To Dwell on Dreams

Author's Notes and Deleted Scenes

Hey there! Here's an extra chapter, just for your entertainment :-) First we have a quick message from me to my adoring fans (or perhaps that should be 'those with the most patience to have stuck it out for this long!') And secondly there are a couple of 'deleted scenes', basically extra ones I wrote for fun that run along with the plot :-) Enjoy!

Helen J Haslam xxx

Author's Notes

Well...that's it isn't it? Almost two years of my life it's taken to get my baby out into the world, and I've loved every minute of it - even when I was screaming at the screen and crying coz I had no clue what the Hell I was going to write next :-) There are so many thanx to be said I hardly know where to start. This was the first real piece of writing I've done in my life, and responsibility for it's birth has to go first and foremost to the magnificent JKRowling, to whom we all owe so much. Thank you. The great people at Fiction Alley and FanFiction.net also get a whole load of my love for making it possible to post my story out to the world, may there be many more to come. Thank you to my fabulous family for all their support and Beta reading; To Dwell On Dreams would be a lot worse off without them and not half as enjoyable in the end.

And finally, where would I be without all those amazing people who have taken the time to read my work, and also, my favourite, those who comment. For you guys, here's some things I'd like to say:

SiriuslyObsessed My dear Stephanie, thank you a million times for all your interest and constant support from the start. You really inspired me and kept me going through those last couple of chapters, you're a star. I hope you like some of my other stuff as your opinion is important to me. Thank you once again, and keep going with your own writing, coz you know I'll keep reading it :-)

Broken Angel I'm so glad I was able to improve on your initial expectations and I'm thankful you've stuck it out till the end, I hope I didn't disappoint. It's great to have someone like you around to watch my back, coz you'd tell me if it all went Pete Tong!

MChipie36 Thank you for your e-mails Cécile - don't worry - you didn't say the 'wrong' thing! I hope I didn't disappoint when I said you had no idea what was coming, and I'm glad to have found a fellow Draco obsessive!

LyssasPen I'm very flattered to think this is the best story you've ever read - that makes me go all warm and fuzzy! I know how hard it is to keep up with all the fics out there - it takes me ages to get through all mine :-) I hope you like the conclusion.

Aaralyn and Phooka1 Thank you so much for the German corrections!!! I speak not one single word of German at all - so I'm actually dead chuffed you had any idea what I was talking about! I'm going to reload the chapters soon with a couple of alterations, so I'll add the correct German then :-)

gtownbrowneyes Thanx for the correct spelling of 'pog mo thoin', which is Irish for 'kiss my arse!' in case you guys didn't know! I'm glad you like the characters and their development, that's an aspect I work very hard on :-)

Bailey James Well, Christina, you said way, seriously too many nice things about my work for me to even think about, so I'll just say thank you for all of them! I would say though, I was thrilled when you said it was like I really great movie - coz I kinda want to make movies for a living - so maybe I've got a shot hey?!

Kateydidnt You kinda guessed the rest of the plot...bugger! But go you! And thanx for leaving such a long review, I like those :-)

Leenya I'm sorry it wasn't slash in the end! I'm glad you enjoyed it anyway :-) I'm thinking about writing some H/D slash in another story - just to see if I can do it better than the people who do it badly and cause me to yell at them! So keep an eye out :-)

Draco4Ever You make me laugh! Thank you for you reliable reviews, and I hope you like the end :-)

Anilia Profanities aside, I'm really glad you like my fic! God, tell me about it - it certainly felt like twenty chapters when I was writing it!

I know there are many more of you guys out there who have taken the chance to review - so I want to say thank you to all of you guys as well - you rock! In response to the wonderings of both SunKitten and infinite_delusions, I've had a few people questioning why I don't have more reviews than I do. I would like to say this to you. I have had so many more reviews than I ever dreamed of, every single one of you guys are magic, and I would like to quote something the magnificent Joss Whedon once said about his creation Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 'I would rather have a hundred people who need to watch the show, than a thousand people who like to watch the show.' He was so right (as it turned out, he ended up with a good few million people who need to watch the show, but that's beside the point :-) I don't need hundreds of reviews (although it would be nice!) because I've got a handful of people here who have inspired me to greater heights with their support, and for me, that's more than enough. So thank you to you all :-)

Now, here's the thing. I've had a number of people telling me they can't believe this story is only seven chapters long, that it seems much longer or it should be longer. I've had questions about events outside the given narrative and requests, quite simply, for more.

