Welcome to another installment of I Have Dreamed! ducks as people pelt her with fruit and vegies I know, I haven't updated in over a year. This chapter gave me a tonof trouble, and when I finally finished it, I had to beta it myself, b/c both of my betas are on vacation and rather out of touch right now. And as one of them has my ticket for Ozzfest, I am kinda annoyed for reasons other than my fic. But here it is at last- Chapter 2: The First Dream.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, the event that occures on page 533 of HBP would never have happened, as cute as it was. (Please note that I have given nothing away, for those of you who have not finished the book yet.)
After the Unicorn God left them, Draco and Ginny simply remained where they were for a while, looking from each other to their surroundings; both thinking very hard about their situation. And both had reached a similar conclusion: this was too weird, and yet real-seeming, to be an ordinary dream, and so must be actually happening. That meant that they, two enemies who had previously avoided each other when possible, were now to share the hours they slept. It was a lot to take in, and both found they needed to sit down.
Ginny chose a large, flat-topped rock by the pool, where she sat and watched the tiny, brightly colored fish that lived in the water; Draco sat with his back against the large tree all of this had started under (the dream-version of it, anyhow), where he had a good view most of the clearing, including Ginny.
Dreams shared with another, thought Ginny as she stared unseeing at the fish. Now isn't that a little too familiar for comfort.
Why me? Draco thought as he looked at the girl before him. Now I can't even let my guard down in my sleep.
And so they sat, lost in their own thoughts….
Thoughts that were interrupted by the sudden stampede of a large variety of cats, who came charging through the space between the two children with absolutely no warning. Draco made a surprised noise, which brought Ginny out of her reverie with a start. They both stared as the cats, twenty at least, disappeared into the brush on the other side of the clearing from which they had entered. No sooner had the last tail vanished, then another creature, this one very large, bounded out of the same bush the cats had, obviously in pursuit. When it reached a point between Draco and Ginny, it seemed to freeze in mid-air. It hung there a moment, looked first at Draco, and then at Ginny, before landing gracefully back to the spot it had just leapt from, as though rewound.
The pause gave Ginny and Draco a chance to look at it, "it" being a creature neither of them could identify. Before them sat a girl who appeared to be several years their senior, perhaps seventeen or so. She had long, straight, dark hair, with bangs that covered half of her forehead and part of one eye, the other of which was also dark in color. She wore black breeches that ended just above her knees, and a black tuxedo jacket, the kind with tails, between which her own tail poked out. Cat-like ears sprouted out of her hair; her golden eyes, slit like a cat's, gleamed at them from her vaguely feline face as she licked a paw and wiped it across her whiskers.
"Who are you?" she demanded. She didn't seem angry, just curious. "Mortals aren't supposed to be here."
"The Unicorn God…" began Ginny, hesitantly. This…girl wasn't exactly scary, but she did seem to radiate a 'I-don't-like-anyone' sort of vibe.
"Valarian? " interrupted the girl. "oh, well, that's ok then." She paused a moment, staring at Ginny intently. "You know, you look familiar…". Then a light bulb went off over her head with a little 'ping' "I know! You're a Hogwarts student." She looked at Draco. "You both are. You're Ginny Weasley, and you're Draco Malfoy, right?"
Ginny just nodded, her face unreadable; she was staring at the cat-girl and appeared to be thinking very hard. Draco glared. "Just who are you?" he asked. "How do you know who I am?"
"I've seen you…" said Ginny suddenly, ignoring Draco. "At night, sometimes, I've seen you in the shadows when I wake up…" a flash of understanding crossed her face as she broke off; Akai looked pleased.
"Yes, you have. Very good. Most mortals don't see me, even when they have magic; I had a feeling you were among the few, though." She turned her attention to Draco, who was looking a little perplexed, as well as rather annoyed that he was being left out of something. " I am Akai; I'm a cat girl, and I serve the Goddess Kuso-Neko-Kami-Sama, The Goddess of Death and Nightmares. I am in charge of the delivery of nightmares, and the organizing of the messengers who do most of the actual delivering."
There was a chorus of meows from the ground around them, and Ginny and Draco started- they hadn't noticed that the cats Akai had been chasing had come back, and were now gathered around their feet.
" Why would a cat-girl be in charge of the delivery of nightmares; everyone knows they're delivered by Nightmares," said Draco with a know-it-all air that rivaled Hermione's. "You know, horses."
Akai made a noise that was a close to a snort as any cat could make. "No, they aren't. That's just what some of you mortals think. Maybe that was how it used to be done, but for the last several thousand years or so, it's been my horde of cats and me."
"Why cats?" asked Ginny, curious. She found that she liked this cat-girl, now that her general air of dislike had evaporated.
