Episode Three
Part One
When Gwen woke next she found herself back in the dorm, her alarm clock buzzing. She checked her watch to make sure no more time than one night had passed. She sighed in relief and started going about the general tasks of the morning. Showering, dressing, brushing her long ginger hair and finding a barrette to pull it back. She was ready for class, though hardly ready to explain the strange experience of the previous afternoon.
After class she scurried around to find her lunch time pal Chris and when she finally discovered him reading some comic book while standing in line for food she begged him to listen to her story.
"Let me get eats first." He said pointing to his belly.
She laughed for the first time that day and grabbed herself a sandwich. They sat outside on the sweet grass enjoying the warm north country weather while it lasted as the fall semester was just beginning. Pretty soon the grass would be covered in leaves and soon after that snow. The wind would take on a bitter chill and bite at the students as they ran to class. Gwen really liked to sit outside when she had the opportunity.
Chris listened patiently in between bites as she relayed the dream to him. When she had finished:
"That's pretty fucked up Gwen."
"Yeah, I know." She replied.
"Not the dream, more that you still like Harry Potter."
"Chris."
"All right. So you had a really eerie dream. It wouldn't be the first time."
"I know, but it was so real. I really felt like I was there."
"You have a great imagination. If I had dreams like you I'd think I was really there too." He paused. "Did that make sense?"
"Yes."
"Listen, don't sweat it. It's just a dream."
She wasn't convinced. However, when two whole weeks passed without incident her worries began to subside. Maybe it was just a really vivid dream and now that she was buckling down into her school work she had no time for that sort of distraction.
She rubbed her eyes and drooped her head, standing in the shower and letting the hot water wash over her. She had been hoping it would wash away her troubles. All it really did was make her skin dry and turn her old scar into a glaring white outline of a jagged star on her left breast. She touched it feebly trying to remember a time when it didn't grace her chest. She couldn't remember a time without and so it must always have been there.
She closed her eyes and let the water pound out a rhythm in her head. It sounded familiar, like the ocean waves lapping the shore at high tide. Her head drooped further and she breathed heavy, not the first time she'd fallen asleep in the shower.
She jerked her head back, slapped the wall with her sopping hair. She had a chemistry test the next day and she hadn't opened her book all semester.
Part Two
Gwen had been studying for her chemistry test all night. The sun was peeping through the sanitary looking white Venetian blinds a blinding, burning red intensity, but Gwen was out cold. In her dazed and dreamy state the light faded quite a bit and she felt a soft touch on her arm.
She started slowly out of her stupor to find herself back in the Gryffindor Common Room. No time had passed here, it was still the morning where she fell asleep in the cushy chair by the fire. Hermione was placing a hand to her forehead.
"Are you feeling all right? You've been looking a bit off lately. You should go to the infirmary."
"I'm fine." Gwen replied, though her throat was dry. She felt a little embarrassed at being found so totally vulnerable by possibly one of the smartest students Hogwarts had ever admitted.
"You're certain?"
"Yes."
"Well, we'd better get dressed."
Gwen smiled as Hermione headed back to the fifth years' room down the stairs. She roused herself slowly to dress for the day, finding her robes folded neatly in her trunk at the foot of her bed. Lucille bounded onto her bed, cocking her head to the side as if really seeing her mistress for the first time in years.
"What are you so curious about?" Gwen whispered so as not to wake her roommates.
The cat simply looked on as Gwen pulled off her pajamas and wriggled into her robes. She brushed her hair into a soft chignon and tumbled back downstairs for the Great Hall and breakfast. The entire hall was empty except for Professor McGonagall sitting at the main table speaking eagerly with Professor Dumbledore.
Of course, Gwen thought. She's always around when I don't want her to be. All the same, Gwen felt a sort of connection to McGonagall that she didn't feel with any of the other teachers here. She knew Ron, Harry and Hermione were all great friends with Hagrid, and while she liked him she could never just go down to his hut for tea like they did. No one could get close to Snape except his oily Slytherins. And Dumbledore was just so… Dumbledore. Minerva McGonagall was the only teacher who bothered to hound Gwen when she was receiving bad marks. It was almost as if she had something personal to gain from Gwen's success.
The girl smiled as she ate a handful of bacon mixed in with her eggs. Harry took the seat across from her and she became suddenly nervous.
"Morning Gwen."
"Hi Harry."
"What are you doing up so early?"
"I could ask the same of you."
"Quidditch practice."
"Ah. I couldn't sleep."
"Are you feeling all right? You're looking a bit pale."
"Hermione said the same thing. I'm fine. I've just been having these odd dreams." She stopped, while she was telling the truth she wasn't certain she could explain that this world, Hogwarts was the dream.
