A/N: Writer's block sucks. **pout** Damn, AND my holidays are just over! Oh well, at least I have my writing! And I did have my computer wallpaper, which was the cast of Angel, until SOMEBODY happened to change it! **Death glares at younger siblings** Anyways, hpfan1750- the Marauders are the gang who wrote the Marauders Map! You know- James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter (die, Wormtail!), but included in that are some of Lily's friends I made up- Chloe, Nina, and Lucinda. They were mentioned earlier. And to gotta B writin- **cheeky grin** You'll have to wait 'n see!
Disclaimer: No profit is being made, and all the stuff I don't own is property of J.K. Rowling.
Dedication: All my reviewers- you guys rock! Thanx again!
Harry Potter and the Crystal of Dreams.
No sooner had Harry fallen asleep in his four poster that night than he found himself standing on a gentle slope that seemed to be quite high up, probably somewhere in some mountains. The grass was long, beginning to yellow from the fierce heat of the sun, and it buzzed with grasshoppers. This had to be another country, he told himself, nowhere in England was this hot.
How he knew that, he couldn't tell. He'd never been to another country in his life- of course, the Dursleys preferred to send him round to Mrs Figg's house when they went on holiday. Also, if this was a dream, why did it all feel so real? The heat, the sounds, the approaching children from a large white building to his left. It looked a little like a foreign church, with its arched windows and slanted tiled roofes, but the amount of people dressed mainly in muggle clothing or a uniform of white robes, and the books and wands they carried, told him this had to be a magical school.
Then he felt his eyes drawn to a trio a way off, two girls and a boy. His legs began to walk in their direction before he even knew what was going on. He knew for sure it was a foreign country now, because the chatter was nothing more than a babble to him. He reached the three just as they sat down, two on the ground, and one on a large rock.
Then he looked closer at the dark-haired girl and realised who it was.
She looked younger and skinnier than he knew her to be, and she had a fixed brace and longer hair, but it was unmistakeably Shannon.
And for some reason, he could understand every word she was saying with her friends.
"I can't believe you did that!" the girl seated on the rock exclaimed despairingly, shaking back her raven coloured braids. "In front of Valentina and all the others..."
"Valentina can go to hell for all I care." Shannon grinned crookedly. "Did you see her face?"
"Yeah, it was priceless." The boy next to them laughed. "Come on Francessca, lighten up. Shannon only did it for shock value."
"Dario! You're supposed to be on my side!"
"Frankie, it's not as though it'll make much difference. I just wanted to annoy Queen Valentina the Popular. Remember, she was saying such awful stuff about you the other week?" Shannon said. Francessca bit her lip, still looking worried.
"Shannon, do you realise what could happen after this? You're going to be the talk of the entire third year!"
"Come off it!" Shannon pulled a face. "It was one little kiss with Enrico, that was all."
Harry, watching them unnoticed, felt like two ton of lead had dropped into his stomach, and he had no idea why.
The curly-haired boy called Dario raised his eyebrows until they were in danger of disappearing off the top of his head. "Sorry, Shannon, I have to agree with Francessca here. 'One little kiss' is NOT an apt description for almost a minute of your tongue halfway down his throat!"
Another supposed ton of lead dropped into Harry's intestines. Shannon's grin grew, mischevious and slightly coquettish.
"Yeah, but their faces! They didn't think one of the most popular boys in the school would kiss an outcast, did they? Be thankful he didn't have a brace as well, or it could have hooked up to mine and we'dve been stuck for much more than a minute!"
Francessca shook her head, smiling. "You are unbelievable, Shannon Parks."
Shannon bowed slightly. "Why thank you."
Then the scene disappeared and Harry awoke, finding himself sitting bolt upright in his bed. Feeling terrible.
*****
Severus Snape grimaced behind the snow-white Death Eater mask covering his face. Words couldn't express how much he hated this, being back here, back where he had started at as an eighteen-year-old fresh out of Hogwarts.
Back to the old routine of murder, torture, and risking his own life.
But even more so on the third now.
