Harry Potter and the Dream of Fate

"I don't know. I suppose so, why not?" Harry replied. Someone came down the stairs. It was Ron.

"Ready to get to breakfast Harry?" he said excitedly. Harry had to feel sorry for Ron. He had only been gone for about 5 minutes and he had already missed so much. And besides, the farthest thing on Harry's mind right now was breakfast.

"I, uh...gotta do something, Ron," said Harry sheepishly.

"Ron," Hermione said, "let's skip breakfast; I have to look up something in the library, come on,"

"But what about Harry?" he said obviously confused.

"He's got to do something. I'll fill in everything at the library," Hermione said as she took Ron's arm and dragged him out.

"I'll catch up with you two later!" Harry called after them, and took a seat to wait for his first contestant.

* * * * * * * * * *

Persephone sighed and shoved her beloved radio underneath her bed. She was feeling a bit cranky, probably because she had gone to sleep at about 3 in the morning. She felt kind of bad though because when she had returned to the common room after her encounter with Malfoy last night she had found Ron and Hermione fast asleep in the common room. They had woken up suddenly, and Persephone could tell that even though they were sitting in different armchairs they were very embarrassed. Hermione had been fast asleep when Persephone had finished her apologies to Ron and returned to the dormitories, or so she thought.

She faced the mirror while she patted down her hair and slipped it into two very useful pigtails. Then she secured the elastic right under her ears. She pulled on her uniform, ("Ugh, I hate skirts!") followed by her robes, finished off with those hard and heavy leather shoes. She slipped a couple sweets in her robes as she planned on visiting Hagrid today and when offered treacle fudge she'd just pop in a sweet, break off a piece of the fudge and pretend she was enjoying the treat. As she entered the common room it was already 8:15 am and she was perfectly on time and, to her surprise, Harry Potter was sitting in the arm chair opposite the fire, twiddling his thumbs.

She decided not to bother him and just headed down to breakfast alone. After all, he wasn't her friend, just her caretaker, and she definitely didn't want to intrude. 'Not my friend,' she thought, and for some reason she felt something strangely like disappointment. He, however, looked as though he had been waiting for her and approached her.

"Good morning," he said brightly and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Good morning," she returned the greeting.

"Breakfast?" he said as he signaled the portrait hole.

"Yeah, you coming?" she said.

"Sure." They both walked out together.

"I heard your radio or whatever this morning, do you like music?" Harry asked her while they were out of hearing range.

"Yeah, I love music," she said calmly.

"Have you, um.." Harry mumbled reluctantly, "...have you ever considered singing?" She chuckled and faced him.

"Like a profession?" she said.

"No, just....well , a spare time thing," Harry said and then he bit his lower lip, a habit he had picked up from Hermione.

"Look, I sing to myself when I'm alone, just as habit, I guess. But around people? Yeah right! I'm a horrible singer, you saw what happened the first day of school! Somehow I was mad and I sang and the whole school heard me! And it wasn't anything to cheer about either, I suck."

"You don't suck,"

"What?"

"I mean, so you like singing?"

"Yes," she said and searched his face while trying to make any sense of this conversation, "just not in front of people, all by myself, confined in a room if possible."

"Why don't you like singing in front of people?" Harry said slowly.

"Why are you pushing this?" she said, and started to walk again. Harry did a semi-jog to catch up with her.

"I'm not pushing anything," he said irritably.

"Yes you are," she said, and she stopped to face him again. "This is the second time you've talked to me about singing, I don't want to sing, I am really bad at it, end of story case closed!"

"You're not bad at it! You've got the best voice I've ever heard in my life!" Harry stopped and realized what he had said and looked for a response. She just stood and stared at him, utter bewilderment in her eyes.

"You've never heard me sing," she muttered.

"Yes I have," he said softly. "Persephone, you're really good."

"I'll never be good enough!" she shouted and pushed him down and ran off without another word.

