Chapter thirty one

Bad dreams

/

That dream came again.

It was partly similar to the one she had seen Harry in; partly it was the one Draco had torn her out from in the Entrance Hall. It was not one of the prophetic ones. It regularly kept repeating itself, being identical yet different and she still did not know what it really meant…

She was standing in the winter Forbidden Forest. Darkness and coldness surrounded her all around. Except for the sole silvery beast running toward her.

Again, as already twice before, she went to meet it. She felt the creature needed her help. It kept getting closer quickly, as it trotted gracefully toward her…

It was an indescribably beautiful unicorn, neighing in fright.

Angela extended her hand to the beast. It stopped abruptly, its flanks heaving rapidly. She approached it and very slowly placed her palm soothingly against its nostrils. It was staring straight into her eyes as if wanting to tell her something. Then she suddenly sensed the presence of something evil.

She looked behind the unicorn into the forest. There was something hiding in the dark between the trees, watching them. Angela's heart began to beat faster.

She walked around the unicorn, striving to see through the shadows. She waited. She knew that in a moment the horrible inhuman scream would be heard again. She was ready for it, but still it dug painfully into her brain. However, she did not wake up like before.

The scream echoed away into the surrounding darkness. The unicorn behind her was shaking. Cruel red eyes suddenly flashed in the dark.

Angela gasped, and at that moment, she sensed something right next to her behind the tree. She started to turn around, but it was too late. Something jumped at her and pushed her down to the ground…

She was scared shitless, she could not breathe… She gasped for air until…

…she woke up with a lurch.

Drenched in sweat, her heart pounding and eyes wide, Angela clutched her blanket. After a few long minutes, she finally calmed down a bit and frantically reached for the tube of pills.

This is not good, she thought as she gulped down two. If this continues, I won't be able to sleep normally.

This dream was different. Different than others. That last night at Malfoy Manor, she dreamed of just an ordinary prophecy again, the one with the bridge...

She felt guilty when she remembered the article in the Daily Prophet about the disaster in London. Many Muggles were injured; some even lost their lives. Oddly enough, Aurors found some evidence and realized that the Death Eaters were behind it… Which she had already known long ago.

With a heavy sigh, Angela lay down again.

/

In the Room of Requirement, the fire crackled pleasantly in the fireplace, in front of which stood a small serving table with a bottle of red wine and glasses on it. There was also a comfortable couch nearby. Angela in a white sweater stood by the window and absently watched the snowflakes, their whiteness flashing here and there in the reflection of the light from the window.

She was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by someone's hands covering her view. She gently took them and turned to her smiling boyfriend.

"What's wrong with you, Angie?" Harry asked gently. "You usually know about me already from the door."

"I'm just tired," she replied weakly.

Harry registered the bluish circles under her eyes. "Those dreams again?"

Angela just nodded and dragged him over to the couch where they sat down together and Harry pulled a small wrapped box from his pocket.

"Better late than never," he handed it over to his girlfriend with a smile. "I hope to lift your spirits a little."

She kissed his cheek: "You already did."

"Come on, open it," Harry urged her impatiently.

She obeyed and her face lit up with a smile and wonder. "A ring? Isn´t too soon for that?" she giggled.

Harry blushed: "It´s not meant like that! I… I just could not thing of anything better. It´s just… Take it as a symbol of… of what I feel for you."

"Harry, it's beautiful… And I understand," she assured him. "Though you didn't have to go that far... It must have cost you a lot of money."

Angela closely eyed the narrow gold ring that had a tiny white stone in the shape of a miniature heart set in the middle.

"I'd spend everything I've got for you," Harry replied with a laugh. "Can I?"

She nodded and extended her left hand to him.

"But just on the middle finger, though," she said firmly as he took her fingers, a ring in his other hand.

"I know," Harry nodded. The ring slid smoothly onto her slender finger. "Maybe I'll put one on the ring finger one day, too," he remarked, half seriously, half flippantly.

Angela lowered her eyes quickly.

"Now, my present," she reached under the couch and pulled out a long, and – as Harry found out a few seconds later – quite heavy package.

As Angela poured wine for them both, he eagerly tore open the cover to reveal a bulky leather book in hard brown covers, gold-stamped and inscribed: ´HISTORY OF QUIDDITCH AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE PRESENT´.

"Wow," he breathed out admiringly.