So...would you be interested in a sequel? Nay, a trilogy? Because I have ideas.

If you are, holler loudly, and if you have any ideas, let me know, coz I'm interested :-)

Right, this is finally it from me. Below are the deleted scenes, I hope you like :-) Also (and I can't stress this enough!) if you like what you've read here, please, PLEASE look at some of my other stuff, especially Past, Present and Future, coz I've heard it's really good :-)

Deleted Scenes

This is a scene I thought about, but found no real place for within the story itself. Kind of sad, it's what happened to the Weasleys in the alternate universe. I thought I could maybe use it as a prologue, but then I figured people wouldn't bother reading the rest if I killed cute little Ron off right at the beginning :-)

Summer 1989

The Weasleys were a very old, and very large wizarding family. As the sun dipped on that summer's evening, all nine of them could be found squashed around the scrubbed kitchen table finishing an impressive spread of food Mrs Weasley had prepared herself earlier that day. The house was called The Burrow, and was hidden away in a little village known as Ottery St Catchpole. Over many years the house had been added to; a cupboard here, a bathroom there, and consequently it looked a little like a lop-sided wedding cake. But nobody minded about that. The Weasley family had chosen to eat inside that evening due to an unusual amount of wasps in the garden that refused to be banished away, and as a result, the little kitchen was extremely packed with food, children, cutlery and owls. But nobody minded about that either.

Bill Weasley, the oldest of the children stood up and tapped his goblet of pumpkin juice with a spoon. "I would like to make a toast," he said, "to all us Weasleys." His mother beamed, and Fred and George, the twins, giggled. "To our Dad, Arthur Weasley, for his well deserved promotion at the Ministry, so we can all look forward to being rich now." Everyone laughed, the Weasleys had never been rich and were never likely to be either. "To our dear Mum, Molly Weasley, for this fantastic meal and her continuing love and support for all us Rug Rats, I am truly surprised but grateful that you haven't killed any of us yet."

"Here here!" chimed in their father Arthur, making everyone laugh again.

"Now to me," Bill grinned; he seemed he was working from oldest to youngest Weasley, "congratulations on finally getting a job, I'll be sure and send you lots of sand from Egypt. To Charlie," Bill raised his glass to the next Weasley boy; he was well built and slightly burnt in places. "For finishing his time at Hogwarts with more NEWTS than you could shake a stick at, the Quidditch house cup in hand again, and all his limbs intact...no thanks to Professor Kettleburn I might add."

Everyone laughed at this, that is except the littlest Weasley, Ginny, who didn't really think it was funny that a Dragon had tried to eat one of her brothers. "Now to Percy," continued Bill, "well done on his excellent Second Year exam results, we'll have another Head Boy in the family yet." Percy beamed.

"And to Fred and George," this was said in a voice that suggested a rain of toads was now forecast, "for inventing the now infamous shrinking underwear, and for not driving our lovely tutor Miss Bellot to any kind of institution that we know of. I'm sure she'll miss you very much when you're packed off to Hogwarts next year - God help them." More laughter as the twins looked offended by these comments.

"To our Ron," continued Bill with a warm smile on his face, "for his wonderful History project on Merlin and for being undoubtedly the sanest of the lot of us." Bill gave Ron a wink as the others clapped. "And, last but not least, to Ginny. For finally turning eight this month, and for loosing yet another tooth, thus completing her transformation into a fully fledged Hallowe'en pumpkin." Ginny giggle with glee from behind her mass of red hair. She really did look like a pumpkin.

"To the Weasleys!" cried Bill.

