Harry Potter and the Dream of Fate

Chapter Seventeen

*A Plan of Betrayal*

A slithery serpent wound itself around the pearly white ankles of its master. Perhaps if the snake was a fluffy kitty, instead of a scaly and slimy snake, or if the master wasn´t standing there sipping a goblet full of unicorn blood, the scenario would have been considered ´affectionate´.

He rolled his wrist around and watched the silvery liquid swirl in the goblet, reflecting the image of his grotesque face. "A cursed life," he murmured and chuckled. He gracefully stepped over the snake and paced to the fire. As he drank slowly, a soft knock was heard at the door. He paused and gingerly set the goblet down on the mantle.

A plump, balding man entered the room, and squirmed under his robes when his eyes met the two slits of the monster before him. "Hullo, Master," he whimpered and fell onto his knees. He clumsily crawled over the blood red carpeting and kissed the hem of the slender man´s robes.

"Off!" Voldemort scolded him, and kicked Pettigrew square between the chest. He brought his fingers together and took a seat on the black dragon-hide chair before he continued, "What is it?"

"Someone, a man, has come to see you."

Voldemort´s eyes widened for a split-second before they took their normal form again. "Name," he said.

"He said no name, said you´d want to talk to him, said something about a girl." A shiver dispersed itself through Pettigrew´s body.

"A girl?" Voldemort repeated, "Let him in."

"But sir," Pettigrew protested, "it is not safe--"

"Let him in!" Voldemort said vehemently, and with the smallest flick of his wrist, a large gash appeared on Pettigrew´s cheek. Pettigrew gasped and brought his hand to feel his wound, but a penetrating stare from Voldemort told him he was doing wrong. He muttered a small "Yes, sir," and stumbled out.

* * *

"This is yours, Potter?" McGonagall´s voice rang in his ears. She held a tiny tin flask in her hand which conveniently had the initials `HP´ on it.

"Yes." There was no point denying it. Might as well get off for good behavior.

McGonagall sighed, "It was found on the grounds after hours, near the lake."

Was no one going to help him? He glanced around. Slytherins.

Nope.

To his right were Ron and Hermione, they couldn´t do anything since he had neglected to say anything to them about what happened that night. To his left was Persephone, quickly scribbling nonsense on parchment, an obvious sign that she was trying very hard to ignore him. He looked back to McGonagall, she had run out of patience, "Explain."

Once Gryffindor had lost fifty points and Harry had detention, Draco wore a satisfied smirk on his face. One that was quickly washed away when Persephone raised her hand to ask some sort of question to the professor. The sleeve of her robes fell down to her elbow, so that her wrist was exposed. And set neatly upon it, shining in the sunlight that streamed through the windows, was a multicolored bracelet, completely intact, every one of its odd stones in sequence. This simple bracelet scared Draco beyond belief in all its homemade glory.

Once the bell sounded and students began to file out, Draco leapt from his seat, leaving his belongings behind. He grabbed Persephone by the collar and pushed her back. She yelped and fell helplessly towards him.

Professor McGonagall noticed the two remaining students and arched an eyebrow at them. "Is there a problem?" she said when Persephone resulted to using a Full-Body Bind in order to get Draco off.

"No," Persephone replied saintly, removing the Bind, "we just need a minute." Draco stood up and so did McGonagall.

"I am due for lunch," the Professor said shooting suspicious looks at the two of them, "lock the door on our way out." She left the room with a swish of her robes.

Draco dusted himself off, and unmitigated himself to full height. Persephone stood her ground, even though he was a good foot taller than she was. However, instead of glaring at him for nearly choking her, her eyes looked at him with some compassion. A look he rarely saw directed to him.

"Are you okay? You don´t seem very - um - composed." Her voice was gentle, as if she was talking to a crazy person.

"I was okay, before you attacked me."

"Sorry about the bind, but you were cutting off the circulation to my brain."

"Yeah, whatever," he said and gallantly stepped forward. He took hold of her right arm and pushed the sleeve up. She jumped slightly at his touch.

"Your hands are so cold," she said as he easily removed the bracelet. "Hey!"

"Where did you get this?" he said as he twirled the beads through his fingers.

"Give it back!" she said and snatched it. Draco himself was impressed at her agility.

"Where did you get it?" he repeated, this time with more edge in his voice.

"Hagrid gave it to me, like it´s any of your business."

Ah yes, the familiar impatience was creeping into her eyes.

"I know that!" Draco said in exasperation.

"You´re a freakin´ weirdo, you know that?"

Draco couldn´t suppress his animosity anymore, so he just came out and said it, "You lost it, didn´t you?"

Persephone stared at him in disbelief. She tried to piece words together, but instead she just ended up looking like a fish out of water. Finally, after realizing that she looked utterly ridiculous, she whispered, "How do you know about that?"

