Dreaming Of You

Dreaming of You

Part 2 - Autumn

Chapter 3

Sing once again with me

Our strange duet.

My power over you

Grows stronger yet.

And though you turn from me

To glance behind,

The Phantom of the Opera is there...

Inside your mind.

~*~

"So what did you say to him?" Erin asked, as interested in Autumn's story as Hazel and Lianne were.

"Nothing. I hung up on him." Autumn gave Erin a Look. "You don't think I'm going to actually waste my time talking to some idiot pretending to be Draco, do you?" She scowled suspiciously at the surrounding people. "I bet someone's been listening in on our conversations, and thought it would be a fun joke."

"Probably." Erin nodded her agreement. "Just making sure you knew."

"Oh, come on," Autumn scoffed. "Like I would believe it was really Draco Malfoy..."

~*~

On her way to her next class, Autumn had to pass the payphone, and she nearly had a heart attack when it started ringing just as she went by. She glared at it for a moment, then shrugged and answered it.

The person on the other end managed to speak before she did. "Yeah, what?"

"You again?" Autumn slammed the phone back onto the hook and stalked off down the hall, hoping she'd broken the eardrum of the Draco Malfoy impersonator.

~*~

"And that's twice he's called me, pretending to be Draco!" Autumn concluded after a satisfying ten minutes of ranting to her friend Casey over the phone.

"Did he mean to get you the second time?" Casey wondered. "He could've been just calling the school payphone, and you getting him could've been a coincidence."

"There's no such thing as coincidence, only conspiracies that haven't been discovered yet," Autumn retorted, pacing as much of her room as she could reach, tethered by the phone cord as she was. "What I want to know is, why is he picking on me? Why not pester someone more gullible?"

"You could ask him," Casey suggested. "If he keeps calling you, that is. He might lay off, and you'd never have to deal with him again."

"True," Autumn agreed, just as a loud beep sounded in her ear. "Oh, blast, someone's calling in the other line. I'll be right back."

Pressing the flash button, Autumn put Casey on hold. "Hello," she said politely, in case it was a friend of her father's.

"You. I thought so." It was that boy, again.

"You're the one who keeps calling me," Autumn told him irritably, thinking of Casey's advice. "Why are you calling me, anyway?"

"I'm not. You're calling me," he insisted.

Autumn narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Fine. Whatever. I have someone on the other line, so hold on a second, and I'll be right back." She switched over to Casey. "Guess what. It's him."

"Really? What'd he say?" Casey asked eagerly.

"I'm calling him, apparently." Autumn snorted. "He's trying to mess with me, that's what I think."

"Mess with him right back," Casey advised. "Look, mom wants me to do the dishes, so I've gotta go. Talk to your mystery boy. See you later!"

"See you." Autumn switched lines again. "You there?"

"Yes," he said sullenly. "You left."

"Obviously. I said I was switching lines," Autumn reminded him. "So do you have a name?"

"Draco Malfoy."

"I don't believe you."

"Why not? It's true! Anyway, who else would I be?"

"Some idiot trying to freak me out."

He sighed in exasperation. "Americans."

"Oh, so now you're going to claim you're British?" Autumn laughed mockingly. He had a British accent, sure, but that could be faked. Hazel could do a good imitation, and she sure wasn't British, so obviously it could be learned.

"I am British!" the boy snapped, insulted. "Honestly, what do you people learn over there? Or do you just not listen to your Headmistress?"

"My what?" Ok, now she knew he was losing it. "I'm at home, idiot, as you ought to know, having called me here!"

"Your Headmistress? Juliet Anderson?" he said, speaking slowly, as if to a five-year-old. "Remember her? She, Dumbledore, and the other school heads arranged this stupid exchange thing. As if it weren't bad enough that we have to deal with students from other schools, we've got to use these idiotic Muggle devices to do it!"

Autumn sighed. "You aren't fooling anyone," she told him. "I know perfectly well you aren't Draco Malfoy."

"What are you, insane?" he demanded incredulously. "I know you heard me, you just quoted me on it! What's wrong with you?"

"Draco Malfoy does not exist, much as I might wish otherwise," Autumn said evenly. "He is a character in the Harry Potter books - "

"The what?" he interrupted.

"The Harry Potter books," Autumn repeated, irritated. "You must have heard of them, how else would you know who Draco Malfoy is?"

"I know because I'm him," the boy sneered. "And I admit there probably is some moron out there writing books about Potter, but I know I am not in them. I wouldn't want to be! Sharing a book with Potter? No, thank you."

Autumn rolled her eyes. "So you want me to believe you're really Draco Malfoy, you're really at a magical school in Scotland, and you're really a wizard?"

