Harry Potter and the Dream of Fate

"Oh my God." Persephone gaped at the contents of the thin velvet box. "Oh my God," she repeated again, her eyes meeting his, "What...what...Oh my God."

"You don't like it?" Draco asked with anticipation.

"Of course I like it!" she shouted, the tables closest to them throwing her annoyed looks. She took it out of the box and examined it closely. She had never seen anything like it, at least, not in person.

A thin, diamond studded necklace slinked off the edge of her hand. In her palm she held its ornament, a large, pink, heart-shaped diamond stood engulfed by other smaller circular diamonds littering its outer edge. The necklace was held together by what looked like white gold links, which when put close to the skin, tended to become invisible.

"It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," she muttered. Truly she was amazed by it. She smiled incredulously at Draco and added, "these diamonds look so real."

"Well they should. They are real. Every last one of them," the words glided off his tongue as though he was talking about fresh strawberries or flowers, when in truth he was discussing about half a million dollars in diamonds.

"They can't be. How could you afford, no no, why would you spend all that money on me?" She took the necklace and placed it back in its box, afraid that something would harm it. Neglecting to remember of course, that diamonds were the hardest rocks in the world, and it would take quite a load to leave a tiny scratch.

"Diamonds are different in the wizarding world, you know," Draco replied, eyeing her warily, "They are still valuable, and cost quite a few galleons, but not nearly as much as the muggles pay for them. You see," he continued, picking up the necklace himself and twirling it in his hand, "diamonds in the muggle world take millions of years to form out of coal. While here, we can simply speed up the process by, let's say, a few hundred thousand years. Depends on the quality of the diamond of course. You get what you wait for."

Persephone's jaw dropped. Again, he was speaking in terms of strawberries. He continued,

"These, for example. They were formed in about a hundred years. You can tell by just looking at it that this diamond isn't as valuable as the diamonds Queen Elizabeth the First owned. And besides, I didn't just buy it for you for beauty, I bought it for you for protection."

"Protection?" Persephone blurted out, "I'm going to need protection walking out in the streets wearing that."

"No, no, no," Draco sighed in a frustrated sort of way, "Hasn't Potter told you anything? Probably not, he mustn't even know. Diamonds can hold off spells. Sort of like the vests that muggles wear to protection from those speeding seeds that shoot out of their gums."

Persephone let out a laugh. "Seeds that shoot out of their gums?" she continued to laugh for a few moments until she caught Draco giving her a very impolite look. "You mean bullets. Bullets that shoot out of guns."

"Yes, well, whatever," Draco said tossing away her remark, "diamonds can deflect spells cast by wizards. The higher quality of the diamond, the higher security you have. One diamond, only kept in wizard possession of course, can even deflect the death curse. The only one. It has a core that is bright green from all the attacks thrown at it. Every time someone else hits it with the death curse, the green core becomes larger. Most wizards believe that once it is all green, it will probably burst from all the magic. Of course, your diamond isn't that powerful, not nearly as powerful as that. But, if hit at the right angle, it could probably save you from some nasty hexes."

"And why do you think I need protection?" Persephone asked him smartly.

He replied, "Because I know you're looking for Voldemort."

* * *

Cecile was babbling, and if it wasn't for her beauty, Harry would have thought about just walking out the door without another word. He felt guilty for only holding on to the relationship because of physical attraction, but there was something about her that made him melt once he laid eyes on her. He had no clue about what she was talking about now, she hadn't even touched her food, she just kept talking and talking.

"So Harry, what do you think? Should I wear blue for my victory dress or pink?" Cecile flashed him her brilliant smile, and he smiled back, although he had no idea what she meant about victory dress.

"Victory over what?" Harry asked her, hopeful she would only answer his question and not begin another sermon.

"Victory over beating that little snitch in the talent competition Harry, what else would I have been talking about for all this time?"

"What? Snitch? You're not talking about Persephone are you?" Harry asked in outrage.

"Harry! Have you been listening to me at all? You agreed with me, I slightly showed you my feelings towards that witch, and you agreed, so I went a little further, and you agreed, you said you thought she was a snitch, an evil little witch, you even called her another itch, if I do say so myself..."

"Wait, wait, wait! Why would I ever say anything like that about my friend! She's my friend, I don't think she anything like that at all, why would I ever agree with anything like that?"

"I don't know!" Cecile replied in the same outraged tone, "Why would you agree to something if you weren't even listening to me!"

Harry pondered the best way to get around this while still pointing out that he cared for his friends. "Cecile, I really like you, but I've been really tired lately and I just wasn't paying attention, but you should have realized that when I agreed to..."

