Notes: There was a small delay with this chapter, but everything is fine now. As always thanks to everyone that's been following up until now, and I'd also like to give a special shout out to Crystal since it was her birthday earlier this week. Happy Birthday!

…

(T-4)

Chapter 28: Nightmares

Zidane found himself soaring up into the air over the sea. The sky was misleadingly blue, with almost no clouds that would otherwise foreshadow a great tragedy. He slid a hand over his forehead at the feeling of something wet, and then looked at his pale digits and saw them stained with fresh blood. Looking at the culprit, the massive dragon Bahamut, he felt the corners of his mouth turn upwards.

He urged his silvery mount to turn around in a circle, and he saw a massive tree behind him, a tree he knew all too well. His smile widened further when he saw the Alexandrian fleet below prepare for an attack. The black mages, those empty puppets he despised so much, were already readying their canons. And sitting there, in the largest ship at the center of the formation, was none other than the Queen of Alexandria herself. Her fat, greedy hands clenched in victory, a look of absolute delight crossing her rather ugly visage.

His lips just curved further up in a malicious smile, though in reality he was trying his best to resist the urge of throwing his head back and laughing.

The woman was obviously drunk with power. He had given her a small sip and now she demanded the whole bottle. She was obviously not content with the army he had provided, but that didn't matter. He was counting on it. It had been part of the plan from the start. He supposed that the saddest part was that she actually thought she could defeat him. That mistake would be both her greatest and her last.

The king of Dragons had managed to wound him. That was true.

But now it was his turn.

…

His body felt smooth, powerful, and flexible. He was gliding between metal bars and cold stone through a blanket of darkness. Even so, he could see objects around him shining in strange vibrant colors as he dragged his belly along the floor gracefully…silently…deadly.

He stopped when he caught the sight of a man on the floor ahead. Sliding his tongue out, he tasted the man's scent, and had to restrain himself from the sudden urge to bite him. He had more important things to do, and the drowsy man would only be a hindrance.

The man stirred, a silver cloak falling to the floor, as he jumped to his feet. Before he could even take out his wand, Harry had already reared up and struck.

…..

He raised his arms high and the sky around him darkened, clouds spun ominously around the red 'eye' in the sky. Violet rays crashed down onto the fleet, seemingly covering up the sky and raining down like some kind of godly wrath. Screams quickly resonated through the air as soldiers and mages all clutched their heads hard between their hands. Many mages fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut off, but all of this was obscured by the angry roars of the Last Eidolon as it thrashed wildly in the air.

Zidane merely brought a finger to his lips as he looked down at the scene with amusement. Even more so as he saw the look on the rotund queen's face as she recovered from the wave's onslaught, only to look up and see her own summoned Eidolon turn on her. The last thing she registered was the opening of a giant maw and the buildup of a hot flare before the entire ship was blasted apart.

…

Harry sunk his fangs into the man, once, then a second time, and finally a third. Blood gushed from the injury and onto the surface of the smooth dark stone, tainting the place with a strong coppery scent that did nothing but excite him further.

The man's cries echoed loudly across the corridor, only managing to aggravate him further into another onslaught. This time he sank his fangs into the man's ribs, feeling the bones snap under the strength of his powerful jaws.

…

Bahamut continued his onslaught. Powerful, fiery flares were shot from his open jaws, instantly destroying the battleships in a display of blasted metal debris and hot, burning wood.

Something inside him shifted, and it was then that his mind seemed to stir into awakening. A wave of horror invaded him then as he came to realize the alien nature of the thoughts running through his head. He tried to struggle, to swim against the current that pulled him in, but something wasn't right and Zidane suddenly found himself elsewhere.

Blood splattered walls and a dark tunnel greeted him. The scent of blood was strong in the air, and the pained cries of a man echoed eerily through the walls, which strangely enough, only gave him an intense desire to kill.

…

The scene seemed to change just as the man cried painfully. Harry now saw himself over the ocean, his body no longer crawling over the floor, but now standing over a moving being. He noticed a massive tree behind him, but his vision was focused on the spectacle before him. To his shock, he saw a massive dragon attack a strange armored ship and easily blast it apart.

He felt his bloodlust die down and be replaced by extreme pleasure at seeing the destruction before him.

