Chapter 3

Dreams and Dreamers

"What was all that yelling about?" Hermione and Draco heard a shrill voice from two bookshelves away. In an instant, they knew who she was. Their vulture-like librarian, Madam Pince. "OUT! OUT! I will not have anyone yelling in my library! Get out! NOW!"

Draco and Hermione didn't need telling twice. Hermione gathered up her things while Draco made a run for the doors. What an asshole! Hermione thought. When she had finally gathered all of her belongings, she went pelting for the door.

"Thanks a lot, Malfoy!" Hermione said as soon as she reached Draco who had his hands on his knees and was breathing quickly as if he had just run a marathon. "Did you really have to leave me there?"

"Of course!" Draco said as he straightened up and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't usually use the library now, do I?"

"Yes." Hermione said. "What's your point? You're not making any sense. Are you trying to steer the conversation in another direction so you wouldn't have to answer why you didn't help me back there?"

"No, I wasn't." Draco said. "I wasn't finished yet. If Madam Pince saw me there AND talking to you, it would smell fishy, wouldn't it?" Hermione nodded and Draco continued. "Besides, Potter and Weasel don't know about us yet. Would you want them to learn it from her?"

"Probably not." Hermione said. Suddenly, she heard something go rip and looked down to see that her book bag gave away again due to the immense load inside it. Hermione heaved a sigh and knelt down to pick up her stuff. This time, however, Draco helped her (there was no one except them in the deserted corridor.)

"How many books are in that bag?" Draco said as he picked up a huge leather-bound book with gold lettering stamped across it. Hermione didn't answer. She was still busy trying to mend her book bag with a number of complicated spells Draco has never heard of. Draco arranged Hermione's books alphabetically and noticed one more book lying on his side. He picked it up and recognized it as Helga Hufflepuff's Diary. "Uh… Hermione?"

"Yes?" Hermione said. She was now trying to strengthen her bag with a vast number of charms.

"How did you manage to sneak out Hufflepuff's diary without Madam Pince noticing?" Draco asked as he threw the diary up into the air and caught it casually.

"I did!" Hermione asked as she took the diary from him. "I guess it was because of all the commotion inside. I tucked it under my arm and made a run for it."

"Uh-huh." Draco replied absently. "She probably won't notice that it has gone, though. It doesn't have a name and it's very plain looking. She might think it was just your notebook or something. Well, I have to get going. I'll see you around."

"Mm-hmm." Hermione simply answered as she took the neat pile of books and placed it in her bag. She stood up, straightened her tie and set off for the Gryffindor tower. Just as she was about to ascend the marble staircase, she heard a voice behind her calling her name. She turned around and saw Harry Potter running towards her. He stopped just beside her and turned to look at her.

"Hermione," he began, "we need to finish Slughorn's potions assignment." He said as he tried to catch his breath.

"Oh…" Hermione said. "I never thought you'd be interested in doing assignments, Harry. But if you say so. I was just heading back to Gryffindor tower."

After Harry finally caught his breath, he straightened up and looked at Hermione's caramel eyes. "Oh, good. I don't think brewing the potions are very easy." Harry said.

"Right." Hermione said. "What are we supposed to brew again?"

"Either Felix Felicis or Amortentia." Harry replied promptly. "I think we should go to the common room and discuss it there rather than here."

"Sure." Hermione answered. "Let's go." With that, they ascended the stairs and no sooner had they arrived in front of the portrait of the fat lady. She seemed to be entertaining a group of friends that she met after she fled her own portrait during their third year.

"Password?" She asked as they showed up in front of her. "Quickly, now. Can't you see I'm still in the middle of a conversation with my friends?"

"Hippogriff." Hermione said. The portrait swung open to reveal Gryffindor common room. Hermione and Harry stepped inside and the portrait door swung shut. They walked over towards the fireplace that was happily crackling away. They sat themselves down on the floor and spread out some books in front of them.

"So," Hermione said while flipping through the pages of her copy of Advanced Potion Making. "Which one should we brew?"

"Amortentia seems a lot easier than Felix Felicis." Harry said as he too, took out his copy of Advanced Potion Making. He flipped the pages until he landed on the page that contained the instructions for brewing Amortentia.

"Well," Hermione began, "we, of course, can't prepare it here. Let's just talk about what we need for the potion. Things like that you know. It will save us some time while we're developing the potion."

Hermione and Harry spent a good hour or two preparing what to do for the potion. After finishing that, Hermione decided to start on her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay while Harry started on his Astronomy piece. Halfway through writing, Harry fell asleep on his paper and his head was resting on the roll of parchment. Hermione noticed this but didn't wake him up. Harry had been through a lot the past year, the pain of losing someone who had treated him like a relative and made him feel loved had really taken its toll on Harry. He's been through enough, Hermione thought. She simply cleared up Harry's things and sat him on an overstuffed armchair with great effort. After that, she started on her own Astronomy composition.

