Chapter 3 - In which there is a dream sequence

That night Harry dreamed. He dreamed he was a long way away, and he was someone else. He was a girl, This girl was lying, asleep on a sofa somewhere, in the middle of a new-looking flat. She looked peaceful and calm. She had someone watching over her, at least at the moment she did. Someone that she considered a brother, in spirit, if not in blood. He knew, for a moment, what it was like to be this girl. She was a Witch, and something else too. Something wild, but not untameable. She was small, but had wit and jokes and sarcasm for every situation that she could ever possibly come across. She was subject to a sort of writing fever, as dreams and inspirations slaked through the air, she caught most of them, and often sat for hours writing on a project that had taken her prisoner. She was pledged to someone, a goddess? Possibly, but she was not a slave or a toy. She was different, and Harry had a moment of confusion. Why could he see all this, read this girl's thoughts and see through her eyes? And if he was here, where was she? Looking at his own life? He felt a shiver, and the beginnings of wakefulness stealing across him. He felt himself pulled back. And heard something, someone? Speed past him. And he was back in his body, and waking, with the knowledge of two things. First, that he would see the girl again, whether in dreams or in reality he did not know, but he knew they would eventually meet. And second, that she would be an important part of his future. As he awoke fully from the dream he whispered the girl's name. "Tairra."

Tairra too dreamed. And she found herself far away from anywhere that she knew, and she was someone else. A boy, a year younger than herself, but intelligent enough to be her equal. He was just 15, only a few short hours ago he had become another year older. He was pleased with himself, because he had friends, people who actually liked him, and they had been sending him letters all summer. She felt the weight of this accomplishment, and knew how hard it had been for him. Knew, almost remembered for herself the isolation and dark, painful loneliness that he had felt before. She knew about his growing up and his life now and knew who he was and all. She knew this feeling though, and had done such things before so she knew where she was, and where this boy was. She understood. She felt a tugging pull and rushed very quickly past someone going the other way. She awoke. And knew what she had to do. This boy, this Harry, she had to help him. And she would meet him again, in dreams and maybe in the flesh too. She grinned, and stood up, letting the blanket fall to the floor. She yawned and stretched. "Hmmm, Harry Potter, this will be an interesting year." She sauntered off, grinning widely and muttering to herself. "Nick," she called "I've had another one. Wanna hear it, It's very interesting?" When no answer came she looked at her watch. It was 9.00am, Nick had left for work. She grinned, 'what would I do without him?' She wondered to herself. She settled down to wait for his return, and in the meantime she peeked into his bedroom. Clothes littered the floor. 'Typical male' she thought, and grinned wide when she discovered the perfect blackmail material. Scooby Doo boxers! 'How very interesting. A 19 year old should really be careful about his choice of underwear, especially a 19 year old who lives with me.' She gathered up all the laundry, and put it in the machine in the kitchen area. She sighed as it started to rumble loudly, and left it to it's own devices as she went back to her own room. She stared around. Her room was mostly littered with scraps of paper. She rescued a few from the black hole that seemed to exist under her bed. It always seemed to suck in her best ideas, and she would find them months later when they were no more use to her. Uncrumpling the balls of paper on her desk she read the previous day's ideas. They all looked pretty good in theory, but she knew from experience that in practise they would either fail or blow up. A charred patch on the ceiling over the oven stood as a lasting testament to the one idea that had both failed and exploded.

She put on the radio to cover the ominous rumbling of the washing machine. The low thundering penetrated even the loudest of her Blink 182 CDs. She growled low in her throat; and breathing deeply, whilst trying to resist the temptation of doing something nasty to the machine, she summoned Moon-drop. The ball of light hovered over her palm for a moment before whizzing around the room, flying to every exit and sealing it tight shut. Suddenly the noise was shut out, but she realised something and pointed to the window which sprung open. Her loud music filled the air, and she materialised a plate of toast and peanut butter with jam out of thin air. sitting at the desk she read through some more of the ideas. One suggested that she should write a diary, if she could remember to keep it every day, whilst another suggested structural improvements for a bridge. A third showed how frogs could adapt to be able to fly. Things like this happened to her all the time. She put the more outlandish suggestions in what she called 'the filing system', but Nick called 'the rubbish'. The useful ones however she stuck on a spike that stood on her desk. It was really a foot long nail that had been hammered through a plank of wood, and then been hastily hacked off the plank. The next plan she looked at told her why she should think about writing her life history down, since she was technically the only living w'amphrii in existence. It would have to explain her birth and conception, a singular experience in the world of today; her father had told her that throughout the whole process he kept wondering if three wise men would arrive. It would also have to explain why she had chosen, hah, been forced more like, to live with a stranger instead of her own family. She put it on the spike with a decisive slam. She stopped reading through the papers and thought for a moment. She would probably get her letter from school today. The owl would come later. She would go to Diagon Alley later in the week, maybe next Friday, or Saturday so that Nick could go with her, she was liable to be a whirlwind if left to go shopping by herself. She decided to send a letter to her other friends to see if they could meet her there. She wrote the note like this:

Hey guys,

How are you all doing, I feel like I'm trapped in a concrete prison, as usual, but c'est la vie! Nick is out at work at the mo, and I'm sending Moon around to you all to get an answer straight away. I wanted to know if we're planning to meet up in the Alley on Saturday? I'll bring Nick, and he can try and stop me from blowing all my money on useless junk. I have to get my books, I haven't got the list yet, but I'm sure it'll be here by tomorrow. So, will you be able to make it? Kai, Jewel, AJ, Josh, Remi, Alex and Wil.

LYL Tairra xxx

P.S. I had another one, this year is going to be very, very interesting!

P.P.S. Nick's at work, I'm sabotaging the VCR, again, shhh!

She gave the paper to Moon-drop who buzzed happily and she picked him out of the air, cradling him in the palm of her hand. "Now, Moon, you've gotta go and get this to Kai, Jewel and AJ in Manchester, Josh and Remi who are just around the corner, and my stupid brother and Wil in Hogsmeade. Go to Josh and Remi first, then Kai, JJ and AJ, then Alexei and Wil. When you're done bring back the answers. Hurry, I need them back by Friday at the latest, you think you can do that?" The little bauble of light bobbed up and down as if nodding. She released him, and he flitted out of the window and away. Tairra watched him go with a grin on her face. She was expecting the answers back from the others soon.