Sorry it took me so long to update. I just got back from a trip and
haven't been able to write all summer. Hope you enjoy. I know it's
short. Sorry.
Also sorry for the cut off words. I'm trying to fix them (but I don't
know what the problem is so it's pissing me off).
Chapter Two: Trust Me
Harry was walking down a long corridor. The clanging of chains and roaring screams surrounded him and chilled him to the bone. Fear glided down his spine as three cloaked figures slowly glided towards him. His limbs grew stiff and he was unable to move, unable to run.
"Get away! Don't come near me," Harry yelled franticly, trying to move his frozen body. He screamed louder as one more dark figure moved soundlessly towards him. He gasped as the dark, faceless figures continued to advance toward him. One of the cloaked forms reached Harry and grasped his shoulders firmly.
"Harry Potter," it whispered, dripping with evil and malice. "Harry Potter."
"No!" croaked Harry, franticly kicking and clawing at his captor. He heard a faint grunt in the distance as his fist collided with the figure's obscured face.
"Harry!"
He bolded upright, vision blurred and breathing heavily. He looked around and saw four faceless figures surrounding him.
"Harry, are you alright?" Neville timidly said. He looked at Harry with fear and concern in his eyes. Harry gave a slight nod.
"Pretty bad dream, huh mate?" said Ron, rubbing his jaw and clasping Harry's left shoulder tightly. "You were yelling and woke us all up. We came over to see what the matter was and we found you sleeping. We tried to wake you up, mate, yelled your name and everything. Then you got all violent when I touched you and punched me," Ron said, pointing to the small bruise that was forming on his lover jaw.
"Sorry," Harry said apologetically. He glanced over at the worried faces of his dorm mates. "I'm OK now, honest. It was just a bad dream, that's all," he said quietly. Just another one, Harry thought as he watched his friend return to their beds. Harry closed his eyes and spent the rest of the night in a dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
The following day was spent practicing Quidditch. Harry was determined to win the Quidditch Cup in his last year at Hogwarts for Gryffindor. The final match against Slytherin was two months away, but he continued to work the team vigorously as if the match was tomorrow. At lunch, Harry sat with Ron and Hermione as she lectured them about their study habits for the upcoming N.E.W.T.s.
"Honestly, you two really need to start preparing for the exams already. The results determine your future! I can't believe you two haven't at least made a study grid. I made mine weeks ago. If you two took a break from Quidditch, I'm sure-"
"Take a break? Are you mad?" yelled Ron. "Don't you want us to win the Cup? Or would you prefer Slytherin winning it? Honestly!
"Fine, practice Quidditch. But you should start studying soon. You'll regret it if you don't start early. It's not going to get any easier."
"Hermione, stop. Just stop. We'll start studying after practice. Happy?" Harry said sleepily, muffling a yawn with his hand.
"Have you been pulling all nighters again?" Hermione said in a concerned voice. Harry shook his head, took a gulp of pumpkin juice, yawned, and spat the juice out across the table, chocking. "I knew it! Hermione shouted. "Harry, this isn't healthy for you. You need rest. If you don't, you'll never be able to concentrate and study for the exams."
"Hermione, I do sleep. It's just." Harry paused, unsure if he should tell his best friends about his dreams. He sighed, took a deep breath and told them everything.
" He's been getting bad dreams. He woke up the whole bloody dorm last night. Neville thought he was being killed by some psycho murderer." Ron paused for dramatic effect. "But I know what's wrong with you, mate," Ron said quietly between mouthfuls of pecan pie. "You have insomnia." He smiled widely and looked at his two friends for approval.
"Really Ron, I'm sure Harry's figured that out himself." Hermione said matter-of-factly. Ron's cheeks steadily clashed with his flaming red hair as he turned back to his unfinished pie. Harry turned to Hermione, pleading for help with his eyes. He opened his mouth but Hermione cut in. "Look Harry, I'd love to talk with you. But this can't wait. Just trust me on this, please." Hermione said, grabbing her bag and running out the Great Hall, not waiting for a response from Harry.
"Well then," Ron said watching Hermione disappear behind the heavy wooden doors. "Shall we?"
"Yah, let's go." The two boys got up, picked their brooms off the table and headed back to the Quidditch field.
