Chapter 6: Proof & Prophecy
The party was only short of a grand carnival raging away in one of the remotest dungeons of the school. Fairies here, fire-breathing gymnasts there, tiny elves carrying plates of food below, and a boisterous band playing music with the single aim of obliterating everyone's hearing ability on top does not BEGIN to explain how mad the party really was.
"...so, as I was saying, Beatrice is the 'go-to' witch if anyone needs to evade the Dementors, you know what I mean?!" Slughorn boomed cheerfully, his enormous belly merrily bouncing up and down as he laughed. Next to him, the highly hubristic Auror named Beatrice Orpington, smiled and delicately waved at the bunch of elderly warlocks, as if her being related to a former Minister of Magic somehow made her royalty.
"It's quite true, actually," she began, taking a gulp of mead from her goblet and confidently arching one of her thick eyebrows at a mousy little sorcerer standing closest to her, "it's all about making the right connections at the top, and anyone can wriggle their way out of the Law's clutches," she flashed a wicked smile.
Slughorn threw his head backwards and howled about in laughter as the rest of the warlocks blinked about in confusion, unsure how to react to such a public display of malfeasance. Isabella was almost positive that Slughorn thought Orpington was merely being funny while the rest of the members around him slowly started to flash timorous smiles before breaking into a bout of fake-laughter too just because it was getting a bit too awkward to simply stand there and gawk.
"Always a delight having you with us, Bee!" he roared. He was steadily turning red in the face on account of the mead. "That's what's so magical about being among the elite few, MacDougal! You see, you'll never have another dull moment in your life when..." but before he could fully get into the details of how awesome his life was among the cream-class of the society, however, his eyes fell on someone even more important, leaving poor old Dermot MacDougal to gape stupidly in the middle of the hall as Slughorn shouted his greetings at yet another aged aristocratic warlock walking through the doors.
Isabella, on the other hand, was almost dozing off next to an equally exhausted Ryan, who looked like he too would rather pull his eyes out than listen to Slughorn boast about his Magical connections for another second. It was a good thing that Ryan thought her resting her head on his shoulder was a sign of winning the girlfriend-lottery, because Isabella could not, for the life of her, keep her eyes open and pretend to bask in Slughorn's every rehearsed exclaim and pause.
"Thirty more minutes, Izzy, I promise," he muttered apologetically against her hair, making her skin prickle all over. She immediately yanked her head off his shoulder and peered at him awkwardly, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head.
"Ha! You wish," Frank said darkly, appearing out of nowhere. "Apparently, there's going to be an elaborate dinner in sometime exclusively for students as Slughorn wants to get to 'know' us better," he rolled his eyes.
"So, the Bearer Of Bad News strikes again," Ryan chuckled in Frank's direction and put his hand out. "You all right there?" he asked, as the two sixth-years greeted each other.
"Hardly. Vernon is about to get sacked from the post, so many Puffs are getting roasted and scorned in the corridors for no reason since the afternoon, they lost 450 points after they attacked the Slytherins today, and now, the Snakes are neck-and-neck with you Gryffies!"
"Hang on, Vernon's still not removed from the post as prefect, you say?" asked Isabella, her interest spiking up immediately.
"Yeah, well, the entire student body seemed to have made an appeal to Sprout, begging her to reconsider... So, it looks like there's a mini 'Hearing'-like thing going on in their Burrow even as we speak. Personally, though, I have no hopes for him because the 'jury panel'" he said, making air-quotes with his hands and rolling his eyes again, "has McGonagall, Flitwick and Filch on it."
"Rotten dilligrout!" Isabella swore, grinding her teeth in anger.
"There's no way he'll make it as Head Boy now," rasped Ryan from her side. "Bloke showed tremendous promise, though!" he said, taking a sip from his goblet.
"TOTALLY! And I don't think we'll ever find a better candidate to take over as the president of The Mud Club!" exclaimed Isabella, making Frank and Ryan automatically raise their goblets in agreement.
"I swear, though, I will throw myself off the Astronomy Tower if the Snakes win the House Cup this year," Frank said bitterly.