Harry stood in the hallway, all by himself, and watched her fly down the hallway. He had no idea what he had said wrong, but he had somehow struck a nerve. He decided to let it blow over, however. She probably had the best voice in this whole school. 'The whole world' a voice in back of his head chimed in.

* * * * * * * * * *

Harry wasn't hungry and he didn't want to push Persephone to her limit, so he decided not to go to breakfast. Instead, he started towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts room since he still had Transfiguration homework to do and the common room was much too far away. He entered the room and expected to see Professor Gage, but no one was there. The room was littered with little figurines Harry recognized as Muggle characters. One whole section had Marvel comic superhero's, the wall opposite that dedicated to Japanese anime, Cardcaptors and Cowboy Bebop. There was also a large array of wands, which stumped Harry, since he had always heard that every wizard had one wand, and that the wand always chose the wizard. He took a seat in the front of the class, where he knew Hermione would prefer to sit, and took out his Transfiguration things.

"Like my decor, Harry?" said a wryly voice from the front of the room. It was Professor Gage. A sharp pain enveloped Harry's scar and he had to push himself hard to not keel over. He set his elbow down on his desk and held his head up with his hand as nonchalantly as he could.

"Yes," he breathed.

"Is everything all right, Harry?" Professor Gage said as he walked towards him. Harry felt like screaming out 'NO!' or running away, but he knew an action like that could get him in trouble. So he just prepared himself. Professor Gage came all the way towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. The pain was so incredible Harry couldn't see straight, but then in an instant, it was gone. "Are you all right?" he repeated.

"Yes, I'm fine Professor," Harry said as he lifted his head up and faked a smile.

"Alright then," Gage said and smiled himself. "As you can see I'm very fond of Muggle animation. You see, that's one thing I still haven't seen here: wizard cartoons."

"Heh," Harry chuckled and the bell rang. Students started filing into the classroom and Harry realized that he had this class with Slytherin. "How perfect," he muttered. Ron and Hermione walked in, Ron with a satisfied look on his face, and the last to enter was Persephone, who sat at the very end of the table.

"As you see class, I have done a bit of redecorating. I hope you all approve?" There were oo's and ah's that came from most of the Gryffindors, but the Slytherins just scoffed. One Slytherin in particular said, "Aren't these all Muggle toys?" It was Draco Malfoy.

"Yes," Professor Gage said with a smile, "I have grown to like them, don't you agree Mr. Malfoy?"

"No sir, I don't agree with polluting a wizard classroom with useless Muggle toys," a soft laughter ran through the Slytherin class.

Professor Gage kept his cool and said, "You will have to agree with them, Mr. Malfoy, unless you want a big fat zero on your final exam." Then he returned to class.

This was, by far, Persephone's favorite and best class. She seemed to know how to defend herself very well, and even though she was a bit suspicious of Professor Gage she knew how to handle him. They learned about mountain trolls today, and how to disarm and defeat them. However, half way through class someone ran through the door and shouted and screamed and threw themselves about. It was quite a site.

"Someone...student. Monster!" he shouted. "Student; chamber; death!" he continued whacking himself against the walls. "Kill, kill, kill! Eyes, weapon! Oh, the horror! The horror!" Then he beat himself up so bad that he fell down. The whole class watched in complete silence. Professor Gage ran up to him immediately and prodded his chest with his wand; he whispered spells too complex to even listen to.

After a while the class began to whisper, but it grew in volume until the class was in an absolute buzz, while most students ran up to where the hopefully passed-out student lay. "Do not worry," Professor Gage said at once. "He is not dead, he merely blacked out. I will take him to the hospital wing; all of you are to stay in this class until I return." He left with the boy over his shoulder; bruises started to swell up around his forehead and his lip bled. No one recognized him, no one except for Persephone. Harry glanced over at her when Professor Gage left and noticed that she hadn't left her seat at all during the commotion. She had her head covered with her hands and she rocked back and forth. Harry went to see what was wrong with her. When he got close enough he could hear her mumbling "Oh, my God. Oh, my God," over and over again. Surely she wasn't the one responsible?

