Chapter 33. What are you sleeping about

Voldemort rose from his father's grave, transformed into a bat, and chased after Harry, firing multicolored beams of spells at him. Hagrid was following closely behind the Dark Lord, stumbling every now and then.

"My Lord, we are far into the Forbidden Forest! Let's go back!" Hagrid yelled.

The path was narrowing and narrowing until it disappeared completely. Hagrid's cries stopped. Harry and the Dark Lord turned around simultaneously. Enormous hands, seemingly made of solid rock, grabbed Hagrid's tail and lifted him up to face level.

"GRAWP NEEDS HAGGAR!" thundered Hagrid's younger brother.

"He's just a little one..." Hagrid said to both of them, stroking the promising mix of blast-ended skrewt, acromantula, and dementor in his hands. It had Voldemort's noseless face and the color of raw meat. "We must take care of him."

How fortunate that Ron couldn't see this. Opening his eyes and sitting up in bed, Harry continued to process his dreams for a few more minutes. It seemed that all his dreams were mirroring his own experiences. He worried about Voldemort, he fretted over Hagrid and his giant brother. The uncertainty scared him even more. What did Voldemort plan the previous evening, and why didn't Harry sense it? Had Snape's lessons had an effect, or did Voldemort simply block his consciousness from Harry?

Resting his head on the pillow, Harry rolled onto his side and soon fell into a peaceful sleep. He dreamed that he entered the kitchen, where house-elves were treating him to various sweets, and then Dobby arrived, completely engulfed in various socks, scarves, and hats. Suddenly, Dobby transformed into a tall, charming woman with long pointed ears, elegantly dressed. She approached Harry closely, scrutinized him with piercing moonlit eyes, rolled her eyes in disapproval, lifted her head high, and slowly vanished in mourning-like fashion on her heels.

- Have you seen anything in your dream last night? - Fujimaru asked Harry after breakfast.

- Nothing. Except for Voldemort chasing me in the form of a bat. Although I also had a dream where Dobby the house-elf turned into a woman.

- I guess the day's experiences took a toll on you. - Fujimaru speculated.

- If only I knew what Voldemort is planning. And why did you ask me about my dreams?

- I heard about your mental connection, and I thought it would be most pronounced in your dreams.

- The last time it worked, Voldemort was looking right at me, as if he knew...

Harry's eyes widened at that moment, and he looked at the teacher's desk. Snape was sitting among the other teachers, eating, drinking, and talking to Professor Sprout.

- What did he know, Harry? - Fujimaru puzzled.

- He knew that I could see all of this...

A terrible realization washed over him like an icy shower.

- He could have deliberately created this vision to confuse me! - Harry gritted his teeth. - He used me...

Fujimaru looked at his discontent with sympathetic and attentive eyes.

- But what else can we expect?!

- True. - Fujimaru remarked. - It would be strange for him to know about this connection and not use it.

- I'm a fool! - Harry leaned against the wall, distraught, and hit himself in the chest. - A fool!

- Everyone makes mistakes, Harry. It's not your fault. - Fujimaru tried to console him. - We don't know anything about last night's events.

That's right. Harry could have felt some emotional outburst from Voldemort, but their connection plunged into a complete vacuum last night, as if nothing had happened.

- Maybe... they failed and that guest is now lying in a grave? - he suggested.

- It's possible. Knowing the ways of the Dark Lord, I believe he would do that in case of failure. But then you would have felt his hatred, wouldn't you?

This assumption only confused Harry even more.

- Then... They conducted an experiment, and he wasn't there at all? - he suggested, surprised by his own speculation.

- Every lord has a taster who samples the dishes before him. - Fujimaru shrugged.

- He has a whole army of Death Eaters who would do anything for him.

- Then we will find out everything when he decides to participate in the experiment himself.

Harry didn't know whether to be glad or afraid of this news. In any case, the next few days promised to be even more interesting.