"Well, it is true," the boy said snootily.

Autumn stared at the receiver for a moment. Then she hung up on him again.

~*~

"Why do you keep doing that?" Lianne demanded, annoyed. "You could at least talk to the boy!"

"He's a raving lunatic," Autumn said calmly, scowling at a page of chemistry notes. "That or an idiot. Personally, I think he's both."

"He might just want to talk to you and not know how," Hazel suggested, putting down her copy of The Tower and the Hive.

"Well, he's going about it all wrong, if that's what he's after." Autumn gave up on studying and shut her notebook. "After being hung up on three times, maybe he'll get the idea."

"Wouldn't it be weird if it was Draco?" Lianne said, smiling dreamily. "He could come on his broomstick to whisk you off to Hogwarts - "

"Um, Li, there is a vital flaw in that plan," Erin said, grinning. "Draco does not exist."

Lianne gave Erin a reproachful glare. "A minor problem in the face of true love."

"Well, no one's whisking me anywhere any time soon," Autumn said firmly. "At least, not if I have anything to say about it."

"You might not," Hazel said absently, most of her attention involved in her book again. "I mean, you never know."

~*~

"You again? Stop calling me!" Autumn shouted.

"I'm not! You're the one who's calling me, or can't your astoundingly small intellect grasp that?" the boy who insisted he was Draco yelled back. The crack of a phone being slammed down rang in Autumn's ear.

Autumn narrowed her eyes. Fine. He wanted to believe that, let him. She'd call him on it. She marched out to the living room and picked up the caller ID. Pressing the Back button, the words Malfoy, Draco flashed on the little screen, along with an overseas number.

"I don't believe it." Autumn pinched herself hard. "I do not believe it." She scribbled the number down, stalked back to her room, and dialed it.

"What now?" It was him! Autumn rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. Of course it was him. Who else would it be?

"Ok, fine. You're a computer genius, or something," she conceded with ill grace. "How'd you rig my caller ID?"

"I didn't rig anything," he said testily. "What's a 'caller ID', anyway?" A new suspicion came over his voice. "Are you a Muggle?"

"Yeah. So?" Autumn felt oddly defensive of her lack of magic. All right, so she scoffed at the people she disliked by calling them Muggles, but it was different the way he said it. Nastier than an inside joke.

"Wonderful. A Muggle." The disgust in the boy's tone was plain. "And here I thought an American witch would be bad. I suppose those gits running this whole scheme messed up."

"What scheme?" Autumn asked curiously, before she remembered she didn't believe any of this. He was too convincing for comfort!

"First, the combined school boards make Muggle Studies mandatory!" the boy said vehemently, and Autumn recognized the beginnings of what was clearly a longtime rant. "As if we need to know about a world without magic! Then, they go and decide the schools don't interact enough. So they're making us talk on these laughable Muggle contraptions to students at other schools! Supposedly, it's a 'closed magical network' and will only work to other devices in the network, but obviously, they made a mistake with that part. A Muggle!"

"At least I don't belong in the loony bin," Autumn retorted, stung. "You're a Muggle yourself!"

"I'm not!" he gasped in outrage. "How dare you say such a thing?"

"Well, it is true," Autumn said in a perfect imitation of his snooty tone from before.

"Muggle riffraff." The boy snorted.

"Excuse me?" Autumn said incredulously. "Did you just insult me to my face?"

"You know, I rather think I did!" he sneered. "So?"

"Well, I'll have you know that you are the single rudest person I have ever had the displeasure of speaking to in my life!" Autumn exploded. "Even your ancestral pigeon would be ashamed of you! The half-breed monkey you have for a grandmother must be writhing in her muckheap! And your mother, who was obviously a street-walking baboon or an unusually stupid Cornish Pixie, probably died of humiliation long ago!"

"My mother is alive, healthy, and quite human, thank you," he said coldly. "Are you quite through?"

"Not remotely!" Autumn yelled, still in the powerful grip of her fury. "You have the manners of a wild pig! You dare to call me up at my own home and mock me, and lie to me, and insult me! You claim to be what I know you can't be, for the express purpose of putting me through pain, and you've probably got a bunch of friends over there laughing, thinking this is funny! Well, anyone who's listening, you can just - "

"There's no one listening," he broke in, insulted. "And I happen to have very good manners!"

"Hah!" Autumn snarled. "Could've fooled me!"

"Why should I waste courtesy on a Muggle?" he snapped. "You're nothing but a magicless freak - "

"And you claim to be polite!" Autumn growled. "I ought to have you arrested for harassment!"

"After you've been calling me?" he scoffed. "Fine case that would make! And you'd lose."

"Would not!"

"Would so!"