* * * * *
When Harry and Ron returned from practice, the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall lit the massive room with its frequent lightning bolts. The two quickly preformed evaporating spells on their robes and sat down for dinner. During their second helping of pot roast and baked potatoes, the doors to the Great Hall flew open and a slender figure stumbling with heaps of parchment rushed through.
"I've been doing some research while you two were out enjoying yourselves." Hermione said as she shot them a look of disapproval. She sat down and threw the rolls down onto the table before her. "While we were talking earlier about your, uh. sleeping disorder, I realized that it sounded familiar. But not in the way Ron described it. I went to the library and tried to find the book I had read it in. I can't believe it took me so long to find! I read it ages ago for our history essay on the Fere family." Hermione drew out a roll of parchment from the pile and handed it to Harry. "I took some notes for you so you can get some back round information. It's nothing serious," she quickly said noticing Harry's worried look. "It's very common among wizards, especially those who practice Divinitation since their mind is continually exercised. It's called Opacimity. It's similar to lucid dreaming except when you experience lucid dreams, you are dreaming while being aware that you are dreaming and can deliberately influence the course of events to what you want. Opacimity is caused when a person's brain is overworked due to stress or excitement. The results caused by it differ from person to person but always occur while they are sleeping. And unlike lucid dreaming, they're not aware that they are sleeping and wake up feeling like they've never slept," she said handing Harry the remaining rolls. Harry unrolled one of the many scrolls and scanned the neat notes Hermione took. "I wrote down some people who were reported to have Opacimity. Look, Luanda Woodworth had a mild case of it." Hermione said leaning over the table inspecting the roll of parchment in Harry's hand. " She was reported to have intervals of consciousness and unconsciousness. During her unconscious state, she would dream about almost everything. That's how she invented the Comet 360. She dreamt its invention. Christopher Plampton. He was a professor for History here at Hogwarts. His first signs of Opacimity came after his retirement at age 82 when he." Harry soon toned out Hermione's endless talking. He new her intentions were good, but it wasn't helping him. When he slept, he wasn't dreaming of brooms, he was dreaming of blood. ".Extremely successful witch too, even with all the problems that Opacimity caused for her," Hermione paused and looked at Harry with a blank stare. "You don't believe me, that it's nothing to worry about, do you?" Harry froze, snapping back to reality. He did not even bother looking up at his friend. Slowly, Hermione reached into her robe and drew out a small, folded piece of parchment from her inside pocket. She put it on the table in front of her. "I also found this while I was researching. I thought it might convince you that this is nothing to worry about and completely harmless." She pushed the parchment towards Harry. He picked it up and held it between his fingers, unsure if he should read it. After a quick pause, he unfolded the parchment.
Roseland Potter (1902-1985) Fascinated by Divinitation and studied it throughout her life. Reported to have Opacimity, which resulted from her avid study of Divinitation. With her power of Divinitation and with the aid of Opacimity, Potter was able to predict some mild future events (the first time in reported history).
Harry stared at the parchment, unsure of how he should react to his news. Ron leaned over and scanned its context.
"Brilliant!" Ron said sarcastically. "It runs in the family."
"Ron!" Hermione snapped.
"What? That Potter woman is probably his grandma. So it skips a generation or two. Big deal." He glared at Hermione, and then turned to Harry.
"Now you have an excuse to miss Divinitation. Lucky. But, hey. can you tell me what's gonna be on the Potion's exam? Since you can tell the future and all," Ron chuckled and received a glare form each one of his friends.
"Harry, I showed this to you so you know there's absolutely nothing to worry about. This is nothing to get worked up about. The dreams your having are just symptoms caused by Opacimity. I don't think there's anything you can do about it but wait until it passes. And this only lasts a year tops. It's perfectly harmless."
'Hermione's right you know. You really shouldn't worry bout this, mate," Ron said. Harry looked up from the parchment and gave a faint smile.
"Um, thanks guys. It means a lot that you're doing this for me." Harry plastered his best fake smile onto his face, hoping to convince his friends.
"That's what we're here for. I'm for moral support, Hermione's jus for doing all the work for us. Kidding!" Ron said quickly as a carrot stick missed his face by a hair.
"Now that you know there's nothing to worry about, and have full confidence that this will pass quickly and without any harm," Hermione said with a smile on her face, "you can go study for the exams."
