A/N: okay I know I promised this by the end of march and that didn't happen, but I'm not too late with it either, so enjoy this chapter.

PS: Draco and Harry are not yet friends, there is too much past between them for that to happen very quickly.  Plus, Draco still doesn't know what his own beliefs are.  He still holds onto some of the pureblood philosophies he was taught, but he did not want to join Voldemort because his father also taught him to have pride and he knows there is nothing to be proud of in bowing down and groveling to someone who will just hurt you anyway.  He has not had a true change of heart yet-just separated from his father.  In chapter ten (I think that is where it comes in) he starts to have his change of heart when he realizes that Harry was the one who saved his life.

Harry Potter and his Dreams

Chapter 9

As February melted into March, Harry had a few dreams of Voldemort, but they were all just with the Death Eaters. He was mainly concentrating on his course work because the teachers were pushing them hard in preparation for the OWLs in May.

Snape continued to pair Harry with Draco and the two had managed to work out a system where they didn't have to say a word to each other. Surprisingly, Harry was now achieving better potions scores than he ever remembered. Perhaps working with Draco had its benefits: Snape had to give them the same grade on the in-class portions.

In transfiguration class McGonagall had started them in on transfiguring each other. There were some rather remarkable results. Perhaps the most interesting was Neville, after finally successfully transforming Dean into a parakeet, had tried to reverse the transfiguration, but ended up omitting clothing. Luckily, Dean's boxers had followed his human form. They were blue, with footballs (soccer balls) rolling around the bottom, and had "West Ham!" blinking in bright yellow letters across the butt cheeks.

"Today, I want you all to put your books in the bags. I'll be testing you today on your knowledge of shield charms and other defensive, and offensive, tactics you have learned in the past.  We will have somewhat of a dueling tournament.  I will pair you up so that you are, somewhat, evenly matched. In the future, you will most likely be paired with someone who you are not evenly matched with; I'm just going to be easy on you today." Arabella explained when they got into class in early March.

Harry froze. Dueling? That was not something he was looking forward to.  He had not told Arabella, or even Sirius, that he still had nightmares about the Third Task. Dueling with Lord Voldemort had left him wary of what most considered a sport. The rest of the class was whispering excitedly.

"Okay, I arranged for a double period today; Hagrid will have a double lesson with you next Monday to make up for today. The winner of the tournament today will receive a 5 galleon gift certificate to Honeydukes or the Three Broomsticks, your choice. First match, Miss Granger versus Mr. Potter." Arabella cleared a space at the front of the room for them to use.

Hermione wasted no time starting, "Confundo!" Harry dove out of the way and immediately shot back "Expelliarmus." Hermione deflected it towards the chalkboard.

On his feet again, Harry quickly created a shield and shot a stunning spell at Hermione, who dodged it and sent a Jelly-Legs curse at him. Luckily, his shield absorbed it.

They continued for a good ten minutes until Hermione caught Harry's shield at a weak point and managed to disarm him. Harry grinned at Hermione and sat down, mostly relieved that he wouldn't have to duel anyone else.  Dueling automatically made him uneasy.

He watched the others complete the first round of dueling. Ron and Dean dueled second and Ron won quickly, after using a spell to make Dean's robes disappear, leaving him, once again, in just his boxers. Dean had been so stunned at the repeat performance that Ron disarmed him.

Next Seamus and Parvati dueled.  The two were quite well matched and they threw spells, curses and hexes at each other for almost fifteen minutes (the longest duel so far) before Parvati Summoned Seamus' wand straight from his hand.

The last duel of the first round was between Neville and Lavender. Neville managed to come up with a very creative way to defeat Lavender. He lengthened her robes and she tripped, allowing him to stun her while she grabbed for a desk.

"Excellent!" Arabella cried, "Now, second round. Miss Granger versus Mr. Weasley."

