As 1993 became 1994, the Fateful Eight decided to play another game of Truth or Dare- but, at Eddie's request, the canon Hufflepuffs were allowed to join. Among the newcomers were Hannah, Susan, Ernie, Justin, Luna Lovegood, Neville, Ron, and Hermione. Eddie wondered how Ron and Hermione's friendship had developed, without Harry to keep them from bickering constantly. He supposed Tom served as the placeholder for Harry in these situations.

Starting the game off, Ernie dared Justin to take as much as he could carry from the kitchens and bring it back to the room. He came back five minutes later with two butterbeers, six cookies, and one cake tottering dangerously on the top of the butterbeer bottles. He almost made it scot-free when he tripped over himself and the cake splattered his face, which was good for a few laughs.

Justin brushed the frosting off of him, and smirked at Ernie. "Susan, truth or dare."

"Dare," she picked, not knowing what was coming.

"I dare you to walk around the castle for at least 10 minutes holding hands with Ernie, and you're to tell at least 5 people that you're dating." This made Ernie go red.

"Are you serious?" he sputtered. "That's how you're going to get back at me?! I-" he seemed lost for words for a second, which was odd, considering how much of a talker he was.

"Wait a hot second, I know what's going on here!" Eddie exclaimed. "You've got a crush!"

Stunned by this, Ernie froze. Then, he looked down and nodded.

He gathered his composure and inhaled. "Fine. Come on, Susan." Holding hands, he led a shocked Susan out of the room.

Five minutes later, they returned, very red in the face.

"So, who'd you tell?" Justin asked.

Ernie gritted his teeth. "The Fat Friar, two random Ravenclaws, a Gryffindor, and..Professor Snape. Hope you wanted twenty points from Hufflepuff." Justin laughed. "Alright, Ernie, your turn...

The game progressed with sparse excitement, as they were still fairly young and weren't too creative with their dares. Among the more interesting ones, Ron dared Hermione to burn her copy of Hogwarts, A History, so she wouldn't "keep quoting it all the time." To their amazement, she tossed the book in the fire with no words, and then, right as they thought she was about to lose it, produced another copy, glanced around at them, smirked at Ron, and read. Hannah confirmed that she was indeed dating Eddie, which made the auburn haired Hufflepuff blush.

Luna revealed that she hadn't had friends before Hogwarts, not fazed by it either, which made the room go silent for several very uncomfortable minutes.

They eventually lost track of the time. Eddie checked his watch and was startled to find that it was ten o'clock at night- three hours past curfew. They quickly decided to have a sort of sleepover in the room, talking late into the night, and setting up a sort of hammock system not unlike the setup from the Dumbledore's Army hideout in Deathly Hallows Part 2.

At around one, Neville's pillow fell onto Ron, who chucked it across the room and hit Hermione in the face, waking her up with a screech.

Sleepily, Eddie opened his eyes, realized what was going on, and got a bit of a gleam in his eye.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" he screamed, and mayhem erupted. Feathers flew and hammocks were dismantled. Eddie didn't remember falling asleep that night, but he did remember that it was one of the best he had at Hogwarts.

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The following morning, they trudged off to Divination half-asleep. While Professor Trelawney droned on about planetary rotations and tea leaves, Eddie slowly felt himself leaving the sweltering heat of the classroom, and woke up in a totally different place. It was chilly, with metal walls.

"If you will not tell me how...then you will die…Avada Kedavra!"

A girl cried out. Then, the scene shifted. He was in the Hufflepuff common room. A very angry Hannah was glaring into his eyes.

"I can't believe you wouldn't tell me. I'm leaving you," she hissed.

"No...no...no, don't…"

"Why didn't you tell me, Eddie...Eddie...Eddie!"

The final calling of his name awoke him. He found that he was on the floor, in a cold sweat, again everyone looking at him concernedly as they had done on the train. Hannah was gripping his arm.

"What happened?" she asked.

"N-nightmare…" Eddie stood up, clutching his head.

"A nightmare?" Professor Trelawney asked inquisitively. "Or something...more?"

Eddie didn't want to hear this nonsense. "I just need to go to the hospital wing, Professor."

"Yes, very well…" she looked rather disappointed. "You may go."

Eddie left, trying to comprehend what he had just experienced. Was Trelawney on to something?

Or was it merely just a nightmare, induced by a lack of sleep and a humid classroom on a hot day?

Without watching where he was going, he ran into Malfoy, knocking him over. Before he could even realize what had just happened, two pairs of arms, undoubtedly Crabbe's and Goyle's, grabbed him and shoved him roughly against a wall, snapping him out of his daydreaming.

"Pattinson!" Malfoy glared coldly into his eyes. "What are you doing, hm?" A slight, wicked, grin crept across his face. "Thinking about Abbott again?"

"N-no," he answered half-truthfully, itching to get away from Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hmph," Malfoy looked as though he didn't believe it. "Boys!" he commanded the two trolls. "I think it's time we teach Pattinson a lesson in respect."

With Crabbe and Goyle flexing their muscles menacingly and knowing he was trapped, Eddie braced himself for the worst when-

"Draco, Crabbe, Goyle!" another familiar voice drawled. "Release Pattinson and get back to class at once!" It was Snape. Rushing over to the four of them, he quickly shooed the Slytherins away. Eddie thought something like fear appeared in Snape's eyes, but those wonders were quickly dispersed when Snape assumed his usual demeanor.

"And what were you doing out of class, hmm?"

"Er-" He wasn't sure whether he wanted to tell Snape or not, so he tried blocking his mind.

"Decent effort blocking me, but if you don't want to tell me, I must know, Pattinson. I can sense something's troubling you."

"Oh- okay, then-" Eddie stammered. And so he let Snape in.

Snape's frown grew with each passing second. He looked away and didn't say anything for a while. Eddie didn't leave, he was wondering why Snape was acting like this.

"This is not good…Pattinson, come with me to the headmaster's office."