Dreams of the Four

I take credit for the story only plus the pendent is entirely mine as well as the Four.

A.N at bottom

Part 4: chapters 8 and 9

Chapter 8

She stood alone beneath the moon. A long hooded cloak concealed everything but the determined look on her face. Slowly she lifted her hands and pushed the hood back, revealing long brown hair with a plain silver circlet across her forehead.

She opened her arms and a wind began to swirl around her, tossing her hair and cloak, revealing a glowing silver pendent hanging between her breasts. She whispered ancient words and opened her palms to release a pale violet dust into the wind. A cloud of purple engulfed her figure.

The cloud swirled around her as three forms entered the clearing. The first was a warrior, clear green eyes sparkling with determination. The second was a maiden, red hair like fire flowing down her back. The third was a lord, sparkling silver eyes flashing in the moonlight.

The three reached her form and opened their hands, adding green, red and silver dust to the cloud of purple already swirling around her. Then all four formed a circle and tilted their faces to the moon. Each closed their eyes and uttered a single word in turn.

The cloud expanded and engulfed all four forms in a whirl of green, red, silver and violet. Then they each reached out their right hand to the center and a golden orb formed. It floated up, engulfing the clearing with pure, warm light.

Then everything dissolved away and she stood alone in a stone room, chained to a wall. A figure moved from the shadows of the corner and feelings of fear and evil filled her soul. She tried to stand strong, but shrunk away when a gloved hand reached to touch her face.

A cruel voice chuckled and it drew the hand away. No face was visible but cold black eyes shown from the darkness of the hood. He then muttered a spell and immediately her eyes began to droop. The pendent glowed and burned hotly against her skin. The last thing she saw was the hand reaching for it when everything went black.

Hermione awoke suddenly and at once reached for the pensieve next to her bed. She extracted the dream from her mind quickly and then rolled over and fell immediately back to sleep.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the castle...

A silver blond head was bent intently over a small blue book. He flicked hair from his silver eyes and opened the page. He had finally broken on spell on it to discover the book was blank. He cursed and slammed the book shut; he had just spent two weeks trying to decode the spell to find another one concealing the writing from his eyes.

"Stupid Granger," he muttered as he pulled a large dusty book towards him and began to flip the pages. He stopped at the one he had just used to break to first spell and looked for others like it on the same page. He cursed again when he found nothing and shoved to book away.

He tossed a dirty look at the small journal on the table and stood up to stretch. He had been working at it for five hours that night. And he was now stiff and tired. He paced around the Slytherin common room, muttering curses to Hermione and Harry and Hermione’s journal. He paused when he heard someone moving on the stairs and quickly stashed the small blue book in his inside robe pocket.

Down the stairs came Pansy, wrapped in a pink dressing gown and her hair falling down around her face. She had obviously spent some time on it because it was in curls instead of lank strands falling in her eyes. She smiled in feigned surprise and Draco groaned under his breath.

She sidled up to him with a coy smile and ran her fingers up his arm. He made a face of disgust that she couldn’t see in the low light from the fire. She moved to press up against him and he tolerated it for a moment before becoming uncomfortable and moving away.

"So Draco.... What are you doing down here all alone." She put emphasis on the alone part and pressed up against him again with a purr.

"Get lost Pansy, I don’t need some slut here with me right now." This time he shoved her away and she looked at him venomously before replying.

"Well better a Slytherin slut than Harry Potter’s whore," she told him as she straightened her hair. "You think I don’t know what you have been doing recently. Pining after some Gryffindor mudblood. She’s beneath you Draco, if your father ever found out..." She didn’t finish her sentence because Draco had grabbed her around the neck, cutting off any words.

"If you, or anyone, tells him, I will see to it that you will soon be without your tongue forever," he growled out and thrust her away from him. She stood coughing and wheezing before turning murderous eyes toward Draco.

"You...think...you can stop me," she gasped out. "You better watch your back Draco. You might find a knife in it one of these days." With that, she turned and left the common back up the stairs.

