The Times That Never Were

 

He'd had that dream again. The one where the magical world didn't exist. The one he hated for fear that it might someday be true. The one after which he'd wake with the blood rushing to his head.

He got out of bed and started pacing at the foot of it. Why was he so concerned? It was just a dream...but it felt so real...

"Harry?" a boy asked, and the pacing stopped. "What are you doing?"

"I was...erm..." Harry couldn't think of an excuse for his actions.

"You had that dream again didn't you?" Ron observed, and quite correctly as he found out by Harry's astonishment at this knowledge. "You talk in your sleep, did you know?"

"Nonsense!" Harry defended himself pointlessly, for he knew this was true.

"Well it's almost breakfast anyhow. We can get an early start."

Harry gave no response, but his agreement was known. So they changed into normal clothes and left the dormitory. But they didn't male it past the fireplace. Hermione had come down to join them. Next thing any of them knew, it was the end of the day and they were sitting around the fire talking.

Harry laid his head back and closed his eyes. "I wonder what we'll do in Astronomy tomorrow," he pondered aloud.

No answer. Only silence. He raised his head. There was Ron sitting across from him, and Hermione to his right facing the fire. They only stared at him.

“What?” he asked

"Are you alright?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, fine. Stop looking at me like that, you guys."

"Harry," Hermione began. "You're starting to scare us. Every now and then, you'll lapse off in this dream world where everything is magical. I mean, don't get me wrong, it'd be great if it were like that. But it's not, and you need to see reality. I'm sorry, but if you don't pull it together, we're going to have to tell the headmaster."

"What about...our adventures?" Harry asked. Now he was scared. "Fred and George, and Quidditch, and everything...?"

"Who?" Ron wondered.

"Your brothers!" Harry exclaimed.

"I haven't got any brothers," the other boy said. "Harry, you're losing it, mate. We've got to do something."

"No! I'm not crazy! Just listen to me...believe me..." And he broke down in tears. They were supposed to be his friends. But now they were accusing him of insanity.

"It's for your own good," Hermione's distant voice told him.

He screamed out Ron's name, and felt the boy at his side as he opened his eyes. He melted into the warm embrace as Ron whispered comforting words, and Harry buried his face in the other boy's shoulder. It had all been a dream. All of it; the magical, and the not.

Meanwhile, the doctors watched, confused, through the mirrored window into the white room.

 

 
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Victoria Fater.
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