Legal stuff: It all belongs to JK Rowling.
Author's Note: I wrote this for the Triwizard Tournament (at harrypotter-world.com)'s 'Mini task #2'. It's a fanfic in 500 words or less… hard for me, the novelist. So I decided it had to be a dream, and here it is… please r/r - I really want to know what people think!!!!
IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT
Tristen Fireye
He was walking along an ordinary street in the dark, alone. Ordinary houses lined it, but no lights were shining – Harry guessed that it was near midnight. A few streetlamps glowed yellow, but the feeble light did not reach for more than two feet around the pole.
Harry turned a corner and stood facing a vacant lot in the neighborhood. But no – it wasn't vacant. There were the remains of a house there, scattered over the grass. The hair rose on Harry's neck – the house didn't look like it had been rubble for long.
Suddenly a scream pierced through the still night air. It was high and shrill, a woman's scream. Harry shivered – it was not a pleasant sound. Then the woman screamed again, and this time the scream had words to it.
"No! No! Don't!"
She seemed to be crying, begging for mercy. But no mercy came – she screamed again, and a high, cold laugh sounded. "Get away, girl… get away."
The woman screamed again, a scream of pain. A picture flashed through Harry's mind – a green-eyed young woman standing in front of a baby's cradle. Facing the green-eyed woman was a tall man with sallow skin and burning red eyes… he was raising his wand to curse her…
Harry's scar burned with a searing pain. A hand clapped to his forehead. He shook with pain, and the woman screamed again.
"Stand aside, girl," the tall man with the evil laugh said again. Harry felt that his head would split apart with the pain of his scar.
"No! Not Harry!" the woman cried. The evil laugh came again, and the picture was back. Now the woman was huddled on the ground before the cradle, doing her best to shield the sleeping infant from the red-eyed man.
The man laughed for a long time, and then there was a flash of blinding green light. The woman crumpled to the ground and the man advanced towards the baby…
Harry writhed on the ground in pain, clutching his forehead with both hands. Another green light flashed through the picture in his mind and –
"Harry, wake up!"
Harry stopped thrashing and opened his eyes groggily. Ron and Seamus stood over him, worried looks on their faces. He reached for his glasses and slipped them on, and then he sat up. The bedsheets were twisted around him like a cocoon, and he pulled them off as Seamus and Ron watched worriedly.
"What – what happened?" Harry asked shakily, positioning his glasses better on his nose.
"You were rolling around on the bed and holding your forehead, and screaming," said Ron, his voice also wobbly.
"I had a dream," Harry said shortly. "C'mon, let's go down to breakfast."