Disclaimer: I don't own it. I really don't. Oh, please, please, don't
insist, I really don't. *smirk*
Dedication: To the Red Dragons Order, the best author on this site.
Author's Note: Another one.
Chapter 18: Dreams
Harry was dreaming again. A normal dream. Until.
The image changed and he was no longer flying around on a broomstick, but in the middle of a forest. And in the forest there were two people whom he easily recognized. Towers and his Master. He couldn't see the Master's face, he had a hood, but he knew it was him.
"Is it all well, sir?" asked Towers.
"All is well, yes, as well is it can be when the world's going to hell" the other man said with a sigh. "Hogwarts will be threatened. Good old Voldemort found a way to get past my wards. I knew it would happen once and I feared it would before his first fall. I fear he will get past the Great Ward of Light. As all others, this ward too has its weaknesses, which I knew too well then. "
"What does you Mistress say?" Towers asked and Harry gaped. The Master had a Mistress! The other man laughed.
"She, as usual, says very little. She said she will help, but only when she will need to. And I would advice you to stop calling her 'Mistress'. She is a very good person and all, but she might kill you for that."
"Just expressing my respect" Towers said and bowed slightly.
"Don't, she says she deserves no more than a normal woman."
"Noble, she is"
"Noble, but she considers herself the friend and guider of all who need her. So, don't call her 'Mistress' unless you want her angry."
Towers smiled.
"Harry saw us at our last meeting."
"Harry sees us now" the man said and Towers was staring surprised at him. Exactly as Harry, actually.
"You mean, you let him witness so much?"
"He has not been here from the beginning."
"Since when, then?"
"Since you asked me if all is well."
Towers looked around.
"I can't see him"
The Master laughed.
"Of course you can't! He is not here physically."
"I can see people even if they are not physically there and you know it."
"But this time, I am hiding him from anybody's look. He is dreaming all this, Jack."
"You do realize how weird it is for you to call me 'Jack', don't you? So many people."
"Shhh" his Master shushed him. "That is not for him to know. Dumbledore suspects, but he does not know. And neither is for Harry to know."
Harry looked at them confused. What was going on? Why was it weird for Towers' Master to call him Jack?
"No, on to other business" the Master said. "Your sister has entered the Forest. She shall stay there until I tell her to leave."
"Sister?!" Towers said and looked at him confused. "I don't have a-. Oh, my sister."
The Master laughed.
"So bright but yet having so many problems in understanding. She will be there and I will ask you not to contact her. Don't. But once the Lords of Dawn will attack the son of darkness, she will be left in charge."
Jack looked at him, obviously decoding all that had been said.
"What about Harry, milord?"
"Stop calling me 'milord'! He will."
The Master paused and looked in Harry's direction, who was pulled away from the dream and found himself sitting in a dark room, on a throne. Not good. Especially since he had just felt peaceful and now he was in danger. Grave danger. Why, he didn't know.
But so soon, he calmed down and started looking through the room. Hmph! Why didn't his servant hurry?! Wait a sec. what servant? What did he mean 'what servant'? The servant, of course! The one who gave him Potter, duh! The servant! But he didn't have any servant. Yes, he did!!! What the hell was wrong with him? Ah, need one of the potions that bloody traitor Snape used to make. Even if he was on goody-goody Dumbledore's side, he did have his good parts.
Maybe he needed a sleep. A good sleep. Gah, being the Dark Lord had its problems. But he wasn't the. Definitely had its problems. And think about the dreams he started having! Those were guilty for his good night sleep.
The door opened and he looked at it coolly.
"You're getting slow, Barty" he said and a part of him gaped. Barty Crouch was there! But he was. he was. He was what? Hadn't he saved him from his father? Definitely needed something.
"Sorry, Master" the other man said and fell on his knees, completely worshiping him. How nice! "Here is the thing you've asked for"
Harry took the object and looked at it, pleased. It was a small stone. He knew it, alright. It was one of those extremely useful second parts of wizarding spy cameras. He gazed into it and saw an empty chair in a room. Hmmm. What large room? The Minister's office, duh! Definitely needed a rest and a potion.
"Thank you, Barty!" he said, pleased. "Tell me, any news from Wormtail?"
"No, Master" the other man said and looked at him in a certain way he liked so much. Barty loved him like a god, why couldn't all his servants be that way?!
"He better free all those idiots from Azkaban soon"
"Indeed, Master" Barty said and Harry smiled.
The image faded away and Harry woke up, shaken by someone.
"Harry? Harry! Wake up, or we'll be late for class!"
Ron was shaking him and Harry opened his eyes.
"Wha-? Ron, I'm up, I'm up!"
"About time, too" Ron said. "Snape'll be in his class soon and we better be there too."
Harry sprang out of bed and started dressing. Maybe running through the castle in your boxers in the middle of the night was not very bad, but running through the castle in your boxers early in the morning when everybody went to their classes was definitely bad.
"Not time for that, I've got to get to Dumbledore"
"Again?!" Ron called after the boy, now in his robes, who ran out the door, leaving him behind. He didn't want to be late to Snape's class, so he took his stuff and left for class.
Meanwhile, Harry ran down the corridors. Maybe the dream was important, but he was quite sure Snape wouldn't excuse him if he was in any way late. Nope, so he better hurry. He made it to the gargoyle.
"Sherbet lemon! Oh, no, wait. Pumpkin pie!" he cried and the gargoyle sprang out of the way and he hurried up in Dumbledore's office. He knocked, but there was no answer. "Please, please, don't be gone, I don't want to be late." Technically, he already was, but still.
He entered the room and looked around. No, the Headmaster wasn't there, but Fawkes and the paintings of old headmasters and headmistress were.
"Hello again, young Potter" one said. "What be you doing here now? Dumbledore's not here, you know"
Harry stared at the talking painting. Usually paintings didn't talk to him. Not in the Headmaster's office, that was sure.
"Apparently not. But do you know where I could find him?"
"I'm afraid not" the painting replied. "But he should be here soon. Take a seat, make yourself at home."
