Ch. 8 The Dream
I’ve decided that I absolutely love this place! The party that followed the match was so fun and went on forever. There was tons of food, drinks, and music and everyone had a great time. By the time I climbed into bed, I realized that I didn’t get any homework done. Sighing as I pulled up my covers, I told myself tomorrow was going to be spent entirely on schoolwork. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I was in a dark room that I didn’t recognize. A lone candle stood flickering on a small wooden table in the center. I watched as the flame cast a small amount of light throughout the room. There was an old woman sitting in the corner. She seemed to be cowering, her clothes were tattered and her graying hair stood out at odd angles.
“Ma’am?” I asked, cautiously leaning towards her.
She didn’t move or blink. She made no indication of acknowledging my presence. Her glossy brown eyes were dull and her hair was changing from gray to white. I moved to stand up and back away but her hand suddenly grabbed the front of my shirt. The candle blew out and the room became bitterly cold in an instant. Her touch brought a chill to my spine and my heart began pumping madly. I tried to pry her fingers off but she wouldn’t let me go. I began to panic.
“Please! Please, ma’am, let me go!” I cried, frantically trying to break her grasp.
“It is not over. It will never be so. All have lost and all have won,” she whispered.
“Wh…what?” I asked, feeling more fear creep into me.
“It will always be this way, you must see that! The temptation is too great to ignore. She is rising and she will not stop!”
“Who?” I asked, curiosity briefly overtaking fear.
“She will kill many for many reasons. Few will be able to conquer her. The Dark Times will return,” she rasped, finally letting me go.
“I have no idea what you’re on about!” I said, walking away.
As I neared where the table was, an image poured into my mind. I saw blurry figures, faceless and in black and white, something red on the ground and the sound of someone crying. As I closed my eyes to explore further a pain shot through my head and I screamed.
“Lily! Lily! Oh my god, oh my god!” a voice yelled.
I felt a hand slap my face and forced my eyes to open. Sarah was leaning over me, her face white with fear. I reached up to push my hair out of my face and felt my forehead. It was drenched with sweat and it felt icy cold too.
“Lily, can you hear me?” Sarah’s voice called.
My eyes slowly focused on my surroundings. I was in the dorm, tangled in my sheets… on the floor. How did I end up on the floor?
“Wha… what happened?” I whispered.
Four pale faces peered down at me, concern etched into each one. I was about to say something when the scene flashed again; two faceless figures, one standing over the other, blood pooling on the ground…
“I’m going to be sick,” I managed to say before turning and retching on the floor.
Mack started crying, Pam and Trish just sat there in shock. I heard Sarah run out and tried to sit up. Mack pushed me back down as Trish cleaned up my vomit. I felt weak. I was shaking all over and I could feel the sweat and tears running down my face. Tears? When did I start crying?
“Mack, what’s happening?” I whispered, trying desperately to hide the fear in my voice.
A male cry came from outside the door followed by numerous thumps. I saw Pam’s blurred form go see what had happened. I tried again to sit up, but Mack didn’t need to push me back down this time, I could barely move.
Sarah returned and placed her face in front of mine. She had tears running down her face, but she managed a weak smile. And then my dad’s face appeared and I felt him lifting me up. I began to feel dizzy. I had no idea what was happening to me. I couldn’t stop shaking and I began to have to fight to remain awake.
I heard a murmured conversation as Dad carried me out the portrait hole. I vaguely recognized the voices, but I couldn’t place them. I pushed back the urge to sleep again, knowing I wouldn’t be able to fight it much longer. I tried to squeeze Dad’s hand, but I couldn’t. Before I gave into the sleepiness that was overcoming me I whispered, “Daddy, what’s happening?”
And then it went dark.
***
I opened my eyes and saw a white ceiling above my head. I knew I wasn’t in the dorm anymore because that ceiling was red. I turned my head to my right and saw my dad. He had his head in his hands and hadn’t noticed me waking up.
“Dad? What am I doing here? What’s going on?” I asked, trying to sit up. I found moving surprisingly difficult.
Dad looked at me, relief spreading all over his face. “Oh, Lily,” he said, hugging me.
I looked at him with a puzzled expression. He looked tired and even a little frightened. I smiled at him in an attempt to ease his stress. “Can you please tell me what’s going on?” I asked, noticing I was in the Hospital Wing.
“Lily, what is the last thing you remember?” he asked.
“Going to bed after the party,” I told him, shrugging.
“Lily, honey, think hard,” he said, watching me closely.
I leaned back and followed his request. I remembered Jake rubbing an éclair on my head at the party, Siri hexing him and cleaning me off, going up to bed and…
“The old woman in the room!” I said, sitting up quickly and grimacing in pain.
Dad edged closer, putting his face level with mine. I closed my eyes and searched my brain to give him more details. “I was in this room and there was this old woman curled up in the corner. I didn’t know her, but I went over to her and spoke. She acted like she didn’t hear me. When I turned to leave, she grabbed me and rambled a bunch of nonsense about it not being over because the temptation was too strong. Some girl was going to kill someone, but she didn’t say who. And then she said the Dark Times would return or something like that. Honestly, Dad, it was all nonsense! Nothing she said made any sense to me,” I told him.
He stood up and walked to the foot of my bed. “Anything else?”
He saw my eyes widen and I knew I had gone pale. “What else, Lily?” he asked.
“I…I saw…something,” I said, stopping the scene from replaying. “There was…two people, one standing above the other and lots of, um, blood.”
