Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in relation to J.K. Rowling's books!

A/N: Like I said before, I can't tell you how sry I am for leaving you lot at a cliffy! Well, I guess I should get on with the story.

Chapter 14: Dreams of Deception

His body regained the tingling and numbing felling that made him immobile. The throbbing and burning returned along with his lungs and heart jolting and lurching. The intake of breath Harry forced was now caught in his throat like he had just swallowed a ball of string. His eyes shut in realization hit him that the pain from his scar was about t take place. But it didn't. He opened his eyes slowly and expected to be in the boys' dormitories on his bed, but he wasn't. It was pitch black and Harry could no longer hear Ron's rumbling snoring. He groped the area around him for something he didn't know. His hand hit something that was long, wooden, and slender and, as if that was what he most utterly wanted, grasped his wand.

Get up a voice much like his own echoed through his head and he hesitated a second and then obeyed. This voice sounded like his, yet, there was an icy lick to the words that cracked out from his insides. He looked around the blank darkness and felt his face screw up in wonder. Where was he? He suddenly heard a whooshing sound and people shouting. The shouting echoed like a distant memory and it seemed to come in all directions and Harry struggled to catch the words being shouted.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Harry stopped in mid- breath and everything seemed to go silent as a scene played out in front of him. Sirius was recovering from just ducking from Bellatrix's attack of red light. Then, as he had watched so many times in his dreams, he saw Sirius fall from Bellatrix's attack and fold beneath the veil. The few seconds that past seemed like hours and Harry found himself staring at the sickening smile that spread across Bellatrix's pale face. She then broke into a cackling laugh and Harry's lungs contracted in rage. Before he had time to collect himself, the scene changed like a movie and Bellatrix was now towering over a girl that lay on the blackened floor. She lay motionless and Bellatrix readied her wand for an attack. For some reason unknown to him, he didn't even flinch in reaction; he stood their and he felt a smile crack across his lips. The girl that lay on the floor began to move and she became aware of the scene in front of her, letting a gasp of horror escape her.

That's right... Finish off the pathetic mudblood! Slaughter her! the voice from before emerged from amidst his mind.

Why? Sounds pointless to me. This time, his identical voice came through and he felt as if what he was doing was wrong. There was something not right and it rammed itself against his mind as if to awaken it from a deep stupor. Do something, you dolt! It yelled at him and realization hit him like a brick who the girl on the ground was. He regained his senses and grasped his wand determinedly. Hermione looked up at him and relief spread across her face.

Slaughter her! Kill the mudblood! Do it, Now! Do it... Harry found his legs to jerk forward shakily. He was going to do it. The voice told him to, he had to... That's right...

What are you doing, you idiot?! Stop! It's a trick, Can't you see? Harry tried to resist and as he did, his scar gave a nasty throb and his body began to ache. How could he even think about killing Hermione? He willed himself to not move, to not look at Hermione... It was a dream, that's all, a nightmare.

Do it, Harry! Kill her. He put one foot unwillingly forward... If you won't... Bellatrix nodded as if that gave her the signal and she pointed her wand at Hermione.

"Crucio!" Hermione locked in motion and she looked to be struggling to stop from binding herself. She began whimpering, which soon turned to cracking, agonizing screams.

"HARRY!" her voice rushed at him through somewhere distant and her screams were causing him to lose focus of his senses.

Cause her more pain... DO IT! He raised his wand... He wanted to cause her pain.

"Harry? Wh- HARRY!" The voice was distant and muffled from his hearing. His eyes shot open and he became disorientated. He wobbled a moment before seeing Ron standing in front of him, a look of horror and appalling on his face. Harry's breathing were sharp intakes and he noticed his wand was raised above his head in a dueling stance. He was standing in front of Ron's bed and he knew what he had intended on doing while standing there. He threw his wand away from him as though it had just burned him and it landed with several clanks.

"Ron..." he couldn't find anything to say. He was about to attack Ron in his sleep. The whole scene that he saw in his dream was a illusion to get him to attack Ron in his sleep.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Ron stared at Harry's wand that lay on the floor beside his bed in disgust then back at him in anger as though realization had just smacked him in the face. "What were you doing with your wand?" he growled between clenched teeth.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry blurted. He had remembered the events in his dream and knew somehow that she was in trouble. Ron glared at him and then he turned away from Harry. He didn't say anything, until he looked over his shoulder at him and stared at him incredulously.

"You knew you were about to cause me bodily harm, and all you can think about is Hermione?! Shit, Harry!" he raised his voice and Seamus gave a irritated grunt in his sleep. He stared at Harry's wand again with great loathing and then toggled his gaze at Harry. "I was right," Harry stared at him, "you are a selfish bastard." So much rage coursed through Harry that all he thought about was how much Ron had just angered him. He had forgotten that Ron was his former best friend and, without much thinking of what he was losing, drew back his fist and slammed it into Ron's jaw. Ron staggered backward before grabbing holed of his four poster hangings and falling to the ground with a loud BANG. Neville, Seamus, and Dean all awoke with disgruntled looks on there screwed up faces. Ron looked up at him and wiped the blood angrily away from his lip.