"To the Weasleys!" came the firm response. Everyone clapped and cheered and took a big drink from their glasses. Ron had to hold his goblet with two hands as it was too big for only one. Everyone started chattering away once more as he set it back down on the table, and he started swinging his legs as he thought about whether or not he wanted some more chocolate butterballs. Ron liked it when Bill talked at the table; he always said clever things and made people laugh. He always made Ron feel special too.

Ron kicked his feet under the table; he could almost reach the floor now he was nine. Ginny was sitting opposite him - they often sat together at the table because the others would talk about boring things they didn't understand. When he and Ginny talked about getting a pack of dogs and what they would name them all, or when they talked about comic books and going to Hogwarts, Ron liked having a sister. But sometimes, when she asked 'why?' over and over again, or when she jumped on his bed, he didn't really like having a sister. That's why he liked being friends with Harry Potter, because he had a little sister too so he knew what it was like. He was also really good at Quidditch and had a really fast broom he always let Ron have a go on. Even if he didn't know what it was like to have lots and lots of brothers, Ron still really liked having him as a friend.

Ron yawned so hard he couldn't see for a second. He rubbed his eyes and then reached over for some chocolate butterballs. They made your fingers all messy, but he didn't really care. He put one in his mouth and let it melt on his tongue. Sleepily, he gazed over at the special clock on the wall, it was called the Weasley's Family clock, and it kept track of everyone and where they were.

It took a moment for Ron to realise there was something wrong with the way it looked.

Normally, all the hands were at 'home' in the evening. During the day, his dad's hand would be on 'work', sometimes mum's would be on 'shopping', and during school time Percy's and Charlie's would be at 'school'. But now, slowly, like a seconds hand running smoothly round the edge, the hand that said 'Arthur' was moving. Ron frowned and looked at his dad; he wasn't going anywhere was he? Ron looked back at the clock.

The handle had stopped. Ron dropped the butterball he was holding.

The hand now read 'mortal peril'. Ron knew what that meant, he had asked Bill about it once. Bill had said if the hand stopped there then that meant you were going to die. But he had also said that the hand never, ever stopped there. Ron swallowed hard. "Dad?" he said softly, but nobody heard him. He looked back at the clock, and slowly, just like his fathers', the handle that said 'Molly' was moving to the same place.

"Dad," said Ron a little louder. He was feeling scared now, he suddenly noticed just how dark the room was as he started breathing a little heavier.

Still nobody noticed him.

"Dad!" he cried and stood up, knocking his chair back. He didn't take his eyes off the clock.

Arthur Weasley frowned. "What is it Ron?" He looked to where his youngest son was staring. And froze. The hand that read 'Bill' had just stopped moving, resting in the same place as his parents. He stood up and knocked his chair back, just like Ron.

"Every body out, NOW! "

As Charlie's hand twitched and eased its way round the face, the Weasleys flew to their feet. "What to we do?" cried Mrs Weasley, looking at the clock in dread and gathering her daughter up into her arms.

"The fireplace!" yelled Mr Weasley, grabbing a number of his sons and pushing them through the door. Ron ran to do the same, but he stopped in his tracks as there was a tremendous crash from where the front door normally stood.

Bill grabbed Ron's hand. "Come on!" he cried, and sprinted to the door.

They stopped abruptly in the living room. Ron could feel panicky tears running down his face, but could still see clearly enough to know what was happening. A man was walking into the middle of the room. He wore black robes and his face was as white as milk. He was laughing as he came to a halt in front of them.

"How thoughtful Arthur," he said wickedly, "you have placed all your family in one convenient place, much easier for me." He raised his wand, but Ron didn't see what happened. Bill, still holding onto him so tightly, flung himself and Ron onto Percy, knocking them into the kitchen. In the split-second it took him to roll to the left, dragging his younger brothers with him, a blast of green light exploded in the living room. Ron screamed, but Bill wasted no time in hauling him and Percy to their feet.

"Run!" he cried, not looking back to where the rest of his family had fallen to the floor. Ron scrambled up, but another shot of green knocked him back down; Bill fell beside him, but Percy smacked into the wall and crumpled, hit with the same curse as the others. The man with the white face was standing behind them grinning.

