Disclaimer: All characters are the property of JK Rowling. We own nothing.
A/N: This story is yet another collaboration between Sarah and Alex, who live in different countries but still like to write stories together. We really like this story, and if it gets a bit of feedback, we'll continue it! One more thing: If you really wish to know, Sarah writes the parts with long paragraphs, and is also the beta for the story. Alex writes everything else, which in this case, is a lot. Okay, on with the story!
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Chapter One: The Mysterious "Gwyllion"
The rain poured down on Hogwarts, drenching everything in its path. It streamed down the walls, gathered in the gutters, pooled on the leaves of the trees. It pattered on the rooftops, creating the only sound in the otherwise eerily silent night. It pounded against the window of a room high up in a tower, causing shadows to dance phantom-like across the room. For one instant, the moon shone through a break in the clouds, illuminating the room's sole occupant; a pale boy, tossing and turning violently in his sleep.
The boy known as Harry Potter gasped in his sleep. His godfather stood before, looking as healthy and alive as Harry had ever seen him. "Harry, it's me!" Sirius cried, "Come to me," Harry nodded eagerly. Sirius was alive again! "Harry, I escaped! I'm alive!" Sirius shouted, running swiftly towards Harry with open arms.
To his horror, his dream self picked up his wand and pointed it at Sirius' heart. "Avada Kedavra!" he cried shrilly. Harry watched disbelievingly as a jet of poisonous green light shot out of his wand, and hit Sirius in the heart. His godfather's body went limp, and crashed through the veil; lost to Harry once more. His dream self began laughing, a high, uncontrollable, maniacal laugh filled with triumph and insanity. A woman's laugh.
Filled with dread, Harry glanced in a nearby mirror. A deathly pale face looked back at him, heavy-lidded eyes glinted mockingly while red, red, lips curled into a sardonic smile. He was Bellatrix Lestrange. He had killed Sirius. He was the one responsible for his death.
Then, the dream changed. He was in the Gryffindor common room, and he wasn't alone. Silky-soft arms encircled his neck, and warm lips were pressed to his. Gentle endearments were murmured in his ear. Harry closed his eyes, enjoying the sensations the person created in his body. Suddenly, cold steel was plunged into his back. His scar erupted with pain, contrasting vividly with the numbness in his body. Blood gushed out of the wound, drenching the carpets. Harry noted with some detachment that he was dying. His vision dulled with pain, Harry gazed into the eyes of his attacker; the one he had just kissed. They would have been beautiful eyes, large and thickly lashed, except for the pure hatred and evil that lurked in their liquid depths.
Suddenly, the eyes narrowed, to slits. The corruption within them became more and more pronounced as the irises turned vividly crimson. He was looking into the eyes of Voldemort. Insane, cackling laughter filled his ears, as the ache in his scar intensified. Through his haze of pain, he could just make out a voice shrieking, "The plans have been set! The boy will die!"
Then everything went black.
Harry Potter shot upright, clutching his scar as though afraid that it would burst. His breath came in quick, short, gasps, as he stared fearfully across the room, half-expecting to see Voldemort in front of him.
Slowly, his frantically beating heart slowed, as he realized that his experience had only been a nightmare. Sinking back down into his pillows, Harry desperately tried to recall the details of the dream. Voldemort had been in it, of course. 'That isn't exactly a new development.' Harry thought wryly. No...there had been something else. There had been a person- a girl- who had kissed him, and then murdered him. "Is that a warning?" Harry pondered aloud, and then immediately dismissed the thought. "Foretelling the future" was mostly rubbish, anyway, and he didn't even have the Sight. Probing further into his dream, he realized that...Sirius was in it. Harry was hit by a wave of nausea as the full details of the encounter came back to him. How could he have even dreamed about that? What did the dream even mean?
Sighing, he leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the window, blearily staring at the falling drops of rain outside. Could he talk to Ron or Hermione about the dream?
"Hermione! You're worse than mum! Bloody Hell!" came a shout from the Common Room. More yelling and scuffling followed.
Harry groaned, banging his head against the window out of sheer frustration.
His best friends could be so dense! They were at it again, fighting in the Common Room about silly things just to conceal their attraction for one another, which had become painfully obvious that year. No, there would be no point in going to them at that hour, as they would be too taken up with each other.
He picked up the ornate silver jug that rested on the windowsill and splashed water on his face, his eyes closing momentarily.
When he opened his eyes, he stared pensively at the lake, watching as the rain created soft ripples against its surface.
Lightning lit up the sky, making the landscape glow eerily. In the dim light, Harry noticed a cloaked figure prowling the grounds.
Immediately suspicious, Harry quickly flung his Invisibility Cloak around himself, plunging his hand into his pocket in search of his wand. He ran down the steps leading to the Common Room, not bothering to be stealthy.
Hermione noticed the sounds coming from the stairs and looked up, concern evident in her face.
Harry suppressed a snort, 'Now they notice! Why don't we all drop what we're doing and protect delicate Harry Potter!' he thought to himself bitterly.
Ignoring her concern, Harry strode towards the main doors that led to the Hogwarts grounds. He quickly reached the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.
"Lumos" he muttered, pointing his wand towards where he had last seen the figure. It was gone.
Determinedly, he scanned the Forest, searching for any traces of the mysterious apparition.