"Cats can go everywhere," said Akai, proudly. "It's just one of the things we can do ; there are no boundaries created that a cat can't get through, and that includes the minds of mortals."
Ginny thought about it, decided that this explanation made sense, and nodded to show her understanding. Draco, watching the two girls, so obviously getting along, felt a twinge of jealousy. He had always admired the ability some people had to make friends so easily. Being a Malfoy, he had to consider his image first, which meant he could only be friendly, within limits, to those who were equal to him in status, or had something he needed. He was used to feeling as though he was on the outside looking in, and did what he always did: ignored his urge to just throw his image out the window, and put on a superior look, the sort he might have used around a servant.
"You still haven't said how you know us," he said. "If you have cats to deliver nightmares for you, then how is it you know us enough to remember our names?"
"I deliver urgent, prophetic, or special nightmares. There are many of them that require delivery to wizards, and a good deal that lately must go to some within Hogwarts. To save time, I have taken to delivering all those that must go to your school.
"Also, sometimes Kuso-Neko asks me to watch over a mortal who she takes a special interest in." she glanced at Ginny as she said this, who looked the other girl in her slitted eyes. Draco sensed something pass between them, and knew it was more than just the camaraderie he had noticed minutes before.
Draco only shrugged, acting as though he wasn't interested, though inside he was very curious. Ginny kept surprising him, and it had been a long time since anyone had done that, especially as much as she was doing. He wanted to understand how she could take everything in stride, how it was a Goddess was interested in her, and what exactly that look in her eyes had been. Also, he needed to know why he felt he urge to put an arm around her shoulder, and tell her it was ok- it was very un-Malfoy-like behavior, and he it was making his normally effortless air of aloofness much more difficult to maintain. He decided it was time to change the subject, if only to prevent from losing too much of his image.
"How do you know me, then? I have no dealings with either nightmares, or death, and I doubt this Goddess of yours has any interest in me."
"While the last part is true, the other bit isn't," said Akai. " You have quite a few nightmares- nearly as many as Ginny."
Draco looked down at the ground, not meeting either of the girls' eyes; he didn't want to go into his nightmares, for they mostly dealt with matters no one but he and those they concerned directly. Both girls took the hint.
"Well, speaking of nightmares, I'd better get going. We all need to get back to work," she said, with a pointed glare at the cats, who were all lounging around the pool, watching the fish in it intently. The cats all looked at her reproachfully, but got up and began to stroll out of the clearing, though they did so with an air that implied they were following no order, and had simply felt like going on their way.
One cat remained. It had not been watching the fish with the others, but had remained with Akai and the two wizards; it's black coat allowed it to bend with Akai's shadow and go practically unnoticed.. This cat stepped a little distance away, and Ginny had only a half second in which to register the odd, blood-red tint of its stripes and the tufts in its ears, at the end of its tail, and its chest, when, in a flash of light, it changed to become the size of a small elephant, though much sleeker and more graceful looking. Draco jumped in spite of himself and his years of training against giving away his feelings, especially surprise; the now giant cat turned to look at him, and he was unnerved to see its slitted eyes were the deep red of a burning ember; looking into them, he imagined he saw them shimmer with heat.
Akai hopped onto its back with that peculiar way of cats, where they seem to defy gravity for a few moments and simply float up to their goal.
"I like you two, I think. I'll drop in from time to time, to see how you're doing." She looked thoughtful. "I think I'll give you a gift, to make things easier for you, incase you run into trouble before you get the hang of things here." She waved her hands in their general direction, and suddenly there were two more cat-people in the clearing. Before Draco and Ginny could think about what had just happened to them, Akai said: "If anything happens, just change into this form- think of cats, and wanting to be one, and it should just happen- and things should be ok. If being a cat-person doesn't get you out of whatever it is, since we're bound be as few rules as cats are, then you can always use your claws and run.
"Bye now!" she called as she waved, and her cat took off. Ginny and Draco could only stare after them as they bonded from treetop to treetop, and then from treetop to cloud, as they disappeared into the starry sky.
Even after the pair were gone from view, it took the two wizards a few moments to pull themselves together enough to inspect their new selves. Ginny was the first, though, and she stepped over to the pool to see exactly what Akai had done to her. What she saw pleased her. Obviously thinking of Ginny's being a Gryffindor, Akai had made Ginny's cat-girl form lioness-like. She skin -fur- was now a pale, creamy gold that complemented her hair, still red; out of her hair, poked two small, rounded ears. Her face now sported whiskers under eyes that seemed faintly feline, though the same effect might have been reached with makeup, she thought as she raised a hand, now more paw-like than usual, to touch her furry cheek.