"I'll be late for Potions and Snape'll have my head" Harry complained. "I think I should be going then."
But just as he was about to leave, he heard voices from the entrance to the office.
"Pettigrew is getting closer to his target and the Azkaban prisoners will escape soon" he heard Snape. Well, at least he wasn't late for class. although Snape would kill him for being there.
"I'm sure we can think of something Severus. But what took you so long?"
"The Dark Lord wanted to talk to me a lot" Snape replied, his voice getting louder and louder, showing that he was getting closer. "Kept me there all night. And he has a camera in the Minister's office."
The door to the Headmaster's office opened and Dumbledore came in, Snape right after him. The elder man just looked at Harry curiously, but Snape snapped.
"And what are you doing here, Potter? Spying on people? Ten points from Gryffindor!"
Dumbledore looked at him amused.
"I'm really starting to wonder how come Gryffindor still has house points" the Headmaster said, seeming to work hard on not chuckling. "Ten points to Gryffindor. So, Harry, what is it that brings you here?"
"I had a. two new dreams, Professor" Harry replied. "It's important! I don't know how he did it, but Barty Crouch is again his servant and he doesn't seem soulless anymore to me."
The two elder people exchanged a look.
"Barty Crouch is still soulless, Harry" Dumbledore said, most of his ever present eye twinkle disappearing. "Nobody deserves such a thing, but."
"But I saw him! Voldemort-" Snape shuddered and glared at Harry,"-was talking to him! And he even brought him a thing through which he could see. the. Minister's. office" Harry said, more and more rarely, realization dawning in him. "Oh, it was you, Professor"
The things Snape had said hit him. 'Kept me there all night'. 'camera'
"But how?"
Snape looked at him and said with great coolness:
"I doubted before that you were an intelligent life form, Potter, but now I don't doubt it anymore. Polyjuice Potion, I do believe you studied it"
Harry tried to smile a bit and failed.
"Now, now, Severus, there is no need whatsoever to insult Harry" Dumbledore said. "You said something about two dreams, Harry"
"Yes, sir. I once again saw Towers' Master. He said something about Towers' sister coming in a forest and he first didn't seem to know who he was talking about."
"A fellow disciple" Snape said. "It is sometimes a habit to call the fellow disciples 'brothers' and 'sisters'. Obviously, the man doesn't usually put it like that, since it took such a long while for Towers to figure it out for you to actually notice something was wrong". Was that an insult? Probably. Harry decided not to dwell on it. "I just wonder why he wouldn't speak so that Towers would get the point."
"They knew I was there" Harry answered.
"They knew?" Dumbledore asked, looking over his glasses.
"The Master said I was there and that he was hiding me."
"Interesting. Interesting, indeed" Dumbledore said. "Is that all?"
"Yes, sir"
"Then you better go back to class. And Harry, don't tell anyone about Severus."
"No, sir, I won't."
Snape was already leaving and was currently passing through the door. Harry could only follow. He felt awkward following him down the corridors. He was suddenly struck by the fact that that man had kissed Amala. He shuddered. And then he was struck by the fact that he hadn't said as much as a "five points from Gryffindor".
Indeed, Severus Snape acted as if he weren't there. Until they were about halfway to the dungeons.
"So, Potter, having bad dreams?" he asked and Harry didn't know how to take the question. Was that a mock? Or a try to befriend with him, since his girlfriend was one of his friends? Or a way to put an end to the awkward situation?
"Um, yes" he answered. "Do you think Voldemort-"
"Never say the name" hissed Snape, suddenly stopping and turning to look him in the eye. "Never"
Harry shuddered a bit. Man, the guy was creepy. How on Earth could Amala. Never mind.
"Alright, Professor" he said and Snape started walking again. "Professor. I. I'm not my father" he said, not knowing why.
Snape stopped again.
"That's obvious, Potter. Five points from Gryffindor for being idiots."
But still, his eyes had a weird look in them and Harry wondered why he had said that. Well, of course he wasn't his father! Duh! Snape, however, had a very weird look in his eyes and Harry wondered if indeed the Potion Master had thought he was him. But why had he said it? Why? Of all the idiotic things he could have said, why did he say that? The stupidest, the worst, the most idiotic thing. 'I am not my father." Jesus!
They nearly made it to the classroom when Snape said one last thing.
"And tell Mrs. Wright she has been a complete idiot and forgot her feather in my office when she had detention and I'd be glad if she took it back. If I just remembered where I put it." Snape muttered.
Harry smiled to himself.
"I will. What time, sir?"
"Are you some kind of an idiot, Potter?" Snape asked. "Oh, dear, what am I asking. She may come any time. But if you insist in asking for time, then remember six o' clock."
The two entered the classroom
"Excuse me for being late, I was busy recovering Potter from a toilet on the fourth floor in which he had gotten stuck. Which reminds me, Potter. Twenty points from Gryffindor for wasting my time."
Harry had an enraged expression on his face. What?! Stuck in a toilet?! Oh, the nerve! And he even took points! The Slytherins all smirked and almost all Gryffindors stared at him with confused looks on their faces.
"To your seat, Potter, or I'll take another fifteen!" Snape snapped and Harry reluctantly went to his seat and sat down. "Now, today we learn."
He started telling them about a potion or another and put the ingredients on the blackboard and they all started brewing.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
"Oh, and by the way, Amala, Snape asked you to go to his place tonight at six" Harry whispered to her when they were out of the Transfiguration class.
"He just. asked?" Amala said, raising an eyebrow. "Is he sick?"
"Actually, his exact words were 'tell Mrs. Wright she has been a complete idiot and forgot her feather in my office when she had detention and I'd be glad if she took it back.'"
Hermione giggled somewhere nearby and Amala started laughing.
"Thought so" she said, after she calmed herself down. "What a way with words. isn't he wonderful?"
Ron just stared at her.
"I do hope that was sarcastic" he said, sending her back into fits of laughter.
