A/n: Chaper 9, wherein Simone has a crazy dream, she remembers a broken promise, does some shape-shifting, and James and Sirius finally pull the prank (mentioned in the previous chapter).

Disclaimer: i only own Simone. Since she is me, it's kind of hard for Bloomsbury or Rowling to own me.

Chapter 9 – Random Subconscious, Or Future Prediction?

Simone was running. She was in a dark, creepy forest, at night, running. She could hear the footfalls of her pursuers, thundering after her. She ducked as a tree branch struck out suddenly. She could feel the sweat on her forehead, and fear overwhelming her mind. Her thoughts were unusually blank. All she knew was that she had to keep running. Taking quick glimpses behind her, she could see her pursuers wore black robes and strange masks. She could feel her heart race, and she turned forward, concentrating on running. The forest started to become sparse and the trees thinned out. Soon, she could see an end ahead, an end to the forest. As she drew closer, she saw something even worse than the masked people chasing her, a cliff. The ground just seemed to fall away, and Simone had two options. Stay and confront these scary, sinister people in masks, or jump. She chose the latter.

Simone was falling into a great dark canyon, with the ground far below looking sharp and painful. She knew this was the end. Suddenly, everything around her changed. She was no longer falling. Now, she was in a sunny park. Bright, green trees surrounded her. She faced a clear, blue, lake with fat, happy ducks swimming lazily around it. She saw something on the other side of the lake. A man, woman and small child, all sitting on a park bench. Simone walked towards them. As she came closer, the people started to look familiar. The man was tall with scruffy black hair and glasses. The women had long red-ginger hair and, as she came closer, she noticed that she had intelligent green eyes. The child, a baby boy, who couldn't have been more than eight months old, smiling goofily with tufts of black hair and green eyes, matching his mother's. He let out an adorable giggle.

'It couldn't be, could it? Is that grown-up James and Lily? Must be, no-one else would have hair as scruffy as that. Aww, the baby's so cute!'

Suddenly, Simone's surroundings changed once more, but this time, she was inside. It was a cosy living room, with a welcoming fire burning in the heath. People were gathered around the room. In one corner, a tall boy of sixteen with black hair and glasses, who reminded her of the baby from the previous scene, stood with two other teenagers; a girl with curly hair and a tall boy with bright red hair.

'Hmm, he looks little like that guy Arthur in Second Year.'

In another corner, sat a man with light red-brown hair, five o'clock shade, sunken eyes and pale skin.

'If that isn't adult Remus, then Remus must have an identical twin brother he hasn't told us about.'

Sitting a few metres away from him was an unusual girl, with uncanny pink hair. She kept sneaking glances at Remus now and then, and Remus did the same. Both were completely oblivious to each other's glances.

'Aww, Remus is in love! How sweet!'

Once again, Simone's surroundings dramatically changed. This time, she was outside again. It was night, and she was in a muggle street. There were two men on the street. One tall with jet black hair and the other, short, podgy and with messy, dark blonde hair. They were arguing. Simone made her way towards them, hearing their voices, but not understanding them, as if they were speaking some foreign language, one that dream visitors were excluded from.

Suddenly she recognised them. The tall man was adult Sirius. He looked terrible, as if he had spent the last three months drinking non-stop. The other was adult Peter, also looking terrible, but like he had been run-over by several lawn mowers. Sirius raised his wand, and everything suddenly slowed. A bright light flashed and a green light ball came out of his wand and slowly travelled towards Peter. Peter did something that looked like chewing on his hand and then he turned into a rat and scampered down a storm-water drain. The green ball passed and hit a parked car and there was an explosion. Simone felt that feeling she had got three times before, but this time, she stayed in the same place. The only thing that had changed was the five muggle police cars parked, and the fire fighters struggling to put out the fire, which had spread to several other parked cars. A policeman had Sirius in handcuffs and was putting him into the car. Sirius looked like he was in some kind of trance. She noticed other people; men in robes who looked suspiciously like Ministry officials.

"No! He didn't do anything wrong!" Simone shouted out, but the people couldn't hear her.

One of the wizards suddenly looked straight at her. A blinding flash spread across the scene. Simone sat up in bed with a start. She could feel the sweat on her forehead and her heart racing a million miles a minute.