An hour or so after dinner that night, the Dark Mark emblazoned on his arm began to burn horrendously, just as he had expected it might. He had Apparated to where Voldemort waited for the supporters and received the task that he knew had been coming his way for so long.
To crush, to kill, just as he had done willingly those years and years ago.
This time he had been asked to prove his loyalty (as all Death Eaters were from time to time) by slaughtering a random Muggle family that Voldemort had chosen on pure whim. Severus's mind insisted on showing him the way Voldemort had informed him of the family- the way his red eyes had sparked maliciously as he had mentioned the newly-wed parents, the way his lips had widened in a thin grin of vindictive amusement as he told him of their infant daughter, a little girl of not more than three years old. It was them that Severus was to kill and take their bodies to Voldemort to prove his worth.
With him were three escorts, to keep him in check and to ensure he did as told. Severus knew them well. Haversham, a tall and heftily-built man a year older than Severus, was notoriously dense, had been since school. Rosen was a thin little woman who had been in the class below Severus's at school, scornful and spiteful. Finally, there was Newman, a shifty-eyed man who had been in Severus's class and was always out for himself.
Severus knew that Voldmort's place of hiding wasn't far from the village that they entered now. If his directions were to be believed, the house they were looking for was the fourth on the right of the main street. As they approached it silently, Severus wondered if this was something reminisent to that fateful Hallowe'en when Harry Potter had been made an orphan. He pushed the thoughts determinedly away and tried to focus on his dilemma. Now was not the time to start thinking of Lily again, as he so often did. Recently he had become reminded of her and James nearly every day- it was hard to try to forget when you teach a boy who could be James Potter but for those unique emerald eyes and have your old enemies walking around the school.
With every second that passed, they neared the house and Severus's dread grew. It wasn't that they were muggles- he didn't care for them because they weren't of his kind. No, his dread grew because he'd not be able to commit a needless murder as was required.
He had a plan though.
Rosen clicked on the silver lighter-like apparatus in her bony hand twelve times. Twelve balls of light from each of the lamp posts down the street flew into it, plunging the place into darkness. Then they reached the place, a quaint little house with a neat front garden that they passed up to the door. Newman, who was leading, stepped back from the front door and Severus could tell from his tone that he was smirking.
"Well, Severus, we'll let you do the honours."
Knowing exactly what they meant, Severus moved forward without a word. Bracing himself mentally, he drew out his wand and levelled it to where the lock was situated on the other side of the door.
"Alohomora!" he hissed.
The door flew open with a loud click. Severus glanced back briefly at his associates before gesturing them forward. They strode into the house to murder confidently.
*****
The place she found herself in was familiar. Of course it was familiar. It was part of her old house, the place where she had lived for the first eleven or so years of her life.
The sound of breathing made her turn around from her inspection of her surroundings to see a young man of about twenty or so sitting on a chair outside one of the bedroom doors. Her dad.
Her dad, but younger.
Voices came from inside the room, and the door opened as a plump lady in the uniform of a St. Mungo's midwife came out. Her dad leapt to his feet as the woman gestured for him to enter, which he eagerly did. She alone saw the lady shaking her head sadly as she began to walk away.
Without meaning or wanting to, she found her feet carrying herself into the room and the old wave of familiarity struck her again. She found herself walking to the side of a bed. Sitting propped up on the pillows of the bed was a young woman with grey-blue eyes, long dark brown hair and a large smile. A small red-faced newborn baby lay in her arms. Her dad came around to the other side of the bed and sat next to the woman.
"How're you feeling, Leeney?" he asked. There seemed to be a strange mixture of joy and sadness in his tone.
"It's a girl, Joe." she said, ignoring the question. "Our own beautiful baby girl."
Almost in wonderment, he held out his finger to the baby. She clamped her tiny fist around it and attempted to suck it. He smiled and the mother laughed.
"I think she likes you, Joe." she teased gently, provoking a small laugh from him.
"What're we going to call her, Eileen?" he mused. "We never did decide on a name."
The woman shifted slightly so that her head rested on the man's shoulder. "I have an idea." she said.
