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Harry thought he was used to his eventful life at Hogwarts by now. He was entering his fifth year after all, now that September had arrived. However, something always seems to happen to create chaos in his life.Harry and Hermione had been dating for a year now. They’d gotten together shortly before the Triwizard tournament, and to Rons' surprise, they had remained together despite the presence of Victor Krum, whom Hermione was known to have had a crush on before she began dating Harry. After the Triwizard tournament, and Voldermorts' gain of power, Hermione had been the one there to comfort Harry during his sleepless nights filled with flashbacks. She’d also been the one to force him to receive help, getting him dreamless sleep potions from Madam Pomfrey. Harry had been reluctant to take these, however eventually his sleep deprivation left him no choice.Over the summer, they spent time together at the burrow with Ron and his family as well as a few weeks at Hermiones' parents' house. Harry seemed to be getting better, much to the relief of both Hermione and Ron. They’d been to watch many quidditch matches together, and Ron had gone with his family to visit Charlie in Romania.Now, as the new term began, they were reunited with their friends at Hogwarts. The welcoming feast involved a speech from Professor Dumbledore, letting the students know to keep their eye out for Moaning Myrtle as she has gone missing.“I bet it’s that peeves pulling some prank” muttered Ron after Dumbledore had finished speaking.“If it were Peeves, Ron, Dumbledore would have sorted it out by now. I heard Moaning Myrtle went missing not long after the summer holidays started, and since then numerous witches and wizards from the paintings have gone into hiding. Apparently, none of them will tell Dumbledore what happened, but old wizard tales used to say ghosts could sense danger,” replied Hermione, saying it as if this was basic knowledge of which Ron should have known.Both Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, waiting to hear his opinion on the matter, but he merely gazed into the distance.Ron and Hermione turned back to each other.“Maybe she’s off traveling. Ghosts can travel, right? If I were a ghost I certainly wouldn’t be waiting in Hogwarts for the rest of my life. It’s only Moaning Myrtle anyway. She probably had another mental breakdown and went on a holiday. As for the paintings, well most of them are a bit weird” said Ron. He simply received a glare from Hermione.After the feast, they returned to the Gryffindor common, where Fred and George were hosting a ‘welcome back’ party. The trio retreated to a small corner furthest away from the chaos.“So then, Harry, why are you being so quiet? Oh god. Don’t tell me. You're daydreaming about snogging Hermione aren’t you?” Uttered Ron, before he received a gentle slap from Hermione and a chuckle from Harry.“Just tired. Busy day coming back. Always is. I think I’ll head to bed now, to be honest, get to sleep before those lot come up to the dorms for the after-party” said Harry, glancing over at the crowd formed around Fred and George.“Yeah, alright. I’ll be up soon too” answered Ron.Harry gave Hermione a quick kiss on the cheek, muttered a ‘good night’ then hurried off to the dorms and into bed. He hadn’t unpacked yet, so he simply threw on a plain t-shirt from the top of his trunk and some joggers to sleep in. Surprisingly, Harry got to sleep rather quickly. He hadn’t taken a sleepless dream potion, nor a sleeping draught. During the summer, he had become reliant on these remedies. Now that he was returning to school, he thought it would be suspicious to request more potions from Madam Pomfrey each time he ran out. It would most likely be reported to Professor McGonagall, as students without a proper prescription cannot have free access to medication. His other option would be to make it himself each time he needed it, but Professor Snape would notice the same ingredients going missing every so often. Given Snapes and Potter's relationship, Professor Snape would blame Harry even if he had no evidence. This wouldn’t just get him reported to Professor McGonagall, it would also risk getting him either expelled, kicked off the quidditch team, or a serious amount of detentions.Ron arrived in the bed next to him not even half an hour later. The party was still ongoing in the common room, but with the quidditch season coming up Ron needed all the rest he could get. The Ordinary Wizarding Level exams would also be taking place this year, but the only one of the trio particularly bothered about these was Hermione. Even she wasn’t too bothered though, as she felt more than prepared. Ron and Harry, on the other hand, would most likely end up waiting until around 2 weeks before the O.W.Ls to start revising. Although, their version of revising would most likely include reading whatever notebooks Hermione gave them, and sitting in the library with a large stack of revision books (which again, would be given to them by Hermione).Ron had already unpacked the majority of his belongings, so after swiftly changing into his pajamas he settled into bed. Like Harry, Ron also fell asleep rather quickly. His excitement for the upcoming quidditch season, and dread for the tedious days of lessons, slipped away as the comforting feeling of his quilt covered him.Harry awoke after a few hours of sleep, during which everyone had retreated to their beds. It wasn’t a peaceful awakening, not in the slightest. He jolted up as a scream poured out of his mouth. Trying to regain his breath, Harry leaned over the bed gasping. Ron stirred slightly.