/*-/*-/*-
Harry was walking through the castle, thinking. Maybe he could use some help with the 'Voldemort issue'. He decided to go to Dumbledore's office. Maybe the old mage could help. Those blasted dreams were waaay too often for his liking.
He made it to the gargoyle and gave the password and started going up. Why didn't he ask for Hermione's advice? Weird, she was the first one whom he should ask. After all, she had probably read all the Hogwarts library.
But she didn't have much experience with such things, did she? He could only worry her and besides, she and Ron were busy at the moment with some homework. No, Dumbledore probably would be much more help than anybody else.
He entered the office and started to look around. No sign of him, however.
"Excuse me" he said towards the picture that had talked to him that morning "where is Professor Dumbledore?"
The picture jerked its head up.
"Ah, my dear boy. You're out of luck, I'm afraid. The Headmaster has left for the Ministry."
Harry sighed.
"This is not my day."
The picture smiled.
"Oh, cheer up, lad. No use to let yourself be defeated by small things, now is there?"
Harry looked at him.
"Guess not. Sir, if I'm not rude, who are you?"
The man laughed.
"One of the ex-Headmasters, as you can easily see. Ah, wonderful days long time ago when I could rule the school."
"Go to sleep Maxwell" said one of the pictures, a female one. "Or go through your other portraits."
"As much as I'd love to, I'd rather not, milady" he said, making a small bow. "I'm rather bored so I'll talk to this charming young man here."
Harry watched the two pictures argue, all the time looking very calm.
'They must be bored." he thought. "Well, I'll be going now" he said aloud.
"Oh, alright, my dear boy" said the man. "And come back later or tomorrow!"
Harry nodded and left. Nobody was there to help him. Nobody. Amala was at her date with Snape (ugh!), Ron and Hermione were making homework, Dumbledore was at the Ministry. He passed down the corridors feeling sad. They were all busy, having normal lives. And he was having more and more Voldemort-dreams, he was feeling weirder and weirder. Why him? Why not somebody else? Why did he have to be the potential savior of the wizarding world? Why not Neville? The prophecy could have been about him.
He let his head hang down, tiredly.
"I'm the only one who has these problems" he muttered to himself.
And then he passed through the corridor where there was Towers' office. He stopped. Of course! Towers! As weird as he might have been, the dark-light, non-sleeping, master-obsessed Professor said he'd help him. He knew about many things. Maybe. maybe somehow he'd help?!
He entered the office. Nobody was in.
"Just my bloody luck!" he said, angry. But he decided to wait for a while. He sat in a chair in front of Towers' desk and started looking around. Ok, this felt weird. Going to get help from Towers. Yeah, weird. But maybe he knew something? He was definitely weird enough to exist a possibility for him to know how to get away from those dreams. A weird shriek made him stiffen and tense.
"Harry Potter" said a strangled kid-like voice and Harry turned to see the Necrow in a corner of a room. So, the freakish thing was still there!
He shuddered, but then remembered that caged, the bird held no power. As long as it didn't escape, he was fine. And it wouldn't escape until Towers would let it go or it would escape by itself in a burst of power, which by the way didn't happen unless you angered the thing bad enough.
And then a closed book on Towers' desk attracted his attention. Harry looked at it closely. The 'Book of Kings'. Curiosity went through his body and he looked around.
'If the Professor isn't coming back soon.' he thought, without finishing.
But Towers didn't come and the book kept calling him. What was in there, beside the scene with the king that he had showed? What else was in the book?
What harm could it do to look in it? It was just a book, probably in the school library, too. Why shouldn't he. take a peak? A small one? What harm could it do? Towers had showed him the book, too.
He bent over the desk and picked up the book and opened it. Picture after picture, he saw people in different places. He passed even the picture Towers showed them. But not by much. He landed in front of a picture that simply attracted him. It was the same king as in the picture Towers had showed them, but no longer on his throne, but on a simple chair in front of a few other people, two of them taking care of horses, looking concerned about something. They were somewhere in the middle of a forest. Harry looked around and then decided. He took out his wand and touched the book easily with the wand.
"Show me"
The picture started moving.
"Really think it will work?" asked a powerful-looking man.
"Of course, Godric" answered a shorter, naïve looking woman. "I thought you were the brave one!"
"Salazar, you're rubbing off on him" said a very wise-looking woman.
"Am not. Am I to be blamed if he's loosing his legendary courage?"
"I'm not losing my courage!" Godric said, upset and Salazar smirked.
"Where is Jack, anyway? He said he'd be here soon" said the naïve looking woman.
"Oh, Helga, when are you going to learn that he only does as he pleases?" asked the wise-looking one.
"I thought he could at least be on time!" she said.
Harry stared at the moving pictures. Helga? Salazar? Godric? The four founders! He looked in fascination at what happened.
The king decided to start speaking.
"I trust he'll be here soon. He usually is on time."
Helga looked at the wise-looking woman who probably was Rowena Ravenclaw, an I-told-you-so hanging between them.
"And actually, here he comes" the king said and stood up to look somewhere far away.
Suddenly, there was a cry somewhere from behind Harry.
"STOP!"
The picture in the book stopped moving where it was and Harry turned to see the Defence Professor, his wand drawn and a mad expression on his face. Harry gulped.
"Sorry, Professor, I just. it was here and I."
Towers looked at the picture and said, in a surprisingly calm tone:
"I understand. No harm done, however. I just can't believe I was a big enough idiot to let this book on my desk."
He turned to look at Harry.
"Is there something you came for?"
Harry stared at him. Something? Oh, right.
"Um, Professor, I was wondering if you could help me. with my dream- problem."
Towers relaxed a little.
"Ah, yes.I know from reliable sources that Voldemort too has such dreams. He hates them. It isn't his scar that hurts, however, since he doesn't have one, but his entire being. You can't stand the hate, he can't stand the love."
"Love? But I."
"Tell me, Harry, what saved you from his attack fifteen years ago? Was it not your mother's love?"
"Yes, it was" Harry admitted.
"It still lives in you" Towers said and put a hand on his. "It still does. He can't stand it."
