A/N: hmmm… I never thought I'd actually get this far with my story… I'm running out of idea's… but I'll come up with something, just so you guys can read my story, and hopefully review (hint hint) Anyway, next chapter, here it is:
Chapter 32: A Load of Dreams and NightmaresNora and Hermione were making their way back out of the forest hours later after having had millions of water fights and contests to see who could jump off the high rocks the best. Hermione won, but only because she made a huge belly flop and Nora had felt sorry for her. This was also the reason why Hermione was walking through the forest bent over, rubbing her stomach.
"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Nora for the billionth time, worried about Hermione's health.
"Fine. Just perfect," mumbled Hermione in reply, still bent over as they walked over the clearing in front of the castle.
"Are you sure? We can go see Dumbledore if you want. He'll know a spell or something to make you feel better," Nora told Hermione while rubbing her friends back, trying to make her feel a bit better.
"No need. I know a healing spell, but I don't know what happens if you perform it on yourself," said Hermione as she stopped walking. Nora stopped, too, and took out her wand.
"Well, what is it? Maybe I can help you," she said, tapping her wand impatiently in her right hand.
"You think you can do it? It may go wrong because it's the first time you try it," said Hermione worriedly.
"Oh, calm down and give me the spell. You do want to feel better, don't you? I daresay you look ridiculous walking all bent over like that," Nora told her, beginning to get agitated.
"Fine. It's: 'Alleviatio' and you flick you wrist and then jab at the person you're healing," replied Hermione while showing Nora the wand movements. Nora muttered the spell under her breath a few times and practiced the movements before actually trying it on Hermione.
"All right. Here goes nothing," she said. "Alleviatio!" Nora shouted while flicking her wrist and then jabbing her wand at Hermione. A turquoise light shot from her wand, hit Hermione and then both girls were propelled into the air and landed painfully on the ground, tangled with the other.
"Ouch," groaned Hermione as she rubbed her back, grimacing.
"Oooh," moaned Nora while rubbing her head. "At least I took your mind off of the pain in your stomach," she told Hermione.
"Oh yes," replied Hermione sardonically. "Oh yes, you certainly did. Now I've got pain in all of the rest of my body to focus on. You were a great help."
"Like you never do anything wrong, miss flawless," snapped Nora. Neither of the girls made a big effort to get up, they were aching way too much to even breathe. They heard footsteps come nearer and nearer and the two girls looked up in the grinning/smirking faces of Harry, Ron and Draco, all of whom had very suggestive looks on their faces at the sight of both girls on top of each other. Hermione and Nora rolled their eyes.
"No, we're not lesbians, you horny pricks," said Nora as she struggled to get up. When she was finally standing she helped up Hermione and the two marched off towards the castle, leaving the three guys standing behind, looking slightly disappointed.
"Seriously, why do guys like it so much when two girls are… together?" asked Hermione as the reached the Entrance Hall.
"I have no idea. It's stupid. I mean, we don't start drooling whenever two guys are lying on top of each other," replied Nora.
"I know," said Hermione while checking her watch. "It's almost seven o'clock, should w-"
"Seven o'clock?" shouted Nora, while grabbing Hermione's wrist and checking for herself. "Already?"
"A-A-All right," panted Hermione as she tried to reclaim her arm. Unfortunately Nora had a pretty strong grip. "First of all, Nora: ouch!" Nora quickly let go of Hermione's arm and Hermione's face lit up as she quickly checked to see if everything was still in one piece. "Second of all: do you think I'm stupid or something? I can tell time, you know," Hermione went on, and Nora looked at her feet in embarrassment. "And third of all: you have your own watch. So next time if you don't believe me check your own timepiece first before grabbing my arm and twisting it in ways never thought possible."
"Sorry," muttered Nora.
"That's quite all right," replied Hermione while rubbing her arm. "Dinner, then?" she asked. Nora nodded and the two marched off into the empty dining room. They sat in their seats and waited for Dumbledore and the others. A few minutes later the dining room doors opened and Harry, Ron and Draco entered, not looking at Hermione and Nora. The three guys took their seats across from the girls and together they waited for their Headmaster.