"Spirited, aren't you?" he called out to Ron and Bill, still under the table, unable to move fast enough to get away. Ron screamed again, Bill threw his arms around his smallest brother, and the whole world was suddenly filled with green light.

And then everything was black and still.

I realised the time-lapse between our Harry disappearing and Other Harry fainting wasn't really explained in the text; if you think about what is said about 5 hours passes between fainting and disappearing, so this is a little scene to explain why Other Harry isn't tucked up in his bed at 12:30 when our Harry is breaking windows. Contains half a quote from Angel.

Harry stumbled through the fireplace at Godric's Hollow. He was very, very drunk. Katie Bell had invited him to her 18^th Birthday bash at her house in Wrexham...well, he used the term house loosely, royal palace would probably be the better description. Anyway, she had invited him, where in turn he had been invited by a variety of girls (including both Cho Chang and friends) to drink a number of cocktails and other alcoholic beverages until he passed out on the floor.

He looked at his watch. After a moment of focusing he worked out it was definitely past midnight, definitely past his curfew, and most definitely past all hope of not being grounded.

"Bugger," he said with feeling.

"Hello Harry," came his mother's amused voice; she must have just walked through from the kitchen. Double bugger, thought Harry, now he was going to have to try and convince her he wasn't as Drunk as a Skunk in a Trunk. He he - that rhymed.

Don't giggle, he instructed himself severely. He didn't know how much good it did. "Hi mum!" he cried and waved.

"Harry, how drunk are you," said Lily patiently.

"No," said Harry, shaking his head with the conviction, "no drinking for Harry."

"Really?"

"Ya-huh, I'm not old enough to drink, so I'm not drunk." He thought about this logic, then nodded to affirm it. Lily laughed and shook her head.

"Okay trooper, would you like something to eat, I made lasagne and there's still some left."

Harry nodded and grinned. Oh yeah, he'd fooled her; he was the master of fibs, cover-ups, and all things untruthy. They walked into the kitchen where Harry sat down (with a little assistance from Lily) and she gave him a plate of cold pasta. Harry started jabbering about the party between mouthfuls; who was there, what they were wearing, who snogged who and who didn't, and most important, what other people drank and how drunk they got. Because Harry didn't drink.

All of a sudden Harry felt very angry...or did he? Gagh - Tequila is officially evil, he thought. But the feeling came again, stronger, and with it came waves of sadness and despair. Oh Harry wasn't liking this at all. He stopped talking, "are you okay Harry?" asked Lily. But Harry didn't hear her.

An incredible sound of smashing glass and thunder and yelling filled his head, he covered his ears, but it didn't do anything. The hate was consuming, enveloping him, threatening to choke him. Pressing his eyes closed his head swam, but his vision seemed to clear.

The thing was, he saw himself, cradling his head, gasping for breath. What was going on? Am I dying? he thought weekly. It was the last thing Harry thought before his vision blurred again, until finally everything went black.

This scene was originally the end of Chapter Three, and is the alternate version of what is now the beginning of Chapter Four. I love this scene, but unfortunately Draco is far to cool and funny, he's more like Cassy Claire's or Maya's Draco, who is adorable. My Draco is closer to how he is depicted in JKRowling's books; a spineless git. As mentioned I re-jigged Chapter Three to change Draco's character, but this scene had to be reworked entirely. Here it is in its original form. The following contains a quote from 6 Feet Under, Lethal Weapon 4 and a reworking of a quote from Buffy.

"SARAH! " screamed Lily, and ran to the spot where they'd disapparated, "James, where did they go - what do we do?"

James had backed into the wall in shock, hand over mouth, shaking. "Oh God, Sarah," he whispered. No one seemed to have an answer for his wife. "The Ministry-" he said suddenly, rushing into the living room, "we have to contact them - they'll help us-"

But Sirius had another idea walking into the room. "You!" he shouted catching sight of Draco, "what have you done!" He grabbed hold of the boy's shoulders and banged him into the wall.

"Hey!" cried Draco, " I've had enough crap this week, this is nothing to do with me - get off!"

