Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters/ideas that are represented within the pages of any of those books. I also do not make any personal monetary gains from the production of this or any other chapter in this particular fanfiction. I am poor. Please don't sue me.

Restless Slumber

"Hey, Hermione. You know what? I think I should take you out on the most amazing date and blow your mind by saying all of the right things." A voice spoke from behind Hermione.

She smiled softly to here the voice. That was just what she had always wanted to hear, "Oh, Harry. I'd love to!"

"Harry? I'm not Harry…but I guess I'll just have to step out of the way and let you two be together…that would be the right thing to do…" Ron's voice came from the shadows.

Hermione spun around and looked into the darkness trying to find who was saying all of this to her, "Ron? Is that you? This had better not be some kind of joke."

"Pah. Comparing me to that Weasley boy? Now that is a joke. You know it's me, deep in your heart mudblood. No one really wants you." It was Draco's voice this time.

She clenched her fists tightly, "Malfoy! Why won't you leave me alone!" She screamed.

"That Malfoy guy is a joke if you ask me. Doesn't know what he is doing in anything. A total twerp." Hermione was now hearing Blake's voice. This was so very confusing.

"What is happening? Blake doesn't even know me. This doesn't make any sense…" Hermione fell to her knees and began to cry softly.

"Oh, it makesss perfect sensssse, little girl. You are the bait for my trap." Hermione's blood froze in their very veins. It was Voldemort. What was going on? She opened her eyes to see the dark room, illuminated only by dark red light. The silhouette of the dark lord stood before her, "Well, you would have been the bait, but it seems that the Potter boy has no interest in you. I suppose I'll have to get rid of you." He raised his wand and pointed it at the girl.

"Get away from her you monster!" It was the commanding voice again. Hermione just couldn't place it to anyone, or the silhouette. It could have been anyone. She couldn't really tell through the tears and sniffles that she was still producing.

"What is it that you are going to do to me if I don't leave this girl alone? Why does she matter to you?" The scene had changed slightly, but it was basically just playing over again in front of her eyes.

The commanding figure standing in the doorway raised a hand, possibly with a wand in it, "If you do anything to harm that girl, I will kill you where you stand. What she means to me is none of your business. Step away from the girl now, or the last thing you will hear will be an unforgivable curse."

Voldemort laughed, this had changed too. There was more of a laugh to it this time, "You think that your puny powers can conjure up something that can hurt me? I am the great Voldemort!"

It was coming. It wouldn't take long now before Voldemort used his curse and killed whoever it was. There was nothing that Hermione could do. Her lungs burned, and her throat felt tight. She wasn't going to be able to even scream to warn her saviour. She was doomed to sit there and watch as Voldemort used the unforgivable curse on them again. Just like before, there was nothing she could do to stop it. Death was inescapable.

"If you're so great, then why have you stooped so low as to take hostages, and why is it that you haven't just killed the girl yet? You are afraid of me and what I might be able to do. You are afraid of what I might be able to cast to cause you a great deal of pain and suffering before you die." The person who had come to save her laughed softly.

Voldemort screamed as he pointed his wand at Hermione's would be saviour, "I fear nothing! Avada Kedavra!"

There was a flash of unearthly green light and that was it. Hermione knew that was it. She was going to be the next target for Voldemort. There was no doubt about it. She was going to die, just like the person who had come to save her. She wasn't necessary any more. He had even said that. It was all going to be over in a matter of moments, she just didn't know how long it was going to take for everyone else to realize that her life was over. Would anyone even care if she stopped living? Would anyone know that she had died at the hands of Voldemort? It didn't matter. She was a gonner.

☼

Hermione opened her eyes, crying and gasping desperately for breath. Her body was damp from sweat, and her eyes itched from tears. What kind of twisted nightmare had that been? It was just like the one that she had before, only this time started out far more twisted. What did any of it mean? It didn't make any sense at all.

She continued to cry silently as she looked down at the blankets that covered her. Morning light drifted in through a part in the curtains at the side of the room. At least that was a relief. This time she hadn't lost too much sleep because she couldn't get back to sleep. She'd probably even be able to stay up through all of her classes, not that staying up through all of her classes had ever been a challenge with all of the interesting things that the learned each and every day.