He watched her go and then sat down in confused despair. Could it really be? Am I actually jealous of Harry and Hermione? Wait, why would I be jealous of Potter. He pulled the book from his pocket and looked down at it. Why would I even like her, she’s just a common mudblood, nothing important about her...

* * * * *

The next evening, Hermione sat with Ron in the prefects meeting room waiting for the others. As head girl, it was her responsibility to make sure the meetings started on time and that everyone one was accounted for. Slowly, prefects from all four houses started trickling in the room. First the seventh year prefects took their places followed by the sixth years and then the fifth years. When she counted to make sure everyone was there, she realized one of the green Slytherin chairs was empty. It was the chair usually occupied by Draco Malfoy.

She motioned to Ron as he moved to start the meeting for him to wait a few minutes more. He tossed an impatient look around the room and frowned when he saw the empty chair.

"Where is he?" he asked the other Slytherins in an irritated voice. They all looked at him owlishly and he growled. "Well I’m for one am not going to be kept waiting again. I have other things to do tonight."

Hermione pulled out a parchment and quill to write down anything important and Ron set the meeting recording on. Just as he was about to open his mouth to officially begin the meeting, Draco strolled into the room casually, throwing both Ron and Hermione a nasty look. He then proceeded to take his seat next to Blaise Zambini who was fidgeting with her prefect badge.

"Now that we are all here, lets begin by allowing Draco to explain his lateness." Ron motioned to Draco who smirked at him.

"I was in the bathroom," he said simply and then sat back casually in his chair. Ron sighed and returned everyone’s attention to himself. "Alright, the point of this meeting is to discuss some ideas for the Halloween feast this year. Its been left completely up to us this year and it has to be good. Does anyone have any ideas? Ones that don’t involve illegal substances," he said as he saw a sixth year Slytherin move to stand up and the Slytherin quickly sat down, a blush rising in his cheeks. "This is serious folks, we need to find a really good idea or future councils will lose the privilege of planning this and other events."

The 28 other students looked at him silently for about five minutes until Draco spoke. "What if we had a poll done in each house and pick the most popular suggestions. That’s the simplest way and it will make the most people happy, which is what we want. We could also throw in a few surprises, like the entertainment and some of the food and that way, no one will really know what to expect." He sat back and waited for the others reactions.

"Fine, all in favour of house polls say aye," Ron said and a chorus of ayes filled the room. "All opposed?" The room was silent. "The ayes have it. Each house’s prefects poll your houses within the next three days and we’ll reconvene the day after that to go over everything. Meeting adjourned." Ron ended the recorder and picked it up to put it away. The prefects trickled out, some stopping to ask Ron or Hermione a few questions. Then as Hermione moved to leave to meet Harry, who was waiting for her outside, Ron grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Hermione, what’s going on with you lately? You didn’t say anything during this meeting and usually you can’t keep your mouth shut. I’m sure Harry noticed too because like you he was quiet as well. Now don’t hand me any of that tired stuff Hermione, I know you to well." Ron looked down at Hermione’s face and waited for her answer. She looked down at her shoes, avoiding his eyes but couldn’t think up a good excuse. He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to search her eyes.

"I’m sorry Ron, I just can’t tell you right now ok. But I will soon." Ron sighed a brotherly type sigh and gave her a quick hug before letting her leave. He watched her go with a concerned look in his eyes.

"I hope you find the help you need Hermione," he said softly and then followed her out and closed the door behind him.

* * * * *

Hermione sat next to Harry on his bed, working on potion’s work with them. They had been given the assignment to create a mild-sleeping potion using only standard ingredients and one powerful sleep inducer. So far, neither had succeeded in finding a sleep inducer mild enough to use with any ingredient but those it was already paired with in a potion.

Harry slammed shut the book he was using and shoved it away. "This is the most ridiculous assignment Snape has ever given us. This sleep inducer is gonna be something obscure you know that right." He looked up at Hermione who nodded in agreement as she slowly copied down every sleeping potion they could find, hoping one of them would offer a clue.

