The Dreamers
Chapter Three
Jasmine pulled Delia on the train behind her and down the wide aisle. There were compartments on both sides of the train, but the doors were closed. Jasmine was too shy to open the door and ask if she could sit with whoever was in there. She hoped there were some empty ones left with the door open so she and Delia could sit by themselves. She didn't want to answer questions about Delia coming to Hogwarts too.
Jasmine was so involved in her intense worrying that she nearly missed an empty compartment.
Delia stopped walking and tugged on her arm, "Jasmine, there's one right here."
"Oh, sorry," Jasmine said and followed her little sister in. There were two benches facing each other, and a big window on the wall to look out.
Delia kneeled on the seat and looked out the window, trying to get one last glimpse of their parents. "It won't be too much longer before we see them again, right?" Delia asked hopefully.
"I don't know. We might not get to see them until Christmastime." Jasmine said. She was looking out the window for their parents too. They were standing right where they had left them, but they were talking to Ron and Ginny, and Olivia was there too.
"Hey, look, it's Olivia! Can we go say hi?" Delia perked up excitedly.
If they were here, that meant Sean was here too! Jasmine was happy about that, but what if he didn't want to talk to her and he was only being nice because his mom was around? What if he really thought she was weird and avoided her? He was the only person she knew here, besides Delia, and she was hoping she'd have someone to talk to. "No, we can't, hon, the train will be leaving any second." Jasmine answered Delia's question finally and Delia's head dropped.
"I'm not going to have any friends to play with at Hogwarts. There's no one else my age there, Mummy said. So while you are in class I have to sit all alone in a room with nothing to do. What will I get to do for fun?" Delia pouted.
"It's okay. You could hang out with me and my new friends if I meet any." Jasmine said.
"You will!" Delia smiled at her big sister.
"And maybe one of the professors will let you be their little helper and you could help out for a while. If I ask our house professor do you think you would like that? Maybe I could teach some simple spells, if you'd like, but you have to be careful. Then, if you get bored during the day you can send Mum and Daddy letters and practice your writing." Jasmine was trying to think of some things off the top of her head so Delia would be happy.
"Yeah, and I could walk around and see what secret rooms they're hiding." Delia said with her eyes wide.
"No, you can't do that. You'd probably get in trouble, or lost." Jasmine answered quickly before Delia got any ideas.
"Fine, but will you take me sometimes to see the rooms and stuff? The place is so big! I want to see all of it." Delia was happy now, so Jasmine couldn't say no.
"Yes, of course I'll take you! I want to see the place too!" Jasmine smiled.
Delia had been sitting across from Jasmine, but now she came over and lay down on the bench with her head in Jasmine's lap. "Wake me up when we get there." Delia mumbled, already half asleep.
Jasmine watched her parents talk with Sean's parents until the train slowly began to move, and in rolled away so she couldn't see them anymore. She wondered if Delia could wait until Christmas to see them again. She hadn't been away from them for more than a few nights when they stayed with Grandpa Sirius. The time Jasmine had gone away to sleep over camp for a week, her parents told her Delia cried every night before she went to sleep when they told her Jasmine wouldn't be back for three more days, then two, then one, and when Jasmine finally got home Delia gripped her so tightly in a hug Jasmine must have had fingernail prints on her back. But Delia told her she could never leave that long again. Jasmine had missed her too, so she didn't object. She just hoped it wouldn't be like that with their parents or Delia might be going home in a week.
Jasmine looked out the window at all of the places she knew. She was watching for a while when she heard someone walk by their train compartment. It was then she realized she left their door open. She wanted to close it for some reason, but she didn't want to move and wake up Delia. She didn't exactly know why, but she wanted that door closed. She wiggled out from under Delia and placed her head gently on the padded seat.
She went over to the door and peeked out. She saw Draco Malfoy walking down the aisle and he was going to pass by her. She wondered where he was going so she looked the other way and saw Sean coming. She wanted to shut the door so Draco wouldn't see her, but she wanted to leave it open so she could say hi to Sean. She decided to leave the door open. She'd hit Malfoy before and she could do it again if she wanted.
