บท 21: Chapter 21
[T/N: OK! You guys got us to over 200 powerstones before the end of the week, your getting an extra chapter, we are also at like 991 people with this book in their libraries. Guess what happens when we reach 1000.]
Two days passed before Harry woke up after the beating Brian had given him and he was surprised when he not only found himself in the school infirmary, but also when he discovered Remus next to him, looking like he hadn't left his side since they told him. For a few brief moments, he wondered who had told him what had happened, because he was convinced that it wasn't his parents, but Remus was quick to answer it once he discovered with relief that he had woken up.
To his surprise, he discovered that Brian had been punished for what had happened, although not with expulsion as the teachers wanted, because for this they needed the authorization of the Headmaster, something he was not planning to do. And then, later, when his friends visited him, he found out what the reaction of the entire school had been as well as what measures had been adopted by his own classmates, he was amused that the twins had decided that the youngest of The Potter brothers was the perfect target for their jokes.
In itself, everything that happened during his stay in the infirmary was a surprise for him, from the different visits from the teachers showing their concern for him, to the lengths that some students went to show their wishes for him to recover soon. Harry thought he had half a store of candy in his bed. There were more sweets than Harry had ever eaten and many of them he had never tasted. The only thing that did not surprise him was the visit that the headmaster paid him, because all he wanted was for him to admit that Brian had not done anything to him so that he could lift his punishment, but for the first time, Harry decided not to allow his brother to weasel his way out of punishment, whether he was spared the punishment or he was the one who received it instead, this time there were more people who believed him instead of Brian.
It took five days before the nurse allowed him to leave her care, although with precise instructions that if he felt the slightest discomfort to come see her. He didn't think it was necessary, after all, Fawkes had helped his recovery by visiting him at night and treating some of his more serious wounds, but since he didn't want to hurt or anger the woman, he assured her that he would do it. Once out of his domain, Harry decided above all to concentrate on his classes, which he had largely neglected during his stay in the infirmary. He had to catch up on a week's absence, and although for anyone that wouldn't be much, for him, who had a much tougher schedule than the rest, it was more than he could afford.
Although he had a lot of work, he had to admit that the fact that Brian didn't get close to him was quite pleasant. It seemed that he had learned his lesson well and above all he kept his distance from him. He was only seen during meals and during that period of time, he remained at the Gryffindor table trying not to attract anyone's attention, especially Fred and George Weasley who had decided to continue punishing the youngest Potter, subjecting him to all their inventions. (They had confided to him that their ambition was to open a joke shop, where they would sell their own products). In addition, the detention he had every night had to be taken into account. From what he had heard, Snape, Filch, Sprout, and McGonagall took turns and each one looked for a most unpleasant job, and they kept him busy until very late. Be that as it may, it was clear that this had not been what Brian imagined, when he thought about his stay at Hogwarts.
Thus, Harry distributed his time among his different obligations. Much of his time was spent in his room making the potion for Remus, after all the full moon was approaching and he knew that he must have finished the reservation he had for the summer holidays. It was a pity that he couldn't continue experimenting with potions, to achieve the cure for lycanthropy, but with all his responsibilities, it was almost impossible. The same thing went with his classes with Fawkes, he could barely do any as the bird pointed out, but with his classes and training with the team, it made things very complicated for him... If only he could rest well... but since he left the infirmary he had not stopped having strange nightmares, although the worst ones undoubtedly began a week after Madam Pomfrey let him leave.
Harry looked around not really knowing where he was, since he thought he had stayed in his school dormitory, but right now he could tell that that wasn't the case... in fact, that place couldn't even be classified as magical... there was no doubt that it was a completely muggle place.
If he had to look at his surroundings, he would have to say that he was in what seemed to be a Muggle housing estate, one of those that usually exist on the outskirts of large cities, although which one was a complete mystery to him. It must have been one of those with rich people, because the house right in front of him was huge and screamed "filthy rich" everywhere. It was a three-story house, quite large and with a large garden, and it also had what seemed to be a fairly expensive car... yes, they were obviously rich people.
