2 – How To Dream
"All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together."
― Jack Kerouac
...
It's funny how hard falling asleep can be after someone tells you to do so. After what felt like hours Haley finally sunk into a deep sleep.
ooo
I am riding the Hogwarts Express. My godfather Sirius is sitting opposite me.
"Did you hear the latest Brewing Brothers single?" Sirius asks, grinning.
"No," I say, "I didn't know they were doing new stuff."
Sirius fetches a green guitar from the luggage rack and starts to play a catchy tune.
"I love that song," I exclaim, recognizing the notes at once.
"You've gotta waiiiiit… till the potion is reaaaady….lalala, till my potion is ready foooor youuu!"
We sing together. It's slightly off key but we've got too much fun to care about that.
Sirius hands me a bottle that looks suspiciously like it's filled with firewhisky. I'm not really old enough for firewhiskey yet but it's not like mum is around with her eagle eyes.
So I take the bottle and clunk it against my godfather's.
"Cheers!" We cheer at the same time and that's when the compartment door opens.
Weird. There's nobody in the hall! The door closes again but something about the door attracts my attention. It's the handle. The handle looks different from what it normally looks like.
It's silver and has the form of an extended wing. And the wing belongs to an… owl? It looks like the owl is stuck inside the door almost as if the wood has grown around it. From this side I can only see the left wing and the owl's head. Perhaps the right half will be visible from the other side. I stand up to go and check my theory when someone clears their throat behind me.
I turn around to find my mum sitting in the seat that I'd been sitting in only seconds before.
"Firewhiskey?" She asks, with a raised eyebrow.
Merlin! I totally forgot!
"I – I wasn't – Sirius-" I turn to my godfather for help but the seat that I could swear he'd sat in just a moment ago is empty.
I sigh, "Sorry, mum," I place my bottle on top of the little table near the window and take a seat opposite her.
"I wasn't going to drink it..." I mumble under my breath.
"Well, I didn't come here to lecture you about firewhiskey," mum says, "Listen closely now."
She leans toward me and I automatically mimick her posture. Our faces are only inches apart and I feel almost as if I am looking into a mirror. Well… except that she looks older. And she also doesn't have to wear glasses.
"Did you notice something?"
I shake my head no. Mum nods her head toward the compartment door. Perhaps…
"The owl?" I ask. Mum grins as an answer. Then she leans back in her seat and closes her eyes for a second. As soon as they're open again there are prongs on top of her head.
Huh? And her whole body sparkles! Skin, hair, everything! That in itself might be unusual but nothing too extraordinary. We're witches after all.
The crazy thing about this whole spectacle is that I can't see mum's wand anywhere. She did this without using her wand!
"That's – How did you-? Am I dreaming?" I ask rubbing my eyes in disbelief.
"Ten points for Gryffindor!" Mum exclaims. How unusual for her. Normally it's dad who resorts to these Gryffindor themed puns.
Mum grins. The prongs vanish and the only thing that keeps sparkling is her shirt.
"Oh, I like that," she says a little surprised, "Shall we?"
Mum stands from her seat and walks toward the compartment door where she waits for me.
"So… this is a dream?" I wonder, trying to wrap my head around the realisation. It's not the first time I realised I was dreaming while I was dreaming (complicated!) but I still need a moment to take it in. I look around the compartment and see that we're alone now. There's a chocolate frog on the seat to my right. I pick it up and imagine it would be a chocolate owl instead.
Before my eyes the frog sprouts feathers and turns into an owl.
"Woah!" I exclaim as the chocolate owl flies out of the window.
Then I remember parts of my conversation with mum earlier that night. Something about visiting each other…
"Mum? Is that really you?" She nods. "In my dream?" She nods again.
"But how did you-" I begin to say but mum interrupts me.
"I came through the door," she explains, gesturing toward the door. She grips the handle that looks like the owl's wing and pulls open the door.
"Come on."
"Where are we going?" I ask in confusion. What's happening here?
Mum reaches for my wrist and pulls me through the door that closes behind us. We're not on the train anymore. Wherever this is, I've never been here before.
It's a kind of corridor. A long hall with doors all around us. And they all look different. The doors, I mean. There are so many colours: green, bottle green, orange, silver, black, burgundy, yellow, red, gold, periwinkle, sky blue, pink, violet…
Some are made of wood others have glass fronts. There are even some out of metal!
"What is this place?" I wonder aloud.
"I like to call it the dream corridor."
"Dream corridor…" I repeat and think about the words. Does that really mean-?
"Mum, do all of these doors lead to the dreams… of real people?"
"Yes. Very clever." Her shirt is still sparkling which kind of irritates me. There are so many colours! I slowly turn to the door we've just stepped through.
"Then this must be… " I begin to say but I'm stunned into silence by the sight that is in front of me.
"Your dream door," mum confirms.
"My dream door…" I repeat. I have no idea why I keep repeating mum's words like I'm too stupid to think of my own.