"Strange," muttered Harry as he looked at Dumbledore's empty chair.
"What?" asked Ron, following Harry's gaze. The others were watching Harry, wondering what exactly was so 'strange'.
"Well, he's never late, is he? He's always been on time or earlier up until now, hasn't he?" Harry asked the whole group. His friends thought it over for a moment, trying to recall a time when Dumbledore had been late.
"He was late in our first year, remember? When you had gone to save the Philosopher's Stone?" said Ron.
"He wasn't late then, he was lured out of Hogwarts by Quirrel," replied Harry. The five thought for another few minutes, nothing jumping to mind. There was a loud pop and then a high-pitched voice, coming from the direction Dumbledore's chair. Ron looked at Dumbledore's chair in fright and pity before realizing that it was a house-elf and not Dumbledore himself.
"Excuse me, kind sirs and misses," the house-elf said. "I is Taury. Professor Dumbledore is sending Taury to tell you he will not be joining for dinner today. He is having an important meeting and you will be eating by yourselves. Food will be coming up shortly," the house-elf told them. Then she bowed and disappeared with another loud pop.
"I wonder what that important meeting is about," thought Hermione out loud.
"Probably Order of the Phoenix business," replied Harry while Ron's stomach gave a loud rumble. Just then food appeared on the table and Ron grabbed everything in sight, leaving Harry very… foodless. The others, Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco, seemed to be a lot less hasty and they took their time while piling food on their plates and chewing slowly and thoroughly, unlike Ron who had thrown his food on his plate and was now inhaling it with disgusting slurping noises. Nora and Hermione kept shooting him revolted looks, but Ron either didn't care or was to busy devouring his food that he didn't notice.
"So how was Quidditch?" asked Hermione, trying to make conversation.
"It was brilliant," replied Harry since Ron was still to busy pigging out and Draco had just taken a large sip of water from his goblet. "We had a pretty good time. What did you do?" He asked, wondering why their hair was wet.
"Yeah, and why's your hair all wet?" asked Ron, spraying food.
"We went to this small lake in the middle of the forest," replied Hermione, while looking at Ron in disgust.
"Yeah, it was really great. Very refreshing," added Nora, while piling some salad on her plate.
"There's a lake in the forest?" asked Draco interestedly, feeling very glad Nora was beginning to be her usual self again.
"Oh yeah," Nora told the whole group, rather than just informing him. "With a waterfall and everything."
"And with large rocks you can climb on and then jump off of," added Hermione. Ron and Harry looked at her as if they'd never seen her do something 'wild' like that before. Come to think of it… they never had. "Oh, come on. I can be… boisterous." Hermione told them. Harry shook his head.
"No you can't," he told her. "And if you can, you've never been 'boisterous' before, unless you count the time that you took more classes than usual in out third year and needed a Time Turner to get to them. But that was more stupid than boisterous."
"Well, if you haven't noticed, I've changed," argued Hermione, setting down her knife and fork. "I've become a lot more rowdy than I used to be." There was a loud snort before water was sprayed all over the table.
"I-I'm sooo sorry," apologized Nora in between laughs as she tried to dry the table and Harry, who had been sitting across from her, up a bit. "Terribly sorry. But that was just hilarious!" she added as she handed Harry a napkin. Hermione huffed.
"I don't see anything funny about it," she said, while folding her arms over her chest.
"Oh please. You, rowdy? In a parallel universe… maybe. I mean, your boggart, in third year, turned into Professor McGonagall saying you'd failed some exam. Don't tell me you can be rowdy if that's you're greatest fear," said Nora. She had stopped laughing but a look of amusement was still plastered on her face.
"Well maybe I'm not as wild as you guys are, but I'm loosening up. Give me some time, will you?" Hermione told them as her cross look was replaced by a smile. Her four friends grinned.
"We'll have to wait ages until you're just as 'wild' as we are," said Harry and there was a hearty laugh from the others.
"Ha, ha, yes, very funny." Hermione told him with a sarcastic tone, but there was a playful glint in her eyes. Just then the food disappeared, only to be replaced by desert. They all piled their plates full of the delicious smelling and looking deserts, knowing they'd never be able to finish it all.
