Notation: /Thoughts/
Phoenix Language
************************************************************************
Harry woke up with a start, covered in sweat and was breathing heavily. He had the same nightmare again, he saw the massacre of Hogwarts and it wasn't getting any better, in fact it was getting a lot worse. Now after seeing everyone die, all the students and teachers that were killed stand up and then turn to look at him. They were like zombies with their eyes lifeless and cold for those who were hit with the Killing curse. Those who were killed by other means were standing up dripping with blood from their injuries, all staring at him. Harry couldn't do anything when they were doing that he was paralyzed. Slowly all of them would start to advance on him, not saying a word until they surrounded him. "Why? Why did you kill us, Harry/ Mr. Potter?" All Harry could do was bury his face in his hands and reply, "Please? It isn't my fault." But everyone would just continue speaking ignoring him, until they started saying, "It's all your fault." Everyone in the corridor asked this question and that's all that would say. Harry would curl up in a fetal position trying to block out the voices, but it was no good. Slowly the halls would echo with that those words and continue to get louder and louder, till finally Harry would snap out of it and wake up.
Harry leaned against the cold stonewall of the Astronomy deck, guessing that he must have fallen asleep at some point. He looked around to saw that it was still nighttime, he looked down to see the Forbidden Shields and Wards book on the stone floor open. / I guess I did fall asleep. It's certainly not like I can help it. Every time I do sleep I'm plagued by that nightmare. / When Harry was about to move he felt something on his lap and liked down to see Fawkes sitting there. He forgot that the phoenix was with him. Fawkes looked up at Harry with concern showing in his eyes, sensing that he had awakened from a nightmare. Harry just smiled at the phoenix's concern for him; suddenly he heard a meow from where the door was. He looked at to see a large orange cat walking to him, and looking intently at him. Harry was surprised to see the feline walking to him and of all places there on the Astronomy deck. Crookshanks walked up to Harry and sat next to him, just staring at him. Harry found it a little curious as to why; Hermione's cat was doing out of her dorm and up here. But now that Harry thought about it, he really hadn't seen Crookshanks around all that much since the year started. Crookshanks placed his paw on Harry's arm, as if wondering if he was all right. Harry never really had an opinion of the large cat, but he was all right with him since he did help bring out Wormtail in his third year. "All right." Harry said quietly, picking up the large ginger cat and holding him in his arms, since Fawkes was sitting in his lap. / Well this would certainly be an interesting site. If anyone came up here now, and saw me with like this I wonder what they would think with a phoenix in my lap and a cat in my arms? / Harry thought to himself, as he scratched behind Crookshanks ear. Every few minutes he would stroke Fawkes plumage or slender neck for a little while, not wanting him to feel left out.
As Harry sat there with Crookshanks, he couldn't help but think about Hermione. Harry's angry towards Ron and Hermione by this time had simmered, and he really couldn't bring himself to stay angry at them anymore. Yes, it was a shock to see them together like that when he opened the door to the dorms. He saw when they were on Ron's bed, that they didn't seem to eager to move, until he dropped his glass that brought them out of their trance. / If they were going out together, they could've at least have told me. That way I could have avoided making a fool of himself in front of Hermione, if I went and asked her to go with me to the dance. / Harry knew that Ron did also have feeling for Hermione, since last year when Victor Krum was here. He was fairly certain that Ron was jealous of Victor when he walked in with Hermione; even he had to admit that he was jealous of him. He remembered that Ron pretty much never took his eyes off of them during the entire Ball last year. However to Harry, Hermione looked so beautiful at the Yule Ball that he felt like kicking himself for not noticing sooner. Than over the summer all three of them have changed, and for Hermione the better in his opinion. Harry than remembered how he acted towards them over the past two days, and his heart sunk. He treated them so badly, and ignored them every time they tried to talk to him. / I really don't deserve friends like them. Especially after the way, how I acted to them. Maybe they're better off staying away from me. / Harry stayed there on the Astronomy deck for the rest of the night, with Fawkes on his lap and Crookshanks in his arms, having both of the animals with him was really relaxing him. Although Harry didn't try to sleep in fear of having the nightmare again, and he really didn't feel like having it anytime soon.
As light slowly started to creep over the horizon, Harry decided that it was time to head back to the Gryffindor tower. The sun was up yet, but the light from it was coming up slowly. After saying good-bye to Fawkes who flew off to Dumbledore's office, he placed the book in his robes, and picked up Crookshanks in his arms and started heading back to the tower. After getting back to the tower, and putting Crookshanks down in the common room, he headed up to his dormitory. Once he got there he took a quick shower and got dressed in a new set of school robes. Making sure that his phoenix amulet was on and his hair tied back, he quickly looked into the mirror to double check. However he was saddened at the image he saw. His reflection showed him looking a bit pale, he had dark half circle moons under his eyes, and he looked a little thinner than before. He of course knew the reason, why. The nightmare he kept having, was always making him nausea, it kept him from getting a decent night's sleep which he hadn't had in days now, and he just couldn't eat his food with images of the nightmare continuously popping up in his head. Harry knew that if he went out like this people would definitely notice, which is something he didn't want. He quickly pulled out his wand and cast a glamour charms on himself that made him look like how he did before.
Harry grabbed his books and headed down to the common room. Once there he looked at the clock to see exactly what time it is, which turned out to be 6:00 am. Breakfast wouldn't start for another hour and a half, so Harry decided to just wait in the common room in front of the gentle glowing fire that was still burning the remaining wood. He made his way to one of the armchairs, and when he was about to sit down he saw Crookshanks sitting on it. The big cat looked up at him, than he got up and moved himself onto the arm of the chair. / Well, that's certainly interesting? / Harry had never known Crookshanks to move out of a comfortable spot for anyone, unless it was by Hermione. Harry brushed off the thought and took the seat making himself comfortable in the chair and taking out his transfiguration book and started reading. He than felt a weight in his lap and moved his book up to see Crookshanks sitting in his lap, like it's his most favorite place in the world. Harry raised an eyebrow at him, when he looked up at him to see if Harry would object. / Okay? This is getting weird, Crookshanks never sits in anyone else's lap except Hermione and he never moves out of a spot that he claims. Also what's with these animals now a days, first Fawkes and now Crookshanks? I seemed to have become a pillow for them to get comfortable on. / But Harry let Crookshanks stay on his lap as to held the transfiguration book with one hand and the other slowly stroked his fur, making him purr.
Ron and Hermione both got up in their own respective dorms and got ready for the day. They both came down the stairs at the same time, not even noticing that Harry was sitting in the common room. They greeted each other after the got to the middle of the room, and saw that breakfast was going to start soon.
"Ron have you seen Crookshanks anywhere? I can't seem to find him?" Hermione asked in a depress voice. Harry who hadn't notice them come in either, snapped out of his deep reading when he heard Hermione's voice. He leaned further back in to the chair so they couldn't see him, from where they were.