"Go on then. Whatever you want."
"Now then, I'll have none of that," she said, tone gently reproaching and struggling with sorrow. "We knew almost from the start what was going to happen and we can't change it. And I wouldn't."
"If only there was some way..."
"There isn't, there's no use thinking like that." The woman called Eileen swallowed hard and gazed down at her new daughter. "Do you want to hear my idea or not?"
"Go ahead."
"You know when I was little? Before...?" She trailed off on that, but Joe nodded, saving her from having to go through it all again. "Yes. Well, we used to live down on the edges of county Galway. Right down near the River Shannon." She smiled. "I'd like to call her Shannon."
Shannon watched her parents fawning over her much younger self, biting her lip hard enough that if this was not a dream, it would easily draw blood.
"Shannon," her father repeated, trying out the name. "I like it. What about a middle name?"
Her mother considered. "What do you think of the name Jade?"
"Shannon Jade." Joe considered for a second then nodded. "It's a pretty name. It suits her."
"Yes." Eileen laughed and cradled the baby close to her heart. "Little Shannon Jade Parks."
Then the older Shannon awoke with a yell of pain and fright. For a moment she just sat there in her bed, breathing hard and listening carefully. Hoping that nobody had been awoken.
Then a voice broke through the darkness and silence of the girls' dormitory from the bed to her left.
"Shannon?" Hermione asked. "Are you alright?"
At that moment, Shannon realised that something sticky was running down slowly from her lip and across her chin. She wiped it off and realised what it was even though in the dark she couldn't see it.
She had bitten her lip hard enough to make it bleed.
"Shannon?" Hermione prompted.
She snapped out of her thoughts and replied hastily, "Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Go back to sleep."
She guessed that Hermione did as she was asked, but Shannon knew she wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night.
*****
The house was dark and silent. Somehow, Severus knew that nobody was in. Was this what Voldemort had planned? Did he think of the four he had sent as dispensable in case something happened?
"Nobody's here." Snape muttered to them, turning so that he was the only one facing the open door. "I can feel it." He could also feel the relief coursing through his veins.
"Nonsense." Newman snapped bitterly. "There's got to be someone here. Our Lord said it was so."
"Oh, someone's here all right." a voice said from the doorway. "Just not who you expected."
They turned then to see three Aurors standing in the doorway. Severus recognised them immediately as Remus Lupin, Chloe Taylor and Mundungus Fletcher. All of them had their wands pointing straight at Haversham, Rosen and Newman. And at exactly the same time, they all yelled out, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Haversham and Newman were too slow to block the Full Body Bind and their limbs snapped to their bodies with such force that they toppled over immediately. Rosen, however, managed to dodge and whipped out her wand at Mundugus Fletcher.
"Crucio!" she yelled. Mundugus, with the reflexes of an expert Auror, managed to dodge as Remus put the leg locker curse on her. As soon as she was distracted by being frozen on the spot, they simultaneously disarmed her. She flew back against the wall, hit it with a crack and slid down to the floor, unconcious. Remus caught her wand.
Chloe had leapt over Newman's body to face Severus. For a few seconds, they just glared at each other and an understanding passed between them. Chloe gave him a small, grudging nod that only he could see before she cried out, "Expelliarmus!"
Snape moved quickly and pointed his wand at her. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Chloe didn't block the curse or dodge as she would otherwise. Instead she faced it bravely and was prepared for the same fate as the two male Death Eaters on the floor. She fell down with a thud.
Remus and Mundungus supposedly attempted to stop him but failed- it was all an act for the two watching Death Eaters in case they should be able to report back at any stage. But Severus ran off into the night, preparing to put the next part of the plan into action- trying to transfigure something so convincingly that it would seem that he had taken a human life on that night. It was hard, but he had to do it.
Remus removed the curse on Chloe and helped her to her feet. She didn't look too pleased.
"One got away." Mundungus growled, surveying their three captives in distaste.
"We'll get him later." Remus said, raising his wand again. "In the meantime, let's move this lot before the family returns."
