Much to the surprise of many in Slytherin house, the appointments were all delivered discretely and took place in different locations throughout the school so that no-one could point at them and say this person was singled out. A few owls were sent out with a summary of the information that the healers presented, and permissions gained for most of them.
The number of people looking to join the Meditation club also swelled by four fold, as they learnt that Meditating to get in touch with their magic was a good way to tell when they were instinctively using Occlumency. Because of this Harry and Hermione were unable to take more than another 6 into the basic club as at the moment they were the only ones that knew enough about what they were trying to reach that they could teach it and spot bad habits before they arose.
If tonight went as planned then by Christmas they might have another 3 members that understood what was going to be happening, and could help. Lavender, Parvati, and Daphne had all pushed to move on faster than Harry and Hermione were exactly happy with, but they had to admit that they were able to hold a conversation for the entire session. But they'd need to come up with a better way to gauge when people were prepared to move on in the future.
Harry smiled as she remembered the part of the previous weeks conversation where it came up that Dudley was born completely non-magical while they were talking about why he was in First Year rather than second. Filch had lost his customary scowl and taken an immediate interest in the conversation, and became positively friendly when he found out that it was possible to become magical, but he'd never be a witch or wizard. Snapping out of her revery as Filch checking his pocket watch caught her eye she looked at the witches she was going to be doing this with.
"Ready?" After she got assents all around she continued.
"You'll need to be starting out meditating, and Hermione will travel first. Once she's gone I'll tell you and call your name. As each person delves successfully I'll call the next person until I join you. We'll then take 15 minutes and see how you're doing before maybe doing one more. If you have any trouble whatso ever you need to shut down immediately, don't try to bring it back under control. Tomorrow's, well today technically, is Halloween and I don't want a repeat of last year where I spent it dealing with something traumatic.
"Filch, thank you again for watching over us, I hope that Hermione and I can help with every one that falls asleep later. But I just wanted to say thank you before we started in case we fall asleep too."
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Daphne sat in a circle with Lavender next to her and Parvati across from her. She started meditating and once she had her magic under control she opened her eyes and looked around. She could see that everyone else had done the same, then it was time, and she felt the sensation of promise just out of reach that she was becoming used to. Not familiar with, but used to. She focused on the visualisation of her magic that she used, like a bud on a flower. She saw Hermione smoothly fade out, and once she was no longer visible Harry called out Lavender's name. Compared to Hermione her transition seemed to be agonisingly slow and jerky, with her snapping back into full visibility a couple of times. Finally, she disappeared completely and didn't reappear after a few moments, then she heard Harry call out her name.
Closing her eyes, she tried to slowly open her flower and let her magic out a little. Something that had become fairly easy to do sitting on the bed with Tracy suddenly became much harder when as soon as it started to open magic started to rush in, and a feeling like someone had just found the perfect spot to rub on her head passed through her magic. Pulling it back she started again and got a little further before she had to pull back a little. Eventually, after what seemed like an hour, she heard Hermione saying something to her about how she's almost there. Then, her flower grew slightly and all of the small movements she was making magnified slightly, the only reason she didn't abort right then was that Hermione's calm voice reassuring her that she was doing well, she just needed to pull it back slightly and find the balance point.
By the time she can open her eyes she can see that Parvati is almost here. She then double takes, as they haven't gone anywhere.
When Harry fade in she ventures to speak. "I thought that we were supposed to be going to a different world?"
The tinge of awe in her voice causes her to look at Hermione when she says, "We are, look out the window."
Standing up she walked over to the window and stopped, they were in the centre of a lush oasis filled with unfamiliar plants and animals. Beyond the wards she could see a desolate wasteland of rust brown rocks, sand and gravel.
A voice that was more a whisper or a feeling that audible spread through their room.
"Welcome young warlocks, if you can make it one more level I will be able to tell you more. The magic here is still to thin for me to [indecipherable] clearly."
Harry looked at Hermione with surprise on her face before she spoke, "What do you think?"
Trying to hide her excitement, Hermione responds with, "I think that we're in a replica of Hogwarts, and there is likely to be more answers in the next level. I confess I want to do it because it's new, but I think it's a great idea anyway."
"What do the rest of you think? And how are you doing?"
Daphne ventures, "I think that either you or Hermione should go to that world and come back here immediately no matter what you find. Once we know what's there we can make an informed decision. If you want my sensible suggestion that ignores Hermione's desire, we should return to the classroom and tell the Deputy Headmistress in the morning."
"Ok, we'll put it to a vote, we have two the two options that Daphne outlined."
Daphne voted to go back even though she knew that with four Gryffindors that was never going to fly. But she knew that she wanted to see as well.
"Ok, Hermione, do you want to go first or do you want me to go?", even Daphne could see that Harry really wanted it to be her, as the magic in her eyes made the different layers sparkle.