Towers looked in his eyes.
"I'm afraid there isn't much you can do to stop these dreams. And it will get worse."
"Worse?!" Harry asked, shocked. "Worse?!"
"I'm afraid so, Harry. But it will be a long time, I hope, until it gets too much worse. Unless the idiot decides to speed up the process."
"Can't we slow it down?" asked Harry.
"We could" Towers said. "But it's not easy at all. My Master did it for a while. He managed to interfere with your link, but he was stopped by his own Master."
"Why? If it helps." Harry started, but Towers interrupted.
"Because it doesn't anymore. It is enough for it. Yes, momentarily it could help, but after a while it might prove to be bad. And trust me, it is bad enough. But, Harry, try to live your own life. You're not damned not to do it."
Harry nodded and, understanding that that was all Towers was willing to say to him, left.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
Amala was happily going down to the dungeons. Ah, back! Back to Severus!
She pushed the door open and saw him, of course, grading papers. Was there anything else he did? Ever?
"I understood I was idiotic enough to forget my feather here, Professor" she said, with a mischievous smile and Severus raised an eyebrow.
"So, Potter is a part of the unintelligent life forms. That's why I chose him to give you the message."
"Well, at first he said you asked me out on a date" she said.
"Remind me to take 10 points from Gryffindor for his twisting of my words" Severus said.
"Is there no way to please you?" she asked, mock-exasperated. "Which reminds me. Harry stuck in a toilet?"
Snape rolled his eyes.
"Believable, isn't it?! I had to say something, we were both late."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Why were the two of you together? And why were you late? You're never late."
Snape made a promise to himself never to get a girlfriend again. Now she was asking questions! Soon, she'd be asking him to do things the way she liked it. This had to be stopped.
"That does not concern you" he said.
"No need to glare" she said.
"I'm not glaring."
"Yes, you are. Anyway, don't tell me if you don't want to."
Severus relaxed. Maybe she wasn't going to destroy all his life. He tried to smile at her. Well, tried. Maybe he should take lessons? He stood up and went to her. She just smiled and kissed him. Again, she took control. Bloody Gryffindors! Not that he minded, not that he minded.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
Author's Notes: Ah, my dear friends, another chapter has gone. And I must say I had great fun writing it. Not because it had been really funny or anything, but because of the mental images I got and thoughts that passed through my head. And realization of how stupid some things sounded like. Yep, like the Voldie-Barty scene. First time I somehow managed to make it look like SLASH. God knows how I did it. And having some very interesting singing/dancing scenes in my mind was not very sad either. Like Snape singing 'I did survive' (adaptation to 'I will survive') when coming up the stairs to Dumbledore's office. Like Voldemort singing 'Message in a bottle' by Sting -a bit adapted- ('sending out an S.O.S., sending out an S.O.S, I hope I soon get my potion in a bottle') and many, many others which you get when you listen to music and write in the same time and also had a lot of fun lately (you'd have a great lot of fun too if you'd just seen on the door of a restaurant: "We hire girls". Hmmm.)
I don't know when I'll update, the holidays are coming and I'm not going to be around, but who knows. Anyway, if I don't get to post before the New Year's Eve, Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year! May all be well for you in the new year!
Ah, on Christmas I got my first Harry Potter book. Funny story, too. I bought the Mickey Mouse magazines -don't laugh, but I like comics- and I kept seeing the 'Harry Potter' commercials. At first, I was indifferent. ('boy wizard goes to wizarding school'. not too interesting.). However, I kept seeing these commercials and started wondering what all was about. The covers of the books were weird. There was this boy with eyeglasses and a lightning-shaped thing on his forehead. He was riding a broomstick or a weird animal. I just shook my head. But then I got in a book shop and saw the books.
I said to myself 'oh, what the hell' and picked up one of them -it was the third book, but I didn't know that- and started reading. 'Hated summer vacations'? 'Wished he could do his homework, but he was forced to do it during the night'? 'Happened to be a wizard'? Gods! What was up with this kid? Nerd! Or, was he some kind of a Spiderman or Superman? Did his parents know he was a wizard? Was he the type of a kid who went into different worlds? I imagined him as a very smart, handsome kid who goes to normal school and has a secret second-life, where he goes into different worlds. Oh, well, as you can see, I've got quite an imagination.
So, I put the book down. 'Not for me'. But the seed was planted and I started thinking more and more of the books. Christmas was coming near and my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I answered. "Get me a Harry Potter book. The first. It has a bird-thing on the cover and is called something with 'prisoner'." Well, what?! It sounded to me as if it were the third book! Luckily, my mom saw it was 'the third year at Hogwarts' and bought me another one. Which wasn't 'the Philosopher's Stone'. 'The Philosopher Stone's were all in hardcover and she said: "it's just a silly book we're checking out. Mind if it's the second?". My answer was "no". So, I got the second book and started reading. It was. oh, wow. the book. much greater even than "Shogun". "Winnettou". Wonderful. Just the 'Quiddich' part didn't I get. From the second book you can't, trust me. But it was interesting nevertheless. I went and wanted to buy myself the first book. Still in hardcover. I still wasn't hooked up enough though, so I ended up with the third -the fourth wasn't out yet-. But I got totally hooked by the third, so I bought the first -yes, in hardcover. Cost me a lot, too, but I didn't care. not anymore-. I read it. And so I became a Potter fan. And I never called the hippogriff a 'bird-thing' ever again. *sniff*, *sniff* (I do have a cold)
Whoa! Look how much I wrote for Author's Notes! My, my, they're starting to look like a novel!
And since last time I did say I'd give 10 points to whomever guesses right about either Barty or who Sirius has a crush on, here we go!
Skillz: 17 points -didn't guess who used the Polyjuice-
The Red Dragons Order: 10 points -yep, Rose. Wasn't that hard to guess-
Megz: 10 points -cooooorrect! Rose!-
And for the question -30 points-: How long will Towers last as a Defence teacher?