* * * * *
Harry soon forgot about his dreams and Opacimity due to the constant pressure presented by his teachers. Though Harry had gotten into the habit of arriving to class on time, his grades were dropping as well as his skill with a broom. Though as hard as he tried, his problems did not stop there. Harry knew he was sleep deprived, possibly suffering from insomnia (as Ron had predicted. He did not quite believe Hermione yet), and he kept on having strange dreams. And to make matters worse, the whole school new that he was having nightmares, and the snide remarks made by the Slytherins did not help his mood at all.
"I keep telling you, they're only signs of your stress," replied Hermione during their study hall one day.
"But they seem so real, as if I'm living them. Even when I fall asleep, I never feel that I've truly slept. I feel that I'm constantly awake, even when Iknow I'm not."
"Really, there's nothing to worry about. Getting carried away in a blood filled dream is. perfectly normal. You shouldn't worry about it. Trust me. I once read in a book that wizards and witches often have dreams that are far stranger than muggles'. It's a common fact. Since our lives are, lets say, more complex than muggles, our mind needs to work out or problems while we sleep, which results in dreams such as yours." She turned her gaze to Harry and gave him a reassuring smile. Harry let out an annoyed sigh.
"Hermione's right, Harry. You shouldn't stress out about a bunch of silly marks. You're still better than Neville." Both Harry and Hermione gave Ron glances. "I mean, you're not failing any of your classes. Are you?" Harry shook his head. "Then what's wrong with you?"
"Don't you think I would know what he hell is wrong with me Ron?!" Harry yelled and glared at Ron. Ron opened his mouth to respond-
"Hey, Potter, had any scary dreams lately? Why don't you run to your little mudblood friend and ask for some hot chocolate. Maybe Weasel can give you one of his sister's hand-me-down teddy bears to sleep with at night, that is, if they haven't sold it for money already!" Malfoy sneered across the Great Hall.
"That bastard better watch his little ferret face, before I blow it up," muttered Ron under his breath. Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.
Harry turned his attention back to Hermione, trying to ignore the roaring laughter coming from the Slytherin table as Malfoy streaked like a girl and started running around in circles screaming, -They're coming to get me, they're coming to get me! Save me! Save me! - before collapsing on the floor, shaking with laughter. He looked at his only reasonable friend at the moment and continued their conversation while attempting to tune out Ron's endless stream of curses.
"But that isn't the only dream I had. There were others more bloody and violent. In one dream I was outside at night, right? So I'm walking along the grounds, minding my own business singing "Kim" by Eminem, and I wander into the Forbidden Forest. I guess I didn't realize where I was because I kept on walking. I'm following this old, grass-covered trail and it leads me to places I never expected to find in that forest, you know? A cabin with a garden patch, a graveyard - Oh, I ran into your dad's old Ford Angla, Ron. Nearly drove over me," Harry said turning to Ron whose ears suddenly grew pink around the edges. Harry quickly continued, sensing Ron's discomfort. "Anyway, I'm walking in the Forbidden Forest when all of a sudden this gray, furry thing comes charging at me. I take out my wand and I'm fighting to the death with this koala that just attacked me."
"What's a koala?"
Hermione sighed. "It's a muggle animal which can get extremely vicious if provoked. It's only found in Australia and New Zel-"
"What's it doing all the way in England?"
"RON! Will you stop interrupting!" Hermione said in a shrill voice. She turned back to Harry. "Anyway, go on."
"So I'm fighting with this koala and I win. So I'm standing over the koala ready to kill it when the murderous little thing jumps up. But instead of being a koala, it's me.
"You were about to kill yourself? Are you crazy!?" yelled Ron. Some Gryffindor students turned their heads to see what was going on.
"Ron, shut up. Just shut the fuck up! You're not helping me by making these shitty comments of yours!" Harry slammed his history textbook shut, picked up his quill and parchment and headed out of the Great Hall.
* * * * *
The following day wasn't any easier for Harry. He and Ron were not on speaking terms, Hermione refused to choose sides and worst of all. his dreams were becoming worse by the day.
Harry woke up one morning. His head was pounding and his vision was blurry, even with his glasses on. He got out of bed and headed to his Transfiguration class, once again, late. While sitting at his desk writing, his hand was shaking uncontrollably. He couldn't stop it. He felt paranoid, restless and cold. At lunch, Harry sat picking at his turkey sandwich with a glazed look in his eyes. Concerned filled both Hermione and Ron's eyes.