Hermione finished copying the spell and yawned, pulling the 1001 magical herbs and plants book towards her. She flipped to the index and looked up any mention of sleep inducing properties in the plants and was rewarded with two pages of the index taken up by sleep inducing plants. She quickly turned to the first one on the list and was disappointed to see it was just for relaxing to help you sleep, not actually for putting someone to sleep. She shoved the entire book away with a sigh.

"Your right Harry, Snape is just doing this to be spiteful, hoping we all fail this assignment." She moved closer to Harry and leaned against the headboard next to him. He looked down into her face and smiled before dropping a kiss on her lips. She returned it happily, putting her arms around his neck.

"Ahem..." Ron cleared his throat and the two on the bed jumped apart. "As much as I hate to walk in on that, I need to speak to Harry for a moment if you don’t mind Hermione."

"OK, I’ll just wait here OK?" Hermione settled back against the headboard with the herb book in her hands and a notebook beside her to jot down anything important. She watched Ron and Harry leave the room and then turned to the book in her lap. Slowly, her eyes began to droop and she yawned some more. Finally she set the book and her notebook aside and curled up on Harry’s pillow to rest her eyes for a moment.

"Something is wrong with her Harry, you just have to look at her to see that," Ron told Harry outside the dorm room.

"One would think she was almost your sister, the way you act Ron. And I know something is wrong, she has told me part of it, but she is still hiding something. I can feel it," Harry said calmly as Ron began to pace slightly in the corridor.

"I know, ever since fifth year when we tried going out. I realized then it felt weird, like I was dating Ginny or something so we split up, deciding to be friends instead." Ron stopped pacing. "Look, lets discuss this later OK Harry, I just wanted to let you know."

"OK, I’m gonna go back in the room now." They both reentered the room to find Hermione sleeping peacefully on Harry’s bed. Harry walked over to the bed and covered Hermione with his quilt and closed the curtains around his bed.

"You know, if she’s found in here. She’s in big trouble. As head boy, I could easily report this. Maybe we should move her." Ron moved to the bed but was stopped short by Harry.

"Leave her alone, she needs as much undisturbed sleep as she can get. We can move her out in the morning before the others wake up." Harry then crawled through the curtains and settled himself next to Hermione and held her close. Her entire body seemed to relax in his presence and she moved into a deeper sleep. Harry then closed his eyes and slept himself.

* * * * *

Chapter 9

He stood in the small room and looked around. He appeared to be inside a cottage; he glanced at the window, surrounded by trees. A large fireplace dominated one wall and a large cauldron bubbled away over the flames. A pleasant smell filled the cottage. He walked over to peer at the pale violet liquid inside the cauldron. He then continued his observations. Opposite the fireplace was a long wooden table covered with various plant parts, vials, and other potion making instruments. Shelves stretched across the wall above it filled with more potion supplies and large leather bound books. He then noticed the small cot like bed near the fireplace and a pair of wooden chairs tucked into the corner nearest the fireplace. It was then that he noticed the doorway, covered by a curtain that obviously concealed a pantry of sorts.

He went over to the table and reached for a book when the curtain was pushed back and she stepped into the room. He was surprised to see Hermione, dressed in antique looking robes, arms filled with what appeared to be green willow bark, peeled from the new wood of a willow tree. She rushed over to where he stood and motioned him away as she dropped the bark onto the table.

"Don't touch that, please just go sit down and I will find you something to drink." She rushed back through the curtain with a wooden goblet filled with a liquid and a cast iron cauldron in her hands. She gave him the drink and lifted the cauldron to her table and immediately began to throw bits of dry plant material into it. It went various shredded or chopped roots, the peeled bark, dried flower buds, what looked like powdered dragons scales. She then reached to the back of her lowest shelf and removed a small glass vial filled with a bright amber fluid. She upended the vial, spilling the entire contents into her cauldron. A cloud of amber coloured smoke puffed up and she stirred it with a wooden spoon. Then she started a magic blue fire beneath the cauldron and it began to simmer immediately.

