CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The next day was filled with questions, starting when everyone awoke. The dormitories buzzed with voices of loud and soft. Eyes wandered warily towards others. Harry lay in his bed, eyes closed.

Harry was vaguely aware of Neville's panicky voice asking, "What happened last night? How come there was a flash?"

Seamus answered, "No one knows. Maybe Professor McGonagall will tell us this morning…."

Harry opened his eyes and blinked several times, trying to rid of the sleep that seemed to want to seal his eyes shut. He was very tired due to the fact that none of them had fallen asleep hastily the night before.

Ron in particular looked the drowsiest. His eyelids kept drooping, and when he managed to keep them open, Harry noticed that his eyes were red. Ron nearly fell asleep in the Great Hall, waking millimeters before falling flat into the eggs.

"Ron! Gosh! You must be s-s-sleepy!" Hermione said while yawning.

Ron mumbled inaudibly and put his head on his arms in a lethargic fashion.

"I think we're all tired," Harry said, looking around at the other students whom all seemed more sluggish than usual. Hermione just nodded at his remark.

Professor McGonagall stood up slowly just then and all eyes made their way towards her.

Hermione whispered to Harry: "She has to speak again. I sympathize her." He just murmured a reply.

The professor began to speak. "We are not sure what the light last night was. We are not positive that they are signs of dark activity. All of you should remain calm. Nothing fatal happened yesterday…."

The students shifted and spoke among one another until one shouted, "How about Pansy Parkinson's death?"

Harry could see lines of weariness on the professor's face that he had never noticed before. She sighed and began to speak once more after a pause. "We do not know if that is associated with the white light."

Instantly, there was an uproar. All words were lost in the rumble of the crowd though. The professor waved for silence. No one saw or cared. They ignored the silencing motion and continued to talk or shout, horror contained in their words.

Harry looked around the Gryffindor table and saw that Hermione was staring at the teachers, her mouth slightly open as if she was going to speak and had forgotten what she wanted to say. Ron had fallen asleep on the table, which struck Harry oddly because the noise was terribly loud. His eyes followed the trail of yelling students to the end of the table and saw Vetil and Andeline seated there. The first year girl was carefully holding her right hand, particularly her index finger. Her eyes looked up and turned to meet his. In that brief instant Harry saw something like regret in them before she swiftly turned away to look in the other direction. It was in such an instant that Harry wondered if he'd imagined meeting her eyes.

BOOM!! CRASH!!

Harry jumped and quickly looked up at the professor. McGonagall had shot off two very large and loud sparks.

Ron's head snapped up and his eyes quickly opened as he said, "What happened?"

After that remark, none made a sound. It was as if everyone was frozen in time, everything save the smoke form the professor's wand that traveled slowly and disappeared. No one moved, fidgeted or (it seemed like) breathe.

Finally Professor McGonagall spoke. "Go to your classes. Those things cannot ruin what you are here for: education."

There was a pause before a quick shuffling set in place. Everyone hurried out of the Great Hall. Hermione, Harry, and Ron entered the flow of students leaving the Hall and the hurried to their first class: Defense Against Dark Arts.

All the students entered quietly, which was abnormal, for even the Slytherins did as well. They all sat down in their seats and took out their quills and parchment.

Professor Snape entered with his usual bad temper, probably enhanced by the stress on the teachers, and immediately began to take off points. "Ten points off Gryffindor, Longbottom! No notes!"

There was a quick rustling as everyone hurried to put their notes away, but not quick enough.

"Another ten points off Gryffindor! Ten off Slytherin!"

Everyone froze in confusion and awe. Snape had taken points off his own house? Harry wondered if he was so mad he'd gone crazy.

"What are you looking at?" Snape yelled furiously. "We are having a quiz today!"

Hermione gasped and almost toppled out of her seat. Harry strongly suspected she was scanning her memory to see when this quiz had been scheduled.

"P-professor?" Hermione asked warily.

The professor menacingly spun toward her and yelled, "What, Granger?"

She shrank back in her seat and bit her lip, muttering, "Y-you didn't tell us that there was a test today…"

"Of course not!" Snape snarled. "It is a pop-quiz! I do not tell you when I schedule a pop-quiz because it is a surprise test!"

An uncomfortable shuffling filled the silence as students shifted nervously, only to be stopped by Snape's roar of: "Be quiet! All of you!" It seemed impossible, but to Harry, his classmates seemed to recoil even more from the professor.

After a period when all Snape did was glare at each and every one of them who dared to move, he began to hand out the quiz papers. Harry looked at Ron, who didn't seem as confused as he was. Ron was jotting down answers rapidly, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Harry found this very amusing because Ron and he were never the best of students.

To his right, Harry heard Hermione murmur in a frustrated sort of way. He looked at her and saw that she was thinking so hard her hands were clenched. Harry himself looked down at his own test and realized why Hermione was so upset. The questions were difficult to a limit that Harry wondered if even half the teachers here in Hogwarts had ever heard of them. They varied from:

How do you repel the Cruciatus curse?