"Well, if it isn't Weasley," Malfoy said when he saw Sean.
Sean looked up and rolled his eyes as if he didn't have time for this, "What do you want, Malfoy?"
Jasmine decided she'd watch them since neither had seen her yet. She leaned against the side of the wall and looked out. If they did see her she would just say hi, yeah, she would say hi.
Malfoy ignored what Sean said and continued, "Have you decided to change into your robes? They look blacker this year. Did your Mum decide to buy you some new ones so you didn't have to wear the old holey hand-me-downs from your uncles? It's about time. Those things were ancient."
"Shut-up, Malfoy. I've always had new robes. I never wore my uncles' hand-me-downs and you know it. You can't even come up with anything rude to say so you might as well give up. You're never going to catch up with your father. You know, he won the award for being the biggest prat in the school in his day. Apparently he used up all the snide comments out there. Now, would you move so I can go find some place to sit?" Sean asked.
Malfoy looked at him amused, but didn't say anything. He looked past Sean and saw Jasmine. "Always staring are we Potter? That's very rude, you know."
Jasmine stood up straight. Sean turned around and looked at her. She smiled a little. "Umm…hi?" Jasmine said it like a question.
"Hey." Sean smiled.
"Oh, so you're more than friends. First it was Potter and Granger, and now it's going to be Potter and Weasley. That changes everything." Malfoy smirked.
"You seriously need to get a life. Don't you have friends?" Jasmine asked.
Sean laughed.
Malfoy pushed past Sean and walked over to Jasmine. Jasmine stopped smiling. Malfoy looked like he was going to say something but instead caught a glimpse of Delia curled up in a little ball. She was sucking her thumb and looked like a little angel. Jasmine stepped in front of Malfoy so he couldn't see her anymore.
"Who's that?" Malfoy asked.
"She's my sister." Jasmine snapped.
Sean came over too and saw Delia sleeping.
"So your sister really is coming? I thought you were joking." He said.
Jasmine shook her head and Malfoy said, "Your sister is coming to Hogwarts. It's not a place for babies."
"Would you be a little quieter? I don't want her to wake up!" Jasmine shushed.
Just then a lady with a trolley filled up with sweets and things to eat started coming down the aisle. "In a compartment children." She called.
Jasmine looked at Sean, "You wanna sit with us?"
"Sure." He replied.
"Come on, all of you in that one there." The trolley lady waved them all into Jasmine's compartment.
Jasmine sat down next to Delia and put her head back in her lap. Delia stirred, but didn't wake up. Sean sat across from her and Malfoy reluctantly sat next to him, but as far away as possible. He looked quite mad that he was stuck with them.
Jasmine looked down at Delia when she felt her squirming. She thought she was waking up but she must have just been dreaming. Then she started whining like she was in pain, and her breathing got faster like she was running from something.
Malfoy looked at her funny and said, "What is she doing?"
Jasmine shook her head, "I think she's having a nightmare."
"Great. See, that's why babies aren't allowed to go to Hogwarts, because now you're going to have to take care of a little snot nosed brat who whines and cries and has bad dreams. You know she's going to want her Mummy and Daddy in one day, you just watch."
"Shut-up, Malfoy," Sean said tiredly.
Delia gasped for air and woke up. She looked around her like she didn't know where she was. She looked scared for a second when she saw Malfoy, but smiled when she saw Sean. Then she looked over at Jasmine and frowned at her.
"What's wrong, Delia?" Jasmine asked, concerned.
"I can't believe you," Delia said.
"Hon, what are you talking about?" Jasmine queried.
"You left me!" Delia crossed her arms.
"What do you mean? Did you have a bad dream?" Jasmine was confused.
"Ha, your little sister is funny." Draco laughed.
Delia turned to look at him. She said in a very scary voice for someone so little, "You made her do it. You're bad."
"Delia, what do you mean he made me do it? Do what?" Jasmine didn't want Malfoy to hear about the dreams but she really had no choice.