"Are you sure you're ok, Harry?" said Ron hesitantly. He was still treading water with his and Harry's relationship. "You don't look yourself."
"Ron's right, you know," Hermione said matter-of-factly. Harry lifted his head and looked at her. Both Ron and Harry gave her a surprised look. "The quidditch game against Slytherin is only five days away. You're usually bouncing off the walls with excitement." Harry looked down at his food and mumbled something inaudible. "Oh, Harry. Stop! I know something's wrong. Why wont you tell Ron and me. You know we'll support you."
"Unless you've turned evi- Ouch!" Ron silently rubbed the spot where Hermione had jammed him in the ribs.
"Ignore him. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"I'm fine. I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately. Once Christmas vacation comes, I'll be the same." Harry gave them a weak smile, hoping that he looked normal. happy.
"You're not still getting those dreams, are you?" Ron asked. Harry paused, pondering whether to tell them the truth or lie, once again, to his best friends.
"No. I haven't had them for a while. I think they're gone."
"Really." Hermione stared at Harry, piercing him with her gaze. She looked at him for a while and gave a faint smirk. "Harry, take this, just to be sure." Hermione handed him a small vile filled with a red colored potion. "It's a Gordarian Sleeping Potion. I brewed it when you were first complaining about your dreams. I'm extremely glad that I did. I read somewhere that if you take it, it will help clear your mind and allow you to get a full nights sleep without any dreams." Harry opened his mouth to protest but Hermione quickly responded. " I know you said that you're not having them. But if you take this, it will give you a dreamless sleep for a whole week. Witches and wizards who went through the same ordeal you're going through now have used this potion to sooth their dreams. Hospitals around the world use it to calm patients when they first enter into care. And if this doesn't work, I've already looked up about ten different sleeping potions, so I'm sure one of those will work if this one doesn't. But it's the best one out there and it has worked for centuries, even on the most severe cases of insomnia and Opacimity. But just in case. Harry, I'm worried about you. So is Ron. Just take this. It will work, trust me." She smiled in her usual, friendly way and gave him a pat on the back for reassurance. Some how, Harry didn't trust her.
Chapter Two: Trust Me
Harry was walking down a long corridor. The clanging of chains and roaring screams surrounded him and chilled him to the bone. Fear glided down his spine as three cloaked figures slowly glided towards him. His limbs grew stiff and he was unable to move, unable to run.
"Get away! Don't come near me," Harry yelled franticly, trying to move his frozen body. He screamed louder as one more dark figure moved soundlessly towards him. He gasped as the dark, faceless figures continued to advance toward him. One of the cloaked forms reached Harry and grasped his shoulders firmly.
"Harry Potter," it whispered, dripping with evil and malice. "Harry Potter."
"No!" croaked Harry, franticly kicking and clawing at his captor. He heard a faint grunt in the distance as his fist collided with the figure's obscured face.
"Harry!"
He bolded upright, vision blurred and breathing heavily. He looked around and saw four faceless figures surrounding him.
"Harry, are you alright?" Neville timidly said. He looked at Harry with fear and concern in his eyes. Harry gave a slight nod.
"Pretty bad dream, huh mate?" said Ron, rubbing his jaw and clasping Harry's left shoulder tightly. "You were yelling and woke us all up. We came over to see what the matter was and we found you sleeping. We tried to wake you up, mate, yelled your name and everything. Then you got all violent when I touched you and punched me," Ron said, pointing to the small bruise that was forming on his lover jaw.
"Sorry," Harry said apologetically. He glanced over at the worried faces of his dorm mates. "I'm OK now, honest. It was just a bad dream, that's all," he said quietly. Just another one, Harry thought as he watched his friend return to their beds. Harry closed his eyes and spent the rest of the night in a dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
The following day was spent practicing Quidditch. Harry was determined to win the Quidditch Cup in his last year at Hogwarts for Gryffindor. The final match against Slytherin was two months away, but he continued to work the team vigorously as if the match was tomorrow. At lunch, Harry sat with Ron and Hermione as she lectured them about their study habits for the upcoming N.E.W.T.s.
