Chapter 3

Mr. Weasley descended the rest of the stairs and met eyes with Alli who was still standing at the window.

"Well hello there Alli, had trouble sleeping did we?"

"Yeah, I guess my body doesn't know it doesn't need to get up for class anymore," Alli forced a laughed.

"Well Mrs. Weasley will be down any minute and cook us some breakfast."

Surprisingly, when Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen, she was followed by Percy, Fred, and George.

"Look who decided to get an early start on the day," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Not our choice, ma" George said sitting at the table and put his head down on it.

"Yeah, if it was up to us, we'd be sleeping till lunch," Fred continued.

"But our bodies had other ideas." George grumbled.

Fred took a seat next to Alli and she snuggled up to him as close as she could. After breakfast, Percy convinced Mr. Weasley to allow him to go to the Ministry with his dad that day. Fred, George, and Alli decided to wait in the living room for Ginny and Ron to wake up so they could have a game of Quidditch. Fred and Alli sat together on the couch and George flopped into the armchair across from them. Within seconds the boys were bored and began a game of Wizard's Chess. Alli tried to keep engaged with the game but slowly fatigue overwhelmed her. She slid down a bit on the couch and curled up with her head on the arm, it wasn't long before she was asleep and vulnerable to her dark dreams.

She was bombarded by different versions of Fred's death, all being just as gruesome. There were flashes of him being blown up by a miss mixed potion, poisoned by a potion that engulfed him from the inside out, and the worse one was of him being brutally tortured by Death Eaters she knew by name. In each scene Alli felt she was just steps away from him and knew what was about to happen, but she was forced to watch it happen.

"Alli! Alli! All!" She kept hearing Fred's voice screaming. But then she felt someone shaking her.

"Alli, Alli, Alli, wake up" Fred was sitting at her feet and George was kneeling next to her as she woke up. Both them looked concerned and when she sat up, Alli noticed Mrs. Weasley standing in the entryway.

"Are you alright Alli?" Fred asked brushing some hair out of her face.

"Yeah, just a bad dream."

"Well the stress from finals may have finally caught up to you. I knew you couldn't keep up that calm composure for long." George laughed and took his seat again.

"Would you like some tea, sweetheart?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"That would be lovely, thank you."

Alli stayed on the sofa, snuggled up to Fred, until Mrs. Weasley brought her a cup of hot tea. She sipped at the tea and focused on the chess game; it took her mind off the nightmares, listening to the twins jokingly bad mouth each other. Alli was relieved to hear the last two Weasleys running down the stairs. While Ron and Ginny ate, Fred's king was pulverized by one of George's bishops. Then Alli helped Ginny wash the dishes and the boys rushed outside to get the Quidditch equipment.

"Alli, are you alright. You seem like you're in some sort of trance." Ginny passed Alli a dish to dry off.

"Um, yeah just a lot on my mind."

"Is it about that dream you had last night?"

Alli paused, she had thought Ginny was asleep when she woke up last night.

Seeing the look on her friend's face Ginny continued, "You were moaning a bit in your sleep, I woke up and heard you mumbled something about it being your fault. You started to wake up and I pretended to still be asleep. I figured if you needed or wanted me to know, you would have woken me up as well. When I heard you go downstairs I fell back to sleep."

"I'm sorry I woke you up. I just had a horrible dream that I couldn't get out of my head."

"What was it about? Sometimes it helps to talk about it but if you don't want to its fine." The girls had finished the dishes and were now sitting at the table. Alli wanted to tell Ginny all about the dream to get her opinion, but she couldn't bare tell the little girl across from her that she saw her brother dead; so she lied.

"Um, I was lost in the Dark Forest and I could hear people trying to help me out but I couldn't find them."

"That sounds awful. I mean, I've never been anywhere near the Dark Forest, but from the stories my brothers have told me, it sounds like a dreadful place."

"Yeah, it really is."

Alli felt atrocious the rest of the day. During the Quidditch game, Alli forgot about her terrors but as soon as they were back in the house, all the anxiety came flooding back.

When it came time to go to bed, Alli sent herself into an asthma attack just thinking of the dreams she might have had. After using her inhaler, Alli realized that falling asleep by her own volition was not possible. She had to take a sleeping draft her Uncle Snape had given her just in case. That night Alli didn't remember her dreams and she woke rested. Ginny was sitting on her bed already dressed and reading a book Alli had sent to her, Jane Eyre.

" Morning, just so you know, you slept like the dead last night."

"Good to know" Alli sat in front of Ginny waiting for her to look up from the pages of the novel.

"I don't get this book. I mean the girl sees her uncle's ghost in that red room, so is she a witch? I thought you said this was a Muggle book."

Alli giggled, "It is, she's a Muggle, but some Muggles think they have seen ghosts or have had a paranormal experience. Most people think they are loony but I believe it's quite possible they experience something."

