Harry Potter and the Dream of Fate

*Chapter Sixteen*

The Fight That Led to the Hideout

"And the winner is," Dumbledore said above the crowd, "my this is a hard decision. Well, out of Pansy Parkinson, Ernie McMillian, Susan Johnson, and Persephone Blair, the winner is, Persephone Blair!" Applause erupted from either side off the hall, except for the Slytherin side, as the Gryffindors hoisted Persephone in the air over much chaos. She giggled nervously as everyone clapped and cheered her on, and they carried her off all the way to the party in the Gryffindor Common Room.

There she tried to extricate herself from the action. All she really wanted to do was hang out with Ron, Hermione and Harry. But her wish didn't come true, because once most of the people at the party had dispersed, there was no sign of them anywhere. She shrugged it off and instead went to bed. But when she got there, she didn't get the rest she hoped for, because two 5th year Gryffindor girls were chatting away endlessly.

"And I heard that she only went with Draco to make Harry jealous,"

"Yeah, well I heard it worked. Harry asked her for a walk right in the middle of the ball!"

"Oh, is that all you heard, Lavender? I heard that after Harry and Persephone left, they began snogging in the closest bush!"

"Yeah, Parvarti? Well Draco walked in and--"

"Will you two PLEASE shut up!" Persephone shrieked from inside her four poster. "Or at least gossip about me when I'm either already asleep or preferably, NOT IN THE ROOM!"

"Eavesdropper," Parvarti hissed at Lavender, "talk about rude,"

"Yeah," Lavender replied, "I give her and Harry a week, tops."

"Because she'll be cheating with Malfoy!" Both girls giggled themselves to sleep, while Persephone pressed a pillow over her ears.

* * * * * * * * * *

Days turned to weeks as weeks rolled into months and pretty soon snow was falling thickly on the Hogwarts grounds. Nothing superior had happened except that ever since Persephone lost her patience with Lavender and Parvarti, they had become very cross with her, spreading nasty rumors everywhere they went. Persephone was furious when she first found out, but after a while she simply decided to be just as nasty back, spreading equally horrible rumors, conveniently to the cutest boys on campus.

Persephone visited Hagrid consistently, and from what he spilled, she and Harry figured out that his special job with Dumbledore and Maxime (once she caught up on the first four years of Hogwarts, and what exactly went on) had been to try and round up other giants and half giants before Voldemort got them. Hagrid had a few allies already, all half giants, those who knew his mother and father. But as he explained, it was much harder getting support from giants. "They jus' don' listen to yeh," he said casually, "they think yer not one o' 'em jus' 'cause yer on'y half."

Persephone and Hermione had encouraged Hagrid that they'd come around, but it was difficult with Ron muttered, "If you don't get killed first, no offense of course, Hagrid," in the corner. Also, Hagrid's hut had returned to it's shabby self, white kitchen cabinets gone and all, and to everyone's surprise, Persephone didn't complain. She just warned Hagrid that if he dared touch her haystack, he would pay.

Classes zoomed by and the threat of O.W.L.S came upon everyone, no matter what gifts they possessed. Christmas was the next competition, and it was only a couple weeks away. This time, however, Persephone wasn't nearly as scared and quite nonchalant about the whole thing. But one person was being extra stressed out and that was Hermione. As for Harry, he had never gotten around to asking Ron about the garden walk with Hermione at the ball, but he had to admit, Ron was acting pretty strange.

"I'll never remember all of this by May, never!" Hermione exclaimed over a huge pile of books, "I might as well just start 5th year over now."

"Hermione, relax, if you don't pass the O.W.L.S, no one else will." Ron said as he flipped through his Divination homework.

"Hey Ron, what do you say we go practice some Quidditch moves, eh?" Harry said.

"Sure."

"Hey you guys, can we come? I wanna fly some more, before I forget," Persephone said out of nowhere.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked.

"My competition is in two weeks, I've got to practice," she said and grabbed her cloak. "Less' go?"

They all nodded and headed out. The practice was good, it was nice for all of them to get some air and Persephone zoomed around a bit on one of the school brooms. After a while though, the broom couldn't handle the speed any more so Harry gave her a few rides around the field. Once that was over, however, Harry and Ron threw around a couple quaffles and tried to score goals on each other, both tying at 5 to 5 each. They all decided to go back in when the sky got darker, talking and joking along the way when,

"Persephone, want to go research in the library?" she said quaintly, "You know O.W.L.S.."