She turned to see how Draco's change had gone, hoping it would give them the common ground needed for them to lay aside their differences enough to get along. She had, during her time watching the pond's inhabitants and thinking earlier, come to the conclusion that the only way to cope with this gift from the Unicorn god- Valarian, Akai had called him- was for her and Draco to call a truce of some kind. She didn't know about the Dream Realms, much about dealing with Gods, but a place like this was sure to be filled with things less than safe for mortals like them; Akai's giving them a gift, and her reasons for giving it, had only confirmed Ginny's suspicions.
One look at Draco, though, and all of that was forgotten.
His pale skin was now almost pure white fur; his ears were normal, triangular ones, with insides of which were the palest pink. He was staring at his paws with a glare of dislike, mixed with a bit of confusion (he wasn't sure how do deal being turned into a cat-boy), and failed to notice his tail swishing behind him. he looked exactly like a disgruntled cat, and a little like one of those evil mastermind's cats from movies.
Ginny burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. It was a hilarious sight, more so when she considered it was Malfoy she was looking at. She only laughed harder when he turned his glare on her, because his tail lashed about harder than ever, and he still hadn't noticed.
"I-" laugh-"I'm so"- giggle-"sorry. It's just"- more laughter-" your tail"- she broke off into more giggles.
Draco looked behind him, and his tail whipped by his face. He suddenly had an idea of what he must look like to her: a normally annoying and stuck-up boy who made a point to make people, especially her and her housemates, miserable, was now a fuzzy cat-boy who looked like he had found his tuna unsatisfactory. It took all his training not to laugh as helplessly as Ginny was, though he would have liked to. He wasn't able to keep a small smile off his face, though, as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Amusing, am I?"
"Extremely," she retorted, her giggles nearly under control. "Whiskers suit you, I think."
He rolled his eyes at her. "Thanks ever so," he said. "But flattery will get you nowhere."
Ginny laughed, a surprised sort of laugh; she hadn't expected him to make a joke. The look on his face told he hadn't expected to, either. The small smile he's been wearing disappeared abruptly as he turned on his heel and went back his position under his tree.
Ginny had had enough of this sort of nonsense. Putting her hands on her hips, she glared at him, her tail lashing. "Malfoy, whatever your problem is, you had best get over it. I don't know why you seem to feel having fun, and showing that you are, is wrong; maybe normally it is, for you. But this is the Dream Realm, and I doubt it will get back to anyone." She had a sudden thought. "It's that I'm a Weasley, isn't it? Your problem, I mean; at least, part of it. You're worried about your image; the 'Slytherin Prince' can't be seen socializing with the likes of me, and escape notice."
He winced a little; if she wasn't so good at reading people, she might have missed it.
"'Slytherin Prince'?" he questioned.
"That's what they call you, and don't try to change the subject."
Draco sighed; he'd known it wouldn't work, but he'd had to try. "I'm right, aren't I?" she pressed; he sighed and dropped the act.
"Yes, ok? You're right. I can't be seen being civil with a Weasley, especially right no-" he broke off, cursing mentally. He's said too much.
Ginny sighed, and sat down on the grass across from him.
"You mean, now that Voldemort is up to something?"
Draco looked at her sharply. "What do you know?" He didn't comment on her using the Dark Lord's full name; the way she said it implied that she did it often, and didn't care, so he wasn't going to say anything.
Ginny just shook her head. "Nothing specific, and nothing I want to talk about. and I think you don't want to talk about it, either, so let's not talk about it at all. Let's keep that sort of stuff out of these dreams; personally, I get plenty of that kind of thing during the day. I prefer my nights Voldemort-free, thanks.
"In fact, let's keep most of our day lives out of these dreams, as much as we can; let's keep the two separate."
"You mean, be friend only in our dreams?" he smirked a little at how that sounded; it pleased him to notice that his phrasing had not been lost on Ginny- a pleasant change after being surrounded constantly by idiots as he usually was. Most of his acquaintances lacked everything but money and a name, and that included brains.
"Exactly," Ginny grinned. She held out her hand, and he shook it solemnly.
Then Ginny stood, brushing grass from her skirts; Draco also stood, unsure what he was meant to do. Their pact made them allies, of a sort, he supposed, but he wasn't really sure how to act with a person when the deal wasn't based on his name, or position, or dealt with money.
Ginny looked at him curiously. "I suppose a rich, spoilt kid like you never played tag?" her voice was teasing, and her eyes dared him to clam up and take offense the way he would normally.
Draco paused a moment, considering how to react. This was obviously a test. And, he realized, he could do what he wanted. The girl was right: if he let loose here, no one would ever find out. She couldn't tell anyone; even if she tried, no one would believe her in all likelihood; even if someone did, the fact that she was being civil to him would cause as much trouble for her as it might for him. He raised an eyebrow at her, knowing what he was about to do went against everything he had ever been taught- but that kind of worked for him, and, though this was very implausible, this whole almost-instant-friendship he was setting up with the Weasley girl, well, that was how dreams were, weren't they?
