The Weight of the World

Chapter 10 - Watching Harry Sleep

Harry slowly walked from the library to the gargoyle staircase entrance. Hermione walked behind him slowly. Neither one said a word until Harry said, "Honeydukes" and they both rode the staircase up to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk and gave them a quick smile, but then it suddenly went away when he could tell that something was wrong.

"Harry, may I help you with something?" he asked.

"Sir, do you have a minute? I need to talk to you about something,” Harry said.

"I'll make a minute. Please, both of you sit down,” Dumbledore said.

Harry and Hermione sat down across from Professor Dumbledore and then Hermione looked at Harry and waited for him to start.

Harry looked up at Fawkes, then at Dumbledore and then he began.

"Professor, I've been having nightmares sir. Umm.. for a while now. But last night I had one that was different, not a normal dream I mean. Ron had trouble waking me up. He found me when he got back from the bathroom, and he said I wasn't acting right. And then today," he stopped and briefly looked at Hermione, then back to Dumbledore.

"I was in the library, and lay down on one of the sofas in there and dozed off to sleep. I had the same dream that I had last night. Hermione found me and couldn't wake me up either."

"What was the dream about Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well sir. Both times I was running down to the Quidditch field, and the maze was back. I could hear someone screaming and I was trying to get in there to help them. When I ran through the maze, there was someone standing there, only they were behind a light and I couldn't see their face. Last night he didn't get a chance to talk to me. But his afternoon, I got close to him and he spoke to me,” Harry stopped for a second.

"What did he say to you Harry?"

"Well sir, he said that Voldemort was plotting to kill me. And that he was sending someone after me. And, that's pretty much all he said or all I can remember that he said. Hermione was able to wake me up before he could say anymore," Harry said.

Dumbledore looked at Harry and then gave Hermione a quick glance then looked down at his desk for a moment.

"Do you know what it might mean sir?" Harry asked hopefully.

"We can only guess Harry. It sounds to me that you are correct in thinking that it is something more than just a dream. It seems as though someone is trying to tell you something. I would suggest..." he paused for a moment then began again. "I would suggest that you sleep and let the messenger deliver his entire message. It doesn't sound to me as though the dream will go away until the person is sure that you have received it."

Dumbledore stared at Harry for a moment while Harry absorbed what he had said.

"Is there any possibility that something bad can happen inside of one of these 'dreams' sir?" Harry asked.

"Harry, even a wizard as old as I am can only guess when it comes to the magical world of dreams. There are those that say that dreams are simply and only dreams. Others that say that dreams are a doorway to another world. I haven't yet fully formed my opinion on the matter, but I will not lie to you and say that this doesn't disturb me a bit. I would suggest that you use caution, but try to let the dream take its course."

Harry stared at Dumbledore for a second and then down at the floor. He always expected Dumbledore to have all of the answers, but this time he seemed more on his own.

"Thank you sir. We'll let you get back to your things now. Sorry to bother you," Harry said.

"You have yet to bother me Harry. Please keep me informed on these dreams, and try to get some sleep; you look dreadful."

Hermione and Harry went down the staircase and walked slowly to the common room. When they got there, Meagan and Ron were playing chess.

"She's beat me twice in a row Harry!" Ron said not at all smiling.

"My dad taught me when I was younger," Meagan said with a smile on her face.

Harry and Hermione sat down on either side of them and watched the next game. Neither one of them said anything about what had happened.

Ron had just made a move, when he looked up at Harry. "Harry, you need to get some sleep mate. You are starting to look ill," he said.

"Thanks Ron, you look great too," Harry quickly said back to him.

"I didn't sleep very well either Harry, remember? But I bet I don't look half as bad as you do," he said.

Ron looked at Hermione and could tell that something was bothering her.

"Did you guys not find anything in the library or something? You're both really quiet,” Ron said.

"I had another dream Ron," Harry said. "Hermione found me in the library. She couldn't wake me either."

Ron dropped the chess piece he was holding.
Moody limped into Dumbledore's office out of breath. He was always afraid to jump on the stairs while they were spinning upward, so it always took him a lot of effort to climb up them all with his one wooden leg.

"You wanted to see me Dumbledore?" Moody said.

"Yes, Alastor. Harry had some sort of vision this morning and another one this afternoon. Someone is trying to warn him of an attack. We don't know who it is that is warning him, but it is clear that they are trying to warn him of some sort of attack that is being planned by Voldemort," he said.