"I should have realized you weren't paying attention? Harry, that is it! You've neglected me before, and I took you back, and now you are doing it again! We need a connection, some sort of communication to be a couple Harry, and I don't see it happening." A tear rolled off Cecile's cheek into her dinner and her eyes puffed out and became red. "I love you, Harry Potter, but -- We. Are. Through.--." She collected her things from the table and got up to get her coat. Harry's brain was spinning. Somehow his pondering took a wrong turn and landed him in the middle of a mine field, and if he wasn't mistaken, Cecile said through, as in the end of the relationship.

* * *

"Woah, rewind please," Persephone said, putting both her elbows on the table and looking deep into Draco's eyes, "I'm not going after Voldemort, why would you think that?"

"Persephone please," Draco replied calmly, "you don't have to deny anything. I know."

Persephone looked at him closely, off guard, not knowing where to move. "So..." she began slowly, "what if I am?"

"If you are, I want you to wear that necklace, to protect you."

"And..."

"And I hope it works out well, what else would I say?" Draco arched an eyebrow at her, internally gloating at how the expressions on her face changed so freely.

"Aren't you going to try to talk me out of it?" she said suspiciously.

"I wouldn't dare, after all, no matter how hard I tried, you won't change your mind. I've met mountain trolls who are much less stubborn than you."

Persephone gaped at him. Draco nearly laughed out loud.

"I, well, thank you."

"Don't mention it," Draco retorted smartly, "Now there's a shop I'd like to show you, if you don't mind. They are the most exclusive owlery this side of Britain, and I noticed you don't have one."

"An owl? Oh, no that's okay, its not like I have anyone to send mail to anyway."

"Don't be ridiculous, you'll have plenty of mail to send to me during the summer." He smiled at her and took her hand and led her out of the restaurant.

They stopped in front of a wizarding clothing shop exactly adjacent from the Three Broomsticks. As they were about to enter, they both turned to see Cecile rush past them, with a very frustrated and angry look on her face, pulling her hair behind her ears and shooting Persephone a very nasty look. Persephone disregarded the gesture, and simply walked into the store, knowing that if she stayed outside long enough she would witness Harry chasing after Cecile and she just didn't want to go there right now.

As she was about to look at the pretty dresses in the "Junior Witches" section, she was abruptly stopped by Draco, who held a firm grip on her wrist and whispered into her ear, "Close your eyes."

"What?" she asked him.

"Please?" he repeated, a playful smile on his lips.

"Alright," she replied closing her eyes, "but I hope you know that I can cast spells even with my eyes closed."

She felt him guide her through aisles of clothing, soft satins and silks rubbing past her as she walked by. "Are you keeping your eyes closed?" he asked her again.

"Yeah, what are you trying to pull?" she muttered, blindly walking through what seemed to be an open space.

"You'll see," he said, a smirk stretching over his face.

After a while she felt the absence of the large racks of clothing and instead she felt a cold wind, as if a large fan was on and directly in front of her. Trying to feel in front of her, she feared that Draco was guiding her in the center of the strong wind, whatever it may be. She tried to turn away, but Draco held a firm grip on her and who was once a friendly, trustworthy character just seconds ago, was now a strong enemy? Was he trying to hurt her? Is this why he had given her the diamond?

"Draco, I want to see now," she said calmly.

No reply.

"Draco, I'm going to open my eyes," she said a lot more loudly.

Still no response.

"I'm opening my eyes 'cause you're freakin' me out!" she shouted, trying to wring herself free from his hold, and she opened her eyes, or at least, tried to. For some reason her eyes wouldn't open. It was like a bad dream you tried to wake up from but couldn't, and with every second that passed by, every step closer, she became more panicky, and even though she hated to admit it, scared.

"Draco!" she screamed, "Let me go!"

And they stopped.

"Persephone, what is wrong with you?" she heard him say to her, calmly as if nothing was wrong.

She tried to open her eyes again and succeeded, blinking them rapidly as if trying to see what was really going on. The strange part was, there was no wind, no cold fan, just Draco, holding a red rose in the center of gorgeous dining room.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked him incredulously.

"I don't know why you're upset," he asked eyeing her strangely, "I just wanted to make up for the dance you missed, staying outside with that idiotic Potter. You know, music, dancing, punch, the whole nine yards."

"I felt this wind-" she broke off, feeling stupidity sink in.

"We passed by a few windows, are you sure you are all right?"

"I, yeah, yeah....I'm fine."

* * *

"Mince meat pies, three layer chocolate pound cake, and, is this sparkling cider?" Hermione asked, holding up a bottle that seemed as though it was champagne.

"Yes, I thought you'd like it..." he stammered, mentally kicking himself.

