Harry Potter and the Dream of Fate

It was like sand slipping through his fingers. Harry tried to hold on to the moment for as long as he could, but all the while it was as if he was going back to reality through a port key. The only thing he heard before the picture swirled away completely and his eyes flapped open was "Do not return." The maiden´s voice was so full of sadness that it caused pain to course through his veins.

He lazily swung his body around to his end table and glanced at his watch. It shone back at him through the darkness, three-twenty-two a.m. He groaned as he lifted himself off the bed and stretched awkwardly beside the window. He heard snores coming from both Ron´s and Neville´s four posters. He smirked at the thought of a wonderful sleep, but sadly, he was wide awake.

His drowsy thoughts cleared and he realized the problem that had woken him from his otherwise peaceful slumber. He got the name wrong. The dreams he had been obsessing over for the past few months had ended all because he got the damn name wrong. But he was so sure of it, who else could it have been if not Cecile?

He lolled his head around, hearing his bones kink as he did so. He took hold of his robe and slippers and decided to go down to the common room. Now was a good of a time as any to get some Divination homework done.

Harry got to the bottom of the stairs, and as expected he saw his books and things on the table beside the fire. Something he didn´t expect, however, was a small, frail shadow of a person seated in a big leather armchair facing the fire. At first he thought it was a first year student that was sleeping, but as he got closer, he saw that it was one of his own friends. And she wasn´t sleeping, actually, she was staring right at him.

"Hey," he muttered, "what are you doing up?"

"I ought to be asking you that," she grinned.

"Persephone, don´t play riddles with me. You ought to be asleep right now."

"I can´t sleep." The fire danced along her face, revealing the tiredness that the harsh cold often gave. More so, however, were the deep, dark circles under her eyes, and the sallow tint of her skin. Harry saw in the fire was sunlight often disguised, the reality behind the harsh sarcasm of this girl. She was wearing thick pink flannel pajamas that hung loosely on her bony frame. The way she held herself and the way her skin stretched over her bones reminded Harry vividly of his godfather, the day they first met in the Whomping Willow.

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"How long have you been up?"

"I haven´t fallen asleep yet," she replied coolly.

"I mean days, Persephone, when was the last time you had a good-nights sleep?" She looked down at her knees and didn´t respond. "And when was the last time you ate? Like a real meal, you´re too thin."

"My well-being is none of your concern," she retorted.

"Yes it is," he objected, "you are my friend. Now answer my questions."

"I haven´t slept for weeks now. I´ve lost my appetite, I´ve been eating chocolate to stay awake during the day."

"But why?" Harry asked, "Persephone, you need to get some sleep..."

"He´s there," she said morbidly, "he´s always there."

"Who?" Harry inquired, "Voldemort? Do you have that spell on?"

"I watch it everyday. Tell me, Harry, how do I sleep when the man who destroyed my life is right beside me? Plotting to destroy the only other place I feel at home? I watch him to see if he comes closer."

"Has he come closer?"

"Yes."

Harry stared at her. She looked like a wreck. How could he not notice it before? What she was saying was true, but she couldn´t continue on like this. She cocked her head to the side and returned his gaze. Her stare was penetrating. Her eyes were dull except for an ounce of curiosity that she couldn´t suppress. Harry wondered what it was. He had only seen that look when she wanted to know something. What could she possibly want to know?

"What is it, Persephone?"

"What is what?" she asked in reply.

"What do you want to know? You can ask me."

"No, I can´t. You should go back to bed, it´ll be dawn soon."

"Ask me."

She inhaled through her nostrils and squinted slightly in determination.

"I don´t know if you´ve ever thought about it, Harry. But..." she hesitated slightly.

"Go on,"

"Harry, what was that night by the lake?"

That question took Harry for a loop. "The lake?"

"That´s when all this trouble began. Voldemort, my bracelet, you--"

"I don´t know what it was. Maybe the moonlight, or that spell, it must have been that acute senses spell! It must have made our emotions sky-rocket!"

"Yes," she said slowly, "that must be it." She laughed haughtily, "Whew! I thought I had some kind of crush on you!" she laughed again, "Wouldn´t that have been so ridiculous!"

