Disclaimer: I own nothing – the characters belong to JKR. This is the first Harry Potter fic I've ever written, and I would greatly appreciate any feedback. Thanks! - - - Caterina

Chapter 1: What Dreams May Come….

Entry in Hermione's diary:

"A girls' dormitory is not always the best place to be if you want to sleep. It is quite common to hear the mindless twits you room with gossiping at 3 am - Lavender is also known for talking in her sleep. I've given up on ever getting a good night's sleep. Lately, though, I've been the one keeping everyone awake. I've been having such horrible nightmares that I wake up screaming. Last night, the screaming was loud enough to be heard in the boys' dormitory – Ron and Harry came running in here at 5 am, fully convinced I was being attacked by Voldemort himself. Harry understands how upsetting dreams can be, but I'm not sure Ron's convinced that I'm actually dreaming. He seems to think it's a "feminine ploy" to get more attention – I'm starting to think his mum dropped him on his head one time to many as an infant.

The things I see when I dream - - - I seriously hope these are dreams induced by eating one chocolate biscuit too many at bedtime, and that these images are pure sugar-induced imaginations. I can see a much younger Voldemort torturing a young woman. The woman is screaming a litany of "Sirius! Mother! Father! Sirius! HERMIONE!!" over and over, and Voldemort seems to gain more pleasure the louder she screams. Finally, he slits her throat, and uses the knife to carve something on her back – I can't see what he's writing. The dream then flashes to Lily Potter holding a young Harry, and she's chanting something in Old English I can't quite understand – Voldemort kills her and advances on Harry. The dream immediately flashes to a beautiful, stately older woman who rises and hands me a diamond tiara, and says, "their blood is now on your hands – the lives of all are in your hands". I rarely dream the entire dream – someone usually wakes me up when I start screaming during the first part.

Harry thinks I ought to talk to either Snape or Dumbledore – Snape could give me a Dreamless Sleep potion or Dumbledore could help somehow. I don't know though – I feel odd going to either of these men. I feel like the older woman is trying to send me a message that I'm just too dense to understand. Ron, of course, the ever-supportive boyfriend, is just convinced that I ought to either go to the library like I always do at times like these, or I should just snog him until I'm too tired to dream. I'm thinking neither option is exactly the right thing to do. Of course, telling all this to my diary isn't exactly the most illuminating answer either. Oh well, others are coming into the commons now, and I should start my potions essay – good night, diary."

I close my diary, and open my potion's book just as my best friend Ginny Weasley enters the Gryffindor common's room. Her face is bright red, and her hair is fanning around her face like a flame. She throws her books across the room, and plops down into a chair near mine. She's obviously mad at someone, and I'm guessing it's not her boyfriend Harry or any other Gryffindor. Snape's class should have just ended, so I'm guessing that slimy git had something to do with this temper tantrum.

"What did Snape say or do this time, Gin?"

"That bastard! He.. he… Oh, damn him! We were practicing with removing glamours in charms, but my partner couldn't seem to get it quite right. Thomas failed every time he tried to remove any glamours from me. We were teasing him about it at the start of potions, right when Snape comes in. That slimly snake just looks at us like we were just slightly more lowly than pond scum, and comments that perhaps it was for the best that Thomas couldn't get the charm right, that any glamours that were placed on me were there for a reason, and not to mess with them – perhaps I was glamoured so that I wouldn't scare small children any more than I already do! He proceeded to insult me, my family, and all Gryffindors!"

Ginny was still fuming, but I ignored the rest of her comments. Why couldn't Thomas remove any glamours on her? If someone has no glamours on them, and the removal charm is placed on them, a blue aura should surround them for a few seconds. Most glamours will come off with the charm. If a glamour is still present, and the charm does not work for any reason, the aura should be tinted slightly purple. While she continued cursing Snape, I tried the charm – she looked exactly the same, but her aura turned bright purple. I tried a stronger charm, one that I had read of but never seen performed before, and her eyes flickered colors – from a deep brown to a bright blue back to brown again. Her hair also changed from the trademark Weasley red to a deep black back to red again. She didn't seem to notice.

"What the hell are you doing to my sister!?!?!" Oh shite. Ron apparently just saw that. He and Harry both just saw that.

"What are you talking about Ron? Hermione's not doing anything to me! She's just listening to me rant about Snape."

"Ginny, your eyes just turned blue and your hair turned black! That's obviously not normal, now is it?"

While the Weasley siblings argued about normality, Harry asked me if I'd had any more dreams. Unfortunately, Ginny overheard us. Although she's my best friend, I haven't told her about the dreams – she had such nightmares after that Voldemort fiasco her first year, and I'm reluctant to mention these to her.

Oddly enough, Ginny answered him. "Dreams? You mean bloody nightmares! Wait, how did you know about those? I didn't tell anyone about those! Is any one else having freaky weird dreams of an older version of Hermione screaming 'Sirius!' and some old lady with a wickedly awesome diamond tiara?"

All Harry, Ron, and I could say was "Oh, shite!" in response. Something is clearly rotten in the state of Denmark – um, England – if Ginny and I are both having the same dreams.