Harry smirked. Now this would be interesting.  As they began, everyone could see that Ron was mostly acting defensively, and not offensively. Apparently, this angered Hermione and so she ended it quickly with a whole barrage of curses that Ron could not hope to deflect or dodge.

Then Parvati and Neville dueled. Parvati won, leaving the final round between Hermione and herself.

Parvati may have been a good match for Seamus, but she was nowhere near as quick as Hermione and so Hermione won the duel quickly.

"Congratulations, Miss Granger. You have won the tournament. Which would you like the gift certificate for, Honeydukes, or the Three Broomsticks?"

Hermione thought a moment, "Three Broomsticks."

"Here you are then." Arabella handed it to her. "Alright," she was once again addressing the whole class, "from now on we will be dueling at least once a week. The prize for each tournament will vary from week to week. However, by the time OWLs get here, the individual with the most tournament victories out of all my fifth year classes will receive one hundred points to his or her house and four tickets to the European Cup taking place this July."

There were many excited whispers at this announcement.

"Now, we will discuss the mistakes each of you made for the rest of the class period.  In order to get better you need to know your strengths and weaknesses."

When they finally left Defense that day Harry left Hermione and Ron to their argument. Hermione was berating Ron for not doing his best in his duel with her. Ron was futilely trying to defend himself. He finally gave up and silenced her with a kiss. Harry left at that point and started walking back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Harry, do you have some time?" Arabella called down the hall.

He turned back around and followed her to her sitting room.

"You weren't trying your hardest today." Arabella stated.

Harry just gave a small nod.

"Why?"

Harry sighed, "I don't like dueling."

Arabella gazed at him for a moment and then sat back in her favorite chair, "We never have discussed what happened last June, have we?"

Harry slowly shook his head.

"Do you want to?"

"Not particularly."

"I'm sorry Harry. I should have warned you beforehand that we would be dueling today.  It must have slipped my mind. Dueling with Lord Voldemort at the age of fourteen could not have been a fun experience and I probably reminded you of it a bit too strongly today."

"No, it's not that…."

"Isn't it?"

"Well, I guess part of it is." Harry fell silent.

Arabella sighed, "We don't have to talk about it right now, but you will have to do better in class if you want to keep up the grade average you have been making. I know your potential Harry and I won't let you settle for not reaching it. Now, get on to dinner."

Harry left, thinking.

"Harry," Hermione said after dinner, "next Saturday is the first Hogsmeade trip you can go on, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, part of the afternoon Ron and I are going to have a lunch date at the Three Broomsticks on my gift certificate. Is that okay with you?" she seemed a little nervous to be excluding him for even an hour for them to eat alone together.

"Have fun," was all Harry got a chance to say before Hermione attacked him with a squeal and a hug.

"Thank you Harry! We will of course spend most of the time with you." She said as though making sure he knew that.

As it turned out, Harry ended up not going to Hogsmeade at all. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, but around midnight he sat straight up in bed, wide awake and shaking.  Since none of his roommates had awoken, he guessed he had not screamed.

Grandma? He called out in his mind.  There was no answer. He started to panic, Grandma? He said more urgently.  Grandma! He tried for a third time with all his might.

There was still no answer.  He threw his covers off and ran out of his room, down the stairs and out of the common room.  He skidded to a halt at the back of the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom and then realized he had left his wand under his pillow. Silently cursing himself he said the password anyway, hoping it would work, and knocked on the door.  He let out a sigh of relief as he heard movement.

Arabella opened the door, "Harry? Can it wait? I'm busy at the moment."

Harry shook his head, "When was the last time I was here in the middle of the night?"

Arabella thought for a moment and Harry's patience snapped, "If you don't want to know then I'll do something myself!" he said.

Arabella quickly ushered him inside.  Draco Malfoy was sitting on a couch with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands-it looked like Harry wasn't the only one with nightmares tonight.  Draco looked surprised to see Harry there, and a little upset at his private talk with Arabella being interrupted.

"What happened Harry?" The professor asked, pulling his attention back to the woman.

