Nightmare or Reality?
"As always, it's a pleasure doing trades with you. This will be of great help," Luciel Delacour said while holding what seemed to be a notebook. But it was clearly well-used; small colored tabs stuck out as separators. "But… are you sure you want to make this trade? This should be worth a fortune," he asked, looking straight at Harry Potter for a moment.
"Of course. Besides, I think the information you gave me is pretty valuable," Harry said with a slight smile, looking at him calmly.
"I don't think it's worth that much… but if you say so. By the way, don't tell her I told you; she's already pretty annoyed about what happened last time," Luciel said with an amused smile. "And also… I hope you're preparing properly for the final task. I wouldn't like to beat you at your weakest," he added, a faint excitement slipping into his tone at the thought of the battle to come.
Harry didn't say much and just returned the smile, while Luciel said his goodbyes and quickly walked away.
"So that's it…" Harry said with a faint, slightly wicked smile as he thought about what he had just traded for. The thought of a small bit of revenge against a certain veela made his smile grow just a little more.
Right at that moment, the door behind him, the eagle door that led into Ravenclaw, opened.
And two blonde heads popped out.
Almost bumping into him.
"Oh… it's the candy baron," Luna Lovegood said with a smile, followed by Astoria Greengrass. Lately, Harry hadn't really run into them much around the school; which was strange. They usually showed up asking for sweets or snacks. It seemed like recently they had been getting a bit more chaotic than expected. Harry wondered where they had picked that up from.
"What are you two getting into now?" Harry said, and true to the title they had given him, he pulled out a large amount of snacks and sweets for them.
Luna and Astoria accepted them with smiles, storing them away in small magical bags, decorated in their own style.
"Mmm… Ginny's been a bit down lately, so we took her to Red's kingdom to cheer her up a little. We're also helping teach the baby hippogriffs how to take down their enemies," Astoria said as she raised her hands like claws and showed her teeth.
"Oooh…" Harry said simply, letting out a small smile. "So it's you two…" he added. Those little ones lately seemed to be getting very influenced by Red… but it looked like these two were involved too. "And why is Ginny feeling down?" he asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
Luna stared at him for a moment, while Astoria even crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him. Both of them, without saying much.
"What?" Harry asked, confused when they didn't say anything.
"Even if you're the candy baron… you're still the king of playboys, right?" Astoria said, looking at Luna.
She nodded immediately.
Then she raised her hand in a small wave toward Harry before trotting off, skipping as she went.
Astoria gave Harry a teasing smile before running after her.
Harry watched them leave, not really knowing how to respond to why they suddenly said that. He just let out a small sigh and shook his head before heading straight back to the Ravenclaw common room.
…
"How much longer…?"
A voice broke through complete darkness.
And at that moment, hearing it, Harry opened his eyes, snapping out of whatever state he had been in.
He looked around with a confused expression, because he no longer seemed to be in the castle. Instead, he appeared to be inside what looked like a mansion that, for some reason, felt familiar… like he knew that place… even though he couldn't remember from where.
But at the same time, it was different.
More like some kind of representation of a mansion he knew well… but couldn't quite place.
And the absence of paintings made it even harder to recognize.
"Not long… not much longer…" said a voice that sounded like something straight out of hell. A guttural sound.
And while it spoke… it seemed to be eating something.
You could hear the crunch of its teeth with every word.
Harry felt the urge to see who that voice belonged to.
And he noticed it was coming from a nearby room.
He was right beside it, at the entrance.
He just had to lean in to see.
But even if he wanted to, it felt like something was stopping him; like he was stuck at the doorway. He could hear several footsteps around, from multiple people.
Suddenly, a female voice, filled with madness, spoke.
"I already want to catch him. I want to tear him apart… that damn—"
Before she could finish, a slap rang out. And the sound of someone hitting the ground; most likely the owner of that voice.
"Watch what you say. We're still not sure whether he deserves death… or if we can turn him into one of us," the guttural voice said, spitting to the side.
Right in the direction where Harry seemed to be hidden.
Harry looked down for a moment.
And saw that the spit… was blood.
But not normal blood.
It seemed mixed with something… like serpent scales.
"And after that, what?" another voice spoke. One that felt more familiar to Harry than all the others.
"We'll cleanse this place. Isn't that what you wanted when you made that deal with me? The perfection of this disgusting world?" the voice said, dripping with malice.
Harry felt that the "cleansing" it was talking about… was something very… bad.
"And that witch? I doubt even you could do anything against her," that familiar voice asked again.
Though for a moment… there was something in it. A strong desire. Something it couldn't control.
"My little ones will take care of her. And the pawns. It's a shame we didn't find more of those things… otherwise it would've been easy to get rid of that witch. But the final fragment will be there, at that moment. It's almost laughable that she thinks she can carry out that stupid plan without realizing she's just another pawn… but I need her to come out of her filthy hiding place," the guttural voice said with amusement, its teeth making that sound again… like it was chewing something that cracked with every bite.
"I wonder what face she'll make when she realizes…" it said again, with an uncontrolled excitement. "We don't have to do anything but wait. Even if they mess it up again."
When the conversation ended, Harry felt his body grow lighter, freed from whatever had been holding him. Like he had broken through some kind of veil separating him from that place.
The moment that happened, the urge to see that man's face consumed him instantly.
Without hesitation, he took quick steps forward, leaning into the room.
The instant he did…
Several eyes turned toward him in surprise.
As if they hadn't expected him to be there.
But Harry didn't even look at the others.
He only wanted to focus on the owner of that voice.
Who, sensing everyone's surprise, slowly turned around.
And the first thing Harry saw… were red eyes.
Which seemed to meet his own.
But the instant that happened, he felt absolute repulsion.
A tremendous force pushed him back.
As everything around him turned dark.
Fading away.
Still staring at those eyes.
Without even being able to see that person's face.
"Boom!"
The sound rang out suddenly.
His dormmates jolted awake, looking around in every direction.
Even Draco Malfoy pulled out his wand by reflex, the one he kept on his nightstand.
Then he looked down.
And saw Harry Potter on the floor, clutching his back, twisting in pain.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked, looking at his friend.
Meanwhile, Terry, noticing it was just Harry, as if he were already used to it, let out a sigh before lying back down. Anthony didn't even seem to wake up from the noise.
"I think… I had a really strange dream. And very real," Harry said, still feeling a sharp pain in his back, like he'd slammed into something.
"Tsk… it's late. Go back to sleep. Tomorrow we've got a lot to do," Draco said with slight annoyance at being woken up like that, before putting his wand away again and lying back down, waving him off.
Harry didn't respond.
He kept rubbing his back.
Then his gaze shifted to the corner of his bed.
Which was slightly cracked.
Like something had slammed into it.
That made him frown in confusion.
And as he took a step, suddenly he felt something wet in his sock.
He lifted his foot slightly.
And there… was blood.
As if he had stepped on something stained with it.
Harry's face, which had been confused…
Turned completely serious.