Harry Potter and his Dreams

Harry Potter and his Dreams

Chapter Three

Harry worked hard the next few weeks, getting higher scores than he was used to, which he enjoyed. Defense Against the Dark Arts was difficult, but Harry was feeling better about wand-less defenses. In potions one day Snape could find nothing wrong with the recipe for muscle relaxant he had made, and so he had to resort to taking points off for showing off. Harry was even getting comfortable talking to Arabella.

Twice in October he had Voldemort dreams. The first he had at night and told Dumbledore in the morning. The Death Eaters had been instructed to raid the Ministry Library and retrieve a certain Dark Arts book, then destroy the building. Dumbledore made sure that there were duplicate copies of all the books in the Ministry Library, especially the one the Death Eaters had been instructed to find, and let the disaster happen. Dumbledore did it for two reasons, one, to let Fudge see that Voldemort was, indeed, back, and, two, to make sure Voldemort didn´t know how much Dumbledore knew. By the time he had his second dream, Harry had taught himself a spell to help him remember his dreams, so that they could be more helpful to the forces of light magic. It turned out to be a good thing, because the second dream, which he had after he fell asleep in History of Magic one day, was of Voldemort instructing his Death Eaters to capture, question, and then kill Mundungus Fletcher.

Mundungus Fletcher made an unscheduled visit to Hogwarts that night. In the morning the Daily Prophet headline read, "House of Prominent Judge Attacked, Ministry Believes May be Work of Sirius Black." The Judge and Dumbledore conferenced throughout the day on how he should protect his house from then on. He already had very great protections on his papers and sensitive files; he´d just never thought to put any serious protections on his home.

He managed to catch Harry after classes that afternoon, "Thank you, Harry. You saved my life. You did the right thing, telling Arabella."

Harry shrugged and Mundungus grinned at him.

"You don´t like being thanked, do you?" he asked.

Harry shrugged again, "It´s not like I really did anything."

"Well, thank you anyway," Mundungus said as they walked down the hall.

"Harry! There you are," Harry looked and saw Hermione and Ron coming towards him and the judge.

As they came even Harry introduced them, "Judge Fletcher, this is Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Hermione, Ron, Judge Fletcher." Ron and Hermione both shook Mundungus´ hand.

"Pleased to meet you. I´ve heard a lot about your adventures," he said to them.

"From who?" Harry asked; he knew he hadn´t said anything.

"From Albus and," he glanced around quickly and lowered his voice, "Snuffles."

Ron´s eyebrows shot up and Hermione grinned.

"What did you want me for anyway?" he asked his two friends.

"Actually Snuffles wants to see you. Professor Figg said you should meet him in her sitting room. You know where that is?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded.

"Do you mind if I come Harry? I need a quick word with Arabella." Mundungus asked.

"Come on. Ron, Hermione, I´ll meet you in the common room in a little while."

Harry led the judge to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and tapped on the door, saying the password. When they entered they found Arabella, Sirius and Remus Lupin on various pieces of furniture.

"Mundungus!" Remus exclaimed, "What are you doing here? I saw all the articles in this morning´s papers."

"A, uh, timely warning from Harry brought me here. I´ve been here since yesterday. I will be returning to me home as soon as the new protection spells are in place."

"So you´ve been having more dreams Harry?" the former professor asked.

Harry nodded and sat beside Sirius.

"Why don´t we leave Sirius and Harry for a while," Arabella suggested.

"Arabella, I´d like to talk to you about..." Mundungus began as the three exited the room.

For half an hour Sirius and Harry just talked. Harry was glad his godfather was there and said so. Sirius said he was glad to be there.

Harry then returned to his dorm to work on his homework with Ron and Hermione.

As they prepared for bed Seamus reminded everyone that they were going to start analyzing dreams in Divination the next day, so they were supposed to remember their dreams.

Harry fell asleep hoping that he didn´t have another Voldemort dream. No telling what Trelawney would do with that.

He didn´t. But he did have something else.

