Chapter 5
She ran frantically through the fog, the murmurs of voices filling the air around her. Her hair flowed in a tangled mess behind her as she ran, trees slowly appearing around her. She could feel her bare feet hitting the forest floor and could hear the branches tearing at her cloak.
The voices grew louder as she ran further into the trees, becoming more and more lost. Finally she burst into a small clearing which contained a single black sapling with emerald green leaves. She stopped, gasping for air and walked slowly closer to the tree. The scene suddenly shimmered and in the place of the sapling stood Harry. His robes were torn and soaked with blood. A sword hung limply from his right hand, covered from hilt to tip with blood. Green eyes dulled by pain looked down at her and suddenly filled with hate.
"You killed me my lady, how could you. I trusted you!" He hissed venomously at her.
"No....no I didn't mean to, it wasn't supposed to happen..." She stammered out but he silenced her with the look in his eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks and she turned and ran as the scene turned to fog again.
Running blindly, she dashed the tears from her eyes and again the voices filled the air as she ran. The fog slowly began to clear again and she found herself running through a marsh. The water and mud sucked at her feet and the reeds and grasses tore at her clothing but she ignored it all. The voices grew louder as she came up to a silvery yellow sapling with silver leaves.
She stopped, gasping for air once more and then moved slowly to the tree. Tears fell from her eyes as she collapsed in front of it and she cried freely at its roots. Then the scene shimmered and Draco Malfoy stood above her. His robes were bloody and torn and the sword he carried in his right hand was soaked in blood. He looked down at her with pity, which soon turned to contempt.
"You killed me! You lied and turned my once friend into my enemy." He looked at her with expressionless eyes as these words spilled from his mouth.
"I didn't mean it, please you must believe me!" She cried out and grabbed the bottom of his robes. He jerked them out of her hands and the scene faded to fog. She stood up slowly, tears falling down her cheeks, staining the cloth of her robes. The voices again filled the air and she ran away from them, tormented.
She could hear a girls high-pitched screams and the laughter of many others. She ran, hoping to leave the voices behind but they followed her, growing ever louder. Finally she collapsed to the ground and covered her ears trying to block them out. The fog cleared and a scene unfolded around her.
A large mob stood in the middle of a clearing, surrounding something tall. A girls pleading screams filled the air causing the mob to laugh and jeer. They parted and she saw Ginny tied to a large stake above a pile of wood and straw. She tried to rush forward but was held back by two pairs of arms. She looked back and saw the faces of Harry and Draco beside her own.
"You caused this." They both whispered in her ears. "This is all your fault"
"No, let me save her! I can save her!" She struggled against their hold as she watched a man step forward with a torch to light the logs and straw underneath Ginny's struggling form. Her screams filled the air as the fire caught hold of her robes she struggled against the bonds holding her to the stake.
As the fire covered Ginny's still form, she collapsed in tears against the two men at her sides. They let her drop and faded into the background, leaving her to cry on the ground at the base of the smoldering stake. Then everything disappeared and was replaced by a beautiful green meadow where two Dragons, A Unicorn, and a Phoenix stood.
Hermione woke suddenly and sat up. She frantically felt her clothes, the bed and the wall behind her. When she realized where she was, she breathed a sigh of relief. It had just been a dream, not real. It troubled her how realistic it had been this time. She crawled out of her bed and went to the window. It was still dark, only about midnight and she sat on the window ledge as she looked out over the grounds.
After about ten minutes, she decided she was hungry and pulled a cloak on her shoulders and wandered from the dorm and down to the common room. She walked out through the portrait, where a sleeping Fat Lady didn't even make a sound. She walked slowly through the halls and made her way to the kitchen entrance. There, she tickled the pear and pulled the door open. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to find three elves playing cards at a small table to the side.
The first one that saw her yelped and jumped up knocking over the table. The other two protested and then saw her and rushed to stand.
"Is their anything you be needing miss?" The first one asked anxiously while the other two prepared to run and get what ever she wanted.
"I would like some tea and maybe some biscuits please." Hermione stated and the food and drink was rushed to her in minutes as if it had all been there for her already. She thanked them and turned to leave when one of the three elves spoke up.