The first thing I see is an explosion of colours. Green mostly. My door looks like a massive painting. But there are no actual shapes recognizable. It's just an abstract splutter of different colours that run into one another. The painting itself is mostly concealed by thick tendrils that wind their way all around the picture. I can spot thorns all over them. It almost seems like the tendrils are embracing the painting in a protective way, as if they're keeping everything that is potentially harmful away. But at the same time it's impossible to see the whole painting like this.
"Why does my door look like that?" I ask no one in particular. I see a white wing peek out from between the thorns. I was right! From this side the other half of the owl is visible.
"Our doors resemble our inner selves," mum answers, "I was surprised, too when I first saw your door."
"Our inner selves," I repeat after my mum again, "but what does that mean?"
Mum looks at my door for a moment. Then she shrugs.
"There are many possible explanations. Perhaps you like painting or colours or thorns or… I don't know… Sleeping Beauty?"
Before I can make a fool out of me and stupidly repeat "Sleeping Beauty", I grab mum's arm and ask her, "What does your door look like?"
Would it be far away? Will we have to travel through endless halls until we would finally reach mum's door? But mum doesn't move an inch. It can't be far then.
I look around and there right next to my door on the left… is that hers? The door is made up of wood that's painted mint green. There's a small, round window in the top half that's surrounded by white lilies which are painted onto the wood. In front of the door on the left side there is a huge bronze cauldron with a steaming liquid inside. It looks… welcoming. Not like my own dream door. Before I can stop myself I walk up to the door and reach for the door handle.
An arm stops me.
"Not so fast," mum admonishes, "Are you wearing the clasp?"
I nod in answer, but she still doesn't let go of my arm. "If you touch that you'll get an electric shock."
I step back.
"Really? Electric shocks?" And I thought my door was aggressive.
"Well I can't have anybody march right into my dreams," mum murmurs.
"So, how do we get in then?" I ask.
Mum reaches for the cauldron but before she can dip her hand into the clear liquid, it turns to fire.
"Mum, watch out!" I grab at her shirt and try to pull her away but she completely ignores me.
She calmly reaches into the cauldron, not even flinching, and fetches a little key from the depths of it.
"Mum?" I whisper hesitantly. She shakes her head and inserts the key into the keyhole. She turns it until we hear a clicking sound and then opens the door. As far as I can tell there was no electricity involved.
"Did you lie about the shocks?" I inquire, frowning at her.
"That's what we needed the key for, dummy," she answers and gestures for me to enter.
"Oh." I'm not sure whether I really understand what mum's talking about but that doesn't stop me from walking through her dream door. Mum follows suit, closing the door behind us.
"It's Hogwarts!" I exclaim, recognizing the grounds and the Big Lake at one glance.
"I used to be a student here, too, you know," mum reminds me. Well, of course I know that. It's not like I'm stupid or anything.
"Come on let's sit by the lake. You must have a lot of questions."
We walk down toward the lake, where a big red blanket appears out of nowhere. Before I can wonder where it has come from, there's a tablet with pastries in the middle of it and next to it a teapot with two teacups.
"Did you do that?" I ask as I sit down on one end of the blanket.
"It's not that hard. All you need is a little practise." Mum sits down opposite me and makes a teacup float into my hand. The teapot floats toward my cup and fills it with a clear liquid.
"Is that water?" I wonder, holding the cup up to my nose and sniffing it. I don't smell anything.
"Try to imagine your favourite drink," mum advises, sipping from her own cup, "Mmm. Strawberry and vanilla lemonade!"
My favourite drink… How about… pumpkin juice? I imagine the orange colour and the slightly thick consistence of pumpkin juice. I take a sip.
"I can't taste anything!"
Mum laughs at me. I really feel the love.
"It's harder than it looks," she says, "try to remember the taste."
When was the last time I drank pumpkin juice? I can't remember. Maybe I should try with another drink? I look at my cup and try to recall the exact taste of the hot chocolate I had earlier in the day. When I'm pretty sure I can actually taste the flavour of chocolate on my tongue I take another sip.
"Woah!" I gasp, "It really tastes like chocolate!"
"Great! Now that we've established what chocolate tastes like let's move on to our main topic. I'm sure you're already bursting with curiosity."
"Right. So, you said I can enter someone's dream only if I have something that belongs to them right?"
Mum nods.
"Why did we need a key then?"
Mum swallows her lemonade before answering, "Well, it's not like it's impossible to obtain a personal object of mine."
"Do many people know about the dream corridor then?"
"I don't think so," she says, "But you can never be careful enough with something as private as your own dreams." That makes sense.
"How exactly does your defense mechanism work?" I need to know that in case I want to visit mum in the future.
Mum sets her cup down. "I told you that the handle is electrified? The key interrupts the electricity and in order to obtain the key you need to fetch the right one from the cauldron first."
"The right one?" Does that mean there is more than just one key?
"Exactly. And they all look the same," mum confirms with one raised eyebrow.
"But then how-?"