There was a sudden tug and a push at his being, and he suddenly found himself back at the corridor. His body already rearing back once more, his fangs extended and poised to attack.

…..

Zidane's surroundings shifted again and suddenly he was seeing Bahamut annihilate the fleet in a matter of seconds.

His mind panicked once more and he thrashed against the foreign scene he found himself unwillingly acting. The scene flickered again and this time he was able to make out the red hair and balding head of the injured man.

…..

Harry saw the corridor flash out of existence, only to be replaced by the vast blue sea and the massive tree. His eyes, however, seemed entirely focused on the writhing movements of the massive dragon, and the now smoking remains of the attack on the now-nonexistent fleet.

He moved his arm to brush a stray strand of long hair out of his face, his smile still in place as he saw the massacre before him.

Yet there was another stubborn push and the ocean seemed to meld into black stone, his belly once more laying coolly over it. He caught another gaze at the man, as every fiber of his being seemed to tell him to devour him. It was then that he realized, with absolute horror, that the man that he had sunk his fangs into was none other than .

…..

He was dragged back again, this time smirking as he saw the Dragon King's movements become an erratic flurry of wings before he disappeared in a display of blue light. Below him, not a single soldier or mage made it alive.

Zidane fought against the current once more. His mind protesting the movements of this body, yet unable to do anything about it, as if he had been paralyzed by a strong impediment jinx. With a final shove, he found himself escaping once more, his stubborn mind anchoring itself to the murmurs from beyond that were now rapidly becoming shouts, a strange numb pressure settling over his chest.

"Harry!" A voice called. He recognized it as Ron's, though his call was laced in fear.

He thief jerked up, his eyes finally opening to find himself tangled in a mess of bed sheets. He could just barely make out his confined enclosure amidst the darkness, his mind almost entering a state of panic, before quickly remembering that it was only the drawn curtains of his bed. Looking down he saw Mog frantically pawing at his chest to get him to wake up, her cries seemingly overlooked by the ones just outside his bed. Zidane quickly grabbed the pants at the foot of his bed and quickly put them on before ripping the curtains apart. Thankfully, he hadn't bothered to dispel the invisibility from his unresponsive tail last night.

There, standing all around Harry's bed, were the other occupants of the dorm. Ron was attempting to wake up the teen, but Harry just continued to writhe about.

It didn't take a genius to know that something was very wrong.

Pushing his own disturbing 'nightmare' aside, Zidane rushed to join the others, his back protesting the sudden movements as he pushed onwards.

"What's going on?" Zidane asked, attracting everyone's attention.

Many eyes travelled to his pale sweaty face and disheveled appearance, then stopping at his exposed chest and the large scar on its center. Zidane was too preoccupied to care. Seamus was the first to answer. "Harry's having a nighmare! I'm surprised you didn't wake up with those bloody shouts."

"We can't seem to wake him up either." Neville said.

"Harry! HARRY!" Ron tried again, and this time unfocused emerald eyes opened. "Harry!"

The teen was pale and drenched in cold sweat, like him, Zidane realized, but much worse. At least he didn't look like he wanted to puke. The jet-haired teen's eyes seemed to focus, before he let out a gasp and clutched his head firmly, hand clamping down on his lightning shaped scar. The genome was about to move forward, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood as he felt something malevolent in the air surrounding Harry. The teen however, just rolled over to his side and threw up.

"He's really ill." Neville said quite frightened. "Should we call someone?"

"I'll get McGonagall." Zidane said.

The blonde quickly left the room and after tying his tail to his waist, he ran down the stairs and out of the Fat Lady's portrait. He told Mog to stay behind in case something went wrong. He ran as fast as he could, his long hair tickling his bare back and the cold chill threatening to freeze his lungs. Ignoring the indignant shouts from the portraits, some about keeping quiet and others about decency, he made his way to the DADA tower and then first floor where McGonagall's office was located. Once there, he didn't hesitate to furiously knock at the door.

There was the sound of shuffling inside, and after a few moments, the door opened to reveal McGonagall, her face indignant and her hair hanging lose. Once her eyes landed on him, or more specifically his lack of clothing, she gave him strict look, her lips pressed thinly as she attempted to reel in her temper.

"What is the meaning of this? I suppose you must have a good reason for appearing on my doorstep, half naked, and at this hour." The woman said.