I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing: Skillz, the Red Dragons Order, Naomie, Iniysa, Megz
Dedication: To the Red Dragons Order, the best author on this site.
Author's Note: Another one.
Chapter 18: Dreams
Harry was dreaming again. A normal dream. Until.
The image changed and he was no longer flying around on a broomstick, but in the middle of a forest. And in the forest there were two people whom he easily recognized. Towers and his Master. He couldn't see the Master's face, he had a hood, but he knew it was him.
"Is it all well, sir?" asked Towers.
"All is well, yes, as well is it can be when the world's going to hell" the other man said with a sigh. "Hogwarts will be threatened. Good old Voldemort found a way to get past my wards. I knew it would happen once and I feared it would before his first fall. I fear he will get past the Great Ward of Light. As all others, this ward too has its weaknesses, which I knew too well then. "
"What does you Mistress say?" Towers asked and Harry gaped. The Master had a Mistress! The other man laughed.
"She, as usual, says very little. She said she will help, but only when she will need to. And I would advice you to stop calling her 'Mistress'. She is a very good person and all, but she might kill you for that."
"Just expressing my respect" Towers said and bowed slightly.
"Don't, she says she deserves no more than a normal woman."
"Noble, she is"
"Noble, but she considers herself the friend and guider of all who need her. So, don't call her 'Mistress' unless you want her angry."
Towers smiled.
"Harry saw us at our last meeting."
"Harry sees us now" the man said and Towers was staring surprised at him. Exactly as Harry, actually.
"You mean, you let him witness so much?"
"He has not been here from the beginning."
"Since when, then?"
"Since you asked me if all is well."
Towers looked around.
"I can't see him"
The Master laughed.
"Of course you can't! He is not here physically."
"I can see people even if they are not physically there and you know it."
"But this time, I am hiding him from anybody's look. He is dreaming all this, Jack."
"You do realize how weird it is for you to call me 'Jack', don't you? So many people."
"Shhh" his Master shushed him. "That is not for him to know. Dumbledore suspects, but he does not know. And neither is for Harry to know."
Harry looked at them confused. What was going on? Why was it weird for Towers' Master to call him Jack?
"No, on to other business" the Master said. "Your sister has entered the Forest. She shall stay there until I tell her to leave."
"Sister?!" Towers said and looked at him confused. "I don't have a-. Oh, my sister."
The Master laughed.
"So bright but yet having so many problems in understanding. She will be there and I will ask you not to contact her. Don't. But once the Lords of Dawn will attack the son of darkness, she will be left in charge."
Jack looked at him, obviously decoding all that had been said.
"What about Harry, milord?"
"Stop calling me 'milord'! He will."
The Master paused and looked in Harry's direction, who was pulled away from the dream and found himself sitting in a dark room, on a throne. Not good. Especially since he had just felt peaceful and now he was in danger. Grave danger. Why, he didn't know.
But so soon, he calmed down and started looking through the room. Hmph! Why didn't his servant hurry?! Wait a sec. what servant? What did he mean 'what servant'? The servant, of course! The one who gave him Potter, duh! The servant! But he didn't have any servant. Yes, he did!!! What the hell was wrong with him? Ah, need one of the potions that bloody traitor Snape used to make. Even if he was on goody-goody Dumbledore's side, he did have his good parts.
Maybe he needed a sleep. A good sleep. Gah, being the Dark Lord had its problems. But he wasn't the. Definitely had its problems. And think about the dreams he started having! Those were guilty for his good night sleep.
The door opened and he looked at it coolly.
"You're getting slow, Barty" he said and a part of him gaped. Barty Crouch was there! But he was. he was. He was what? Hadn't he saved him from his father? Definitely needed something.
"Sorry, Master" the other man said and fell on his knees, completely worshiping him. How nice! "Here is the thing you've asked for"
Harry took the object and looked at it, pleased. It was a small stone. He knew it, alright. It was one of those extremely useful second parts of wizarding spy cameras. He gazed into it and saw an empty chair in a room. Hmmm. What large room? The Minister's office, duh! Definitely needed a rest and a potion.
"Thank you, Barty!" he said, pleased. "Tell me, any news from Wormtail?"
"No, Master" the other man said and looked at him in a certain way he liked so much. Barty loved him like a god, why couldn't all his servants be that way?!
"He better free all those idiots from Azkaban soon"
"Indeed, Master" Barty said and Harry smiled.
The image faded away and Harry woke up, shaken by someone.
"Harry? Harry! Wake up, or we'll be late for class!"
Ron was shaking him and Harry opened his eyes.
"Wha-? Ron, I'm up, I'm up!"
"About time, too" Ron said. "Snape'll be in his class soon and we better be there too."
Harry sprang out of bed and started dressing. Maybe running through the castle in your boxers in the middle of the night was not very bad, but running through the castle in your boxers early in the morning when everybody went to their classes was definitely bad.
"Not time for that, I've got to get to Dumbledore"
"Again?!" Ron called after the boy, now in his robes, who ran out the door, leaving him behind. He didn't want to be late to Snape's class, so he took his stuff and left for class.
Meanwhile, Harry ran down the corridors. Maybe the dream was important, but he was quite sure Snape wouldn't excuse him if he was in any way late. Nope, so he better hurry. He made it to the gargoyle.
"Sherbet lemon! Oh, no, wait. Pumpkin pie!" he cried and the gargoyle sprang out of the way and he hurried up in Dumbledore's office. He knocked, but there was no answer. "Please, please, don't be gone, I don't want to be late." Technically, he already was, but still.
He entered the room and looked around. No, the Headmaster wasn't there, but Fawkes and the paintings of old headmasters and headmistress were.
"Hello again, young Potter" one said. "What be you doing here now? Dumbledore's not here, you know"
Harry stared at the talking painting. Usually paintings didn't talk to him. Not in the Headmaster's office, that was sure.
"Apparently not. But do you know where I could find him?"
"I'm afraid not" the painting replied. "But he should be here soon. Take a seat, make yourself at home."