"No I haven't seen him. In fact I haven't seen much of that cat anywhere." Ron replied in the same tone.
"Oh. Okay, I was just wondering because I didn't see him in the dorms last night. I thought you might have seen him." Hermione responded, and after a small silence she asked her question. "Have you seen Harry yet this morning?" Harry who was sitting in the chair could hear the worry in her voice, and his heart sunk even more.
"No I haven't. His bed hasn't been slept in either, so he didn't come back last night." replied Ron. There was a moment of silence in the common room, that you could have heard a pin drop. Crookshanks meow broke the silence; it was loud enough for the three students to hear. Harry immediately looked down on the cat with a questioning look in his eyes, 'why did you do that?'.
"Crookshanks?" called Hermione to the chair that Harry was sitting in, she was certain that she heard her cat's meow but didn't move. Harry stared at the cat thinking that he would get up and go over to Hermione. But he didn't instead Crookshanks just stayed there looking at Harry. / What's with this cat? He signals to everyone that he's here and now he doesn't even move when she calls him. Why did he even bother? / Than he remember that Sirius told them in their third year that Crookshanks was actually very intelligent and he could understand what happening a lot more than it appeared. Harry than figured that Crookshanks could see that his friendship with his friends isn't going very good, and maybe decided to help out a bit. Harry sighed and packed his book back into his bag and swung it over his shoulder. Once that was done, Harry picked Crookshanks up into his arms and stood up, and then turned around to see the surprised faces of Ron and Hermione. It was clear to him that who ever they might have expected to see, it certainly wasn't him.
After Hermione called Crookshanks, she waited to see where he was going to come from. Both her and Ron heard the sound of movement of a person from a chair near the fireplace, so they both looked to see who it was. They couldn't see who it was because the chair completely blocked their view, till a person's head popped up above the chair from standing up. When the person turned around they were surprised to see that it was Harry, and that he was carrying Crookshanks with one arm and with his other hand he was scratching Crookshanks head. After about a minute of staring at each other in silence and stillness, Harry broke the stillness by lowering himself and placing Crookshanks on the floor. Crookshanks just stayed where he was put on the floor looking at him, as if asking 'Are you going to be okay?'. Harry smiled at the cat's concern for him.
"Go on Crookshanks." He said softly to him, still kneeling on the floor. Crookshanks seemed convinced that Harry was going to be all right and started to walk to Hermione, who picked him up and looked back at Harry. Harry wasn't sure what to do now, since he told them to leave him alone. Finally Harry did the first thing that came to his mind to break the tension. A small smile curled on his face and he nodded his head in greeting to them, he than slowly turned and exited the common room. Both Ron and Hermione were shocked but relieved to see that he didn't look angry or give them cold stares like before. / Maybe now we can talk to him? / Hermione thought happily as they headed down to the Great Hall, after leaving Crookshanks in her dorm.
But their assumption was only partially correct, true Harry was no longer giving them cold and angry stares but he continued to avoid them like he did before. Harry still didn't eat at any of the meals because of the nightmarish images. The entire day passed with out much incident all of the classes were the same to him. But Harry kept thinking back to the nightmare. He spent most of his spare time in the library, researching more about the Shield of Light. Unfortunately he didn't find much more about it. It appeared that the only information that he was going to get about it was from the book he had. When evening started and everyone started for dinner, Harry just stayed in the common room to finish his homework that his professors gave him. It helped him keep his mind occupied and kept it from remembering the nightmare.
Later that night, Harry was up on the Astronomy deck like had been for the pass few days. With him was Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes and interestingly enough Hermione's ginger cat, Crookshanks. Of course Harry didn't deny them to join him, in fact he was really enjoying the company of the two animals. Harry continued to read through the book from the library, seeing if there was anything else that he could possibly use. Harry was very tired and sleepy but he fought against going to sleep, he didn't want to see and experience the nightmare again. So he just read most of the time up there, while he relaxed with Fawkes and Crookshanks for company.
Meanwhile Ron and Hermione were getting more worried. Harry had still avoided them like before but didn't appear to be angry, which was a good thing. Both of them noticed that he didn't even go to meals anymore, and stayed in the library most of the time. He even finished his homework early, which was interesting because most of the assignments weren't even due for some time. Even Hermione didn't start on those assignments yet. Both were in the common room trying to do their homework. But they couldn't because they were thinking about Harry. Hermione was trying to find a way to help Harry understand the nightmare that he might be having. She wanted to help him some how. Ron was worried also, but he was just wondering where Harry has been spending the nights for the pass few days. Normally both of them would check the Marauder's Map, but it was never there in Harry's trunk anymore, which meant that he probably had it to avoid being, found. Hermione put her homework away and pulled a book out of her bag and started skimming through it. Ron noticed the book that Hermione started going through and was curious as to what it was about.
"Hermione? What is that book?" he asked.
"It's a book on dreams. I found it earlier today in library." she replied, not lifting her eyes from it.
"What's in it?" Ron inquired further, wondering why she got a book on dreams.
"It talks about dreams, and it basically talks about how someone can interpret them. Also how some dreams can some times act like visions for some people, though most of those people are fortunetellers like the bat Trelawney. I am looking through it to see if maybe there's a way to help Harry with his dreams. Maybe there's a spell or something that can stop it, or at least help us understand what's happening." she answered still keeping her eyes glued to the book. Ron nodded in agreement, but left her to research herself, he knew that she worked better undisturbed. He just continued his with his homework, while he read through the book.
It was almost eleven by the time Ron called it quits on his homework. Hermione hadn't said anything since she started looking through the book. Suddenly she jumped up out of her chair, "That's it!" She completely took Ron by surprise and he jumped out of his seat on the couch and fell to the floor with a thud. After catching his breath, he looked up at Hermione.
"Don't scare me like that, Hermione! What did you find?" he asked as he took his seat again on the couch. Hermione took her seat again.
"Ron, I just found a spell that might help us find out what Harry's dreaming. There's a spell here that will allow the caster to see a person's dream. It's called the Dream Meld spell, dreamulus meledus. The person who the spell was cast on won't know that you're there, unless they're aware that you did the spell. Once the person goes to sleep and starts dreaming you'll be able to see what the person is dreaming whether the caster is awake or not." she replied in her normal lecture voice.
"So we can see what Harry dreams when he goes to sleep, day or night. So if we're walking in the halls or eating meals in the Great Hall, and Harry goes to sleep we'll suddenly see what he's dreaming?" Ron asked excitedly. Hermione just nodded smiling, but Ron's expression dropped when he thought of something.
