Chapter 4 the early bird catches the bookworm
Disclamer: do I really have to?, very well then I don't own the potter boy.
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At around one in the morning directly after the welcoming feast Dazar Nai could be found sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. The Immortal was staring at the fire, thinking about what he had just done. Once being sure no one would notice his disappearance he had teleported to where Draco Malfoy and his moron squad was sleeping, and wiped their memory of what he was. It was against the rules to change some ones memory without permission and when he checked sure enough a feather on the tip of each wing had turned white. White in an Immortal was the indication that they were evil; however Dazar thought that this would show anyone that saw his true form that he was willing to do dark things, in order for light to win. He was concentrating that much that when a hand landed on his shoulder he reacted on instinct. He spun around, standing in the process, and changing the air into a sword. A piercing scream rent the air, the blade stopped just short of the person's neck. Once he managed to get his eyes adjusted he saw the red-hair and mismatched eyes he had come to love, not that he would admit it. "Willow, Oh god I'm so sorry," Dazar said pulling the blade back and dispersing it into nothingness.
"I couldn't sleep, nightmare," replied Willow, once the shock had passed. Dazar watched as tears came to Willow's eyes, she held them back for a moment before breaking down. Dazar picked her up gently, like he had done so many times, and rocked her gently.
"It was just a bad dream, its over now. I've got you, I'm right here," murmured Dazar softly into her ear.
"I, I kn know, its its just so so hard," replied Willow brokenly through her tears. It was some ten minutes later that Willow started to calm down, this was the worst she had been after the second time she awoke alone at the manor. Although Dazar was still unsure if he could teleport on Hogwarts grounds with another person he tried it anyway, the pair of them appeared in front of the stone gargoyle guarding Albus Dumbledore's office.
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Albus was sitting in his office just finishing off some paperwork, the bane of his existence, when the gargoyle informed him of a boy and an incredibly upset girl appearing in front of it. Albus pinched his nose just below his glasses and told the gargoyle to allow the pair to enter. After a few moments a pair of magical auras appeared on the other side of the door, one sporadic appearing and disappearing yet remaining calm; the other while constant was awash with pain and suffering.
"Enter," he called out, he felt a tendril of magic come from the calm aura and it opened the door. What Albus saw was not what he had expected, the boy with long black hair and dark green eyes that Albus had seen only twice was holding and rocking a red-haired girl who was in some considerable distress.
"Headmaster," said Dazar walking in "I am sure you remember me, or more accurately my mother Ellisande". Albus was now genuinely interested.
"Of course, her help was invaluable. So what can I do for you my boy," replied Albus.
"I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that sir," said Dazar taking a few steps closer being careful not to cause too much stress to the girl.
"It appears that it is not simple matter, please take a seat," replied Albus.
"I would rather stand sir, Willow is only just drifting off. We need a private room with a single large bed," explained Dazar, shaking his head to the offered seat.
"This is an odd request, may I enquire as to why you would need such a thing?" asked Albus patiently.
"Of course. Willow has horrible nightmares you see, I have yet to find the cause. Anyway this is the first time in ages that she has been this bad, the sole reason behind this was that I was not immediately there to comfort her," explained Dazar. Albus pondered for a while then suggested an alternative to a private room.
"Would not a Dreamless sleep potion be enough, until she feels safe enough to sleep without it in her own dorm," he said.
"I thought of that as well, however I do not wish for her to become dependant on a potion that will eventually cease to take effect. I did some research and it takes about two months roughly to it not take effect, it took over three months with myself sleeping in the same room; same bed on occasion, for her to get a decent nights sleep," explained Dazar, effectively shooting down Dumbledore's idea.
"I see, you have not come to me because it is the easiest alternative, but because it is the only way that will work," replied Albus nodding slowly.
"That is correct, it is the only viable method, I assure you we; Willow and myself, are just very good friends. Nothing that should not happen will happen if you allow us our own quarters," said Dazar. After a moment Albus stood up, his back making some angry cracking noise as he did. He went over and roused his pet Phoenix from its slumber.
"Of course, now come here please and take hold of a tail feather, I assume you know what we are about to do," asked Dumbledore as Dazar made his was over and took a gentle hold.
"First time, but it should be interesting, where are we going in the castle if I may ask," replied Dazar.
"To your mothers quarters, its opposite the kitchens on the third floor, we are going to fire flash to it as I believe you wont make it there under your own steam," replied Dumbledore. After a moment the Phoenix trilled and the three of them were engulfed in warm light.
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They materialised in a fair sized room that held a large four-poster bed, Dazar's knees gave a little and Willow whimpered then held on tighter.
"The room hasn't been used in about forty years," said Dumbledore quietly.
"That's alright, we will be ready for classes in the morning, is there anything else you need, sir," replied Dazar sitting on the edge of the bed ignoring the painful grip Willow had on him.
"Not at all, be sure to appear in the great hall for breakfast. We give out timetable for classes then, will you be alright," asked Dumbledore taking hold of fawke's tail again.
"I'll be fine, after a bit of rest," answered Dazar lying down and making himself comfortable with Willow on top of him. Dumbledore nodded and disappeared in a flash of fire.
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Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the great hall the next morning to find Dazar and Willow sitting on the end of the Gryffindor table, Willow on the end Dazar beside her. Dazar seemed to be moving stiffly, Willow had small black marks beneath her eyes.