*****
That was my measly attempt at Snape spying and nightmares for two of the Gryffindor quartet...hope you liked it! Hey, Silvermoon- if you want to keep nagging me to update, why don't you review? It makes no sense! So everyone else, review please and I'll appreciate it forever! Thank you!
Disclaimer: No profit is being made, and all the stuff I don't own is property of J.K. Rowling.
Dedication: All my reviewers- you guys rock! Thanx again!
Harry Potter and the Crystal of Dreams.
No sooner had Harry fallen asleep in his four poster that night than he found himself standing on a gentle slope that seemed to be quite high up, probably somewhere in some mountains. The grass was long, beginning to yellow from the fierce heat of the sun, and it buzzed with grasshoppers. This had to be another country, he told himself, nowhere in England was this hot.
How he knew that, he couldn't tell. He'd never been to another country in his life- of course, the Dursleys preferred to send him round to Mrs Figg's house when they went on holiday. Also, if this was a dream, why did it all feel so real? The heat, the sounds, the approaching children from a large white building to his left. It looked a little like a foreign church, with its arched windows and slanted tiled roofes, but the amount of people dressed mainly in muggle clothing or a uniform of white robes, and the books and wands they carried, told him this had to be a magical school.
Then he felt his eyes drawn to a trio a way off, two girls and a boy. His legs began to walk in their direction before he even knew what was going on. He knew for sure it was a foreign country now, because the chatter was nothing more than a babble to him. He reached the three just as they sat down, two on the ground, and one on a large rock.
Then he looked closer at the dark-haired girl and realised who it was.
She looked younger and skinnier than he knew her to be, and she had a fixed brace and longer hair, but it was unmistakeably Shannon.
And for some reason, he could understand every word she was saying with her friends.
"I can't believe you did that!" the girl seated on the rock exclaimed despairingly, shaking back her raven coloured braids. "In front of Valentina and all the others..."
"Valentina can go to hell for all I care." Shannon grinned crookedly. "Did you see her face?"
"Yeah, it was priceless." The boy next to them laughed. "Come on Francessca, lighten up. Shannon only did it for shock value."
"Dario! You're supposed to be on my side!"
"Frankie, it's not as though it'll make much difference. I just wanted to annoy Queen Valentina the Popular. Remember, she was saying such awful stuff about you the other week?" Shannon said. Francessca bit her lip, still looking worried.
"Shannon, do you realise what could happen after this? You're going to be the talk of the entire third year!"
"Come off it!" Shannon pulled a face. "It was one little kiss with Enrico, that was all."
Harry, watching them unnoticed, felt like two ton of lead had dropped into his stomach, and he had no idea why.
The curly-haired boy called Dario raised his eyebrows until they were in danger of disappearing off the top of his head. "Sorry, Shannon, I have to agree with Francessca here. 'One little kiss' is NOT an apt description for almost a minute of your tongue halfway down his throat!"
Another supposed ton of lead dropped into Harry's intestines. Shannon's grin grew, mischevious and slightly coquettish.
"Yeah, but their faces! They didn't think one of the most popular boys in the school would kiss an outcast, did they? Be thankful he didn't have a brace as well, or it could have hooked up to mine and we'dve been stuck for much more than a minute!"
Francessca shook her head, smiling. "You are unbelievable, Shannon Parks."
Shannon bowed slightly. "Why thank you."
Then the scene disappeared and Harry awoke, finding himself sitting bolt upright in his bed. Feeling terrible.
*****
Severus Snape grimaced behind the snow-white Death Eater mask covering his face. Words couldn't express how much he hated this, being back here, back where he had started at as an eighteen-year-old fresh out of Hogwarts.
Back to the old routine of murder, torture, and risking his own life.
But even more so on the third now.
An hour or so after dinner that night, the Dark Mark emblazoned on his arm began to burn horrendously, just as he had expected it might. He had Apparated to where Voldemort waited for the supporters and received the task that he knew had been coming his way for so long.
To crush, to kill, just as he had done willingly those years and years ago.