"I've got to talk to Hermione..." Harry pushed past him and exited the dormitory. Fuming, he entered the Common Room and broke out in a run up the stairs leading toward the girls' dormitories. Surprisingly, the stairs didn't slant as they had before, and Harry, more confident than before, sprinted up the stairs. He reached the door and, before he touched the doorknob, it opened and a girl ran into him and squealed.

"Wha- Excuse me! How'd you get up here? Who is this?" He recognized her as Lavender, but in the darkness, it was hard to tell. He could see her silhouette in the moonlight shining through the window as she squinted to see him. "H-Harry?"

"Yeah?" he asked stupidly. She looked at him disapprovingly, but then she seemed to remember why she had exited the dormitories.

"Harry, it's Hermione! She-" He pushed passed her and he heard her mumble something that contained "rude" as he hurried up to the sixth year girls' dormitories. He wrenched the door open and found Parvati sitting on a bed that contained a whimpering and thrashing Hermione.

"Harry?! What are you-"

"What happened?" Parvati looked down at Hermione who was now mumbling and whimpering helplessly in her sleep, then back at him.

"I dunno, she suddenly started whimpering and screaming in her sleep. I tried waking her, but she won't! Lavender went for McGonagall." Harry took a second to survey the room around him. The four posters were covered in pink and white sheets and the rest was similar to the boys' dormitories. He hurried along side Hermione's bed and stared down onto her face. She was sweating and her face was disfigured in either -what Harry thought- pain, or -Harry hoped- frustration.

"Hermione? Wake up, Hermione..." he whispered and shook her softly. She suddenly grabbed hold of Harry's arm and squeezed with all her might. Harry struggled to wrench his arm free, and after succeeding, and then shook her more violently. "Hermione, wake up." her eyes snapped open and tears slid down her glazed eyes.

"H-Harry!" she leapt at him and wrapped her arms around him. She clung to him, whimpering and shaking as she sobbed into his pajamas. Eventually, once her tears began to seep through the fabric of his shirt, he shifted uncomfortably on her bed. Parvati left the room hurriedly and returned with Lavender and Professor McGonagall in her wake.

"Potter! Miss Granger! Miss Granger, let go now." Professor McGonagall tried to disconnect Hermione form him, and failed. The more Professor McGonagall tried, the harder she sobbed and clung to him, unwilling anyone to remove her. "Stop this foolishness, girl! Let go." she said sternly and Hermione loosened her grasp on him and looked up at her with swollen eyes. "Now, Potter," she shooed him off her bed and took his seat upon it, "I will not ask how you managed to get in here, but I will advise you to return to your dormitory." she pointed at the door curtly and he left.

That night, Harry found it unnerving impossible to fall back asleep, what with Ron's snoring and the events that had occurred in just a hour and a half. What had scared Hermione that much? Had she possibly had the same dream he had? Not only did he have these problems, Ron was not only mad at him, but probably hated him as well. Sleep eventually claimed him, and the dreams were of Hermione's thrashing and whimpering.

The morning after, Ron again had dressed and readied himself for his lessons before Harry had even awaken. Neville stared at Harry for the longest time before asking, "What happened?"

Harry ignored him and left the dormitory with his robes falling off his shoulders, along with his book bag. Hermione met him at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and was looking over a piece of parchment that looked like a schedule.

"What's that for?" he asked over her shoulder, and she quickly thrust it into her robes' pocket.

"Nothing." she then started at her breakfast that lay untouched in front of her. He took a seat next to her and, seeing as she hadn't brought up what had happened last night, decided not to either. She hadn't even mentioned the kiss on the cheek that happened either. They ate in silence until someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Erm- Harry?" Ron was looking down at his untucked shirt and folding and unfolding the ends awkwardly. Harry had felt himself tense up, but felt ashamed of what he had down the night before.

"Yeah?" he saw Hermione toggling glances from him to Ron worriedly and he sighed heavily. Hermione didn't know about Ron and him fighting last night; she still thought it was sufficient to just apologize and move on. But, it wasn't, for he's damaged what little friendship he and Ron still had remaining.

"Look, mate," Ron began shakily, and coughed before continuing, "I'm sorry for what I said last night. It's just," he flicked a meaningful glance at Hermione.

"I know, what I said was- well- er" he wanted to just make this as abridged as possible, "I'm sorry." he heard Hermione release her intake of breath.

"Me too... Er- still best mates?" Harry grinned, for they had done this same thing not too long before.

"Yeah." Harry gestured at a seat across from him and Ron took it.

"Well," Hermione looked up from her breakfast, "we've got double Charms with the Hufflepuffs, Herbology with the Ravenclaws and Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins." Ron let out aloud groaned and helped himself to some eggs and bacon.

GiGgLyGaL: I hope everyone thought it was. I didn't want to make that big of a step in their relationship since it's too early in the story yet and I may run out of ideas.

Gryffindor620: Lol, I thought and pondered and then pondered some more, and I gave in to adding a scene where they do get into a scuffle. It just so seems that with all the stress and things going through Harry's mind, I thought that he should finally snap and take his anger out on someone... Not to mention the little voice in me was screaming at full pitch to do it! I hope I don't get any reviews from you lot yelling at me for Harry and Ron's little fight. That's the fun in fanfiction; you can write stories the way you want, and I hope no one is upset at me for it.