The room I stood in was dark, dimly lit by a few candles hanging from the stone walls. A soft harp played quietly in the background, just audible over the low rumble of deep breaths of a sleeping beast.

Green vines stretched out before me, twisting and tangling together as they carpeted the floor and walls. My chest felt tight as they grew around me, constricting my body and pinning my arms to my sides.

The sound of wings drowned out all other noise. Not the soft flutter of a butterflies wings but the heavy beating of frantic flapping, swirling around my head and disorientating me.

A chess board. Dark with shadows and heavy with threat. I took a step forward onto the board, taking my place on a black square. I felt anxious, I wasn't sure why. Before I had the chance to work it out, a giant stone statue was falling towards me. I tried to scream, to call for help but I couldn't.

I woke with a start, my eyes flashing open, struggling to accustom to the dark room around me. I stifled a yawn as I sat up in bed, narrowing my eyes as I attempted to take in my surroundings. A soft snore could be heard emanating from one of the beds in the large dorm room, probably Pansy. I took a few deep breaths to steady my breathing, the images from my dream still fresh in my mind. What time was it?

I glanced at my watch in an attempt to alleviate the feeling of disorientation you always get when you wake up in the middle of the night. 1:23am. I dropped back onto my pillow with a sigh, my fingers rubbing circles into my temples as I scrunched my eyes shut, trying to force myself back to sleep. Though as much as I tried, I couldn't rid myself of those images, that dream. Something about it felt wrong. Too real, like it was a memory rather than a dream. I groaned as I pushed myself back up, grabbing my jumper from the end of my bed and pulling it over my head. I climbed out of the sheets and tip toed across to Nina's bed, intent on waking her for a late night walk to ease my mind. I was surprised however, when I noticed her bed was empty. The sheets perfectly made, as though she hadn't slept in it at all. I felt my anxiety rise again, a sense of panic settling in my stomach as I wracked my brain for where she could be.

Potter. She said she was meeting them, something about Snape. Dammit I was supposed to have gone with her! I must have fallen asleep before she left. I frowned as I realised that she had gone without me, choosing not to wake me and drag me along with her. She would definitely be receiving some choice words regarding that decision. Returning to my bed, I grabbed my shoes and slipped them on my feet, careful not to wake the others as I slipped out of the dorm and headed for the common room.

The common room was lit by a roaring fire as usual, the moonlight dancing across the room where it filtered through the murky waters of the black lake. I wasn't sure where I was planning on going, but I was going somewhere. Perhaps I'd look for Nina, or perhaps I'd just wander the hallways for a while until I got tired enough to go back to sleep. Either way, I wasn't planning on staying here. I crossed the common room silently, almost at the door before I was stopped. Obviously I wasn't as silent as I thought.

"Cavett?" A voice called my name, halting my steps and causing me to turn back towards the fireplace. A confused and curious looking Blaise watched me over the back of the sofa, dropping his book beside him as he waited for a reply.

"Zabini, what are you doing up?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the wall behind me.

"I could ask you the same. Going somewhere?"

"I asked you first." I raised a brow, smirking as he frowned at me.

"I couldn't sleep, thought I'd sit down here and read for a bit. What's your excuse?" He replied, picking up his book and waving it towards me to prove his story.

"You can read?" He rolled his eyes at my snarky comment, grabbing the cushion behind him and throwing it in my direction. I shot him an unimpressed look as it landed with a weak thud at my feet.

"Shut up Cavett. You didn't answer my question. Where are you going?" I reached down and picked up the pillow, flinging it back across the room towards Blaise, who expertly caught it before dropping it back onto the sofa and offering a smug smile.

"I couldn't sleep, had a bad dream. I thought maybe I'd go for a walk to clear my mind a bit." He nodded in understanding, thankfully choosing not to probe me for information about this dream.

"Want me to come with you?" He offered with a shrug, watching me expectantly for an answer, "That way if you get caught out after hours you wont get in trouble alone." I laughed at his terrible thought process. At least if I got caught on my own it would only be one lot of points deducted from our house, not two.

"No, it's okay, I'd rather be on my own." I replied, turning back towards the door and swinging it open. I glanced back behind me quickly before leaving. "Thanks for the offer though." With that, I slipped out of the door and into the dark and ominous hallways of Hogwarts at night.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been aimlessly walking, but I had reached a part of the castle I wasn't overly familiar with. My wand was safely tucked away in my pocket, easy to grab in case I needed it. I'd chosen not to use it to light my way, knowing I'd most likely end up waking all the portraits and causing a scene which I was not eager to do. Instead, I'd opted to use the soft streaks of moonlight and my fantastic sense of direction to find my way. So far, this had been working wonderfully for me. Empty hallways were extremely easy to navigate in the dark. However, this became much less easy when there were other people wandering in the dark to contend with. Of course, I hadn't been expecting to bump into anyone else in the hallways at half one in the morning. In fact, I had been counting on the fact I wouldn't. I wasn't so lucky.