"Oh no, Hermione, not the O.W.L.S. again--"

"No, Ron, she's right. I've still got some stuff to catch up on the last four years," Persephone said, "yeah, alright." She took off her cloak and handed it to Harry. "Mind leaving this in the common room for me?" she nudged him with the end of the cloak.

"No, of course not, have fun," he said sarcastically as the girls turned and walked down the other way, engaged in conversation.

"Some character, Persephone," Ron said to Harry.

"Yeah, but she's alright."

"Just alright?" Ron said skeptically. Harry paused.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked Ron.

"Helping her out with homework, teaching her to fly, giving her rides on your broom...yanking her from Malfoy's grasp at the ball..." Ron said the last part in a bit of a whisper.

"I did not 'yank her from Malfoy's grasp' Ron," Harry said in an agitated tone, "I thought he had put something in her punch and.."

"I think you fancy her, that's all," Ron said.

"What?! That's preposterous! Honestly Ron!"

"And why not? You pretty much hang with her all day anyway."

"Look, she's just a friend, you know, Dumbledore's responsibility. And honestly Ron, no offense or anything but Persephone isn't really a girlie girl. She can be rude, and arrogant and self centered, not to mention she has temper tantrums I've only seen for a three year old--" But Harry stopped mid-sentence because he heard a sort of gasp from behind him. As he looked back his jaw fell so low, he felt it inches from the floor. Ron let out a sort of a whimper.

"I- I'm glad to know what- what you really think," Persephone staggered. Her face was contorted and her eyes were two little slits. But from what he could see, there was no anger in them, just maybe...disappointment? No that's not right, because she was flexing her hands as though she was preparing to jam his eyes into his brain.

"Persephone, I didn't--"

"Shut up!" she shouted at him. Inside she was fighting an inner battle, whether to hex him, pound him, or just leave him be. She could tell he was scared of her, ..she has temper tantrums I've only seen for a three year old.." the words replayed in her mind and she decided not to give him the satisfaction. Next to Harry, Ron spoke.

"So what are you doing back here, anyway?" he said in a friendly tone she could tell was forced.

"Hermione needed a book, I volunteered to go get it, and well.." she have Harry one of the dirtiest looks he had ever seen and turned on her heel and left. Harry started to go after her, but Ron caught his arm.

"Don't, Harry. She's really mad right now, she may do something drastic, like pull out your arm, or.."

"Don't be daft, Ron. If she was going to hurt me, she would have done it here. Now I've got to go find her, before she runs off and gets hurt or something," Harry took off in the direction where Persephone had gone, leaving Ron mouthing nonsense words at his trail, like a fish out of water.

* * * * * * * * * *

Once she reached the cold stinging air of the outdoors, she ran as fast as she could towards the lake. That was basically her spot, a huge rock on the bank of the lake, a few hundred yards from Hagrid's cabin. No one could see her there from the cabin, or from the school. She was guaranteed at least a little bit of privacy. She threw herself behind the rock, skidding her knees and bumping her head against a relatively large chunk of rock sticking out along the side. "Wonderful!" she said sharply banging her fists against the ground, "Just wonderful! Why don't I just bruise up my arms and legs too! That would look wonderful with my nice lacey dress on my performance! My stupid performance!" She continued to slam her fists against the ground, slowing down, until completely laying on her elbows, breathing heavily.

Why did she care, really? It's not like she completely believed that she had true friends, she would never had let herself believe that, would she? It just, she placed a hand over her heart, laying face up on the cold ground, it hurt. Something inside her hurt very badly now, making her eyes water again, making her head spin. She was a fool, she let them all play her, how could she be so vulnerable?

She sat up, her back against the rock, and took a look at her hands. Her knuckles were almost raw, and very red from banging them against the ground. The rest of her hand was a bit purple and swollen from the force she put on them. She mentally slapped herself, why did she have to blow a fuse every time she got mad. Why did she always hurt herself. 'Because you don't matter', The familiar voice in her mind answered.

She didn't realize how long she was there for, when she saw a dark figure come towards her. She could tell they were looking for something, and they approached the spot where she was quite quickly. In the moonlight, she could tell that they were tall and a bit gangly, but nonetheless a boy, a young man, and their sparkling green eyes scanned the area right where she was. "Harry" she breathed quietly, when she inhaled a bit of sand that when straight and tickled her throat. She fought back the urge to cough, but it only made it worse, and before long she was hacking up a lung.