**************

"Now," said Trelawney the next day in Divination, " you will all share your dreams with me. While you are waiting to tell me your dreams individually, I want you to try to interpret your own dream using Chapter 16 of Unfogging the Future."

Harry sighed and muttered the spell that would refresh the dream in his mind. He didn´t know what it meant, or what he should do, but he did know that he was not going to tell Trelawney about it.

As it happened Harry was the last one to talk to the professor.

"Now," she said in her wispy voice as he settled into a pouf across the table from her, "tell me what you dreamed last night."

"I didn´t dream last night." Harry lied.

"Harry, you should not be afraid to share your dream. I saw you earlier use the charm to refresh the dream in your memory. I have experience in dream reading. Tell me about your dream."

"No."

"Harry," she was getting impatient, "you will tell me your dream or you will loose ten points for Gryffindor."

"Fine," Harry said and quickly got up as the bell rang to end class.

That afternoon, Arabella asked Harry to stay after Defense Against the Dark Arts. They went into her sitting room.

"What is this about a dream you had last night?" Arabella asked closing the door.

"How did you know about that?"

"Sybil was complaining quite vociferously in the staff room and I asked her. Why wouldn´t you tell her your dream?"

"I didn´t want to."

"Would it have done any harm to tell her? I know it wasn´t one of your Voldemort dreams because you would have come to me or Dumbledore about it."

Harry shrugged, "I didn´t want to tell her my dream."

"Do you want to tell me about it? It is obviously bothering you quite a bit."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Just...no."

"Ok, but you might want to tell Sirius about it if you don´t want to tell me."

Harry nodded and left.

For the next week, Harry couldn´t sleep well. Every night he had more dreams and they were increasingly disruptive to his rest. Ron tried to get Harry to tell him about his dreams but Harry brushed him off. Finally, after discussing it with Hermione, Ron found Sirius and told him that Harry wasn´t sleeping well.

*****************

"Harry."

Harry looked up in surprise. He´d just entered Arabella´s sitting room but it was Sirius waiting for him instead of Arabella.

"What are you doing here?"

"I asked Arabella if I could have a moment with you. Sit down."

Harry sat.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "You look like you haven´t slept in a week, which, according to Ron, you haven´t. Plus, in your classes your attention is increasingly elsewhere. You´re not fine. Why can´t you sleep?"

Harry shrugged.

"Does it have to do with the dream you had last week?"

"It keeps coming back."

"Will you tell me about it?"

Harry shook his head violently.

"Why not?"

"Only I can know! Only I can do it!" Harry´s eyes widened at the slip.

Sirius jumped on it, "Do what?"

Harry looked down, refusing to answer.

"Harry, are you planning on leaving the castle to do `it,´ whatever `it´ is?

Harry didn´t answer.

Sirius didn´t feel like this was the right time to push for answers so he changed the subject.

"Madam Pomfrey has agreed to fix you a sleeping potion. I want you to drink it every night. You need your rest."

Harry looked as if that were the last thing he wanted to do.

"And if you don´t," Sirius continued smoothly, "you will spend every night in the infirmary where madam Pomfrey can ensure you get your rest."

"Fine, I´ll take the bloody potion!" Harry said.

"And will you promise me you won´t leave the castle?"

Harry didn´t answer. He stood up and walked toward the door.

Sirius pointed his wand at him and muttered, "Circumage*."

Harry found himself suddenly walking in the opposite direction, away from the door.

"Sit."

Seeing the somber expression on his godfather´s face, Harry obeyed.

"I´m having trouble Harry. You see, I want to be your godfather, your family. I want to be there for you. But how can I, if you keep pushing me away, if you don´t let me get involved? You said you liked me being near you; in your third year you said you wanted to live with me. I´m not sure I want you to live with me if it is dangerous for you. Unless you accept me as a parental figure then living with me would be dangerous. If you don´t let me in your life, tell me what is going on, trust me, how can we have the kind of relationship either of us wants?"