"I'll be late for Potions and Snape'll have my head" Harry complained. "I think I should be going then."
But just as he was about to leave, he heard voices from the entrance to the office.
"Pettigrew is getting closer to his target and the Azkaban prisoners will escape soon" he heard Snape. Well, at least he wasn't late for class. although Snape would kill him for being there.
"I'm sure we can think of something Severus. But what took you so long?"
"The Dark Lord wanted to talk to me a lot" Snape replied, his voice getting louder and louder, showing that he was getting closer. "Kept me there all night. And he has a camera in the Minister's office."
The door to the Headmaster's office opened and Dumbledore came in, Snape right after him. The elder man just looked at Harry curiously, but Snape snapped.
"And what are you doing here, Potter? Spying on people? Ten points from Gryffindor!"
Dumbledore looked at him amused.
"I'm really starting to wonder how come Gryffindor still has house points" the Headmaster said, seeming to work hard on not chuckling. "Ten points to Gryffindor. So, Harry, what is it that brings you here?"
"I had a. two new dreams, Professor" Harry replied. "It's important! I don't know how he did it, but Barty Crouch is again his servant and he doesn't seem soulless anymore to me."
The two elder people exchanged a look.
"Barty Crouch is still soulless, Harry" Dumbledore said, most of his ever present eye twinkle disappearing. "Nobody deserves such a thing, but."
"But I saw him! Voldemort-" Snape shuddered and glared at Harry,"-was talking to him! And he even brought him a thing through which he could see. the. Minister's. office" Harry said, more and more rarely, realization dawning in him. "Oh, it was you, Professor"
The things Snape had said hit him. 'Kept me there all night'. 'camera'
"But how?"
Snape looked at him and said with great coolness:
"I doubted before that you were an intelligent life form, Potter, but now I don't doubt it anymore. Polyjuice Potion, I do believe you studied it"
Harry tried to smile a bit and failed.
"Now, now, Severus, there is no need whatsoever to insult Harry" Dumbledore said. "You said something about two dreams, Harry"
"Yes, sir. I once again saw Towers' Master. He said something about Towers' sister coming in a forest and he first didn't seem to know who he was talking about."
"A fellow disciple" Snape said. "It is sometimes a habit to call the fellow disciples 'brothers' and 'sisters'. Obviously, the man doesn't usually put it like that, since it took such a long while for Towers to figure it out for you to actually notice something was wrong". Was that an insult? Probably. Harry decided not to dwell on it. "I just wonder why he wouldn't speak so that Towers would get the point."
"They knew I was there" Harry answered.
"They knew?" Dumbledore asked, looking over his glasses.
"The Master said I was there and that he was hiding me."
"Interesting. Interesting, indeed" Dumbledore said. "Is that all?"
"Yes, sir"
"Then you better go back to class. And Harry, don't tell anyone about Severus."
"No, sir, I won't."
Snape was already leaving and was currently passing through the door. Harry could only follow. He felt awkward following him down the corridors. He was suddenly struck by the fact that that man had kissed Amala. He shuddered. And then he was struck by the fact that he hadn't said as much as a "five points from Gryffindor".
Indeed, Severus Snape acted as if he weren't there. Until they were about halfway to the dungeons.
"So, Potter, having bad dreams?" he asked and Harry didn't know how to take the question. Was that a mock? Or a try to befriend with him, since his girlfriend was one of his friends? Or a way to put an end to the awkward situation?
"Um, yes" he answered. "Do you think Voldemort-"
"Never say the name" hissed Snape, suddenly stopping and turning to look him in the eye. "Never"
Harry shuddered a bit. Man, the guy was creepy. How on Earth could Amala. Never mind.
"Alright, Professor" he said and Snape started walking again. "Professor. I. I'm not my father" he said, not knowing why.
Snape stopped again.
"That's obvious, Potter. Five points from Gryffindor for being idiots."
But still, his eyes had a weird look in them and Harry wondered why he had said that. Well, of course he wasn't his father! Duh! Snape, however, had a very weird look in his eyes and Harry wondered if indeed the Potion Master had thought he was him. But why had he said it? Why? Of all the idiotic things he could have said, why did he say that? The stupidest, the worst, the most idiotic thing. 'I am not my father." Jesus!
They nearly made it to the classroom when Snape said one last thing.
"And tell Mrs. Wright she has been a complete idiot and forgot her feather in my office when she had detention and I'd be glad if she took it back. If I just remembered where I put it." Snape muttered.
Harry smiled to himself.
"I will. What time, sir?"
"Are you some kind of an idiot, Potter?" Snape asked. "Oh, dear, what am I asking. She may come any time. But if you insist in asking for time, then remember six o' clock."
The two entered the classroom
"Excuse me for being late, I was busy recovering Potter from a toilet on the fourth floor in which he had gotten stuck. Which reminds me, Potter. Twenty points from Gryffindor for wasting my time."
Harry had an enraged expression on his face. What?! Stuck in a toilet?! Oh, the nerve! And he even took points! The Slytherins all smirked and almost all Gryffindors stared at him with confused looks on their faces.
"To your seat, Potter, or I'll take another fifteen!" Snape snapped and Harry reluctantly went to his seat and sat down. "Now, today we learn."
He started telling them about a potion or another and put the ingredients on the blackboard and they all started brewing.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
"Oh, and by the way, Amala, Snape asked you to go to his place tonight at six" Harry whispered to her when they were out of the Transfiguration class.
"He just. asked?" Amala said, raising an eyebrow. "Is he sick?"
"Actually, his exact words were 'tell Mrs. Wright she has been a complete idiot and forgot her feather in my office when she had detention and I'd be glad if she took it back.'"
Hermione giggled somewhere nearby and Amala started laughing.
"Thought so" she said, after she calmed herself down. "What a way with words. isn't he wonderful?"
Ron just stared at her.
"I do hope that was sarcastic" he said, sending her back into fits of laughter.