Fred burst through the door before Ginny could ask another question.

"Don't you knock?" Ginny said irritated.

"Why you have nothing to hide?" He laughed sitting down behind Alli.

"Well what if Alli had been changing?"

Alli looked at Fred and the two smiled at each other. "Yes Fred, what if I had been getting dressed?"

"I would have tried to memorize the image before you would push me out of the room." Fred snickered and kissed Alli's cheek.

"By the way, this letter just arrived for you. George and I are going to go to Diagon Ally this afternoon, you want to come with us?"

"Sounds like fun, what are we looking for?" Alli took the letter but watched Fred as he headed towards the door.

"Well we are telling mum that we are going to get ideas for your birthday present but George and I really need some potion ingredients."

"I'm not going to ask about the potion because I want to be able to honestly say 'I had nothing to do with it' when something blows up. But what if your mother was to find out my birthday is not till October?"

"I'll just tell her I was being a good boyfriend and getting an early start."

"Right" Alli giggled and Ginny rolled her eyes. Fred went back downstairs and Ginny got lost in her book. Alli got dressed into a pair of jeans and a v-neck t-shirt before flopping onto her cot to read her letter; she expected it be a response from Professor Dumbledore but instead it was from her uncle.

To my dear little Allestra,

Professor Dumbledore confided in my about an unsettling dream you had the other night. He was going to write to you himself but I asked to respond to you. But before I give you my opinion, Professor requested that I pass on some information to you. He asks that you be careful and be aware of your temper. It is his belief that now that you have entered Hogwarts as a student, the power you inherited from your father has amplified. We have come to the conclusion that it may be the reason behind your increased random mood swings during the school year. You are in danger of following in your father's footsteps if you are not careful but I feel you are strong enough to overcome his influence. However, if anything should occur, contact Professor Dumbledore and myself immediately; even if the incident seems minor.

Now as for your dream, the Professor and I are could not come to an agreement. We spent much time discussing it last evening; I personally believe that it is your youthful mind expressing your fear of losing your first true beau. You have lost so many loved ones at such a young age, I think it would only be natural for you to fear this. However, Professor Dumbledore doesn't want to dismiss it so easily. He plans to reflect on it a bit more and will write to you when he has the best answers for you. Also he wants you to let him know when you have returned to Diane's house so he can arrange a meeting with you.

I hope the rest of your summer break is better than the first few days. If you ever need to get away, my home is always open to you. Also I have ways of finding out things so you and that boy should be cautious. If he does anything to hurt you some Draught of Living Death may find its way into his pumpkin juice. And I hope you know I'm only joking when I say that … maybe.

Your favorite uncle,

Severus Snape

Alli had hope the letter would put her mind at ease but it only made her more nervous and confused. All of a sudden she couldn't wait to return home so she could meet with Professor Dumbledore. She also thought about taking Uncle Snape up on his offer to let her stay at his house for a bit. But Alli was getting fed up with having to worry all the time so she made herself a promise that while she was staying at the Burrow, the only thing she would think about was having fun.

She went with the twins to Diagon Ally and shopped for Saharia and Balgeria while the boys went to get there potion ingredients. After they named a few of them for her, Alli had a hunch what the two were concocting but still felt it was best to remain ignorant. Also while there, Alli purchased an accessory for her wand; it was a snake that got wrapped around the wand, the tail being at the handle and the head resting on the tip. Fred and George joked about how she probably should have been in Slytherin with her great love of snakes. When the trio returned to the Burrow, Alli told Mrs. Weasley that the ingredients Fred and George bought, were needed to do homework Professor Snape gave them for over the summer.

The next few weeks at the Burrow were blissful. Alli spent most of her time playing Quidditch and just relaxing with Fred and his siblings. It seemed like Percy was finally warming up to her and he joined them once or twice after dinner when they would sit in front of the fire and tell stories. He didn't seem particularly amused by the fairytales but he stayed with them anyway. On the last night at the house, all the kids, except Percy, decided to sleep outside. They lined up sleeping bags in the backyard and stayed up as long as they could trying to make up with the best ghost story they could.

When morning came, they all got up as a group and ate breakfast. Alli was taking the Knight Bus home this time because Mr. Weasley was still at work and she didn't want to use up any of the Weasleys' floo powder. Fred was accompanying her on the ride so after breakfast they dressed and Alli packed up the rest of her belongings so Fred could carry her trunk to the living room.

They couldn't summon the bus right to the Burrow but so the couple had to ride their brooms to the outskirts of the nearest city about twenty minutes away. The bus ride was fun since Fred and Alli made up a game to see who could remain on their feet the longest without having to grab anything for support.

Alli jumped of the bus and rushed to the door while Fred collected her luggage. She burst through the door and was met with a surprise.

"Hey Alli, welcome home!"

"Allan?"