He watched her turn away from this and take three large bricks of beeswax from a stone jar at her feet. She placed them on the table and went to remove the other cauldron from its place in the fire. Using her wand, she lifted it to table and slowly added the bricks to the hot liquid. Each brick melted and she stirred the potion until it was a waxy smooth liquid. Then she reached for three large clay pots with lids and ladled the waxy liquid into them. Then she used her wand to mark each pot with a runic symbol before sealing them shut. The markings glowed briefly as she pushed them to the back of one of her shelves, into the darkness.

Then she turned back to her amber coloured potion, now bubbling happily away in the small cauldron at her side. With the fire still burning beneath it, she filled glass vials until not a drop remained in the cauldron. The fire went out magically and she marked the cork of each vial with a small sun. These vials were then whisked away to the room beyond the curtain. Then she used her wand to magic away all her mess just a young woman rushed through the door and into the cottage.

"I'm here for my lesson...Oh!" She stopped short as she saw him and looked around nervously.

"He's one of us silly. Don't worry. Please go get the proper things for your lesson from the back room while I show my guest out." The redhead moved quickly through the curtain and disappeared from view. She turned to him and said. "I'm teaching her proper magic. Her wizard parents died when she was very young and her muggle parents know nothing of the magical world. I treated her adopted mother for something once and noticed the magic around the girl and offered to teach her about plants. Her parents agreed so now I teach her magic every two days." She walked him out the door and he stood alone in her front area before the scene shimmered away.

Now he stood alone in a clearing, in the dark of night. He could hear a woman’s frightened cries and clothe rustling as he stood silent. Then he watched Hermione burst into the clearing, her hair a tangled mess and her robes muddy and torn. He tried to rush toward her, but found himself pass through everything, as if inside a pensieve. Then a shadowy form burst from the trees, following Hermione close behind. Hermione glanced back and stumbled over a tree root, slowing considerably. Then the shadowy form took out a wand and a yellow flash filled the clearing. When it cleared, he saw Hermione lying unconscious on the ground. The shadowy form moved forward and an eerie laughter filled the area.

He stepped over to where Hermione lay and picked her up into his arms. The motion caused his hood to move slightly, offering Harry a view of sinister black eyes. Then he whistled and a large black horse galloped into the clearing. He swung himself and Hermione up and the scene faded away around Harry as he watched the two ride away into the trees.

Harry woke with a start and quickly looked over to Hermione, who was still sleeping next to him. He then peeked quickly out the bed curtains and was relieved to see all the other curtains still closed and he could even hear the faint snoring from one of the other boys. He relaxed and looked down at Hermione again and was startled to see the look of fear on her face. She clutched at the jumper he still wore from yesterday and whimpered in her sleep.

He cuddled her close, trying to calm her down but she became more frantic with each passing minute. Finally, he shook her awake and she opened frightened eyes and looked up at him, recognition finally coming after several tense seconds. She immediately buried her head in his shoulder in a very un-Hermionelike way and began to cry. He held her close and murmured soothing words into her ear.

After several minutes, she calmed down enough to tell him what was wrong. "It was a horrible dream Harry. It started out fine, I was in a cottage with you and we were talking. Then Ginny came in, I think for some type of lesson. I let you out and them the scene changed and I was running for my life through woods. Someone was chasing me on horseback and I couldn't get away. Then I burst into a clearing and tried to run for the darkness of the trees but I tripped and they caught up. I tried to run after I got up but I was hit with something, my entire vision was filled with yellow and then everything went black. I woke up chained to a cot in some kind of cell. It came out of the darkness and...and..." Tears started to flow again and she sobbed quietly into his jumper. "Harry, I want these dreams to stop. Please make them stop?" She looked up at him with despite eyes and he felt a wave of sympathy wash over him. He had, after all, seen part of the dream and it looked draining.