He didn´t know exactly how to respond, so he kept his silence. She repeated, "How do you know about that? I didn´t tell anyone about it." She glared at him in a suspicious manner, a look he was very used to.

"You did lose it, didn´t you?"

She stared at him again, contemplating on what to say. "Yes, I did. Yesterday. This morning I went to put it on and I couldn´t find it. I panicked. Hagrid made this for me, it´s very special to me, and I know that he would be real disappointed if I lost it so I--"

"Cut the crap, okay? I´m here to find out how you got it back."

Persephone scoffed at him, and turned to go. She began to collect her things when she felt something on her shoulder. She looked up to see that it was Draco. "I´m, uh..." It was as if the words were lodged in his throat.

"You´re sorry, right? Yeah, I tried to be nice to you, cause you don´t have alotta friends, kinda like me. But it turns out there´s a reason why. When are you gonna stop being so calculating, and start being real? What is it you´re hiding, huh? See you later." She left him prominently, and when she left the room and shut the door, and the silence enveloped him, he said sulkily into the darkness, "I´m sorry."

* * *

Harry´s stomach plummeted when he saw who entered the Great Hall. Cecile glided in without a trace of expression on her flawless face. He hadn´t talked to her since the ball, which was quite a while ago, and he could tell that she was still cold towards him since he just left her alone so suddenly. He choked down his last piece of ham, and got up from his chair. It was now or never.

Luckily she didn´t have enough time to sit or start a conversation when Harry said, "Hey Cecile."

She whipped around at him, her expression quite sullen, and replied, "Hi."

"Can I talk to you?" he asked, feeling his stomach become a bottomless chasm.

She didn´t even take a second before agreeing and following him briskly into the hallway. "Yes?" she said when they got there.

"I wanted to apologize for leaving you at the ball like that..." he didn´t even finish his statement when Cecile smiled slyly and fixed his tie.

"You´re forgiven."

"I-I am?" he stammered. This was much too easy.

"Yes. I understand that you had to do what you had to do. We all face situations like that. I´m just glad that you were gentleman enough to apologize." She took his hand and pulled him towards her. "I want to show you something," she hissed in his ear, and for a nanosecond Harry thought he saw her eyes fade from blue to yellow. But surely he was mistaken.

He followed her dumbfounded, not knowing where she was leading him, and honestly not caring. For some reason her perfume was stronger and somehow reeling him in like a fish caught on a line. They kept on walking until they reached what seemed to be the top floor of the castle, and there were two huge double doors at the end of a small hallway. Cecile pressed her ear on the door and winked at Harry as she opened them and led them both inside.

The room was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The ceilings were sky high, actually, it seemed as though there was no ceiling, only stars and sky. They sat down directly in the center, on the floor and stared at it for a long while before Cecile spoke.

"Beautiful, isn´t it?"

"Yes," Harry breathed.

Cecile´s crystal blue eyes fell on him, "I really like you, Harry." She traced his face with her fingers. Harry expected a moment like this with a girl like her to make his stomach feel warm or his spine to tingle, but instead he just felt as if his head was about to split open. Cecile traced his scar again with her index finger, but this time Harry pushed it away. Because with every stroke, every pet, the pain in his scar increased and he didn´t think he could take it. At some point the doors from the Astronomy Tower flew open and someone stumbled through. Only when Cecile was startled enough to let him go, did the pain vanish, and he saw who it was. How ironic. It was Persephone.

"Harry!" she shouted at him, "What are you doing?" But Harry didn´t answer. Instead a very disgruntled Cecile got up and faced her.

"He was here with me, and what we were doing is none of your business," she spat at Persephone, a tone that none of them were used to. "Why is it that every time Harry tries to do something on his own, you always have to pop up and ruin it?"

"Me? Excuse me, you obviously don´t know that there are Dementors roaming around the school right now and that Harry," she said pointing at him, "over there is supposedly missing!"

"We were going to go back! It´s not like we were planning on spending the rest of our lives up here!"

"You know what, Cecile? I think it´s just me, but you seem like a bit of a snipe. So, if you don´t mind, it´s time you two end your make-out session, and get back to your common room." She stormed out of the Astronomy Tower, without Harry and her footsteps slowly died away.

"Can you believe her?" Cecile rounded on Harry, "I´m sorry Harry, but if this relationship is going to work, you have to break ties with her. I tried to be nice, I did, but she´s had it in for me ever since me and you started talking, and now this? She called me a snipe! Can you believe that?"

Harry tried to talk, but for some reason his mouth wouldn´t open and he heard a little voice in the back of his head whisper `Agree with her, agree with her´ his body was floating in air and it sounded like such a good idea until another voice, a louder one, replied, `no!´

Harry knew what this was, it was the Imperius Curse, the curse Moody put him through many times the year before. Luckily, all that practice wasn´t for nothing.

