Over the next week, Rhyann managed to sneak away by herself to the secret room to practice her astral projection by herself. She made sure to be there for Draco when he wanted her to be, but did not act unlike herself usual self lest he get suspicious. She met Dru and Millicent at the library where they were supposedly studying and getting the fireworks display planned, and walked with them to the meetings.

With this new discovery and further need for privacy, Rhyann made sure to be extra careful in her comings and goings. In this new vigilance, she made another discovery that was not so thrilling. Often at the library, she had spotted the Mulciber twins. She paid them no attention as she did not want to have anything to do with the brats. She figured they were diligent about their schoolwork and thought no more on it. Then she noticed them sometimes in the halls. Standing about, talking to each other as if they didn't have a care in the world. The problem was that they turned up more than just coincidentally. They were down halls that only led to classrooms for the N.E.W.T. students or ones that the dreamer had just wandered down herself.

It became more of a problem when she was heading to towards the room of requirement one afternoon and managed to glimpse them following her. Rhyann, of course, went off in another direction to take herself outside. She hoped the autumn air would cool down her temper, but the longer she thought about it, the more furious she became.

She could think of no reason why Imene and Gamene would be following her. They might just have liked to cause trouble or hoped to blackmail her with something so they could work with her group. Rhyann had seen that Pansy had them assigned to painting signs and the twins were not too happy about it. They were young, though, and she did not think they could be so clever.

The only other reason she could think of was that Draco himself had told the kids to follow her. This was what made her angrier. He might be able to sense where she was, but he could not tell what she was doing or who she was with. He was too busy to check on her himself. She did not think it beyond him at all to send his two little cousins to spy on her for him.

Rhyann spent a while outside, seething, and thinking up the perfect nightmares she would deliver to the Mulciber twins. She would have liked to send her boyfriend a similar message, but she would not go that far at the moment. Let him think that his spies were doing their job.

Making a circle around the area and assuring herself she was not being followed, Rhyann went up to the secret room and began to practice her astral projection. It had not been as easy to do it again as she had thought. She only tried to project herself across the room, but it required a lot more concentration than she had used when she accidentally did so the first time.

She did not think she didn't want it as much as she had before. The dreamer wanted to learn how to control it and solidify her projection as fiercely as she had wanted to see her uncle. She had managed it a few times, but it had exhausted her. She was not sure why and had asked the room for books on the subject. She received nothing from it. Not even a clue.

As she was meditating, the door silently opened and she did not hear anyone step in until he voiced his presence at which point she let out a gasp and her hands fluttered up to cover her mouth lest it had seeped out into the hall. She had almost expected one young wizard but it turned out to be another.

"Hi Rhyann." The-Boy-That-Lived greeted her, peering at her curiously. He came in to take the seat next to her. Once again having them side-by-side in the matching cushioned chairs.

"Harry." Rhyann breathed out a sigh of relief and then gave a little laugh at herself. "Sorry about that. You startled me. I wasn't expecting anyone for a while."

"I come up here to just have a few moments to myself too." He replied understandingly. "What were you doing? Meditating?"

She nodded and eased back to sit comfortably in the chair. "Meditating. Trying to clear my mind of all the nattering thoughts. It seems like the only peace I get nowadays."

"I know how you feel." Harry sighed and leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but closed it before the words could come out. It seemed as if the weight of the world were upon him.

Rhyann did know about the prophecy. The whole wizarding world knew that Potter was the one chosen to defeat the Dark Lord. If only they could see him and then they'd know what ridiculous nonsense that was. She would not doubt that he had the potential to be great, but Voldemort's power was frightening even to her. Harry was just barely more than a boy. He had neither the power nor the experience to defeat the Dark Lord or even his Death Eaters.

"I never knew that there could be more homework than last year's load. Plus with all these meetings going on and then that damn quidditch tournament all we Slytherins have to help with." She stared up as well, mimicking his pose. "Well, at least I got off with less than others in that."

"At least you get your event over with now. Gryffindor's isn't until the end of the school year when we will have to be studying for final exams. Hermione already gets frantic about it."

She couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. "I bet she already has a schedule for it as well."

"Actually, she does." Harry laughed and turned his head to the side so he could look at her. "She really likes you and has great faith in you with this. She thinks you will help all the meetings and unity process go smoothly. That's why she's comfortable with not being here all the time herself. We all agree with her too."

Turning her head to the right, she smiled at him. "Thank you. I hope I can live up to those expectations. And I have great faith in Hermione that she will be able to hold her own against the Head Boy this year and not let him over-run the school with his rules."

Harry laughed again. "I think that's taking up more of her time than she wants to admit! Malfoy was always a nasty bully, but I think he's in his element being Head Boy. Unfortunately for him, Hermione is, too, in being Head Girl."

"I don't think Professor Dumbledore could have made two better choices." Rhyann grinned, giggling. Draco did not talk about Granger often, but when he did, it was always with frustrated mutters.

"I had a chance to talk with Dumbledore more over the summer." Harry started, jumping in on something else in a more sober voice. "He mentioned you again. Did you know he knows you're a dreamer?"

The relaxation she was feeling a moment before was now suddenly gone. The Headmaster had talked to Harry about her? That was not good news at all. The only sense that she had it was not horrible was that he was not being confrontational. "Yes, I know. I honestly think the old wizard knows everything." She hoped she sounded as casual as she wanted.