"You can go first Harry", Hermione said with a soft smile.
Faster than she'd have believed possible, Harry faded out and then faded back in, "It's amazing, it's in the middle of a rainforest as we expected, and it's also in a copy of Hogwarts. Come on you have got to see this."
She then faded out again.
"I'm always so jealous of how effortless she makes that look. Ok, which of you wants to go first?" Hermione turns to the three of them as she gets to that last bit.
Lavender opines, "Why not do it in the same order as before?"
"That works for me, I could use the break.", Parvati agrees.
Daphne just nods in agreement, secretly both dreading and looking forward to that feeling again.
She sunk into her meditation again, and found to her surprise that staying in this world had only been around as hard as chatting in the club had been last week. She didn't have long to ponder that before Hermione called her name. A little more prepared than last time, the sheer seductive pull of the dream still caught her off guard. Her flower opened a little more, and grew a tiny amount so it seemed like it was still only open as much as it had been before. She felt the balance point pass before Harry told her that she needed to come back this time. But it was so much harder to back off than it was the first time. Later she'd describe it to Tracey like being a leaf floating down a stream and the hill it's on becomes slightly steeper. She eventually found the notch that was this world and opened her eyes as the strain left her.
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Harry watched with amusement from her plush seat by the window as each of her friends opened their eyes and then gawked at their surroundings. The fact that she and Hermione had had nearly 10 minutes to get used to their surroundings didn't factor into it at all. Though the fact that Hermione was poking her in the side because of the expression on her face didn't help matters.
Daphne was the first to recover her wits, though her expression jerked so Harry assumed that she'd accidentally used Occlumency to control her reaction and then stopped.
"What! How?" were the first intelligible words out of her mouth.
"I'm not sure, but I think that the ghost behind you might have some answers." Three heads turned around as if a snitch had just gone past them.
In front of them stood a very faint ghost that was wearing a simple linen dress that had white cotton embroidery on it. Hermione remembered it would be called a shift in those days and was actually an undergarment.
In a formal tone of voice she spoke to all five of them, "Greetings young Warlocks, and congratulations on becoming accomplished witches. In accordance with tradition your quarters have now been moved from The Nest into the Library, that is this copy of the school. You have successfully traversed the Armoury, and the only layer left is the Sanctuary. Be warned that the trip between this layer and the Sanctuary is far, far harder than the two realm barriers that you crossed to get here. In these three realms there remains the possibility to be born without magic, in the next realm there is not such thing as a mundane born."
Visibly relaxing her stance and voice, she continued, "Now that we have the formalities out of the way I assume you have some questions."
Daphne pre-empted Hermione by a fraction of a second when she asked, "Who are you?"
"Has it been so long that people have forgotten that I exist? I am the living wards of Hogwarts ignited by the magic from a willing sacrifice I gave up my name in order to protect the school that I helped to build."
Hermione jumped in, "What did you mean when you said our quarters have been moved from The Nest into the Library?"
"This is a story that may take some time, I'd offer you some refreshments, but I suggest that one of you at least returns to The Nest to let those waiting for you know that you'll be here and you're fine. Before you go, I'd like you to follow me in case you get caught outside The Dream, as you'll need to know how to get back here during the daytime hours."
With that she lead them out to a junction between corridors and pointed at one of the Hogwarts crests that dotted the school.
"If you touch one of these crests and adjust your magic to this realm it you will be brought here, you can do the same to return to The Nest or travel to the Armoury. You will need to show the house elves how to use the crests as the house elves that used to live in the sanctuary have long left and I have not seen them for a few centuries. Now I would suggest that you return to your rest, and tomorrow return for the explanation. I would request that when you do you bring the Deputy Headmistress as I have some news that she must know, and there are additional things I can only speak of in my heart chamber in the sanctuary. But none of you are ready for that trip yet."
She turns and starts to walk back to the room they came from, "Come I will show you where you came from, and then you can return and get some sleep."
Feeling somewhat numb they followed her and then shut down their magic. When they returned to the room they started in they found that Filch was still there, and that Susan and Neville had both been knocked out. Soon enough it was only Harry and Hermione that were staying awake through sheer willpower as they waited for the minutes to pass before they could relax their magic.
Once it passed both Harry and Hermione perked up as their released the rigid control on their magic. After helping Filch with the sleeping students they were heading back to the main entrance with Filch when Harry spotted one of the Hogwarts crests.
"One moment, I'd like to try something before we go to bed." Before Hermione could object she impulsively touched the crest and vanished to the second world. Immediately she felt herself being pulled into the dream unprepared and so she slammed down her magic and returned to earth.
Before she succumbed to unconsciousness she managed to say to Hermione "The Dream's still going there."