"Don't talk to me! I hate you! I told you not to trust him," Delia pointed at Malfoy, "but you didn't listen to me. So I don't want to talk to you! I want to go home!"
"I told you she would want to leave." Draco grinned.
"Shut-up, Malfoy! Get out! Go sit somewhere else! I don't want to talk to you!" Jasmine shouted.
"Jeez, you sound just like your little sister," Draco said.
"Just leave, Malfoy, please." Sean snapped.
"Whatever. You guys are crazy anyways." Draco rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him as he left.
After he was gone Jasmine grabbed Delia's shoulders gently and turned her around so she was facing her. "Now, what happened in your dream?"
Delia sighed and sat with her back against the bench, "We were outside and I showed you the ring I found near the big lake. Then we sat with our feet in the water and he came. He told you to come with him and at first you said no, but he begged you and you finally said yes. You left me there by myself to go with him! He's bad! I hate him! And then Sean came and brought me back inside. You told me before that you would never leave me! Why did you leave, Jassy?"
"Sweetie, it was only a dream. I would never leave you!" Jasmine pulled Delia up on her lap.
"Promise?" She asked her babyish voice.
"I promise." Jasmine answered. She glanced up at Sean and smiled. He didn't ask her any questions and she liked that.
Delia fell back asleep a few minutes later.
"Do you want to know a charm that will help her sleep without dreaming?" Sean asked.
"Sure," Jasmine said.
"Okay. Just place the tip of your wand on her forehead and say 'good night, sleep tight, dream-free'. My mum does it for Olivia when she has nightmares, or when she can't get to sleep. It only works on little kids though."
"Oh, thanks." Jasmine took out her wand from her pocket and placed the tip lightly against Delia's forehead. She whispered, "Good night, sleep tight, dream-free."
"So, is that why your sister is coming to Hogwarts?" Sean asked.
"Well, kind of. That's sort of half of it." Jasmine replied.
"Oh, well, you don't have to tell me," Sean said.
"No, it's fine." Jasmine answered. "The whole reason is because she and I dream the same things, all the time. Every dream I have, she's having too. She can barely sleep unless I'm near her."
"That's not really that bad though." Sean replied.
"That's not all of it. They always turn bad in some way, and I guess Professor Dumbledore wants to monitor our dreams for some reason. I don't really know, but that's the reason Delia is coming with me. She basically has to." Jasmine explained.
"Wow, that's a little weird. Wait, so that first day I met you, when Delia said she dreamt about Malfoy, do you have those often?" Sean asked.
"What do you mean? Dreams about people we have never met yet? Sometimes, but they don't show us the future, like, we don't dream about what we do when we meet them. We just have a dream and they're in it. I think they warn us what the people are going to be like."
"What did you dream about Malfoy?" Sean questioned.
"Well, actually you were in it, too, and Olivia. It started out with Delia playing with Olivia. Then you were there next to me, and I got up to look in this lake that was next to us. I saw Malfoy's reflection in the water next to me and nearly fell in, but he caught my wrist. Then a storm came and the darkness took over. We hid in this little house until the storm stopped and we went outside, but we were in a graveyard instead, and our parent's graves were just outside the door. Then we woke up." Jasmine was looking out the window instead of at Sean, she was pretty sure he already thought she was weird, and now he probably thought she was insane.
"I guess that is a little weird. You didn't even know us. I've never had a dream like that before. You said you thought it warned you of what we were like? What do you think it meant?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I know Olivia playing with Delia showed they would be friends. I guess Malfoy's was a warning of what a prat he would be. And yours was…I don't know…maybe you represented friendship too," Jasmine said.
"Yeah, you're right about Malfoy being a prat. From what I've heard from my Uncle Ron, actually all of my uncles, he's just like his father," Sean said.
"He certainly seems it. Really, though, his father was as bad as him?"
"His father was worse!" Sean exclaimed.
"Jeez," Jasmine said.
It was silent for a moment so Sean changed the subject, "So, are you nervous?"
"About tonight? No, not really. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to go up in front of everyone to find out what house I'm going to be put in." Jasmine answered.