"I had a dream, like the one over Christmas holiday, and I can't reach Dumbledore!"

Arabella was suddenly very alert as Draco looked on confused, "Who?"

"Professor Snape."

She went pale, "Dumbledore is gone until tomorrow afternoon and no one else has the power!" she whispered.

"Where is he?" asked Harry.

"London, the Aurors have asked him to help with a number of security modifications.  He must be actually doing magic, and complicated magic at that, for you not to be able to reach him.  Why he is doing magic at this time of night is beyond me," Arabella started pacing.

"Well, we have to do something!"

"Where is Severus, Harry?"

"I can't tell," Harry said agitated, "all I know is…." He trailed off and turned sharply to look at Draco, who had been completely confused by their entire conversation and who was very startled to feel Harry's intense gaze.

"What?" he said, for lack of anything better.

"He's in the same room you were in.  Where is that room?" Harry said, not even realizing how Draco might react to being reminded of it.

Draco's eyes widened, "How did you know?"

"Draco," Arabella said commandingly, drawing attention away from Harry, "the Dark Lord has used the same poison on Professor Snape.  I need to know where he is."

Draco looked at her and Harry for a few moments before managing to stammer out, "The…the old church basement behind the post office in Hogsmeade."

"Harry, keep trying to contact Dumbledore.  Draco, please go wake up Madam Pomfrey and tell her what is going on."  With that the witch waved her wand and she was in pants and off running.  Moments later Harry saw her figure on a broom flying away from Hogwarts.

Grandma!  No luck.

Harry ran to McGonagall's room.  He woke her up, explaining what had happened.  She paled.  Without saying a word to Harry she drew her wand, lit a fire, and started muttering incantations.  The fire divided into four separate columns of flame, one red, one green, one yellow, and one blue. "Albus, come back to Hogwarts!" she yelled into the fire and then the columns of flame formed themselves into the Hogwarts crest.

She turned to Harry, "That is the best I can do; let's get to the infirmary."

With that the two of them were off.  Grandma! He tried again as they entered the infirmary.  They joined Draco and Poppy, waiting for Arabella to bring Snape.  Every few minutes Harry would try Dumbledore again.

An hour later Arabella entered, looking very frazzled, with Snape floating behind her. "Neither of us could reach the Headmaster," Harry said indicating himself and the Deputy Headmistress.

Arabella nodded and helped Madam Pomfrey place the unconscious professor on the bed.  The poison had already spread through his veins and was now going from pore to pore.  He looked, and smelled, half rotted.  Madam Pomfrey quickly scanned him and said, "If Albus doesn't get her in the next ten minutes the damage will be irreversible."

Grandma! Still silence.

"I still can't reach him!" Harry said in frustration, then he tried to calm himself down, an idea forming in his head. "Can we slow it any?"

Minerva looked and the nurse who shrugged helplessly, "I don't know.  A homeostasis charm might stop the poison where it is, but using that for anything longer than five or ten minutes will cause brain damage.  I don't even know how the poison would react to such a spell." The woman was wringing her hands.

That was too dangerous, so they decided to do "spot purification" where each of them would do the blood cleaning spells for a few minutes, focusing on the vital organs.  Harry and Draco both managed to slow the spread somewhat.  Poppy and Minerva both slowed the poison considerably. Arabella was the only one to stop the spread completely, but she could only keep up that power level for a few minutes.  None of them were able to reverse the flow.  Yet it seemed to increase Snape's chances somewhat.

After half an hour of this, in which Harry intermittently tried to contact Dumbledore, he received an answer in his mind.

Harry, I received an emergency call from Minerva. What has happened?

Harry stopped his spell in sudden relief, turning his whole attention to the Headmaster.

Voldemort poisoned Professor Snape. Harry sent a mental image to Dumbledore.

I'm on my way. Was the only answer he got.