'Oh, it was all a dream.'

"Are you alright Simone?" Groaned Lily from the bed to her left.

"Yeah, just peachy. Go back to sleep." She replied, shakily.

Lily yawned, "Okay. G'night."

"Night."

A million thoughts raced through her head. What did that dream mean? How did Peter turn into a rat? Where did this Lily and James coupling come from? Why did Sirius drink non-stop for months? Was it just a random bunch of stuff formed by her subconscious, or could it be a premonition? She had gotten premonitions before, but not usually so many in one dream, and not always as specific.

Simone reached for her watch on the bedside table; it was four in the morning.

'Hmm, no one else will be awake at this time, but I'm too shaken to go back to sleep. I know, a good flight will help me burn time and clear my thoughts until Uncle Albus wakes up.'

She got out of bed and changed her clothes to warm jeans and a woollen jumper. It may have been minus twenty degrees Celsius, but Simone could endure weather a lot colder than that. She walked over to the window, and put up a magical barrier as to not let the cold in and wake her roommates. She opened the window and took in the night air. Everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow.

Simone chose one of her favourite animal forms; a Wedge-tailed Eagle, a mighty bird of her homeland, and shape-shifted. She leapt up to the windowsill and jumped out.

She spread her mighty wings to their full span and glided over the grounds, flapping at slow, even intervals. The cold night air waking her up, Simone decided to do some areal acrobatics. Spinning, twirling and doing loop-de-loops, all rather strange activities for a bird that should firstly be in Australia, not England, secondly would have migrated for the winter like the other birds, and would not have normally cared for acrobatics. If any attentive bird watcher had spotted this, he may have thought the world had gone crazy, or that the birds were changing their habits because of Global Warming or some other futuristic environmental problem.

Nevertheless, she dived down towards the lake, pulling up at the last second. She spotted the Whomping Willow and decided that it was high time for a visit. Landing on one of its top-most branches, Simone greeted the tree.

'Hello.'

'Ah, the Great One,' answered the tree.

'You remember me?'

'Of course, all trees remember the people who set them into the ground.'

'I guess that means I must be widely known to the tree community.'

'Indeed.'

'So, how have you been Tree?' 'Fine. Birds come and go, sharing their gossip. Not much happens. How are you?'

'Fine I guess.'

'That is not true. I can sense something is troubling you.'

'Oh, its just this dream I had.'

'Maybe it would help to tell me about it.'

'I thought trees didn't dream?'

'We don't, and I don't sleep either, but talking about it might ease your mind.'

'Good idea.'

So Simone told the tree all about her dream. The emotions she felt, the conflicting visions, all the confusion. It did help to talk about it.

'My problem I guess, is that I don't know if its just a random collection of stuff my imagination created to freak me out, which by the way, I suspect it doesn't like me very much, or if it was all some kind of premonition, warning me or something about the future.'

'Have you have premonitions in your dreams before?'

'Yes, all the time. But half the time, they are not as specific as these ones, or as long, and never more than one per night.'

'What about dreams, what makes you think it might not be one?'

'Well, my dreams usually have some kind of mythological monster or someone I dislike exploding. My dreams are weird.'

'Well, I wouldn't really have much expertise in this area, but I believe that it might be some kind of premonition, a special premonition. What you are to do now, I don't know. Perhaps you should speak with that man with the white beard. He seemed wise. The young should always listen to the wise.'

'Good idea Tree, I will go speak with him when he wakes up.'

'Good. Now, Great One, I have one question. Why does a young boy come to me every turn of the moon, freeze me with that knot in my roots and then go into the tunnel I am sitting on?'

'Oh, that's just Remus. He's a werewolf, you see, and every full moon, he uses the tunnel to get to this isolated house where he can transform and not hurt anyone.'

'Oh, okay.'

'Wait, a minute, Remus!'

'What is it?'

'I forgot to go with Remus last moon. I'm supposed to go with him so he doesn't get lonely, but there was this problem with one of my charges and I had to leave the school for the day. Great, the first opportunity to help him, and I go off gallivanting with some boy and his dragon. No wonder Remus has been cold towards me recently.'