"What do you think of it?" he asked her. He was just showing her a newly finished room that he had been working on for quite sometime now.

"I think it's really good." She said. She turned to face him and stared at his emerald eyes. "How your mind works, I guess I'll never understand. You come up with a lot of stupid ideas sometimes and get yourself into trouble. But still, there are some times when you come up with really witty ones." She smiled.

"Well, I think we'd better go now." He said. He turned to face the door and opened it. Just as he stepped out, he saw a pair of sliver-grey eyes staring back at him. His face turned paler than usual as he caught sight of the curly-haired witch by his side. For a moment, he was speechless. "Let me explain—"

"There is nothing to explain," the other one said. His eyes turned to the curly haired witch beside the raven-haired one. "I was right all along." He said. He walked off and she ran after him.

Draco Malfoy made his way down towards the dungeons and soon, he was facing a wall void of any decorations. Just the place he was looking for.

"Veritaserum" he said and the bare wall opened revealing the Slytherin common room. He walked inside and sat on one of the velvety green sofas by the fireplace. "Incendio" he said as he pointed his wand at the empty grate. Fire suddenly appeared in the fireplace but it was not enough to warm up the common room. Draco ran his hand through his hair and leaned back. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He was standing in a deserted corridor facing an ugly tapestry of two trolls being taught how to ballet dance. He's going to get his head chopped off in no time, he thought. Just as he turned away and was about to walk off, a door materialized by the bare wall beside the hideous drapery and two people walked out of it. One was a wizard with ebony coloured hair; the other one had hair that was curly but slightly bushy. The two wizards stared at each other and both were speechless for a while

"Let me explain—" the wizard began but he cut him off before the other one could babble on and on. For months now, he was suspecting something going on between the two of them. He was right.

"There is nothing to explain." He said as he glared at the raven-haired wizard. His eyes turned to her. He thought he could trust her. He has given her everything that he could have given. Yet, she betrayed him. "I was right all along." He turned away and walked off leaving them there.

Harry awoke with a start and saw Hermione sitting on the armchair opposite him. Crookshanks was sitting on her lap and she was absently scratching him behind the ears. He was purring contentedly. Hermione caught a glimpse of Harry and smiled at him.

"How long have I been asleep?" Harry asked her as he rearranged his now askew glasses. "Did you move me here?"

Hermione checked her watch and answered. "Just about fifteen minutes and yes, I moved you there. Much more comfortable sleeping there than sitting on the floor and using your Astronomy essay as a pillow." She looked at Crookshanks with loving eyes and looked up at Harry again. "Harry, are you okay? You seem… peaky."

Harry looked at her and opened his mouth. He finally concluded that he had nothing to say so he closed it again. "Nothing…" he said. "It was just a dream. It seemed all too real though."

"Why?" Hermione said as she set Crookshanks on the floor. He walked towards the portrait door and went out to explore the corridors. "What was the dream about?"

"Me… and you… and Malfoy." Harry said. "Well, at least we were way older and it was just all too real. I was showing you the Room of Requirements and in my dream, it seemed as if I was the one who made the room. You said —"

Hermione was now listening intently on every word Harry was saying. When Harry stopped for a while, she took out a quill and a piece of parchment and started taking down notes.

"—And then Malfoy stalked off." Harry finally finished. "Why are you taking down notes?"Hermione finished taking down notes and looked at Harry. "Well… it was probably something that I saw in the library this morning."

Hermione smiled and retold Harry the story. From reading Hogwarts: A History in the library, to someone seeing the diary, to reading it and up until Harry was asleep and she read the diary.

"So, what does that mean?" Harry asked her as she finished. She was a little out of breath from telling the account to him.

"It means Harry, that you weren't just dreaming. That really did happen. Did you know that it was Godric Gryffindor who created the Room of Requirements? He thought that Hogwarts didn't have enough rooms. He talked to Slytherin about it but he simply thought that it was a load of rubbish so Gryffindor did it by himself."

"What are you saying, Hermione?" Harry asked. "You're being quite unclear about that. What was with the note-taking?"

Hermione took out Helga Hufflepuff's diary and she flipped trough the pages. She took out a photograph that she had come across a while ago and handed it to Harry. Harry took it and saw a picture of two witches and two wizards in the photograph. One wizard had a certain resemblance to Harry. He was as tall as the witch in braids and his hair looked like it had never been combed before. The picture looked like it was taken a hundred years ago but it was still in perfect condition. Harry stared at the photo as the wizard and the witch waved at him before a handsome young man pushed his way in between the two of them and placed his arm around the witch's shoulder. He too, looked up and waved at Harry.

"Harry…" Hermione began. Harry looked up at her with a dazed look in his eyes. "You're Godric Gryffindor's heir."