Harry looked down at his hands, trying to put what he wanted to say into words. "I do trust you. But there is something that I can´t tell anybody, I have to do this, nobody else can. I trust you to do all in your power to protect me. That´s why I can´t tell you my dreams. If I told you exactly what was going on, you´d try to solve it yourself and spare me. But you can´t solve it, only I can."

Harry stood and left, this time Sirius didn´t stop him. Arabella turned up a few minutes later.

"How´d it go?"

Sirius shook his head and the held it in his hands, elbows planted in his knees. "I´m so worried about that boy! I care so much for him, but he doesn´t let anyone care for him. I want to be there for him, but neither of us seems to know where `there´ is. Why can´t he learn to trust adults?"

"Sirius, I know that you want to be his parent, but, from what I´ve seen, Harry may be incapable of letting anyone be that close to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry basically raised himself. He did an amazing job and has turned into a wonderful young man. However, he learned at a very young age that he had to depend on himself. The Dursley´s were no help to him and he never formed any bonds with his teachers. He never even had a friend until he was eleven years old. When he came to Hogwarts he found, for the first time, adults who cared what happened to him, and real friends. He started to trust people and depend on them. Then he found out that adults couldn´t always protect him. There were times where he found himself in dangerous situations, with no hope of an adult helping. He learned once again that he could only rely on himself. It hasn´t really helped that he still spends his summers with the Dursleys. The lessons that Harry learned as a child have been reinforced. He may not be able to trust an adult enough to let you become his parent. It might be that all he can do is let you be a close friend."

"Is there anything I can do to help him trust me like a parent?"

"Act like a parent."

"I already told him that he´d take a sleeping potion every night or he´d have to go to the infirmary where Madam Pomfrey can get him to sleep."

"That sound like a good start," Arabella allowed herself a small smile.

The Sirius told her his fear that Harry was going to try and leave the castle to do something. "But how can we prevent him?" he asked, "Short of keeping him under lock and key, what can we do?"

"We´ll have to ask Dumbledore about that. He might have an idea. Do you think it would be at all productive to tell Harry that leaving school grounds without permission is strictly against the rules and is punishable by detention, probation, suspension, or expulsion?"

"No, that wouldn´t stop him one bit. That is what makes him so infuriating. He doesn´t think about his own safety or well-being when he decides to take action."

* Circumage-pronounced with hard `c´s´ and a hard `g´--like `kir-kum-ah-gay.´ This is the correct Latin pronunciation. Literally, it is a command to go in the opposite direction.

Harry Potter and His Dreams

Chapter Four

Arabella, Dumbledore, and Sirius continued to worry about Harry, as did Ron and Hermione, who were increasingly alarmed at Harry´s lack of concentration in class.

In mid-November an early snowstorm hit. That night, by pure chance, Hermione and Ron found Harry, bundled up in his winter robes, with bag in hand, beside the statue of the one-eyed witch, about to open it.

"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded.

"Nothing," Harry said hurriedly, turning away from the passage, but wand still poised to tap it.

"That´s right, you´re doing nothing. You are going back to the Gryffindor common room right now," Hermione threatened him with her wand.

Harry, unhappily, complied. He did not want to end up on the wrong end of a hex from Hermione´s wand. He wasn´t sure which one of them told, but the next morning (it was a Hogsmeade Saturday) he was summoned to Dumbledore´s office. When he entered he found Arabella, Sirius and the Headmaster all in a sitting room, adjoining the office.

"Harry," Sirius got straight to the point, "will you promise us you won´t try and leave the castle?"

Harry looked at his hands, not answering. Sirius lifted Harry´s face by the chin and forced him to look at him. "Can you promise us you won´t leave Hogwarts?"

"No," and he turned away from them to look out the window.

"Albus?" he heard his Godfather say.

There was a rustle of movement and then Harry found Dumbledore sitting in front of him.

"I thank you for being honest, and telling us that you could not make such a promise. However, since you cannot, and since you feel a ...compulsion to perform a task you will not explain to us, Sirius, as your godfather, has asked me to use a spell to protect you.

