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Harry Potter woke with a start, his eyes carrying a ghostly green flash.
The moment he woke up, his Wand lashed out, words shooting out of his mouth. "Protego!"
With a bam, the Shield Charm hit the figure looming over his sweaty face, and the whines of a dog engulfed the entire dormitory, waking up the rest of the boys.
And the moment their eyes opened, Draco, Black, Ron, and Neville together shouted, "Protego!"
A blurry flash lit up the surroundings momentarily, the dog still whining in the background.
The boys looked around, perplexed.
Creating lights at the tips of their wands, they looked at each other's faces.
Black slid off his bed and went to Uncle Black, patting the dog several times before looking at Harry. "Lost your nuts?" he asked, shocked. "What gives?!"
"I…" Harry stuttered, befuddled.
One by one, the boys truly began waking up.
Groaning and moaning, Draco, Ron, and Neville came to stand between Harry and Black as well.
Every inch of their muscles had ached ever since they had walked out of the Room of Requirement yesterday.
The Invigoration Draught was like a strong cup of coffee. Drinking it increased energy and focus, but it did not eliminate the tiredness. Tiredness that had kept building as Curses hit them.
With no option to walk out of the Room and unable to use any other magic, they had been forced to cast the Shield Charm poorly, over and over.
Darcie hadn't shown any mercy to even girls, many of whom had ended up crying after only half an hour. She had then taken them into a corner and begun to personally curse them, their screams still buzzing in the boys' ears.
Torture.
That was a light word for what they had experienced.
And one would expect to at least sleep in peace after that, no?
Draco, Ron, and even Neville glared at Harry and Black, demanding an explanation.
"I… am sorry," Harry said, wiping the sweat off his forehead, suddenly realizing that his scar was burning and itching. "I had… I had a bad dream."
"You knocked the tail off Uncle Black because of a nightmare?" Black asked.
"No… I mean, yes," Harry tried to explain. "Look. When I woke up, Uncle Black was right against my face and… my hand moved before I could even think properly."
"Don't lie!" Black hissed.
Draco, Ron, and Neville frowned, knowing that Harry wasn't the type who would lie about such things.
Sure enough, just as they were about to say something, Black smirked, "… I was never against your face, my dear child."
Draco and Ron jumped on Black, punching him, groans filling the room, Neville quietly returning to his bed.
After a few minutes, they sat around Harry as he described his nightmare.
"So, you saw Voldemort?!" Draco raised an eyebrow.
"No… No, I didn't actually see him," Harry clarified. "But I just… I just knew it was him. I can't explain. There was a woman and a man with him. I think I remember seeing them in the Wanted Posters at Diagon Alley. There was a third man, too. Someone called… Wormtail."
The dog, who had been casually seated next to Harry's bed, suddenly snapped his head up, a glint shining in his large black eyes.
"Wormtail?" The three boys shared a glance.
"What were they doing?" Black asked.
"They… They were talking about how to…" Harry found it extremely odd just to say it. "… how to get me."
Ron's face paled slightly.
"In the end, I saw a snake," Harry continued dreamily, his fingers twitching nervously. "Then there was a green flash. I think… Voldemort killed someone."
"… in your dream," Black said.
"Huh?" Harry looked up.
"Voldemort killed someone in your dream," Black repeated. "It was a dream, right?"
"I think…" Draco narrowed his eyes. "… we should go to Dumbledore and tell him about this dream. He might know something about it, and this man called Wormtail."
"No…" Harry shook his head. That was the only thing he needed now, after the Dementors' episodes — giving everyone proof of how weak he was!
The boys stared at him for a while.
"Well…" Black said, getting up. "If you have another dream, try not to jinx Uncle Black to death. And if you wake me up a second time, Darcie will receive a love letter in your name — in Parseltongue! That would be interesting… Hiss… Hiss…"
As Draco took out his wand, threatening to hex Black right now, Harry lay down laughing.
His eyes suddenly landed on the dog, who was watching him eagerly — almost in concern.
"Sorry…" Harry apologized. "I will take you out for a walk tomorrow, alright?"
"Woof!" Uncle Black barked cheerily, wagging his tail.
"Yeah!" Black shouted from his bed at Uncle Black. "Can you at least pretend that you are still loyal to me?! I am telling you, guys. It's that Hermione's little monster. She's corrupting Uncle Black!"
Cursing and laughing and groaning, the boys went back to sleep, Harry dreading continuing the dream where he'd left off.
…
The Riddle House,
Little Hangleton
"Take the muggle away, Wormtail," Lord Voldemort hissed sharply. "Nagini will feed on him later."
Wormtail, a mousy, short man who also went by the name of Peter Pettigrew, squeaked and nodded. "Yes… Yes, my lord," he said. "What about… Potter? Do we… really need him?"
"You dare wish him to repeat himself, you filthy rat?" Bellatrix hissed, brandishing her wand. "If he says that we need Potter, then we need him."
"Easy, Bellatrix…" Voldemort said from the comfort of his sofa. "A filthy rat he may be, but… he's still loyal to me. Aren't you, Wormtail?"
"Yes! Yes, my lord!" Pettigrew hurriedly nodded, keeping his eyes down and away from Bellatrix. "I am your… loyal rat."
Bellatrix's lips twitched, half in amusement and half in loathing.
When Wormtail was gone, another man stepped toward the sofa, where the disfigured Dark Lord was resting, covered in blankets.
"Hogwarts is impenetrable…" Voldemort hissed. "… There's only one way to get what we want now. I am leaving this job to you…"
The man kneeled in front of the sofa, licking his lips.
"… Barty Crouch Jr."
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