Royaume du Rêve

Royaume du Rêve

Prologue

by GreenEyedLily

"Eloise! Eloise!"

Eloise Midgen heard a faint ringing in her ears and looked around her small room with wide eyes.

"Don't you look so shocked now, my dear, I'll just be going now, okay?"

Eloise kept looking around the room for a few seconds, but then finally detected the source of the noise. She gave a little nod at the young woman of twenty-something standing in the doorway. The woman gave a small irritated sigh that was barely audible. As Eloise had difficulty hearing most things in her old age, it was surprising she was able to hear the sound of that little sigh. She scowled at the woman and turned her head back to the window looking out over the garden. You couldn't really blame Eloise that the woman had chosen this line of work in the first place.

The door slammed shut. Eloise broke out of her reverie. She swung her legs over the bars of her bed, unusually fast for an old lady of seventy-eight. But then, Eloise Midgen, residence of Hilcrest Frodsham, an old people's home, was pretty unusual in many ways.
She crossed the room, which wasn't a very long walk by the way, and walked over to her old-fashioned chest of drawers placed in the corner of her room. Eloise knelt down and pulled open a drawer. There wasn't much in there, to be honest, as Eloise had thrown away most of the things she used to use readily at Hogwarts. After Hogwarts, she had just wanted to forget. She wanted to forget everything that had happened there, everything that had ever passed her thoughts. It hadn't been easy, but she did her best and succeeded in forgetting most of it. As she was now an old lady with nothing to look forward to, but death, the memories had become rather vague in her head. She was quite intent on keeping it that way. Every now and then though, she felt an urge to take a peek at the small reminder she still kept in her chest of drawers, in the bottom drawer. She had not been able to throw this away. It used to be the one thing that kept her from simply putting an end to her misery, years ago.

Eloise put her shaking hand in the drawer and felt around a bit. She didn't need to feel about for long, because it usually was put back in the same place as last time. It was one of the few things she could still remember. Her hand touched the corner of a piece of aged, yellow parchment. Her heart skipped a beat, as it always did when she felt the need to do this again. She pulled the parchment out. She could hardly wait. Something slipped from out of the parchment and fell on the floor with a light crispy noise, like when someone turns a page of a book. She knew exactly what it was that lay on the floor at that very moment.

"Letter first..." she spoke softly to herself with a tremor of an undying fear in her voice. Her hands gripped the parchment and she read it aloud to herself and anyone or anything in the room that could possibly be listening, which wasn't probable, but she still hoped that someone or something would finally hear the things she had kept secret for years. Although she feared the very thought. While she read, her hands traced the 'no-nonsense'-handwriting of a boy in his late teens.

"Saturday, the 26th of April 1997

Here, a bitter laugh escaped Eloise's mouth.

"...and myself, were sitting at a study table in the library, revising for our
N.E.W.T.S. At one point, after we had been sitting there for about an hour or so,
Draco whispered to me that there was a girl sitting at a nearby table who had
been 'stalking' me for years. I didn't believe him, obviously. After a few minutes
of him trying to convince me of this lie, he suddenly stopped talking. I looked
at him and he had this mischievous smile on his face. I knew he was up to some-
thing. 'What is it?' I asked and he said he wanted to make a deal with me. He dared me to
kiss the girl and he would let me use the Prefect's Bathroom for the rest of the year.
At first, I declined. But he kept bugging me about it, so in the end I gave in, just to shut him up.
I know it's a very feeble excuse.
I knew immediately after I did it, it was wrong and that I was hurting someone's
feelings very, very badly. You must feel awfully humiliated. I can still recall the
shocked look on your face, I know what you were probably thinking.
All I can say is; I'm truly sorry. I can only hope I have relieved you a little of
your disgust and humiliation. It's your choice to do whatever you wish with this
information. Lord knows I have no right to decide for you.

All the best,

Harry Potter."

Eloise Midgen did not move for a full ten minutes. She wanted to kiss the parchment, but she also wanted to burn it, both of these at once. After standing completely still, she tore the letter apart slowly with shaking, wrinkled fingers. As the last tiny bit of yellow parchment dropped onto the carpet, Eloise's legs finally gave way and she collapsed to the floor, her body shaking with the slight spasms of her silent sobs.

This was how Emily Doherty found Miss Midgen ten minutes later when she came in to check on her. Emily opened the door quietly, which was the tradition in Hilcrest so they would not wake the old people, as they were often asleep. She looked at the bed first. Empty. Her blue eyes scanned the cozy room, but she couldn't see Miss Midgen anywhere. A tiny wave of panic soared through her body as they always did when she felt something was about to go horribly wrong. She put one foot into the room, then the other foot. Yes, she still remembered how to walk. She walked around the bed and very nearly had a heart- attack, which was quite exceptional at her age. The old, frayed, wispy little Miss Midgen was lying in a rumpled heap on the carpet next to her chest of drawers. There were millions of miniscule pieces of some yellow sort of paper scattered all around her.

Emily gasped and bent down on her knees to check the lady's pulse. She then nearly had another heart-attack. Miss Midgen's large bright blue eyes were wide open and looking at Emily with a tinge of fear in them. Emily was able to relax somewhat to say:

"Come on, dear, it's okay. We'll get you up and back into bed in no time!"

Her voice sounded falsely cheerful. The old lady began shaking her head frantically.

"No," she said in a dull voice, void of all hope and longing, "I'm quite comfortable here."

Emily's eye fell on what appeared to be a piece of paper, lying next to Miss Midgen's hand. Emily bent down to pick it up. She turned it around and gasped again. She couldn't believe her eyes. A very unusual boy with extraordinary bright green eyes was looking up at her solemnly from the picture she was holding in her hand. He was blinking his eyes. He didn't smile, but instead looked at her intently as if he was silently pleading her do to something.
Emily looked back at the old lady lying on the floor.

"What is this madness?" She asked with a voice quite unlike her own.
But the old lady didn't answer. Emily bent down again and nearly fainted. Miss Midgen's unusual blue eyes were still wide and staring, but they had lost all of their brightness. They were not blinking anymore. Emily choked back a sob. She should call someone, but her legs weren't moving for some reason. She looked back at the strange picture.

There was nothing left but a dull, grey, empty room.