"Pardon me miss, I is not meaning to speak out of place but what is that magic I feel? Is you...." He stopped and looked at her with fear when the others motioned him to be silent.
"Am I what?" She asked slightly impatiently.
"It is nothing, I is feeling things. Nothing for you to worry about." The three elves bolted away to a small door in the wall next to the stoves and disappeared.
* * * * *
Hermione sat in front of the common room fire, sipping her tea. She had a parchment in front of her, covered with tiny writing, recording her dream. She sorely missed her dream journal at this moment and was silently cursing Draco with every thought.
She read over what she had written and then rolled the parchment up, sealing it with a wax seal. She set it to the side and curled up on the sofa to think. The fire made the room warm and pleasant and she felt herself getting drowsy from it. Slowly she stood up, collecting her things. She left the teacup on a side table and went back to bed.
* * * * *
Hermione walked outside with the other Gryffindors to Hagrids hut for Magical Creatures. It was one of the few classes she still enjoyed since her dreams were causing her problems everywhere else. With the new monsters Hagrid introduced every week, she was always so occupied with every class, she never even had time to think of anything else.
She arrived outside the cabin with the other Gryffindors and the Sltytherins to find a woman standing there. At her side was 10 small crates, each one wiggling at random intervals. She motioned for the students to settle down and be quiet before speaking.
"Your regular Care of Magical Creatures professor is away on school business so I will be teaching you for today." Near the back, Hermione could hear Draco and his cronies making snide comments about this arrangement and the supposed business of Hagrids.
The woman picked up the nearest crate and held it up for everyone to see. "I have here your assignment for the day." She opened the crate and out jumped, to her shoulder, a creature that looked like a monkey crossed between a frog. "Can anyone tell me what this creature is?" She looked at all of them. "Anyone? All right, obviously you are severely lacking in your education. It is a Clabbert, a North American magical creature. It's an arboreal living creature and it has a large pustule on its forehead, which flashes red upon approaching danger. You assignment for today is to feed and walk them." She called each person forward, by name, and handed him or her a crate.
The students spent the next hour playing around with the friendly animals and when it was finished, they reluctantly turned in their Clabberts to the substitute professor. She made sure each one was rested in its crate before she let the students go for lunch.
The students slowly walked away and Hermione used her wand to cause Draco to freeze on the spot behind all his Slytherin friends. She walked up to him and said; "I know you took it Draco, so just give it back." She then unfroze him and he appeared startled at seeing her there.
"Give what back Granger." He sneered and tried to walk around her but she stepped and blocked his way. "Get out of my way mudblood!" He snarled at her just as Harry and Ron caught up with her.
Ron grabbed Draco by the collar and lifted him up off the ground. "What did you just call her Malfoy?" He growled at him and dropped him to the ground as Hermione turned to walk away, Harry close behind her, leaving the two boys by themselves. "You're lucky this time Malfoy." Ron turned to follow the others.
"On day, Weasley, your gonna get it and I'm gonna be watching it happen." He brushed his robes off and made his way to the castle. "And Granger, I'm gonna open that little book of yours and then everyone will know your secretes."
* * * * *
Hermione sat beside Harry and the table in the Great Hall, that mornings dream running through her head. It had been the worst of them all and she wondered if they were going to just keep getting worse. Harry poked her and she snapped to attention.
"Soup Hermione?" He held the soup tureen in front of her and waited for her answer. She took it smiling and ladled hot soup into her bowl. She ate slowly and thought over everything that had been happening so far. She took a sip of soup and grimaced, a headache was starting at her temples. She searched her bag for the bottle of headache pills she had and took two, sipping her pumpkin juice to help swallow them.
"Are you ok Hermione?" Ron asked around his sandwich, he had noticed the pills. "You don't look so good."
"I'm fine, just a little headache, that's all." She smiled weakly at him and pulled her potions book from her bag and stuck her nose in it, hoping Ron would stop. But instead of reading the many potions inside, she pondered over her last dream and what it might mean.
Her headache started growing worse as lunch progressed and her head was throbbing when she rose to go to charms. Suddenly the entire great hall started spinning and she felt herself falling. Then everything went black.