Excited, he immediately opened it to the first page and was even more surprised. The middle content of all pages was missing and in the gap, there was another narrow package.

"What the…?" Harry's eyes widened.

"Don't worry," laughed Angela, who was watching him with a mischievous expression the whole time. "Take it out and you´ll see."

Harry pulled the small package out in disbelief and the pages began to appear in front of him by themselves, filling the entire gap after a few seconds. He flipped through a few pages. There was really nothing missing at all. The book looked completely normal now.

"Perfect stash," Harry stated with a bright smile.

"I´m glad you like it. The charm took quite a toll on me," Angela grinned. "Open the other one, though."

Harry unwrapped it curiously. He looked at the photo in the glass frame with a strange expression. Angela was on it somewhere outside, the sun was shining on her from the side and she was smiling gently at him.

Angela was a little nervous when Harry did not say anything for a long time.

"I wanted to give it to you, well… So that you might… If you think it's stupid, just say so, I just…" Harry looked at her and Angela stopped her incoherent ramblings.

Harry set the presents down beside him and cupped her face in his hands.

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever received," he said softly, giving her a long kiss. "Thank you, Angie."

Angela snuggled contentedly in his arms.

"It's just a shame I'll have to actually use that book for your photo."

"Well, I counted with that…" Angela replied quietly.

Harry just smirked and focused his gaze on her throat, where the dragon necklace which he had already noticed on the train was glittering.

"Who did you get that necklace from?"

He felt her stiffen a little.

"It was a Christmas gift," she replied cautiously.

"I figured, but from whom?"

"From Draco," she replied even more quietly.

Harry frowned: "Ah, so."

"What 'ah, so'?" Angela tilted her face toward him.

"Nothing, just saying," he said.

"Why do you say that in such a tone?"

"In what tone? I said it perfectly normally."

"You did not," Angela retorted. "You're biased against him."

"Correction – I hate him," Harry noted sourly.

She sat up sharply. "Okay. You hate him and he hates you. We'll leave it as it is and not talk about it anymore.''

"Okay," Harry agreed more than willingly and Angela leaned to him again slowly. "And don't frown. It makes your forehead wrinkle."

She finally smiled a little.

"It's our first night together in a long time and I don't want to fight," Angela sighed, sitting on Harry's lap.

"Me neither," Harry nodded.

"Well, we agreed on that. What do we do now?"

He pulled her close and kept a meaningful silence.

"So, we'll have some of that wine, shall we?" suggested Angela.

"Agreed. And then what?'

"Then we´ll see," she replied with a smile.

/

"Headmaster, may I speak with you for a moment?" Shiernov asked after she walked into the headmaster's office.

"Just sit down, Margaret," Dumbledore urged her with a fixed look through his half-moon glasses.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor closed the door behind her and quietly moved to her chair.

"I have a confession to make," she began slowly. "I'll understand if you resent me because it was very selfish of me to keep it a secret. But… I don´t want to lie to you anymore."

"I'm listening," Dumbledore motioned to her.

"When you accepted me here, I didn't tell you one very important thing about myself. I am not an ordinary person."

Shiernov stopped, looking over the old wizard´s shoulder.

"That could be said about many people, Margaret," said Dumbledore to make her talk more. There was a strange sparkle in his eyes.

"You don't understand, Headmaster," Professor Shiernov sighed. "I am… a half-vampire."

"Oh yes, sure," Dumbledore nodded.

Margaret's eyes widened: "That's all you're going to tell me about it?" she asked in astonishment.

"Probably so," he replied calmly. "You think I didn't know that when I accepted you? You would be insulting my intelligence. I was just waiting to see if you would admit it."

Shiernov was stunned into silence.

"I'm old enough to recognize a vampire even if they´re not a pureblood, Margaret," Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Severus just confirmed it to me…"

"What?!" she snapped. "He told you about me?" she gritted between her teeth.

"Yes, I asked him," Dumbledore replied calmly, as if he did not even see the dangerous sparks in Shiernov's eyes.

"Aren't you angry that I didn't admit it earlier myself?"

"No, Margaret. Each of us has some dark secret that we prefer to keep to ourselves. Everybody deserves a chance to deal with it in his or her own way. I can understand that well."

"Well, thank you for your trust, Headmaster," Shiernov bowed in serious gesture.

