Secrets and Protection

It was a crisp cool night as a light wind blew across the water that lay in front of a small cottage. Kylean stepped up onto a rock to get closer to the water. She took in a deep breath of the fresh air as she could still feel some warmth on her cheeks from the setting sun. She found herself becoming entranced by the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. It was about time to turn back to the house when it suddenly exploded into a fall of fire. The only thing Kylean could hear was the cry of a man calling out her name. "Severus... NO!" She yelled as she raced back toward the house, heart pounding. But she stopped dead in her tracks as a tattered and burned robe came fluttering down from above.

"No daddy...No!!" Raven yelled sitting bolt right up in bed as sweat poured down her face and her breathing was rapid. She flopped back down into the bed when she saw the lights flash on. Some of the other girls looked at her like she had two heads but Hermione was the only one who got out of bed and went over to Raven's side.

"Is every thing okay?" The fifth-year prefect asked in a gentle tone.

Raven was still trying to get her breathing under control. "Was just a bad dream," Raven said wiping the few tears that had mixed in with the sweat on her face.

"Are you sure? You don't look so good. What was the dream about?" Hermione asked, worried about her new friend.

"Yeah-- positive. I saw my dad die in an explosion. But he would never go away with my mum so it isn't possible," Raven said taking a few gasping breaths as her nerves started to slowly be calmed by that realization.

"But dreams are just dreams it doesn't mean they...." Hermione started but came to a realization that Raven could have the power of second sight.

"Maybe this one won't come true. Maybe it's just from the stress of everything lately," Raven said hoping to convince herself that was the truth. The dark haired witch was remembering the dream she had a few months back in which her cat Jynx had wandered off into a blizzard and was found a few weeks later frozen in the middle of a melted field. A few weeks after that dream, Jynx had gone missing and was found exactly as Raven had seen in her dream. "This is no gift," Raven muttered to herself, "it's a damn curse."

"You're probably right," Hermione placated her, glad that she could see that Raven had calmed down a little and the rest of the girls in the room had calmed down also.

"Thank you, Hermione," Raven said with a small smile as she tried to close her eyes. She hoped that that dream would not come back. For the rest of the night Raven tossed and turned in bed in a fitful light doze forcing herself not to dream anymore that evening.