Chapter nine here now…

Title: The Future is Waiting

Chapter 9: The Dream

"Wh – what're you gonna do?" Ron said, watching as Harry scrambled out of bed.

"I have to talk to her! Now!" Harry replied, jamming his glasses on.

"Talk to – Claire?" Ron stood back as Harry got to his feet.

"Rose! I have to ask her now if – if she's dreamt of it or something! I have to – "

"Harry, y – you can't! I mean, like what Hermione said before – wouldn't it sound too awkward if you just walk up to her and ask her something like that?"

Harry thought it would sound too dramatic to say that it was okay for him to ask Rose about his dream because they knew each other pretty well, so he settled with saying, "I don't care if it sounds stupid! I need to know what's up with that dream! Sirius is trying to tell me something!"

"O – okay… But I'm gonna go back to sleep, all right? I'll… I'll meet you in the morning…" Ron called as Harry closed the door.

He sprinted down the stairs, still in his pajamas, excitement pulsing through him. When he reached the last two steps, however, he stopped abruptly, hearing voices talking.

"Do you understand?" came an old voice Harry only knew too well.

"Yes, Professor," said a girl.

"You must at all cost control yourself. Do not let yourself be blinded. Ignore it. At least until you have fulfilled your mission. Do I make myself clear?" said Dumbledore's voice.

"Yes, Professor. Good night," said Rose's voice.

"Good night, Rose,"

Then, a small pop echoed around the hollow common room, and there was talking no more. Harry jumped down the last two steps to find Rose, wearing a black cardigan over her nightgown, getting up from the front of the fireplace. Probably because she just got out of bed, she wore her hair down. Harry thought she looked much more like from in his dream. She froze when she saw Harry.

"Er… Were you… just now, were you talking to Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked uncertainly as he walked nearer.

"Y – yes… I just asked him about something… Really silly of me… To do it this late at night…" she said with a small laugh that was obviously made to cover the uneasiness in her voice.

"What kind of thing were you asking him about?" Harry said, reaching the front of the fire and sitting down one of the wooden chairs. "I mean, was it something weird? A dream?" he finished. He felt that now that he'd started it, he had to get over with it with the answers he needed.

"A – a dream? What do you mean?" Rose said, standing in front of the fire, her back to it.

"I – I mean… Well… Listen, I've been dreaming about – I've been dreaming about you," he started. Rose remained quiet, still looking nervous. "Well, it was your face, but in the dream, you – you told me your name was Claire. I've been dreaming about it all summer, and now, I've seen it again," Harry talked feverishly. "But this time, you – I mean, the girl who looked like you was crying because of this woman. I – I really don't understand it. So… So… Have you been… Er, dreaming of the same thing?" Harry finished hesitantly.

Rose remained silent for a moment, gazing at Harry kindly, her nervousness gone. Then, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Harry. I cannot help you with that. I'm afraid I haven't seen much in my dreams except silly things about my childhood fantasies…" She did not give a laugh this time. She just continued to smile at Harry.

"But – but Rose… You haven't… You didn't see…?" Harry mumbled uncertainly.

"I'm sorry I can't help you, Harry," Rose said, the smile on her face vanishing. She went nearer to Harry's seat placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you have a twin sister named Claire or something?" Harry asked in a wild and desperate urge. Rose shook her head slowly.

"Harry…" she said more quietly. "I wish there was something I could do to help…"

"No…" Harry said, closing his eyes and burying his face in his hands. "No… I was – I was just foolish enough to believe it was actually true anyway…" he said in a muffled voice.

"Harry…"

"Maybe – maybe because I wanted to see Sirius so badly – "

"Sirius?" Rose asked.

"Yeah… My godfather… He – he died just last June… He was in my dream…"

"I'm – I'm sorry…"

"No… It's all right…" Harry said. He got up from the chair. Rose took her hand off Harry's shoulder, and he turned to face her.

"Harry… I – I really want to – I wish I could just do something…" said Rose, taking Harry's hand in hers. She had her head bowed down.

"No… It's all right… You don't have to do anything…" said Harry, breathing hard.

"Will you be all right?" Rose asked. Harry felt her warm breathing and realized that they were standing too close to each other.

"Er, yeah… I guess so…" Harry replied.

"If you need help, tell me, all right?" Rose said in a bare whisper. Harry only heard because they were and inch or so apart. "If – if you dream about this again, tell me… I promise I will find out why you're dreaming about this… Okay?" Rose looked up.