"You think this is something we should take seriously Dumbledore?" he said.

"I do. Harry may be just a fourteen year old wizard, but his dreams and visions are very powerful and haven't proven to be false alarms yet."

"I understand sir. Do you think they know he is back at school yet?" Moody asked.

"That, I do not know. But it is only a matter of time before they do know that he is here. We must be diligent in guarding the entrances to the castle. I will summon Severus and see if he has any news of this possible attack," he added.

"I'll call some of my old friends," Moody said smiling.

The then limped back and slowly went down the spiral staircase.
Ron and Meagan listened to Hermione tell the story of Harry's nightmare, and then their visit with Dumbledore.

"So, you're planning on going to sleep and hoping you have this nightmare again?" Ron asked in amazement.

"Dumbledore thinks it's the only way it will make the dream go away. He thinks the person in that dream is trying to tell me something," Harry said softly.

"So I'm just supposed to lay there and let you thrash and sweat just so you can see some wacky dream again?" asked Ron.

"Ron, that's a great idea!" Hermione said.

Harry, Ron, and Meagan all stared at her as though she had two heads.

"What are talking about Hermione?" Ron asked.

"One of us can stay up and watch Harry. If it looks like he is doing really badly, we can wake him up," she said with a triumphant look on her face.

"How are we supposed to know if he is doing bad, and how are we supposed to wake him up? I shook him for almost five minutes,” Ron asked her.

"I don't know. I guess if he just starts looking worse than when I saw him today, we can throw cold water on him or something," Hermione said looking at Harry to see if she had his approval.

"Hermione, I don't think I'll be able to sleep with you guys watching me, and I am positive I don't want you throwing cold water on me," Harry said.

"You have any better ideas Harry?" Hermione added.

Harry looked at Ron and Meagan hoping that one of them would speak up with a better idea, but neither one of them looked as though they had anything that could top it.

"I'm all ears!" Hermione said still waiting for someone to speak up.

"Ron, you and I can take turns watching Harry. I'll take the first night since you didn't sleep well last night. You make sure you get a good night's sleep tonight, and you'll do it tomorrow night," she said obviously proud that no one could top her idea. "I'm going to take a nap, you all can wake me up in a couple of hours for dinner," she said as she headed up the staircase for her dorm.

Meagan and Ron played a few more games of chess while Harry watched silently. Ron beat her only once all day. After the chess, they all sat and listened to Meagan tell stories about some of her muggle friends in America, and how she used to play tricks on them all the time with her magic. Meagan was a very nice person, and she didn't have any problems making friends, but she always felt like something was missing with her friendships. The fact that she was a witch really bothered her and she never felt at ease with herself until she was back at home with her mother after school. She was just now able to be herself. She didn't have to hide the fact that she was a witch anymore. She was now surrounded by them. She had only known them for a couple of days, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were already becoming her friends.

When the sun began to set, Meagan decided that she would go up to the dorm room and wake up Hermione. After a few minutes, they both came down and all four of them went to the Great Hall and met up with Meagan's mother to have dinner. After the usual feast, and an appearance from Dobby and Winky that almost scared Meagan to death (she had never seen a house-elf), they went back to the common room.

Harry was dreading going to sleep that night. Even as tired as he was, he wasn't sure if he could let himself willing go to sleep to intentionally have a nightmare. But what choice did he have? Sooner or later he would just pass out from exhaustion and the nightmare would come anyway. Dumbledore was right, he needed to let the dream take its course and just see what happened. Hopefully the person would just deliver his message and then he would wake up, and then it would all be over. Hopefully.

That night, Ron was going to sleep in their old fourth year dorm room while Harry slept in his bed, and Hermione was going to lie in the one caddy corner to where Ron usually slept. It wasn't right by Harry but it was close enough so that she could watch him, but not be too intrusive. Harry had already changed into his pajamas and gotten into bed when Hermione came into the room.

"You ready to do this?" she asked him.

"What choice do I have Hermione?" he said quietly.

"True," she said frowning. "Okay, I got in a good sleep this afternoon, so I'm just going to sit over here and read tonight. Hopefully you can get to sleep and we can just get this over with. Don't be surprised if I end up throwing water on you Harry. I have a jug of it right here. If you look like you're in trouble, I'm going to use a cooling spell and then throw it on you to wake you up," she said.