"Honestly, you two really need to start preparing for the exams already. The results determine your future! I can't believe you two haven't at least made a study grid. I made mine weeks ago. If you two took a break from Quidditch, I'm sure-"
"Take a break? Are you mad?" yelled Ron. "Don't you want us to win the Cup? Or would you prefer Slytherin winning it? Honestly!
"Fine, practice Quidditch. But you should start studying soon. You'll regret it if you don't start early. It's not going to get any easier."
"Hermione, stop. Just stop. We'll start studying after practice. Happy?" Harry said sleepily, muffling a yawn with his hand.
"Have you been pulling all nighters again?" Hermione said in a concerned voice. Harry shook his head, took a gulp of pumpkin juice, yawned, and spat the juice out across the table, chocking. "I knew it! Hermione shouted. "Harry, this isn't healthy for you. You need rest. If you don't, you'll never be able to concentrate and study for the exams."
"Hermione, I do sleep. It's just." Harry paused, unsure if he should tell his best friends about his dreams. He sighed, took a deep breath and told them everything.
" He's been getting bad dreams. He woke up the whole bloody dorm last night. Neville thought he was being killed by some psycho murderer." Ron paused for dramatic effect. "But I know what's wrong with you, mate," Ron said quietly between mouthfuls of pecan pie. "You have insomnia." He smiled widely and looked at his two friends for approval.
"Really Ron, I'm sure Harry's figured that out himself." Hermione said matter-of-factly. Ron's cheeks steadily clashed with his flaming red hair as he turned back to his unfinished pie. Harry turned to Hermione, pleading for help with his eyes. He opened his mouth but Hermione cut in. "Look Harry, I'd love to talk with you. But this can't wait. Just trust me on this, please." Hermione said, grabbing her bag and running out the Great Hall, not waiting for a response from Harry.
"Well then," Ron said watching Hermione disappear behind the heavy wooden doors. "Shall we?"
"Yah, let's go." The two boys got up, picked their brooms off the table and headed back to the Quidditch field.
* * * * *
When Harry and Ron returned from practice, the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall lit the massive room with its frequent lightning bolts. The two quickly preformed evaporating spells on their robes and sat down for dinner. During their second helping of pot roast and baked potatoes, the doors to the Great Hall flew open and a slender figure stumbling with heaps of parchment rushed through.
"I've been doing some research while you two were out enjoying yourselves." Hermione said as she shot them a look of disapproval. She sat down and threw the rolls down onto the table before her. "While we were talking earlier about your, uh. sleeping disorder, I realized that it sounded familiar. But not in the way Ron described it. I went to the library and tried to find the book I had read it in. I can't believe it took me so long to find! I read it ages ago for our history essay on the Fere family." Hermione drew out a roll of parchment from the pile and handed it to Harry. "I took some notes for you so you can get some back round information. It's nothing serious," she quickly said noticing Harry's worried look. "It's very common among wizards, especially those who practice Divinitation since their mind is continually exercised. It's called Opacimity. It's similar to lucid dreaming except when you experience lucid dreams, you are dreaming while being aware that you are dreaming and can deliberately influence the course of events to what you want. Opacimity is caused when a person's brain is overworked due to stress or excitement. The results caused by it differ from person to person but always occur while they are sleeping. And unlike lucid dreaming, they're not aware that they are sleeping and wake up feeling like they've never slept," she said handing Harry the remaining rolls. Harry unrolled one of the many scrolls and scanned the neat notes Hermione took. "I wrote down some people who were reported to have Opacimity. Look, Luanda Woodworth had a mild case of it." Hermione said leaning over the table inspecting the roll of parchment in Harry's hand. " She was reported to have intervals of consciousness and unconsciousness. During her unconscious state, she would dream about almost everything. That's how she invented the Comet 360. She dreamt its invention. Christopher Plampton. He was a professor for History here at Hogwarts. His first signs of Opacimity came after his retirement at age 82 when he." Harry soon toned out Hermione's endless talking. He new her intentions were good, but it wasn't helping him. When he slept, he wasn't dreaming of brooms, he was dreaming of blood. ".Extremely successful witch too, even with all the problems that Opacimity caused for her," Hermione paused and looked at Harry with a blank stare. "You don't believe me, that it's nothing to worry about, do you?" Harry froze, snapping back to reality. He did not even bother looking up at his friend. Slowly, Hermione reached into her robe and drew out a small, folded piece of parchment from her inside pocket. She put it on the table in front of her. "I also found this while I was researching. I thought it might convince you that this is nothing to worry about and completely harmless." She pushed the parchment towards Harry. He picked it up and held it between his fingers, unsure if he should read it. After a quick pause, he unfolded the parchment.