The boy was wondering what he was doing there, when he saw something that made his blood run cold, there, right in front of him, was what was undoubtedly a group of Death Eaters who were preparing to enter the house. Harry found himself not knowing what to do, whether he should run and hide so they wouldn't see him or go and tell the family who lived there. While he was debating between one option or the other, one of the Death Eaters turned and looked at him, and Harry thought that he could no longer do one or the other, but to his surprise, the Death Eater turned around again.
"All clean. There is no one who can bother us."
"Very good... let's have some fun."
Harry was intrigued, how could he say there was no one? He had just seen him! Perhaps the most sensible thing would have been to walk away and let the Death Eaters continue on their way since they seemed to have ignored him, but he felt compelled to follow them, to know what they were going to do, even though he already assumed it, one didn't have to think much to know, what a group of Death Eaters might want to do in a Muggle house, torture and kill.
He followed them into the house, still not understanding how they could not notice his presence, and watched as four of them separated from the initial group of seven and headed upstairs, probably to get the family out of their beds to gather them in the living room... yes, not long after screams and struggles were heard, and then everyone appeared in the living room, where they placed the Muggles right in the center of what seemed like a circle of Death Eaters.
The young magician did not want to look, he knew what was going to happen and he did not want to look at what they were going to do, but even without knowing why, his eyes did not take off from the macabre scene that was happening right in front of him. It was a young family... the adults could not have been more than 30 years old and the children (twins) no more than six... he did not want to look, he did not want to see what they were going to do to them, but there seemed to be an invisible force that prevented him from looking away, let alone getting out of there as quickly as possible.
What happened next was not pleasant... the Death Eaters wanted to make them suffer and the best way to harm parents was to force them to be the ones to torture their own children, they put them under imperius. While the mother was harming one of her children with a kitchen knife, the father hit the other with all his strength. It was no use for the children to scream, to ask their parents to stop, they could not disobey the order that those magicians had given them. And with every scream, with every plea those children made, Harry couldn't help but cry. He couldn't and he didn't want to either. He didn't know how long that lasted, but finally, it seemed that they got tired and ordered them to kill them... In those moments, death was a blessing for those screamers but for their parents, it was the greatest despair. So once the curse was removed, the man snatched the knife from his wife and stabbed himself, and the woman did not take long to follow him, although she was attacked by an Avada thrown at her by the leader of the group.
"We better leave before anyone can see us."
"Yes... but first... Morsmordre! Let the idiots at the ministry know who has been here tonight." The ringleader laughed.
Now, above the house, there was the well-known Dark Mark, which announced to the world that the Death Eaters had acted again.
Harry woke up with a start, shaking and with tears in his eyes, had it been a dream? And if it had been... why had he dreamed of such an atrocity? He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep no matter how hard he tried, so it was pointless for him to go back to bed.
Seeing that it was still quite dark and that he could not leave his common room without getting into trouble, since there would still be a curfew, he grabbed one of his more complicated books and went down to the living room to start reading. Even though he was reading, or at least trying to read, his mind couldn't stop thinking about his dream... why? Why had I dreamed that? I didn't even know that family! Although now I knew what their name was, Grey.
[T/N: huh?! Who that?]
The morning and the awakening of the rest of his house, he found him exactly the same as how he had sat, he had not even changed the page... his mind had not been able to stop turning over the strange dream and now he was much more aware of what had happened in him and of all the details that had previously escaped him.
"Harry, what are you doing here?" Athenea asked him, sitting next to him.
"That? Oh, Athenea... Is it day already? Yes of course…"
"What's the matter? I have never seen you like this."
"Nothing... I was just distracted."
"I noticed that, genius, but what was it that could have distracted you to such an extent?"
"A dream..." Harry answered after a few moments of silence.
"A dream?"
"Well, rather a nightmare…. One of the very bad ones."
"Do you want to tell me?"
"No!" He answered abruptly, although upon seeing her face, he added. "Athenea, it's a really bad nightmare... I don't want you to have a bad time listening to me."
Athenea looked at him for a few moments distractedly, as if ruminating on what her friend had told her, obviously looking for a solution to the problem without making him feel worse than he already felt. Finally, after a couple of minutes of watching him carefully, she smiled with satisfaction before getting up and going up to her bedroom, leaving behind a very confused boy. When she returned, she was carrying what looked like a black notebook in her hands.