"So, how about we all go to that lake tomorrow? The five of us. Have a little fun?" asked Ron while looking eagerly at Nora and Hermione, who both rolled their eyes, muttering what sounded very much like: "men".
"Seriously," Nora whispered to Hermione as the two girls leaned nearer to each other. "Can't live with 'em, and yet they're still alive and on this planet." Hermione snickered and they continued their desert.
"Sounds like a good idea, though," said Harry. "Should we go there after training tomorrow?" The others nodded and they finished the last of their deserts before getting up and exiting the Dining Room.
"Doesn't this place have a living room, or something? You know, like the common room in Gryffindor Tower," complained Ron as he looked around, searching for a sign of some sort that might lead the way.
"Pssst," whispered someone. The five students looked around suspiciously, all pulling out their wands and holding it out in front of them, their drowsiness replaced by attentiveness. "Pssst," the person whispered again. Slowly the five began walking backwards to the middle of the Entrance Hall. Predictably they bumped into each other and all gave a scared shout and jumped into the air. When they had all landed they whirled around, pointing their wands at the others. As one they lowered their wands, feeling completely stupid. "Pssssssst!" All five wands shot into the air again as their owners scanned the Entrance Hall.
"Wait, is it you?" Draco asked, peering at a painting. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron, who weren't looking at what he was staring at, spun around and all said: "Of course it isn't me!" Only now could they see that Draco was moving slowly towards a painting of a young couple in the middle of a heated argument. "It is you, isn't it?" asked Draco again, and the man nodded as he avoided the vase his wife had thrown at him. The others had crept closer too and together the five stared intently at the man who threw a plate at his wife.
"What is it you want to tell us?" asked Harry. Finally they young couple stopped arguing, allowing the young man to reply.
"I could not help but overhear your conversation about your search for a living room," the man began. His voice was very… classy, as were his clothes.
"Do you know where a living room is?" asked Ron hopefully. The man nodded.
"Why yes," he told them. "You see, it's very easy to find. You just walk up those stairs and at the beginning of the hallway with the fancy bedrooms there's an entrance to the living room you're allowed to use," the man explained.
"Thanks," said Harry and the others thanked him, too. When they had turned their backs on the painting to walk up the stairs they could hear the argument between the young couple starting up again and shatters could be heard, indicating the loss of several sorts of expensive china. The five reached the landing on which their bedrooms were and they walked into the hall.
"Now, he said the living room was at the beginning of the hallway, that there was an entrance," muttered Ron and he began searching. It didn't take very long before they had found it, it was immediately to their right, and they walked through the large doorway, there was no door, wondering how they could have walked past this for so many times and not notice it before.
The living room had a large fireplace at the other side of the room, in which a fire, the only source of light, was crackling merrily, casting odd shadows around the room. A large chandelier hung from the fifteen feet high ceiling but no light came from it. On both sides of the fireplace were large windows, draped with silver colored curtains. To the left was a fairly large bookcase with a few plants in between books and to the right was a working desk. In front of the fireplace was a large red rug and in front of the fire was a large ruby sofa with two comfortable ruby chairs that stood in front of the sofa but to the side, so that if a person were to sit in each chair they'd be facing each other, but not blocking the view of the fire for the people on the sofa.
"Ooh!" exclaimed Hermione and she immediately ran towards the bookcase. The others rolled their eyes and made their way towards the fireplace. Nora plopped down on the sofa right in the middle, feeling herself warm up in front of the fire already. Harry and Ron sat on either side of her, not sure if Nora was really feeling all right or if she was just acting. Draco sat next to Ron in one of the comfy chairs, as there wasn't any more room left on the sofa and Hermione seated herself in the comfy chair next to Harry, setting a stack of books on the floor. She looked at the pile but did not pick up a book. The other four stared at her in disbelief. Hermione, hesitating to open a book? Where is this world going? Hermione leaned back in her chair and instead of engrossing herself in a thick manuscript she stared into the fire. Nora, too, was not paying attention to her surroundings but was staring intently at the fire, its red, orange, yellow flames licking the wood, the merrily dancing fire reflecting in her blank eyes.