"Great. That might kill me all by itself," he mumbled as he rolled over and pulled the covers over his head.

Hermione reached over and grabbed the 'OWL Study Guide' she had borrowed out of the library. She opened it but wasn't really intending to read it right away. She held it low enough so that she could see Harry over the top of the book. The lamp she was using wasn't that bright, so she couldn't make him out to be more than just a lump in the covers; but she could hear him breathing, and she wanted to keep listening to it so that she would be sure to know if he started having the dream.

"Hermione?" Harry said softly without turning over.

"Yes Harry?" she said. "Thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it,” Harry said.

"No problem Harry. If you need anything let me know okay? I am going to do some studying for my OWLs" she said.

"Hermione, I never really told you what happened that night,” Harry said softly.

"I know Harry. I hoped that you would when you were ready."

"Hermione, he beat me to the cup, but there was a huge spider that he didn't see. I yelled at him to watch out for it, but it attacked him. We both started shooting spells at it. We hit it, but not before it got hold of my leg. I couldn't even stand up, so all Cedric had to do is walk up and take the cup, but he didn't want to. He said that he wouldn't have made it if not for me helping him with that spider. He refused to take it. He told me to grab it but I refused. I could have taken it and he would still be alive today,” Harry stopped for a second. Hermione could barely hear him breathing.

"Harry you could never have known that. That's ridiculous to think that you could have known that," she said.

"We argued back and forth until I came up with the idea for us to take it at the same time. He agreed and helped me up. He helped me walk to the cup. We both grabbed it at the same time and the next thing we knew we were in a grave yard. The cup was a port key. We both took out our wands and could see someone coming towards us. I heard Voldemort say,” Harry stopped again. His voice had cracked and Hermione could tell that he has stopped because he didn't want to cry in front of her.

"Voldemort said 'kill the spare' and Cedric was gone. He was dead on the ground right beside me Hermione. His eyes were still open. Wormtail tied me up at a gravestone and cut my arm with a knife. He used my blood to bring Voldemort back to life. The next thing I knew he was standing in front of me and the Death Eaters were summoned and had formed a circle around me. My scar was hurting more than it ever had before. I thought my head was going to explode. The Death Eaters were all really scared of him. He hurt some of them with the Cruciatus Curse because they didn't help him return to power sooner. Then he turned it on me."

"He performed the Cruciatus Curse on you?" Hermione asked with a quivering voice.

"Twice. I can't even explain how bad it hurt Hermione. It made me wish for death."

Harry had to stop because just the thought of that made his heart begin to race. He let himself calm down for a second before he continued.

"He told Wormtail to give me my wand back. He said that he was going to kill me, but that we were going to duel. He wanted all of the Death Eaters to watch him kill me. He kept playing with me; taunting me. I finally ran behind a headstone where he couldn't hit me with a curse. He then said he was going to kill me. I wasn't going to die hiding Hermione. I wanted everyone to know that at least I went down fighting like my parents. I stood up and threw a disarming spell at him and he threw the killing curse at me at the same time. The spells hit one another. I never told you and Ron this, but both my wand and Voldemort's wand were made from one of Fawkes' phoenix feathers as the core. They wouldn't fight each other. The wands were joined by some strange beam of light and we connected. I fought with him, each of us holding out wands, until his wand starting doing some sort of reverse spell effect. A shadow of Cedric came out, then and old man, then Bertha Jorkins. Then both of my parents."

Hermione had begun to cry very silently. She was glad that Harry wasn't looking at her. She didn't want him to stop. She needed to hear this and she knew he needed to tell her even if it was painful for the both of them.

"My parents came out and talked to me. They told me that they could help me get away. Cedric talked to me as well and he asked me to take his body back to his parents. I broke the connection between our wands and ran to the port key. They tried to stop me. I got to Cedric and then got the cup and that's when you saw me come back."

Hermione didn't want to say anything because she knew that Harry would know that she was crying. She did her best to stay quiet despite the tears streaming down her face. How could anyone be so evil? How could someone murder without any remorse?

"Thank you Hermione," he said.

She finally spoke, "For what?"

"For listening to me. For not asking me to talk about this earlier. For doing this for me tonight. You have been such a good friend to me. Both you and Ron have been such good friends to me."

Hermione became really frightened. Harry was talking like he was about to die or something. She had to reassure him. and herself.