She ran frantically through the fog, the murmurs of voices filling the air around her. Her hair flowed in a tangled mess behind her as she ran, trees slowly appearing around her. She could feel her bare feet hitting the forest floor and could hear the branches tearing at her cloak.
The voices grew louder as she ran further into the trees, becoming more and more lost. Finally she burst into a small clearing which contained a single black sapling with emerald green leaves. She stopped, gasping for air and walked slowly closer to the tree. The scene suddenly shimmered and in the place of the sapling stood Harry. His robes were torn and soaked with blood. A sword hung limply from his right hand, covered from hilt to tip with blood. Green eyes dulled by pain looked down at her and suddenly filled with hate.
"You killed me my lady, how could you. I trusted you!" He hissed venomously at her.
"No....no I didn't mean to, it wasn't supposed to happen..." She stammered out but he silenced her with the look in his eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks and she turned and ran as the scene turned to fog again.
Running blindly, she dashed the tears from her eyes and again the voices filled the air as she ran. The fog slowly began to clear again and she found herself running through a marsh. The water and mud sucked at her feet and the reeds and grasses tore at her clothing but she ignored it all. The voices grew louder as she came up to a silvery yellow sapling with silver leaves.
She stopped, gasping for air once more and then moved slowly to the tree. Tears fell from her eyes as she collapsed in front of it and she cried freely at its roots. Then the scene shimmered and Draco Malfoy stood above her. His robes were bloody and torn and the sword he carried in his right hand was soaked in blood. He looked down at her with pity, which soon turned to contempt.
"You killed me! You lied and turned my once friend into my enemy." He looked at her with expressionless eyes as these words spilled from his mouth.
"I didn't mean it, please you must believe me!" She cried out and grabbed the bottom of his robes. He jerked them out of her hands and the scene faded to fog. She stood up slowly, tears falling down her cheeks, staining the cloth of her robes. The voices again filled the air and she ran away from them, tormented.
She could hear a girls high-pitched screams and the laughter of many others. She ran, hoping to leave the voices behind but they followed her, growing ever louder. Finally she collapsed to the ground and covered her ears trying to block them out. The fog cleared and a scene unfolded around her.
A large mob stood in the middle of a clearing, surrounding something tall. A girls pleading screams filled the air causing the mob to laugh and jeer. They parted and she saw Ginny tied to a large stake above a pile of wood and straw. She tried to rush forward but was held back by two pairs of arms. She looked back and saw the faces of Harry and Draco beside her own.
"You caused this." They both whispered in her ears. "This is all your fault"
"No, let me save her! I can save her!" She struggled against their hold as she watched a man step forward with a torch to light the logs and straw underneath Ginny's struggling form. Her screams filled the air as the fire caught hold of her robes she struggled against the bonds holding her to the stake.
As the fire covered Ginny's still form, she collapsed in tears against the two men at her sides. They let her drop and faded into the background, leaving her to cry on the ground at the base of the smoldering stake. Then everything disappeared and was replaced by a beautiful green meadow where two Dragons, A Unicorn, and a Phoenix stood.
Hermione woke suddenly and sat up. She frantically felt her clothes, the bed and the wall behind her. When she realized where she was, she breathed a sigh of relief. It had just been a dream, not real. It troubled her how realistic it had been this time. She crawled out of her bed and went to the window. It was still dark, only about midnight and she sat on the window ledge as she looked out over the grounds.
After about ten minutes, she decided she was hungry and pulled a cloak on her shoulders and wandered from the dorm and down to the common room. She walked out through the portrait, where a sleeping Fat Lady didn't even make a sound. She walked slowly through the halls and made her way to the kitchen entrance. There, she tickled the pear and pulled the door open. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to find three elves playing cards at a small table to the side.
The first one that saw her yelped and jumped up knocking over the table. The other two protested and then saw her and rushed to stand.
"Is their anything you be needing miss?" The first one asked anxiously while the other two prepared to run and get what ever she wanted.
"I would like some tea and maybe some biscuits please." Hermione stated and the food and drink was rushed to her in minutes as if it had all been there for her already. She thanked them and turned to leave when one of the three elves spoke up.