Harry stared into her ocean blue eyes. The first time he'd seen them was in his dream. He just could not believe that it had meant nothing. Breaking away from his sentiments, he also recognized that his face was half an inch away from Rose's.

They had not yet moved when footsteps echoed from the stairs going up to the boys' dormitory. Someone was coming down.

"Tell me, okay?" Rose whispered again, and this time Harry felt her breath on his face.

"O – okay…" Harry replied. His face was growing hot now. He didn't know which way to move, his mind working desperately. Suddenly, Rose placed a hand on Harry's left cheek and swiftly kissed his right. Harry felt his face burn. Rose had just stepped back a foot or so when the footsteps stopped.

"Rose?" a familiar voice said. "What are you doing here this late at night?" said the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

"I was just – "

"With Potter, I see…" Malfoy said. Harry turned and saw Malfoy standing at the foot of the stairs, also in his pajamas.

"I was already going to bed, actually," Rose said. Harry noticed she had regained her elegant, slightly snobbish manner in the fraction of a second. Just moments ago, she was speaking soft and quietly to Harry. "If I must say, it was a mere coincidence Mr. Potter and I met here."

"Coincidence? Hmm… yeah, maybe…" Malfoy said lazily.

"Mr. Malfoy, may I just ask what you want to point out? You seem to be suspecting me, or Harry, of doing something illegal," Rose said, her temper rising. Harry thought that saying this was not at all a smart move, for Malfoy could say that Rose was guilty of something.

"It's Draco… How many times do I have to tell you, Rose? And… You call me by my surname when I perfectly heard you call Potter by his first name? I think that's unfair…" Malfoy finished in a menacingly calm and quiet tone. Rose did not reply and, Harry thought, this was just the give away.

Malfoy continued to stair at the pair of them, and Rose continued to glare at Malfoy. Finally, after several minutes, Rose said, "I want you to know, Draco, that whatever Harry and I were talking about is none of your business… And just to make sure… Yes, we have been out of our beds, but so have you…"

"I am a Hogwarts Prefect…" Malfoy said in the same silent, vicious voice. "I have the responsibility, and the privilege, to go around patrolling once in a while – "

"I am a Bridgework Student Head, and I have every right and privilege you have – "

"And Potter?" Malfoy cut in. "I don't think he has any liscence to be out of bed, Rose. Except if you include Dumbledore's favoritism for him… Surely, if Dumbledore was to be asked if Potter is allowed – "

"Shut your mouth, Malfoy," Harry said, angry that Malfoy was now pulling Dumbledore into this.

"You seem to not read properly, Draco…" Rose said, now adopting the same threatening voice as Malfoy. Harry did not understand what Rose meant, but he listened hard. Rose sank into the chair Harry had been sitting in earlier and surveyed Malfoy angrily. "If you have read the guide for Prefects that Bridgework has distributed, you will find that any student who is in the company of a Head during curfew hours is well permitted to stay up… Therefore, Harry is not out of bounds," she finished simply.

Malfoy appeared to be too appalled to speak. Rose got up again. Malfoy shuffled past the two of them, furious. He went down the marble stairs out of the common room, and went out of sight. Harry smiled at Rose, but she still looked angry, staring at the place where Malfoy stood earlier.

"Er, thanks…" Harry said carefully.

"For what?" Rose shot at him.

"Er… For rooting up for me…"

"I hate him!" she said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, so do I…" Harry laughed.

"Does he do that all the time? At Hogwarts? Trying to corner people and stuff? Only, this is the first time he's done it to me. When we meet at their house, he's usually all graceful and sickly sweet. I don't know why he does that… Anyway… Next time he tries telling me I'm out of bounds I swear I'll jinx him."

Harry tried to laugh off. He realized Rose was a bit naïve, wondering why Malfoy tried to treat her so nicely. Harry only remembered too well the day when they were in the library and Malfoy tried scaring Harry off to stay away from Rose.

"And I had to make up an excuse so he wouldn't go firing his tongue at authorities saying you were out of bounds tonight," she said, breathing hard.

"Er, that wasn't true? The thing you said about the guide for Prefects thingy?" Harry asked. He completely thought Rose's retaliation was on legal grounds.

"Of course not… I don't even know half of that guide… I just said that to shut him up…" Rose said. "Well, I'm off to bed," she said, turning towards the stairs to the girls' dormitory, her long black and red hair swaying with her movement.

Harry had a fleeting vision of Sirius and the red-haired woman from his dream kissing, and next thing he knew, he had his arms wrapped around Rose, kissing her. And surprisingly, amazingly, Rose was doing the same.