"Here." She said just like that, handing him the notebook.
"What is it?"
"It's a diary, silly." At her friend's expression, she added. "It's for you to write your dreams, not what happens to you every day... There are times when you have certain dreams that bother you, but you can't explain them to other people, so what you can do is write them down, that way you will feel much better.
"But I just had a nightmare."
"Well, write it down, and when you have another dream, whatever it may be... even if it's stupid, write it down, so that later when you reread it you'll laugh a little. Will you do it?"
"Okay, I'll try."
After that, he took the notebook and without even waiting, opened it and began to write what had been bothering him for hours. To his own surprise, that dream took up three good pages, and in them, she explained in great detail what had happened, how the Death Eaters had tortured and killed that Muggle family, and when he finally finished he was able to verify that his friend had been right, he felt much better.
The following days he also had strange dreams about his daily life, and although they did not bother him, he also reported them in his dream diary as soon as he woke up. Some were even quite funny, like the fact that they played a prank on Brian in which he ended up transformed into a harmless reddish kitten... those gave a slight touch of humor just as Athenea had told him.
The diary was a great idea since that way he could concentrate on other things, like his studies, Quidditch, and his research... whether you like it or not, everything was much harder than in the other courses he had already taken beforehand. It wasn't until about a week after the nightmare that he noticed something very strange happening with his dreams...
"Poor people... They had to suffer so much." Jonathan heard them comment during breakfast while reading the Prophet.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"Last night the Death Eaters killed a Muggle family... and in a rather cruel way."
[T/N: Aw sh*t!]
"Can you let me read?"
"Here... although I warn you that it is quite disgusting to read."
Harry nodded absentmindedly, before picking up the newspaper and began reading the news. At first, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, a small group of Death Eaters who had wanted to have a good time, or at least a good time for themselves, had arrived around midnight and after forcing them to stay in the room, they tortured them and then killed them... It wasn't until they began to describe the family members that Harry noticed something strange... a young couple and their six-year-old twin sons. Already a little more scared, he continued reading carefully until he found the name of said family… the Greys.
The boy felt a knot in his stomach as he suddenly turned pale... then putting the newspaper aside, he picked up his dream diary and opened it to the first pages where his nightmare was related and began to compare facts between his notebook and the one in the Daily Prophet. The result made him pale even more.
"Harry, what's wrong with you? Why are you so pale?" Athenea asked, looking at him worried.
"It's impossible... It can't be true..."
"Harry, you're scaring us."
"The nightmare... the attack... it can't be..."
"Harry!"
"I dreamed about it..." He finally answered, looking at his two Hufflepuff friends.
"What did you dream?" Jonathan asked.
"The attack on the Greys... I dreamed it."
"Come on... that's impossible."
"It's true!" He exclaimed scared. "It was the nightmare that 'Nea told me to start the dream diary for!"
"Harry, do you realize what you're saying?" Athenea murmured. "If you really dreamed about the attack on the Greys, it's very serious."
"I know... I couldn't continue remaining silent and I would have to say about my capabilities."
"I think we are rushing." Jonathan cut in. "I think that even if Harry had really dreamed about that attack, it doesn't mean anything, it may not happen again and then it would be of no use..."
"What do you propose?" The girl asked without taking her eyes off her friend.
"Harry, you now stay quiet and keep writing your dream diary... if you dream about another Death Eater attack again and then this one is confirmed, we will go to the Headmaster... but we will only tell him about your dreams, okay?"
[T/N: That's kind of F*cked up...another Family has to die before you accept that your friend is a prophet]
They both looked at him for a few moments, before nodding rather reluctantly. They understood that such caution was necessary, but they did not like the idea of allowing further assassinations before trying to stop the Dark Lord and his followers from such attacks.
[T/N: ughhhhhhhh! That was an emotional chapter. If you are excited about Harry's future possible visions then feel free to leave a comment, if not then at least show some sympathy for the Greys. Drop some stones if you enjoyed the chapter and check out the P@treon or the Ko-fi for the full book.]
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