"Hermione, I think I shared part of your dream. I dreamed of you in a cottage and then Ginny came in and you showed me out. Then the scene changed and I felt like I was inside a pensieve. I heard you scream and watched you come running into a clearing. When I tried to rush forward, I passed through everything and then you tripped and he came in after you. He shot something yellow at you and you fell. It was horrible to watch. I saw his eyes, they were black and so cold." He held her close and then leaned down and dropped a kiss on her mouth. She closed her eyes and responded, a calming feeling filling her body.

She maneuvered herself closer to him and he tightened his hold on her. Suddenly they broke apart when someone pulled open the side curtains on Harry's bed. Both looked up, Harry with shock and Hermione with surprise. Ron’s face peeked through the gap he had just created with a grin of feigned shock on his face.

"Hermione, how could you. I can see it now; Hogwarts Head Girl Caught in Bed with Boy Who Lived. And you’re supposed to be a role model for all those young witches out there." Ron’s eyes twinkled with amusement and he sat down next to the pair on the bed. Harry looked ready to cheerfully murder Ron at that moment but he ignored him. Hermione on the other hand was shocked to see Ron and it was as if she had just realized she was in Harry's bed, in the boy’s dorm room.

"Oh my, I shouldn't be in here, why am I in your bed Harry?" She looked over at Harry, confusion written on her face.

"You fell asleep last night while I was taking to Ron, after we were studying. You haven't been sleeping very well lately so I didn't want to wake you up just yet. We decided to let you sleep and we were gonna transport you to the common room before everyone else woke up." He looked a little unsure of the idea now that it was the morning but Hermione smiled and kissed him quickly.

"Oh Harry, that was very thoughtful of you, but it's against all Hogwarts rules for a girl to be in the boys rooms." She scrambled out of his bed and moved out the door before Harry or Ron could react. They reached the common room just as she disappeared up the stairs to the girl’s side of the tower. Ron immediately collapsed down into a chair in front of one of the chess tables and sat back with a grin.

"What are you grinning about Weasley?" Harry sat himself across from Ron and Ron summoned their chess pieces from the shelf under the table. The pieces settled themselves on the board and the game began before Ron answered.

"Nothing." Ron maneuvered his pieces around and within five minutes, had Harry in checkmate. They set the pieces up again when Ginny wandered down from the girl’s dorms. It was Saturday morning so no one had anywhere to go just yet. She stood behind Harry and watched the pair set up a new game. After a few minutes, she began to whisper moves into Harry's ear and watched the game continue.

"No fair Ginny, no helping him," Ron whined as Harry captured Ron’s second knight and added it to the line of pieces at the side of the board. Ginny simply stuck her tongue out at her brother and continued telling Harry moves. Finally ten minutes later, the game ended with Harry the winner for the very first time. Ron shot a nasty look in Ginny's direction who looked at her brother sweetly.

"It's good for you to lose sometimes Ron. Then you don't develop a swelled head. Not like you don't already have one though." She easily avoided a pawn shot her way and walked away from the boys with a grin and back up the stairs to get dressed. She hadn't expected anyone to be in the common room and had gone down to get a book she was reading from one of the shelves in her boxers and tank top.

She was just about to pass the seventh year rooms and enter her own when she saw Hermione sitting on her bed crying. Ginny walked into the room slowly and over to the bed. The other four girls didn't like the lower years in their rooms for some reason, as if it was special. It was the same as all the other rooms, except it said seventh year girls on the door.

She sat next to Hermione on the bed who immediately dashed the tears from her eyes when she saw Ginny. Ginny sat silently next to Hermione, who sniffled into a tissue before looking up with red, swollen eyes. "Can I help you Ginny." She looked back down at the crumpled tissue in her hands and avoided Ginny's concerned looks.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could maybe help you Hermione, what’s wrong." She watched Hermione's face for any reactions and saw a look of pain and fear flash for a millisecond across her face.