A/N: It's almost 12:00 midnight and I was totally on a roll with this story but then my parents came in and disturbed me and now I've lost it! (The ideas, not my sanity, mind you) I feel horrible! All of the great ideas just fell out of my head and now I dunno what to write! I'm totally hyperactive though, at midnight, can you imagine? And I don't want to go to sleep yet…
"We should play like 'Truth of Dare', or something!" said Ron excitedly, ripping Nora and Hermione from their thoughts.
"We already did that near Halloween, besides, there's not enough people," replied Harry.
"Then what? 'Spin the Bottle'?" suggested Ron, looking slightly disappointed.
"Nah, not enough people either," said Draco.
"We could play 'I've Never'," said Hermione.
"Hey, look who's awake!" said Harry playfully. "Oh, and another one!" he added, turning to look at Nora, who was yawning.
"What's 'I've Never?'" asked Ron. Draco and Harry looked at Hermione, too. Nora and Hermione grinned at each other before Hermione started explaining.
"It's pretty simple, and a good way to find out some information about the others. One person starts by saying a thing they've never done before and anyone else who has done that raises their hand and one of them goes next," she told them. (A/N: I'm not exactly sure if that's how you really play, I got it from some other story, so tell me if it's wrong.)
"Sounds interesting enough," said Draco. "Who goes first?"
"I will," said Hermione. "Since I suggested it." Then she added straightforwardly: "I've never had sex." To no one's surprise Draco raised his hand, though they were wondering whom he had done it with. Harry, Hermione and Ron turned to look at Nora, since it was the only explanation, though she didn't have her hand raised.
"Pansy," he told them, as if reading their minds. There was a clear look of revulsion on his face. "I've never gotten a bad mark in Potions," he said, a bit proudly. Harry, Nora and Ron raised their hands glumly. They looked at each other to see who would go next.
Another day
Staring out of my window
Thinkin' about tomorrow
Wishing things would clear.
"I've never lost someone I love," said Ron. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco all raised their hands. Ron avoided all eye contact with them; for some reason he felt guilty that he still had all of his relatives and loved ones, unlike his friends.
No need to rush
I ain't gonna worry
Any moment my sorrow
Is bound to disappear.
"I've never known what it's like to have a real family," said Harry. Hermione, Nora and Ron raised their hands.
"I've never gotten an excellent mark in potions," Nora said. The others chuckled and Draco and Hermione raised their hands.
"I've never entered in a karaoke contest," said Draco. He, Harry and Ron laughed, which grew even louder as Hermione and Nora raised their hands slowly, turning very red.
"I've never gotten detention," Hermione said proudly and she laughed as the others all raised their hands.
"See, you're not wild if you've never had detention, 'Mione," Nora told her. "I've never had any horrible stories written about me in papers, say the Daily Prophet." Harry, raised both his hands in mock celebration, as Hermione and Draco just raised theirs normally.
"I've never had more than one girlfriend," said Harry. Draco's hand shot up as he smirked proudly at himself, and Nora and Hermione's hand went up slower.
"I've never done anything wild," said Hermione with a pout. The others laughed and raised their hands.
"I've never sat in a car," said Draco thoughtfully. The others raised their hands.
"I've never been nice to Percy," said Ron with a slight frown. Harry, Hermione and Nora raised their hands chuckling.
"I've never been out of this country," Harry told them. All of the others raised their hands. Harry pouted, feeling left out, and the others laughed. The game of 'I've Never' went on for quite a while as the five sat around the merrily crackling fire, its dancing flames occasionally catching their eyes. Every few 'I've nevers' or so there was a hearty laugh that filled the room and echoed for a few seconds. The fire slowly began to go out, its flames growing smaller and smaller. The game finally ended when Ron said:
"I've never stayed up this late when there was training early the next day." Everyone looked at their watch and gasped, or fell out of their seat in Hermione's case. Together they ran out of the room, laughing at their stupidity, and said their goodnights in front of their doors.