"Hey," Harry said gently, "you okay?"

She looked up and her face was all red, her eyes all puffy. Yet not a trace of tears in sight. She straightened up and smiled. "Fine, fine. What a horrible thing to happen to that kid!"

"Yeah, it looked pretty sudden didn't it?" Harry inquired.

"Very sudden. Maybe he's ill or something,"

"Maybe something made him do it," Harry said matter-of-factly.

"Who knows? I mean, it's not really that important. All that matters is that the kid's okay, right?" she said.

"Did you know him? I mean, you look kind of concerned," Harry said, as he tried to get some information out of her.

"Yes. I mean no. I mean.." she said, trying to explain, "I bumped into him in the halls, but I never really talked to him." She started to tremble again. "I did talk to him, but I really, really, didn't mean what I said," she said, her face turning red again. If Harry didn't know her better he'd think that she was about to cry. But she had made it obvious she had something to do with it all. Harry just didn't know what.

"What did you say?" Harry said softly.

"Nothing," she said her voice shaky and small. She bit her bottom lip and stared at him. "Oh man, Harry, you've got to help me."

He looked around and saw that Ron and Hermione were looking for him. He slipped away from Persephone at that moment and approached them. "Look, I'm going to leave for a second, okay? I'll be back before Gage returns, I just need to go sort something out." He headed towards Persephone, took her hand and led her out of the room. They both went in to an empty classroom just opposite Defense Against the Dark Arts so that Harry would see Gage when he returned. They sat down.

"Help you with what? Tell me what happened," he said sophisticatedly.

"Well...it's just that I've got a problem: When I get angry for some reason I just can't control my magic. Like, I wish something would happen to the person, just like everyone else. But my wishes turn into words, and my words into actions. It's so stupid," she said as she pounded her hand against her forehead. "I don't even know why I'm here, it's just that I felt kind of desperate and you're like the only person I know. We'd better get back to class. It's not your problem." She got up but Harry interrupted her.

"Whatever it is, I want to help," he said in a heroic tone.

"You sure? You're not saying that, hoping I'll turn down the offer?"

"I can't force you to tell me, but I really want you to," he said slowly. He honestly didn't know why he cared so much.

"Alright then, suit yourself," she said and sat down again. "What happened today, with that kid, is the same thing. I think I need anger management classes or something."

Harry smiled. "Anger management classes?"

"It's not funny!" she said, but the corners of her mouth twitched into something similar to a smile.

"What happened today?" he said, glad that the mood was a bit lighter.

"Okay, it's kind of my fault, but I mean, he was really the one who started it. It all started after we had that disagreement on the way to breakfast. I was a bit pissed off and I wasn't really watching where I was going and I bumped into someone..."

"I thought you said you were fearless," she said seething. "I mean, you can't possibly be afraid can you?" He squinted at her, obviously thinking it through. Just as she had hoped he walked towards the closet.

"...I noticed I was going to be late for class. I left him there," she finished her story with a shrug.

"You locked Troy Wetzel in a closet? That's what happened?" Harry said and tried to piece things together.

"Well, yes and no," she said.

"What does the 'and no' mean?" Harry asked, and hoped she hadn't stunned him or removed the air from the room.

"Well, you see, I was reading one of the Third-year Defense books to get caught up, and I had just covered the section on Boggarts."

"Wait a second. Let me get this straight," Harry said heavily. "You locked Troy Wetzel in a broom closet with a Boggart."

Persephone watched him closely and then nodded. "Yes." Harry didn't know what to do or what to say. It wasn't bad. It was really bad. What if he didn't know how to stop a Boggart? Or what if the Boggart turned into something horrible and cursed him? He returned his thoughts to Persephone who was looking as bad as he felt.

"I thought it would turn into a spider, not a freaking axe murderer!" she said, while she tried to make him believe that she was a little innocent.

"I understand, but it really messed with him."

"I know, that's why I need help, Harry. So that I can keep my temper and not loose it, and hurt people like that."

