Bride Over Troubled Water

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author: Bookworm2008

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own the Harry Potter characters. I would like to own Draco for a while, though…

Author's Notes: WARNING: THIS CONTAINS OOTP SPOILERS! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT YET, DO NOT READ THIS! Besides, if you haven't read it yet, what are you doing reading this?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

* He was back at the Department of Mysteries. He was in the room with the veil. He could see Sirius and Bellatrix dueling in the corner. Sirius moved out of the way as he dodged a curse sent by Lestrange.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" he taunted. Then, Lestrange threw another curse at him. As the spell hit him square in the chest he fell backwards. Backwards into the veil where he would never return.

Suddenly Harry heard Sirius whispering to him. "It's your fault, Harry! If you would've listened to Hermione I wouldn't be dead! It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault…" *

"Harry!" someone screamed into his ear. Harry bolted upright and looked around the room. His eyes landed on the worried and scared face of his best friend, Ron Weasley. His shirt was soaked with sweat and he felt very hot.

He threw the sheets off of him and groped around for his glasses. He found them and as he put them on Ron came more into focus. "What? What happened?"

"I reckon you were having a nightmare, mate. You were screaming and thrashing about." Ron nervously looked around the room. "Harry, it wasn't about You-Know-Who, was it?"

Harry groaned and fell back into the sheets. He remembered the dream. How could he forget it? It was the same dream he had been having ever since he came home from Hogwarts at the end of his fifth year.  Each time the dream was the same.

"No," he lied. "It was nothing."

Ron looked skeptical. "Nothing? It sure didn't sound like nothing," he said, but pressed the matter no more. He left the room and Harry got up.

After he was dressed he went into the bathroom that Ron and the twins shared and looked in the mirror. His raven hair still stuck out at odd angles. His emerald eyes were still hidden behind thin-framed glasses. And he still had the lightning bolt-shaped scar.

How he hated that scar. He hated the person who gave him that scar even more. Voldemort. He hated how people couldn't say his name. If Voldemort didn't exist he would still have his parents. He wouldn't be one of the most famous wizards in the wizarding world. He would still have Sirius.

The thought of Sirius brought tears to his eyes. He hastily rubbed them away. No. He wouldn't cry. He couldn't cry. He had to be strong. Sure, it was one thing to lose your parents who you barely knew. He never really cried about that. But Sirius, he had actually known. He had actually talked to Sirius.

He rubbed his eyes again and washed his face. He brushed his teeth and headed down to the kitchen where the rest of the Weasley family and Hermione Granger were.

Hermione was also staying at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer. He plopped down into a seat beside her and reached for a piece of toast. He buttered it and muttered a hello to Hermione.

"Harry? Are you OK? You don't look so good?" she asked. She lowered her voice a little, so that nobody else could hear. "You didn't have another dream about Sirius, did you?"

He dropped his piece of toast. "How do you know about them?" he muttered.

"I'll tell you later," she said. Then, raising her voice a little, she said, "Mrs. Weasley?"

"Yes, dear?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"I was wondering if our letters from Hogwarts came yet. I'm dying to get to Diagon Alley. I really need to pick up a new book."

Ron snorted. That was Hermione. Always wanting a book to read. Hermione shot a glare at Ron.

"I'm sorry, dear, they haven't come yet, but I'm sure they'll be arriving any day now. When we get them we can go to Diagon Alley and then you can get your book."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione politely replied.

They finished their breakfast and Harry dragged Hermione outside where they couldn't be heard. Ron tried to follow, but Harry told him that it was personal. He stalked off muttering about never being involved.

"So, Hermione, how did you know that…well, that I was having nightmares about…well, Sirius?" he stammered.

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Oh, Harry, it's really quite obvious. I'm surprised that Ron doesn't know. Well, seeing as it's Ron…Anyways, well, you've been having the nightmares a lot, right?"

He nodded. He still couldn't see how she had figured it out.

"Well, Ginny and I can hear you screaming in your sleep. It's always the same thing, over and over again."

He gulped. "What do I scream?" he asked in a small voice.

She laid a hand on his arm. "It's always 'Sirius! Sirius!' and 'It wasn't my fault!' Harry, you don't blame yourself for what happened with Sirius, do you? Because it really wasn't your fault!"

"It was, Hermione. It was my fault. If I would've listened to you we would've never gone to the Department of Mysteries. And Sirius wouldn't have died." He looked down at the ground so she wouldn't see the tears in his eyes.

"Oh, Harry!" she cried and flung her arms around him. She gave him a quick hug, then pulled away. "Harry, please, don't think that. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe this happened because you have to learn to rely on other people, instead of just one person."

"Yeah, maybe. Hermione, would you mind letting me alone for a while? I kind of want to be by myself."

"No problem. I'll keep Ron busy," she said. She walked back into the house and he sighed. Life would never be the same.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

So, was it good? Bad? Review? Yes, that's the one! Please review! Just click the little button that says GO and review! I need the love, peoples!