"Well, Hermione. It looks like you're starting to get wild. I'll bet you anything you've never stayed up this late when you had to rise early again the next day," Draco said. Hermione beamed.
"See? I'm getting there," she replied with a large smile. "Goodnight!" she told them and then entered her room. The others bade their goodnights, too, and with a last smile at each other they entered the peace and quite of their room.
Sometimes I tell myself
I'm better off without you
And then I have to face the emptiness
I feel inside without you
And find a way to make it through another day.
The five students lay in their beds, the eerie silence pressing down upon their ears. The room seemed awfully dark and quite and it fed the uneasy feeling in the bottom of their stomach, allowing it grow larger and larger.
I need a way
To find the truth within me
Accept the fact that I love you
My blue eternity.
The five students looked around their dark gloomy rooms with anxious eyes, their brains casting for miserable memories as brains always do when it's dark and everything seems ten times scarier. Of course the first things that the brains pulled out was the death of the beloved ones and the five spent the rest of the night that they were awake mourning and wiping away tears that kept forming sneakily in their eyes, no matter how hard they tried not to cry.
I hear they say
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
I must have the heart of a lion
Sifting through love's remains.
Loneliness seemed to close in on the five as they lay silently in their beds, wishing they would be freed of the burden that had fallen upon them… because of Voldemort. All those people that had been killed, even before his second birth, all of those families that had been torn apart. Again the loss of their loved ones drowned the students. How they missed them… how much they missed them… it was unbearable.
My love for you is etched
Forever in my memory
Now I realize that life goes on
Even though you're not here with me
I wake up looking forward to another day
A day of living without you
I can't stand living without you
Just another day.
"Harry… Harry," an ethereal voice kept calling his name. "Harry… Harry." Harry looked around for the source and found himself standing in the corridor that led to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Harry," again that same wraithlike voice. He saw a figure moving away from a paper on the wall.
"Luna?"
"Harry, come here," Luna told him. Harry walked over to her and glanced at the note she had attached.
"Why aren't you at the feast?" he asked.
"Well, I've lost most of my possessions," Luna replied serenely. "People take them and hide them, you know. But as it's the last night before the summer vacation, I really do need them back, so I've been putting up signs." Harry felt sorry for Luna, a strange feeling of familiarity in his stomach.
"How come people hide your stuff?" He asked.
"Oh… well…" she shrugged. "I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually." Harry's feeling of pity intensified and he looked at the note again.
"That's no reason for them to take all of your things," he said flatly. "Want me to help you search for them?"
"Oh, no," she replied, smiling at him. "They'll come back, they always do in the end. It was just that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway… why aren't you at the feast?" Harry shrugged. He had an odd feeling of déjà vu.
"I didn't feel like it," he replied.
"No," said Luna while observing him with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes. "I don't suppose you do. That man the Death Eaters killed was your Godfather, wasn't he? Ginny told me." Harry nodded curtly but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about Sirius. He had just remembered that she, too, could see Thestrals. The feeling of déjà vu kept growing larger and larger the longer this conversation held, but Harry could not remember any other time he had seen this.
"Have you…" he began. "I mean, who… has anyone you known ever died?"
"Yes," said Luna simply. "My mother. She was quite an extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine."
"I'm sorry," mumbled Harry.
"Yes, it was rather horrible," said Luna conversationally. "I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see mum again, is it?"
"Erm… isn't it?" said Harry uncertainly. Luna shook her head in disbelief.
"Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?" she said.
"You mean…"
"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them." They looked at each other, Harry's feeling of déjà vu growing ever larger. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or to think. Luna believed so many extraordinary things… yet he had been sure he had heard voices behind the veil, too.
"Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your stuff?" he asked.
"Oh, no," said Luna. "No, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up… it always does in the end… well, have a nice holiday, Harry."
"Yeah… yeah, you too." She walked away from him and, as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened a little. Harry was about to turn around when he saw Luna lift off of the ground and fly down the corridor and out of the window, shouting: "Wheeeee!" Harry looked at her, his eyes wide, when the corridor of the Fat Lade transformed into a large forest and a hundred cloaked figures stood in a circle around him.