Apparently Harry took notice to the regurgitating sounds coming from behind the rock and peered over them, and saw Persephone clutching her neck as though her head was going to fall off. He jumped over the rock swiftly, and in one simple motion, removed a small flask and handed it to her. Before pausing to think, she drank it's contents, bringing her coughing to an end. She handed it back to him, and while half her brain was telling her to run, she just moved around the rock and sat on the bank, facing the water. She grabbed a nearby stone and threw it as hard as she could at the water, making ripples as it bounced along the lake. Soon after she felt Harry sit next to her, she continued throwing rocks at the lake however. For a while, neither one of them spoke, she had nothing to say to him, and it seemed as though he didn't know what to say. But after a few minutes, she ran out of rocks, which meant Harry ran out of time.

"I didn't mean it you know," he said softly. She didn't reply, she just folded her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"I don't even know why I said it," he continued. Still no reply. "Can you just say something?" he said. This time she felt him turn to face her. Her head got very hot and she struggled within herself not to run off. "Yell at me, please!" he said, his voice get louder, "Scream, kick, punch, curse, do something for God's sake!" His voice was almost at a shout now. She could hear that he was desperate for some type of reaction.

She turned her head and faced him.

His expression relaxed.

She faced the lake again.

"Right," he whispered. She could feel he was about to get up and forget about it when she made her move.

"You weren't supposed to know I was here," she said. Her voice was very coarse, and next to her Harry settled.

"I saw you run off," he replied, this time facing the lake himself, "I'm sorry if I ruined something."

She responded curtly, "You didn't."

"You know what the worst part is?"

"You wanna know why I said it?" They both said at once.

Persephone said in the same level voice, "You go first."

"I said it because for some reason I had to find a flaw for why I couldn't be your friend. So I guess I lost."

"Why's that?"

"Because even saying those things, I still want to know you."

Persephone swallowed a huge lump in her throat before she continued. "The worst part is," she said and drew a breath, "I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" he said, and faced her for the second time. She didn't budge.

"No," she said, "I'm mad at myself for being so vulnerable, and as much as I want to be, I can't be mad at you." She sighed and finally let down her guard. A huge shiver ran down her spine, and she felt something warm over her. She looked over and saw that Harry had placed her cloak over her shoulders.

"You told me to put it in the common room," he said, "I never got a chance to go there yet." His voice was gentle and low. Persephone frowned and pulled her cloak tighter.

"Thanks" she muttered, and she was going to face the lake again, but Harry didn't let her. He brushed her cheek with his fingertips and their eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity. Persephone felt a tingling sensation in her stomach and before she knew what was happening, all she could see were his lips, and they were coming closer to hers. She was centimeters away from him when, "What's that?" she said quickly, averting her face back towards the lake.

"What's what?" Harry said in a hoarse voice, which Persephone could tell was trying to get used to the sudden change of events.

"That over there," she said pointing over the Forbidden Forest, "that smoke."

"What smoke? I don't see anything," Harry said squinting over the trees.

"That's it!" she said snapping her fingers. She shook her head violently before explaining. "Acute senses! That's why I could hear you and Ron, why I could see you, why my hands are all raw from banging them!" Harry looked at her in perplexity and she continued, "A spell I learned today. The Acute Sense spell, I put it on myself while I was testing it, I never removed it. It causes all your senses to sharpen about 10 times their normal frequency, that's why I could hear you so far away, that's why I can see the smoke, and that's why I felt the pain in my hands so much!"

Harry nodded and said, "What spell is it?"

"Would you like me to put it on you?" she asked. He nodded again.

"Okay, but I'm warning you, Hermione's the spell genius here, sorry if I mess up."

"Just go on," he insisted.

"Fine." She took out her wand and pointed it square between his eyes. Harry had to admit it was a bit intimidating. "Apuntadisimo!" she shouted. Harry's vision went all blurry and he couldn't hear anything. All his senses fogged and at first he felt as if he was drowning. He got scared that Persephone messed up the spell and instead of actuating his senses, she removed them. But then, in a flash, everything sharpened, first to normal, then everything came into focus, and almost magnetized, so that he not only could see what was in front of him, but in back of him, surrounding him, and very far away. Persephone looked at him and frowned.

"It worked," he said. Luckily his voice sounded normal.

"Good, now do you see it?"

He peered over the trees, and a small trail of smoke was rising above them. It seemed to be coming from very deep in the forest, and it was still hard to see with his senses sharpened. "Yeah, I see it," Harry said looking back at her.