"Hermione that's great, but…" Hermione looked up from the book to see what was wrong. "Um, I'm sure that it will help. It's just that isn't it a bit dangerous, not that I don't want to help Harry. You know what Harry's dreams are like, especially his nightmares. Are you sure that by seeing it, that we'll be helping him. We might see something that he might not want to see, and isn't this in some way of invading someone's privacy?" Ron finished. Hermione seemed to be considering Ron's point of view and was starting to see what he was getting at. Did they really have any right to just go into someone else dreams; it is like an invasion of privacy. But Hermione shook her head, remembering that she was doing this to help Harry.
"I know Ron. I see where you're coming from, but I want to help him. Whatever it is that he's dreaming it's really scaring him." Ron did have to agree with her assumption on that. "You don't have to do the spell, Ron if you feel uncomfortable. I can do it myself because I want to help Harry." Ron nodded in understanding, and the two started coming up with a plan. After a few minutes both of them agreed that tomorrow Ron would try to distract Harry, while Hermione did the spell.
The next morning Harry was in his dorm room getting dressed after taking a quick shower. He didn't go sleep last night like all the others, all he did was stay up at the Astronomy tower with Fawkes and Crookshanks like before. After getting dressed he looked into the mirror, to make sure that he looked proper. His reflection unfortunately showed something different. He had dark markings under his eyes from the lack of sleep, his skin looked paler, and his clothes were starting to sag slightly on him from the lack of eating. Harry sighed and cast the glamour charm again on himself. After making sure that there were no signs of his lack of sleep or eating, he head down to the common room to wait for his classes.
After their first class, which was transfiguration, Ron and Hermione decided that they should try to implement their plan now, in case they don't get another chance. Once class was finished Ron sprinted after Harry who was at the door already. Ron finally caught up with Harry and called his name.
"Harry! Harry wait!" Ron called out. Harry sighed, he really didn't want to stop but he did anyway and waited for Ron. After Ron get to him he walked in front of him, to make sure that Harry didn't turn around and see Hermione.
"What is it, Ron?" Harry asked solemnly, not looking up at him.
"I just want to talk to you. You been avoiding me and Hermione for days." He replied. Ron looked behind Harry to see Hermione slowly walking up behind him as quietly as possible.
"I didn't want to bother the two of you, since you're together. Excuse me?" Harry tried to get around Ron, but he stopped him by stepping in front of him again. "Ron can you please move out of the way, I have to get to class?"
"What's the rush Harry? We have at least 20 minutes to get there, and it's Snape's class. Do you really want to get there that early?" Ron asked, and quickly glanced behind Harry to see that Hermione was hiding behind a column and getting out her wand. "And what do you mean about 'together'?"
"You and Hermione were together when I walked in the dorm that night. I am sorry if I was a bit angry at the two of you. I knew that you had feelings for her, since last year especially during and after the Yule Ball. I don't know why I acted like that." Harry replied looking at the friend feeling completely ashamed. Ron wasn't really expecting an explanation for Harry's behavior towards them, but now that he heard them he wasn't sure what to think.
As the two of them were talking Hermione got her wand ready from where she was hiding, and aimed for Harry's head just like the book said and whisper the spell. "Dreamulus meledus." A thin purple beam shot out of her wand and hit the back of Harry's head. Harry's head flashed a light purple, which went unnoticed by him except by Ron and Hermione. Hermione knew that now half of the spell was complete, and then the same purple beam shot out of Harry's head and hit her head. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief; the spell was complete now, since she was worried that she might have done something wrong. After she pocketed her wand she made her presence known. "Harry, Ron there you are. I was wondering where you two were?" she tried to sound causal.
Harry turned around at hearing his name being called. He saw that it was Hermione and instantly turned his down to look at the ground. He really didn't want to see her right now. Even though he was angry with them anymore and Ron and Hermione were a couple, he still couldn't help but feel nervous around her. "Ron I'm going to head for Potions now. I don't want to give Snape an excuse to deduct points from Gryffindor." Than Harry immediately started down the hall.
"Where's Harry going? He isn't still angry at us is he?" she asked in a low voice, so only Ron could hear.
"No, he's not angry at us anymore from what I can tell. He thinks we're together from seeing us that night." He replied softly.
"Come on, we better get to class." And they both hurried off in the same direction as Harry. Hermione was really uncertain as to what Harry thought of her now. She knew that she had certain feelings for Harry but was afraid to show it since he might have been able to return them and there was the possibly of ruining their friendship. And that night she discovered from Ron that Harry did have feelings for her, she was ecstatic. But now that he was avoiding them she's uncertain of his feelings for her now, she hoped that they didn't change, or at least not that much. She really wanted a chance to be with Harry now more than ever to help him.
After they arrived in Potions they got settled, and right after Snape came in and started instructing. Giving the class the instructs to make the potion for the day's lesson he went about doing his usual routine, praising the Slytherins and criticizing the Gryffindors. Once class was over Ron and Hermione quickly caught up with Harry who was already down the hall. "Harry!" They called out but he didn't stop. "Harry, please wait?" This came from Hermione and this time Harry did stop, but he didn't turn around or look up when they came up to him.
"Harry, are you alright?" Ron asked breaking the silence between them. Harry didn't reply though, he just stared at the floor.
"Well, well, well… If it isn't scarhead, mudblood, and weasel." Came a voice behind them that they knew all to well.
"Sod off, Malfoy." Ron barked at him, as he turned to see Malfoy with his two cronies.
"Why don't you leave us alone, Malfoy?" This came from Hermione who really wasn't in the mood, to be harassed by him right now.
"You shut your mouth, mudblood. I was wondering if your dream team had broken up, since Potter hadn't been around you two lately. What's wrong Potter? Weasel got the mudblood for a girlfriend before you?" He smirked as Crabbe and Goyle made a small laugh. Harry however still hadn't even respond to any of Malfoy's taunting. He instead slowly started walking up to the entrance hall to go to CoMC even though it was launch time. While Ron and Hermione were staring daggers Malfoy, not aware that Harry was walking away however Malfoy wasn't going to stop there.
"What's the problem Potter? Afraid? You should be, since the Dark Lord is back and it's all thanks to you. I think the first person who's going to die is your mudblood friend here. Oh wait, I'm wrong she isn't the first one, it was Cedric Dig…" Malfoy never got to finish his sentence, because at that moment a beam of red light hit him and knocked him out cold, but the force of the beam also threw him from where he was standing back at least ten feet. Ron and Hermione quickly turned around to see that Harry had his wand out and point to where Malfoy was standing, with a look of burning angry on his face and pain in his eyes. Slowly he lowered his wand and looked at the two other Slytherins, "You better take him to the hospital wing." He than turned his attention to his two friends, "Let's get going." He turned around and started walking. After coming out of their daze Ron and Hermione sprinted to catch up with Harry, while leaving a still shocked Crabbe and Goyle.