Someone snorted loudly at that. "Yeah! Like we'd allow that," a very red Sirius guffawed from behind them, finally taking a break from eating Marlene McKinnon's face (Isabella could NOT believe he had managed to eavesdrop on their conversation and focus on his grunt-filled french-kiss, all at the same time!). "But, I know what you mean. The school's on fire, and here we are, dancing away like it's nobody's business!" he said, tugging the beautiful Marlene closer to him by the waist.
"I don't see you complaining though!" James cheekily called out from his dark corner, skulking in the shadows for some odd reason.
"Black? Potter?!" exclaimed Ryan, his jaw hanging open in surprise. "What in the name of Merlin are you two doing here? This is an 'invitations-only' party!"
Frank snorted. "Even if that were true, someone had to spy on Evans, obviously! Hence, the gate-crash. Savvy?" he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively before breaking off into a grin.
"Ah. Such wisdom..." Sirius gushed with exaggerated enthusiasm, eyeing him with full admiration, while the rest of them broke down laughing too at James's undeniable embarrassment. "What would I, nay, what would the world do without you, Frankie!"
"Any girl you've not 'done' yet!" James lashed back, as the little company cracked up even more. If not for the unsettling expression spreading across Marlene's face, Isabella would've positively hugged James for saying that.
"Tell me they're lying, Siri-Poo..." Marlene purred and pouted playfully; irony was that, the whole school knew Marlene was an even bigger sleaze than Sirius was. Neither was looking for anything serious EVER, so them hooking up was the win-win combination of the century.
"Ignore them, darling, they're just jealous," Sirius cooed back and the two of them lovingly rubbed their noses against each other.
"I might actually drop dead if I have to see them suck each others' faces one more time," Isabella muttered to Ryan who grinned and gladly dragged her away from the Marauders (Isabella thought she heard Ryan mutter something like 'Anything for you, babe.'). But just as she was pushing past bodies around her led by Ryan, she ended up running straight into a tall, cloaked wizard who had his back to her.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, professor!" she spluttered as Dumbledore turned around in surprise.
"Ah! Miss Williams... What a pleasure to have run into you!" he chirped merrily, all sternness from the afternoon wiped clean from his face.
"Oh, yes. It's nice to see you too, professor!" she said, grinning awkwardly at the kind old face.
"Quite an unlikely encounter, I must say," he said, his eyes twinkling rather teasingly. "Or should I assume you were invited because you perfected the Draught Potion?" he added with a light chuckle.
Isabella grinned back at the obvious sarcasm in Dumbledore's voice, one she knew he was using because he detested Slughorn's obsession with bucketing students into 'classes.' "Like that's even a possibility in a world where Lily Evans is alive," she teased back, making him break into laughter. "No, I'm here with Ryan today, professor," she said, pushing him forwards.
"Possibly my next recommendation to the Goblin Liaison Office!" Slughorn chanted from next to Dumbledore, beaming appreciatively at a shy Ryan. "A most wonderful boy with an excellent sense for Potions, Albus, excellent!"
"Why, thank you, professor, but I'm really not that good," Ryan said modestly, pulling Isabella closer to him. Her eyes met Dumbledore's, whose eyebrows shot up instantly in mild surprise. She flushed.
"Nonsense!" Slughorn continued. "You're but a natural, dear boy! It runs in the family, in your BLOOD!" he shouted, but Dumbledore seemed to take no notice of him and continued to read Isabella's mind through his half-moon glasses, making her wish the ground would swallow her right up! "Your uncle and I were classmates back in the day, and must I say, was he a genius...?" he gushed on in the background, completely oblivious to being totally ignored by Dumbledore.
Surveying her for a second longer, he spoke in a quiet voice, "Friendships of the heart tend to be more meaningful than those formed to inflict pain, my dear," a slight smile cut his features.
Isabella could not BELIEVE her life had come down to this where she was discussing her love life with her Headmaster! "P-Professor, it's not like that at all...!" she began.
"Oh, but I fervently hope it is!" he exclaimed, chuckling lightly at her before gracing her with a rare wink. "Give him hell," he whispered, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, taking her fully by surprise. Before she could control it, she had doubled up with laughter at this unexpected plot twist! "Oh, and I noticed that you've borrowed the 'Rise & Fall Of The Sacred Age' from the library? You might want to consider reading the chapter titled, 'Woldorin & Its Gryffindors.' Thought it might interest you," he smiled, finally touching his pointy hat as a way of taking her leave.