"The cauldron allows people to find the right key only if their intentions aren't malicious. Otherwise…"
"What would happen otherwise?"
"I imagine the fire would burn their hands. Or they'd get an electric shock." Mum says without batting an eye.
Woah. She can be really scary sometimes.
"So basically I just need a personal object and I need to get past whatever is guarding the dream door in order to visit someone in their dreams?"
"Correct," mum agrees, "And on top of that well…" Mum vanishes into thin air. Then she reappears a second later with her whole body sparkling again. I jump back in surprise.
"You can also do cool stuff like this," she says, grinning.
"Mum! Could you give me a warning the next time you decide to turn yourself into a human disco ball?" She stops sparkling. But she looks a little disappointed.
"Fine. The shirt," I relent. And just a second later her shirt is sparkling again.
"Mum?"
"Yes, poppet?"
"Why is your dream door right next to mine?"
"I noticed that even in our dreams we are surrounded by the people who are closest to us."
"Does that mean… that all the doors we saw… belong to people who are close to us?"
"Yes. In one way or another."
That's interesting. I can't wait to really explore all the doors in the dream corridor.
Mum gives me a look, that tells me she knows exactly what I'm thinking about. She squints her eyes at me.
"No more exploring tonight," she instructs.
"But mum – I mean – I mean – ugh. Why?"
"You need to be well-rested for tomorrow."
I frown. "What do you mean well-rested? I am resting! And I'm gonna be on the train most of the day anyway."
Mum raises one eyebrow at me in amusement. "You'll see," is all she says.
"Wow, thanks. I know exactly what you're talking about," I reply with a snort.
Mum gets up. "I'll take you back to your own dream."
She leads the way and there's nothing for me to do but follow her.
"Why are we walking toward Hagrid's hut?" I wonder, recognizing the little hut. But after a closer look I notice that the handle looks different. Delicate leaves and lilies are carved into the bronze door knob, that doesn't seem to fit the heavy wooden door at all.
As soon as we get to the door mum opens it. It leads us right to the dream corridor! As we step into the hall I glance at all the doors longingly. Mum is already at my door, waiting for me.
"I'm just going to look around a bit," I say in my sweetest, most innocent voice.
But to my disappointment, it has stopped working on her a long time ago.
"You can look around another time," she says resolutely.
"You're no fun," I mutter, as I reach my door.
"What?" Mum says in a hurt tone, "You think a human disco ball is no fun?"
She starts her one-woman sparkling show again and I almost laugh. Almost.
I reach for the owl wing and open my dream door. I can always wait until she's back inside her own dream. Then I'll finally get to properly take a look around.
"Don't worry I'll stand watch!" That's the last thing I hear before my door closes behind me. So much for exploring… Well, she won't be standing in front of my door the whole night, right?
How nice would it be to have one of those soft and cuddly armchairs from the Gryffindor common room right here. As soon as I think it an armchair appears in front of me! This dream thing is awesome!
How long will I have to wait? It's hard to tell time when you're asleep. It feels like ten minutes have passed, so I decide to check if mum is still outside.
I tiptoe over to my door and slowly push down the handle. I open the door and find… nothing but an empty corridor! Yes! That means I have all the time in the world to explore the-
ooo
"Haley... Haley..."
"What-where am I? Where's the corridor? What-?" Haley spluttered as she woke up with a start.
"Mum?" She asked hesitantly. Someone had been whispering her name in her sleep. And from the looks of it it had been her mum, who was kneeling in front of her bed, touching one of Haley's shoulders.
"Did you wake me?" Haley asked in disbelief.
"Yes," she answered without hesitation, "It was the only way to keep you out of the corridor for now."
Haley scowled. This was not fair! All she wanted to do was take a look around!
"I'll come to wake you in about three hours," Lily informed her, "And if you see your dream door, don't get any ideas okay? Trust me on this."
Haley sighed. "Fine," she agreed.
"Thank you," Lily whispered with a smile. She gently tucked the sheets in around her body and brushed some stray locks away from her face.
"Mum," Haley groaned in annoyance. She wasn't a little kid anymore! But if she was honest, it was kind of nice. She felt safe and warm and loved. And a little embarrassed, maybe but who was there to judge her?
"Goodnight, Haley," Lily said, kissing her cheek softly.
"Night mum," Haley whispered back as she got into a comfortable position.
Lily got up and walked over to the door. "I'm not going to check on you," she said quietly, before vanishing out of the door. She didn't even wait for an answer! It wasn't necessary.
It basically meant Lily trusted her to keep her word. And there was little more that Haley hated than to disappoint her mum. Well, the dream corridor wasn't going to run away, was it?
With that thought in mind Haley closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come.
…
A/N: Hello everyone! So now you hopefully have an idea how the whole dreaming thing works! I hope the whole POV and tense change is not too confusing but I wanted to create a different feel for the dream world and the real world. Next chapter it's time to get back to Hogwarts! Thank you for reading and favouriting! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this :)
Till next time, Feather