"No," he said loudly, "I´m not breaking ties with anyone." Cecile´s cool expression flashed dangerously.

"What?" she retorted.

"As far as I´m concerned there is no relationship here," he said flatly.

Cecile stared at him in disbelief, "Harry, you can´t be serious. You don´t like me?"

"I thought I did, but I never thought you´d make me ´break ties´ with my friends."

Cecile stared at him open mouthed and made small sounds that Harry thought were supposed to be words. He walked to the door and before slipping out of it he felt a tug at his arm.

"Harry I´m sorry."

He looked back at her. A small tear slipped down her cheek and onto his sleeve. "Please don´t leave, Harry. I´m sorry."

"Hey there," he said and wiped her tears away, "hey relax. You don´t have to cry..."

"I should have never said that, but I feel so intimidated. Like I said, I really like you, Harry and I just feel like I can´t compete with your friends, especially her."

"My friends are very important to me," Harry replied softly, settling back into the room, "I just couldn´t leave them. But if you can accept them, I swear, there will always be a spot for you."

"I should have known you´d say something like that. That´s why I like you, Harry. You are so caring..." she took his hand in hers and smiled, "I promise to never get between you and your friends." She stood up and opened a nearby window, the breeze made her wispy hair float in the air. She breathed deeply and whispered, "Can I sing you something?"

Harry nodded, "Yes."

She inhaled again and stretched out her arms and sang. Her voice was so beautiful, that at first he believed that he had never heard anything as soothing as that. But then he recognized it, it was the voice from his dream. That dream where he would meet the maiden who needed to be rescued. He instantly felt his world blur and he knew that the only name that could possibly belong to the maiden would be `Cecile´. He smirked as he thought of the maiden, and how tonight she would finally be rescued.

Harry didn´t hear any words coming from Cecile, only a melody. Ironically enough it was the same melody he heard when he was soaring on his Firebolt above the anonymous forest. The song he followed. Before he knew it, the song was over and Cecile was right back sitting beside him.

"Fleur was right. You really do have the voice of an angel."

"Thank you. It is a gift that my Lord has blessed me with."

"I´m sorry," he said staring into her infinite eyes, "I have to go now."

"Of course," she said, "I will see you, though. Won´t I?"

"Yes, you ---" and before he could finish his statement, Cecile had kissed him. It was his first kiss, his real first kiss, and it ended almost as quickly as it started. He shook his head in disbelief. He felt nothing.

* * *

When he entered the Common Room, there were only 3 people there. Ron, Hermione and Persephone, all huddled around the fire, deep in conversation. They all saw him come in and cut their conversation to a close.

"Where have you been!" Hermione demanded.

"Harry, tonight was not the right time to go out," Ron agreed.

"I was at the Astronomy Tower, with Cecile," he said, passing a glance at Persephone. She had seen them there, she hadn´t said anything?

Persephone still said nothing.

"Harry! Way to go!" Ron exclaimed, Hermione just gave a disapproving sigh.

"The school is in danger, Harry. Today was really not the day to go on a date."

"I didn´t know I was going, but what´s going on."

"Dementors were in the school. They´re gone now," Persephone finally spoke up, "McGonagall just told us."

Harry pondered this a while, "So why were they here in the first place?"

Hermione got up and paced the room, "No one knows. They just showed up and began terrorizing the school. They weren´t here to protect us, they..." she let her sentence trail off and bit her bottom lip. Sign that Hermione is nervous.

"They what?" Harry asked.

Hermione burst into tears onto the next chair, before Harry couldn´t have told that she was even rattled. Harry pondered that Hermione must have already taught herself to conceal her feelings, for his and Ron´s sake most probably. Ron ran to her aid and simply cradled her as she calmed down. Harry´s eyes met with Persephone´s. Her eyes also looked dull, but he knew that she had programmed herself to take a lot of things before she cried.

Persephone answered him, "She said something about a kiss. The thing kissed a student and now the student is soulless or something? I don´t know, I never even heard of a Dementor before."

Harry stared at her in disbelief. One of the Dementors kissed a student? Which student? That must have meant that their soul was lost forever. Harry continued to stare. Persephone shifted uneasily in her seat and Hermione stopped crying. There was a pregnant silence that hung around the room. No one spoke, but everyone knew what each other was thinking.

"It was the smoke," Persephone croaked, "it came from the smoke."

"What smoke?" Ron asked.

Persephone laid back into the chair before responding, "The smoke Harry and I saw coming from the forest. It has something to do with this. No one else in that forest would build a fire."

Ron did a double take, "You think Voldemort is involved in this?"

Hermione broke away from the chair she was sitting in and began to pace again, "Of course. Who else would free the Dementors and lead them here."

