The Weight of the World

Chapter 8 - The Nightmare

Harry and Ron made their way back down to the common room and sat down across from Meagan and Hermione. They shared stories and got to know each other until it became very late, and then they all decided that they should get to bed. Harry and Ron said their goodbyes, and made their way to their dorm room. It was the longest day that Harry could remember. As they got into their pajamas and crawled into bed, Harry was glad that he felt exhausted. He wasn't having the easiest time sleeping lately and he hoped that being back at Hogwarts would help with this problem. Shortly after he placed his glasses on his bedside table, he was already asleep.

At about three-thirty in the morning, Ron woke up needing to go to the bathroom. He felt his way through the dark to the door of the bathroom and lit the lamp just inside the door. Then he slowly made his way to the toilet. When he was finished he washed his hands, turned down the lamp by the door and went back to his bed. He had lay back down and was about to drift back to sleep when he heard Harry breathing very erratically.

"Harry, you okay?" Ron asked.

He didn't get a reply.

Harry was running down to the Quidditch field. He didn't know why he was running there but he just knew he had to get down there. He was still in his pajamas and he wondered if he had woken up Ron or anyone else running out of the dormitory like that. He was just a hundred meters or so from the field when all of a sudden he saw the maze appear. Someone was screaming from inside of it. That's why he had to get down there. Someone was being hurt or tortured. He stopped short at the entrance to the maze when he realized he didn't have his wand. He wouldn't be able to use the wand to light his way or point his way for that matter. He went through this maze not too long ago; he just hoped he could remember how to get through it again. It was dark and he could barely see inside the entrance to the maze. He wondered if any of the creatures or enchantments were still inside there. The he heard the screaming again. Whoever it was, was in serious pain.

"I have to hurry," he said as he ran through the maze.

He heard the screaming again.

"I'm coming hold on!" he screamed back at them.

He could barely see where he was going. Left, right, left, dead-end, right, left, back, and right. He was tired but he kept running. He heard the screaming again. It was louder. He was getting closer. He ran faster into another dead end. He went back turned the other way. He saw a long straight passage way in the dark. He didn't remember seeing this passage way in the first task. It was perfectly straight and it looked like it ran for at least fifty meters. At the end of it he saw a small bright light and a person standing in the shadows behind that light. He walked very slowly towards the end of the passage way. He squinted to try and see if he could see who the person was. It was just too dark, plus that damn light was doing nothing but creating more shadows. He stopped for a second and saw that the person was facing him and that they could easily see him coming with that light shining at him.

"Hello!" Harry shouted in a panicked voice. "Are you hurt?"

Nothing. The person just stood there staring in his direction. He slowly began to walk towards him again when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around quickly.

"Harry! WAKE UP!!"

It was Ron. He was back in his bed and Ron was standing over him.

"Harry it's me," Ron said again.

Harry was soaking wet from sweat and he was breathing like he had been running for miles. He reached over to the table and put his glasses on.

"Harry, you were having a nightmare. I got up to use the bathroom and when I came back you were breathing really weird. I came over here and you were shaking like your whole bed was vibrating. I've been trying to wake you up for about five minutes. I was about to go get Dumbledore when you finally woke up."

Harry took a minute to catch his breath. It was a dream. It was only a dream.

"Sorry Ron. It was just a bad dream. I haven't been getting much sleep lately. I guess that's why you had such a hard time waking me up."

Harry got up and got himself a glass of water.

"You're soaking wet Harry," Ron said.

"I know," Harry said grabbing a clean set of pajamas out of the drawer. He then went to the bathroom and changed into them. Then he stared at himself in the mirror for a minute, then looked down. He took off his glasses, turned on the sink, and washed his face with the cold water. He didn't want to go back to sleep tonight. He didn't want to go back to sleep any night for that matter.

When he came out of the bedroom, Ron was still sitting up in his bed.

"What was your dream about Harry?" Ron asked.

"I'm not really sure. I just heard someone yelling and I was running after them. But I could never catch up," Harry lied. "That's strange," Ron thought to himself for a minute then spoke again. "What was the person yelling?"

"They weren't really yelling. It was more like screaming," Harry said. "I'm going back to sleep Ron. See you in the morning."

Harry didn't want to talk about the dream and Ron could tell this right away.

"See you in the morning Harry,” Ron said, and then he lay back down in his bed.

Ron stayed away listening to Harry breathing for at least an hour. He could tell that Harry wasn't asleep. Ron finally dozed off and when he woke up the next morning, Harry wasn't in his bed.