There it was!
The cloak clung to the figure like a second skin, accentuating the curves of its body; revealing, much to Harry's surprise, that the figure was female.
The hooded figure looked up at him, and produced a thin silver knife from its sleeve.
"Bellatrix," he rasped out, eyes narrowing, his breaths coming out ragged and shallow.
The woman clutched the blade tighter when she saw Harry approach.
And before he could reach her, he found the knife firmly placed in front of his face, barely touching his nose.
He held his breath, thinking that surely this would be the end, when the knife was hastily lowered and thrown on the ground and the hood of the traveling cloak was pulled back to reveal the pale face of...Luna Lovegood.
Harry let out his held breath in a long sigh, and looked back up at Luna, relieved beyond measure.
"Oh Harry! I thought you were a Gwyllion!!!" she said in that vague voice she possessed, looking up at him with a far off look, as if caught in a dream.
"A w-w-what?" he stammered, vaguely wondering how she could see through his Invisibility Cloak.
He then realized it had slipped off his shoulders on the edge of the lake when he made his first step towards 'Bellatrix'. "Accio Invisibility Cloak!" he shouted, laughing with relief as it flew towards him. Luna laughed along with him. Their laughter mingled pleasantly and seemed to brighten the gloomy atmosphere.
"What are you doing out here in the pouring rain, Luna?" Harry asked, motioning her underneath the sheltering branches of a nearby weeping willow.
"Marietta Edgecombe and Cho Chang said that the Quibbler was rubbish, and that there are no such thing as Gwyllions, but I know there are, Harry! I had one as a guest last Christmas and she was fairly nice to me." She protested, sliding down the trunk of the willow.
Happy that the weeping willow prevented them from getting soaked and concealed them from view, Harry slid down to the ground next to her.
He couldn't quite explain why, but the presence of the odd Ravenclaw comforted Harry for some reason, despite her eccentricities..
"And?" he prompted, staring at her pale blue eyes expectantly.
"And when I told them that they told me to get one and show it back...so here I am!" she replied happily, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Harry felt his blood boil with anger at the elder Ravenclaw girls.
They knew Luna would take their teasing literally, and they did it nevertheless! Looking back, Harry could hardly believe that he had once had a crush on one of them.
"Luna...what is a Gwilly-thing anyways?" he asked, sighing contentedly as her head rolled sleepily onto his shoulder.
"It's a cross between a fairy and a house elf, but it's not as attractive as fairies and they're about your size and its sole purpose is to mislead travelers and cause mischief. It only comes out of its lair in the pouring rain," she said fondly, with a yawn.
Harry couldn't help but snigger at her oddities, "And how does that explain the knife?" he said amusedly.
If Luna caught the condescending note in his question, she ignored it, as her tone of voice didn't change and her face remained serene and still.
"The only way to stop them from hurting you is by pointing a knife directly at them!" she supplied helpfully.
Harry's mouthy made an "O," and he looked away hastily whilst folding the invisibility cloak into the pocket of his robe.
"So...how was erm, Christmas??" Harry asked tentatively.
Christmas had passed by two weeks earlier, but he hadn't gotten much time to talk to Luna since then. He frequently saw her in the D.A., but with his teaching most of the castle (the D.A. members had tripled in number), he couldn't exactly fish her out and establish a conversation.
However, once the question was out of his mouth the conversation flown wonderfully. As they chatted on about various subjects, Harry was pleasantly surprised to learn how fascinating Luna was, once one got to know her.
They began talking about the last Quiddich match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, in which Luna had surprised everyone by playing Chaser.
"I saw that Bludger hit your head," she informed him, taking no notice of his wince.
"Yeah...hurt like hell!" he said, watching her cheeks tinge pink, the dreamy expression never leaving her face.
"So, why are you out so late??" she finally asked, looking up at him.
Harry bit his lip.
Should he tell her?
"Well I was having this awful dream about Sirius," Harry said, taking in a deep breath, and related the entire episode to her. "When I woke up I tried telling Ron and Hermione about it, but they were having a fight, as usual and didn't even hear me!" he concluded, and winced at the whiny nature of that last comment.
Luna shifted next to him, and Harry felt her hand slip into his as her head left his shoulder.
"They'll come around eventually, Harry," she stated, giving him an odd smile. Then, her smile brightened. "Friends?" she asked quietly, her eyes never leaving his. Harry grinned. Why not? "Friends." he repeated, strangely enjoying the feel of her hand in his. She then rose, giving his hand a last squeeze as she did so.
He shot her a confused look. Why was she leaving? "It has stopped raining," she explained, waiting for Harry to get to his feet. Nodding, he got to his feet as well, falling into step with her as they made their way towards the castle.
Upon reaching the Entrance Hall, they said their good byes and went their separate ways. Harry slowly traipsed towards Gryffindor Tower, deep in thought, not noticing that he was out after curfew. Soon, he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
With a sigh of relief, he bounded towards the portrait, his Invisibility Cloak tucked under his arm, only to stop dead as a voice came from behind him. "Mr. Potter, I do hope you have a good explanation for this!"
Harry whirled around, only to come face to face with none other than Professor Minerva McGonagall.
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A/N: That's all for now! Please review, and tell us how you felt about the story. Thanks!