"Its nothing, just some nightmares keeping me up at night." She threw the wadded tissue into the basket beside her bed and drew in a shuddering breath designed to calm her down.

"I'm pretty good with dream analysis Hermione. Why don't you tell me about them and I'll try to help you?" Ginny looked so eager to help that Hermione debated telling her friend a quick made up dream to appease her but rejected the idea.

"Not right at this time, ok Ginny. I will tell you soon though." Hermione forced a smile. "How about we head down to the great hall and grab some breakfast ok? " Hermione stood up and left the room, closely followed by Ginny.

* * * * *

Ginny sat in the library quietly. She had a large medicinal magic book in front of her and was flipping through the section on sleep disorders and dream problems. She sighed and shut the book firmly, getting up to return to the medicinal magic section for another dusty tome. When she returned, she found Draco Malfoy calmly looking at the pages and at the notes she had been scribbling on a spare piece of parchment. He seemed to be comparing what she had written with what was in the book and a smirk covered his face.

"What do you want Draco?" she asked in what she hoped was a bored voice. He always seemed to make her nervous lately and she found herself having trouble talking around him. He looked up at her voice and he sneered when he saw who she was.

"Well, if it isn't little baby Weasel," he sneered again and she made a face of disgust.

"Get lost Malfoy before I make you." She shoved him aside and sat back in her chair with her new book.

"Oooooo, I'm scared." He laughed and turned to leave, taking her parchment with him.

She watched him go and couldn't quite stop the thought from entering her mind. He's such an arrogant, egotistical, manipulative bloody brat. But he has a nice ass.What am I thinking? The last thought filled her with slight horror and she quickly turned her thought back to Hermione’s mysterious problem. But her mind kept drifting back to Draco Malfoy. He really is an arrogant bastard but he is pretty good looking as well. Those silver eyes are very unusual, very mysterious. She had to check her thought once more. She pushed the book away from her with exasperation, stood up and left the library for the safety of the Gryffindor common room where she would have no Draco type distractions.

* * * * *

Draco walked confidently from the library, the scrap of parchment stuck in his left hand. He looked down at it briefly and then walked slowly back to the Slytherin dungeon. Like Ginny, he was having a few problems keeping his own thoughts focused. So lets see what little Miss Weasley was looking at. He stopped walking when he saw Hermione's name scribbled across the top and various diseases, spells and disorders covered every inch of the parchment. What’s all this? Does the mudblood really have some type of problem? And why was Ginny looking this material up. He suddenly became more determined to open Hermione’s little dream journal. That Ginny sure is one cute little thing. He stopped walking suddenly, horror filling his body. What am I thinking, she's a Weasley, a muggle lover and just a little kid. But he couldn't ignore the fact that she was not the gangly eleven-year-old he had made fun of in his second year but had grown up into a lovely young woman. He quickly found himself reciting all the dark spells his father had ever made him memorize over the past 7 years and slowly, all thoughts of Ginny exited his mind.

He entered his common room "serpent" and moved quickly to the seventh year boy’s dorm and shoved the parchment into the secret drawer in his nightstand and lay back on his bed. Still reciting the spells, he stared up at the ceiling, willing himself not to think of anything. At one point after he had been there for an hour Crabbe wandered in but quickly scurried out with a single look from Draco. Apparently, Crabbe had warned the other four boys because no one entered the room while Draco lay on his bed.

* * * * *

Hermione and Harry walked together slowly around the school grounds. It was a warm day and they weren't the only ones taking advantage of the afternoon sunshine, everywhere they looked, they saw someone sitting or walking around like them. Harry wrapped his arm around Hermione’s waist and pulled her close. She went willingly and turned her face to look into his with a smile and was rewarded with a light kiss. They stopped when they reached the lakes edge and looked out over the water, Hermione stood in front of Harry now and his arms encircles her waist from behind.

"It's so warm out today Harry. For once, I'm glad we have no class on Saturdays." She closed her eyes and smiled, letting the simple pleasure of the day and of being held so securely by Harry wash over her.

