Worse Than Crucio

Chapter 2: The Dream

Harry had to admit, Grimmauld Place was a lot different without Sirius there. It seemed much darker and ominous than it had before. Harry was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the group of people walking towards him. Only when one of the redheads called out his name did he look up. Then he felt his jaw drop.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny he expected. Neville and Luna he had not.

"What are you guys doing here?" Harry asked. He looked at Luna.

"I thought you and your Dad were going to go look for that Snork-Crumpled-whatever it was."

"We were, but Dumbledore wrote and said that he wanted Dad in the Order. Neville's family's here also," she added.

"Really?" asked Harry. Neville nodded.

"Gran and Uncle Algie agreed to take my parent's place in the Order," Neville mumbled.

Not knowing how to respond, Harry just nodded, then turned to Ron. "Are Fred and George at work?"

"Work? No, they're in the Order now too," said Ron darkly.

"What?" gasped Harry.

"Yeah. Mum didn't want them in it, but now that they've left Hogwarts, they can join. I wish we could," Ginny added.

"Are they in a meeting now?" Harry asked, just realizing that Lupin and Tonks had disappeared and left Harry's trunk behind.

"Yeah," muttered Ron. He looked around, then muttered, "Percy's here."

"I know, Lupin told me," said Harry.

"Oh," said Ron. "Look, I don't forgive him for what he said about you, you know, you being unbalanced and all."

"I know, Lupin and Tonks already told me. But I don't want your whole family split up because of me," Harry told him.

"It's not just about you. It's about what they said about Dumbledore too. And Dad," added Ginny. There was an awkward silence, which was broken by Hermione.

"So, why don't we help Harry get his trunk upstairs?" she asked. They all agreed.

As soon as they were upstairs Harry noticed a third bed located in the room he shared with Ron last summer. He turned to Neville.

"Are you staying in here, too?" he asked. Neville nodded.

"And I'm staying with them," Luna informed him, nodding to Ginny and Hermione.

"Cool," said Harry, for a lack of a better word. He sat down on his bed. Luna noticed the dark circles around his eyes.

"Harry, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes," said Harry, a little too quickly. "Why?"

"It just looks like you haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately."

"Gee, wonder why," he muttered sarcastically, then felt bad, realizing she was just trying to help. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she smiled.

"So, what have you guys been doing?" he asked, anxious for a change of subject.

They quickly informed him of the entire Percy situation. Then that Mr. and Mrs. Diggory had decided to join the Order now as well. Soon Harry found himself growing tired. Then he remembered that he had only gotten about fifteen hours of sleep in the past week. That reminded him of his dream...

He was standing in a dark room, completely alone save one man that was standing in a shadowy corner. Harry stepped cautiously towards the man.

"Hello?" Harry called. The man stirred. "Who are you?" Harry asked. The man turned around to face Harry, who screamed. Over his own shouting he could hear Voldemort scream one word, his wand pointed at Harry's heart.

"Dementomins!"

"Harry! Harry wake up!" someone was shaking him. Harry opened his stinging eyes to look into the concerned face of his best friend.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked him, helping him to his feet. Harry could see the others gathered around, watching him worriedly.

"What happened?" Harry mumbled, wiping cold sweat off his face for the second time that day.

"You were having a nightmare," a trembling Neville told him. "You screamed and then woke up."

"I dreamt about Voldemort," Harry whispered. Neville jumped and Ron winced. The girls remained still, all except--

"Harry-" Hermione began but Harry cut her off.

" I know it's not real. If it was real I would be standing next to Voldemort and he would have just used some kind of curse on me. I'm just saying that's why I--"

Harry stopped. He heard screaming. He was in another room, this time a deep red colored room that reminded him of Gryffindor tower. It was night, he could tell. Orange and black decorations were spread out around the room. A man and a woman were in it. The redheaded woman had a baby in her arms, her green eyes wide and fearful. Then her husband screamed.

"Lily! Take Harry and go. It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-"

There was the sound of someone stumbling from the room as a door burst open. Lily was running up the stairs, down the hall, last door to the left. The baby's room. Yelling could be heard downstairs. There was a crash, glass breaking, Lily crying--

Ron and the others stared as Harry's eyes filled with tears for some reason unknown to them. He was shutting his eyes, shaking his head with his hands over his ears. It was almost as if he was trying to clear his head of something--

"Not Harry! Please no--take me, kill me instead!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl. Stand aside now." The yelling and pleading continued for another minute, ending with a final shout of "Avada Kedavra!" and a burst of green light--

As the light cleared the scene changed. He was in a graveyard. A graveyard that looked all too familiar--

"KILL THE SPARE!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Cedric was lying on the ground, a shocked expression on his face. The face suddenly turned into Sirius's, who was falling through an archway, behind the veil, just hit by Bellatrix Lestrange's curse--

"Harry!" screamed Hermione. "Can you hear me?"

As Harry's eyes snapped open tears began to pour down his face.

"Did you hear that?" he gasped. "See it?" he inquired, earning more bewildered stares. Barely a minute had passed since Sirius had fallen through the veil when the whole sequence started all over again, the same as before. Except, Harry realized, he could see both worlds: the real world and the world in his head. He could also talk.

"Help," he sobbed, slowly sinking to his knees.

"Harry, what--"

"Make it go away!" he cried.

"Dumbledore." They all agreed. Harry leapt up and tore down the stairs, his mother's voice screaming in his ears.