Chapter 5: Dreams

Lunch was a very noisy affair. Many of the students who had been in the new classes were discussing them eagerly with the others. Harry glanced up at the top table. Professor North was sitting next to Dumbledore with a plate piled high with turkey, chipolatas wrapped in bacon and what looked like bread sauce. Bunnymund was seated next to Professor McGonagall. He was eating carrots and was conversing lightly with her. Professor Tooth was sitting at the table, but wasn't eating. On the contrary she was still issuing orders to her mini-fairies. Professor Sandy wasn't there.

Jack Frost walked past the Gryffindor table. Immediately all of the girls began giggling and swooning as did a few of the boys. As he passed them, he gave Hermione a tiny wink and a shadow of a grin. Hermione, to Harry's amazement, giggled and blushed. It was lucky Ron was too busy stuffing as much food into his mouth as he possibly could that he didn't notice.

After Lunch, Harry, Ron and Hermione ascended the marble staircase to the East tower. When they reached it… 'What the…!' A smooth tunnel, built entirely out of golden sand, was set into the wall. It was sloping gently upwards into what Harry presumed was the Dream classroom. Harry stared at the sand; he was sure had seen it before.

Of all the classrooms Harry had ever been in, this one was by far the most unusual, even including Wonder, Hope and Memory. The entire classroom was completely built out of golden sand. Desks and benches built entirely out of sand were situated around the class. At the front of the classroom, Harry was surprised to see a ship's wheel.

Flying through the air above them were stream of golden sand. Harry suddenly realised where he'd seen the sand before. It was the sand he'd seen last night, the one that made Ron dream he was flying on a broomstick. At least Harry now knew what this class would entail.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on a sand bench which crunched slightly under their weight. Everyone was rather quiet with just a slight hiss of moving sand disturbing the silence. There seemed to be an atmosphere of sheer tiredness pervading the air. Harry had to suppress a yawn.

Another crushing of sand echoed throughout the class. Turning everyone saw Professor Sandy entering or rather drifting into the classroom. He was smiling dreamily. He hovered past everyone to the front. He raised his arms and a cloud of sand appeared from his fingertips and coalesced into a desk. There were several "Ooh's" and "Aah's" as Sandy took a seat at the new desk.

He smiled at everyone. There was a silence. 'Umm... Professor Sandy?' Hermione said raising her hand. Sandy pointed to her. 'What is this class about?' she asked. Sandy began conjuring images over his head: a child in bed with a thought bubble over his head, Sandy himself, a horse, a figure of a man...

There was complete silence.

Sandy rolled his eyes and began to write on the board. His sand flowed across it forming letters and words. They read "Of all the classes you will be taking, Dream classes are the most important. It is vital to give people with sweet dreams for dreams bring new ideas and new thoughts and can lead to new discoveries.'

There was another silence. Sandy rolled his eyes. He conjured an image of a child raising its hand and it had a question mark above it. Questions? Parvati Patil raised her hand. Sandy pointed to her. 'Professor, what had sand got to do with dreams?' There was a mumbling of agreement.

Sandy wrote on the blackboard "Each grain of my Dreamsand contains a dream. I dreamt them up myself. You must learn to wield the dreamsand." Sandy raised his hands and a stream of golden sand flew through the air. Everyone stared at it. With a slight rustle, the sand turned into a manta-ray. Applause broke out.

'How are we supposed to control this dreamsand?' Lavender asked. Sandy tapped his forehead. "You have to use your imagination and feel how to do it." Everyone began to think of a dream.

Hermione thought of the dream she had the previous night; an outstanding on all of her exams. She raised her hand. A small amount of sand rose from the desk and collapsed back down to the table.

Ron was having the worst luck of all of the students in the class. Nothing was happening with his sand whatsoever. His face was screwed up with concentration and his skin was bright red. It looked like he was suffering from severe constipation

Lavender's attempt resulted in a fountain of sand flying into her face. She fall backwards and was fast asleep instantly. She was dreaming about crystal balls and tea-leaves. Sandy giggled under his breath.

Everyone suddenly heard a gasp. Neville was sitting in front of a small spiraling golden vortex of sand. It twisted and formed his Mimbulus mimbletonia cactus. The cactus dissolved into a stream of sand and began to fly around the room in a rather chaotic path. It was so chaotic that professor Sandy had to interfere.

Harry managed to conjure a ball of golden sand. He concentrated on a stag. The golden sand began to morph, but suddenly the sand turned grey. Harry stared at it no one else had noticed. The grey sand turned black. Harry yelled. Ron and Hermione turned to face him. 'What the...!' With a massive whinny, the black sand turned into a massive horse. By now the entire class was staring.

Parvati and Lavender shrieked. The horse reared and charged. CRACK! A golden whip soared through the air and hit the horse which exploded into dust. Sandy looked into the corner of the room. A small shadow was disappearing.

A babble of questions erupted forth. Sandy raised his hands for silence, conjured an image of someone leaning over a desk writing something, and pointed to them. "Back to work."

Pitch was enraged. How had one of his nightmares been summoned to the dream class? There was something about that Potter boy that was corrupting the dream sand, but only when he had free reign over it. Pitch concentrated and looked into the boy's mind. He saw his fears. He feared dementors. Pitch smiled. These dementors sounded like they could be powerful allies.

Harry was afraid of losing his godfather. Pitch didn't know who his godfather was so took no interest in that. But Harry was most afraid of Lord Voldemort. Pitch opened his eyes. He could easily take advantage of this. If he could get into the boy's dreams at night, he would find a powerful source of energy.

Sandy waved everyone goodbye at the end of the class... then went into a meditative silence. There was a shadow in Harry's heart. Harry himself didn't even seem to know it was there. This would likely mean trouble. He waved his hands and four sand/paper aeroplanes flew out of the window.

The class was descending the stairs to the Fun classroom on the fourth floor. The class was so busy discussing the events of the previous lesson that at first they didn't notice the gradual drop in temperature... at least not until Neville slipped on a patch of ice.

They all stared around them. Tendrils of frost covered the windows and icicles hang from the ceiling. Snow was crunching under foot. Several murmurings echoed through the corridor. They turned the corner and...