A/N: Sorry for the very long delay. I had recently changed my Internet service from cable to broadband, and that delay took almost 2 months!
Thanks as always for your kind reviews. This chapter might be a little short, but I'm pressed for time these days. What with school and jobs and everything else, My time to write has been almost nonexistent… But I'll try to get out the remainder chapters faster.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The name Tel'anran'rhiod belong to Robert Jorden and the 'Wheel of Time'
Dreaming of youChapter 8
Spirited away
"Harry? Harry, wake up." A soft but insistent voice said from somewhere just beside his ear. Harry stirred and turned on his side, trying to escape that sound that was trying to disrupt his sleep. He even went so far as to cover his ear with his arm to block out the voice. It seemed to have worked for a moment.
Then he felt a hand lifting his arm away from his ear. Before he could really register that fact, the voice returned, magnified by a hundred times. "HARRY JAMES POTTER!!! WAKE UP!!!"
Harry shot up like a catapult, moving to an upright position in an instant; his eyes popped open, wide and blank. "Finally up are you?" the voice said. "Took you long enough…"
Before the voice could finish her sentence, however, Harry's eyes slowly drooped closed, and he dropped back onto his bed, already on his way to sleep.
The mysterious person sighed and walked away. Harry heard her footsteps grew softer and softer, before disappearing altogether. He allowed himself a small smile of victory. Now he can go back to his interrupted sleep…
A sudden wave of freezing cold water rather abruptly proved him wrong. For the second time Harry shot upright. This time the difference was that he was suddenly very wet, very cold and very much awake.
"At last." The voice laughed from beside him. Harry shot that person, whoever she is, an annoyed glare, which steadily grew wider as he took in the identity of the person who woke him up in such a shocking manner.
"Star? What are you doing here?" Harry sputtered, half in surprise and half from all that water that had somehow found its way into his mouth. Coughing to rid himself of all the water, Harry glance around himself. "Am I in Tel'anran'rhiod again?"
"Of course." Star answered with a small smile, putting away the pail she had been holding in her hand. "Didn't I tell before that I can only appear in this form in Tel'anran'rhiod?
"Nice decoration." Harry observed as he looked around him properly, mopping his face in the process. "Makes a nice change from before."
Instead of that black room Harry found himself in the first time he visited this strange land, he seemed to be in a tent of some sort that appeared to be made of silk. It was round in shape, but Harry couldn't see the edge of the tent where the tent wall is suppose to meet the floor. He had the strangest feeling that he could keep walking in one direction and never touch the silken wall. The bed he thought he was sitting on turn out to be silk cushions, and more of them were scattered all over the place.
"I'm glad you liked it." Star said a little modestly. "I found the idea in one of your books."
"The Arabian Nights?" Harry ventured a guess. When Star nodded happily, he continued. "Well, you've succeeded alright. No one could have mistaken this."
"And the clothes too?" Star asked, twirling around to show Harry her clothes. Instead of the simple blue robes that Harry saw on her the last time he saw her, she was now wearing a piece of cloth covering her chest, and a short vest over it. Super baggy pants covered her legs, leaving her feet clear. Her hair was caught back by an elaborate headdress that seemed to be made of golden chain. "Do they match?"
As Harry looked over Star, a sudden thought appeared in his head. The last few times Harry saw Star, she seemed so much older then him. But now, for some reason, Star seemed to be almost the same age as him. Curious…
"Harry?" Star asked when Harry did not answer her question. Hesitantly, half afraid Harry had fallen asleep again, Star put her hand in front of Harry's face and waved a little. But Harry was so deep in thought that he did not even see the hand. When that failed, Star stepped back to think for a moment. As far as she knows, there can be only one reason why a boy would black out like that.
"Ah… I know what you're thinking, you bad boy you…" Star said in a sing-song manner. That managed to wake Harry up.
"What?" Harry asked, as his eyes come back in focus to see Star smiling a strange smile at him.
"You must be think of your girlfriend…" Here Star wiggled her finger to represent quotation marks as she stressed the word girlfriend. "…in this outfit, aren't you?"
""What!? But…but I didn't…" Too late, Harry's imagination went into hyper drive mode as Star's suggestive theme entered his brain. Because of the intensive knowledge Harry had of Ginny, the image his imagination produced looked extremely real. To make matters worse, because Harry is now in Tel'anran'rhiod, the land of dreams, where reality was controlled by thoughts, the space just beside Star was suddenly filled in with the image that Harry had imagined.
"Oh my…" Star said, sounding both surprised and impressed at the same time. She stood up to examine the image of Ginny wearing the same outfit as Star. "This is really very good, Harry." She complimented him.
"It's all your fault, Star." Harry grumbled. "You made me imagine it…"
"Well, aren't you doing it in the first place?" Star answered back with that strange half smile.