"Do you know who it could be?" she asked him. Harry was about to respond Aragog, a spider monster he had seen in the forest in his second year, who had nearly killed him and Ron, but he decided not to. After all, the spiders hated light, so it was a very slim chance that they had built a fire.

"No," he responded at last.

"Let's go check it out," she said as she got up from the bank.

"No way!" Harry responded pulling her back down, "We can't just go into the forest unarmed, untrained, and following a smoke signal. That's how you get killed."

"So what do you suggest we do? Just let intruders walk right into the school?"

"It could be anyone," Harry explained, "maybe it's a centaur, or some other creature that lives in the forest that decided it's too cold out." He shrugged to make his point more clear.

"No," she retorted, "I never saw it before."

"Of course you didn't," Harry replied, "you never had the acute sense spell on you, did you?" She thought for a second and slowly shook her head. They collected their things and went back to the school. Neither of them, for a second, thinking back to the romantic moment that almost happened.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

It burned. "Bloody Hell," he swore, yanking the sleeves of his robes up. "No.." he muttered into the silence. His book dropped off his stomach and on the floor as he got up quickly and started pacing the room. "So this is what it feels like to be a traitor," he mumbled to himself. But who was he being a traitor to? The goodie-to-shoes and the mudbloods? The ones who believe in chivalry and righteousness. "Yes," he muttered as he heard to figures clunk down the stairs.

"Draco," one grunted.

"We haffta go," the other finished.

"Well, go on then, get your cloaks," he commanded and took his own, before contemplating any more about what was right or wrong.

The port key was to be placed at the bank of the lake, it was a small round rock, and to distinguish it from the others, a green x would be placed on the bottom of it. However, you could only indicate the bright green x when you said a certain charm, the last precaution of this devious plan. Of course, Draco was notified of it right at his initiation, the Dark Lord left nothing untouched. He made sure nothing would go off course, and if it did, Draco would pay.

His first mission was to get close to the Sorceress, for the Dark Lord knew, oh yes, how to use her. He had connections within the ministry which had found whom she was the moment she was discovered. It was up to Draco to make sure that she trusted him, and Draco believed he did a good job. Maybe too good a job, because now every time he saw her with Potter, something inside him wanted to punch something.

"We're here," Crabbe croaked, breaking Draco's concentration.

"Where's the rock?" he spat at them.

"No rock," Goyle replied lazily, "all gone."

"Beasts, both of you, find it then!" He threw menacing glares to both of them, which seemed to have given them the confidence they needed to get searching. He himself scanned the perimeter for it, looking around trees and a massive rock that laid a few feet away from the bank itself. That's where he found it.

No, not the rock, but a small, glittering bracelet made of magical stones only found in the Forbidden Forest. He knew who's it was, since she wore it almost everyday. It was Persephone's, given to her by the half-giant Hagrid, who had made it himself. Draco still wondered why she wore it, the rocks were chipped, the threads were split in some places, and the colors were not even in a scheme. At the moment the bracelet was broken, but given to the sweet smell of Chamomile she always wore with her, she must have been here tonight. A few feet away from the bracelet, was a small flask, about the size of his palm. It was made of what seemed like tin, and on the bottom of it were the letters HP. Draco pocketed the item, as he did with the bracelet, but for another reason. This time he had evidence Potter had broken rules, and he would get in trouble.

"Here, found it Draco!" Crabbe yelled across the lake.

"Shut up you fool!" Draco hissed at him. "Do you want to wake the whole school?"

Draco and Goyle waddled into the water where Crabbe was. Inside it's murky depths was a small stone burning green when a wand was held closely to it.

"It's not red," Draco said to them, "it's not activated yet." As if on cue, the green turned slowly to brown then brightly to red. The three of them reached down into the water and placed a single finger on it. They swirled forward and after a few seconds they were all standing in a small room, lit by a tiny fire.

As if on cue, the three of them dropped to their knees as a tall thin man in black robes approached them. He had pale ivory skin and two red slits for eyes. He smiled at them and twirled his wand with his long spider-like fingers.

"Hail Voldemort," the three of them said at once.

"Yes," he said to them is a misty voice., "very well. You have all completed the first part of your mission." He prodded them all in the shoulder with his wand and said, "Rise." They all stood and covered their head's with their cloak's, they all looked hooded like Dementors. Voldemort walked towards Draco. Draco's heart started beating very fast as he realized that he had Persephone's bracelet in his possession. Hopefully, the Dark Lord wouldn't notice.