To:

What is Shadowspell and how do you break it?

Harry had absolutely no idea of the answers to the questions, and by the subtle sounds coming from the rest of the students, no one knew either.

* * *

They walked slowly to Care of Magical Creatures, their next class. Hermione was in so much stress, she kept repeating, "I didn't know any of the answers! Well, maybe a few…but--oh! I'm gonna fail! I'm going to fail very badly!"

Harry didn't know what to say to her. Every time he tried to calm her, she would turn on him with questions that he could barely hear, her words traveling so fast. So, he simply shrugged and muttered, "Not worse than me…."

Ron looked at them in what could only be described as surprise. "It wasn't that hard…was it?" he asked.

Hermione and Harry gaped at him as he raised his eyebrows. "You mean…you didn't know the answers?"

They shook their heads, Hermione hastily saying, "Only some, but did you know what the Veritasfern Curse was?"

"The Veritasfern?" Harry wondered aloud. "I forgot about that one, there were so many I didn't know…"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. It's the truth seeing curse."

Hermione frowned thoughtfully. "But, why is seeing the truth a curse? Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well…" Ron said, "not exactly. One cursed will die in a short period of days, probably a week. It isn't exactly what you'd say a curse for the truth. The one who will die sees something in the future--I believe that it is always of dark times and such--a few minutes before passing away. That's the truth they talk about…but of course, it isn't exactly what you'd want as a price for a viewing, right?"

Hermione and Harry were immobile from shock and it took them a few seconds to realize the question Ron had asked them. They quickly nodded, saying, "Yeah, of course. Yeah…"

"So, can you block the curse?" Hermione asked.

Ron nodded. "I think, but probably you'd need a lot of power to. I doubt many here could."

Silence overtook them briefly as all the information ran through their heads. Something Harry had never heard of, something Hermione did not know…and Ron knew. Harry found it strange.

He suddenly remembered the Shadowspell question. "Hey Ron. Did you know what Shadowspell was?"

Hermione's face went white. "I know what it is…" she said, "but not how to break it."

Harry stared at her and she hesitated before going on. "In olden times it was planted using shadows. Yet, probably a few centuries ago, someone must've found it could be used as a spell, a curse really…curse of death." She shivered. "Well, it is gradual death as well, but only about three days of living. When the infected dies, they spread death around them in a ten mile radius, perhaps more, if the caster was strong enough. Everything dies in that area…plants, animals, humans…. It is quite upsetting, actually. I read about it in books, mostly legends. I never thought it was real. I don't think it's been used, it's so horrible. I bet it's banned."

Harry felt cold inside. All these spells associated with death. Was Snape really that concerned about what would happen if the Dark attacked? It made his blood run cold thinking of things like that.

"I really wonder how you break it, though…" Hermione whispered.

"I know," Ron told her. Harry turned to look at his friend in amazement. "The first thing is that it will end in death, no matter what. At least one death. The person infected has to die within the three day period or all others would."

They walked on in silence for a minute. "That's terrible," Hermione said. "How come You-Know-Who or any of them haven't used it? They are evil enough…"

Ron sighed. "It is banned. All wands are shielded from some sorts of curses or spells. This is one of them. I believe only strongest breaking spell could destroy that bond, or else the only way to cast it is without it."

"What? Casting spells without a wand…. Is that even possible?" Harry asked, eyebrows drawn.

"It has happened in books, you know," Hermione said.

Ron replied. "Fiction."

Hermione shrugged. "Maybe all fiction is based on a small fraction of truth." She sighed. "Yet, I don't think it's possible, now."

That was something that made Harry wonder.

* * *

Andeline turned her heard as she watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the great Hall at lunch.

If they only knew the future for one of them…

Andeline looked down at her cut finger.

How could I bleed?

Closing her eyes, the past dream rushed by her.

"United together forever…"

"I won't forget you…"

Words from the nightmare that troubled her and haunted her….

Thud. Pounding. Screaming. Crying.

"NOOO!"

Andeline opened her eyes quickly. She took a deep breath. She didn't want to remember what she saw. She didn't. Her hand trembled slightly as it moved up to the necklace around her neck. She clutched the bead with the small, silver statuette of a unicorn with wings and the hair off of the creature's mane.

As she held the bead, her eyes wandered farther down the table to where Vetil stood with the three, 6th year friends. A ghost of a smile touched her lips. But it was a smile of regret, not of happiness.

If only… she thought, If only…

There was a sudden spark of heat from her necklace as she held it. Her fingers unraveled and the necklace floated up out of her fingers, then forward.

Someone whispered.

What? The girl thought in confusion.

She couldn't make out the whispers, but she saw where the necklace was pointed: toward Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

* * *

"Harry?"

"Yeah, Ron?" he replied.