She wiped away a few of her tears. This was just a bad dream, and all she had to do was forget it. Dreams didn't have any power in the real world. It was just a dream and she hadn't seen anything that had happened, or was ever going to happen. She just had to relax and get a hold of herself. It wouldn't do for her to have eyes that were red and puffy from crying if she was going to spend any time around Harry. She wanted to impress him, not disgust him with red, puffy, crying eyes.

"Well…time to get up and face a new day I suppose." She whispered softly to herself so that she wouldn't wake anyone else.

She quickly set to work gathering her bath supplies and the set of clothes that she would be wearing that day. She'd just go have a bath and everything would just wash away, including those memories of that odd and frightening nightmare. There was no point in not being clean because of a nightmare, and it wasn't like taking a bath wasn't going to help her. After the cold sweat that she had woken up in she needed a nice long bath.

"Mmmm…I'll go get my bath and then maybe get myself a nice big breakfast…get ready for a long day of learning…" She smiled softly to herself, the memories of the dream quickly slipping away and vanishing from her mind. Everything was going to be perfectly mundane and normal…well at least as normal as things ever were at Hogwarts.

☼

Blake and Ron were playing a game of wizard chess in the common room. Ron was losing miserably, but that was because his pieces were a bit flakey and kept making moves that he hadn't told them to make. Blake continued to play, not really having to pay much attention to what it was that he was doing since Ron's pieces seemed to have some sort of death wish.

Right now it was Blake's move, and while it was clear for anyone to see that he could make one move, take the queen and put Ron in check, all with a knight, he was thinking about it. He appeared to have a lot more on his mind than just the chess game. Harry had been watching and taking notice of how Blake always seemed to be over thinking every move that he made, like he wasn't thinking about it at all, and had some sort of secret thought that he was contemplating.

Blake made the move, "Check."

Hermione came out of the girls' dorm carrying her bathing things and the clothes that she would be wearing. She had her school robe wrapped around her and was wearing her usual pyjamas underneath that. She paid little attention to what was going on in the common room and just wandered out so that she could go take her bath, leaving the room a little bit more silent than it would have been.

Ron stared at his pieces, "I think that maybe…"

A knight jumped up from it's spot, "That's the problem with you. Too much thought! Charge!" Ron's knight took the knight that Blake had just used to claim the queen.

Blake moved a lot faster than he had been through the rest of the game, bringing his queen up and putting Ron in checkmate, "Well. That was fun." He smiled softly, "So, what do you guys think of the Hermione girl?"

Ron stopped in the middle of collecting his pieces waiting to see what Harry would say. This would finally give him his answer about what it was that Harry felt towards her. Maybe he wouldn't have any romantic feelings for her and that would mean that he could make his move and finally tell Hermione, straight out, how he felt for her. It wouldn't matter that she liked Harry if he didn't return the feeling. It wouldn't matter at all.

Harry blinked as he looked at the two silent boys who were obviously waiting for him to make some sort of response, "Uh…well, she's smart. Probably the smartest Gryffindor…well probably the smartest student at Hogwarts now that I mention it. She's really nice…um…she's generous…why are you two staring at me like that?"

Blake smiled and shook his head as he looked back at the chess board, "Bah, puppy love."

Harry raised his hands, his cheeks blushing deeply, "Hold on! I never-"

"You didn't need to say anything, Harry boy. You are so completely and totally head over heels for that girl. Bah, I don't blame you." Blake smirked.

Ron looked up at Blake almost shocked, "You mean?"

Blake smiled up at Ron, "Hey, Ron. Fancy another game?" The pieces set themselves up on the board again, "I'll make it quick, then we can go get some breakfast."

Ron stared at Blake, "Uh…sure, I guess..."

Blake grinned from ear to ear, "Good. Lets get started on this!"

((AN: Sorry that this didn't come in as fast as the rest of them. I kinda got addicted to an old computer game…X-com. Which is an amazing game. If only my version wasn't buggered up…I adjusted the dream a bit cause I didn't want anyone to get bored reading the same thing that they read in whatever chapter it was that I had the dream last time.))