After passing the Great Hall, Ron and Hermione realized that Harry was heading for Hagrid's hut for their next class. Once they caught up with him, they continued to watch in silence until they reached Hagrid's hut and took a seat on the steps. They sat in silence for a few more minutes until Hermione broke it, "Harry, what you did back there with Malfoy was…"
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron interrupted. Hermione glared at him, while Harry just smiled.
"Thanks." He responded softly.
"Harry, you know that you're not suppose to use magic in the halls. Especially against other students." Came Hermione in her lecture tone about up holding rules.
"I don't care Hermione. He has no right to insult you or Ron. Nor talk about Cedric…" replied Harry trailing off at the end, looking down at the ground. He really didn't want to think about Cedric now. Hermione sensing Harry was uncomfortable about that topic place her arm around Harry's shoulders as Ron placed his hand on Harry's arm.
"You right, Malfoy shouldn't have brought up Cedric." She said in a comforting tone.
"Yeah, that git just wants to rile you up. We both know that you're not responsible for what happened to Cedric." Said Ron in the same tone as Hermione.
"You two don't understand. It is my fault, for what happened to Cedric." Replied Harry in a soft voice barely above a whisper, and he sounded on the edge of tears.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked encouragingly, hoping that Harry would. But to her dismay Harry just shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it, if he did that would mean he would have to re-live it. He already relived it too many times to count in his dreams; he didn't need to while he was awake. Ron and Hermione just nodded in understanding that he didn't want to talk about it, and that he would when the time was right for him.
"Harry? There's something that you need to know." Started Hermione softly. Harry looked up at her curiously. "It's about what happened that night after the Gryffindor party."
"Please I don't want to talk about it." He asked, looking back down to the ground.
"Harry. Please hear me out first." Seeing that Harry didn't say anything, she assumed that he agreed. "That night in the dorms, Ron and I wanted to talk privately. We were actually talking about you, to be more precise." This caught Harry's attention quickly. "We noticed that you've been actually pretty strange lately. We saw how you looked at the party; while everyone was having fun you were sitting by yourself not really enjoying party. We were worried about you, let's why we went to the dorms in the first place. We wanted to try and find out what was bothering you and see if there was anything we could possibly do." Hermione said, calmly to Harry hoping that he would believe her.
"You two were just talking? You were just talking about me?" Harry asked. He saw that Hermione nodded and Ron was also nodding when he looked at him. He thought that they were couple all this time, and now he's finding out that they were just talking. / But what was with that hug than? / He wondered. "Okay. Than what was with that hug, that I found the two of you in?"
"That was partially my fault." Harry turned his attention to Ron. "Well, you remember how I was last year to you." Harry nodded. "Well I told Hermione that I was going to help her with anything, that could help you get through with whatever it is that you're going through. Let's just say she got a little over excited, she threw her arms around me in a rather large thank you hug. I wasn't exactly expecting that so, I fell on her onto my bed. Then that's where you came in." After Ron finished his part in the story, he waited to see what Harry's reaction would be. He decided to withhold the part where, he told Hermione about Harry's feelings for her, which he was guessing was the real reason Hermione got so excited.
Harry was sitting there sorting the information on what happened that night. He knew that it was true, that he had been acting a little strange lately but who wouldn't with these nightmares. After hearing their side of the events, it did start to make sense. / They were just trying to figure out a way to help me all this time. And I just got angry at them, and ignore them. I really don't deserve friends like them, or anyone. Especially Hermione. / Even while he wasn't talking to them, in the back of his mind he still cared for Hermione greatly. Now he wasn't sure if she would ever return his feelings for her, for the way he treated and ignored her. But he was glad to be talking with his two friends again. "Thanks you guys for trying to help me. I'm sorry for the way I acted to you guys, I just had a lot of things on my mind and then I saw the two of you."
"Don't worry about it mate. Why don't we get back to being friends again? I miss having you around." Ron suggested, slightly tightening his grip on Harry's shoulder.
"Yeah, let's be friends again." Harry smiled at his two friends. Hermione was happy to have Harry back; that she gave him a firm hug. Harry of course didn't complain about it as he returned it gratefully. They stayed like that a little longer than they intended, but they felt very content with just staying there since they were in no rush. Ron smiled at his friends, but couldn't help but feel a slight ping of jealousy.
Up in a window from the tower of his office, Albus Dumbledore and Sirius Black were watching the trio. Both of them were smiling as they watching the trio talk and then embrace each other. Seeing Harry now had his friends back, and they hoped that things would get better. But they were still worried about what Harry was not telling them. Sirius looked back at Albus, while Albus looked at him and could see the question that he was asking. "Don't worry Sirius I will tell him soon." Sirius looked skeptically at him but nodded in understanding and both looked back down at the trio.
The trio stayed there until class started, where Hagrid was going to talk more about phoenixes again. After the class arrived there, Fawkes came down again and went straight to Harry like before. Harry of course didn't mind in the slightest, he had grown quite attached to the phoenix with his nightly visits to the Astronomy tower. Harry half listened to Hagrid's lecture, since he was just relaxing enjoying the company of Fawkes and his friends. But his attention was caught when Hagrid mention something about two different phoenixes. Harry inquired more about these two phoenixes, which Hagrid was more than willing to give.
"Well Harry I'm glad you asked. The first phoenix was known as the Phoenix Lord. It was guessed that it as something like the leader of the phoenix race or at least the other phoenixes respected that one more, but no one knows for sure. They're very loyal creatures, just like any other phoenix if you're able to gain their trust. They're just slightly larger than a regular phoenix and were very powerful creatures. Also the most amazing thing about the Phoenix Lords was that instead of red and gold feathers, they were completely white covered in pure white feathers. Oh and before I forget, this particular phoenix goes by other names as well, it's also known as the Phoenix of Light or as the Light Phoenix. The reason being that since the phoenix was white fathers, it gave off a gentle white light; hence the name. Of course it's the person's choice on which name they prefer to use." Everyone was awed that such a creature could exist. Whispers broke out amongst the students all talking about the phoenix, and what it would be like to have one.
"Hagrid if this phoenix exists how come we've never heard of it before? Since it's such a rare creature I'm assuming. And how do we even know some of this information?" Harry asked curiously. Hagrid smiled at Harry's thirst for knowledge on this lecture.
"True Harry, we aren't certain that this phoenix even exists anymore, but explorers have searched for it for a long time gathering information. No one has seen one for long time; the last known one ever seen was well before the time of the Founders of Hogwarts. As for some of the information apparently before the Founders time there was a person who did have a Phoenix Lord as a pet phoenix. Not much is known about him and the phoenix. But there is enough for people to believe that the information is genuine." The class nodded in understanding. Harry was surprised to learn some things about the Light Phoenix or known as the Phoenix Lord; he was waiting for Hagrid to talk about it ever since Albus told him that the Founder of the Order had one.