'What will you do?'

'I'll make it up to him. Full moon is in five days, right?'

'I believe so.'

'Then I'll meet him in the house. I hope he forgives me.'

'I am sure he will.'

'Thank you tree for your advice and guidance. You have been very helpful.'

'It was my pleasure Great One.'

Simone said her goodbyes and flew off into the night. As she was soaring, she noticed that the moon was almost invisible and there was a slight glimmer of sun on the horizon. She flew over to a tree on the grounds and landed on a sturdy branch.

'Hmm, I don't want to go in yet. I know, this weather is perfect for wolves!'

She jumped down onto the frozen dirt and shape-shifted once more, but this time, her desired form was that of a grey wolf. Simone leaped and pounded the ground with her large paws, feeling the show fly up behind her. She ran, but this time, it was for fun, unlike her strange dream. Now that she had time to think, her first thought was on when she was being chased.

'I doubt that I would have run from a bunch or masked strangers, if I was in that situation. Funny how when you're dreaming you only see the two options, but when you wake, all these other possibilities are revealed.'

Even at the age of 11, Simone probably could have taken on a group of dangerous masked people. She had certainly faced worst, including a huge army of thousands of soldiers, masters of killing in all fields; sword fighting, archery and even magic. Yet she faced them bravely and won. Why should masked people be any different?

She watched as a lark flew overhead, signalling that dawn would soon come. She shape-shifted back into an eagle and flew back to her bedroom window. She went inside, turned back to her original form and closed the window.

"Simone? Is that you?" Asked Lily, more awake this time.

"Yeah, I just went out for a bit."

"Oh, okay, well, let's go to breakfast."

"I'll meet you there, I have to see someone first."

Simone walked the empty corridors once more. After going to see her Great Uncle, he had advised her that the Whomping Willow was right, and her dream probably was some kind of special premonition. But it was all still worrying. Simone was certain about one thing, she couldn't tell the others about her dream. She was well aware of the dangers of changing the future when you weren't completely sure of all the facts or what you were doing. It would be dangerous. So she kept it to herself.

Simone arrived at the Great Hall just in time. She sat down next to Lily.

"Finally, Simone, you're here." Said Sirius, from across the table.

"We were afraid that we would have to start without you." Added James

"Huh?" Said Simone

"The prank, with Snape, remember the potion?" Said Remus

"Oh yeah, thanks for waiting."

"Okay, watch this." Said Sirius as he and James got up. They walked over to the Slytherin table and up to Snape.

"What do you pathetic losers want?" Jeered a few Slytherins.

"We just came to see our buddy Snivellus here." Said Sirius.

"Clear off blood-traitors, and tell your mudblood friends to watch their backs!" Said Snape.

"Fine, fine, you made your point." Said Sirius, holding his hands up in a surrender gesture. He and James turned and walked back to their table.

"Did you do it?" Asked Remus.

James held up the empty vile. "He hasn't got a clue."

Moments later, a loud bleating came from the Slytherin table. The whole room erupted in laughter as Snape ran out of the room, bleating like a constipated goat.

Did you like? i have so much fun thinking of ways to bring pain to Snape. evil git. Did you like this chapter? i've already written the next one, so all that needs to be done is an editing session by be wonderful editor and friend, discombobulated.shoe.

Also, a big thank you to the following people:

discombobulated.shoe (she's done so much, have a cookie)

FlutterbyPrincess (you've reviewed almost every chapter. for that, i thank you and offer you a cookie)

Maraudess (you too have reviwed almost every chapter. thanks and you can have a cookie also)

andrea (thanks, i'm surprised someone can get hooked on my story. a cookie for you too)

Yes, so, remember readers, if you review, you get a cookie. a very tasty one. with chocolate and nuts. If you are allergic to these things, i have jelly, and bene's. don't ask me what a bene is, i just saw people thanking others with these and thought that people here might like them too, whatever thay are. but 3 years of Italian tells me Bene is Good in italian. is that last fact relevant? you tell me.

So, if people have ideas or whatever, i'l always open to new ideas. And remember, reviewing is the most effective way to show you care. sending it to me telepathically won't work.

bubye and see you all on chapter 10. Soon, i hope.