Who: Harry and Sirius When: Late Night, a few weeks after the train attack Where: Grimmauld Statis: Complete! Rating: PG-13
Summary:
It had been a while since Harry had a real dream. Since the train, he'd been good about falling asleep, seeing nothing and waking up rested. It was a nice change. Tonight, however, it didn't really feel like a dream. And maybe he wasn't dreaming at all.
He was standing in the halls at Hogwarts, hearing the battle behind him. Had he blacked out for a moment? Maybe he really did have a chance to defeat Voldemort after all. Everything felt so real, the tension the smell of things. He could hear his family and friends yelling for him and he took off down the hall to find them.
Harry was really standing beside his bed, eyes glassed over. He took a few steps out of his room and made his way down the hall to the stairs of Grimmauld, trying to sleep walk his way out.
Down in the drawing room, Sirius was lounging on the couch and working on a crossword puzzle. He tapped the pencil's eraser against his temple, trying to figure out the answer to fifteen across.
When he heard footsteps on the stairs, Sirius set aside the paper and called out, "Harry? That you?"
Harry stopped on the stairs and in his dream, hearing someone calling out to him. His hand clenched the wand in his hand, trying to identify the voice. "I'm coming hang on!" he called out, flying down the stairs. He looked around, but he didn't see anyone. Harry could still hear the battle rattling on in his thoughts and he knew, somehow, he was getting close to the Dark Lord.
This nightmare would be over soon. He'd finally be free of Voldemort's clutches and he'd defeat him. Harry left the bottom of the stairs and ran down the hall, making his way to the kitchen for the back door to the house.
"Shit!" Sirius leaped out of the chair and chased after his godson the moment he heard Harry's voice.
"Harry!" he called out, following him downstairs and practically leaping down the stairs in the process. "Harry, stop!" Sirius whipped out his wand and hexed the back door closed, hoping to buy himself a few extra minutes to reach the boy.
Harry stopped hearing his name called again. "It's all right Remus," he smiled. "I know I spaced out before but I'm here and I'm ready. I know I can beat him, you take care of the others." Harry held his hands out too him. It was a wonder the boy could see anything, but it was clear his dream was leading him, not his own subconcious. "The other's need you and I need to face him alone."
His hand grabbed the doorknob but it didn't turn. He frowned pulling at it, hoping it would give.
Sirius rolled his eyes and placed both hands on Harry's shoulders, giving him a good shake. "Wake up... I'm not Moony, you're not running off to fight anyone, and there's no way in hell I'm letting you out the door. NOW WAKE UP!"
Harry flinched but he didn't wake up when Sirius shook him. He went on the defense, his dream shifting fast. "Stay the hell away from me," he said, pushing aways from his Godfather, wand outstretched in front of him. "I'm not afraid of you," but his voice said otherwise. He backed into the table in the kitchen, but manuvered around it keeping it between him and Voldemort.
He had to escape this time, but finding a way out when he wasn't sure where he was, wasn't going to be easy.
"You've got to fucking be kidding me," Sirius muttered under his breath. He sighed and brushed his hair out of his eyes, looking around the kitchen. Spying a nearby jug of water, he levitated it so it hovered above Harry's head, turned it over, and drenched the boy in cold water.
Shock wasn't the word for Harry's reaction. The cold hit him and he yelled, running into the doorframe to the kitchen. He tripped through the door and landed on his back, now soaking wet and staring up at the ceiling of the room. He couldn't move, he wanted to make his body move.
Not quite the reaction I was hoping for...
Sirius crouched down beside him, cocked his head to the side and asked, "Are you awake yet? Or do you still think I'm Remus or some phantom enemy?"
Potter..so young..weak!
"NO! NO PLEASE!" He pushed himself away from Sirius, leaving his wand. He backed himself into the wall in the hall and he really thought he didn't have a way out. His dream had created his own little hell for him to drown in and the urge to get out grew stronger, like he didn't have the control to make it go away and wake up.
Someone wanted him to leave the house and expose himself. Harry had lost control to stop it, trapped in his now, nightmare.
"HARRY!" Sirius hadn't wanted things to come to this, but he wasn't seeing any other choice. He easily disarmed his godson, accioed the wand to his hand, and grabbed Harry by the back of his shirt.
"WAKE UP ALREADY!" he yelled, giving the boy another shake. "Snap out of it."
The final shake knocked Harry out of his trance, but it seemed as though his voice had caught in his throat. The glaze in his eyes had broken and his green eyes shone through, brimmed by the bloodshot building up. His hand gripped Sirius's shirt so tightly, his knuckles were painfully white.
"S..s...sirius.." he whispered, slowly coming around, trying to get his bearings.
"Yeah..." He sighed and set both wands on the counter before letting go of Harry. "You scared the hell out of me, kid. Let me guess... another nightmare?"