"Now for the other phoenix. This one is only a myth. There is no name for this one other than a simple description. This one was about the same size as the Phoenix Lord except, that it was covered entirely of silver feathers with gold feathers on its wing tips and on its plumage. Other than that nothing else is known about it." The class was a little disappointed but was still intrigued about it. Harry on the other hand was staring shocked face at what Hagrid just told them. He seen a phoenix with that description already, one was the phoenix amulet and the other time was in his dream on his birthday. Unconsciously he placed this hand on the phoenix amulet that was under his shirt. The lesson went on like usual and eventually ended.
Later that night Harry informed Ron and Hermione that he had seen the second phoenix that Hagrid talked about. They were both surprised when they heard that, and asked where he saw it. Harry slowly took out the phoenix amulet from under his shirt not taking it off and showed them to see. When they saw it, they were surprised that he even had a necklace, since they didn't know that he had one on at all. When they saw that that phoenix amulet did match the description that Hagrid gave. Hermione suggested that maybe someone heard of the myth of the phoenix and decided to make the amulet. Harry agreed with her assumption but was certain that there was something else about it but he just wasn't sure, so he left the idea alone.
Two days have passed since Hermione had cast the Dream Meld spell, and she still hadn't experienced any of Harry's dreams as far as she could tell. She was really worried now, since if she wasn't seeing any of his dreams that could mean only two things; one was that she did the spell wrong but she was certain that she did it right. That only left the second option that Harry wasn't sleeping at all. She asked Ron if he had seen Harry actually sleep, and he said no. Meanwhile Harry still made his nightly visits to the Astronomy tower, with Fawkes as company and once or twice Crookshanks made an appearance. Every morning when he looked into the mirror he could see that he was getting worst, from his lack of sleep, not eating meals, and his now constant headache from trying to hold down his 'change' as he now called it. It happened once more yesterday and this time when it happened, there was a power companied with it. The power was so large that it felt like his body was going to be ripped apart. But he was able to fight it back down, and now there was small but steady headache. Now every morning he would recast the glamour charm to hide his real appearance.
It was late afternoon and Harry was walking to the entrance hall to talk a walk outside. Harry was causally walking when suddenly a sharp immense pain shot up in his chest. Harry collapsed to his knees clutching his chest; he knew what was happening instantly. He could feel the change happening again companied like before with the strange power that was currently surging through his body. Harry tried to fight it back down but it was starting to get the better of him. He was holding himself from screaming in pain for the feeling he was getting right now. As he sat there on the floor, Harry screamed the first name that came to his mind that could possibly help him, "FAWKES!"
Fawkes, who was resting on his perch, suddenly sensed that Harry needed him even though his voice never reached Dumbledore's office. He immediately jumped off his perch and flew out of the window and straight to Harry. Fawkes was next to Harry in seconds. When he landed next to Harry, he saw that the boy was in a lot of pain. He chirped to see if Harry knew he was there. Harry struggled to look up when he heard the chirp, and was than staring into the eyes of Fawkes. When Harry saw Fawkes a look of relief passed in his face since he was able to get there in no time. But Harry hunched over in pain and shut his eyes. "Fawkes! Fawkes find help quickly!" Fawkes started flying down the hall immediately looking for one of the professors.
Ron and Hermione were walking down a corridor talking about their Hagrid's last class on phoenixes, when they heard what sounded like a scream. They looked at each other wondering if the other heard it also. When they saw the look on the other's face confirming that they did hear something they quickly sprinted to see what it was. After running down a few more halls, Hermione side glanced a corridor they were passing when suddenly she saw a person on the floor. She quickly stopped and grabbed Ron by his robes to stop him. When they both looked at the figure they were unable to tell who it was until the figure's face came into view. "Harry!" They both screamed and started sprinting down the hall.
************************************************************************
Fawkes was flying down a corridor looking for a professor, till he heard his master's voice to talking to someone. He quickly flew to him, hoping that there was still time. Upon arriving in the corridor he immediately flapped in front of his master to catch his attention. Albus was talking to Severus when Fawkes suddenly appeared in front of them, apparently in some sort of distress.
Yes, Fawkes what's the problem? Albus asked sensing the urgency. Severus, who was with him, was startled that Albus replied to the phoenix in a trill instead of english. He knew that Albus could talk to his phoenix, but he never actually heard him so he was quite surprised.
Albus, young Harry is in great pain. He needs help now! Fawkes replied quickly. Albus face became worried and his eyes lost their twinkle, as he sensed the seriousness in the phoenix's tone. He immediately nodded to Fawkes, who turned around and started leading the way.
"Severus, please come with me?" Albus asked as he chased after Fawkes, with Severus right behind him.
************************************************************************
Ron and Hermione reached Harry within seconds to see that he was in some kind of pain. From the look on his face they could tell that it he was in a great deal of pain. Hermione was quickly crouched down on his left side while Ron took his right.
"Harry? Harry, what wrong?" She asked hysterically. When he didn't answer she got more worried. She could see that his eyes were clamped shut as was his mouth. She guessed that he was trying to keep himself from screaming, as she could hear him grunting in pain. Both of them thought that maybe his scar was hurting, but they noticed that he wasn't clutching his forehead. Suddenly both Ron and Hermione felt a strange energy in the air. Just than Harry's entire body glowed white for a second than dim to a gentle glow that was barely noticeable. Ron and Hermione jumped away for a second when they glow appeared. After it dimmed, they both looked at each other scared, when Harry groaned in pain that brought them out of their daze and back to his side.
Suddenly they could hear the sound of footsteps of people running getting closer. They looked up to see Fawkes, Dumbledore, and Snape running towards them. "Professor, something's wrong with Harry!" Hermione yelled as they approached. Both of the professors were on their knees next to Harry the moment they were close enough checking him, as Ron and Hermione moved out of their way.
"What happened?" Dumbledore asked to them.
"We don't know. We just got here before you came and found him like this." Ron replied worriedly. Dumbledore turned his attention back to Harry.
"Harry? Harry, what's wrong?" he asked not bothering to hide his fear. This time Harry moved by lifting his head and just barely opening his eyes. Once his head was leveled with his professor's, he looked up at them. Dumbledore and Snape gasped, Harry's eyes were glowing completely white just like when he some how transported the Dursley house when it was attacked. Ron and Hermione could see the shocked faces of their professors, but couldn't see Harry's eyes since they were behind him. Dumbledore and Snape exchanged knowing looks, as they were able to guess at what was happening to Harry. They could tell even with Harry's eyes glowing white, he was in pain and scared. "Albus help me?" Harry asked just above a whisper, to where only Dumbledore and Snape heard it, before snapping his head back down in pain again. Just than again Harry's body glowed completely white just as before and everyone felt the strange power pass through them, but it vanished when the glow disappeared again.