"Merlin, is it hard to find any alone time in this party?" Ryan sighed as he waved Slughorn goodbye.
"Honestly! Can we please get out? I'd rather walk barefoot around the Black Lake than go deaf in my left ear from all this noise!" Isabella begged as she noticed Sirius going to town with Marlene most brazenly for the whole world to see.
Giving her one good long look, Ryan grinned a bit to himself. "I think I might just fall in love with you," he muttered, giving her hand a good squeeze (...and for the first time ever, Isabella thought it might just be possible to like someone else after all...). Blushing furiously, she let him drag her by the hand, consumed by an odd fluttering that was rampant in her chest.
"We need to come up with a plan, though! What do we tell Slughorn?"
"I could just say I slipped and broke my leg!" Ryan suggested, shrugging uncertainly.
"Or I could actually kick you in the shins so you can make it more convincing!" she guffawed. Ryan almost spat his mead out as he burst out laughing at the thought.
It took them a solid quarter of an hour of lying, a couple of tears, several manufactured injuries and a whole pint of blood to convince a shaken Slughorn that Ryan Evantrap, his biggest jewel, was actually planning on leaving early. When they finally dashed outside through the doors, however, the scene that met them nearly blew the air out of their lungs...
It was the oddest thing ever: right outside the party hall was a whole group of people who had no business staring at each other like they'd legit murder the other with their bare hands!
All wands at the ready, the closest to her was a homicidal-looking James followed by a disheveled Sirius-sans-Marlene, a stunned Frank, a teary-eyed Lily, a scowling Severus, an anxious Lucius restraining a blood-thirsty Sebastian Mulciber, and a haughty Thomas Nott!
Everyone turned around when Isabella and Ryan burst through the doors, as if jumping out of a reverie, and the scene sent chills down Isabella's spine.
"What, in the name of Merlin, are you lads up to THIS TIME?!" Ryan asked authoritatively, what with being a year senior to most people in this hallway.
"Nothing that concerns you, Evantrap..." Mulciber spat out but was cut short by Lucius.
"Honestly, leave and get her out of here too, we're handling it!" Lucius hissed, gesturing at Isabella.
"SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Lily screamed looking murderous, her face glistening with fat, hot tears. "Now, ANSWER ME, Severus! Did you know about this OR NOT?!" she shrieked, her voice pierced through the tunnel. James looked like his heart might just rip out of his chest to see her be this upset, while Isabella simply froze in her place, shocked beyond expression at how mad Lily was. She had NEVER seen Lily this way, neither could she ever think of a good-enough reason for her to be THIS BLOODY ANGRY.
Severus ground his teeth and fully avoided her accusatory eyes. More than anything, he looked like he was merely frustrated with Lily overreacting to whatever this was about. "Honestly, Lily. How many times do I have to tell you..."
"It's a 'Yes' or 'No' question, Snivellus!" Sirius spat out, looking more dangerous than Isabella had ever seen him before.
Giving Sirius one look of pure disgust, he arched an arrogant eyebrow, as if challenging him to use that tone one more time. However, when he realised everyone's gaze was fixated on him waiting for an answer, though, he blew out a sigh most begrudgingly, screwed his face up in irritation and said, "Yes, I may have..." through gritted teeth, sending a bolt of shock wave over Lily. She gaped disbelievingly at him for a second before fresh set of tears flowed down her face.
Next to Isabella, James, she knew, was doing EVERYTHING in his power to keep himself from hauling his body headfirst at Severus, no doubt under Frank's strict orders. "You filthy piece of shit!" he growled and took a threatening step towards him, but Frank, being slightly bigger than him, held him back effortlessly.
"OI!" he yelled at James, giving him a deadly 'Keep-It-Together-Or-Get-Whacked' look.
"You really knew about this?" Lily sobbed, her eyes the size of tennis balls now. "How could you DO this to me, Sev? I... You humiliated me! In front of EVERYONE!" she screamed and wrapped her hands around herself as if half expecting her clothes to fall off her body.
James turned and gave Isabella one hard look. "Take her up to our tower."
"That's a good idea," Lucius muttered, finally letting go of Sebastian with a look that suggested he'd rather eat dung than look at his smug face. "We've had quite enough for the night."