Zidane just rolled his eyes. At least he had the decency to wear pants. "It's Harry."

The blonde quickly explained what was going on as they made their way back to the tower. At some point, McGonagall summoned her cat-shaped Patronus to go and warn Dumbledore of their arrival.

"Mr. Tribal, are you sure that it wasn't just a nightmare?" McGonagall asked just as they made their way quickly down a corridor.

"I'm sure. There was something messed up about it." Zidane thought as he recalled what he saw.

What he saw at first were memories. Not his memories, but none other than Kuja's. That he was sure of, since he had looked on at the same scene once before, but from a completely different angle. It was nothing short of disturbing. He had felt like a completely different person at the moment, and not just that, but he had actually felt like he wanted to kill all those people at the time. It left a horrible ghost-like sensation over him. Like a fear of looking into a mirror and finding Kuja's reflection instead of his own. Then when he actually tried to get out, he somehow ended up elsewhere. He felt like an intruder, like he was looking down at something, not a memory, but something that was really happening at the moment; a vision. And even then, the contagious intent to kill also washed over him like in the memory before that. Only this time it was more savage, far less controlled and more animalistic.

When McGonagall gave him an inquiring look, he continued, the couple just entering through the fat Lady's portrait. "His scar was hurting afterwards. And…I-I think I saw it too. A man was attacked."

Before McGonagall could inquire, the doors of the boy's dorms opened, revealing a rather frightened Neville. "Over here Professor!"

…..

Harry couldn't have felt more relieved when he saw McGonagall rush into the room in her tartan dressing gown. She was a member of the Order, so she would understand.

"What is it Potter? Where does it hurt?" The woman asked, a shirtless Zidane just trailing behind her, looking quite ill himself.

"It's Ron's dad. He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen." Harry said, struggling hard to even out his breathing.

"You mean you dreamt it." McGonagall stated and Harry just furiously shook her head.

"No! I didn't dream that part." Harry said. "I was having a dream at first. It was something completely different, something stupid… and then this interrupted it. Mr. Weasley was sleeping on the floor and he was attacked by a giant snake. There was a lot of blood, but then it kept interrupting with another dream…there was a dragon and a tree and…I don't know why, but I know that Mr. Weasley is in trouble. Someone has to find out where he is…"

Professor McGonagall was looking at him through lopsided glasses as if horrified by what he was seeing, and next to her, he saw Zidane look a few shades paler.

"I'm not lying and I'm not mad!'Harry told her, his voice rising to a shout. "I tell you, I saw it happen!"

I believe you, Potter." The cat Animagus said curtly. "Put on your dressing gown, we are going to see the Headmaster."

….

"Were you perhaps standing besides the victim, or else looking down on the scene from above?" Dumbledore asked as he paced around the room, looking at everything except the green-eyed boy.

Zidane stood fully equipped and invisible just by the door. He had managed to dress and leave the dorm, giving Neville the excuse that Harry's outburst had crushed any hopes of sleeping he had, and that he was going out for a walk. Mog, of course, decided to come too, but only on the condition of remaining completely silent so as not to reveal themselves.

He had heard what Harry said, and he needed to know just how much he had seen. The emerald-eyed boy dreaming about trees and dragons, while he somehow saw the same attacked man, who as it turns out, was Mr. Weasley, was no coincidence. Something happened to both of them tonight, and he demanded to know what. It was already messed up enough that he was getting all these memories that didn't belong to him, but now he was sharing his own memories with others?

"I was the snake." Harry said. "I saw it from the snake's point of view.

There was a moment of silence across the room that was only broken by Dumbledore as he turned towards a very pale Ron.

"Is he seriously injured?" He seemingly asked the air, though it was clear that the question was for Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived looked quite irritated that the man wouldn't even face him.

"Yes." Harry said slowly, a look of impatience on his face, like he just wished that they could get this over with and go rescue the man, who might already be dead as far as they knew. Zidane agreed, they were wasting time with too much talking and too little action. Even if Mr. Weasley had managed to stay alive despite the blood-loss that he had witnessed, there was always the chance that the snake was venomous, and if the venom was really that dangerous, then Mr. Weasley needed immediate attention.