Harry chuckled softly, "Yeah. Imagine what Ron and Hermione would say!"

They laughed along until drowsiness settled itself in Harry´s brain. He bid goodnight to Persephone and told her to try to get some sleep as well. But, when he returned to his bed and closed his eyes, a thought struck him that made him sit bolt upright.

He wasn´t under the charm when he tried to kiss Persephone.

* * *

Harry didn´t know what time it was when he was abruptly woken up by his best friend Ron. "Harry, get up, let´s go Harry!" Ron pushed and shoved him around.

"Wassamatta?" Harry groaned.

"Dumbledore wants to see us, Harry. It´s important!"

At the name of Dumbledore, Harry shot up and started putting his clothes on. He nodded curtly at Ron and they both headed to the office. "Hermione and Persephone are already there," Ron said as they rapidly sped through the halls.

"They were called down too?" Harry asked.

Ron took a breath before answering, "Yes."

They both leapt up the stairs, two steps at a time, and paused at the door. Hermione was waiting for them. She looked very pale, but stable, and she smiled weakly at both of them. "He told Persephone to go in first," she explained.

From the inside, they heard squeals and laughter, which puzzled them all. After a few seconds, the door opened and Dumbledore beamed down at them. "Come in," he motioned and they quietly entered. At the other end of the circular room, they saw Persephone, seated along an old, sandy-haired man with bright hazel eyes. They were engaged in deep conversation and every once in a while Persephone would burst out with cheerful laughter. The older man would beam at her tentatively and continue talking.

Dumbledore cleared his throat to ask their attention, and Persephone looked towards him. Once her eyes landed on Harry, she flashed a brilliant smile and ran towards him. "Harry, Harry, come here!" she exclaimed, "I want you to meet someone!"

It was like Persephone had realized that Christmas had come early. She rushed Harry to the stranger and giggled. "Harry, I would like you to meet my very good friend, Money Fletcher!" They shook hands and Fletcher smiled and said, "Very pleased to meet you, Mr. Potter. ´Sephone has told me so much about you just now."

Harry nodded politely, "Pleasure,"

Dumbledore coughed slightly to call attention once again. This time, a bit more effectively. Everyone seated themselves around Dumbledore´s desk. Hermione was less pale, but still visibly intimidated.

Dumbledore began, "I would like to formally introduce you all to Mundungus Fletcher. Some of us know him better than others," he winked slightly at Persephone, "Now, I called you all here for a reason. Shortly we are going to be joined by our Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. You see, with the Dementor outbreak yesterday," Dumbledore´s eyes became noticeably darker, "we have reason to believe that Voldemort may be closer than anticipated. Being the brilliant students that you all are, I have gathered that you already know that. I have called you here to tell you to not go investigating.

"You´re past adventures against the Dark Lord have all proven victorious and have defiantly proven you all worthy, yet none of you have gone up against the Dark Lord. Now that Voldemort is in power, he should not be underestimated. I fear that if any of you go after him, the results will be disastrous."

Harry looked at him wide-eyed, but that time was short lived since Cornelius Fudge entered. He looked bad. Bad was the only word to describe him. His usually flawless cloak was now wrinkled and matted, his hair had receded and wrinkles littered his face where Harry never thought wrinkles would be.

He took a seat without saying a word, and to his right, Harry could feel Persephone recoil towards the window.

"Ah, Cornelius. How gracious of you to join us."

"Headmaster," Fudge grunted.

Persephone shuffled around in her seat uncomfortably. Harry automatically knew there was something wrong between Persephone and Fudge. Not very hard to believe either, since he could only imagine the trouble she could have caused over the summer.

"Dumbledore, I am terribly sorry but I am much too busy to handle a Dementor raid in a school," he said brusquely.

"And what about the child that was kissed?" Dumbledore inquired. His eyes were sharp and Harry believed that they resembled ice.

"A child was kissed?" Fudge stammered, "But that changes everything! Where is he?"

Dumbledore clasped his hands on his desk, "He is with Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing. She insists in feeding the boy chocolate. I know it is simply out of panic, but perhaps it will keep him warmer."

"Have the boy´s parents been notified?"

"I sent them an owl this morning."