He smiled at her class comment and held her closer. He was happy, Hermione seemed to be suffering no ill affects from the previous night’s dream and for the first time in over a month, she was totally relaxed. He looked out over the lake and they watched the squid’s tentacles dance lazily over the waters surface. It reminded him of something in the back of his mind but he ignored the feeling of familiarity and wrote it off as simply fantasy.

Neither one knew or could sense the ones watching them. If they did, they would not be so relaxed about this day. The watchers grew excited at the information they could supply their master with and quickly ran away to send them the message. They arrived inside a small room and fought over the quill and parchment. Finally the battle was won by the stronger of the two, leaving the smaller one to run and search out a school owl. They quickly wrote out the message, addressed it with a name and sent the owl off into the afternoon. Then, their work done, they quickly went their separate ways, returning to where they had been before following Harry and Hermione outside.

The pair by the lake remained oblivious to everything else around them but themselves. They remained happily together and Hermione turned her face to look into Harry's and pride and love filled her heart. She loved the way his green eyes sparkled when he was happy, the way his hair fell into those same eyes and how he would casually brush it away with a flick of his head. She used this time to just observe him as he gazed out over the lake. Then he felt her eyes on him and looked down with a smile. Hermione blushed at being caught staring but her smiled, turn her around and kissed her. She rose to her toes and returned his kisses eagerly as a cloud passed over the sun, casting shadows on the pair.

Suddenly she went stiff then limp, and Harry looked at her with concern and then alarm when he saw the blank look in her eyes. She then fell forward and collapsed to her knees before Harry could stop her. He followed her down and she began to murmur strange words and to thrash about as if fighting off a demon. He frantically looked around him, hoping to find someone, anyone who could help him. But the grounds that had been teeming with life only moments before were now empty.

Then as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped and Hermione's eyes cleared. She looked up at Harry from her position on the ground with puzzlement. "Why am I down here?" Then images flashed through her brain and she realized what had happened.

"Hermione, this is getting dangerous. What if I hadn't been here to catch you?" Harry looked at her with frantic worried eyes.

"Harry, I'm OK Let me up please. No need to make a big fuss over a little fainting spell." As she said this, she knew it wasn't true. Harry was right, it was getting serious.

"Hermione, you have to tell a professor. They can help. We'll go to Dumbledore. He'll know what to do." Harry was determined now and helped Hermione up and propelled her up to the castle and inside.

"Harry, this is silly. I'm fine," she protested but allowed herself to be pulled along.

They arrived outside a gargoyle and Harry began running through a huge list of what sounded like candies. Finally after about twenty tries he hit one, "Chocolate frog," and the gargoyle moved aside. He motioned that she go first and he followed behind as they rose the stairs until coming to a large wooden door. It was open and sitting at the desk was none other than Professor Dumbledore. He looked up at the pair with a smile and stood up for his desk.

"Harry, Hermione. What brings you to my office on this fine day? Shouldn't you be outside with everyone else taking advantage of a good excuse to leave your homework aside." His eyes twinkled and Harry walked in propelling a reluctant Hermione with him. Hermione stopped short and looked around the office with awe. She had never been in here before and wanted to take everything in at once. Something chirped from the corner and she saw a phoenix sitting calmly on a perch. Regal in red and gold glory.

Harry was in the process of explaining to Dumbledore as Hermione wandered over to the Phoenix and reached out to touch him. He bent his head and accepted her tentative strokes, which became bolder with each one. Then a flash of something filled her mind, she saw herself surrounded by the glowing magical aura of the phoenix. It felt so familiar and it relaxed and calmed her, as if finding it made her complete. Dumbledore had noticed Hermione drawn to the phoenix and had silenced Harry to watch what would happen.

Hermione looked up at the two with a calm smile on her face but it quickly vanished, replaced by a look of puzzlement. "Why are you two just staring at me like that." Dumbledore seemed thoughtful while Harry looked with concern.