Roseland Potter (1902-1985) Fascinated by Divinitation and studied it throughout her life. Reported to have Opacimity, which resulted from her avid study of Divinitation. With her power of Divinitation and with the aid of Opacimity, Potter was able to predict some mild future events (the first time in reported history).
Harry stared at the parchment, unsure of how he should react to his news. Ron leaned over and scanned its context.
"Brilliant!" Ron said sarcastically. "It runs in the family."
"Ron!" Hermione snapped.
"What? That Potter woman is probably his grandma. So it skips a generation or two. Big deal." He glared at Hermione, and then turned to Harry.
"Now you have an excuse to miss Divinitation. Lucky. But, hey. can you tell me what's gonna be on the Potion's exam? Since you can tell the future and all," Ron chuckled and received a glare form each one of his friends.
"Harry, I showed this to you so you know there's absolutely nothing to worry about. This is nothing to get worked up about. The dreams your having are just symptoms caused by Opacimity. I don't think there's anything you can do about it but wait until it passes. And this only lasts a year tops. It's perfectly harmless."
'Hermione's right you know. You really shouldn't worry bout this, mate," Ron said. Harry looked up from the parchment and gave a faint smile.
"Um, thanks guys. It means a lot that you're doing this for me." Harry plastered his best fake smile onto his face, hoping to convince his friends.
"That's what we're here for. I'm for moral support, Hermione's jus for doing all the work for us. Kidding!" Ron said quickly as a carrot stick missed his face by a hair.
"Now that you know there's nothing to worry about, and have full confidence that this will pass quickly and without any harm," Hermione said with a smile on her face, "you can go study for the exams."
* * * * *
Harry soon forgot about his dreams and Opacimity due to the constant pressure presented by his teachers. Though Harry had gotten into the habit of arriving to class on time, his grades were dropping as well as his skill with a broom. Though as hard as he tried, his problems did not stop there. Harry knew he was sleep deprived, possibly suffering from insomnia (as Ron had predicted. He did not quite believe Hermione yet), and he kept on having strange dreams. And to make matters worse, the whole school new that he was having nightmares, and the snide remarks made by the Slytherins did not help his mood at all.
"I keep telling you, they're only signs of your stress," replied Hermione during their study hall one day.
"But they seem so real, as if I'm living them. Even when I fall asleep, I never feel that I've truly slept. I feel that I'm constantly awake, even when Iknow I'm not."
"Really, there's nothing to worry about. Getting carried away in a blood filled dream is. perfectly normal. You shouldn't worry about it. Trust me. I once read in a book that wizards and witches often have dreams that are far stranger than muggles'. It's a common fact. Since our lives are, lets say, more complex than muggles, our mind needs to work out or problems while we sleep, which results in dreams such as yours." She turned her gaze to Harry and gave him a reassuring smile. Harry let out an annoyed sigh.
"Hermione's right, Harry. You shouldn't stress out about a bunch of silly marks. You're still better than Neville." Both Harry and Hermione gave Ron glances. "I mean, you're not failing any of your classes. Are you?" Harry shook his head. "Then what's wrong with you?"
"Don't you think I would know what he hell is wrong with me Ron?!" Harry yelled and glared at Ron. Ron opened his mouth to respond-
"Hey, Potter, had any scary dreams lately? Why don't you run to your little mudblood friend and ask for some hot chocolate. Maybe Weasel can give you one of his sister's hand-me-down teddy bears to sleep with at night, that is, if they haven't sold it for money already!" Malfoy sneered across the Great Hall.
"That bastard better watch his little ferret face, before I blow it up," muttered Ron under his breath. Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.
Harry turned his attention back to Hermione, trying to ignore the roaring laughter coming from the Slytherin table as Malfoy streaked like a girl and started running around in circles screaming, -They're coming to get me, they're coming to get me! Save me! Save me! - before collapsing on the floor, shaking with laughter. He looked at his only reasonable friend at the moment and continued their conversation while attempting to tune out Ron's endless stream of curses.