"Right," Harry said. "I'll help you. But I need you to do one thing for me," Harry said, as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

"And what would that be?" she said suspiciously.

"Audition for the talent contest," he said quickly. "Just audition. If you make it, then you'll know for yourself that you're good, and you'll be able to make it through the contest."

"Oh God, Harry, not the singing thing again..."

"Just audition, and I'll help you with the anger thing. You've got nothing to lose."

"Nothing except for my dignity," she said sarcastically. "I'll do it under one condition," she said smartly. "Tell me more about my past."

"But I don't know anything about..."

"This stupid scar thing. You know something about it. I know you do, Harry." He really couldn't deny it since he was horrible at lying. His mind told him it could be one of a thousand things but he knew better. No way could a bicycle accident cause a scar like that to never go away. "If you tell me everything, and help me out, I'll audition and be good at it." She winked and smiled.

"Alright, it's a deal," Harry said.

"Great!" she squealed. "Now let's get back to class."

* * * * * * * * * *

Harry decided to tell Persephone about her past somewhere other than the common room since he didn't know how she would take it and she might wake somebody up. So he decided to tell her to meet him in the Transfiguration classroom at midnight since it was usually the least suspected. He got there early, at around 11:30, just so he could practice the words he would use. Now he finally knew how Hagrid must have felt telling him that his whole life was altered because of a dark wizard with a bad temper. He heard footsteps behind him and he guessed it was Persephone but he was quite wrong. It turned out to be Cecile.

"Hello Harry," she said to him kindly.

"Hi Cecile," he said. He hated the way his stomach turned to jelly when she was around.

"I'm so sorry we haven't had time to chat lately, it's just that Madame has been keeping us so busy."

"I understand," Harry said. "So how do you like Hogwarts?"

"It's much better than I expected it to be, actually," she said politely. "I'm used to it, however; I used to attend Hogwarts."

"You used to come to Hogwarts?" Harry blurted out.

"Yes, I'm in sixth year now, and I only attended Hogwarts for first year. I'm from England, you know, I just moved to France. So when I found out I had a chance to come back I was quite exited," she said.

"Yeah, you must have been." Oh damn, the conversation had hit a dead end.

"So Harry, are you going to enter for the talent contest? You look like someone who's bursting with talent, or maybe it's just all the things I've heard about you."

"No, actually I'm not. I'm no good at the sing and dance thing."

"Oh, that's too bad. Anyway, I know you're probably over it and everything, but I just wanted to say sorry about your parents, it must have been so hard for you at such an early age."

Whoa. That came out of nowhere.

"Yeah, but I'm coping. I just want to make sure Voldemort, sorry, You-Know-Who, gets his fair share of all the pain he's caused."

"Well, that sounds a bit vengeful, doesn't it?"

"Not considering all the people he's harmed, not to mention killed while he was on his warpath."

Another dead end.

"Hi Harry!" said a voice behind him. It was Persephone. "Oh, I see you have company," she said as she eyed Cecile warily.

"Yes, I don't think you two have met yet. Cecile this is Persephone Blair. Persephone this is Cecile...eh."

"Davila," she said as she stretched out her hand. Persephone didn't take it.

"Well, Cecile Davila, I have to talk to Harry, very important, you must understand."

"Yes. By the way, I loved your essay on levitation charms, it was really one of a kind," Cecile said nicely.

"How did you get my essay?" Persephone said.

"I'm sorry, but I must go, it's getting late. Bye, Harry. Pleasure meeting you Persephone!" With that she skipped down the hall merrily, her golden locks swayed behind her.

"Oh no, the pleasure was all mine," Persephone said after she had turned a corner and was out of sight.

"You know, the first step to controlling your anger is to be more social with people you have never met before," Harry said to her, as he noticed her glare.

"There's something not so right about her, Harry. I can feel it."

"Remember, you also locked a bully in a closet with a Boggart this morning. I think your judgment is a bit off," he said protectively. "Let's go," he said and signaled the classroom.

Persephone followed him while she made bunny ears behind his head.