"Ah morning, Hermione would you sit opposite Willow, she had a bad night," said Dazar once they reached them.
"What happened, Willow?" asked Hermione once they had sat down.
"Nightmare," mumbled Willow looking down at her plate.
"Oh, do they happen often," Hermione wondered sympathetically.
"Yes," whispered Willow still staring at her plate, she started pushing a bit of sausage around.
"Don't worry about it, in a few weeks we should be sleeping fine, Dumbledore provided us with alternative accommodation," explained Dazar.
"And what happened to you?" Harry asked when Dazar flinched after stretching.
"I hurt him," mumbled Willow she looked about ready to cry.
"It was an accident, last night after the nightmare, she held on to me a bit to hard, her magic augmented her strength. Cracked a few ribs, I'll be healed in an hour or two," explained Dazar while wrapping an arm around Willow's shoulders gently.
"An hour or two? That's not possible," said Ron.
"Try to remember, I'm not entirely human Ron," replied Dazar, but he was more focused on Willow than Ron.
"Do we have to talk about this?" asked Willow.
"No we don't," replied Dazar softly. At that moment Professor McGonagall appeared and handed them their timetables. They looked briefly at the day's classes and locations before placing them inside their robes.
"We got Charms first then," said Harry.
"Seems like it, but I'm not looking forward to Potions with the Slytherins this afternoon," replied Ron.
"Hermione, grab Neville. We should go now, need the extra time to find the class," Dazar told them.
"Show off or not?" Willow whispered into Dazar's ear.
"Depends on what we end up doing in class, either way do your best," replied Dazar just as quietly. A few moments later Hermione reappeared with Neville in tow and they set off for their first day of classes.
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Upon arriving at the Charms classroom on the third floor Dazar and Willow claimed seats at the back of the class while Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville sat up by the front. Professor Flitwick took the register, almost falling off his desk once he had reached Harry's name on it. Soon he had gotten them started on practicing the wand movement and incantation for Wingardium Leviosa, a spell that made objects fly. About halfway through the lesson Professor Flitwick noticed Willow sleeping up against Dazar up at the back of the class, and that Dazar wasn't practicing the spell.
"Mr Nai, Miss Applegate, Do you think you can get away with doing nothing during my class," demanded Professor Flitwick once he had woken the girl. They noticed that Hermione was looking at them angrily, probably for falling asleep and doing nothing in class.
"I had a bad night Professor," answered Willow sheepishly.
"Professor Dumbledore informed the staff that you have nightmares, yet did not believe that they effected your sleep that much," said Professor Flitwick, "Now what excuse do you have Mr Nai" he questioned.
"Just that both of us can already do the spell," answered Dazar.
"Would you care to demonstrate?" replied Professor Flitwick. Dazar nodded and pulled out his wand.
"Levitate me, after I cast my spell," Dazar thought to Willow, who nodded. A second later Dazar had performed the spell on a nearby desk making it float about six feet in the air. Everyone was to busy gawking at the desk that they didn't notice Willow cast the spell on Dazar, who ended up floating at about seven feet of the ground. Quite a feat as he weighed significantly more than the small end table he had cast the spell on.
"Excellent very good, twenty points to…" said Professor Flitwick said turning back to Dazar, he trailed off shocked seeing him floating such a distance above the floor. He stared at Willow in shock after noticing that she had her wand pointing at the floating boy.
"Yes Professor?" she asked innocently. A few seconds later there was a loud crash and grunt as Dazar and the table fell to the ground.
"Yes I see you can indeed perform the spell, twenty points each," replied Professor Flitwick.
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Transfiguration went as smoothly as could be expected, Professor McGonagall started off with a lecture about how dangerous it was. After a lecture were they took down many complicated notes she had them start on turning matches into needles. Only Willow and Hermione completed the task by the end of the lesson earning them ten points each. Soon it was time for Potions with the Greasy Bat himself. Serverus Snape, Potions master and resident abusive git started the lesson with the usual sneering and insults before having them start on a potion for removing boils. Neville managed to destroy the cauldron he was using but some quick work with The One Power by Dazar prevented the contents from going everywhere. This didn't stop Snape from deducting 30 points from Gryffindor.
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Later that night Dazar paid a visit to Dumbledore's office after sitting down he got right to the point. "I have a theory about Willow's nightmares, sir," he said.
"And what would that be?" asked Dumbledore.
"As your probably aware that she fell asleep during charms this morning. However she had none of the normal signs of having a bad dream. Is it possible for someone to be affected by someone else's dreams?" explained Dazar quickly.
"That is a very rare gift, but I know no way of preventing it other than sleeping at times when everyone else is asleep," explained Dumbledore.
"I know of a method with the One Power, she has the spark and will begin channelling it eventually, I can teach her enough not to harm herself or others, and until then apply the particular ward every night till then," replied Dazar cautiously.
"This ward, is it a permanent thing, or dose it need to be re-laid every so often?" asked Dumbledore.
"It lasts about twelve hours," replied Dazar.
"Very well I will think about it," said Dumbledore.
Dazar nodded then disappeared in a burst of energy.
a/n sorry took me some time to get this one out. If anyone has a problem with the way my char can circumvent the wards on Hogwarts, tough teleportation is not classed as apparition and therefore its allowed, like house elves.