"Would not!"

"Would so!"

"Would not!"

"I refuse to be drawn into this sort of argument!" the boy snapped. "Especially not with a Muggle!"

"Too late." Autumn smirked. "And I'd give up on the Mighty Wizard act. You're only fooling yourself. You're only good point is good taste on which wizard to pretend to be."

"I'm not pretending," he said stubbornly.

"Are so."

"Am not."

"Are so."

"Am no- " He caught himself.

"Gotcha," Autumn said smugly.

"Autumn?" She jumped as her dad called her. She'd almost forgotten he was in the house. "Come on, we're going to dinner!"

"Blast! I need to go, but we can finish this argument another time."

Autumn was about to hang up when he protested, "Hey, wait, don't you have a name?"

"What do you care?" Autumn sighed in exasperation. "Autumn, alright? I'm Autumn. Goodbye." She hung the phone up with a decisive click.

~*~

"Good. You're talking to him," Lianne said approvingly.

"Why are you so excited about all this?" Autumn demanded irately. "It's just some idiot harassing me."

"Some idiot pretending to be Draco," Lianne corrected.

"It's because she's having those weird dreams," Erin said, grinning. "She thinks everyone should have some sort of link to their beloved fantasy man."

"And so they should," Lianne agreed, smiling broadly.

"Oh! Are you still having those dreams?" Hazel turned to Lianne with a gasp. "It wasn't just a one-time thing?"

"Nope, real as ever," Lianne replied, frowning in confusion. "Why?"

"I..." Hazel looked down at her book, as though for support. "I think I'm having them, too."

Part 3 - Hazel

Chapter 4

Those who have seen your face

Draw back in fear.

I am the mask you wear...

It's me they hear.

Your spirit and my voice

In one combined.

The Phantom of the Opera is there...

Inside your mind.

~*~ flashback to the previous night ~*~

"What in the world..." Hazel stared around the room in disbelief. It looked vaguely like a classroom, with the rows of desks and all, but the dark stone walls and the distinct underground feeling she was getting didn't feel at all like any classroom she'd ever been in before. How did I get here? she wondered. I could've sworn I was in bed...

Then she realized what had to be going on. Oh. I see. This is a dream. Well, that made sense. Somewhat. She was dreaming about being in an underground room with desks and stone walls. And light. It never occurred to her that she shouldn't have been able to see. ("It's not the sort of thing you think of. You just sort of assume you will be able to see, even though it's dark.")

Then, "Who are you?"

Hazel turned hastily, eyes widening in shock. ("It was that voice. I'd never heard it before, but I knew it. Just... perfect.") "Harry Potter!"

The boy sighed, rubbing wearily at his messy black bangs with the hand that wasn't holding his lit wand. "Yes, that's right, Harry Potter. Let's all gawk like three-year-olds. Go right ahead. I'm too tired to care."

"Sorry." Hazel blushed, looking down. She realized with a jolt of horror that she was wearing her nightdress. ("I just thank my lucky stars I hadn't been sleeping in a Hogwarts shirt, or something!")

Harry shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Sorry to intrude on you, I guess I must've been sleepwalking."

"Beg pardon?" Hazel blinked. ("Beg pardon? I can't believe you said that. No one says that." "I do." "Well, you're weird.")

"I honestly didn't mean to come down here right now." Harry grinned in a puzzled sort of way. "I assume I was sleepwalking, since that's the only reason I can think of for my coming down here without remembering how I got here."

"Where's 'here'?" Hazel asked warily. She wasn't at all sure she trusted this dream. Dreaming about Harry was usually nice, but this was getting confusing.

"The Potions dungeon." Harry frowned. "Aren't you down here to raid Snape's stores, or something? That's what I'd figured."

Hazel shook her head slowly. ("I honestly hadn't the faintest idea what he was talking about. Why would I want to steal potion ingredients? What would I have done with them?") "Um... no... I rather thought I was dreaming."

"Oh. A fellow sleepwalker." Harry gave her a friendly grin, and her heart nearly stopped. Dream or not, his effects on her were certainly real enough. "We should probably get back to our respective dormitories before Snape decides to make a surprise midnight inspection of his classrooms, or something. Which House are you in?"

"Um..." ("Well, how do you answer that? I don't know, I'm not in a House?") "It doesn't matter. We'd better go. I think I heard someone." ("Oh, great bluff. I'm sure he believed that.")

"Really?" Harry glanced worriedly towards the door. "You must have great ears." All of a sudden, he was awake, alert, and ready for action. "Our best chance would be to hide in here, then. Whoever it is will probably just walk on by." He pulled Hazel down behind one of the rows of desks, hissing, "Nox" to shut off his wand's glow.