"You're it!" he said as he darted forward, tapped her shoulder, and then took off, his new cat reflexes propelling him into the tree tops almost before Ginny could react.
Ok, so I knowI fell into the trap of making them friends too quickly, but honestly that's how it would be if it were me. People who move around the way I did will understand- when you may only have a few months in a place, or a couple of years, you learn to make friends very quickly. Once, there was a girl who I only hung out with at my parents' work's functions. We never saw each other other than that, and had nothing in common; we just hung out b/c there was no one else to hang out with. It's sort of a way of living in the moment.
I couldn't believe how many reviews the first chapter got. Shout outs below.
princess- thanks very much. I'm so glad you liked it.
fieryred20- wow. you really liked it. tear it's so goo to be apprieciated. sorry about the wait.
Mystic Hippie- thanks for pointing out the mistake- sorry about that.
wHiRlyGurLiE- had to copy and paste that name, in case i made a mistake. - i'm glad it seems original- too often i write something, and later realize i'm echoing something else that i saw or read.
Morena Evensong- i'm glad you like the unicorn god. and i get what you meant. - the story has taken a few twists of its own, so even i'm not positive where it's going right now. haha i have like three endings right now, and several notebooks of just ideas. but we'll see what happens, i guess.
numbluver- i have kept writing, and will continue to do so until i am finished.even if it kills me. laugh which at this rate it might.
Mennie- good to hear.
Eternal-Earth-Sailor- my beloved birget! you will appear eventually, along with the other goddesses, but it's going to be a little while, as you aren't really in the plot until year seven. but i'm thinking of giving you all a few cameos in some of the dreams before that, to spice things up.
dracofan23- thank you.-
ficfan84- you can? glad that you think so- i hope it will be as good as you think it will be.
Lady Thayet- a tamora pierce fan! i'm one, too. gald you're a fan of my fic, as well.
Laina3- 'Lania, my friend! you're an inspiration, i must say first. the way you update so quickly is admirable- wish i was as puntual. -; eh. i'm a big unicorn fan, myself. i just couldn't help but put them in here- they seem perfent as creatures of dreams.and you're portrayal of D and G is just as god. (anyone reading through these, read Lania3's stories if you're a d/g fan- they rock!)
FullMoon-insanity- glad to hear you like it.
sugarpony- well, a flamer. 1) this is a fanfic, and clearly labeled "D/G". they are obviously going to associate. so what if it's OOC- that's part of the fun of a fanfic. just b/c it would"never happen" in jkr's world, doesn't mean it can't happen in mine.2)i'm sorry you had trouble following the plot.i would like you to actually explain what was wrong with the unicorn birth, though, and not just tell me that it is. 3) first off, ginny is a weasley, and clearly not some perfent little doll, as shown in book 5. and, as for the idea that weasleys won't gointo the forest, what exactly are teh twins famous for (among other things)? draco could have gotton over it- which i decided he did. and i know the unicorn thing is a bit unbelievable- though, as they are mythical creatures that most believe don't exist, i rather think their habits in my fic aren't really the debate, if we're going to go down the road of what is believable and what isn't. i have no intention of giving up writing b/c you have a problem with crative liberties, though perhaps you should't e reading fan fiction if you have a problem with people deviating from the original plot of a book. glad you like the detail, at least.
Flamehorse- another flamer. at least you were more polite in your criticism. 1) i know what you mean. i thought of that, but i didn't want to get into it, either, for the same reason. i sorta was working under the assumption that the reader could suspend their belief a bit, as that bit was something of a means to an end. 2) again with the d/g being against the books. i am aware, as are all d/g shippers, that d/g will never happen in jkr's universe, but, like the otehr like me, i'm not really bothered. i mean, that's the point of fanfics, isn't? to give those of us with alternate versions or ideas of how a story and/or character(s) could be a chance to get our idea out there? if you don't like d/g, then just stay away from d/g fics. it's not really hard- h/g are ratehr more common, i think. 3) was that quote from something? sorry you didn't like the unicorn god, though i'm curious as to why. 4) a pregant unicornthat can't move isn't likey to really care that a boy is nearby. dont' get mad at my retorts- i just like to debate, the way you like to flame. as i said, you were polite about it,and i'm not angry that you expressed your feelings. thanks for being honest. -i hope you like this chapter better (assuming you read it).
Kyree24- Kerichi!(another great author here, for those reading through. one of teh best, if you ask me -) it means a lot that you like my story, asi loveyours.
Remember to review!I love reviews! Hugs to everyone mentioned above- I love you guys for taking the time (yes, even the flaming duo).