"Er…. Could you switch beds with me?" Ron asked.

Harry scratched his head. "Why? Is everything all right?"

Ron looked uncomfortable, but more fearful than embarrassed. "I don't like it…" And the words almost ended with a question than being an answer.

"What's going on, Ron?"

"Oh, come on, Harry! Please?" Ron asked again without answering his question.

"Well…I guess. But I don't see why it would be uncomfortable."

Ron sighed. It is, he thought. I can't sleep by the name of the Dark Lord, especially since I scraped it on there…

He had come to the conclusion that no one else could've written the words, so he must've done it in his sleep. But he wasn't sure. Yet, for weeks, he had not been able to sleep well, even if he did or did not carve that.

Ron groaned inwardly at himself. Why am I so scared of that one word? Harry isn't…

But he answered it for himself. Because Harry didn't grow up in a family that was frightened of that single word…

The dreams…no. The nightmares haunted Ron. He had lived vicariously through others, unable to move, only see, smell, hear, and feel…feel the fear or anger of victims, the pure evil of the attacker. Every night, he would wake up gasping, heart racing and beating so loud he wondered how the other boys could sleep through the noise. And then, he would see the word.

Voldemort.

Ron remembered his nightmares. No matter if he whose mind he was in, the outcome was not good. Sometimes he was hit with the Cruciatus Curse or Avada Kedavra. Sometimes he was the one who cast the spells.

Many times he felt the pain of others and he would scream. Most of the times the scream stayed in the dream, but twice they had been loud enough in the waking world that they had woken Harry and the others who had rushed quickly to his aid. Yet, every time, his own cries would wake him up, body aching all over and mind speeding.

No matter how hard he tried to calm himself and rid himself of his dreams, it would not work. The next night, he would have another nightmare, maybe even worse than the last.

Ron learned to keep his visions a secret. He didn't want Harry or Hermione worrying about him. He had in fact been doing so well that Harry asked him if he was still troubled, yesterday.

Yes, Harry. Tons of nightmares. So many that I can't count. Sometimes I even get them while I am awake…

But he had smiled and answered, "None! None at all!"

Three days ago he had been a victim. He had watched as he--the person he lived through--was hit by Avada Kedavra. The green light had flashed right at him and he had woken right as it hit. The next morning, he listed in horror as Hermione gasped and said, "There was another attack. A muggle boy was killed."

Am I just imagining these things because of the word? Will I not have the dreams now? Ron thought as he climbed into Harry's old bed.

"Night, Harry," Ron said, getting a murmur as a reply.

It seemed that switching beds had worked. Ron fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. But just when everything seemed okay, Ron opened his eyes to a world not his own.

His eyes and ears stalked quickly through the shadows of trees by a building, others darkened and unseen around him. With sickening recognition, Ron saw that it was the Ministry's building.

Screams raged around him as they entered the building. Havoc reigned as terrified men and women ran around. But they were trapped.

An explosion burst in Ron's ears and half the building burst into flames and more cries followed it.

No… Ron thought. No…

Dementors glided into the room, living nightmares that stalked and stole the souls of their victims, delivering the "dementor's kiss." Horror burned in Ron as he saw the devastation around him. This had to be the worst…

Stop! Wake up! Wake up!

The person he saw through was moving silently around the room. His eyes scanned the broken scene, and he chuckled. He laughed, a cold cackle that made Ron's inside turn to ice from fear.

No…

Then, his worst fear was confirmed as Percy ran out of one of the side rooms. His brother looked like a wreck already, but his wand was drawn and his eyes had anger in them as well as blazing fear.

Percy! No! Run, will you! Run!

But Ron's brother whispered a word filled with horror and detest. "You…."

The cackle came once more, followed with an answer. "Yes, me…."

Percy! Run! RUN!

The person Ron saw through drew his wand and faced Percy who stood with his wand out in front of him. He lifted it.

NO!

They both shouted as sparks flew and battle raged. Each missed and more spells were cast. The flames roared around the walls and debris fell. Still, they cursed at each other.

No! Percy…RUN!!! Ron thought in desperation as screams suddenly filled his mind. He frantically tried to block the sounds, but they reverberated throughout his head.

No. No. No! NO!

The Dark Mark flew above the flaming site, high into the night, blazing with sickening green. Laughter rang out, loud and clear.

Ron cringed. He wanted to wake up. He wanted so badly just to wake up to the real world. He would tell Harry and Hermione about the nightmares.

No more lies… No more!

He stared helplessly at the mark imprinted in the sky, then at the flaming building. The structure groaned and more of it collapsed in a heap of flames.

Ron couldn't take it anymore. He wanted the horrible vision to end… He wanted the laughing to stop, his head to stop hurting. He wanted…he wanted…

No! Stop! I don't want to see anymore! I don't want to see this!

But nothing changed.

I'm going crazy… Ron thought. I'm insane…

An anguished cry rang out into the night.