"My faithful Death Eaters," said Harry in a cold cruel voice. The Death Eaters around him bowed and Harry had a feeling of someone being… with him. "That fool Dumbledore has made the Concave Castle unplottable! But he will not stop us!"
"Excuse me, sir," said a tiny voice from Harry's left.
"What!" spat Harry. The Death Eater crumbled underneath Harry's icy stare.
"What is t-t-the Concave C-Castle?" the Death Eater asked, not looking directly at Harry.
"The Hatsrowg castle! Fool!" spat Harry. "Where Dumbledore and his five most precious students are hidden you useless excuse for a Death Eater! CRUCIO!" Yelled Harry, anger boiling inside him. The feeling that someone was with him grew and grew. The Death Eater coiled on the floor screaming in pain. When Harry finally lifted the curse the Death Eater kept twitching and lay panting on the floor. "We will have to search every book, paper, anything, to find a clue as to where it is. Then we will send Nagini and she will be able to break the spell. You may leave," said Harry, but he quickly added: "Not you, my fair Wormtail. You stay here." Wormtail whimpered but remained in his spot, which was on the floor, as the other Death Eaters left in a hurry. Harry pointed his wand at Wormtail, ignoring the great and awkward feeling that someone was with him, and shouted: "CRUCIO!"
Harry and Draco both shot up in their beds shouting in pain as one clutched the scar on his forehead and the other clasped the White Mark on his lower arm.
Ron sprinted along the small paths, turning right and left on intuition. His breath was fast and ragged, his legs moving as quickly as they could. Eerie hedges towered over him and the sky overhead was gloomy and overcast, occasionally loud rumbles could be heard, followed immediately by a fork of lightning. Ron looked up at the sound of cold malicious laughter. High above him, laughing, was Voldemort, his blood red eyes full of glee. Ron sped up, running faster and faster, trying to find the exit.
"Run, you poor excuse for a pureblood, run. For it is all you have in your power to escape the darkness that hides in this fascinating maze," he said, laughing at him. A shot of panic ran through Ron and he started running even faster, concentrating hard on finding the exit.
"Oh no, you pathetic fool, there is no exit, you are doomed to be torn apart by the beast of all darkness that is following your foul stench." Ron's heart sank. There would be no way to get out of here; he'd be doomed to die a painful death.
"That is right." Voldemort laughed again, watching him run through the maze. It began raining very hard and within minutes Ron was soaked. Voldemort gazed at something else in the maze and said: "You seem to be going in the very opposite direction the beast goes," said Voldemort. 'Good,' thought Ron, but another thought entered his mind. 'What if it's trick? What if he wants you to keep running that way?' he started panicking again and decided to turn right at the next chance he got. It took quite a while for a right turn to come up, but when it did he ran into as fast as he could. 'What if that was his plan?' A thought told him. Ron didn't know what to do; he was frustrated and panicking like he'd never panicked before. He lost his grip on things and slipped in the mud, falling flat on his face.
"Very good," Voldemort said laughing hardly. Ron quickly got up and started running again, though he really didn't see the point. He knew no one would be able to save him and the beast would catch up sooner or later. He might as well stop running right now and let the animal come and devour him, but he still kept his fast pace, hoping that he'd be able to escape someway or another. Ron looked up, but Voldemort's large face was still floating above him, laughing ever so horribly. He recognized this scene from somewhere, but didn't know from where.
Ron turned another corner in the endless maze of doom. A fork of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the maze for a split second. In that small second of light Ron saw dark looming shadows and two shadows caught his attention. There were other humans. Two girls. Ron kept running, hoping to find them, the cold hard rain splashing against his body. He was judging by Voldemort's happy laughter and shouts of joy that his doom was nearing him every second. Just then he ran straight into someone and fell in the mud. Ron quickly got up, wanting to see who the other girls were that were trapped in this awful maze.
"H-Hermione?" He asked. The other girl looked up, fear written all over her face.
"R-Ron? Oh thank, god! I-I'm so scared!" said Hermione standing up.
"Me too, and there's no way out of here!" shouted Ron, a feeling of dread spreading over him.