"Professor Dumbledore is on his way Harry announced. The others looked somewhat relieved, but they knew it was not yet over.  Apparating from London to Hogsmeade straight was dangerous, so he would most likely have to divide up the trip into smaller apparation distances.  Plus it was a good half an hour to get from Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts infirmary.  The entire trip might take forty-five minutes.

To everyone's surprise, Albus Dumbledore appeared in the infirmary five minutes later. He quickly got to work.  Snape had had the potion in his system for a good two hours.  It took another three hours for Dumbledore to remove the poison.  He awoke as the last of the poison left his body.  He saw who was standing around him.  Then he looked directly at Harry, "So you did tell him.  Three hundred points to Gryffindor," he said in a weak voice, before Madam Pomfrey forced a sleeping potion down his throat.

"Now," Dumbledore said, "tell me what happened."

"Well, I had a dream," Harry paused and called the dream up in his mind and sent it directly to the headmaster through his link with his grandmother.

"So, Severus, you have decided to come.  I thought you weren't going to show."

"I could not leave sooner, Master." Snape said, bowing to the floor.

"Ah, Severus, you disappoint me.  You see, I received an alarming report from Wormtail two days ago.  He says that you are not loyal to me.  I did not want to believe him, but then he reminded me that you did not inform me of Draco Malfoy's presence at the school.  I had to learn that from the children of my other Death Eaters.  He told me an amazing story of you meeting with Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.  I said to him 'Severus would not betray me' and then he reminded me of the little incident four years ago, where you tried your hardest to stop me from getting the Sorcerer's stone.  You knew it was me, you felt your mark react as I took over Quirrel little by little.  I have been too lenient with you.  Now you will pay for betraying me.  Crucio!"

Severus started screaming as Voldemort laughed and waved a hand at the others gathered around him. They joined in.

After a few minutes, Voldemort let up and so did the others.  Then he approached the cowering, shaking figure,  "You're only salvation is in death now, Severus."

"Then kill me," he said through gritted teeth.

"No Severus, you will suffer first," Voldemort said, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Severus struggled to gain enough control over his aching body to grasp his wand.

"Oh no, we can't have that," Voldemort said and flicked his wand.  Metal straps appeared out of nowhere, securing him to the floor spread-eagle.  Then the Dark Lord rolled up the man's sleeve where the dark mark was and put his wand to it.  He started muttering an incantation and the black poison started to pour out of his wand.  Severus started to scream again, but soon the pain was too much for even that and all he could do was whimper.  His body wanted to curl up into a fetal position but he could not move because of the metal.

Voldemort sneered, "Traitors never prosper Severus, especially those who betray me." Then he left.

"After I woke up," Harry continued explaining after sending Albus the dream, "I tried to contact you." He explained that he had gotten Arabella and how they had each contributed to trying to stop the poison.

Dumbledore then turned to Arabella and she started speaking, "It took me a while to remove the metal the Dark Lord had used to keep him on the floor.  I was afraid he was going to die before he even got back here.  This time the poison was most definitely stronger."

Dumbledore nodded and turned to Draco, "Three hundred points to Slytherin, for your part in helping," then he addressed all of them, "I am sorry I could not be reached.  I was actively expending power." The he said, almost to himself, "The first thing we need to do is find an antidote to that poison," then he shook his head and looked up at the others, "You may talk to Professor Snape some other time.  Right now, it is time for all of us to sleep." With that he surprised everyone by stretching out on the bed he had been sitting on and falling asleep instantly.

Grandma, is he okay?" Harry asked concerned.

He just needs rest Harry, even Claudia Potter sounded weary, He has expended more than fifty times his own power today.

Madam Pomfrey shooed them all out.  Harry crawling in bed and noticing that it was already past dawn (it was almost 6:15) when a sudden thought struck him. How had Dumbledore apparated into the school? Then he fell asleep, completely exhausted, and slept right through the next day's Hogsmeade trip. He also missed the big discussion at breakfast-how had both Gryffindor and Slytherin gained three hundred points during the night.