"This spell is sensitive only to you. Every exit from the castle has been sensitized to you and your magic. If you should attempt to leave, you would not be able to advance across the threshold and I will be notified immediately. You can move freely, wherever you like inside the castle. You will have a teacher escort and supervisor as you attend Quidditch practices and any class that takes place on the grounds. They will be instructed to stun you, if necessary, to keep you from leaving the grounds. I repeat, you are free to roam inside, but not outside. Do you understand?" Dumbledore looked tired and worn, and as though doing this was the last thing he wanted to do.

Harry didn´t answer at first. He simply stood and went to look out a window that had a view overlooking the lake. "I understand," he replied in a quiet voice and left the room without another word.

For the next week Harry tried to leave via at least one exit each day. He would try to walk outside but, as Dumbledore had said, he could not cross the doorstop. He could move his body freely; he just didn´t seem to be able to go in a forward direction. On Wednesday, on the way from Herbology to Divination, Professor Sprout almost had to stun him, because he looked like he was going to make a break for the Forbidden Forest. Hermione and Ron ended up having to drag him back up to the school.

On Friday he had an appointment with Arabella. He sat quietly on the sofa for a long while, just staring at the pattern.

Finally, Arabella decided it was useless to wait for him to do something and so she addressed him, "Dumbledore tells me that you´ve tried at least one exit each day this week. Why do you want to leave so much?"

"I don´t want to!" Harry answered in a frustrated voice, "I have to!"

"Why can´t you tell someone else and let them take care of it?"

Harry shook his head, "I´ve told you, no one else would be able to. Even if I could explain it, I´m the only one who could do it!"

"Then take someone with you!" Arabella pleaded.

"No! It would be too dangerous for someone to go with me."

"Has it occurred to you how dangerous it is to you?"

"I´ll be fine," Harry dismissed the concern quickly.

Arabella attempted to get more answers out of him by coming at it from a different direction, "How have you been sleeping?"

"Better."

"Taking the sleeping potion?"

"Yes."

"Then why do you look like you could sleep for a week?"

Harry shrugged.

"Are you still not sleeping well?"

"I take the potion, but it doesn´t work as well as it should. Things still keep me awake."

"Have you had anymore dreams about Voldemort?"

"No."

Then Harry asked a question which startled Arabella, "Does `all exits´ mean all exits, or only the ones Dumbledore knows about?"

"You won´t find a path he doesn´t know. Sirius has told him all the passages he knows and Dumbledore knows even more. I don´t want you to go looking for any more exits. I want you to tell someone exactly what this is all about."

"So it is only the ones Dumbledore knows about." And with that he quickly left the room.

Arabella went straight to the headmaster. "Harry is getting more and more anxious to do this...what ever it is. Do you think he might be able to find a passage that you are unaware of?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily, "I hope not. I can´t imagine that happening, but all the same, there is a small possibility. Did Harry say anything new?"

"Not really."

"Is he having anymore dreams of Voldemort?

"No, but the sleeping potion seems to be loosing its potency, he isn´t getting nearly enough sleep."

"I´ll have Madam Pomfrey increase the dosage."

The next morning, Dumbledore was just coming down from his office when Ron came running in his too-short pajamas.

"Can´t....find..H..Harry," He managed so squeak out, clutching a growing cramp in his side.

Dumbledore immediately took Ron up to his office and summoned Arabella and Sirius.

"Where have you looked for him?" Arabella asked him when she heard he was missing.

"Everywhere I could think of. Then I noticed that his trunk was open. His invisibility cloak and Firebolt are gone. If he is actually using the cloak, I have no idea if he is still on the grounds or not."

Dumbledore quickly fumbled with the key to his desk drawer and, opening it, retrieved the Marauder´s Map. Activating it, he examined it thoroughly before groaning. "He´s not on Hogwarts property anywhere. Ron, would you go down and open the door? Hermione and Moaning Myrtle are approaching. Bring them up here please."

Ron sprinted back down the moving staircase and opened the panel behind the Gargoyle just as Hermione came running up, Myrtle floating along behind her.