Sirius snorted. "D'you realise you lot have just started a war...? First the Puffs and now US!" he barked, his body tensing up with anger at once. "Listen to me and listen very, VERY carefully," he said, inching dangerously close to Lucius's haughty face. Shrugging off Frank's hand that had firmly gripped him on his shoulder to stop him from punching the poor blond, he continued, "If any of you come anywhere NEAR these two one more time," he said, pointing in Isabella's direction, "consider yourself dead," he glared right into Lucius's pale eyes; only then did Isabella realise how very tall both of them were.
Ignoring the heat that had risen up to her face, she watched him twirl on his heel, put a comforting hand around Lily's shoulder and led her right out of the dungeons. "Don't mess with us," Frank warned coldly, hardly taking his eyes off of Sebastian before putting a firm hand around James's shoulder and dragging him out of the dungeons too.
Not even a second had ticked since the room cleared and Sebastian actually had the plucks to snort in Isabella's direction and say, "She's lush too."
She did not even register Lucius's hand swinging like a bullet to crash land over Sebastian's face and send him howling in pain to the floor. "Why didn't I let Black to actually FINISH you off?!" he spat out as Thomas Nott, who was doubled up in laughter bent down to help his fellow sixth-year friend up on his feet.
"Mate, what happened?" Ryan asked at once, just as Sebastian and Thomas turned the corner and left too.
"Long story," Lucius sighed whilst rubbing his swollen knuckles. "Mulce basically wanted to get back at Evans for calling on the professors earlier today and convinced Snape to lend him the Polyjuice Potion he had stashed away in his trunk. In short, he wanted to impersonate as Snape and go to the party with Evans and harass her in any way he could. Turns out, the bloke actually chose to... well..." he said, closing his eyes in complete aversion at the images playing in his head, "he groped her."
Isabella's hand flew to her mouth in shock! WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE ACTUALLY HEARING?!
"You're NOT serious!" she screamed at Lucius in complete shock. "He did NOT do that, PLEASE tell me he didn't do it, Lue!"
"Bella, please!" he said and held tightly her by her hands. "BEGGING you to not do something stupid and get yourself into Mulce's bad books, for goodness sake!" he whispered. "These lads are barking mad! They don't know where to draw the line, they don't know when something is getting out of hand..."
"Lucius, they're as thick-headed as a bull frog! I think I can handle them quite fine, and Sirius IS right!" she stressed, grinding her teeth for full measure. "Mulciber is SO going to pay for what he did to Lily and you can't stop me!"
"Don't be an idiot!" he chided through clenched teeth. "You don't know who you're going up against, these blokes are a bunch of dung-brained, inbred sack of filth! They're the class of people that think Muggles ought not to even EXIST!" he hissed into her face.
"And letting them get away with it is the way to go about it, isn't it?" she asked, feeling her anger rise up through her veins.
"Bella..."
"NO, Lucius! We won't go down without a fight!"
The last thing she saw was Lucius's hands falling to his sides in exasperation as she led Ryan out of the dungeons.
Frank had obviously snuck into the Gryffindor Common Room too when Isabella clambered in through the portrait hole. And to her surprise, everything still hadn't blown out of proportion as yet; it was rather calm and merry on the contrary... The Marauders were seated on one end of the Common Room (one that they had most unjustly reserved for themselves), while a puffy-eyed Lily sat next to the fireplace with an unsuspecting Claiborne and Mary (Alice had automatically gravitated in Frank's direction as usual—they're... kind of like... best friends... or something). Clearly, news hadn't spread as yet.
"Er, Ryan, I…" Isabella started and looked up at Ryan and realised he had been staring long at her, almost drowning away in her beauty. Feeling a little weak with excitement, she forced herself to remain calm and said, "This is going to sound really bad but will it..."
"I know," he said without even letting her finish. "Go on," he jerked his head in Lily's direction, whilst sporting a heart-melting smile on his face. "Don't worry about a thing... Your friends need you more and I understand," he said and rubbed the side of her face.
"But you had a whole evening planned out..."