"Harry, don't worry about your dream. You'll be fine. I'll be here. If I can't get you up, I'll yell for Ron to get Dumbledore. You'll be fine," she said.

"Goodnight," he said as he rolled over to his other shoulder.

"Hermione, if I do fall asleep, will you make sure that I am awake early? I want to get a start on the library early?" Harry said.

There was no answer. He rolled over to look at the bed she was reading on and she was gone. He grabbed his glasses off of the table and looked again. She was gone. She wouldn't leave him without saying anything would she?

"Hermione?" he said again.

Harry guessed that maybe she went to get another book out of her dormitory. He got up for a second so that he could glance at the bathroom door to see if maybe the light was on, but it wasn't. He turned back around to get in bed, when he saw a light outside his window. He was dreaming again. The light was from the Quidditch field. He decided to run down there. He was going to end this. His fear was gone. He didn't even remember climbing through the portrait hole or going out the main door. The next thing he knew he was at the base of the maze entrance. He hadn't heard a scream yet. Maybe they didn't know he was there yet. He decided to quickly make his way through the maze. Maybe he could get a jump on the mystery man.

Hermione could tell that Harry was having the dream. His breathing went from slow normal sleeping breaths, to short hard gasps, almost as though he was running very fast. She quietly slipped off of the bed and walked over to his bedside. He began to shake. He was doing the same thing that he had done earlier in the library. He was already sweating and his breathing was starting to become very erratic. Hermione was worried that she wouldn't know whether or not he was in trouble. What was she expecting? Was he going to start thrashing his arms and legs? Would he start talking, maybe screaming for help? She hoped she would be able to tell.

Harry was standing at the start of the long pathway and he could clearly see that the person was still there, and he seemed to be staring his direction again. He slowly began to walk towards the person carefully watching him for movement, or even to see if there was anyone else around him. The light was just too bright, however and it became difficult to make out anything else. When he got within a few meters he decided to break the silence.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Harry asked.

"Hello Harry," the man replied.

"Who are you?" Harry asked him.

"Don't you recognize me Harry?"

Harry took another step towards the man. He still couldn't see him well. He took one more. Then another. Now he could make out the man's face, but it wasn't a man. It was.

"Cedric?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry?" he said.

"Is this a dream?" Harry asked.

"Yes and no Harry. I am here to warn you. Voldemort knows you are back at the school. He is planning on sending someone here to kill you Harry. You have to protect yourself."
Hermione could see that Harry's dream was getting worse. He seemed to be shaking more violently and his breathing had turned into short, and quick systematic gasps. She was getting worried. She looked over at the water on the table by her bed, but then turned away. She was a nervous wreck. She was still stunned by the story Harry had told her. She knew that something bad had happened, but she had no idea that it had been that bad. She couldn't even think about the pain he must have gone through. She went over to her bed and grabbed the jug of water. She placed it on the table by Harry's glasses, and then lay down beside him on the bed. She felt the extreme heat from his body and could see the tiny beads of sweat forming all over his face. She wiped his forehead with the sleeve of her shirt and placed her arm over his chest. He was still shaking badly. She kept her arm there so that hopefully she would be able to judge by his breathing if it got any worse. It took her a moment before she realized that she was crying again.
"Cedric, Voldemort is coming here to the school?" Harry asked.

"No Harry, he is planning on sending someone to assassinate you. You brought my body back to my parents so I owe you this one last favor; this warning. You have to be careful. Tell Dumbledore someone is going to try to sneak in to the castle and kill you. Make sure he knows."

"Cedric, how can you think you owe me anything? It's because of me that you were killed,” Harry said.

"Harry, listen to me very carefully. Voldemort is the reason I was killed, not you. He is becoming very powerful. He is defying laws that are both natural and supernatural. He must be stopped. Don't blame yourself Harry for any of this. You did exactly what I would have done and you were being both a good person and friend. Now take good care Harry and don't put yourself in any more danger than you have to. Walk back to the castle and get back in bed. I won't visit you again."

Harry didn't say anything else. He stared at a smiling Cedric for a few seconds and then he simply turned around and walked out of the maze. Before he knew it, he was back in his dorm room. He took off his glasses, put them on the table, and got underneath the covers.

Hermione noticed that Harry had slowly stopped shaking. She could tell that his breathing was back to normal. She used her sleeve again to wipe the sweat off of his face, and then settled back down and continued to lay by his side. In a matter of a few minutes they were both asleep.