I turned the corner onto yet another unfamiliar corridor, my fingertips brushing softly against the stone walls to help guide me. My heart practically leapt in my chest as I was abruptly halted by bumping straight into someone's chest. I stumbled backwards in shock, my feet tangling together and sending me toppling over and towards the hard stone floor. Fortunately, I never hit the floor as hands wrapped around each of my arms, tugging my back to my feet. I wriggled from their grasp, my hand going straight for my pocket and reclaiming my wand before holding it out defensively in front of me.

"Lumos." I uttered the words almost perfectly in sync with the strangers in front of me, three wands flashing into life at once.

"Amelia?" I was greeted with the confused faces of Fred and George Weasley. Perfect, of all the people to bump into right now. I think I'd prefer Snape.

"Fred, George… I'm beginning to think I've been cursed to spend the rest of my life bumping into you." I complained, lowering my wand but keeping the light on.

"We're not exactly thrilled about it either love." George replied with a smirk as I rolled my eyes. "So, what brings you here? Wandering the hallways alone at night, that's a bit suspicious don't you think?"

"I think you forget that you're also wandering the hallways at night, Weasley." I quipped, crossing my arms over my chest with a frown.

"Yes, little one, but we're wandering the hallways at night together. There's a difference." It was Fred who spoke this time, adding his opinions to the current situation. I remained silent, considering the best way to escape from this unwanted encounter. If I continued down the sarcastic route, I'd probably be here all night chatting to these wonderful idiots. The truth it was.

"I had a nightmare and I couldn't get back to sleep," The words came out slightly shakier than I had wanted, a shiver running through me as the images resurfaced. "I thought I'd take a walk to clear my head a bit."

My last sentence was quiet, barely above a whisper and I easily noticed the concern in their eyes. Clearly I wasn't as good at suppressing my emotions as I thought I was. I noticed a look pass between them before they turned their attention back to me.

"Anyway, why are you here? Probably up to no good as usual." I frowned, quickly attempting to turn the conversation away from me and back onto the twins escapades. Thankfully, if there was one thing they loved to do more than anything else, it was talk about themselves.

"Middle of the night is the best time for pranking little one." Fred began, moving towards me and draping an arm over my shoulders, to which I responded with a grimace before shrugging him off.

"Plus, it's the easiest time to sneak into Snape's supplies and not get caught" George added with a smirk.

"Oh, so I was right, up to no good." I rolled my eyes as they both shrugged, sporting matching grins that dripped with deviousness. While I hadn't planned on partaking in any rule breaking acts tonight, the images of that dream still flickered in the back of my mind. Perhaps I should do something to take my mind off it. I would most likely end up doing something stupid and getting into trouble, just the same as I always did when I spent any time with the twins, but seeing as my options were to stay with them, or navigate the dark hallways back to my bed where I wouldn't do a bit of sleeping… the choice was a simple one.

"Need some help?" I questioned with a sigh, resigning myself to a long night of bad decisions.

"Thought you'd never ask little one." Fred sported a wide grin, throwing his arm around my shoulder as we continued in our night time walk. For the first few corridors I fought his grip on me, attempting to shrug his arm away from my shoulder, but after too many failed attempts at escape I gave up, allowing myself to be led where he wished without argument.

We reached Snape's potions cupboard with little issue, aside from the quiet bickering that passed between Fred and I on the way. Nothing unusual, just our normal method of communication. I paused as we reached the door, letting the two of them go ahead and examine the lock, whispering between each other words that I couldn't quite hear.

"Everything alright, boys?" I planted my hands on my hips, quirking a brow as they turned to face me in unison.

"Just peachy, thank you Amelia." I nodded slowly, arms moving to fold over my chest as I sucked in a deep breath.

"So we're just standing beside this locked door for fun?" They shared a glance, remaining silent as I had clearly uncovered a fatal flaw in their plan. "You can't unlock it, can you…?"

"We can unlock it." Fred stated defensively, narrowing his eyes at me moodily before turning back to the door, wand in hand.

"The spell is Alohomora, if you were struggling." He tucked his wand back into his pocket, lips pulled into a frown as he turned to face me.