"She's only twelve, she's a little girl-"

"Whoopee for her, you can still let me go," and he pushed Sirius off rather than waiting, "if you give me two seconds I'll explain." Draco had his audience back - Harry was thrilled.

Just when he'd thought things were maybe going okay; that he, Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Attracted-Trouble-Like-A-Magnet, had made something right. It had all blown up in his face. He should have known better - that poor little girl.

"Explain quickly boy," growled Sirius.

"My name is Draco," he snapped, "and let's get one thing straight - I am not your enemy." He took centre-stage once more; James looked agitated - like he didn't have time for this, but Lily took his hand and he seemed to ease slightly.

"The reason I'm here is nothing to do with Wormtail. As I've been explaining to Potter here, I'm a deputation from Freiheit, the Death Eater resistance movement."

Remus nodded, "we've heard of it."

"Good, so you only need the gist - The Dark Lord's position has been compromised since his duel with Dumbledore, we've decided the time is right to take advantage of it, and to do that we need Potter's - Harry's help." Lily looked like she wanted to interrupt but James got there first.

"What do you mean Harry - what's he got to do with anything?"

Draco arched an eyebrow. "You're not serious, don't tell me you don't know?" He was however met with blank stares, apart from Harry, but he didn't have the energy to contribute. "Yeah, okay people, this kind of stupidity is why we've been winning all these years - he's Harry Potter." Even shaking his hand in Harry's direction didn't get the desired response; Draco exhaled loudly. "Fine, children - why did you need a Secret Keeper fifteen years ago, since it's such a hot topic tonight."

The was a pause before Lily spoke; "Because You-Know-Who targeted me and James-" Draco rolled his eyes.

"How you flatter yourselves - he wanted Harry - you were just annoying, and therefore a bonus hit. Harry's like a super-prodigy-genius type thing. I don't know the particulars, but Potter here is bad news for The Dark Lord."

There was a very loud silence. "Why then," said Remus slowly, "did He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stop looking for him - the threat on the Potters has been lifted for years." Draco shrugged.

"We couldn't be bothered? I mean, there were a million other problems to be dealt with, we just came to the conclusion we'd obliterate him soon enough."

Thanks, thought Harry, nice to be important.

"Harry can defeat You-Know-Who?" came Parvati's small voice.

"Yes, quick aren't you?" was Draco's snide reply, "which in fact brings us to my next point, about what Wormtail said."

"Don't call him that," said Sirius looking Draco in the eye, "that's our name-"

"Whatever," he cut in, "who cares, the point is Wormtail-" Sirius winced- "was right, he needs to redeem himself for blowing his cover, and The Dark Lord wants Potter, now more than ever - by taking that girl he assumes Harry'll do the hero thing and save her; Wormtail delivers Potter to his master - redemption achieved."

"Now more than ever - what do you mean by that?" Remus was doing a good job of keeping his head and asking the questions; James and Sirius looked wild and agitated, Lily close to tears still.

"Yeah - some evil plot to regain his strength, I think - I don't know; look, we want Potter to fight The Dark Lord before he gets his voodoo back, Wormtail's kidnapped that girl in hopes of luring him into our midst to achieve exactly that. You might as well come with me, try and get her back, duel The Dark Lord - whatever."

Harry felt like Malfoy was giving him the option whether or not to play Quidditch tomorrow. "So this is all one big coincidence - Voldemort wants me and you just happen to show up." And I happen to drop by into your universe Harry added to himself.

Malfoy blinked, "well, not entirely - we figured something like this would have to happen."

"What!" cried James.

"Well The Dark Lord wasn't exactly going to owl an invitation was he?" Malfoy seemed to have missed the point where he should have warned them about this little issue and was focusing on getting Harry to agree to his scheme still. "He was obviously going to have to force Harry to come to him. This doesn't change anything, it's just happened a bit sooner than later; if anything it means you'll have to come with me now. So come on."

"No," said James determinedly, "if anyone's going, it's me."

"And me," added Sirius and Lily in unison. Remus sighed; Draco looked ready to thump something; preferably a Potter of some description.