Dumbledore turned his attention to the moving portraits and began giving them orders to find and make sure that Mr. Weasley was found. Zidane wasn't sure how exactly the wizards and the witch that Dumbledore talked to were supposed to do that, being a painting and all, but he just trusted that the old man knew what he was doing.

Once that was done, Dumbledore invited everyone to sit and wait, and even then, he continued to avoid Harry's piercing glance, as if just looking at him in the eyes would turn him into stone or something. The old man walked towards Fawkes, his Phoenix familiar, and then stroked the sleeping bird, effectively waking him up. With a quiet request, the Phoenix disappeared in a display of flames. The legendary bird would warn them of approaching trouble.

Just as Dumbledore approached an odd little instrument that began to expel little puffs of smoke, Zidane felt a presence poke at his head, as if trying to get his attention. When he looked at Dumbledore, he could see that his eyes were looking directly at him.

'Is that you?' Zidane inquired curiously, though he couldn't help but warily reinforce the barriers around his mind. When he received a positive feeling from the old man, Zidane dropped the defenses down, knowing that Dumbledore wouldn't likely pry, at least not in this current situation.

'Stay here.' The voice seemed to say, or rather that was the feeling he was currently getting from it. It was tough to put the sensation into words.

'But wasn't I supposed to watch over them?' Zidane questioned. He received the equivalent of shaking ones head.

'Stay here.'

This time it felt kinder; less like an order and more like a request. Zidane hesitated, but gave a mental nod. He disliked the thought of letting Harry go, but he assumed that the Headmaster likely knew what he was doing. Dumbledore probably wanted the details that he couldn't directly get from Harry, mostly because that would involve directly speaking to him.

'Is Harry's connection to Voldemort that dangerous?'

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Everard, one of the wizards from the paintings. It appeared that Mr. Weasley had been found. The witch, Dilys, appeared afterwards confirmed the man's arrival at St. Mungos, though just as Harry said, the man was in critical condition.

"Minerva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children." Dumbledore said.

"Of course…" McGonagall said, and then asked about who would inform Mrs. Weasley.

Dumbledore quickly arranged that by sending Fawkes over once he was done with his other job, though he said that she already probably knew because of her clock. Zidane had honestly no clue what that was supposed to mean, until he remembered Bill talking about this clock in the Weasley home that told where each member was, and if they were safe or not.

The old man quickly rummaged through a cupboard for a kettle which he quickly tapped with his wand, making it emit a blue light. It was then that he marched towards another portrait, this one showing a bearded man bearing Slytherin's colors and looking very familiar. 'Phineas', as he was apparently called, was told to head to his painting in Grimmauld Place and send Sirius a message concerning Harry and the Weasleys's arrival. It was then that Zidane recognized the man from a painting he had seen when he silenced Sirius's mother. Though he needed a bit of persuading from Dumbledore and the other paintings, Phineas agreed to deliver the message.

In that precise moment, the door's to Dumbledore's office opened once more and McGongall reentered, bringing with her three very disheveled and worried siblings; all of them still clad in their night gowns.

"Harry, what's going on?" A frightened Ginny asked. Zidane couldn't help but want to comfort her, and in the end he had to restrain himself. "Professor McGonagall says that you saw dad get hurt-"

"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore replied before Harry could get the chance to. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is more convenient for the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."

Dumbledore was just explaining to the group that they would be using the old kettle Portkey to travel, when there was a flash of flame (one that almost made him reach for his daggers), and a single golden feather dropped down into the middle of the room.

"That was Fawkes warning. Professor Umbridge must know you are out of bed." Dumbledore said and Zidane mentally cringed. He didn't want to even imagine how she knew that. "Minerva, go and head her off, give her any excuse."

With a swish of her tartan, the woman was off. It was then that Phineas appeared once more, his message delivered and carrying the word that Sirius was currently expecting them back at the house.

"Come quickly now." Dumbledore said as he ushered the teens. After making sure that they had all travelled by Portkey before, he told them to each hold a part of the blackened kettle and hurry. "Good, on the count of three, then…one….two…"

It came out of nowhere. Zidane was nervously looking back and forth between the doors that would open any second to reveal Umbridge and the group all taking hold of the old kettle. Just before Dumbledore said 'three' he saw Harry's eyes finally meet Dumbledore's if even for just a split infinitesimal of a second. It was then that Zidane felt that malevolent presence in the air again. He saw Harry's expression twist and change into one of absolute hatred, his whole body radiating with a killing intent so dark and so strong that his hands flew towards his daggers before his own mind could comprehend what was going on.

