Black Blood

Chapter 5
"Sweet Dreams"

Harry turned his head from his left to right shoulder many times. His dream brought him nightmares. Hermione and Ron starring at Harry coldly before disappearing. Voldemort's red eyes. Malfoy. The snake. Harry lying in the hospital bed bleeding to death.
Harry saw the snake with the back of its head facing Harry. It came closer to Harry's eyes. When it was right in front of Harry, it turned sharply around and bit Harry, a white light exploding from Harry. He screamed.
Harry woke in a cold sweat. He immediately sat up and put his hand on his forehead. Sunshine covered his body, making him sweat even more. His messy hair stuck to his forehead. He shakily pushed it back, making his hair look very much like Draco Malfoy's.
A small knock thudded against his door. It slowly opened. Harry breathed in deeply as if thinking it would be Voldemort.
No, Harry thought. He could never get by all the people in the hospital without being unnoticed.
"Mr. Potter," a woman's voice asked. She looked in a saw Harry awake. She walked in and walked over to the side of Harry's bed. "Good. You're awake. Rumors were you wouldn't make it through the night without the insanity coming back. You're lucky the new medications came when they did. Who knows what could've happened if you went back to the Department of Mysteries for a third time and were found bleeding to death."
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Harry asked think that he wasn't the insane one; it was his nurse.
The nurse looked taken aback. But she kept her calm and said, "Actually, you have some visitors. It's already noon. You slept thought the entire night without any insanity. If you're ready, we can send them in."
"And who exactly is them?" Harry needed to know who the people were. Like paranoia made him think it was Voldemort and Wormtail disguised as his friends.
"A girl who came yesterday, I believe. She has brown hair and can't stop crying. A young man with red hair, and that old man with a long beard who showed up late last night."
"Oh. Okay." Harry rested against his pillows. The nurse walked over to the door and opened it.
"He's awake," she said quietly through the open door. "You may come in now."
Immediately, only Hermione and Ron came walking thought the door slowly. Hermione held a wet tissue under her eyes. Again, they were red and puffy. Ron still had an expressionless face, but his eyes held deep sorrow. Seeing that his best friend was in a hospital and there was absolutely nothing he could do. That no one could do for that matter. Harry had learned that the insanity would have to go away by itself.
The therapists that had come to see Harry claimed that Harry was meant to do something that his dreams meant for him to do. They said the girl in Harry's dreams was trying to reach out to him, call him. She needed his help and the insanity wouldn't go away until he knew why and until he took action. All they said to help him was to make him take medication every hour and a half and have careful supervision. The only thing that bothered Harry, besides being in St. Mungo's and being called insane, was what was he going to do once school started?
"Hi Harry," Hermione managed to say. She walked over to him and pulled over a chair. Ron pulled a chair over across from Hermione next to Harry's bed too. "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine," Harry replied, remembering what had happened the previous day. How his outrage had gotten the best of him and his accusing his best friends of lying to him, when he knew that hated lying to him. "Uh, about yesterday-."
"No," Hermione interrupted. "You were right. It was wrong of us to keep this from you, especially when it concerns to your health. So, from now on, no secrets. We'll tell you everything we know from the second we know it."
"Now that might get a little too personal. I don't want to get uncomfortable around you two. Things like that, please, for the love of Gawd, keep those things to your self!" For what felt like the first time in ages, Harry smiled and actually laughed.
"Hey! There's that smile I haven't seen for a while! Of course! Nothing too personal. That goes for you too!" Hermione laughed along with Harry. Her tears kept falling, but this time, they were tears of laughter.
"Hey, Ron? Why aren't you talking?" Harry asked looking over at his best friend.
"I don't know,' Ron said looked down at his lap with his arms folded against his chest. "I just think that maybe you ought to stay here for a while longer than they said they were going to keep you here."
"Why is that?" Hermione asked, her smile quickly turning into a frown.
"I was walking to the waiting lounge after getting drinks for us and heard your doctors and therapists saying that you were going to be drugged a lot to stop the insanity. I don't want you to be insane, but I also don't want them to drug you either. Awful things happen to people who get drugged. I just think you need more time here so they can find a way to heal you and not drug you at the same time." Ron quickly unfolded his arms and clapped them together on his knees.
"They're going to drug me?" Harry asked. "Are you sure?"
"They're not sure yet, but they said it was a definite possibility." Ron replied looking Harry in the eye for the first time that day.
"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," Hermione said after a few minutes of awkward silence. "They wouldn't drug Harry. I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding. There are plenty more Harry's in the hospital. You don't know for sure if they meant our Harry. Besides, why would they be talking about Harry's health outside the office for the whole hospital to hear? They wouldn't."
"Why not?" Harry asked, his face turning pale, all the color fading. As if thinking he would die any second.
"Your...erm...case is really rare. In forty years, you are only the second person. You know what Fudge would do if he found out. He'd print it out for the whole wizarding world to know about how the 'Boy Who Lived' went insane. I'm not sure how they've kept it from Fudge all this time, but they have. He still has no idea you're in St. Mungo's. So my point is, doctors wouldn't talk about Harry's health, when Cornelius Fudge could come turning around the corner right that second. They wouldn't even write it down. Trust me, I even talked to them about it. They're really protective of their patients. When I asked if I could see the paper where they keep information, they said they didn't have one for protection and if they did, they wouldn't show it to me for protection of the patient. So you see, Ron? Harry, they're not going to drug you."
Hermione and Harry looked over at Ron who, again, was looking back down at his lap with his arm folded against his chest. He didn't say anything, but both Harry and Hermione knew he was trying to prove his wisdom, make them believe he was right.
"So, anyway," Harry said when the silence got too intense. "Did you get the drinks?"
"Yeah," Hermione said sanding up and walking over to Ron and opening the bag he had been holding for Hermione. Harry heard bottles clicking together. Hermione pulled up three bottles of Butterbeer. She handed one to Ron who opened it and drank a little at a time. She gave one to Harry and then she walked back over to her chair and sat down.
Harry opened his Butterbeer and smelled. He remembered how he and his best friends would go to Hogsmeade together, go to The Three Broomsticks, and just have fun laughing and joking around, drinking Butterbeer. It smelled of vanilla. He brought it to his lips and drank. When he pulled the bottle away, vanilla stuck to his lips. He licked it and smiled. Butterbeer now seemed sacred. It was like everything Harry did, seemed like the last thing he was going to do.
Harry set his Butterbeer down and looked at both his best friends. "So, what's up with you two?"
Hermione coughed and looked down. She blushed and tied to pretend like she had something in her eye to cover up the pink brightness on her cheeks. Ron looked quickly away, but Harry could still see the tips of his ears turn as pink as Hermione cheeks.
"Oh, come on," Harry said throwing his arms down heavily. "What happened to: 'We'll tell you everything we know from the second we know it'?"
"This is personal," Hermione quickly said but still avoiding Harry's eyes.
"Ok..." Harry's voice faded away as he said 'ok'. "Anyway, did Dumbledore come?"
"Yes," Hermione sighed of relief, showing Harry the subject of her and Ron had made her nervous, but why? Glad that she could talk about something else, she added, "He's in the waiting room. He suggested that we go talk to you first. You know, to make sure you're all right before he talked to you. He said it was important and urgent he spoke with you. Did you want to talk to him?"
"Yeah, I need to ask him a question." Harry face automatically went serious and straight.
All of a sudden, Harry's eyelids felt too heavy for him to keep up.
"Actually," he said before Hermione opened the door, "I'm feeling kind of tired. I think I might take a little nap. You can stay if you like."
"Ok," Hermione said walking back over to her chair. Harry closed his eyes and automatically fell asleep. Hermione and Ron kept talking to each other. Hermione kept looking back at Harry as he slept...