"Oh, Merlin! Dumbledore, why is this happening?!" Fudge pleaded desperately at Dumbledore. He threw his arms into the air and stood up, "Muggles are dying. Dementors are rampaging! The Ministry has been in a mess since last year, since--" he cut off shortly, as if for the first time noticing the four students in the room. Harry thought he looked insane and his insane gaze fell on Harry.

"You! Since you brought back that Diggory boy from the Triwizard Tournament, all this corruption has happened!" He paced towards Harry ferociously. Harry stepped back and when Fudge had Harry in his grasp, he lunged at him. Harry closed his eyes and fell on the floor. Then nothing happened.

He opened his eyes to see Fudge, spread eagle in mid-air above him, and Dumbledore behind him, his wand clenched in a tight fist. He muttered something and Fudge fell on the floor.

"I am sorry, Fudge, but you were going to attack one of my students. Harry, please sit."

Fudge got up and rubbed his temples. "Yes, I´m sorry. Sorry, Harry."

Harry nodded at him and he noticed that Persephone had somehow left her seat. He rolled his eyes to see if he could spot her inconspicuously, and as he stretched back he found her nearly out the door. He wasn´t the only one who noticed her, though.

Dumbledore eyed her warily, "Ms. Blair. I especially wanted you to meet Mr. Fudge, I hope you have no other engagements."

"Of course not," she replied and took her seat again. However, trying to lose Fudge´s attention, only made her gain it. He stared at her with a strange glint in his eyes.

"What did you say her name was again, Dumbledore?" Fudge asked.

"Persephone Blair. Arrived just this year and is already excelling. She has quite a gift, Cornelius, that is why I called her here."

"A gift!" Fudge laughed, "Yes, I´ve seen her gift. Being found guilty for a homicide and running away before she could become formally caught. Not under my watch, missy..." he said and got up again. This time his tone was serious and he walked calmly. Persephone leapt out of her seat quickly and pointed at Fudge.

"Now you stay away from me," she hissed, "I told you I had no idea what you were talking about!"

"You killed someone and locked them up in your vault! How could you have no idea about that!"

Harry´s eyes widened. Did he just say killed?

"I never even saw the inside of the vault! Ever!" Her voice escalated as anger and impatience overshadowed her nervousness.

"A likely story! You never even returned to collect your inheritance..."

Persephone clenched her fists in frustration, "How could I? I knew that once I set foot inside that damn bank, I´d be harassed and wrongly accused of a crime I sooo didn´t commit!"

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore bellowed, now standing, from his desk. "That is the second time you have disturbed this meeting while trying to eliminate my students. I brought you here to help you, Cornelius, not have you hassle my students!" Harry had only seen Dumbledore this distraught once before, and that was when he found out that Voldemort had risen. But, all things considered, a murder was definitely something that the Minister of Magic ought to be preoccupied about.

"Headmaster, this girl had a dead body in her vault at Gringotts, and when I confronted her about it, she simply walked away. She never returned, never owled, and she was trying to escape just now. Tell me those are all not signs of guiltiness."

Dumbledore returned to his seat, "Is that so? Well, Persephone is that true?"

Persephone scrambled to the front of Dumbledore´s desk, "No! I mean, there was a body in my vault, but I didn´t even know about vaults until that day, and Hagrid was with me, he said we should go and I´m not blaming him but we just left and why was I going to owl him, I didn´t even know about owls back then and sure, I was trying to escape, but just to avoid this whole situation! I didn´t kill anyone, you know I wouldn´t Dumbledore. I´ve got a temper and I do get in trouble, but I would never kill anyone, tell him, tell him how I´ve gotten better!"

"Calm down dear," Dumbledore said softly, "I believe you. And she is right, Cornelius, she had never gone to Gringotts before that day. She hadn´t even been to England before that day."

"Then tell me Dumbledore," Cornelius returned in the same level voice, "how did the muggle end up in her vault then?"

"Who else would put it there? I´m guessing Lord Voldemort, or at least one of his followers," Dumbledore replied calmly.

Fudge paled visibly. "That is preposterous, You-Know-Who is gone. Everyone knows that."