"It's my favorite." She smiled, filling a small glass with the bouncy liquid.

"I knew that," he said, "Hermione, I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Can it wait, Ron? I'm starving and I'm completely in love with these pies," she said through a mouthful of minced meat.

"I suppose so," he replied, easing himself into the dewy grass and eating a pie himself.

They spent the afternoon just like that, chatting and eating and drinking sparkling cider, and although it was completely alcohol free, the both of them were a little giddy as the sky became to darken.

"Ron, you are such a liar!" Hermione said, choking on her laughter.

"No, I'm serious, Percy keeps a picture of Mr. Crouch beside his bed and in his wallet, just in case he needs to look at him throughout the day, it's very creepy," he answered, subsiding his giggles and returning to the task at hand. He had promised himself to tell Hermione how he felt about her today, and if he didn't he would have to hex himself with slugs again, and he didn't want to do that at all.

"Hermione, I need to talk to you about something, it's pretty important," he said in a dramatic change of tone.

"Oh, right, go on," she said kindly, beginning to put away the mess they had made.

"Hermione, I know we've been friends a long time..."

"Five years," she retorted with a smile.

"Yes, five, and I really value our friendship...."

"Me too, I value friendships above everything, especially the one we have Ron." She placed a hand on his arm. "I don't think I could live without it."

"Right, I feel that way too," Ron continued a bit irritably, he appreciated Hermione's words but she was making a tough situation worse by always interrupting.

"Oh, it's gotten quite cold all of a sudden," she said spontaneously, a visible shiver running through her.

Ron took his over shirt off in an instant. "Here," he motioned, "Put it on."

"Oh, no I couldn't, you'll freeze!"

"Take it, Hermione." He draped it over her so that she almost wore it as a cloak.

"Thank you, Ron. Oh, you were saying..."

"Right, I was saying that I value our friendship." He stopped to take a quick breath and to his great surprise Hermione leaned over and kissed him. To his very great surprise.

When the kiss ended Ron couldn't piece two words together. He simply stared at her in immense surprise, and she stared at him back, a terrified look on her face.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Ron, I don't know what came over me," she babbled, "It's just that I've had this crush on you for some time now and you were saying things and I thought you felt the same way, but by the look on your face," she gasped, "I've ruined our friendship, haven't I?"

But Ron didn't move or say anything back, instead he was filled with a sort of ecstasy, and took it for all it was worth. He stopped Hermione's babbling, by kissing her this time, and running his fingers through her hair and making sure to keep his eyes closed so that he could remember the moment forever.

* * *

Harry was in the common room when Ron and Hermione arrived. He could automatically tell that everything had gone well since they were both holding hands and looking quite, sorry for lack of a better word, giddy. Hermione waved hello to Harry and kissed Ron on the cheek before going up the common room stairs to her dormitory. Ron's ears turned pink and he smiled at Harry as he walked towards him.

"It was great, mate," he said happily, "Oy, why are you still down here?"

"Persephone's not back yet," Harry replied glumly.

"Oh I see, and this would matter because?" Ron inquired.

"Because she's with Malfoy and I don't trust him."

"I see," Ron retorted, "Why so down, Harry? Did everything go alright with Cecile?"

"She broke up with me, but I'd rather not talk about it now, where is she?"

"I don't know. Mind if I got up already? I'm about to fall asleep..."

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead Ron. I'll fill you in about everything tomorrow, and you can tell me how it went with Hermione."

Ron grinned. "See you tomorrow then!" he said and returned to the dormitory.

Harry determined that he was in the common room about half an hour after Ron had left before Persephone entered the room quietly. She had a small bag that she had not left with, and Harry could see it was filled with lots of gifts, including a large bouquet of pink roses that were resting at the top of her bag. She also had flowers littering her hair, and she was wearing an old fashioned pink party dress, complete with ruffles at the shoulders and all. To Harry, she looked like some kind of strange fairy. She seemed to move so quietly, as not to wake anyone, or not get caught, although Harry thought that was silly since the dormitories were all the way upstairs and he didn't think anyone could hear anything except for an explosion down in the common room.

Anyway, once she spotted him Harry could tell she was a bit frightened to see someone right there and watching her. Her expression changed though, once she realized it was him. Harry noticed, however, that she seemed to try to hide her bag, for him not to notice it, but Harry was too quick for her and he brought it up first.

"Presents? Can I see?" he asked her.

"Oh, yeah, I lucked out today. My date seemed to be really into buying stuff." She smiled and sat down beside him, and began to take out some of the boxes.

"Is this dress a present?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow at her dress.

"Oh, no no," she blushed, "I transfigured this, it came out horrible, I know, but it was dark where we were."