“Blimey Harry keep it down will you” he muttered before glancing over and seeing a distraught Harry. “You alright mate?” Ron asked. Harry couldn’t answer.“Christ Harry, want me to take you to Pomfrey? Or should I get Dumbledore? In fact, I’ll get McGonagall. She’ll know what to do. I’ll bring you to her even. Wouldn’t want everyone waking up and listening”Ron hoisted Harrys’ weight onto himself, Harrys’ arm laying limply across his shoulders. He hurriedly walked down the staircase and out of the dorm, towards Mcgonagall's office. Once arriving at Mcgonagall's office door, he knocked harshly 3 times. There was a short pause, then he heard floor boards creaking on the other side of the door. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal Professor Mcgonagall dressed in her nighty with a robe around her. A look of annoyance was plastered on her face, until she saw a Harry.“Come in, come in!” She said, “What on earth has happened?”“I don’t know, Professor! He woke me up screaming, then went all quiet. He hasn’t said a word! I don’t think he knows what’s happening” Ron replied, concern seeping into his voice.Mcgonagall tutted slightly before guiding them to a small sofa and allowing them to sit down. She glanced at Harry, and his pale, sweaty face, before walking to a delicately framed painting and asking the figure to alert Dumbledore and Snape of the situation. Ron squinted at her slightly at the mention of Snape, but didn’t ask about it.“How long has he been like this?” Mcgonagall asked.“Not long, Professor. He woke me up screaming and I took him straight here.”“You’ve done well, Weasley,” She said as Dumbledore and Snape entered the room.Dumbledore shared a look with Mcgonagall before setting his eyes on Harry.“Harry. You must wake up,” he exclaimed loudly, yet calmly.Harry groaned slightly, but his eyes began to open.“..Professor Dumbledore?” Questioned Harry, as though he believed he was still in a dream.“Yes. What happened, Harry?”“I don’t know sir.”“Were you dreaming about something?”Harry frowned, “I don’t think I was dreaming, professor.”“What do you mean?”“I wasn’t.. myself. It was like I was in someone else’s body, seeing through their eyes. I was in a dark room; I wasn’t alone.”“Dumbledore, it can’t be, can it?” Snape asked Dumbledore angrily.“I’m afraid it must be,” he replied, “Harry. You need to tell us everything you saw. Do you understand?”“Yes, professor. Like I said, I was in a dark room. There was a long table, a few people were gathered around it but I couldn’t really see. A man was laid across the table, I know that much. He looked injured, people were begging to kill him. He was begging to be killed. Then… I don’t know what happened. It was like I was attacking him, but I wasn’t. I wouldn’t do that. But it felt like I was. I could see myself move towards him, he was crying out in pain but I kept attacking. Then it went quiet, and I woke up.”Snape glared at Dumbledore, clearly knowing something which Harry didn’t. Dumbledore himself had a puzzled expression across his face, whatever was going on had clearly taken him by surprise.“Can you describe the man you saw, Harry?” Dumbledore asked.“I can try,” Harry replied, pushing himself slightly more upright, “He had short, grey hair and his face was wrinkled. He was slightly plump and probably average height. I think I’ve seen him before somewhere.”“I need you to remember where you’ve seen him,” Dumbledore insisted.Harry thought for a moment before answering, “In Diagon Alley. He was just leaving the daily prophet offices.”“Barnabas Cuffe,” Snape interjected, “Chief editor for the daily prophet. Whatever would they want with him?”“I don’t know, Severus, but we must find out. Minerva, inform the ministry for me, they need to know of the situation.”Mcgonagall obliged, quickly exiting the room.“Harry, have you had dreams like this before?” Dumbledore asked.“Not one as vivid as this. I’d been having… bad dreams, nightmares of sorts, but the dreamless sleep potions I took soon sorted those out. Should I begin taking those again?”“Don’t be so stupid, Potter. No potion could fix this!” Snape exclaimed, before leaving the room and slamming the door on his way out.Dumbledore sighed. “Weasley, take Harry back to the dormitory please. Tomorrow, Harry, we will talk again and figure this out. For now, get some rest. I fear we have a long journey ahead of us.”The boys returned to their beds and got what little sleep they could before the sun rose once again.