"Pardon me miss, I is not meaning to speak out of place but what is that magic I feel? Is you...." He stopped and looked at her with fear when the others motioned him to be silent.
"Am I what?" She asked slightly impatiently.
"It is nothing, I is feeling things. Nothing for you to worry about." The three elves bolted away to a small door in the wall next to the stoves and disappeared.
* * * * *
Hermione sat in front of the common room fire, sipping her tea. She had a parchment in front of her, covered with tiny writing, recording her dream. She sorely missed her dream journal at this moment and was silently cursing Draco with every thought.
She read over what she had written and then rolled the parchment up, sealing it with a wax seal. She set it to the side and curled up on the sofa to think. The fire made the room warm and pleasant and she felt herself getting drowsy from it. Slowly she stood up, collecting her things. She left the teacup on a side table and went back to bed.
* * * * *
Hermione walked outside with the other Gryffindors to Hagrids hut for Magical Creatures. It was one of the few classes she still enjoyed since her dreams were causing her problems everywhere else. With the new monsters Hagrid introduced every week, she was always so occupied with every class, she never even had time to think of anything else.
She arrived outside the cabin with the other Gryffindors and the Sltytherins to find a woman standing there. At her side was 10 small crates, each one wiggling at random intervals. She motioned for the students to settle down and be quiet before speaking.
"Your regular Care of Magical Creatures professor is away on school business so I will be teaching you for today." Near the back, Hermione could hear Draco and his cronies making snide comments about this arrangement and the supposed business of Hagrids.
The woman picked up the nearest crate and held it up for everyone to see. "I have here your assignment for the day." She opened the crate and out jumped, to her shoulder, a creature that looked like a monkey crossed between a frog. "Can anyone tell me what this creature is?" She looked at all of them. "Anyone? All right, obviously you are severely lacking in your education. It is a Clabbert, a North American magical creature. It's an arboreal living creature and it has a large pustule on its forehead, which flashes red upon approaching danger. You assignment for today is to feed and walk them." She called each person forward, by name, and handed him or her a crate.
The students spent the next hour playing around with the friendly animals and when it was finished, they reluctantly turned in their Clabberts to the substitute professor. She made sure each one was rested in its crate before she let the students go for lunch.
The students slowly walked away and Hermione used her wand to cause Draco to freeze on the spot behind all his Slytherin friends. She walked up to him and said; "I know you took it Draco, so just give it back." She then unfroze him and he appeared startled at seeing her there.
"Give what back Granger." He sneered and tried to walk around her but she stepped and blocked his way. "Get out of my way mudblood!" He snarled at her just as Harry and Ron caught up with her.
Ron grabbed Draco by the collar and lifted him up off the ground. "What did you just call her Malfoy?" He growled at him and dropped him to the ground as Hermione turned to walk away, Harry close behind her, leaving the two boys by themselves. "You're lucky this time Malfoy." Ron turned to follow the others.
"On day, Weasley, your gonna get it and I'm gonna be watching it happen." He brushed his robes off and made his way to the castle. "And Granger, I'm gonna open that little book of yours and then everyone will know your secretes."
* * * * *
Hermione sat beside Harry and the table in the Great Hall, that mornings dream running through her head. It had been the worst of them all and she wondered if they were going to just keep getting worse. Harry poked her and she snapped to attention.
"Soup Hermione?" He held the soup tureen in front of her and waited for her answer. She took it smiling and ladled hot soup into her bowl. She ate slowly and thought over everything that had been happening so far. She took a sip of soup and grimaced, a headache was starting at her temples. She searched her bag for the bottle of headache pills she had and took two, sipping her pumpkin juice to help swallow them.
"Are you ok Hermione?" Ron asked around his sandwich, he had noticed the pills. "You don't look so good."
"I'm fine, just a little headache, that's all." She smiled weakly at him and pulled her potions book from her bag and stuck her nose in it, hoping Ron would stop. But instead of reading the many potions inside, she pondered over her last dream and what it might mean.
Her headache started growing worse as lunch progressed and her head was throbbing when she rose to go to charms. Suddenly the entire great hall started spinning and she felt herself falling. Then everything went black.