This time he had been asked to prove his loyalty (as all Death Eaters were from time to time) by slaughtering a random Muggle family that Voldemort had chosen on pure whim. Severus's mind insisted on showing him the way Voldemort had informed him of the family- the way his red eyes had sparked maliciously as he had mentioned the newly-wed parents, the way his lips had widened in a thin grin of vindictive amusement as he told him of their infant daughter, a little girl of not more than three years old. It was them that Severus was to kill and take their bodies to Voldemort to prove his worth.
With him were three escorts, to keep him in check and to ensure he did as told. Severus knew them well. Haversham, a tall and heftily-built man a year older than Severus, was notoriously dense, had been since school. Rosen was a thin little woman who had been in the class below Severus's at school, scornful and spiteful. Finally, there was Newman, a shifty-eyed man who had been in Severus's class and was always out for himself.
Severus knew that Voldmort's place of hiding wasn't far from the village that they entered now. If his directions were to be believed, the house they were looking for was the fourth on the right of the main street. As they approached it silently, Severus wondered if this was something reminisent to that fateful Hallowe'en when Harry Potter had been made an orphan. He pushed the thoughts determinedly away and tried to focus on his dilemma. Now was not the time to start thinking of Lily again, as he so often did. Recently he had become reminded of her and James nearly every day- it was hard to try to forget when you teach a boy who could be James Potter but for those unique emerald eyes and have your old enemies walking around the school.
With every second that passed, they neared the house and Severus's dread grew. It wasn't that they were muggles- he didn't care for them because they weren't of his kind. No, his dread grew because he'd not be able to commit a needless murder as was required.
He had a plan though.
Rosen clicked on the silver lighter-like apparatus in her bony hand twelve times. Twelve balls of light from each of the lamp posts down the street flew into it, plunging the place into darkness. Then they reached the place, a quaint little house with a neat front garden that they passed up to the door. Newman, who was leading, stepped back from the front door and Severus could tell from his tone that he was smirking.
"Well, Severus, we'll let you do the honours."
Knowing exactly what they meant, Severus moved forward without a word. Bracing himself mentally, he drew out his wand and levelled it to where the lock was situated on the other side of the door.
"Alohomora!" he hissed.
The door flew open with a loud click. Severus glanced back briefly at his associates before gesturing them forward. They strode into the house to murder confidently.
*****
The place she found herself in was familiar. Of course it was familiar. It was part of her old house, the place where she had lived for the first eleven or so years of her life.
The sound of breathing made her turn around from her inspection of her surroundings to see a young man of about twenty or so sitting on a chair outside one of the bedroom doors. Her dad.
Her dad, but younger.
Voices came from inside the room, and the door opened as a plump lady in the uniform of a St. Mungo's midwife came out. Her dad leapt to his feet as the woman gestured for him to enter, which he eagerly did. She alone saw the lady shaking her head sadly as she began to walk away.
Without meaning or wanting to, she found her feet carrying herself into the room and the old wave of familiarity struck her again. She found herself walking to the side of a bed. Sitting propped up on the pillows of the bed was a young woman with grey-blue eyes, long dark brown hair and a large smile. A small red-faced newborn baby lay in her arms. Her dad came around to the other side of the bed and sat next to the woman.
"How're you feeling, Leeney?" he asked. There seemed to be a strange mixture of joy and sadness in his tone.
"It's a girl, Joe." she said, ignoring the question. "Our own beautiful baby girl."
Almost in wonderment, he held out his finger to the baby. She clamped her tiny fist around it and attempted to suck it. He smiled and the mother laughed.
"I think she likes you, Joe." she teased gently, provoking a small laugh from him.
"What're we going to call her, Eileen?" he mused. "We never did decide on a name."
The woman shifted slightly so that her head rested on the man's shoulder. "I have an idea." she said.
"Go on then. Whatever you want."
"Now then, I'll have none of that," she said, tone gently reproaching and struggling with sorrow. "We knew almost from the start what was going to happen and we can't change it. And I wouldn't."
"If only there was some way..."