"You're just like Severus in most of the ways, aren't you?" Dumbledore asked then. "You don't mind the sun, you eat and drink sparingly, but normally, and animal blood is enough for you most of the time, is that right?"

"Yes," Margaret nodded. "We just can't stand any silver and I've been half vampire since my birth. Not like Severus who… transformed only a few years ago."

"Yes, I know about that," Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"All right, if you don't want me to do anything else… I'd like to go, Headmaster," Shiernov got up on her feet.

"But of course. I'm glad you came to me with this. I know it's not easy for you, Margaret."

Shiernov just nodded her head and walked away from the office.

/

At breakfast the following Sunday morning, Draco stared blankly at Angela's left hand. She noticed it and fidgeted nervously.

"I don't need to comment that, right?" he noted quietly.

"No… I know very well what you're thinking," she hummed.

"It's a shame you won't take an example out of it."

Angela sighed: "It's not that simple…"

Draco leaned across the table to her. "I know that. But you must finally make up your mind."

"Give me time, Draco."

"I'd say that's something you don't have," he responded grimly.

Angela glanced at the Gryffindor table and did not answer.

/

There it was again. Tuesday night. Another one of those exhausting dreams. But this time it wasn't the one in the forest…

Angela tossed and turned restlessly in bed for a while, then opened her eyes after a while, fully awake.

Blinking tiredly, she reached for her watch. It was already dawn outside, so she could see that it was just before seven. She got out of bed with a yawn. However, her head suddenly became dizzy and she had to sit down again. She held on to the blanket and waited for the dizziness to pass. Then she slowly stood up again.

She dressed briskly, sneaked out of the girls' bedroom and headed for the boys' one. She found Draco according to his blonde head. She tiptoed to his bed, quietly opened the curtains and shook him gently.

Draco winced and a second later, his wand was pressed against her neck.

"Hey! It´s me!" she hissed in surprise.

When he recognized her, Draco hid his wand under the pillow again. "What are you doing here?" he whispered grumpily.

"Come with me. While everyone is still asleep, I have something to tell you."

Annoyed, Draco stood up, threw on his jeans and a shirt and headed after Angela who was already standing at the door. In the common room, they settled into the armchairs by the window, behind which, as usual, a proper snowstorm roared, and Draco looked at Angela questioningly.

Angela pulled her legs to her body and hugged her knees: "We will be summoned this week. Saturday night, second test," she said quietly.

Draco stiffened: "You had a dream about…"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what it will be?" Draco asked with concern in his voice.

She nodded: "We'll have to bring some… children to him. Each of us. You girl, me boy. We will get the addresses. They will be from families where one parent is a wizard and the other a Muggle."

Draco paled somewhat: "Anything else?"

"I don't know… I haven't seen everything. But I guess we won't have to harm them. It's still too early for that. Don´t you think?"

"Yes, too soon," he agreed, not sure if he was convincing her or himself.

"You think… we won't have to, well…" Angela could not express herself.

"I know what you mean," Draco interrupted quietly. "And I sure hope not."

/

Daria is in front of her. She runs, black hair fluttering behind her.

Angela calls out to her. Daria turns but still runs and laughs. She now sees someone running toward her. She stops and recognizes Draco. She has a bad feeling about this.

Daria flies into his arms. They kiss, they are happy.

Angela stares at them without moving. She knows something is going to happen. Something bad…

Suddenly Draco's expression changes. From loving to hateful. Daria does not see it and kisses his cheek. A long dagger appears in Draco's palm. Angela tries to warn Daria, but someone puts a hand over her mouth. She looks up. It's Lucius Malfoy. She tries to break out of his grip with all her strength, but she cannot overpower the wizard.

Grinning, Draco grips the dagger in his hand.

Daria pulls away and sees his horrific expression, but it's too late. A flash in the sun, a whoosh through the air, a dagger stabbing a young body. A cry of pain and surprise. Daria looks at Draco in disbelief. He pulls away from her and she falls to the ground. Her last look belongs to still struggling Angela. It is full of remorse and anger…

Angela almost fell off the bed when she woke up.

She wept quietly, unable to understand. She leaned her back against the wall and stared at the ceiling in disbelief, her eyes filled with tears.

This was not a certain event. It was more like a vision, like a foretelling of something about to happen... Or – if she dared to hold on a tiny hope – just a normal dream created from her worries for Daria and Draco.