"We need to get him to the hospital wing. Now!" Albus ordered to Snape, who nodded. Immediately he moved and picked up Harry, he was a little surprised that he was lighter than he looked, but pushed that thought into the back of his mind. Once he was in Snape's arms the two professors ran to the hospital wing, with Fawkes and Harry's two friends trailing right behind them.
The group made it to the hospital wing in record time, which would have amazed them, but none of them cared right now. Snape quickly placed Harry in one of the beds, as Albus went to get Madam Pomfrey, while Ron and Hermione stood next to his bed as completely confused at what's happening as Fawkes perched himself on a nearby windowsill. Instantly Poppy was in out of her office and running to Harry's bed to exam him. Albus had already informed her of what happened in the hall, though she was unsure of what she could do. After a few minutes of Poppy scanning Harry, she reported her findings.
"Yes, Albus it is what you were suspecting. It's happening again, but this time there something different about it, I don't know what though. It's like he's trying to fight it or gain control of it, instead of letting it become unleashed like last time." She turns back to Harry, was who curled on his side, moaned in pain. "I really don't know what's going to happen it he keeps this up for much longer." Her face showed fear and uncertainty whatever was happening to him she as afraid that it might permanently injury him or worse. Everyone in the room looked at Harry now, with worried and scared looks in the eyes. Suddenly Harry's entire body glowed completely white again, but this time the light didn't fade immediately. Harry rolled onto his back with a concentrated face gritting his teeth and appeared to be trying to fight the magical surge. Hermione was got scared and tried to reach Harry's hand to comfort him, when Dumbledore grabbed her holding her back.
"Please sir? Let me go?" She pleaded as she struggled to get loose. But Dumbledore's grip never wavered.
"No, child. You can't touch Harry, now. He experiencing a magical surge, it's too dangerous to by next to him while he going through it." Dumbledore replied calmly, trying to ease Hermione's hysteria. She stopped struggling a little, seeing that there was no way out of his grip. Just than Fawkes jumped off the windowsill, and landed on Harry's pillow just above his head. Everyone watched the phoenix wondering what he was going to do. Harry was still moaning in pain and Fawkes lowered his head to Harry's mouth as pearly white tears appeared. The tears fell in Harry's mouth, once a few tears were in Fawkes raised his head again and started sing the phoenix song. This was the first time Ron and Hermione ever heard one, and were awed by the smooth and soothing melody of the song. While Albus, Snape, and Poppy recognized it as the same song that Fawkes sang that last time Harry was in the hospital wing during the summer. As the song continued the group noticed that the white glow around Harry's body was slowly disappearing and that he was no longer moaning in pain.
Once Fawkes was done, Harry stopped glowing completely and relaxation showed he was in no more pain. Poppy was the first to come out of her daze and immediately started scanning Harry again to see what his condition was now. Meanwhile Albus asked Snape to go and gather the others. Snape didn't argue and left. Albus than turned his attention to Ron and Hermione, who had confused and scared looks on their faces. He asked them to tell him what happened in the corridor again. They two recounted their version of what happened down in the hall. He nodded in satisfaction, and the three took up seats next to Harry's bed where he was resting peacefully. Hermione took the closest one to him, and she held his hand hoping to comfort him somehow. To her, Harry looked like he was sleeping but she wasn't experiencing any dreams, so she guessed that he was in a dreamless sleep.
"Headmaster?" He looked up at her from where he was sitting. "Mr. Potter appears to be fine now, I don't detect the surge anymore but…" She trailed off at the end, uncertain of how to explain what else she found.
"But what Poppy?" Albus asked, sensing that there was more. Ron and Hermione now turned their attention to her also, wanting to know what else there was. She looked wearily at them as if wondering if it is a good idea to keep his friends there right now. "Go on, Poppy." Albus encouraged. She took a deep breath.
"There's more here. I have found evident that he's extremely exhausted physically from what appears to be lack of sleep, and he's somehow severely malnourished and underweight. There are also signs of mental stress, but I can't tell from what. I don't understand it, he was never like this before and he looks fine to me." She looked at the sleeping boy on the bed. The three looked at Harry curiously wondering what she meant, since they did silently agree that he appeared to be fine. Dumbledore suddenly got a suspicion and pulled out his wand and aimed it at Harry. "Finite inchantatem."
Slowly the glamour charm that Harry put on himself started to fade away. When it was completely gone everyone in the room were completely shocked, especially Ron and Hermione. In front of them was someone that looked like Harry Potter but at the same time wasn't. What caught everyone's attention were the very dark circles under his eyes, his skin looked paler than normal, and his robes visibly sank into him a little showing that he was much skinner than he normally was, as the charm was removed.
"God gracious. What's happened to him?" Poppy shrieked from surprise at seeing what Harry really looked like. Ron and Hermione were speechless, they knew that Harry wasn't getting a lot of sleep and wasn't eating very often now, but they certain weren't expecting it to be this severe. Dumbledore remained silence, with a grave look on his face, with no twinkle in his eyes.
"Mr. Weasley? Ms. Granger? Did you know about this?" Dumbledore asked still looking at Harry. He placed his hand on the boy's arm to only feel mostly empty space within the sleeve and a very thin arm. Both of his friends looked at each other, than up to him as they were uncertain as how to answer that question. Hermione took a deep breath, and answered.
"Professor?" Hermione called in a low voice. "We actually sort of knew about it a little. We suspected it, really. We noticed that he wasn't eating at meals, but we assumed he later went down to the kitchens to get something, since the three of us know where it is. But for Harry not getting any sleep. We weren't sure, Ron said that he never actually saw him in his bed during the night or morning. We always found him up and around, but he always looked fine like he did get sleep so we never bothered to ask." Hermione looked back down at Harry gripping his hand tighter. "Is he going to be alright?" Dumbledore smiled a little at seeing her concern for her friend.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." He said trying to lighten the mood. / Oh Harry. Why didn't you talk to someone? Why didn't you talk to me? / Dumbledore started to wonder if he had told Harry earlier that he was his grandfather like Sirius suggested, maybe he would have told him what was bothering him and this could've been avoided.
Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione stayed next to Harry bed waiting for him to wake up, while Poppy went back to her office. She did inform the group that if Harry really didn't sleep at all than it was unlikely that he would be waking up anytime soon. It was about dinnertime when Severus returned with the Order members. Ron and Hermione were shocked to see that some of the people they knew already, such as Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Professor Figg, and Ron's father. However they didn't know that these people were part of an Order working to fight Voldemort, and that Harry was with them though not an official member. Dumbledore went up to the members and explained why he asked that they come, and about Harry's condition. Sirius was instantly by Harry's side once he heard about Harry's condition from Dumbledore. The other members were shocked to hear about his condition, and were even more when they actually saw how bad he truly looked as he lay on the bed. Although Harry wasn't an actual member of the Order, they still respected him as one.