Harry wasn't ready to let go of Sirius just yet. He looked around, his vision impared greatly without his glasses on, but it was good enough to know he wasn't in his room anymore. He'd been sleeping?
"He's not here is he?"
"Who?" he asked in confusion. "Remus? No... he's at home with Tonks. I know you don't see well without your glasses, but that was my first clue that something was wrong when you called me by his name."
"Not Remus," he breathed shaking his head. He squinted, looking around the room. They were alone. Voldemort wasn't here anymore. His mind was clear, but he was still trying to piece together how he got from his room to soaking wet downstairs.
"Sirius... not Remus." He smiled and used his wand to dry the godson off and hugged him tightly. "Sorry about the water, but I was trying to wake you up. You were sleep walking and talking."
"I was at Hogwarts again. I thought I was there. Then when you started calling out to me it changed over to something else.." He fidgetted in Sirius' hold. This was reality not before, which meant Voldemort had found a way to get inside his mind once more.
"So more nightmares," he murmured. "I was hoping that they were starting to go away."
"This was worse then a nightmare. I wake up from nightmares. If you hadn't been here to stop me I would have gone outside. Who knows who I would have hurt." It wasn't about hurting others though. "He would have had me again. He's trying to find out where I am.."
"Yeah.." Harry wasn't about to argue with his godfather. He didn't want to face Voldemort right now and he needed the help to fight against him. He was doing his best to push aside what had happened, but it was clear how close he'd come to running right back to him.
Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but paused as he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. "Great... now I'm seeing things," he muttered under his breath.
Harry's face froze. "What..?"
"Nothing..." He waved a hand to try and dismiss the topic. "Just thought for a moment I saw Kreacher."
Harry sighed, pushing himself up. "You probably did. He followed me from upstairs." Harry looked down the hall seeing the little house elf sneak back up the stairs. "He's been sleeping in my room since we got back."
"Wait... WHAT?" Sirius blurted out in shock and surprise. "I thought he was dead! I haven't seen the little bastard since I told him to get out just before I went to the Ministry and died. When I came back, I just assumed he was dead since I hadn't seen him around."
"No. He and I came to a bit of an understanding while you were away. He seems to like me..at least I think he does anyways. He's been sleeping under my bed, keeping the room clean." Harry scratched the back of his head, chuckling a little.
"Hmm... he never fucking liked me," Sirius muttered under his breath.
"To be honest I don't think he really likes me either. Likes to listen to me talk in my sleep. I could care less what he does." Harry walked back into the kitchen, still rather blind without his glasses, but he was able to pour himself a glass of water.
"But he is alive, huh?" Sirius frowned and raked his fingers through his hair. "Hmm... must be odd for him. You became his new master, but now his old one is back."
"Might be why he's hiding in my room." Harry sighed. "So what do we do about me?"
"Well... like I said, we need to get your Occlumency lessons resumed. I'll keep hold of your wand at night so you don't accidently do anything stupid, and we ward the doors. Other than that, I guess we just take things one day at a time. Right?"
"Right." Harry looked down in the glass of water. "I should probably try to go back to sleep. Hopefully there's still some dreamless sleep in my bag." The words rolled off his tongue with some disgust. More at himself for needing the stupid potion.
"Harry... how long have you been taking the potion for?" Sirius asked curiously. "It's possible that you've built up an immunity to it and that's why it's not working as well."
Harry dumped he rest of the water out in the sink. "Since.." Was it before he left Remus' house? No it had to be at the hospital. "Right after Voldemort I guess."
"Hmm... that could be part of the problem." He reached over and draped an arm around Harry's shoulders, leading him up the stairs and out of the kitchen. "Just something else we'll have to look into, kiddo."
"Just something else wrong with me right?" Harry grinned, but he didn't see the real humor in it.
"Naw. Trust me, you're not the only one who has trouble sleeping. Potions don't help me much either," Sirius admitting, hugging the young man around the shoulders.
Harry made his way up the stairs to his room, the door closed. He was sure Kreacher was inside making his bed for him. He looked back to Sirius, his hand on the doorknob. "You're going to tell Remus about this aren't you?"
"No." He shook his head and just smiled. "I think we can skip telling Moon about this one."
"He doesn't need to worry. Doesn't need to know about everytime the boogey man comes to haunt my dreams. Got enough on his plate as it is." Harry wipped his hands on his pants and opened the door, his bed folded down for him. "I'm sorry for making you worry Sirius.."
"It's part of my job to worry about you," Sirius joked. "Just get some sleep, okay Harry? Or at least try. And I'll see you in the morning."
He winked at Harry and just smiled. "Okay?"
Harry nodded his head, moving into his room and closed the door. Things were not all right if his dreams were getting this intense. Not good at all.