"Oh, well, that's a problem only if you decide to never have dinner again," he chuckled. Before she could respond to that, however, he spoke again. "Just go! I promise, I'll not like you less because of this!" he winked cheekily, and for the first time ever, Isabella felt a strange tug in her gut for Ryan... And before she even knew what she was doing, she had risen on her toes, pulled him close and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Bidding a stunned Ryan goodbye, she quickly wade her way through the sea of students towards Lily only to realise Lily herself was hurtling towards her. Allowing silent tears to fall down her face, she wrapped her hands around Isabella and clung on to her as if her entire existence depended on it... Feeling a rush of emotions herself, she dug her nails into her palm to keep her anger from rising.
Looking around, she realised several people were starting to grace them with curious looks. "Let's get out of here, Lily, we're starting to draw attention to ourselves," Isabella whispered and Lily tearfully nodded. "I haven't told anything to Clay yet, but, oh, I can't BELIEVE I did this to myself, I was SO stupid, it was so obvious right from the time I met him before the party! How could I have not seen this coming?! This is ENTIRELY my fault, I've always been so forgiving of Sev that I didn't even realise I've practically lost sight of who he really is...!"
"Lily, stop it!" Isabella interjected, "Are you MENTAL?! Listen to me, Lily, this is NOT your fault! You could NEVER have guessed that Severus would ever stoop so low, so would you PLEASE cut yourself some slack?!" she said, before dragging her by the hand and beckoning at Claiborne to join them in the hallway to their dorms.
"What in the world is going on?" Claiborne asked, catching up with the two of them. "I didn't want to pry but I've never seen the Marauders be this quiet and now YOU TWO are acting strange as well!" she added.
But before Isabella could respond, she heard footsteps approaching them and realized James was jogging up to them, wearing a solemn expression. Holding Isabella by the hand, he led the three girls out to the hallway, only to make it seem even more scandalous than it already was.
"Will someone PLEASE tell me what's going on?" asked Claiborne.
"Not now, Clay," he replied curtly before turning to Isabella. Curiously, Isabella had never known James to ever have a serious side to him so much that it baffled her to see him this be boiling mad. Running a shaky hand over his forehead he said, "Izzy, could you please make sure she's alright...?" pointedly avoiding looking at the person on his left, but also looking worried-sick for her at the same time.
"I'm fine," Lily growled in response instead, making Isabella jump a little. James pursed his lips and continued to glare specifically in Isabella's direction while she and Claiborne stood there awkwardly, knowing fully well they were in NO way related to this conversation. In fact, James and Lily had actively avoided each other for a whole week ever since the incident in the Great Hall so much that, Isabella knew today was the day it was all going to blow up.
"Great, then," he seethed and chewed his bottom lip to contain his anger. "So, then, will you let me know if we're taking this up with McGonagall or dealing with it ourselves? Because, personally, I'd prefer to give him a piece of my mind in a way that I please...!"
"NO, thank you! He's wronged a prefect, ME! I'm sure McGonagall will know JUST how to deal with him!" Lily rasped, almost challenging him to question her logic.
James's glare was almost bordering on mild psychosis now as he continued to bore a hole on Isabella's skull. Shrugging vehemently, he pushed his glasses firmly up his nose before saying, "So, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes has spoken... If that's what she wants!" he spat out and stormed off towards the boys' staircase, leaving Lily burning RED in anger.
What she did next almost had Isabella and Claiborne crouching in fear because Lily had hounded after him and tapped him hard on the shoulder. When he ignored her and continued to climb up the stairs, however, she held him by the hand and twirled him around so that they were seething in each others' faces.
Towering above her (and almost shaking in rage now), it was a miracle he hadn't yet driven his fist through the wall! Pinching the bridge of his nose he spoke again, "What... Is it?!"
"What is your problem with me?" she got straight to the point. By now, Frank, Alice, Mary, Sirius, Peter and Remus had squeezed through the door too, to understand what all the noise was about (and Isabella knew too well that the group's reputation had officially sunk to the gutter among the rest of their House-mates).
James huffed sarcastically. "What do you think?"
"Why aren't you TALKING to me, James?!" she screamed, feeling her frustration peaking.
"What does it matter?!" he yelled back, finally shutting her up. "You're not exactly a walk in the park, are you?! Anything anyone says needs to always be over-analysed and overthought to the point of flinging oneself off a cliff! You're the biggest know-it-all of the planet, aren't you? So, why don't you figure this out for your own goddamn self!"