"Was it now?" Harry inquired.

"Shut up," she said punching him in the shoulder, Harry felt a warm sensation spread through his body from that spot immediately. He shunned it away and began helping himself through her things.

"Flowers, old, chocolates, pathetic, now what's this? A velvet box, now that's original..."

"You are supposed to open it, but that's okay, I'll just take it..." She reached for it but Harry held it out of her reach.

"Oh, come on, can't I see? I promise not to laugh, after all---WHAT?"

"Nice, huh?"

Harry stared at the necklace, it looked almost exactly like real diamonds, that is, if he had ever seen real diamonds this close before in his lifetime. He tried to convince himself it was just glass, but you could almost see a new fire blazing in each gem that it almost hypnotized you.

"Uh, hehe," Persephone laughed nervously, "I, uh, was a bit shocked, wanna see how it looks?"

"No," Harry replied a second too soon, "I don't understand why he would give you something like this."

"He said its for protection," she answered, "he said diamonds protect wizards in the wizarding world. Have you ever heard that?"

"No," Harry replied again, "I think it'll look great, but I'm tired and have to go to bed, so goodnight." Harry didn't know why but that present hit him close to home. Not that he ever thought about giving Persephone presents or anything, but if he ever tried to consider it, how could he top a real diamond necklace? Sure he had the money, he thought, but would he actually spend that much. He cursed Draco's nerve under his breath, he didn't give Persephone the necklace to please her, he gave it to her to spite him. Harry cursed again. It worked.

"What are you talking about?" Persephone replied sadly. "I wanted to talk to you, about important things. Important like Voldemort."

Harry looked at her, and saw genuine concern all over her face. This was something she was beginning to grasp firmly, emotions. Harry smiled at her and didn't even notice. She began to embrace the act of feeling ever since she met him. That meant that Harry had taught her something valuable, something that could never be lost, forgotten or pawned off. Harry beat out Draco's necklace. He smiled wider.

"Hey, smiles!" she said happily. "Does this mean you'll hear me out?"

"Yes, yes it does," he said and sat more comfortably on the couch. He noticed that her ruffles were slowly fading and that her real clothes were beginning to come back. It reminded Harry of Cinderella when the clock hit midnight. The silky fabric began to fade and a solid pink cotton v-neck emerged, a pair of jeans with them. She stretched out her legs and shook the flowers out of her hair. She was normal again, normal and all his. Harry stopped. All his? Where were these feelings coming from?

"He's closer," she spoke softly but firmly. "Much closer and for some reason much more careless. I saw his smoke this morning over the trees without the spell, it was very subtle, almost unnoticeable, but it was there. And I don't understand why he would be so careless about it. Unless, unless..."

"It's a trap." Harry finished her sentence for her.

"Yeah, I think Dumbledore must have seen it by now, I mean he's Dumbledore. But why isn't he making a move!"

"Maybe he knows its a trap, or maybe he's waiting for outside forces..."

"Or maybe he's waiting for us."

Persephone moved closer to Harry. "We need to make our move, Harry, and we've got to make it soon."

"Wait a second," Harry replied, "we are not doing anything. I on the other hand, will be making a move. "

"Uh, yeah right. Let me know when you wake up from that dream, Harry, I didn't travel to this country to learn why my parents died to just sit back and relax. I'm going with you, and I want to be there when he's done with."

Harry saw more emotion enter her face now, anger, in its purest form. The anger darkened her eyes and made all the edges of her face become hard and rock-like. She seemed unmovable, but Harry knew the danger that could engulf her if she went with him. Last time someone went with him they died, Cedric died, and Harry wasn't able to sleep still since.

"What about next week," she replied. "After the final contest, why don't we go after the finals. Everyone will party until late, and no one will be up until late. We have a perfect opportunity. "

"You are not going," Harry said in a raspy voice.

"Yes I am and you can't stop me," she retorted.

"You are not going, Persephone. It's too dangerous for you. You are being so naive, thinking you can take this guy when you can't. I don't even think I can, but I have to go, its me he's after."

"No, Harry, it's you who's being naive. You actually think I don't know the danger? Look, death is no object, if I die, I die, okay? I don't care. There's nothing here tying me to this wonderful life of mine. This is what I'm meant to do. This is why I lived, so I could avenge my parent's death and as long as I can call myself Persephone Nicole Blair, by God, I'm going to do it."

He didn't have time to reply, she got up, collected her things and walked towards the stairs. Before climbing them she looked back at him, in a hard gaze she had never given him before. "See you next week, 2:00, I'm leaving with or without you. I think the journey will be best together. It's up to you."