"It's not that bad, it's over in a moment and then you can sit down."
"Good. I don't much like to make a fool of myself on front of people I don't know. Not that I do in front of people I do know, but even that is better than in front of a bunch of strangers." Jasmine admitted.
"You're not going to make a fool of yourself." Sean assured her.
"I'm holding you to that." Jasmine joked. "How much longer until we are off this stupid train?"
"Not too much longer. I think about a half hour." Sean guessed.
"Good." Jasmine absently stroked Delia's hair. "I think this year is going to be very strange. I don't really know what Hogwarts is like, but with Delia there, it's going to be hard. And I think Professor Dumbledore knows something we don't, because he wouldn't just let Delia come to the school if there wasn't something important that's going to happen. From the stories my Mum and Dad told us, he didn't seem like that type of person. Am I right?" Jasmine questioned.
Sean considered this for a moment. "Well, I don't know. I'm not sure what I think about you yet. Sometimes Dumbledore knows things and other times he doesn't. I think you two are important and I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
"Same here," Jasmine agreed.
"What do you mean?" Sean asked.
"I think you two are important, but I'm not sure what part you play in this whole thing." Jasmine elaborated.
"You mean me and Malfoy?" Sean wondered.
"Yeah," Jasmine answered. "Hey, is that it?"
Jasmine saw a huge castle up on the top of this huge hill, but the hill was surrounded by water, all except a bridge that went to the castle and the huge yard all around it. It was sprinkled with smaller buildings, too.
"Yep, that's Hogwarts." Sean looked out the window too.
"I have to wake up Delia." Jasmine gushed. She softly shook her little sister until she woke up and indicated to her the huge castle out the window.
"Is that?" Delia asked her.
"Mm-hmm." Jasmine nodded. Delia smiled her wide-eyed smile and her face lit up with anticipation.
"Sean, what is it like at Hogwarts now? Is it the same as when my Daddy and Mummy to school there?" Delia asked.
"I don't know. It's probably the same. It's been around for a really long time. There are so many books in the library now, I think there's probably more than before, but other than some new buildings everything is most likely the same." Sean explained.
"Great, so you're a reader? I think things have changed a little then." Jasmine said.
"Yeah, I read, but not that much. I look for a good book and if I find one I take it out. What do you mean things changed a little?" Sean looked confused.
"My Mum used to read all the time, non-stop, she still does, but before she would take about twenty books out at a time. My Dad wasn't like that, but he was smart, I guess. And supposedly your Uncle Ron was really good at wizard's chess, unbeatable by anyone else in Gryffindor." Jasmine re-told the story.
"Yeah, he was. So what are you like?" Sean questioned.
"I don't really like to read, only sometimes. In the summer I usually take out some books, but I'd much rather be outside or something." Jasmine replied.
"Me too."
"Me three!" Delia giggled.
"Okay, well, then I guess we should go for some walks, huh?" Jasmine said.
"Yeah, we should go for a walk everyday when you're done with your school." Delia suggested.
"We'll try." Jasmine promised.
The train started the climb up the mountain the castle of Hogwarts was built on.
"Yay, we're going to be there soon!" Delia smiled excitedly. "What are we going to do once the train stops?"
"Well, we don't have to get our bags because the house elves put them in our rooms for us during dinner. So we just go right to the carriages, except for the first years that have to go in the boats, and we'll go to the Great Hall for dinner, but first we wait for the first years ceremony when they get sorted into their houses. Then we get to eat." Sean said.
"Jassy, the carriages, that was in our dream too! I told you!" Delia poked Jasmine's arm.
"Yeah, it was." Jasmine smiled.
"You had a dream about Hogwarts, too?" Sean wondered.
"You told him?" Delia asked.
"Yes, we dreamt about Hogwarts, and yes, Delia, I told Sean about our dream." Jasmine looked first at Sean and then at Delia.
"Why?" Delia questioned.
"I'm sorry, Delia, I asked your sister to tell me about your dream. I hope you're not angry?" Sean looked down at Delia.