"Three." Dumbledore finally said, and the air seemed to shift before he saw the teen's images distort, contract, and then disappear from the air with a quick burst of magic.

Letting a small frown cross his features, Dumbledore then plopped down on his chair and turned his attention towardswhere he knew the blonde thief stood. Zidane just stared long and hard at what he had just seen, before sheathing both daggers and sighing.

"What the hell was that?"

Just then the door opened once more and a certain pink monstrosity appeared. "Professor Dumbledore, I demand an explanation!"

Zidane mentally snorted. 'Why don't you get in line?'

…

Harry mechanically sipped at his Butter Beer in an attempt to make his hands stop shaking. This had to be one of the most uncomfortable moments he had ever experienced. The atmosphere around the dark gloomy kitchen was unbearable. The small fight between Sirius and the twins was over, but the tension hadn´t left.

'I feel like an intruder. I feel tainted, like I shouldn't be here, like I don't deserve to be here.' Harry thought to himself uneasily.

Mrs. Weasley had already contacted them. Her message of being at St. Mungo's had done little to quell their worry. The possibility that Mr. Weasley wouldn't survive was still very large and he couldn't help but feel an almost tangible sense of doom looming over all of them. Ron might lose his father, heck, Mr. Weasley was almost a father to him, and he just couldn't help but feel it was his fault. He was the snake. He had attacked Mr. Weasley. His fangs had pierced his skin and tore at his flesh. He had no idea what that other dream had been about, but he couldn't help but feel like he had killed those people on the ships too. Was he turning evil?

'Don't be stupid, you don't have fangs. You were in bed all along. How could you have done those things?' Harry thought to himself, but he still had no explanation for what happened in Dumbledore's office. During that brief moment, he knew he wanted nothing more than to kill the old wizard. And not just kill him, but rear back and sink his fangs into him.

Was that why Dumbledore hadn't looked at him in the eyes? Did he know he was turning evil? That he was the snake?

There was a loud screech as the door swung open, attracting the attention of the entire room, and startling many out of their respective spots. Since it was already ten past five in the morning, many had settled more comfortably around the fire to wait in silence. It had been pointless to tell any of them to head to bed anyways. Even so, many had already started to fall like flies. Fred's head was already lolling sideways as he leaned on his twin. Ginny was curled around the fire in a very cat-like way though she was still very awake.

Mrs. Weasley entered the room looking more pale and tired than Harry had ever seen her. But much to everyone's relief, she gave a small nod and a wan smile when she saw them all.

"He's going to be alright." The plump woman said, making the heavy air in the room dissipate as relief flooded through the current occupants. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him right now; he's going to take the morning off work."

Everyone's moods seemed to lift after that. Sirius went to get some breakfast ready, and Harry followed to help so that he wouldn't ruin the family moment. But before he could get away, he was stopped by the Weasley matriarch, who gave him a bone-crushing hug and thanked him deeply for saving her husband. Harry didn't know how to respond to that, and he couldn't either, because of the knot that seemed to form in his throat.

On a more positive note, this whole incident meant that they would be spending Christmas in Grimmauld Place. That made Harry considerably happy, and he was sure that Sirius was too. Had it not been for the dream, vision, or whatever it was, he would have been ecstatic.

"Sirius." Harry said, catching the man's attention. He just couldn't stand it anymore. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

The man nodded, and once they were both alone in the dark pantry, Harry spilled. He told the man everything about what happened, even the part of the giant dragon that he hadn't managed fully share with the Headmaster since he was so worried about the snake attack. After that, he told Sirius about what happened at Dumbledore's office. By the time he was finished, Sirius was completely silent, his face unreadable because of the current lack of light.

"You need sleep Harry." Sirius said comfortingly. "You're in shock. You're blaming yourself for something that you only witnessed, and it's lucky that you did witness it, otherwise Arthur might have died. Just stop worrying."

To be continued…

….

A/N: Yes, those were Kuja's memories, specifically the scene where he confront Bahamut and Queen Brahne near the Iifa Tree and later gains control of the Eidolon.

This is it for now. See you guys next week!