It was well pass dinner, before Dumbledore suggested that Ron and Hermione go to the Gryffindor tower to rest. They reluctantly agreed after some persuasion from Sirius and Arthur. As they were getting up, they had just turned away slightly when Harry moaned a sound, and everyone turned to see if he was waking. Unfortunately he didn't, so Dumbledore told Ron and Hermione to go on and that they would call them the moment he wakes up. Ron turned around to head for the door gently pulling Hermione. When he felt she didn't move he turn to see that she was just standing there, in what appeared to be a trance state. Ron immediately knew what was going on, the Dream Meld spell was working which meant Harry was now dreaming and Hermione was watching it. The adults noticed Hermione's state, and Ron quickly informed them about the Dream Meld spell that they did to help Harry. There was a mix of relieved and worried sighs. Some were relieved that someone was willing to help Harry, while the others weren't so sure if what they did was a good, since they had all been told of what Harry's nightmares were like. But they couldn't do anything until Harry either wakes up or till Hermione comes out of her trance, they just had to wait.
************************************************************************
Hermione found herself in a dark void of nothing. She looked around wondering where she was, she even called out to anyone to see if there was a response but received none. Slowly shapes began to appear and solidify. Hermione able to identify the location, it was a graveyard. She could feel the cold damp air, and the eerie feeling of just being there sent a chill down her spine. She could hear two people talking behind her, and she turned around to see Harry and Cedric pulling out their wands. Hermione instantly knew where she was, she was in the graveyard that she heard Harry had been sent to after grabbing the cup.
"Kill the spare." She gasped when she heard it, than a flash of green light appeared. She quickly covered her eyes when she saw the green light and than heard a thud of a person falling to the ground. She slowly opened her eyes to see Cedric on the ground dead, killed by the Killing curse. She quickly ran over there, to suddenly see Wormtail come out and bound Harry to a tombstone. Hermione wanted to help him, but she realized she couldn't since it was only a Dream Meld spell and that she could only watch. She looked at Cedric to see a cold lifeless eyes staring back at her, it sent a cold shiver down her spine. Suddenly the temperature in the air dropped even more, and Voldemort stood in front of them laughing. His laugh scared Hermione so much she covered her ears, just trying to block it out but it was no use.
"It is your fault that he's dead, Potter." He hissed.
"No, I didn't kill him. You did." Harry shouted back, still tied to the tombstone.
"Really? You're the one who brought him here." He hissed back smirking. Harry opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't he knew that he was the one who suggested that both of them to grab the cup together. He was the one to brought him there; it was only supposed to be him, not Cedric. His head hung from where he was tied, simply crying and whisper to himself, "It's all my fault." Repeatedly.
"Yes, that's right it is. Why don't we ask Cedric on what he thinks?" He laughed back. Harry looked up with tears in his eyes at Cedric's body only his eyes suddenly showed fear. Hermione looked to see what was scaring him, only to see Cedric was standing up, with his eyes lifeless from being hit with the Killing curse staring at Harry.
"Why Harry? Why did you kill me? I didn't do anything to you." Cedric's dead voice spoke.
"Cedric. Please, I never meant for any of this to happen." Harry pleaded.
"Lair!" Cedric shouted. "You were the one who wanted us to take the cup together, to share the win. But what did I get instead, death. All because of you!" he shouted at Harry, who was crying freely. Hermione now had tears in her eyes, from watching Harry try to defend himself, saying that he wasn't responsible for what happened. But he was losing, and now blaming himself completely.
"Please stop? Just leave me alone?" Harry begged. Hermione had never seen Harry like this before in all of her years of knowing him. She had always seen him as the brave one in the school, never letting his feelings take over and being the rock that everyone looked up to. But seeing Harry like this Hermione realized that as great and brave as he was, Harry was still human. So many things have happened to him, that nobody should experience that she could help anymore but try to comfort him when the spell ended.
Suddenly the scenery changed the graveyard disappeared and the same back void surrounded her. Hermione than heard what sounded like screaming, not just ordinary screams. These were screams of bone chilling fear, agony, and pain. Her sense of smell started to pick up the scent of smoke possibly a fire, and something else that she couldn't quite recognize. Slowly her surroundings started to come into focus. She looked around to see that she was in a corridor like the ones in Hogwarts, and there was smoke in the air. She looked down the hall to see Harry running down it towards her, with fear in his face. "No. No. Not again. Not this dream again." He whispered as he ran pass Hermione. / What? Again? He's had this dream before? / Hermione quickly followed him down several corridors. As she followed him, she realized that it was Hogwarts that they were in passing a window she saw that it was nighttime. More screams could be heard as she followed Harry, and there was still smoke everywhere.
Hermione looked forward to see the Harry had disappeared; she increased her pace to try and catch up. She made a quick glanced down a long corridor that she was passing only to come to a complete halt in a second. Hermione gasped at the site before her. The entire length of the corridor was littered with bodies, all of them dead. She quickly realized that the bodies were of Hogwarts students ranging from all years, a few teachers, and other adults she didn't recognize.
"Oh my God…" she said barely above a whisper fill with all sorts of emotions. She than realized what Harry had been dreaming and hiding from all of them about what his dream was. It was a massacre. But not just any massacre, it was the massacre of Hogwarts. Hermione slowly started walking through the corridor, looking at the bodies. Some of them were killed with the killing curse or from a range of other curses, while others were killed by what looked like a blade of a sword or knife. The robes of those who were killed by a blade were covered in blood with gashes and cuts on them. The blood was slowly gathering on the floor, and then Hermione realized that the smell that she picked up earlier was the blood. Hermione suddenly felt very sick at seeing so many dead bodies. Now she knew why Harry looked so thin earlier. As Hermione continued down the long corridor she recognized some of the students all from each of the houses and a saw a few teachers there also.
Hermione heard Voldemort's laughing coming from down the corridor. She looked up to see Harry staring at two Death Eaters holding her and Voldemort pointing his wand at her. She saw Voldemort speak the Killing Curse, and she watch her body drop to the ground, dead. She could hear Harry repeatedly say, "No. No. No…" over and over as he fell to his knees. Hermione herself couldn't help but fall to the floor as well. She never thought Harry could keep something like this bottled up inside of him, seeing all of his friends, teachers, and fellow students murdered. But like she knew what Harry was like, he wouldn't want to worry them, and she knew that he would much rather carry this burden and pain by himself than others.
Hermione than heard footsteps passing her and she could feel the movement of people. She looked up to see all of the bodies were standing and walking towards Harry. As they surrounded Harry, he looked up as if knowing what they were going to he spoke. "Please? This isn't my fault."
