CHAPTER FIVE: DREAMS

Beautiful. Indescribably beautiful. These were the thoughts of Harry Potter as he gazed upon Hermione Granger's nude body.

Amazing. What have I done to be blessed so? These were the thoughts of Harry as he kissed the girl he loved.

Oh my God... this must be what heaven is like. These were the thoughts of Harry as he made love to Hermione.

"Hermione," he breathed, thoughts clouded by his pleasure. "Oh, Harry," Hermione moaned. "Wake up, Harry... wake up mate, wake up! You're going to miss breakfast!" Harry was confused. What kind of scream of pleasure was this?

Hermione's face blurred out... and was replaced with the amused face of Ron. "Ron, you have the worst bloody timing of all." Harry groaned before getting up to get dressed. What he didn't know was another withing Gryffindor tower had had a remarkably similar dream.

"Good morning, Harry. Sleep well? Enjoy your dream?" Gaius teased. He hadn't slept well that night, and had heard the things Harry had said unconciously. Blushing with embarrasment and anger, he asked "How do you know about that?" Raising his hands in a gesture of innocence, Gaius said "Hey, I couldn't sleep. All I know is you were moaning and making... suggestive movements in your sleep."

At breakfast, both Harry and Hermione were avoiding each others' gaze. They tried to be discreet, thus making it all too obvious. Ron smirked. My hat's off to you, Sirius. Excellent potion. It had been a relatively simple matter for Ron to place a drop of the Coeur Potion into something Harry and Hermione ate, thus causing both to share the dream of the thing they mutually desired most. Each other.

"Are you responsible for this?" Gaius asked Ron as the four Gryffindors made their way to class. "Responsible for what?" Ron asked innocently. His face, however, gave it away. Gaius smirked as he said "Good work."

"Harry!" Neville Longbottom shouted as he ran up to his friends. "Harry! the Dementors have left Azkaban! The Death Eaters have escaped!"

After leaving a recently-escaped Lucius Malfoy and a detachment of Dementors to oversee the Portal, Voldemort returned to his santuary along with I'thok, Chief Sorcerror to the Doombringer Clan.

I'thok was here for a reason. While the powers of Voldemort and the Death Eaters could destroy the Orcs in a matter of minutes, there was an art that the humans did not know. An art he was here to teach: the depraved practice of Necromancy.

"Malfoy! Wait!" Ginny shouted as she ran down the nearly-empty hall. Draco paused, then stopped. "What is it, Weasel?" Ginny ignored this comment. "I'm still waiting for my answer."

Sighing, Draco gave his answer even more thought than he had over the past couple of weeks. "The truth is, Weasley... I don't much know myself." he found himself saying. Ginny looked at him sympathetically; it would be hard for anyone not to, given the expression he wore.

"Is it something about me, Draco?" she asked lightly, drawing close to him. "I-... I don't..." He couldn't speak; all he could think about at that moment were her lips... "Do pardon me Virginia, but-" he bent down and kissed her; to his surprise, she responded eagerly. Neither saw Ron seething down the hallway, being held back from interrupting by Harry and Gaius while Hermione told him to calm down.

"What the bloody hell were you doing!?! Ginny, that was Malfoy you were snogging! Has he cast some kind of spell or something on you?" Ron yelled, then asked his sister when she returned to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Smirking to aggrivate her brother, Ginny said "My snogs are none of your business." and walked up the stairs into the Girl's Dormitories. She left behind a furious brother, two slack-jawed would-be lovers, and one laughing transfer student.

Gaius lay awake that night. This time, he heard not Harry moaning- but Ron! He chuckled; it would appear someone sought to pull the same trick Ron had. He barely kept from laughing at Ron's gasp of "Luna".

The noise died down, and Gaius took to just laying awake again. He thought of the girl he was after; he daren't tell her, lest troubles arise for the both of them. Remember the 62nd Rule of Acquisition: he told himself, remembering the thing from some muggle television show. The riskier the road, the greater the profit.

Gaius then wrote a letter to his father, seeking his advice. Once he finished the letter, he sent it out on his owl, Odoacer. He slept soundly the rest of the night.

Classes went smoothly that day, even with the near-death experiences Draco had whenever Ron saw him. Once DADA was over, Ron told Harry and Hermione to go on without him, and then walked up to Sirius's desk.

"How goes Operation: Closet, Ron?" Sirius asked. "For the most part, well. although I still can't figure out a good place to set up the trick doorway..." "My classroom. Tell the two lovebirds that I want to see them both after dinner in my office." Ron smirked. "Excellent. though I am having a problem of my own: my sister, Ginny, is going out with that Slytherin bastard Malfoy."

Sirius kept a serious face as he told Ron "I can't help you there, except to say that unless he hurts her, it really isn't any of your business. Here's a note to get you into your next class." As Ron left, he swore he heard Sirius laughing.

"Oi! Harry, 'Mione, I just remembered! Sirius said he wants to see you two after dinner in his office." Looking confused, Harry asked "What for?"

"I dunno," Ron said while glaring at Malfoy. "He just told me to tell you two to go see him." The two got up (having already finished eating) and went to the DADA classroom to wait for Sirius. They opened the door... and were teleported to a locked closet within Sirius's office (so he could break things up if they went too far).

"Ron is going to pay for this. Locking us in a closet!" Harry said through his teeth as he tried to tear down the door. He failed to notice Hermione's hurt look at his desperate escape attempts... he did notice, however, when she began to cry...

R&R, s'il vous plait.