"I know," Hermione replied softly. Just then someone came hurtling towards them, slipping in the mud, splashing their clothes. Hermione helped the girl up and saw that it was Nora.
"Oh, Nora!" shouted Hermione as she hugged her friend. Ron joined in on the hug and the three of them just stood there, hugging, before loud growls dragged them back to the awful reality.
"Come on," said Ron and he began running again, Nora and Hermione right on his tail. The three of them ran through the small paths, turning corners every now and then at lightning speed, but still the growls were getting closer. There was a sudden fork of lightning right beside them and out of shock the three fell painfully on their backs, their whole bodies splattered with mud and what looked like…
"Blood?" said Hermione quietly looking at her arms and stomach. Nora had noticed, too, as had Ron. Their clothes were covered with dark red bloodstains, as were their arms. A loud rumbling growl made them look up and they stared into the eyes of evil.
There, staring at them, stood three gigantic leopards and instantly the three students knew what the animals were. They had learned the whole book of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' by heart and knew that the beasts in front of them were Nundus, the most dangerous animals in the world. The Nundu was a gigantic African leopard that moved silently, despite its size, and who's breath could cause disease virulent enough to eliminate entire villages. Fewer than a hundred skilled wizards working together had never yet subdued it. Ron, Hermione and Nora knew their lives were at an end; they would never be able to fight this beast with their bad wounds and no wand. Another fork of lightning flashed as Ron, Hermione and Nora looked into separate pairs of eyes of the Nundus. The feeling of déjà vu growing ever larger.
"Attack!" yelled Voldemort and no second later the Nundus jumped, mouths open wide and large pointy teeth glistening as the rain poured down on them as hard as ever. Ron, Hermione and Nora each let out a deafening cry as the Nundu's teeth sank painfully into their throats.
The five students shot up in their bed screaming as loudly as they could, covered in sweat and breathing frantically. Hermione and Nora jumped out of their beds, ran into the hallway, bumped into each other and shrieked in fright before slumping on the floor. Immediately three doors opened and out sprinted Harry, Ron and Draco, wondering what all the shouting was about. They saw the two girls lying on the floor, panting and sweating, and immediately rushed to their aid, looking very pale themselves.
"Are you all right?" asked Harry.
"What happened?" questioned Ron.
"How'd you get out here?" inquired Draco. The two girls tried to reply but they were just too exhausted, they felt as if they really had run all through Voldemort's maze.
"Maze," spluttered Hermione as she tried to sit up.
"Oh no you don't," said Harry and he pushed her back down.
"Voldemort's Maze," spluttered Hermione again.
"Maze?" asked Ron. "I had a nightmare about a maze, too. It all seemed vaguely familiar."
"We-We've had t-t-that nightmare before," stammered Nora, turning the attention on her. "W-W-With the N-N-Nundus." Then she fainted.
"Is she all right?" demanded Draco as Nora closed her eyes and slumped back on the floor.
"I think she fainted," said Hermione, trying to get up again, but Harry's grip was too firm and she remained in a lying position on the floor.
"Why?" asked Draco outraged, standing up. None of them had fainted, why had she? What if it was something serious and all of them just ignored it? "What if its sirius?" he demanded. Harry stood up and spun around to look at him in such speed that Draco backed away, frightened. "What?" he asked in a small voice.
"Did you just say: Sirius? 'What if it's something Sirius'," asked Harry, his voice a bit menacingly.
"No. I said: serious. 'What if it's something serious,'" replied Draco.
"He did, mate," said Ron when Harry still hadn't backed off. Harry turned to look at his friend and then at the two girls that lay on the floor. Hermione had just fainted, too.
"We should bring them to a hospital wing of some sort," said Harry quietly. The other two nodded and Ron raised Hermione and laid her in Harry's arms as Draco hoisted Nora in his. They made their way out of the hallway and stood at the foot of the grand staircase, wondering where to go.
A/N: Yay, another chapter for you to read… and review. I hope you liked it. I feel really depressed: it's not a white Christmas for us here! Make me feel better by reviewing, won't you? Oh, right, I almost forgot, the song I put in is: Another Day by Buckshot LeFonque and B. Marsalis.