"Well, sorry to rain on your parade," Persephone scoffed at him, "but he´s back." She sang the last to words to spite him.

Dumbledore gave her a quick glance before saying, "It´s true Cornelius, he has returned, contrary to what we want to believe. Now, if the problem is dealt with now, we may have a chance to stop him, now if we refuse to accept this change of events, then we are all doomed."

Fudge swallowed and closed his eyes tight. Then after a little while, he nodded. "And what shall we do?" he croaked.

"Then we are on the same side now, then?" Dumbledore questioned.

"I will be on your side, Dumbledore," Fudge replied.

The twinkle in Dumbledore´s eyes returned slightly as he began to disclose a new plan to them all, " Now Ms. Blair can be a valuable attribute to us all, since she can do magic without a wand. We can disguise her as a muggle and have her lead us to him. When he tries to kill her, we will have to rely on her own abilities to save herself, and when he attacks her we will use it as an advantage to hit him. To put your task in lamest terms, Persephone, you will be our bait. Do you think you can handle that?"

Persephone arched an eyebrow at him, "Of course."

"Well now, I have someone on the inside rounding up the old crowd, and I have already received letters from some pledging their total allegiance to our cause. So, as expected, we have allies all around ready to succumb to our call. Mundungus Fletcher has come to represent them, and what I want you to do, Cornelius, is to set up an Unspeakable meeting and organize some type of militia so that we can have the upper hand. Do not worry, my friend, I will help you out as much as you need, but you need to pull yourself together to get this done. Can I count on you?"

Fudge shifted in his seat and glanced around to the people beside him, "Yes, of course. I will get started right away. But Dumbledore, please keep this as disclosed as possible, if word gets out-- I can only imagine the chaos that would be brought upon the Ministry."

"Of course, Cornelius. You need not worry. This will all work out as planned." Dumbledore stood up with a satiated look on his face. "I do believe we have discussed everything necessary. Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley and Harry, I do believe you can all return to your Saturday, Ms. Blair, I would like to further discuss things with you, so please stay. Thank you all for coming and remember, please try not to get involved." He had a serious look about him, but Harry saw Dumbledore wink at him, apart from the others. He didn´t understand if that was like him saying "Just kidding, go on ahead with the expedition" or "Take one step out of line and the consequences will be painful". Either way, Harry didn´t plan on lying too low.

The three of them left quickly, and they decided that instead of returning to the common room, they would take a stroll around the castle and discuss this random meeting.

"Looks to me as if he found out about Voldemort in the forest," Harry said.

Hermione flinched at his name and replied, "We shouldn´t refer to him as Vol-da-more (she had trouble pronouncing his whole name), or You-Know-Who, instead we should think of a code name. That way if someone sneaks up on us, they won´t know who we´re talking about."

"Right," Ron agreed, "how about, um, lemonade."

"Lemonade?" Harry retorted, "How did you come about with that?"

Ron turned a bit pink around the ears, "Muggle word I learned that I got a bit fond of, that´s all."

"No you all, we should think of a real name, so that others will think we´re referring to someone else," Hermione thought out loud.

"Right then, how about Mick?" Was another one of Ron´s suggestions.

"Mick?" Harry repeated, "Mick, eh, I think that would work. What do you think, Hermione?"

"Um, Mick," the name rolled of her tongue, "Yes, I suppose that will do."

Before they realized it, they had walked completely around the school and they were right in front of the great main doors. They all agreed to visit Hagrid, since they haven´t seen him in a while, and they crossed the lawn to his hut.

As they walked toward it, Harry glanced to the shore of the lake where he and Persephone had had their intimate moment. Harry felt a nervous twinge in his stomach, but it was quickly removed by the wafting scent of hot chocolate coming from Hagrid´s hut.

"What do you think he´s doing in there?"

"Hopefully not treacle fudge," Harry replied.

They knocked on the door and it was immediately opened by Hagrid, he beamed down at them with small tears in his eyes.

"Come in," he sniffed, "come on."

They entered to see two great big mugs on his table, with thick steam coming from them, they guessed that it was the hot chocolate. From the other corner of the room, they saw Persephone curled up with a small piece of paper on Hagrid´s thick leather chair. At the sight of them, she smiled broadly and got up.