"But that isn't the only dream I had. There were others more bloody and violent. In one dream I was outside at night, right? So I'm walking along the grounds, minding my own business singing "Kim" by Eminem, and I wander into the Forbidden Forest. I guess I didn't realize where I was because I kept on walking. I'm following this old, grass-covered trail and it leads me to places I never expected to find in that forest, you know? A cabin with a garden patch, a graveyard - Oh, I ran into your dad's old Ford Angla, Ron. Nearly drove over me," Harry said turning to Ron whose ears suddenly grew pink around the edges. Harry quickly continued, sensing Ron's discomfort. "Anyway, I'm walking in the Forbidden Forest when all of a sudden this gray, furry thing comes charging at me. I take out my wand and I'm fighting to the death with this koala that just attacked me."
"What's a koala?"
Hermione sighed. "It's a muggle animal which can get extremely vicious if provoked. It's only found in Australia and New Zel-"
"What's it doing all the way in England?"
"RON! Will you stop interrupting!" Hermione said in a shrill voice. She turned back to Harry. "Anyway, go on."
"So I'm fighting with this koala and I win. So I'm standing over the koala ready to kill it when the murderous little thing jumps up. But instead of being a koala, it's me.
"You were about to kill yourself? Are you crazy!?" yelled Ron. Some Gryffindor students turned their heads to see what was going on.
"Ron, shut up. Just shut the fuck up! You're not helping me by making these shitty comments of yours!" Harry slammed his history textbook shut, picked up his quill and parchment and headed out of the Great Hall.
* * * * *
The following day wasn't any easier for Harry. He and Ron were not on speaking terms, Hermione refused to choose sides and worst of all. his dreams were becoming worse by the day.
Harry woke up one morning. His head was pounding and his vision was blurry, even with his glasses on. He got out of bed and headed to his Transfiguration class, once again, late. While sitting at his desk writing, his hand was shaking uncontrollably. He couldn't stop it. He felt paranoid, restless and cold. At lunch, Harry sat picking at his turkey sandwich with a glazed look in his eyes. Concerned filled both Hermione and Ron's eyes.
"Are you sure you're ok, Harry?" said Ron hesitantly. He was still treading water with his and Harry's relationship. "You don't look yourself."
"Ron's right, you know," Hermione said matter-of-factly. Harry lifted his head and looked at her. Both Ron and Harry gave her a surprised look. "The quidditch game against Slytherin is only five days away. You're usually bouncing off the walls with excitement." Harry looked down at his food and mumbled something inaudible. "Oh, Harry. Stop! I know something's wrong. Why wont you tell Ron and me. You know we'll support you."
"Unless you've turned evi- Ouch!" Ron silently rubbed the spot where Hermione had jammed him in the ribs.
"Ignore him. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"I'm fine. I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately. Once Christmas vacation comes, I'll be the same." Harry gave them a weak smile, hoping that he looked normal. happy.
"You're not still getting those dreams, are you?" Ron asked. Harry paused, pondering whether to tell them the truth or lie, once again, to his best friends.
"No. I haven't had them for a while. I think they're gone."
"Really." Hermione stared at Harry, piercing him with her gaze. She looked at him for a while and gave a faint smirk. "Harry, take this, just to be sure." Hermione handed him a small vile filled with a red colored potion. "It's a Gordarian Sleeping Potion. I brewed it when you were first complaining about your dreams. I'm extremely glad that I did. I read somewhere that if you take it, it will help clear your mind and allow you to get a full nights sleep without any dreams." Harry opened his mouth to protest but Hermione quickly responded. " I know you said that you're not having them. But if you take this, it will give you a dreamless sleep for a whole week. Witches and wizards who went through the same ordeal you're going through now have used this potion to sooth their dreams. Hospitals around the world use it to calm patients when they first enter into care. And if this doesn't work, I've already looked up about ten different sleeping potions, so I'm sure one of those will work if this one doesn't. But it's the best one out there and it has worked for centuries, even on the most severe cases of insomnia and Opacimity. But just in case. Harry, I'm worried about you. So is Ron. Just take this. It will work, trust me." She smiled in her usual, friendly way and gave him a pat on the back for reassurance. Some how, Harry didn't trust her.