the unbearable sight. My mother even turned her head when passing the den and sheltered Harry's eyes so he wouldn't see his father. Once out of the house and on the street my mother stood looking at the house for a brief moment before apparating away. This meant that she did not see the hooded figure who rushed towards the house only moments later.

I woke up then with tears running down my face as I bolted out of bed. I immediately rushed down the stairs into the common room with the intention of heading out the door, although with no particular destination in mind. However, I was stopped by the presence of my head of house and headmaster standing in the common room, after just having entered through the portrait hole.

"Ah, Marnie, I guess I am not surprised that you have awoken, given the circumstance," Dumbledore said which startled me.

"Where's Harry?" I blurted while McGonagall approached me and put her arm on my shoulder as a comforting gesture.

This did not put me at ease.

"Harry is safe and being attended to in the hospital wing," Dumbledore explained while I gasped in horror.

"It was Voldemort," I exclaimed loudly which made McGonagall flinch beside me.

"I unfortunately must agree with you," the headmaster said with a saddened expression.

"What happened?" I asked again while Dumbledore beckoned for me to sit on one of the couches.

McGonagall sat beside me as Dumbledore sat across. Dumbledore then went into a summary of what had happened to Harry that night in the depths of the castle and how he had come face-to-face with Voldemort in an attempt to save the philosopher's stone. He also explained how Professor Quirrell had been the host body for Voldemort to enter the school and live while he reserved enough strength to return to his own body. It was all terribly complex and left a disgusting taste in my mouth. It also made me realize that I had been right in questioning our theory about Snape when it had indeed been Quirrell. At the end of his retelling, Dumbledore brought me to the hospital wing since it was decided that there was no way I would be able to go back to sleep.

It was frightening seeing Harry's ragged body while he was also unconscious. I guess this is how the twins must feel when I end up in here. I sat with Harry for the entire night as I nodded off a couple times in my chair. It wasn't until the morning however that he awoke himself and nudged me lightly.

"I really want to be mad at you, you know," I said in a stern voice when I opened my eyes.

"I know," Harry replied softly.

"I knew you were keeping something from me. I could have helped!" I continued in a frustrated voice.

"That's what I was afraid of," Harry replied honestly as he looked me in the eyes.

"Marnie, I have waited my entire life for a family I didn't even know I had. There's no way I could ever jeopardize that and put you in danger," he explained while I shook my head in further frustration.

"So my consolation is to sit and watch my family go and risk their lives without my even knowing. How is that fair?" I asked while I crossed my arms on my chest.

Harry sighed. "I guess it's not fair."

"Damn right it's not. So promise me you will never keep things from me again," I said.

"On one condition," he answered. "You do the same for me."

I thought it over as I realized all of what that meant.

"I promise."

We both smiled then as Professor Dumbledore entered the room.

"Aw, Harry. It's good to see you awake. I was hoping Marnie, that you could give us a moment. I'm sure the congregation outside would appreciate an update," he said with humour in his eyes.

I nodded before I stood up and headed towards the door after giving Harry one more smile which he returned. I then went to join my friends outside and coax them into joining me for breakfast since I could already feel my stomach growling.

After the fiasco that was Harry, Ron and Hermione risking their lives and facing Voldemort, the next couple days were quite peaceful in comparison. Even Harry facing dad and Remus. They had met us at the train station as always and begrudgingly let Harry follow his aunt and uncle out of King's Cross. Dad and Remus had been vague on the explanation as to why it was necessary but assured us that Harry would be re-joining us at home by the end of the month. Mrs. Weasley had also come over and introduced herself to Harry before we all went our separate ways; Ginny had been overly excited about seeing Harry. It was both comforting and sad to leave Hogwarts, Harry and my friends for my own home. But this past year had been way too exciting for any one person to endure. The routine quiet of home felt to be just what I needed, especially when Harry would come to join. If only things were to go just as you planned.