"What going on?" Harry asked.

"You guys, look!" Persephone said handing the paper to them, and it looked like she was on the brink of tears as well.

Harry looked at the paper, it said:

Name: Persephone Nicole Blair Birthday: July 31, 1986

Place of Birth: London, England Time of Birth: 2: 27 P.M.

Name of Father: Helios Thomas Blair Name of Mother: Margaret Johnson Blair

Comments: Parents killed when child was 1 year(s) old, sent to Carnegie Orphanage in Queens, New York. Parents moved to New York when child was 4 months old, address- 356 Gladys Street. Child disappeared from Carnegie Orphanage when she was 4 year(s) old. Disappeared August 6, 1990, suspected to be in search of parents. Records stopped.

If found, must be brought to Carnegie Foster Services.

Harry looked up at her, she looked expectedly at him. "This is your Birth Certificate?" he asked.

"Yeah, Money gave it to me before I left. That´s where I came from, Harry. That´s my whole life, right there."

Harry smiled at her and handed her back the paper, "That´s wonderful, Persephone," he said.

"I know!" she squealed and to Harry´s great surprise, she gave him a tight hug. "This proves I´m real," she said as she let go of him, "my life is real, my parents were real and I don´t know, it´s just so empowering!"

"I´m so happy for you," Hermione said as she walked over with Ron.

"Yeah, but why is Hagrid crying?" Ron whispered.

"He´s really happy for me, see, me and Hagrid have this bond and now we both share the same excitement for this type of stuff. I guess, in a way, it´s Hagrid´s way of letting me know the entire truth," she paused for a moment and glanced down at her certificate again. Then she looked back up at them with a satisfied grin on her face, "Hey, you guys want some hot chocolate?" she referred to the two steaming mugs on the table.

* * * * * * * * * *

Harry´s mind whirled with questions that he wanted to ask Persephone. First, was about the supposed dead body that was found in her vault. Next was how she had come across Cornelius Fudge in the first place, and the last was more information on Mundungus Fletcher. For some reason he had gone through a very tedious ordeal to get that certificate, just for Persephone. Now he had heard that they were very close friends, but New York was a long ways away from England, and even then, trying to get the certificate in itself was a lot of work. He thought so hard about all these things that he didn´t even notice much when he walked straight into someone in the hallway on his way to his first class.

"Ugh, watch it! Oh, great, just who I wanted to see first thing in the morning, Potter."

"Good morning, Malfoy."

"Actually, Potter, I did want to speak to you," Draco drawled.

"Well, I´d love to stay and chat you see, but I do have more important things to do than talk to a stupid git like you."

"Sod off, Potter," Malfoy replied, "it´s about the girl."

"What girl?" Harry inquired, "Persephone?"

"Yes, the Blair girl,"

"What do you want with Persephone? You stay the hell away--"

"Stop being noble Potter," Malfoy spat, "you have no say in this. Now, I want to know what her interests are. I plan on going to the next Hogsmeade visit with her and I need to redeem myself from the ball, you see."

Harry couldn´t believe his ears. Malfoy was asking him for advice on his friend? He mentally slapped himself. He couldn´t let Malfoy go with Persephone.

"You won´t be going with Persephone, since I´m going with her."

Malfoy laughed, "And I supposed you´ll have your girlfriend Cecile just tag along. You know, since she LOVES being the third wheel in your relationship--"

Malfoy was right. Cecile would definitely be expecting him to go with her. Now what? He racked his brain for the solution.

"Hurry up, will you Potter? Just tell me what she likes, chocolates or jewelry or whatever so that we can both be rid of each others presence."

"And what makes you think I´d actually participate in aiding you in taking out one of my friends. Don´t forget, you are my enemy."

"I see your point, but I have no intention of harming the Blair girl, I only intend on showing her a good time since she has only been around with you and your two side-kicks since she arrived here." He shifted his weight as a signal to Harry that he was impatient.

"You want to know how to get Persephone´s attention?" Harry asked him.

"Yes," Draco sighed, "that´s what we´ve been discussing for the past 10 minutes now, Potter."

"Don´t hold your breath," Harry replied and he walked on to the Transfiguration classroom.