/*-/*-/*-
Harry was walking through the castle, thinking. Maybe he could use some help with the 'Voldemort issue'. He decided to go to Dumbledore's office. Maybe the old mage could help. Those blasted dreams were waaay too often for his liking.
He made it to the gargoyle and gave the password and started going up. Why didn't he ask for Hermione's advice? Weird, she was the first one whom he should ask. After all, she had probably read all the Hogwarts library.
But she didn't have much experience with such things, did she? He could only worry her and besides, she and Ron were busy at the moment with some homework. No, Dumbledore probably would be much more help than anybody else.
He entered the office and started to look around. No sign of him, however.
"Excuse me" he said towards the picture that had talked to him that morning "where is Professor Dumbledore?"
The picture jerked its head up.
"Ah, my dear boy. You're out of luck, I'm afraid. The Headmaster has left for the Ministry."
Harry sighed.
"This is not my day."
The picture smiled.
"Oh, cheer up, lad. No use to let yourself be defeated by small things, now is there?"
Harry looked at him.
"Guess not. Sir, if I'm not rude, who are you?"
The man laughed.
"One of the ex-Headmasters, as you can easily see. Ah, wonderful days long time ago when I could rule the school."
"Go to sleep Maxwell" said one of the pictures, a female one. "Or go through your other portraits."
"As much as I'd love to, I'd rather not, milady" he said, making a small bow. "I'm rather bored so I'll talk to this charming young man here."
Harry watched the two pictures argue, all the time looking very calm.
'They must be bored." he thought. "Well, I'll be going now" he said aloud.
"Oh, alright, my dear boy" said the man. "And come back later or tomorrow!"
Harry nodded and left. Nobody was there to help him. Nobody. Amala was at her date with Snape (ugh!), Ron and Hermione were making homework, Dumbledore was at the Ministry. He passed down the corridors feeling sad. They were all busy, having normal lives. And he was having more and more Voldemort-dreams, he was feeling weirder and weirder. Why him? Why not somebody else? Why did he have to be the potential savior of the wizarding world? Why not Neville? The prophecy could have been about him.
He let his head hang down, tiredly.
"I'm the only one who has these problems" he muttered to himself.
And then he passed through the corridor where there was Towers' office. He stopped. Of course! Towers! As weird as he might have been, the dark-light, non-sleeping, master-obsessed Professor said he'd help him. He knew about many things. Maybe. maybe somehow he'd help?!
He entered the office. Nobody was in.
"Just my bloody luck!" he said, angry. But he decided to wait for a while. He sat in a chair in front of Towers' desk and started looking around. Ok, this felt weird. Going to get help from Towers. Yeah, weird. But maybe he knew something? He was definitely weird enough to exist a possibility for him to know how to get away from those dreams. A weird shriek made him stiffen and tense.
"Harry Potter" said a strangled kid-like voice and Harry turned to see the Necrow in a corner of a room. So, the freakish thing was still there!
He shuddered, but then remembered that caged, the bird held no power. As long as it didn't escape, he was fine. And it wouldn't escape until Towers would let it go or it would escape by itself in a burst of power, which by the way didn't happen unless you angered the thing bad enough.
And then a closed book on Towers' desk attracted his attention. Harry looked at it closely. The 'Book of Kings'. Curiosity went through his body and he looked around.
'If the Professor isn't coming back soon.' he thought, without finishing.
But Towers didn't come and the book kept calling him. What was in there, beside the scene with the king that he had showed? What else was in the book?
What harm could it do to look in it? It was just a book, probably in the school library, too. Why shouldn't he. take a peak? A small one? What harm could it do? Towers had showed him the book, too.
He bent over the desk and picked up the book and opened it. Picture after picture, he saw people in different places. He passed even the picture Towers showed them. But not by much. He landed in front of a picture that simply attracted him. It was the same king as in the picture Towers had showed them, but no longer on his throne, but on a simple chair in front of a few other people, two of them taking care of horses, looking concerned about something. They were somewhere in the middle of a forest. Harry looked around and then decided. He took out his wand and touched the book easily with the wand.
"Show me"
The picture started moving.
"Really think it will work?" asked a powerful-looking man.
"Of course, Godric" answered a shorter, naïve looking woman. "I thought you were the brave one!"
"Salazar, you're rubbing off on him" said a very wise-looking woman.
"Am not. Am I to be blamed if he's loosing his legendary courage?"
"I'm not losing my courage!" Godric said, upset and Salazar smirked.
"Where is Jack, anyway? He said he'd be here soon" said the naïve looking woman.
"Oh, Helga, when are you going to learn that he only does as he pleases?" asked the wise-looking one.
"I thought he could at least be on time!" she said.
Harry stared at the moving pictures. Helga? Salazar? Godric? The four founders! He looked in fascination at what happened.
The king decided to start speaking.
"I trust he'll be here soon. He usually is on time."
Helga looked at the wise-looking woman who probably was Rowena Ravenclaw, an I-told-you-so hanging between them.
"And actually, here he comes" the king said and stood up to look somewhere far away.
Suddenly, there was a cry somewhere from behind Harry.
"STOP!"
The picture in the book stopped moving where it was and Harry turned to see the Defence Professor, his wand drawn and a mad expression on his face. Harry gulped.
"Sorry, Professor, I just. it was here and I."
Towers looked at the picture and said, in a surprisingly calm tone:
"I understand. No harm done, however. I just can't believe I was a big enough idiot to let this book on my desk."
He turned to look at Harry.
"Is there something you came for?"
Harry stared at him. Something? Oh, right.
"Um, Professor, I was wondering if you could help me. with my dream- problem."
Towers relaxed a little.
"Ah, yes.I know from reliable sources that Voldemort too has such dreams. He hates them. It isn't his scar that hurts, however, since he doesn't have one, but his entire being. You can't stand the hate, he can't stand the love."
"Love? But I."
"Tell me, Harry, what saved you from his attack fifteen years ago? Was it not your mother's love?"
"Yes, it was" Harry admitted.
"It still lives in you" Towers said and put a hand on his. "It still does. He can't stand it."
Towers looked in his eyes.