"How does a little first year know that, hm? We only started learning that spell this year." I shrugged, leaning back against the cool stone wall.

"I read. So, why can't you unlock it? Haven't quite mastered the spell? I can have a go if you like." I shot them a confident smirk, thoroughly enjoying the way they looked so very put out by my comment.

"We're perfectly capable of a simple unlocking spell, Mia dearest." It was George who spoke this time, draping an arm over my shoulder and leading me closer to the door. "See this…"

He recited the spell perfectly, wand motion expert and exact. The spell should have worked like a charm, yet it did nothing but withdraw a strained cracking sound from the lock while the door remained firmly closed.

"There must be a spell on it to stop students breaking in…"

"I thought you'd broken into here before?"

"Hence why old Snapey has added a protection spell." It made sense, I supposed. Especially if the twins had been raiding his stores since way back in first year. Fortunately, growing up in a muggle society, with a particularly devious and adventurous big brother, had given me a skillset I was excited to test out.

"Let me try something…" I dipped my hands into my pockets, knowing that I was bound to find what I needed in there. I pulled out my hand, clutching a bunch of bobby pins with a proud grin.

"Hair pins?" George questioned with a confused look.

"You could definitely do with sorting this bed-head out Ams, but I don't think right now is the time." I swatted away his hand as he tugged at the long hair that draped over my shoulder.

"Continue being rude to me, Fred Weasley, and I will go straight back to bed right now, and good luck getting into this room without me." He fell silent at that, in fact, they both fell silent and so I shoved past them and dropped to my knees, bending the pins this way and that until they were the shape I desired.

I noted the way the boys were entranced, watching me with bated breath as I jammed the pins into the lock and began to manoeuvre them. Admittedly, I'd only done this once or twice before, and both times had been on my father's liquor cabinet in order for me and Bell to have a sneaky firewhisky.

It took a little time, but after a minute or so of twisting and turning, a quiet but satisfying click echoed in the hallway.

"Brilliant." Fred mumbled.

"Bloody brilliant" George added.

"Handy muggle trick Bell taught me. Knew it would come in handy someday." I swung the door open, climbing to my feet with a satisfied sigh.

Arms wrapped tightly around my waist and a number of kisses were placed into my hair by both brothers as they rejoiced in getting the store room open. I wriggled from their arms, shooing them away with a poorly concealed grin before shoving them towards the door.

"Come on, get what you need and let's get the hell out of here before someone finds us." I peered around the hallways anxiously, barely able to see a few feet in front of me thanks to the darkness. My foot tapped against the floor as the twins rummaged through the shelves, popping bottles and vials of merlin knows what into their pockets with murmurs of excitement.

"Are you done yet?" My voice was attempting to be a whisper, yet was still loud enough for them to hear over their quiet conversation and hurried theft.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your knickers in a twist little one." I received a dazzling smile from Fred as he pocketed one last vial of shimmering silver liquid. I figured it would be much safer to just not even ask, and so I remained quiet as they filed out into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind them.

"I'll lock this back up then shall I?" I complained as they moved past me, discussing whether they had collected everything they would need for whatever terrifying scheme they were cooking up. I didn't get a response, so I turned back to the door, muttering a few profanities under my breath in the process.

"Colloportus." I muttered the locking spell, waving my wand in the correct motion and smiling as I heard the satisfying click of the lock facing back into place. I turned towards the boys, ready to reprimand them for ignoring me when the feeling hit me.

It was as though I'd been punched in the gut while also in the process of being dragged underwater by my ankles. It was fear and dread and terror and sadness. It clouded my mind and sent my head into a spin, leaving me clutching the wall behind me out of fear I might tumble to the ground in a heap. Somehow, I knew exactly what it was. What I had seen in my dream, it had started.

I was so wrapped up in this feeling, in my confused and panicked state that I didn't notice the arms that waved at me from across the hall, or the frantic expressions of the twins attempting to send me a warning. I realised this too late as I came face to face with the black suit clothed chest of none other than the man they had just stolen from.

"I believe an explanation is in order… don't you, Miss Cavett?" Professor Snape's voice was that same slow drawl we had already grown tired of hearing in potions class, my least favourite subject.

"I was… looking for you, Professor." I swallowed thickly, barely noticing the twins panicked expressions over Professor Snape's shoulder.

"And why, pray tell me Miss Cavett, were you looking for me at 2am in a dark hallway." The corner of my mouth twitched slightly and if I hadn't felt as though I might throw up due to the anxiety of what had just happened I might have burst into laughter as I responded.

