Chapter 14: Happy Hunting and Nightmares

Harry went into his study, he had work to do but first he needed to write to Remus; the werewolf had probably already heard about recent events at Hogwarts, but Harry still felt that he should write to tell him.

Dear Moony,

Hope all is well. We have settled back into the routine of school, after a rather unusual start. The Sorting Hat decided to Re-Sort the entire school. Not too much changed, except that there is now a fifth house, the Merlin House. Our colors are purple and copper and our mascot is a wolf. But I am getting ahead of myself, so I will start from the beginning I will include the lyrics to the Hat's song on a separate parchment, which should help explain much of what has happened. Only eight students were sorted into the new house; the include Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, a (former) Hufflepuff who is in her fifth year Tuesday Smith and myself. Now you may have noticed that that is only seven students, and I am sure you will be as surprised as we were by the eighth, it is none other that Draco Malfoy, former King of Slytherin. He has been completely abandoned by his former housemates though. I was at first reluctant to have anything to do with a house into which he was placed, but the Sorting Hat convinced me otherwise. Here is a copy of what the Hat said to me:

Hello again Mr. Potter, you once again going to be quite a challenge for me to place. I stand by what I said your first year here, you would do very well in Slytherin, and you have proven yourself to be a true Gryffindor. I could place you in either of those houses, but there is another option this time. If you are up to the challenge I can place you in Merlin House. If I do that you will be facing quite a challenge, you will have to unite first your house and then the school. If you refuse this I am sure Mr. Malfoy will be happy to lead the House. Or I can make you the Head of House, and you can work to bring him to the side of the light, he has not yet made the choice to practice the dark arts, it is merely how he was raised. If you should manage to show him how much better life could be, and how good it would be to have true friends, he will be a powerful ally.

Well, I am sure you have figured out how that conversation went, as I am in Merlin house. I have started teaching, and have found it to be draining but I suppose that is because I felt it was necessary to tell my students about my experiences against Voldemort. My first official acts as Head of House were to appoint Ron and Hermione as prefects and Ginny as Quidditch captain, oh yeah and to keep Ron and Malfoy from killing each other. Well, that about covers everything that has happened here, and it's late. Keep in touch and I am sure Hermione would love to hear from you.

Your Favorite Nephew,

Harry

Harry sealed the letter and put it into his book bag; he would try to find time to mail it in the morning. He quickly changed and climbed into bed. He fell asleep quickly and started to dream.

Dobby was standing in front of him; the elf was dressed in one of Ron's Christmas sweaters and a safari hat. He notice that the elf had a quiver of arrows strapped to his back, and was holding a bow and arrow, ready it seemed to shoot.

"Good evening, Harry Potter, sir, Dobby is going on a Dean hunt, sir." The dream Harry snickered, and the elf turned began creeping down the hall on his tip toes. Harry followed him quietly and they turned a corner, to find Dean and Ginny walking down the corridor before them hand in hand. Almost before Harry knew what was happening, Dobby let the arrow fly and it hit Dean in the left buttocks. Dean howled and then swore.

Dobby walked slowly up to the couple, and sadly shook his head, "Dobby is sorry, sir, but not to sorry, for Dobby is most aggrieved for Harry Potter, sir."

Ginny's face went white, and she seemed to stop breathing, "Did something happen to Harry, Dobby?"

"Indeed, Ms. Wheezy, something most horrible happened to Harry Potter, sir. Ms. Wheezy, sir has broken his heart." Then he turned to Dean, "Nasty, filthy boy, stealing Ms. Wheezy from Harry Potter, sir."

Harry spoke for the first time, "Dobby, leave them alone…"

But he never finished speaking; Ginny looked up at him and their eyes met, she turned back to Dean and said, "I'm sorry Dean, but I love Harry." With that she ran to Harry and threw her arms around his neck.

Harry woke up, in the dark of his room, and he realized it had all been a dream, not that he wanted Dean to be shot with an arrow, well mostly he didn't. "Ginny," he whispered into the darkness, at that precise moment his door opened.

