Chapter Seventeen
"Dreams"

Page Two

Harry bit into the dark chocolate; it was quite hard at first but within seconds it began to melt quite delightfully on his tongue. It was the best chocolate he had ever tasted, it was nothing short of heavenly.

Noticing the puzzled look on Harry's face, Lupin explained, "It's Italian dark chocolate. Honeyduke's imports it from Florence. Its healing powers are comparable only to one other kind of chocolate; chocolatto gelati, but you can only get that in Italy. I saw that chocolate in Honeyduke's when we were there; I took the whole shelf. It would have cost a fortune normally."

"It's fifty galleons for a one pound ballotin," said Sirius.

Harry almost gagged; he'd never eaten anything that costly.

"I don't know how we're going to repay them for it," sighed Lupin. "But we can worry about that later, it's not important now."

Madam Pomfrey walked over to the side of the bed and said, "I need to go check on Minerva, I'll be back in a bit."

Lupin nodded his head and Madam Pomfrey turned to leave, closing the door quietly behind her.

"You ready to tell us yet?" asked Sirius anxiously.

Harry swallowed the last chunk of chocolate, brushed off his hands and nodded his head.

He opened his mouth and began to explain the dream. He strained his mind as he tried to recall all the images he had seen, but only a few could be remembered clearly. He was stopped from time to time by Lupin, handing him smaller chunks of the Italian chocolate. Harry would stop and eat while Lupin and Black cast furtive glances at each other, then Harry would start back up again.

He was just about to the end of the dream, where the man's head appeared, when Madam Pomfrey came bursting through the door.

"Remus, Sirius, grab all the chocolate you can," she panted, running to he desk.

"What is it?" croaked Lupin hurriedly as he ran to the same cupboard that held the special chocolate.

"It's Minerva, she's having some sort of fit," Madam Pomfrey summoned a bag from a hook on the wall and began emptying mounds of chocolate from a chest into the bag. "She's hotter than blue blazes, sweating like crazy and her eyes; they're shut, but they're moving like bandits."

Sirius, Remus and Madam Pomfrey tore around the room like a whirlwind, grabbing chocolate right and left. Lupin ran out the door, quickly followed by Madam Pomfrey. As Sirius was about to run out after them, he turned to Harry and ordered, "Don't get out of that bed, understand?" He ran out of the room, shutting the door with a snap.

Madam Pomfrey's office was quite dark now and it bothered Harry to be in there alone. He looked around, not able to see clearly without his glasses which had been left on the bedside table back in the main ward.

He lay back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He knew what was happening to McGonagall; she was having the same dream, he knew it.

What else could it be? he thought, I need to go see her.

He threw the sheets off his legs and swung them over the side of the bed.

I can stand up, he reassured himself. I need to stand up.

He pushed off from the bed, his legs still feeling a little wobbly, but not nearly as bad as before. He held onto the bedpost at first, checking that he was indeed stable. His knees were shaking, but he seemed be okay as he let go of the bedpost.

He walked slowly to the door, feeling incredibly weak. He opened the door and gazed at the corridor in front of him. Somehow it seemed a lot longer than before.

He made his way to the ward; the staircase to McGonagall's chamber was still uncovered. They had obviously been in too much of a hurry to hide it again.

Finally he made it to the mahogany doors at the bottom of the staircase, but his legs were starting to get that tofu feeling again. He turned the doorknob and let the door swing open.

"Harry!" exclaimed Madam Pomfrey. "What the devil are you doing out of bed?"

"I know what's happening to Professor McGonagall," said Harry, limping forward.

"That's great, Harry," said Sirius, almost sarcastically. "But you're going to hurt yourself, you need to get back to bed."

Harry stumbled over to McGonagall's bedside. She was seizing up, her face was pale and drenched with sweat; her eyes were moving rapidly under the eyelids. She looked frantic and scared.

Harry grabbed a damp cloth from the bedside table and dabbed McGonagall's forehead with it.

"She feels trapped," he said quietly. "She wants to wake up, but it won't let her… she doesn't have a scar to wake her up."

Lupin, who was sitting on the other side of the bed, holding McGonagall's hand, looked up at Harry, shock in his eyes.

"What do you mean, Harry?"

"I mean," said Harry slowly. "She's having the same dream I did, but she can't wake up, she doesn't have anything to wake her up."

"Then let's give her something to wake her up," said Sirius frantically.

Harry looked around the room, searching for an idea… nothing. He cast his tired eyes on Lupin and shook his head.

"I can't think of anything," he said slowly.

"No," muttered Lupin. "There has to be something, we can't just leave her like this! She's in agony, I can't let her stay like that…" his voice raised, he was on-edge and terribly upset.

All of a sudden, a loud clap of thunder broke the silence, so loudly it seemed to shake the walls. Everyone's eyes darted upwards as they were taken by surprise.

"Look!" yelled Madam Pomfrey, pointing straight at McGonagall.

She was still again, the convulsions had ceased and her eyes were wide open. She tried to speak but no noise could come out of her open mouth.

"Minerva," gasped Black and Lupin at the same time. Lupin's grip on McGonagall's hand tightened as he leaned forward so McGonagall could see him.

McGonagall's eye stared up at the ceiling, intense fear shining out of them. Her face was livid with apprehension and her mouth lay open in a silent scream.

"We're here," said Lupin softly. "It's going to be okay."

McGonagall's head shook ever so slightly from side to side, her eyes still fixed on the ceiling. She tried to move her mouth to form words but it was extremely difficult.

"Slow down," said Lupin. "Don't try to talk, you're still too…"

He was cut off by McGonagall, her other hand shot up and grabbed Lupin's forearm, catching him by surprise.

She shook her head again; her eyes still fixed on the ceiling. She whispered frenziedly, "Albus… McKinnon… Potter, Voldemort…"

"What?" Lupin was utterly perplexed, as were Harry, Madam Pomfrey and Sirius.

McGonagall tightened her grip on Lupin's arm and her eyes slowly shifted to look at Lupin's face.

"McKinnon… and Potter…" she croaked slowly. "Voldemort took-" Her body seized up and her fingers went straight, her eyes still staring straight at Lupin; a look of frightened pleading on her face, but she could no longer speak.

Her body twitched and shook sporadically for only a second before falling limp onto the bed; her eyes shut and her mouth closed.

Lupin stretched out his index and middle finger to her throat, feeling for a pulse.

"She's still alive," he whispered.

"The poor thing," gasped Madam Pomfrey. "Come on, everyone out. I'll stay in here with her in case she wakes up again. Sirius, Remus, take Harry back to my office and stay with him there. We've all had more than enough commotion for one evening."

Madam Pomfrey seemed to be babbling to drown out any objections as she shoved the three of them out the door.

"Get some sleep, don't worry, I'll take good care of her. Oh, and Sirius," she added in a whisper after Lupin and Harry had been shoved out. "Keep an eye on Remus and be mindful of Harry. I don't want him drifting off on us again."

Sirius nodded his head in reply, then turned and exited the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Lupin and Harry were standing at the base of the stairs, silently waiting.

"You don't look like you should be walking, Harry," Sirius was getting more parental by the minute. "Come here, I'll carry you."

"I can walk," insisted Harry, leaning heavily against the wall behind him.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at Harry, he took two steps forward and lifted Harry up into his arms, not too surprised that Harry didn't argue. It was too late too argue.

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