"I suppose it just seemed like the right place to find you." His scowl somehow managed to deepen, lips curling down even further than they had previously, which I didn't think was possible. He took a steadying breath, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose before continuing.

"What did you want, Cavett. Please tell me before I feel the need give you a month of detentions." My eyes widened at this, a month of detentions being the last thing I could possibly want right now.

"Right! Yes! Well… See I heard Potter talking about something earlier with Weasley and Granger…" I spared a glance at the twins whose concern had now morphed into confusion and interest at what I was about to say.

"If this isn't a life or death matter I swear-" I cut him off before he could finish that sentence.

"It is! They were talking about…" I paused, searching the depths of my mind to uncover what I had seen in my dream, the memories resurfacing with a sharp sting. "A three headed dog, and a harp and a trap door. And then something about wings and a chessboard. I'm not sure 100% I didn't hear the details but they were talking about doing something tonight."

His nostrils flared slightly, eyes widening as I recalled the details of my dream in as much detail as I could remember without making myself look too suspicious. His reaction told me that clearly something was going on, and it had me praying that the intel would get me out of any detentions he might have planned. When he didn't respond, I continued.

"I was awfully worried Professor, that's why I came to find you, I don't want anything bad to happen to them." This last part was the most truthful I had been. I was awfully worried, not as much about Potter, Weasley and Granger, though I didn't want them to get hurt either. But no, Nina was with them, and her safety was my first priority.

"Return to your dorm at once, Miss Cavett. I'll handle this from here." I nodded quickly, taking a step back before hurrying past the professor, pausing and turning back as I got to the corner.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to them, is it?" There was a sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach at the look in his eyes. I could have sworn I saw concern, though in the darkness of the hallway and my exhausted state, I could have been wrong.

He chose not to answer my question, merely instructing me back to my dorm once again before whipping his cloak as he spun on his heel and hurried off along the corridor. He'd barely stepped out of sight when I was accosted by the twins who had launched themselves from their hiding spot.

"What in Merlin's name was that?! You're a genius Ammy, where did that story come from? I could never think of something like that off the top of my head." Fred rambled on, a look of pure amazement and wonder on his face that would normally have had me smiling, but right now didn't feel like the time.

"Yeah Mia, that was bloody brilliant. I thought for sure you were getting that month of detentions! He's gonna be fuming when he finds out you were making it up!" George piped up, clapping his hands on my shoulders with a loud laugh. I, however, retained my even - and slightly anxious - expression.

"I wasn't making it up." My gaze was focused on nothing in particular, my mind too preoccupied by what had just happened. If I'd wanted to fool myself into thinking it was all just a dream then I had been naive. Professor Snape's reaction had been too real, too panicked for it to be rubbish. Whatever it was I'd seen in my dream, he had seen it before, or at least he knew what I was talking about, and the feeling of utter dread I had felt whilst dreaming led me to believe that whatever was going on… it wasn't good.

"What do you mean you weren't making it up? You were talking about a three headed dog and a giant chess board… how can that be real?" I shrugged, not really listening to what was being said to me, tuning out their voices as I continued to internally panic about the entire situation.

"More importantly, you mentioned Ron. What's he got to do with this? Is he in danger?"

"He's an annoying git but I'd rather he didn't get eaten by a three headed dog…" I was shaken back into reality when a pair of hands gently shook my shoulders, looking up to meet the chestnut eyes of Fred Weasley. I knew it was Fred, you see, because his left eye held just the smallest speck of green.

"Amelia?"

"Sorry… I think I should go back to bed." I slipped out of his grasp, ducking under his arm and taking a few steps along the corridor before turning back. "You two should do the same. Wouldn't want you getting into trouble… I'll see you at breakfast."

I sent them a parting wave before spinning on my heel, my feet carrying me away from their stunned and confused expressions in autopilot, shoes tapping quietly against the hard stone floors as I rounded the corner out of sight.

I didn't quite remember the walk back to the common room that night, as though my brain wasn't quite attached to my body as I moved through the castle. Nevertheless, I made it back to the common room, unscathed bar my anxious nerves. I realised when I arrived that I couldn't have been gone too long, as Blaise still claimed the leather sofa by the warm fireplace, book in hand just as he had been when I left.

"Amelia?"

"Hello Blaise." I returned the greeting without so much as a look his way as I strolled through the common room, sights set on the stairs that would lead me to my bed.

"Feeling better?" I paused, one foot on the bottom step as I peered back over my shoulder.

"Not particularly… goodnight Blaise." I sent him a weak smile before continuing up the stairs, discarding my shoes and climbing into bed, tugging the blankets over me and drifting off as soon as my head touched the pillow.