"I'm afraid there isn't much you can do to stop these dreams. And it will get worse."
"Worse?!" Harry asked, shocked. "Worse?!"
"I'm afraid so, Harry. But it will be a long time, I hope, until it gets too much worse. Unless the idiot decides to speed up the process."
"Can't we slow it down?" asked Harry.
"We could" Towers said. "But it's not easy at all. My Master did it for a while. He managed to interfere with your link, but he was stopped by his own Master."
"Why? If it helps." Harry started, but Towers interrupted.
"Because it doesn't anymore. It is enough for it. Yes, momentarily it could help, but after a while it might prove to be bad. And trust me, it is bad enough. But, Harry, try to live your own life. You're not damned not to do it."
Harry nodded and, understanding that that was all Towers was willing to say to him, left.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
Amala was happily going down to the dungeons. Ah, back! Back to Severus!
She pushed the door open and saw him, of course, grading papers. Was there anything else he did? Ever?
"I understood I was idiotic enough to forget my feather here, Professor" she said, with a mischievous smile and Severus raised an eyebrow.
"So, Potter is a part of the unintelligent life forms. That's why I chose him to give you the message."
"Well, at first he said you asked me out on a date" she said.
"Remind me to take 10 points from Gryffindor for his twisting of my words" Severus said.
"Is there no way to please you?" she asked, mock-exasperated. "Which reminds me. Harry stuck in a toilet?"
Snape rolled his eyes.
"Believable, isn't it?! I had to say something, we were both late."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Why were the two of you together? And why were you late? You're never late."
Snape made a promise to himself never to get a girlfriend again. Now she was asking questions! Soon, she'd be asking him to do things the way she liked it. This had to be stopped.
"That does not concern you" he said.
"No need to glare" she said.
"I'm not glaring."
"Yes, you are. Anyway, don't tell me if you don't want to."
Severus relaxed. Maybe she wasn't going to destroy all his life. He tried to smile at her. Well, tried. Maybe he should take lessons? He stood up and went to her. She just smiled and kissed him. Again, she took control. Bloody Gryffindors! Not that he minded, not that he minded.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
Author's Notes: Ah, my dear friends, another chapter has gone. And I must say I had great fun writing it. Not because it had been really funny or anything, but because of the mental images I got and thoughts that passed through my head. And realization of how stupid some things sounded like. Yep, like the Voldie-Barty scene. First time I somehow managed to make it look like SLASH. God knows how I did it. And having some very interesting singing/dancing scenes in my mind was not very sad either. Like Snape singing 'I did survive' (adaptation to 'I will survive') when coming up the stairs to Dumbledore's office. Like Voldemort singing 'Message in a bottle' by Sting -a bit adapted- ('sending out an S.O.S., sending out an S.O.S, I hope I soon get my potion in a bottle') and many, many others which you get when you listen to music and write in the same time and also had a lot of fun lately (you'd have a great lot of fun too if you'd just seen on the door of a restaurant: "We hire girls". Hmmm.)
I don't know when I'll update, the holidays are coming and I'm not going to be around, but who knows. Anyway, if I don't get to post before the New Year's Eve, Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year! May all be well for you in the new year!
Ah, on Christmas I got my first Harry Potter book. Funny story, too. I bought the Mickey Mouse magazines -don't laugh, but I like comics- and I kept seeing the 'Harry Potter' commercials. At first, I was indifferent. ('boy wizard goes to wizarding school'. not too interesting.). However, I kept seeing these commercials and started wondering what all was about. The covers of the books were weird. There was this boy with eyeglasses and a lightning-shaped thing on his forehead. He was riding a broomstick or a weird animal. I just shook my head. But then I got in a book shop and saw the books.
I said to myself 'oh, what the hell' and picked up one of them -it was the third book, but I didn't know that- and started reading. 'Hated summer vacations'? 'Wished he could do his homework, but he was forced to do it during the night'? 'Happened to be a wizard'? Gods! What was up with this kid? Nerd! Or, was he some kind of a Spiderman or Superman? Did his parents know he was a wizard? Was he the type of a kid who went into different worlds? I imagined him as a very smart, handsome kid who goes to normal school and has a secret second-life, where he goes into different worlds. Oh, well, as you can see, I've got quite an imagination.
So, I put the book down. 'Not for me'. But the seed was planted and I started thinking more and more of the books. Christmas was coming near and my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I answered. "Get me a Harry Potter book. The first. It has a bird-thing on the cover and is called something with 'prisoner'." Well, what?! It sounded to me as if it were the third book! Luckily, my mom saw it was 'the third year at Hogwarts' and bought me another one. Which wasn't 'the Philosopher's Stone'. 'The Philosopher Stone's were all in hardcover and she said: "it's just a silly book we're checking out. Mind if it's the second?". My answer was "no". So, I got the second book and started reading. It was. oh, wow. the book. much greater even than "Shogun". "Winnettou". Wonderful. Just the 'Quiddich' part didn't I get. From the second book you can't, trust me. But it was interesting nevertheless. I went and wanted to buy myself the first book. Still in hardcover. I still wasn't hooked up enough though, so I ended up with the third -the fourth wasn't out yet-. But I got totally hooked by the third, so I bought the first -yes, in hardcover. Cost me a lot, too, but I didn't care. not anymore-. I read it. And so I became a Potter fan. And I never called the hippogriff a 'bird-thing' ever again. *sniff*, *sniff* (I do have a cold)
Whoa! Look how much I wrote for Author's Notes! My, my, they're starting to look like a novel!
And since last time I did say I'd give 10 points to whomever guesses right about either Barty or who Sirius has a crush on, here we go!
Skillz: 17 points -didn't guess who used the Polyjuice-
The Red Dragons Order: 10 points -yep, Rose. Wasn't that hard to guess-
Megz: 10 points -cooooorrect! Rose!-
And for the question -30 points-: How long will Towers last as a Defence teacher?
I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing: Skillz, the Red Dragons Order, Naomie, Iniysa, Megz