Looking back up at the mysterious girl who invaded his thoughts, a different kind of feeling washed over Harry. He had never felt this way before, and it scared him to think he could feel this way. How could a girl he hadn't even met yet make him feel like this? Was his love for the girl true?
"What do you want with me?" Harry asked resting on his elbows. One knee bent toward the dark ceiling that Harry couldn't see, the other laying heavily on the cold floor. He was going to find out what this girl wanted from him. And he was going to find out now. If she needed his help so badly as to invade his dreams every time he fell asleep, why not just tell him? Instead of make him be called insane in the real world outside his dreams.
"I need your help." The girl whispered. Her voice low, but ringing in Harry's ears and echoing throughout the dark room.
"What do you need me to do?" Harry stood up and walked toward the girl. When he was about four centimeters away from her, she looked down. Harry saw teardrops falling from her cheeks to the cold tile floor. He put his hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. Harry put his hand on her cheek and raked his fingers through her hair.
The girls' mouth fell open a little bit, revealing a cold breath. A small fog of breath poured from her mouth. A soft sound between a wail and nervous laugh escaped her mouth.
"Are you ever going to tell me your name?" Harry gently put his hand on her shoulder. Underneath his touch, the girl shuddered. Like his touch was sacred, but dangerous.
"You'll find out soon," she said with deep sorrow in her voice. Her face looked paler than usual, as if wishing she could let him know now, but knowing if she did, she'd die of distrust. "Believe me, you'll find out soon enough."
"Why can't you let me know now?" Harry asked stepping closer to her. Their breath mingled and the girl shut her mouth, swallowing hard. Harry heard the click in her mouth.
"I just can't. But I have something for you. Promise me you won't open it until you are out of this room. Promise me, Harry."
"Okay. I will not open it until I am out of this room." Harry raised his hand and swore to his promise.
The girl looked frantically around before waving her hand in a circle between the small space between their bodies. An envelope appeared in thin air. Harry's eyes widened as the girl grabbed it. The sparkles once floating around it disappeared.
"Here," she said handing it to Harry. "Make sure you are out of here before you even begin to open it. Now. I must warn you."
"Warn me about what?" Harry asked pulling the envelope in the pocket of the sweater he suddenly realized he was wearing.
"He's here. You must get out of here before it's too late." The girl stopped, fear frozen on her face. In a lower voice, she continued. "He's here. Listening to us. You need to get out of here before he kills you."
"Who? Who's here-?" Silly question. Harry didn't know why he'd asked when he knew all along. Voldemort was here. Voldemort was the one listening. Voldemort was the one who had beaten the girl who flooded his dreams.
"What has he done to you?" Harry asked putting both his hands on her shoulders. His voice sounded serious.
"Nothing. Nothing I hadn't expected him to do. You don't need to worry about me." He put both her hands on his and smiled.
"Yes. Yes I do. You're obviously in danger. Or you wouldn't keep appearing in my dreams." Harry said.
"I don't need your hel-."
"What about your parents," Harry asked cutting her off mid-word. "They're probably worried sick. Worried about their little baby girl being a slave to a ....a...monster. Don't you know they love you? Don't you know they're worried about you?"
"No they're not," the girl said her voice suddenly becoming fierce. She looked up into Harry's eyes. "They don't give a damn about me. You know why your parents are gone. I don't. They hate me. They don't care about me. Nobody does."
"You're wrong," Harry said wiping her tears away with his thumbs, "I care about you. I'm trying to help you."
"Look, just go." Tears ran down her cheeks and neck. "Just go. You could end up dead while you're here."
"I'm not really here," Harry whispered. "It's only a dream. I'm in the bed at the hospi-."
"Go! Now!" The girl roughly pushed him away from her. "Now!"
"I can't," Harry said stunned at her push. "I can't leave until the dream is over."
"Just hide then," she said looking up toward the invisible ceiling. "He's coming. He'll find you and kill you. Just, please, hide."
"I need to know your name," Harry said. "Maybe then the dream will stop."
The girl looked over at him. A small smile formed on her lips.
"You'll find out soon." She quickly turned back to the ceiling, a dark cloak floating back down to the ground. A scream filled the room...

