Author's Note: Ok I know that Chapter One was kind of uneventful but it will get better. Hopefully, now that this second chapter is out things will start picking up a little bit. Well I hope you like it and if you don't, well that's nice. Either way, please R&R!
Chapter Two: Ron's Dreams------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No sooner had Harry fallen asleep, than he felt like he was being woken up again.
"Five more minutes," he mumbled irritably and rolled over. Couldn't Ron see it wasn't even light out yet? When Ron made another oddly muffled type sound, Harry opened his eyes to tell him to bugger off. That is until he saw that Ron was asleep. He was lying prostrate across his bed and seemed to be speaking to his pillow. Harry started when Ron began violently beating his fists into the unfortunate pillow and seemed to be gasping for breath. Alarmed, Harry got up quickly, fully awake now. He had never seen Ron act anything like this, conscious or unconscious. Okay, well maybe sometimes… but still! This looked to be important.
"Ron. Ron, wake up!" Harry jumped back as Ron took a swing at him. What was he dreaming about? When Harry tried to wake him again, Ron rolled over on his back and threw the pillow at him. Deciding that was the last straw, Harry went down to the washroom and filled a glass of water. He knew that what he was getting ready to do was very cruel but he didn't appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night and then nearly getting a black eye.
When he came back into the room, Ron had flopped back over onto his stomach and was muttering into the mattress. Standing in what he hoped was out of Ron's reach, Harry was about to throw some very cold water on his best friend when he overheard some of what Ron was saying.
"Couldn't help it… didn't… mean to… filthy muggles… no! Don't!" But Harry did and staggered backwards into the wardrobe when Ron jumped into the air, very wet and indignant.
"Harry! What the bloody hell was that for?" he sputtered loudly.
"Me? What were you muttering about?" Harry responded indignantly. "You sounded half mad!"
Ron looked surprised at Harry's last statement but as he wiped the water from his face, his expression became carefully blank.
"You know," he said, "I… I don't think… I don't think I remember what happened." He stifled a huge yawn with one hand as he got up and wrung out his shirttail, unusually calm. Harry got the distinct feeling that Ron was lying to him but decided to let it go. He glanced over at the clock only to see that it was just past one in the morning.
"Well, as long as we're both up, I've got something I've been meaning to ask you about all day. Has there been news about attacks lately? I mean, there was this thing on the muggle news this morning about three people killed and I was just wondering…" Harry trailed off as he looked up and saw Ron's face. In the moonlight that came through the window, he could see that his friend had gone exceptionally white under his freckles, his calm façade wiped away. "What is it?" He asked cautiously. Ron had been acting very strange tonight.
At Harry's question Ron seemed to come back to himself, all expression melting from his face just as quickly as it had when Harry had questioned him about his dream. "No Harry, there hasn't been any news. Probably just some accident. Go back to bed." And with that, he got into bed, rolled over and refused to say anything else. Seeing as how it was the middle of the night, Harry once again decided to let Ron's strange behavior slide and also rolled over and went back to sleep.
Ron lay quietly awake, listening to the sound of Harry's snores. He knew that Harry knew he was lying to him, he only hoped he wouldn't remember this conversation in the morning. The truth was, Ron was terrified. He'd been having odd dreams for a while now, since the end of the school year. They had always seemed so real and tonight hadn't been any different.
As he mulled over what had happened in his dream, Ron tried to convince himself that what Harry had said didn't have anything to do with it. Those deaths were completely unrelated. He hadn't told anyone about the dreams, and was still hoping that they would go away. They were seriously messing with his sleeping patterns.
The days passed by rather uneventfully up until Harry's birthday. They had a small celebration in the Weasley's back yard, which Fred and George presided over with lots of sudden explosions and questionable sweets. Mrs. Weasley baked an enormous cake, big enough to feed two whole Weasley clans and a handful of others. Before it was cut, Harry had a very vivid image of a certain redhead leaping out of the icing, but he quickly squelched those thoughts.
It wasn't until Mrs. Weasley had gone inside to wash up and everyone else was occupied with Harry's new magic eight ball (courtesy the Weasley twins) that he noticed Ron trying to sneak off. After the first night, he had dropped the subject of the murders and the dream, and thought now would be a good time to ask Ron again. Quietly, he detached himself from the group and followed Ron away from the house.
After they had reached a significant distance from the house, Ron stopped abruptly and turned to face him. "I know what you want to ask me Harry. But I can't tell you. I don't really know for myself." Ron said all of this very fast, as though he'd been thinking about it for a while.
"I'm just worried about you Ron, I know you've had more of those dreams, you thrash about in your sleep whenever you do." Harry laughed quietly, "I never thought I'd be the one asking someone about the weird dreams they have."
"Look Harry, I understand it may seem odd but, I just… that first night you were here. And you asked me about those muggles…" he trailed off and raked his hand through his hair rather roughly. "I've been having these dreams all summer. Where I'm… I don't know. It's like I can see through the eyes of another person. Everything feels so real. I just don't really know what to make of it." He looked so completely unsure that at first Harry didn't know what to say to him. It was not what he'd been expecting at all.
"Well, have you told anyone else? Maybe you should ask Dumbledore what they mean. I wish I had." They both grew silent for a moment, thinking about Sirius.
"I don't know Harry, what if they really mean something… what if they aren't just weird dreams? What if what I see happen to these people is real?" Ron sat down hard on the ground, starring up at Harry to give him an answer. Harry didn't have one.
"Ron," Harry whispered, "what do you see?"
"Those muggles you told me about, I think I saw them die." Ron looked down at his hands. "I've seen terrible things, Harry. I don't really know how any of it could be real. But then you asked me about those people and, well, I just don't know. I've seen so much."
"Ron, I…"
"Ron, Harry! What are you two doing out here? Mum says it's time to come in. Why are you on the ground Ron?" Ginny stood about ten feet away with her hands on her hips, starring oddly at Ron. "Are you crying?" She asked incredulously. Ginny looked as if she couldn't decide to be worried or point and laugh. "Well, um, as soon as you two finish up your manly bonding episode you're to finish with the washing up Ron."
Harry watched as Ginny flounced off, knowing that Ron wouldn't tell him anything else that night. He sighed to himself and gave Ron a hand up before they followed her into the house.
Okay, well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I know it took me about a million years to get it out. I think the only thing that needs to be mentioned is the magic eight ball. I know I didn't really talk about it, but it'll come again and just in case I forget to say it later, I got the idea from someone else. I forget who and I know some people get annoyed and bitchy if things aren't mentioned and they're like, blah blah blah, you stole my idea, blah blah blah.
Anyway, I'll try and keep up with writing, no promises; I'm so bad with this. So for now, I bid you adieu.