Back in Dumbledore´s office, Sirius immediately asked her what was going on. Hermione, at the moment trying to catch her breath, got out the word "Bathroom" and motioned for them to ask Moaning Myrtle. They all turned expectantly to the ghost, who drew herself up importantly.

"The passage way to the Chamber through my bathroom is open."

Ron´s jaw dropped and Dumbledore moaned and put his head in his hands. Neither Arabella nor Sirius understood though.

"What passage to what Chamber?" asked Sirius, clasping and unclasping his hands nervously at the thought of what terrible fate could befall Harry at any moment outside Hogwarts´ protections.

"The passage to the Chamber of Secrets, only Harry and You-Know-Who can open it because they are the only parseltongues," Hermione explained, now able to breath normally.

Sirius collapsed into a chair without saying a word.

Ron, trying to be logical about his best friend running off asked "But how do we know there is some way to get out through there?"

To everyone´s surprise Myrtle answered the question. "Harry came into my bathroom this morning. He told me not to tell anyone he´d been in there. Then he took his broom and opened the sink up. I followed him, invisible. For an hour and a half I followed. Then I turned and came back as quickly as I could. There is a passage, but I don´t know where it leads, it hadn´t ended when I turned back."

"Thank you Myrtle," Dumbledore said heavily, "Could you please return to the passage and try and catch up with Harry? If you catch up with him, try and convince him to come back. If you can´t, I want you to follow him wherever he goes."

The ghost looked pleased at being given such and important task and zoomed off through the wall.

"Sirius, take my invisibility cloak and the fastest broom you can find." Dumbledore handed him the silvery fabric, after putting it on, Sirius ran as fast as he could to the Quidditch Pitch and got a Nimbus 2000 out of the shed. With that he made his way down to the Chamber of Secrets.

Ron and Hermione waited anxiously all that day. Neither could concentrate in class. Ron got a detention in Potions because he melted his cauldron and McGonnogall had to tell Hermione to mind what she was doing three times.

At dinner they saw Snuffles enter the Great Hall, head down and tail dragging. Immediately Arabella and the Headmaster went to him; Ron and Hermione weren´t far behind. Amidst the stares of students the group left the Hall. Upon entering Dumbledore´s office Sirius transformed and sat down in a chair, defeated.

"There is a passage in the Chamber of Secrets, through the mouth of the statue in there. It took me five hours to get through to the end of the tunnel. It would have taken less than three hours for Harry to make the same journey on his Firebolt. The tunnel comes out about 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) south of here. The passage itself is at least twice that long because of twists and turns and double-backs. From the end of the tunnel I could find no trace of him. He had a good three hour lead on me anyway," Sirius said in a very tired, beaten voice.

"Did you see Myrtle?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius shook his head.

"What do we do now?" Ron asked.

The headmaster sat down heavily, looking as unlike his normal self as anyone could remember, "All we can do is wait."

So Sirius waited in his animagus form. He didn´t leave Dumbledore's office all that night or all the next day. He curled up on the windowsill, wet nose pressed constantly to the window. Dumbledore tricked him into drinking a sleeping potion that night. After that he wondered around the castle forlornly all day, sniffing in odd corners and behind statues. He continued his roaming into the night and, around 4 am, finally curled up and went to sleep on a pile of cushions in the Charms classroom.

He awoke the next morning to Hermione shaking him. "Dumbledore wants to see you now!"

He jumped, scattering cushions everywhere, and bounded off to the gargoyle. Professor Dumbledore was waiting for him at the entrance to his office. He led him up the moving staircase, through his office, and into the sitting room.

Harry lay on a couch, asleep. Sirius transformed and slumped to the floor, tears streaming down his face as he tried to act like an adult.

"I was watching the Marauder´s Map this morning," Dumbledore explained, "and I saw him cross onto the grounds. I met him and brought him here. Miss Granger saw us and I asked her to find you. He went right to sleep."

"Where was he?" Sirius finally asked.

Dumbledore sat down and turned expectantly to Moaning Myrtle, whom Sirius noticed for the first time.