It was now Harry´s turn to join the conversation. "It´s definitely Voldemort, no doubts. But its preposterous to think that he´d have post so close to Hogwarts."

"It´s not preposterous, and he´s not that close. We would have never seen the smoke if it wasn´t for that spell and that forest extends for miles." Persephone finished her sentence with a morbid tone.

"Woah, woah woah. Rewind for a moment, please," Ron said, "Harry´s right, Voldemort wouldn´t dare come this close to the school with Dumbledore around."

"Who said it was Voldemort?" Now Persephone´s expression was downright scary, her voice was flat and her expression was beyond serious. She walked in front of the fire before continuing, "Voldemort could have sent spy´s to set up camp here, servants. Or even more so, he could have spies right in this school, and he uses whatever is in that forest to contact them."

"But Persephone," Hermione said logically, "there are creatures living in that forest who could have built that fire."

"No there isn´t."

"Yes there is!" Ron exclaimed, "What about centaurs? They are peaceful, and it´s cold in that forest, they could have certainly built that fire, they´re almost human!"

"Almost, Ron. The key word is almost. Look, I lived with Hagrid almost the whole summer and he taught me everything there is to know about that forest. There´s a reason the creatures in there live there. They weren´t just unluckily pinpointed to reproduce in that forest. Every single one of those creatures like dark, damp, cold, secluded places. Unicorns use it as a place to hide, the giant spiders," Ron cringed at her mention of spiders, "have a perfect habitat, werewolves are never even seen..."

"Well what about the centaurs then?" Harry said.

"Have you ever met a centaur Harry?" Persephone asked.

"Yes, Ronan and a second one named Bane."

"What were they like?"

"They were very nice, they liked astronomy much though, they kept talking about Mars--"

"Whala!" Persephone shouted and snapped her fingers, "Now why would these astronomy-loving creatures build a fire? Blocking out a couple stars from view because of the bright light? They wouldn´t!" Persephone smiled despite herself and they had to hand it to her, she was right on the money.

"So what now?" Ron sighed.

"Now we find out what´s in that forest--"

"No!" Hermione shouted, "We can´t. It´s irrational. We need to research and prepare ourselves."

"Hermione´s right," Harry commented, "we ought to know what we´re fighting before we go out there and face it."

"Alright," Persephone said and returned to her seat, "I just hope no one else gets kissed like Ernie."

* * *

Harry laid in his four-poster spread-eagle praying to Merlin that he would have his dream tonight. He would finally end them, which may or may not be a good thing, but at least he would have the satisfaction knowing that he had freed the girl. She could only be Cecile, their voices matched perfectly, and she was extremely beautiful. "Cecile..." Harry muttered moments before his eyes closed.

It was a little bit colder than he remembered, but the sky was still bright blue and his Firebolt hovered before him as expected. Dream-Harry felt his heart leap at his luck. He mounted his Firebolt and felt it tremble a bit, but thought nothing of it. His excitement seemed to block out all other senses. He soared through the sky without thought until he reached the point where he heard the voice, singing, calling out to him.

He lowered the broom to the familiar opening in the trees and pushed himself through the bushes. Surely, she was there, singing out to him.

Once he got close enough, she stopped and looked upon him with her, what was it, purple eyes? She smiled broadly and stretched out her hand to him. He took it.

"You have returned to me. My rescuer would only return when he was certain of my name. You know it, don´t you?"

He smirked and retreated his hand, "Yes."

She let out a small laugh of excitement and opened her eyes, waiting for the magical moment. Harry sat down on the rock beside her.

"Tell me about yourself."

"What? Are you not going to free me?"

"I will. Please, tell me about yourself."

She smiled again and straightened up, "Alright. I don´t ever remember being small, I only remember this. I have been waiting for you for eternity. When you free me I will be revealed to my true self."

"I don´t understand," Harry stammered.

The girl smiled at him, "It is not for you to understand. You will know. What is my name?"

Harry smiled broader and he cleared his throat. He placed his hands over the shackles and said, "Cecile."

Harry felt an icy cold breeze run through him between the curtains of his four poster.

The girl frowned at him and let out a short "No."

*Author´s Notes*

Oh my. Well, I´ve realized that from now on the whole story is going to get a lot darker and heavier, but I will have some more humurous moments to not make it too icy. Any new characters beyond this point that may pop up are irrelivent for the outcome of the story, they will just probably come up to make the story flow easily or they may not even come up at all.

This is the dream of fate, well these series of dreams. I can´t let you know if u will ever see them again since Harry messed up. lol.

Next chapter is a lot darker, a lot more action and a lot more other stuff. Keep your eyes peeled folks and please be nice and PLEASE REVIEW!

also, please check out the fic "Harry Potter and the Chest of Death" written by Baldutha, it´s really kewl!!!