"It's all your fault that he is even back in the first place, Potter." They responded together clearly showing anger, detest, and loathing in their voices. "He was after you, and we get killed."
"I couldn't do anything. This isn't my fault." Harry pleaded to them. But none of them listened as they kept repeating the same thing, 'It's all your fault.' Slowly they all disappeared leaving Harry and Hermione in the dark void again. Hermione could do nothing but sit there, with tears in her eyes after watching Harry's nightmare. She could hear him whisper to himself, 'It's all my fault.' ' I'm sorry.' But what shocked her from hearing his whispering was, 'I'm sorry Hermione.' She never got a chance to think anything else, before her surroundings changed again. When she looked around everything was blurry, she didn't understand why until she blinked a few times. She realized that her eyes were fine, only that her vision was blur because she apparently had been crying in the real world also and not just in the dream world.
Everyone in the room watched attentively as Hermione was in her trance state. Dumbledore had requested everyone to be there to inform them about Harry's status. He also informed them about their discovery of Harry's true condition. They were shocked to see that it was true, as they had absolutely no idea. They all waited patiently till suddenly tears were starting to fall from Hermione's eyes, they started to wonder what she was seeing. A few minutes after she started crying, she came out of the trance.
Hermione looked around the room to see almost the entire staff of Hogwarts was there looking at her or were in deep conversation. Dumbledore, Sirius, and Ron noticed that she was back and looked curiously at her. Sirius was the first to speak, "Hermione?" Upon realizing that she was back, she looked at Harry. She never realized just how vulnerable he was; she had always thought of him as the brave and loyal person that he was. Which he was, but he was still young and only a 15-year-old boy who had experienced so many things well before he should have, and was seeing things that nobody should ever have to see in their lifetime. She couldn't hold them back anymore as more tears started to come out, and her legs gave way behind her. The three were able to get to her before she fell to the floor, she immediately clutched the first person she could and cried on to their shoulder. Who happened to be Dumbledore, but he didn't try to force her away; he could tell that whatever she saw must have been very serious and frightening. The other teachers finally noticed that Hermione was back and crying into the Headmaster's shoulder.
"Ms. Granger, why don't you rest here on the bed?" He suggested as he made his way to the bed next to Harry.
"No! I want to be next to him, please?" Hermione pleaded as she started fighting him to stay next to Harry. He clearly saw that she wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. So he helped her on to Harry's bed, sitting next to him. Once she was there, leaned over and ran her fingers through his long hair, as she continued to weep a little more. After a few more minutes she settled down a bit, and Dumbledore thought that maybe now would be a good time to see what Hermione had seen.
"Ms. Granger, are you ready to tell us what you saw?" He asked slowly, implying that she could take her time. Hermione looked up at everyone her face was completely tear stricken, not moving from where she was.
"The first place I appeared in was an empty void, until the my surroundings changed into a graveyard." She looked up at Dumbledore, since he knew what happened and he just nodded. "I heard a voice say, 'Kill the spare.' There was a flash of green light and the next thing I knew Cedric was on the ground dead." Several of the teachers gasped from hearing that, as they looked between Hermione and Harry. Hermione continued her story telling them about how Voldemort taunted Harry and accused him for the reason that Cedric was dead. Hermione now didn't care about saying Voldemort's name anymore. When she started telling everyone about how Cedric's body stood up and also started accusing Harry and saying that it was his fault he was dead, everyone's eyes started to water. Sirius and Dumbledore looked at Harry worriedly, they told Harry not to blame himself for Cedric's death, but apparently he has been. The sadness in the room was clearly evident, if anyone came in at that moment. There were a few minutes of silence as everyone absorbed the information till Snape broke it.
"That's it. That's all he's been depriving himself of sleep and food over. A simple nightmare and guilt." In his sneering voice. Instantly everyone's head turned to him, and if looks could kill Snape would have been stabbed, cursed, hexed, and cremated into oblivion. They were about to retort him, but Hermione got to it first.
"SHUT UP!" She shouted, making everyone in the room jump almost a foot into the air in surprise, even Snape who stared at her shocked. "You don't know anything!" She looked back at Harry, and in a softer voice, "You don't know anything."
"Ms. Granger, might I remind you…" Snape started but stopped when Hermione glared at him again. For some reason he couldn't find the words anymore, so he shut his mouth.
"You don't know anything. Nobody does. Nobody understands the sort of pain and horror that Harry sees and keeps secret from us. What I just told you about his nightmare with Cedric, pales in comparison of what he's been hiding from us, the real nightmare." She replied, her voice filled with sorrow and pain as she laid herself down next to Harry placing her head on his pillow, watching him intently with her hand slowly moving through his hair.
"What did you see, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment collecting her thoughts on the nightmare. She could still hear the screaming, smell the smoke and blood, and see the bodies littering the corridors. A few more tears came down which didn't go unnoticed by everyone in the room and after taking a deep breath she answered.
"A massacre…" There was a gasp from everyone in the room. After the initial shock everyone was afraid now, they knew that seeing a massacre was traumatizing especially for someone so young like her. But they paled when they remembered that Hermione saw the massacre in Harry's dreams. They could only begin to imagine just how much more traumatizing it had to have been for him, too afraid to go to sleep in fear of seeing masses of people murdered every time you close your eyes. Dumbledore surveyed the room to see what the staff's reaction was. Everyone in the room had the same grim and scared look on their faces. He turned back to Hermione who was still laying on Harry's bed, he noticed from the expression on her face that there was something else.
"What else is there?" Dumbledore asked sensing that this was more serious.
"It's the school. It was the massacre of Hogwarts."
~PLEASE REVIEW~
************************************************************************
Naia- I know things seems really bad for Harry, but things will get better fairly soon before he goes to Atlantis.
prongsjr- I'm glad you liked the chapter even though it was a little long.
The Red Dragons Order- I'm glad you liked it.
crystal wolf- Sorry to keep you waiting.
Fin-Phoenix- I'm happy to see you like my story.
Moonlight- Harry will find out about Dumbledore, but not in the traditional way.
cherrity- Glad you like.
Essence of Power- The trio obviously didn't make up in the last one, but this chapter as you saw they did. I hope you enjoyed it.
Kelzery- I glad you liked the last chapter.
Raven- I'll try to update more often, but no guarantee.Angelis- I know it's long, but this chapter was longer. I hope you enjoyed this one.
james- Thank you for the encouragement, and I plan on to do just that.
Heather- I update as often as I can.
Meagan- Yes, there will be an attack by Voldemort soon. I would never kill off the main character, although to the other characters he might appear to be.
Merlin- The Elves "could" be referring to him, but I'm not telling you. That would ruin the surprise, if there is any.
JUDGEMENT- Yes was able to talk to Fawkes. That will be explained later in the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.