Harry sat up straight. He heard a gasp and looked over. Hermione and Ron were still there.
"How long have I been in a coma now?" Harry asked wheezing for breath.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," Hermione said sitting on the edge of her chair, her chest rose as she breathed, clearly startled by Harry's sudden leap in the air as he had woken up. "You've only been asleep for a couple hours. It's almost six."
"Oh," Harry sighed in relief. He glad that for once he had seen the girl in the Department of Mysteries and hadn't actually disappeared there. "Okay. It's just that every time I fall asleep I end up waking up from a coma."
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked grabbing Harry's hand.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Harry said.
"Hey, what's that in your sweater," Ron asked. That's when Harry noticed the envelope sticking out of his pocket in his sweater had had been wearing in the dream.
"I don't know," Harry said although he knew perfectly well what it was. He reached in a pulled out the envelope. He carefully ripped it open and pulled out the paper. But it kept on going. When it was about five inches long and five inches wide, the whole thing came out.
Harry stared at it, speechless. Words hard to find.
It was a picture, a picture of his parents, smiling. Like every wizardry picture it was moving, like a little movie in the palm of his hand. His mother and father twirled around in the snow. Holding onto each other's hand, a large bump in Lily's stomach.
"Harry? What's the date on that picture?" Harry asked glancing over Harry shoulder, starring wide-eyed at Lily's stomach.
"Uh," Harry said looking at the bottom corner. "June 21,1980."
"Isn't that about a month before your birthday?" Hermione asked, a puzzled looked frozen upon her face.
"Yeah." Harry whispered. He turned the card over. Writing appeared:

Your destiny is a clear path
Follow your heart
For you are the glue that holds us together
I know we'll never part
As much as it hurts me to do so
I must let you go
I always be in your dreams
I know I said didn't, but I need you
Please help me

Harry turned the card over and looked at his best friends. As he looked back at the picture, pieces started to disappear in little boxes. Pretty soon, the back round turned into snow falling. Another message appearing on the picture:

Sweet Dreams Harry...