"Harry," he heard Ginny call uncertainly, "how did you know it was me?"

"Uh, lucky guess," he said, praising the darkness for covering his blush. "What are you doing in here?"

She avoided the question, "Right before I opened the door you were laughing, why?"

He thought desperately for anything to explain it, "I was dreaming that Dobby shot Snape in the posterior with an arrow." She let out a weak laugh, and Harry prompted her once again, "You didn't answer my question, whatever it is you can tell, me."

"I…I had a nightmare, I know its silly but…it seemed so real, I just couldn't be alone."

He climbed out of bed, "Come on in," he said. "And nightmares aren't silly, trust me I have had more than my fair share. Do you want to stay in here, for the rest of the night? You can take my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch." He gestured to the couch that sat at the foot of his bed.

"I wouldn't want to put you out…" she said, clearly wanting to accept his offer.

"It's no trouble really, and I know you would do the same for me were the situation reversed."

"Thank you," she said her voice just above a whisper. She climbed into the bed. Her last thoughts before she fell asleep were of how great Harry was and how much she wished that he loved her they way she loved him.

Harry decided to test his powers again and attempted to conjure some blankets, much to his relief, it worked on the first try and he lay down on the couch. He lay awake wondering why she had picked him, why not Ron or Hermione or even Luna; was this, a sign that she thought of him as more than a friend? No, it couldn't be, besides it didn't matter, she was with Dean. Still trying to make sense of it all he fell into a restless sleep.

When he awoke early that next morning, his back hurting from the night on the couch, he found Ginny still sleeping in his bed. She looked so peaceful that he was reluctant to wake her, but he knew things would be a lot easier, for both of them, if the others didn't find out, especially Ron. She thanked him again and hurried out of the room. He got ready and went out into the common room.

When he entered the common room he found Hermione sitting at the table, looking over her notes from the day before. Knowing he would only have a few minutes before the others joined them he walked over to her, "'Mione, I need to talk to you, can you come up with an excuse for us to go up to defense before Ron and Malfoy."

She nodded and looked like she was about to say something, but stopped as Ron's growling stomach announced his presence. The others came out of their rooms and the group went down to breakfast. They all sat themselves and were about to begin eating when Dean came over dragging a chair, "Good morning, Gin, I thought I would join you for breakfast."

Without looking up from his plate Harry said shortly, "Sorry, Dean, Headmasters orders, only Merlin House sits here."

Dean looked at Harry baffled, and said "Right, then I'll see you later, Ginny."

Harry saw Hermione give him a sympathetic look, out of the corner of his eye. He knew he had just come off as a real jerk, but he couldn't help it, it was hard enough to know that Ginny and Dean were together without having to see them together. They ate most of the group talking animatedly about their schedules for the day; Harry sat in stony silence, and Malfoy watched him with thoughtful expression on his face.

Shortly after, she finished eating Hermione turned to Harry, and said, "Harry, didn't you want me to go over your lesson plans for next week with you before class starts?"

"Yeah, yeah I did," with that they gathered their things and left the great Hall. They did not talk any until they were in the Defense room with the door closed.

"So, Harry did you what you wanted to talk to me about having anything to do with the way you snapped at Dean?"

He sighed and blurted out the whole story, telling her about his dream, which caused her to laugh until tears were streaming down her face, and then about Ginny coming into his room in the middle of the night, this managed to somber her up, as she tried to think of the explanation.

"Well," she began, in a halting tone, and sounding uncertain, "I guess she picked you because you were the one who saved her. If you managed to save her in real life, you should be able to protect her from the dream version."

"Right, that makes sense, thanks. Hey, did you by any chance go through the double doors in the common room, that are opposite the entrance?"

"No, I haven't had a chance."

So he told her about his duel with Malfoy, the meditation room, the potions room and the gym. She seemed only mildly interested in these things, so then will a sly look on his faced he told her about the library, he had never seen anyone look so happy, if she had been any happier, she probably would have floated off the floor even though she did not have any levitation powers.