"Of course not!" Harry replied, sounding shocked. "I wouldn't think of this sort of thing…" He took a look at the image of Ginny before continuing. "… If you hadn't made me, that is."
"Then what were you thinking of?" Star asked, sitting back down, even as the image began to fade, now that Harry's thoughts had moved away from the subject of Ginny in eastern skimpy clothes.
"Of your age." Harry answered simply.
"What? Why?" Star asked again.
"Well, when I first saw you, you looked like a adult, you know, all ladylike." Harry explained. "But when I look at you now, you seemed to be close to my age. I was just wondering about it."
"Oh, so that's it." Star said. She thought about it for a little while. "In a way you're both right and wrong."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Well, stars live for a far longer time then you humans, for one thing, so in terms of years, I'm far older then you are." Star answered, as her voice took on a distinctive teacher's voice. "But in terms of age in relative to the other stars, I'll be much closer to your age."
"Ok, that answers one question of mine." Harry said. "Now I have another one."
"What is it?"
"Why am I here?" Harry asked it in a serious manner. "Is there something you wanna show me?"
At Harry's question, Star's face grew somber. "Indeed there is." Star said in a serious tone. "Something rather important." She stood up and motioned for Harry to follow her. Puzzled by the sudden change in Star's expression, Harry stood up and followed.
As it turned out, there was an exit to the tent. Star walked right up to a huge pile of cushions and pushed them to one side. Hidden under the cushions was a trapdoor.
"Did you notice that you did not have any nightmares involving Voldemort anymore?" Star asked as she knee to open the trapdoor.
"But I do." Harry answered. "Every night."
"You do?" Star seemed surprised. "That couldn't be…" She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tell me about your dreams." She said finally.
"Every night I'll see myself back at the graveyard… and see Cedric's death again…" Harry obliged. As he spoke, the light within the tent seemed to grow dimmer, seemingly reflecting Harry's depression at the memories of Voldemort's return.
"No, that's not what I mean." Star interrupted. "Those dreams you had were normal dreams. Things that happened in the past. What I mean are dreams that happen in the now, like the time you dreamed of the muggle's death at Voldemort's hands."
"Oh, those types… No, I did not have any of those for quite some time." Harry said, as Star continued to pull open the trapdoor. Not since I returned from Hogwarts last term…"
"Just as I thought." Star said with a certain satisfaction. "Because your blood's running in Voldemort's veins too, those dreams had also ceased to appear. It would be like dreaming about yourself at this moment; pointless."
"Really? I didn't know that." Harry replied even as Star succeeded in pulling open the trapdoor, reveling a hole under it, and lowered herself onto the ladder fixed to the side of the wall.
"Well, now you do." Star said before ducking her head into the hole. "Hurry up, Harry. This night wouldn't last forever, you know." Her voice echoed up to him.
~~~~~~~~~~
In the girls' dorm, all was silent. It was the first day of school after all, and the girls were all very tired from the long train trip. In one of the corner of the room, however, a small creature lay there, to all intent and purpose invisible to the occupants of the room, hidden as he was under the small table. He wasn't asleep, of course. His mission was too important for him to afford that luxury. So he had stayed, hidden and unseen, but able to see everything in the room. His orders were very simple. To stun the girl that was with Potter and to bring her to the Dark Lord.
Wormtail stirred, trying to keep his silver paw from knocking against the floor as he waited for the signal to begin his mission. His mouth was aching from the strain of carrying the portkey that was to transport him and his prisoner to the Dark Lord. But he dare not put the object down to rest his mouth. The Dark Lord was most firm with his orders. He wasn't allow to let go of the portkey at all cost.
Then he felt it; a small jot of pain ran from one his paw, where the dark mark would be if he were human. He scampered to his feet, not caring about the noise of his paw anymore. He would be able to complete his mission and be out of there before anyone woke up enough to find him. Dragging his burden behind him, Wormtail made his way over to the bed where he had seen Potter carry his girl to. He smiled a little to himself. Both Potter and his sidekick, that Weasley that was his former owner, did not even notice his presence in the room. Perhaps the Dark Lord overestimated Potter…
He reached the bed at last, and started pulling himself up the bedclothes paw over paw, stopping only to pull the portkey up after him. When he reached the top at last, Wormtail ran over to where the girl lay sleeping, curled into a tight ball. The place was dark, lit only by the moonlight, so Wormtail had a little problem finding the hands of the girl. When he found them, he pulled the portkey up towards the hands and laid the portkey on them. He then ran up the girl's body to sit on her shoulders. The girl stirred while he was halfway up, but luckily did not wake up. Any minute now…
The portkey flashed suddenly, and Wormtail felt the familiar pull of the portkey as he and the girl was transported away.
~~~~~~~~~
The flash was not bright, so no one woke up. When it faded, all that was left behind was a pillar of green smoke that gradually formed itself into the dark mark to float over the empty bed of Hermione Granger…