"Have you heard one word I've said?" He flung his arms out in frustration. "It has to be Harry - he's the one The Dark Lord needs for...what ever it is he's doing, he's the key. Why do you think we attacked the school three years ago - why be that stupid? He wanted Harry; then because he's this huge pain in the arse, now because he wants to grind his bones to make his bread or whatever." Draco paused for breath, Harry pondered that he probably wasn't too far off with the bones idea, considering what Voldemort did to his own father's grave.

"And for another thing - you all work for the Ministry, right?" Malfoy took their silence as a yes. "The chances of you making it ten miles within our perimeter are so small they're amusing. You might as well show up with a brass band singing annoying Disney songs the amount of alarms that would sound."

"But Harry wouldn't - sound any alarms?"

"Not the way I'd take him." Draco grinned.

***

It wasn't that easy for Malfoy - son of Lucius Malfoy after all - to convince the Potters to let their only son run off to single-handedly rescue their only daughter, whilst simultaneously walking into certain death at the hands of You-Know-Who. They took a bit of getting used to the idea that Harry was potentially the saviour of the world.

But hey, this was Malfoy; he always got what he wanted.

Harry didn't say much. Though on the one hand, he wasn't exactly looking forward to facing Voldemort for the...fifth time now was it? He wasn't sure if Tom Riddle counted as Voldemort or not - the giant snake was the most important part of that story as far as he was concerned. On the other hand, it was his duty to save the world.

Duh.

In saying that though, he'd never really gone looking for trouble quite this obviously before. Just how many lives did Harry Potter have?

"So you're saying just you and Harry are our only option," cried Sirius for the fourth time, "it's suicide!"

"I'm going to," came a voice from the couch. Everyone turned to look. Seamus had been quiet a long time; now he stood resolutely, and repeated himself. "I'm going to - I wont set any alarms off, I'm nobody, but I know a fair few hexes, I'm good with first-aid, and besides - I've known Sarah for years, I'm not just going to hang around here."

Lily beamed at the young man, Remus looked dubious, and Draco - well...

"I don't think 'no' is a strong enough word, in fact, a world of 'no' isn't even going to cover that request."

"It wasn't a request Malfoy-"

"It's not an option Finnigan."

"We're talking about a little girl, not you Malfoy, you're not the centre of the universe - other people exist!" He was right in Draco face now.

"Thanks for that, but unfortunately you're so incurably irritating Finnigan, all the insults in England wont get you to tag along."

"I'm from Ireland, you plick, we don't know how to give up."

"Sod off! "

"Boys!" cut in Parvati as the adults, if possible, looked even more shattered, "we'll all go, you three and me."

"And me," said Hermione confidently, "I said I'd help you Harry and I will." Draco looked sick.

"Not just one moron now, oh no, four of them," he muttered as he threw him self down on an armchair, "Fine, I don't care, let's just go."

***

As the clock moved to midnight, Harry, Hermione, Seamus and Parvati made preparations to start their journey with Draco Malfoy; a prospect that would have been laughable to all of them just hours ago.

They decided it would be best not to inform the Ministry, as chances were they would only make things worse. As the four teenagers gathered essentials together, the adults were left feeling somewhat redundant, sitting in the kitchen drinking tea, staring blankly at the walls.

Seamus and Parvati considered owling their parents, then decided against it - they would only worry more. Harry pulled together a bag of a few useful items, and whilst doing this found Sarah's wand lying on top of the piano. He thought for a moment, then returned to the living room where the others were waiting.

"I want you to have this, just until we find Sarah," he told Hermione quietly, and gave her the wand. She was unsure, but Harry insisted. "You might need it, and when we find her, she'll want it back," he put it in her hand, and this time she took it.

"Hurrah," cried Draco, currently sprawled out on the couch, "might we be leaving this millennium?"

"Just a few more minutes," snapped Harry, and walked into the kitchen. "Um...Sirius, can I have a word?" His godfather looked up at Harry, then to James, then followed him out of the room.

Harry led him up to his bedroom and closed the door. He was about to speak when Sirius beat him to it - "how did you know Harry?"