"YOU'RE RIGHT!" she screamed, making her voice echo throughout the hallway. The Common Room had gone eerily quiet now and Isabella knew every single member was listening to every syllable being uttered right now. Looking up, she saw Sirius helplessly chuckling to himself as James and Lily steadily made a monkey of themselves. "You're right about Severus!" she repeated wistfully, and a collective gasp went around her. The girls all blinked in amazement while the boys merely gaped dumbfoundedly. James, for his part though, simply cocked an eyebrow and waited for her. "He's changed. He's not the same person I grew up with. He has NO respect for me and you're right, I shouldn't let him treat me that way...!" he voice was quivering so badly, Isabella suspected if Lily was actually crying.
"They sound like a married couple!" Sirius whispered in Isabella's ear, making her nudge him hard on the ribs.
James's eyebrows were still scrunched together, but there was no anger in his eyes anymore; he was merely waiting... listening intently to every word that came out of her mouth. "All I wanted to say was..." Lily began, gulping down her ego and five-years' worth of denial that she had let herself endure, "I just want to say I'm sorry. I realise now that... That you only meant well... For me. And that I appreciate it," she said, over enunciating every word for some reason. "That's all I had to say," she said, finally taking a step back and inching backwards towards the girls, while James merely looked too stunned to even move. "Good day, then!" she said, before twirling around, wiping her red-hot face and dashing up the girls' staircase.
Nobody moved for a solid minute, taking the time to process everything they had just witnessed. James's breathing had still not steadied and looked like he continued to fume on the inside, while the rest of them still looked too shell-shocked for words.
"Why, that went well..." Sirius started, hardly daring to look the others in the eye. "I expected a couple of punches in there, but okay!" he spat out laughing a second later, finally giving them all permission to breathe again (Isabella literally had to hold her waist to steady her pulse rate). "What's the matter, Prongsy? Upset she didn't kiss you goodbye?" he called out cheekily.
"Shut up, Pads," James said, looking spent, but the boys had already started to snicker in the back which inevitably brought a smile to his face. "Girls," he added, rolling his eyes before nervously glancing towards their buzzing Common Room.
"Oh, don't worry, you've successfully done irreversible damage to our peace and quiet," Remus joked, making them all break into nervous grins.
"The best part, though, was he did it in alliance with Lily EVANS!" Frank added, and everyone roared in laughter. "Let's just wait for all hell to break loose tomorrow, then," he said, and gave them all a resigned-cum-terrified grin before calling it a night. "You boys better behave till then! Leaving you in-charge, mate," he said to Remus prompting him to send a salute his way. "And I will see YOU tomorrow," he smiled, giving Alice a tight bear hug before whipping around and adios-amigo'ing his way back to his own Common Room.
- O -
She was exhausted. So much that even the beautiful pink dress she had picked out for the party seemed to weigh her down...
"Help me, Ryan," she whispered, hardly able to get the words out. "I think I'm dying, help me! Get me out of here..."
"Anything for you, babe," he smirked wickedly before holding her by the hand, and tugging her forwards, knocking her completely out of breath. The noise from the back was too loud too and she didn't like it. She didn't like any of this! "Lily!" She screamed, still being pulled away by a monster. "Lily, help! I need help!" She cried, but Lily didn't hear her. She was still arguing with James about something while Sirius stood in the back, watching her like a hawk. Their eyes locked for a second and in that split second, she saw him shaking his head ominously at her, as if warning her that something big was coming. Something that would destroy her completely!
"The rise and fall..." someone cooed serenely. With fear gripppng her heart, she let a tear or two escape her eyes as she looked around, trying to find the voice. "Rise... and... fall..." it whispered again. Suddenly, someone cackled from behind, making her nearly jump out of her skin! An old hag who looked very much like Dumbledore was staring back at her, baring toothless smile, making her seem MORE evil than Isabella had ever known her to be.
"Hahahahahaha!" the old hag cackled again, slouching and preying on her on all-fours. "The secret of the Gryffindors..." she cooed again and before Isabella could even blink, she had thrown a ball of magic at her and the next second she looked down, a twelve-foot long serpent had wound itself around her legs and circled up her body, hissing and rattling ominously!
"No! NO! Help me! HELP MEEE!" She screamed.
Her eyes flew open as she jumped up in her bed, sweaty and shivering feverishly. It was just a dream... it was all just a dream...