Hazel wasn't sure how long he made them stay hidden that way, crouched on the hard, damp floor in a pitch-black dungeon, but finally Harry stood up with a sigh of relief. ("I can't believe you let a moment with that romantic potential go!" "Was I allowed to interrupt your story? Shush!") "Whoever it was must've gone past. Unless you might've misheard?"

"Maybe," Hazel agreed hesitantly, squinting to see in the darkness.

"Lumos," Harry whispered, his wand lighting again. "I hate not being able to see. How did you stand it down here without your wand lit?"

"Um..." Hazel thought fast. "I... don't have my wand with me... just now." ("Well, it was technically true.")

"Don't you?" Harry gave her a look of concern. "You'll never find your way back to your Common Room in the dark. I'll walk you back."

"Oh, you needn't!" Hazel protested, alarmed. "Really, I'm fine!" ("Dreaming about going to Hogwarts is all well and good, sure, but how do you explain being there when you don't belong there? What do you do when someone asks what your House is, and you haven't a clue?")

Harry gave her a look of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding. I still have trouble finding my way around in the full light of day. No way can you do it without any light at all."

"But..." Hazel cast around frantically for something to keep him from realizing she didn't belong. ("Why did you care? It was a dream." "Well... because it felt so real, I suppose. Like it wasn't really a dream at all.") Then it came to her. "I'm not supposed to tell other people where our Common Room is!"

"Ohhh." Harry nodded in understanding. "I see. Yeah, the Gryffindors don't like people from other Houses knowing too much about our Common Room, either. I think a lot of them are afraid someone might manage to sneak in, somehow."

"Exactly." Hazel nodded in relieved agreement.

"Still... I don't like the idea of anyone stumbling around in the dark." Harry frowned thoughtfully. "Why don't I take you to somewhere near your Common Room? Close enough that you don't need light to get there, but far enough away that I won't know too much?"

"Um... well..." Hazel swallowed a sigh, and cast about for a landmark she could name without looking stupid. "I can... uh... find my way there from the Astronomy Tower."

Harry looked blank. ("I could've kicked myself. I was sure I'd said something inadvertently impossible.") "Which one?"

"The tallest one?" Hazel suggested tentatively. Please let it be right, please let it be right...

"Ah. A Ravenclaw." Harry nodded, his face clearing. "I thought your Common Room was near there."

"Yes," Hazel agreed in relief. This dream was altogether too nerve-wracking for her. Why couldn't she ever have dreams about flying or something, like normal people?

Mercifully, Harry took the lead to the Tower. Hazel hadn't any idea what she would have done if he'd asked her to go first. Lose her mind, possibly. ("Haven't you already lost it?" "Quiet, you. Let her talk." "Thank you.")

After a time that was far too long - what if she said something that showed she wasn't really part of this world? - and also far too short - this was Harry, actually Harry, or as close as she was likely to ever get to him - they reached a staircase that apparently led up to the Astronomy Tower.

"So, this is where I leave you," Harry said, smiling. "Why don't you track me down at breakfast, let me know that you get back to your dorm without any more difficulties? And you never did give me a name."

"Hazel Randel," she told him, never thinking to make up a name. She had to give him her real name. She couldn't not do so.

"So I'll see you tomorrow, Hazel?" Harry asked her. Then his smile faded, and turned to a grimace. "Oh, damn."

"What?" Hazel twisted, to see a skinny cat with eyes like lamps glaring at them. ("It had to be Mrs. Norris. And no way is that cat an Animagus gone wrong. Only a real cat can look that accusing.")

Before either of them had time to do anything, there was the huffing of heavy breathing in the distance, and the pounding of running feet. Harry and Hazel tried to scramble high enough up the steps to get out of sight, but they knew it was a lost cause. Mrs. Norris would see wherever they went, and would tell Filch. Just as Hazel saw him turn the corner -

~*~

"And you conveniently woke up?" Lianne sighed in annoyance. "It was just getting good!"

Hazel gave her a look of disbelief. "You would think so. I was scared out of my wits!"

"Why? It was only a dream, you know." Autumn laughed lightly. "Crazy phone calls, insane dreams, I think we've all just been spending way too much time around Lianne."

While the younger girl gasped in mock-outrage, Erin grinned. "You know, I'm starting to feel kind of left out. I mean, Hazel and Lianne get cool dreams, Autumn gets interesting phone calls... what about me? Doesn't Remus want to make contact with me somehow?"

"You do understand everything that's happening now is just the product of our overactive imaginations?" Autumn asked, eyeing Erin warily.

"Yes, of course." Erin nodded, then sighed. "But it would be interesting if my imagination would overact a bit, too."