“Who? Who was it?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I didn’t see faces. Listen, Dad, what’s going on?” I asked him.
He grabbed my hand as he sat down on my bed. Gently running his other hand over my forehead, he sighed and said, “Lily, I think you’ve had a vision.”
***
Dad left shortly after telling me I may have had a vision, leaving me alone, confused, and scared. If I did have a vision, then that means that…what I saw…was that going to actually happen? My stomach lurched at the thought and I coughed from holding back the rising vomit. Was Dad saying that I could be a Seer? No, no, no, no. No one else in our family had that ability and I sure as hell wasn’t the one who wanted it! Besides, if I did have the ability to See, how come I’m just now being exposed to it? My head started to hurt from all the thinking I was doing so I fell back into the bed and succeeded in whacking the back of my head against the headboard. Nice work, Lily!
A kind looking witch came around the curtain with a potion in her hand. I managed a weak smile as a greeting. “Hello, dear, I’m Madam Pomfrey and you need to take this,” she said, handing me a large glass of smoking potion.
“Erm…why?” I asked, peering at the concoction before me. It was still bubbling slightly and was the color of mustard. The smell resembled something like feet and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
“Hmph! Just like your father you are! I was hoping the resemblance would only be physical, but apparently you share his personality also,” she said, glaring at me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, taking the glass.
The door flew open to reveal the small form of my mum. She crossed the room quickly and began fretting the instant she reached my side. Madam Pomfrey didn’t attempt to interfere or tell my mum to stop. In fact, I think my mum frightened her a bit in the state she was in. My mum frightened lots of people when she seemed as irritated as this.
“How are you feeling, honey?” she asked, touching my forehead and then taking my pulse.
“Mum…Mum, I’m fine!” I said, attempting to move out of her grasp.
“Of course you are,” she said, picking up my chart. Her eyes became narrower the longer she read. I was getting frightened now. She wasn’t angry so much now, I got the feeling she was just confused and frightened herself.
“Mum, is there something wrong with me?” I asked as her expression became cloudy.
“Absolutely not, dear,” she said, kissing my head. “I just need to find your father.”
“Why?” I asked as she headed for the door.
She flashed me a small smile. “I need to talk to him. He should not have left you alone,” she said, walking out the door.
I watched her leave, a frown appearing on my face. If he shouldn’t have left me alone, then why did she?
***
I was allowed to return to the common room after dinner and I was immediately pelted with hugs from Sarah, Mack, Jake, James, and Siri. Siri wouldn’t let me go for at least five minutes, which was a bit unnerving.
“Siri, you’re suffocating me!” I whispered.
We all laughed as he let go, blushing. I went and started working on my Potions essay while Siri and James played Wizard’s Chess and Jake, Sarah, and Mack played Exploding Snap. Despite my group pretending nothing was wrong, I knew my dad had told them something. Especially since most people kept staring at me and glancing away the minute I looked up.
“Siri?” I asked, putting the finishing touches on my essay.
“Huh?” he asked, concentrating on his Knight beating James’ Bishop off the board.
“Why is everyone looking at me like I have purple knickers on my head?” I asked, sitting between Jake and James.
“Did you say you wanted to wear purple knickers on your head, Lils?” Jake asked, pointing his wand at me.
I shot him a glare. “No, you heard me right, stop trying to change the subject,” I said, casting a glance at Siri.
James shifted out of his seat and kneeled in front of me. “How do you feel, Lily? Do you feel week or nauseous?” he asked, his eyes boring into mine.
“No, I feel fine!” I said, knowing full well I was lying. James knew too and simply shook his head.
I stood up and dragged Sarah and Mack to a separate corner where the boys wouldn’t hear us. “I need you to tell me what happened,” I told them.
Sarah sighed. “I heard you mumbling so I walked over to tell you to shut up, but you weren’t in your bed. I saw you were on the floor and still mumbling and I was about to shake you to wake you up, but you started thrashing like mad. I grabbed you and tried to shake you awake, and then you screamed. I’ve never, in my entire life, heard you scream like that,” she said, starting to shake a little.
I just stared at her at a loss for words. I didn’t remember screaming; I didn’t remember feeling her shake me at all, either.
“You were crying and we couldn’t wake you until Sarah slapped you. You had this confused look on your face, like you didn’t know who we were or where you were. It was so frightening, Lily… you looked lost,” Mack said, tears welling in her eyes.
“Then… you went rigid again and your eyes became, well… weird is the only way to describe it. You retched on the floor so I ran for Uncle Harry and he came and took you away,” Sarah said.
The memory of last night faded in and out as they talked. Without a word I stood up and headed to the dormitory. I was getting scared and I didn’t want the entire house to see me break down.
“Lils?” I heard Siri call after me, but I ignored him and headed up the stairs.
I shut the door and climbed into bed. As I gazed at the hanging above me, I began to wonder if Dad was right. If it really was a vision, then what did it mean? Who was the woman in the corner? What did her message mean? Who were the two people I had seen?
I let out one of my trademark groans and rolled onto my stomach. I knew this wasn’t over. I’d probably be seeing some form of that dream, or vision of whatever it was, every time I closed my eyes. Until I figured this out, I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else, including my mission to unravel the web of lies my parents had spun.
I suddenly sat up and grabbed a quill and parchment and began scribbling down every detail from the dream I could remember. The person I would be sending the letter to was odd enough to give me some insight.
To Find the Truth by hopelesslyhopeful
Chapter Notes: I really hope you all like this chapter...let me know what you think!