"Malfoy," Voldemort began, "a trusted name, a honored name. How is your project coming along, Draco?"

Draco responded, "On schedule, my Lord."

At that moment a large thick snake made its way into the room. Draco looked at it disgusted, as he slithered around Voldemort's ankles. "Ah," the Dark Lord said, "my other trusted servant. Nagini too has a mission, she is very successful." He bent down and pet the large snake. It hissed it's tongue in excitement and slithered off into the other corner of the room. Draco thought he was about to be sick. "And you," Voldemort threw at Crabbe and Goyle. Draco could feel them shutter. "Have you found a plan to capture the mudblood?" He said this with the utmost ease. Both of them grunted in a reassuring way that seemed to be enough to please Voldemort. Then he turned back to Draco. "The sorceress is important to us. We need a personal item of hers in order to perform the spell correctly, if not, not only will she die, but you will follow suit."

Draco nodded and responded, "Yes, sir."

"You have until the end of this month to bring me a solid item. If not, well.." His lips curled in a pleasing matter, he pointed his wand at Draco and said, "Crucio!" Draco didn't know how long it took before he fell on the floor, wincing in pain, not enough energy to even scream. As soon as the pain had come, however, it left him. He was left laying and twitching on the cold dirt floor. "A taste of things to come if you decided to disobey me. But I am sure you are to the wiser. Your father can be of help to you, now get up!" He spat at Draco, "You will return to me in 15 days. If you have what I am looking for, Draco, you shall be generously rewarded. If not, you know. When you get back to the shores, you will dispose of the port key, and say nothing, to anyone." He pivoted on his heel so that he was now facing the other two sulking figures.

"You two," he hissed, "are to bring me 3 hairs off the head of the mudblood. Your capture will come later. Go now!" he said and he threw the rock at them. Draco heard a high pitched laughter before he hit the sand with a thud.

* * * * * * * * * * *

It took them 15 minutes to return to the Slytherin common room, and the whole time Draco had a guilty sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He sat back down on the couch facing the fire, holding the book he had been reading before, Quidditch Through the Ages, for the 22nd time in the last four years. In the distance her heard Crabbe and Goyle muttering spells and curses at the rock, and he couldn't take it anymore. "Leave it!" he shouted at them as he got up again.

"Master said destroy.." one of them muttered, Draco couldn't tell which.

"Leave it, I'll do it, go!" he demanded. They took the point and left up the stairs. Draco took a small vile from one of the pockets in his robes. It was a glass vile, no bigger than his palm, filled with a black liquid that would have been easily mistaken for ink. He held the rock in his left hand as he poured two drops of the liquid on it with his right. Suddenly the two drops expanded over the rock, covering it in an inky black shadow. Slowly the black faded, and so did the rock. In a matter of seconds there was nothing in Draco's palm. He set he vile down on the fireplace mantel and took out one more item out of his robes. A small bracelet made up of chunky multi-colored rocks held on by a thin thread. He put it on the fireplace and put two more drops of the liquid onto it, and just like the rock, it disappeared into thin air.

"She means nothing to me." He returned the vile to his robes, and before he climbed onto the couch again he said, "She will be eliminated, just like the rest."

*Author's Notes*

Wow, this chapter is like super important!!! Please pay attention to it, I don't get nitty-gritty with the details, but overall this is very very important. Hopefully, you all understood the connection between the five major things in this chapter, and if not, they are:

-The smoke hovering over the trees

-Draco's attitude toward Voldemort

-Nagini...She is never really explained in the books so I got creative with her....wink wink

-The bracelet and the flask! They come up again, so pay attention to that!

-The mention of a "Mudblood". Yeah, you all can pretty much make out who that is.

I don't want this to be like English class, but if you pay attention to these things they will make you understand the story better.

If you hadn't noticed, I added a bit more fluff in this chapter. Yeah, I'm gonna start to get more romantic now that I've got all the plots out there. No more new plots, I promise! Now it's all going to go downhill from here to the conclusion...so I'd say we're about halfway done with the fic!

Please review! It really helps me out when you review, so please do! BTW, if you like "Buffy" and "Cowboy Bebop" as well as "Inuyasha" you might see some things that look familiar. I'm a fan of all three, so I might use some lines in the future...if I do, they will be mentioned!

Okay, that seems about all...PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! it means the world to me!