"Hermione, tell me about these dreams you have been having. When did they begin, how often do they come and what just happened when you touched the phoenix just now." He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk and returned to his own chair behind it. Hermione reached for Harry's hand and he took it in his own.

"They began in my fifth year Professor. Just after the summer when I bought this." She pulled her pendent out from her robes and showed it to Dumbledore. "At first they were just shadowy, no definite shapes, just shadows and noises, like voices talking from another room, that you can't quite hear. Then they began to get more distinct, I could see definite shapes in the scenery but still the people remained in the shadows until this year. They started getting very clear and I could identify them. Then their voices came and I could hear their words. Sometimes, I'm part of the scene and others it’s like watching inside a pensieve, I can view the scene but I have no effect on it. And now they are getting scary. A new figure keeps appearing, always in the shadow." She worried the pendent and it calmed her some.

"Hermione, who are the people in your dreams?" Dumbledore watched her play with the pendent and then looked her in the eyes, waiting for her answer.

"Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, myself, and recently, Ginny Weasley." Harry squeezed her hand to offer encouragement and she smiled at him.

Dumbledore sat silently for a moment, allowing these names to sink into his mind. Then he stood up and took a large silver box from the shelves from behind his desk. He placed it on the desk and opened it. Inside were four empty compartments and four containing small wooden boxes. He removed the one with a feather engraved on the cover and handed it to Hermione. She took it with surprise and moved to open it. Inside was a single phoenix feather and she looked at Dumbledore with questioning eyes. He nodded and she picked it up. Immediately, the pendent around her neck began to glow a soft purple light and he smiled.

"Ah...Finally, the phoenix is revealed once more." Both Harry and Hermione looked at Dumbledore with confused faces and he began to explain. "Long ago, when earth was still in its infancy, an evil rose so terrifying, it threatened to destroy everything. Four magical creatures joined forces and sealed it away, but to do so cost them their lives. Right before death, they used their combined magic to create four people, two witches, and two wizards to ensure the evil never again rose to such power as it had. Now, each generation that senses the evil about to rise gives birth to the four. When joined together, their power dwarfs that of everyone else combined and they can lock away this evil for another generation. But with each new birth, they become stronger and are able to lock it away for a longer time. It should have happened the last time the four were reborn but one was killed long before they could stop the evil. With three, they could only just lock it away but it filled two with a terrible hatred that killed them both. The four creatures that began this cycle were, the unicorn, the dark dragon, the light dragon and the phoenix."

Harry listened with confusion while comprehension dawned on Hermione. She had been seeing the last life the four were all together. All times after that when they were reborn, they had been separated due to the evil that had filled the wizards, it had kept them apart until it dissipated. Now that the evil was rising strong once more, the four would be needed. She could feel the other three close by her and she would have to seek them out. "I must find the others Professor. This evil must be stopped."

"You have already found one it would seem Hermione." He turned to Harry. "Have you ever shared in one of her dreams Harry?"

"Yes," was his simple reply. Dumbledore once again reached into the case and removed a box, this time with a dragon engraved on the cover. Harry opened it and found an emerald green scale. He picked it up but nothing happened.

"You are missing an important piece Harry." Dumbledore reached up once more to his shelves and brought down along case. He opened it and handed the contents to Harry. It was a long broad sword with sheath. He took it and then picked up the scale once more. The sword filled the room with a brilliant green light and Dumbledore smiled once more. "Now take your two artifacts and touch them to one another." They did so and watched with amazement as the two things melded together and magic surrounded them, filling their auras. "Now, the other two must be found. They might not be the ones in your dream. I only knew the light dragon was Harry because every single light dragon in the past has come from Harry's bloodline. His own father was one but the other three were never found. Now go, but tell no one of this. And Hermione, find your dream journal soon. It will help you greatly with this."

They pair left his office, both silent as thought ran through their minds. Harry's was filled with the past, touching that sword had caused memories to flood his mind. Hermione's only though was how had Dumbledore known about the dream journal.