Chapter 30: Nightmares

 Back at school winter progressed so quickly that it seemed it was flying by. Harry was for once, thoroughly enjoying himself. Especially now that he and Ginny were together. Also, he was owling Sirius frequently and it felt wonderful to have a family of sorts. It was about time in his opinion, and in most who knew him, that he was being given a break for awhile. In fact, other than the nightmares he was still sometimes troubled with, and of course the rigorous preparation for the O.W.L.'s, things seemed almost fairytale-esque.

 Unfortunately even the best of things couldn't last forever and Harry found himself having one of his more... realistic nightmares.

~*~

'Sampson,' hissed the snakelike man, 'My patience with you grows thinner still. Tell me, have you found what I asked you?'

'Y-yes, milord,' said the sniveling man at his feet. Harry was peculiarly reminded of Wormtail. He supposed this man was his replacement.

'Well,' commanded Voldemort forcefully. Hary wondered.how thick this idiot could be.

'W-well w-what, milord?' the pitiful kneeling man stammered the inquiry.

'Fool!' cried Voldemort. 'You insolent fool! Did you find out about the girl or not?!'

'Yes, milord," sniveled Sampson. 'She has "befriended" the boy," at this point a smirk became evident in the man's tone. 'She fancies they love each other,' he finished with a laugh. Harry realized who they were talking about now. His stomach twisted when he heard the words 'the boy.' If Vernon had not been muggle perhaps he would have gotten along with Voldemort marvelously, both sharing the same nickname and disdain for him. Worse yet, he was almost positive they were talking about Ginny.

'Does he think himself in love her,' questioned Voldemort.

'What is there for him to love,' snorted the man. 'The last time I was there it was evident he cared nothing for her.' Harry felt both relief and anger at this. Of course Ginny was someone worth loving, but it seemed they had gotten lucky. The man must have been around when he was avoiding her, and had not heard enough of the fight to know why.

'Did you use the charm?' inquired Voldemort.

Sampson nodded again. 'Yes, milord. She still bears a mark from her encounter with you-'

'Excellent,' said Voldemort.

'B-but there is something else as well,' said the kneeling man.

'Out with it you fool,' snarled Voldemort

'There is something else there, some warm mark that I can't read,' said the kneeling man.

Voldemort looked at him with bored disdain. 'You mean like love,' he sneered, twisting the word with a laugh like sarcasm. 'We need not be concerned with that. She may depend on it now, but she will soon learn how foolish that is.'  That's what you think, thought Harry. He smiled when he remembered that love had had a part in defeating the man before.

'My plans will soon be ready,' said Voldemort with a cold gleam of triumph to his voice. Then his expression grew colder and he turned to the man. 'Now for your insolence...'

Crucio!

Harry woke up screaming as pain burst through his scar.

~*~

 Apparently he had been screaming very loudly. He awoke to someone with red hair standing over him.

"Ron?" he mumbled, his voice hoarse from sleep. He reached for his glasses.

"Thanks," the voice said sarcastically, handing him his glasses. "I know there's a family resemblance, but still...'

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, smiling slightly now. "What are you doing here?"

"Perhaps you should ask what everyone's doing here," said Ginny, nodding towards the door.

Harry groaned, "All of them?"

"Just about," she said. "They panicked when they heard you scream. Was it one of those?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll need to go to Dumbledore in the morning." He rubbed at his forehead again.

"I think you should go now," said Ginny. "Not that you have much choice..."

"Why not?" said Harry, puzzled.

"Mr. Potter," came McGonagall's clipped voice, though Harry thought he could detect a hint of concern, "I need you to come with me."

"That's why," Ginny finished.

 Harry groaned and rose to follow her. He was thankful when she sent everyone else back to bed before letting him emerge onto the staircase. He followed her down it and through the many corridors to the entrance of Dumbledore's office. McGonagall gave the password, "Bertie Botts", and then Harry followed her through the entryway. Harry was not surprised to see a silver basin on Dumbledore's desk or to be asked to place the memory of the dream into it.

~*~

 After watching the dream carefully Dumbledore finally looked up at Harry, running his fingers through part of his beard.

"It seems you have brought us some very valuable information," said Dumbledore. "We will add protection to Ms. Weasley immediately."

"What about the Hogsmeade visit tomorrow?" asked Harry, sounding worried. "Will that be safe?"

"I will see to it that you both have emergency port keys," said Dumbledore.

"What about--" he was cut off.

"I will make sure that Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley have them as well," he said. "In fact, I think I will try to ensure that some of the prefects and chaperones have them as well."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry mid-yawn, realizing just how exhausted he was.

"Off to bed with you now, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I expect you'll need some sleep before the visit tomorrow. And as always keep and eye out for anything unusual."

"I know," said Harry, "Constant Vigilance."

"Moody would be proud," said Dumbledore, "Now off you go."

"G'night, Professor."

  Harry returned to his dormitory and after assuring Ron, who had waited up for him, that he was alright he crawled beneath the heavy comforter and fell asleep. Unfortunately tonight was going to prove itself doubly restless as another dream came upon him, this one of the other variety. He almost preferred the visions of Voldemort to these sometimes; at least he could gain information then. With these he was only swept into painful childhood memories.

~*~

"Please Uncle Vernon," he heard himself pleading from the corner he'd backed into. "I didn't do it! I promise it won't happen again..."

"YOU MISERABLE LIAR," roared the man. "I've always said that there was nothing to be done for you, except a sound beating. For years we've tried and still you show no respect, much less gratitude."

"I'm sorry," said the scared boy in the corner, already sore from a recent beating.

"SORRY," yelled Vernon, "I'll show you what you have to be sorry for boy! Now come here."

 Then there were just heavy fists and the memory of the belt and a young black-haired boy, barely nine years old, repeatedly crying "Stop, please stop!" until his voice faded away and the crying was barely audible. Then the man was shaking him and shaking him until...

~*~

"Harry," said a quiet voice which he recognized as Neville's.

"Harry it's okay, wake up mate," he heard Ron say as he tried to turn him with a hand on his shoulder.

There were other voices as well, "Harry it's just us. Are you okay?"

 The embarrassed fifteen year old turned to face the other members of his dormitory, realizing vaguely that there were tears on his cheeks. He quickly pulled himself away from their arms and inched up against the headboard.

"Sorry," he said looking at the pattern on the comforter. "You can go back to bed. Sorry I woke you again."

"It's alright, Harry," said Dean. "Honest."

"Yeah," said Seamus. "It's fine, really."

"Someone will probably be up here in a minute now," Neville informed.

"Oh, right," said Ron. "Who d'you think is on duty."

"On duty?" questioned Harry.

"McGonagall explained while you were away," said Seamus. "They've got alarms in all the dormitories to detect any kind of distress signal and there's always a teacher on duty."

"So that was how she got here so quickly last time?" said Harry.

"Yeah," said Ron. "She's off duty now though."

"Just great," said Harry, "I've gone and brought someone up here for no reason again."

"Have you tried a dreamless sleep potion?" asked Neville.

"I looked it up over the summer," said Harry. "They become addictive easily."

"And you would've put yourself to sleep permanently had you tried to brew it on your own," came a sharp voice from the doorway.

Great, thought Harry, just great.

"P-professor Snape," said Neville, eyes widening.

"Yes, Longbottom," snapped Snape. "Mr. Potter will need to come with me."

"But it wasn't even one of-"

"I know Potter," said Snape, cutting him off effectively. "Now come with me."

 Harry put on his glasses so that he could now see everyone around him, those perched on his bed and Snape standing in the doorway. At least they knew the alarms worked. He got up and followed the man silently out of the room.