Delia looked right back up at him and smiled sweetly, "That's okay. I just wanted to tell you myself. But me and Jasmine dream the same thing from different points of view, Jasmine told me that, so I'll tell you mine later."
"Okay." Sean consented.
Jasmine laughed softly when her sister tried to whisper this to Sean, she was bad at whispering and ended up either whispering just as loud as she spoke, or whispering so softly you couldn't hear her. Delia looked over at Jasmine and smiled triumphantly as if she had beaten Jasmine at something. Jasmine just shook her head and smiled.
Suddenly, Delia's eyes widened and she screeched and started jumping up and down, "We're here! We're here!" She shouted.
"Shh!" Jasmine asked, laughing. "Yeah, we are, but be quiet or they'll send someone in here to shut you up!"
"Fine," Delia said glumly, but the smile remained plastered on her cute, little face.
"Come on, let's go wait by the door, or it'll take us forever to get off." Sean suggested. Delia nodded eagerly, but Jasmine excused herself to go to the bathroom first. "Okay, then, we'll wait for you outside the door."
Jasmine nodded and hurried in the other direction before people began to rush on and knock her over as she would be going against the current. She found the ladies' room without much difficulty.
After she was done she hurried out so she wouldn't keep her sister and Sean waiting for too long and ran into someone hard. The person wasn't that much taller than her, but it was enough for the impact of her head to slam into his back and she sat down from dizziness. The person bent down with her.
"Are you okay?" He asked kneeling next to her and trying to examine her head.
"I'm fine." She snapped. Her head was killing her. Why was someone standing directly in front of the bathroom door? 'There's no where else to go, that's right,' she answered the question to herself.
"Sorry," he said. Jasmine looked up to see who it was and blinked in surprise. It was Draco Malfoy! Why the hell would he be nice to her?
"Draco?" she asked suspiciously.
"Yes." He looked at her strangely.
"Never mind," Jasmine figured she might as well take the kindness while it lasted because she was sure once they were in school he would either ignore her or tease her. "Could you just help me up, please?"
"Sure." Draco stood up again and held out his arms. Jasmine grabbed his hands and pulled herself up with his assistance.
"Thank you." Jasmine said.
"Whatever." Draco seemed to have come back to his usual self and he strode away, leaving Jasmine alone in the aisle to shake her head and wonder why he even bothered to help her in the first place.
Jasmine came to her senses and hurried down the aisle. She jumped down the steps and found Delia and Sean waiting for her, Sean looking fine, while Delia looked about ready to leave without Jasmine.
"Took you long enough," Delia commented impatiently. "Let's get a move on!" Delia quoted their mother who always said that.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Jasmine said. They walked together down to the carriages and hopped in.
"Where are the horses?" Delia wondered.
"They're right there." Jasmine pointed.
"Where?" Delia questioned, her eyes passing right over the place where the horses were, and yet still not seeing them.
"There." Jasmine frowned at her sister's inability to see them right in front of her.
Sean leaned in and whispered in Jasmine's ear, "Only someone who has seen a person die can see them."
"I've never seen someone die." Jasmine protested. "At least, I don't think I have."
Sean shrugged, "I saw my Grandpa on my dad's side die; it was of a heart attack. Are you sure you never did? Maybe when you were too little to remember?"
"I don't know, I wouldn't have remembered, right?" Jasmine said, "Well, I'll ask my parents when I write them a letter later."
"Hey, Jassy," Delia was tugging on Jasmine's sweatshirt and pointing to something, "isn't that our dream pond?"
Jasmine looked and nodded. "Yeah, I think it is."
"Cool, we should go see it up close someday! Can you take me?" Delia asked.
"Sure, I'll try to take you this week." Jasmine said.
"Okay." Delia gazed at the school in wonder and awe and was shaking with excitement. For her to have to wait to explore the whole thing would take a lot of patience, and Jasmine had a feeling she would be ripping her hair out by the end of the week if she didn't show Delia some of the school this week. She hoped she would have some spare time in which to do this, but she wasn't sure what to expect of this place.