"Know what?" he replied honestly.

"About...Peter."

"Oh," said Harry, "uh...Malfoy - said something, look it's not important now." He looked into the man's eye's - they were tired, "I need you to do something whilst we're gone. Remus can help too if you want, but not my parents, not at the moment.

Sirius nodded, "okay Harry, anything to be useful."

"I want you to research parallel universes."

Harry suspected that wasn't what he'd been expecting. "Oh," was all he could manage. But he agreed eventually (with a few raised eyebrows) and they made their way downstairs once more.

Almost at the bottom, Harry spotted a small family portrait hanging on the wall. It was recent, that's for sure, but also just - really nice. Harry took it off the wall, slipped the picture out of the frame and pocketed it. No one noticed.

"Alright then Malfoy," he said as he picked up his bag, "lead the way."

I felt the urge to note this down - as there's always two sides to a conversation :-)

Ron was exhausted. He hadn't slept much the last couple of nights. He walked wearily down the flight of stairs, hand tracing against the stone wall, deep shadows under his eyes heightened by the flickering torch light. Past curfew, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was deathly silent. Ron knew he shouldn't be out, not only because he'd be skinned alive if anyone caught him, but because Harry had been wondering around in the dead of night when he'd disappeared. No one knew what had happened to him, or that it wouldn't happen again.

Ron felt his stomach clench at the thought of Harry. Where was he? He pulled a tapestry aside and dropped deftly down into the corridor, freezing a second to listen for any other sounds; there were none. He let the rough cloth swing heavily back into place. He stuck his hands in his pockets and carried on walking, conscious of his every move and sound. Without a cloak on the icy wind sweeping down the hallway went through him mercilessly, and he shivered until he ached.

Approaching the common room, Ron greeted the Fat lady, a disapproving look in her eyes. Nevertheless, she swung open as he spoke the password ("cauldron cakes") and he clambered through. Shattered to the bone, he slumped down next to Harry. He looked more knackered then he did himself. "How you doing Harry mate?" he said looking up at the stars between the trees.

Harry gave a hollow laugh, "you have no idea." Ron laughed with him. He noticed a rather spectacular sword attached to Harry's waist; it seemed familiar, but Ron couldn't pinpoint where he could possible know it from.

"You'll be alright you know," he told his best friend, "you're doing the right thing, you all are."

"It doesn't make it any easier," pointed out Harry.

"Yeah, well," said Ron, "you've done worse - a whole year of Lockhart's Defence Against the Dark Arts for one thing." Harry laughed again.

"Yeah, and Professor Trelawney's Divination." Ron grinned, a calm settling over him he hadn't felt in a long time. He looked over at Hermione across the pathway, who was still talking in a tired but quite happy way with Parvati Patil.

"It's too bad about Herm hey?"

Harry shook his head, "I hope I did the right thing, telling her everything."

"Are you mad?" cried Ron, honestly surprised, "of course you did, Hermione always wants to know everything about everything, and then she goes and looks it up in her definitive encyclopaedia to the world just to check she's got it perfect." He wasn't making that up; she really had one of those.

"Yeah," agreed Harry, "I guess you're right."

"I always am," gloated Ron.

"Apart from Draco being the heir of Slytherin."

"I believe that was your idea, not mine."

"What about-"

"Shutting up would be a good idea now."

Laughing, Harry punched Ron light-heartedly on the arm. Ron, not standing for such violence, smacked him right back on the leg. Harry rubbed his head and laughed in defeat. "Well," said Ron, standing, "you'd better get going," he looked down at Harry. "Don't forget about me will you?"

"I'd never forget about you, pillock," said Harry scornfully.

"You need to wake up now, Harry."

"Ron-"

"Harry?"

"Ron!"

Ron snapped awake. Hermione was staring at him, her hand on his shoulder. "You were sleep talking," she said in a sympathetic tone. Ron sat up with a jolt. He was in the Gryffindor common room, curled up in one of the armchairs by the fire.

"I just had the strangest dream," he said weakly to Hermione.