"Just about." He paused for a moment, looking for the right way to say the next bit. "He said it was one of the reasons that they told me to stay away from you. He said they couldn't be sure how powerful you were or what you'd do. Dumbledore didn't tell me to stay away this year though. He's left that up to me." There was another pause as if he anticipated her saying something, but she only looked at him expectantly. "He told me a bit more about dreamers, too, since what happened last school semester."

Now Rhyann knew it was her turn to say something. "I am not sure of my own power either. Really, it's a difficult thing to tell. I don't know why they would be so unsure of me though. I am just a student like any other." That was hardly the case, but he did not need to know that if he had not been told already. "What did he tell you?"

"Well, they were just worried because, you know, you have had members of your family involved with Voldemort." She drew in a quick breath as he said her Lord's name. "And then the Malfoys. Not that being of your family makes you any specific way, of course." Harry added quickly. "It is suspicious to a lot of people though, but I assured him that you did prove yourself to me and that I trusted you."

"Thank you." Rhyann replied in a quiet and humble voice. The fact that Potter had stood up for her was interesting, but she wanted to know what the old wizard said about dreamers more. She bit her tongue to still it, so she wouldn't be pestering him and seeming anxious in asking again.

"Anyway, Dumbledore said there was a lot more to dreaming than the bit we did together. That one could do a lot more in dreams than catch shadows or play with friends." Harry tilted his body more to the side as he spoke. "He said you could find out things about people and try to affect the way they acted while they were awake."

He was silent for a moment and she knew that he was waiting for her to react. If she had been there right after he was told, she could erase that memory in his mind. It would be more difficult now since he had time to think it over and there might be more than one memory connected to that bit of knowledge now. Her toes curled up since she would not let her hands clench into fists. "I suppose you could find out a lot of things about people in their dreams. People do dream about secrets and whatnot."

"It would be really useful to be able to do." Harry stated in a tone that seemed to be encouraging her to talk more.

Rhyann guessed that he was probably trying to get her to tell more. She bet that bloody Headmaster had told him even more than what he was saying but he wanted her to reveal those things to him instead of him having to ask her about them. She was sure if anyone touched her at the moment, she would be hard as a rock from the tension. She forced her lips up into a little smile. "It would be, yes. It isn't hard to learn from dreams if you know how. I know I could do as much, but…" She lowered her voice as if she were going to tell him a grand secret. "But I am worried about going into other people's dreams. What if they know it? What if I find out something I shouldn't know? I really don't like to be put in that position. Plus, to be near them while they're sleeping, that's suspicious in itself."

"Dumbledore did say once one is practiced enough, they needn't be near anyone at all." Harry said a little more excitedly. "You and I, we could practice together. I wouldn't ask you to do anything you didn't want to do, of course! Yet it would really help me. Help all of the wizarding community. Even if you just practiced with me, taught me what you knew, that would be enough."

Rhyann was definitely not going to teach him all that she knew. She wondered if that were his idea or Dumbledore's. If it were the Headmaster's, she wondered why the old man was no longer worried about her presence and talents. She would like to think she had him fooled, but she was not completely confident that she had. "I guess I could… I mean, it's not like I know all that much more than what we did together last time. You seemed to have as much of a grasp of it as I do." Her lie came through as a most sincere compliment.

Harry's face lit up. "Thank you, Rhyann! This really does mean a lot." He sat up straighter in his chair. "We can meet once or twice a week before meetings. Maybe after if that's better."

"We'll have to see what our schedules are like. Just like everything else, it's probably best if we mix it up." The petite teen nodded and then stated more firmly than she would have liked. "I don't want anyone else to know. It'll be just you and I. Not even Professor Dumbledore or Hermione or anyone."

"Alright." He answered a little tentatively and dared to venture forward by asking, "Why though? Is it such a big deal?"

She nipped at her lower lip nervously. She was weaving a great web of lies here that she would have to maneuver upon for the rest of the year. The dreamer knew she had to choose her words carefully. "It's just that… People have their own motivations for doing things. Being a dreamer, it's not something that most people can do. I was born with it and you, well, you got it when you got your scar. Something like dreaming can be precious to certain people. They would use it for their own ends. Even people who you think you know. And I don't like to be used. I don't want to be…" She glanced over at Harry. "I know you wouldn't. I trust you and that's the only reason I had told you in the first place. But with something like this… It's best to just be very careful."

"I understand." Harry did know the truth of it. So many people had wanted to use him because of who he was. He refused to let that happen though. Rhyann did not seem to him someone anyone could push around either. There was something about her that seemed to say otherwise. "We'll be careful and I won't tell a soul. But why? Did someone use you for…?" Something clicked in his mind, making a connection. "Was it the Malfoys? Something's going on there, isn't it!"

Before there was a chance for Rhyann to reply, the door to the room of requirement swung open and the two youngest Weasley siblings entered. She breathed a sigh of relief that she would not have to answer his questions. Rhyann smiled and greeted the redheads. At least Harry knew not to try to pursue the topic any more now that there were other people in the room with them. Eventually she knew she would have to provide him with answers, but thankfully, it would not be right now. It would give her some time to think of what to say.