"There isn't, there's no use thinking like that." The woman called Eileen swallowed hard and gazed down at her new daughter. "Do you want to hear my idea or not?"
"Go ahead."
"You know when I was little? Before...?" She trailed off on that, but Joe nodded, saving her from having to go through it all again. "Yes. Well, we used to live down on the edges of county Galway. Right down near the River Shannon." She smiled. "I'd like to call her Shannon."
Shannon watched her parents fawning over her much younger self, biting her lip hard enough that if this was not a dream, it would easily draw blood.
"Shannon," her father repeated, trying out the name. "I like it. What about a middle name?"
Her mother considered. "What do you think of the name Jade?"
"Shannon Jade." Joe considered for a second then nodded. "It's a pretty name. It suits her."
"Yes." Eileen laughed and cradled the baby close to her heart. "Little Shannon Jade Parks."
Then the older Shannon awoke with a yell of pain and fright. For a moment she just sat there in her bed, breathing hard and listening carefully. Hoping that nobody had been awoken.
Then a voice broke through the darkness and silence of the girls' dormitory from the bed to her left.
"Shannon?" Hermione asked. "Are you alright?"
At that moment, Shannon realised that something sticky was running down slowly from her lip and across her chin. She wiped it off and realised what it was even though in the dark she couldn't see it.
She had bitten her lip hard enough to make it bleed.
"Shannon?" Hermione prompted.
She snapped out of her thoughts and replied hastily, "Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Go back to sleep."
She guessed that Hermione did as she was asked, but Shannon knew she wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night.
*****
The house was dark and silent. Somehow, Severus knew that nobody was in. Was this what Voldemort had planned? Did he think of the four he had sent as dispensable in case something happened?
"Nobody's here." Snape muttered to them, turning so that he was the only one facing the open door. "I can feel it." He could also feel the relief coursing through his veins.
"Nonsense." Newman snapped bitterly. "There's got to be someone here. Our Lord said it was so."
"Oh, someone's here all right." a voice said from the doorway. "Just not who you expected."
They turned then to see three Aurors standing in the doorway. Severus recognised them immediately as Remus Lupin, Chloe Taylor and Mundungus Fletcher. All of them had their wands pointing straight at Haversham, Rosen and Newman. And at exactly the same time, they all yelled out, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Haversham and Newman were too slow to block the Full Body Bind and their limbs snapped to their bodies with such force that they toppled over immediately. Rosen, however, managed to dodge and whipped out her wand at Mundugus Fletcher.
"Crucio!" she yelled. Mundugus, with the reflexes of an expert Auror, managed to dodge as Remus put the leg locker curse on her. As soon as she was distracted by being frozen on the spot, they simultaneously disarmed her. She flew back against the wall, hit it with a crack and slid down to the floor, unconcious. Remus caught her wand.
Chloe had leapt over Newman's body to face Severus. For a few seconds, they just glared at each other and an understanding passed between them. Chloe gave him a small, grudging nod that only he could see before she cried out, "Expelliarmus!"
Snape moved quickly and pointed his wand at her. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Chloe didn't block the curse or dodge as she would otherwise. Instead she faced it bravely and was prepared for the same fate as the two male Death Eaters on the floor. She fell down with a thud.
Remus and Mundungus supposedly attempted to stop him but failed- it was all an act for the two watching Death Eaters in case they should be able to report back at any stage. But Severus ran off into the night, preparing to put the next part of the plan into action- trying to transfigure something so convincingly that it would seem that he had taken a human life on that night. It was hard, but he had to do it.
Remus removed the curse on Chloe and helped her to her feet. She didn't look too pleased.
"One got away." Mundungus growled, surveying their three captives in distaste.
"We'll get him later." Remus said, raising his wand again. "In the meantime, let's move this lot before the family returns."
*****
That was my measly attempt at Snape spying and nightmares for two of the Gryffindor quartet...hope you liked it! Hey, Silvermoon- if you want to keep nagging me to update, why don't you review? It makes no sense! So everyone else, review please and I'll appreciate it forever! Thank you!