The Devil Runs Wild

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters depicted in this story. They were all originally created by J.K. Rowling. Um...yeah.
The Devil Runs Wild

******** ~ Escape~

Draco Malfoy, being the unlucky bastard that he was, was scurrying down Diagon Alley trying to figure out where the hell he was going to sleep for the night.

Escaping from Snape had not been easy. He had had to figure out how to get past all the spells that locked him in the small room Snape had placed him in and Snape had even used some potions on the door that Draco had not anticipated, which to Draco’s dismay, took him another three hours to work out how to spell those away. All in all, Draco was quite impressed with himself. It’s not everyday you get to outsmart your professor.

After leaving the room and finding Snape nowhere to be found in the small, dirty dwelling Draco was confused but moved swiftly to exit the shanty house.

Upon thinking of it now, Draco believed that Snape must have gone to the Dark Lord and told him of his victory. They were probably throwing a celebration party in honor of Snape’s brilliant murder of Dumbledore.

After running from Hogwarts, Snape had apparated them away to that very uimpressive dwelling where Snape proceeded to furiously yell at Draco about how unhappy the Dark Lord would be with him. Draco only stood there, angry and afraid. He had yelled at Snape for doing what he was about to do, for ‘interrupting’ him, telling Snape that he was going to do it and would have if Snape hadn’t proceeded to do so himself. Snape only glared down his unusually large nose at Draco. Draco glared back. Then Draco was roughly grabbed by the scruff of the neck and hauled into the small room off to the side and Snape proceeded to lock him in. Draco continued to yell at Snape to let him out but it didn’t do much good after he heard Snape put up a silencing charm.

Draco had immediately began attempting to unspell the door. How dare he lock HIM in! Who did he think he was! That bastard!

Now, walking down the street with people brushing by, Draco began to wonder why Snape had locked him in the room. Snape was angry at him for not doing what the Dark Lord asked him to do. Snape was probably celebrating now with the other Death Eaters. Snape didn’t want him to come and locked him inside the room. Was Snape afraid of the Dark Lord punishing him? Impossible! Snape didn’t care about him. He only cared about following the Dark Lord, just like his father. Snape had wanted to steal is glory all year and he succeeded! Snape must have locked him in that room so that he couldn’t redeem himself with the Dark Lord. He probably told the Dark Lord that he had run away, like a coward, and now the Dark Lord wouldn’t want him. Draco noticed that he was grinding his teeth together loudly when a girl in front of him turned around to look at him strangely.

Draco continued to walk past the girl. No one knew it was him, he had put a glamour on as soon as he had left the house. Draco continued walking, seething. Snape wanted all the glory, did he? Wanted to take away any chance of him redeeming himself to the Dark Lord!

After seething and walking swiftly for a good twenty minutes, Draco began to think clearly again. He realized that he had no idea what to do now. The Dark Lord told him what would happen if he failed…that he would kill his family, but Draco had succeeded in finding a way for the Deatheaters to enter Hogwarts….but because Snape had taken his glory, would the Dark Lord be so disgusted with Draco that he would try to kill him? Malfoy didn’t know what to do. The Dark Lord would want him dead now that Snape had made him look like a coward with his story of running away, surely. Draco was panicking now. He turned down an alley and leaned against the wall, trying to calm his nerves. Breathe in, breathe out…and then a hand closed around his mouth, an arm wrapping around his waist and he felt the familiar pang of being apparated.

******~ The Dark Lord~

Draco found himself in a throne-sized room. In fact, it was a throne room with a throne right in front of him. Voldemort sat in that very throne, looking down at Draco as he was released by the man who had held him. At a quick glance, Draco recognized the man as Avery. Draco let out a deep breath.

“My Lord,” he said, bowing his head slightly.

“Draco Malfoy,” the Dark Lord hissed. “It seems that you could not find a good hiding place?” Draco looked down at the floor. Snape had made the Dark Lord believe that he had attempted to run away. Draco talked fast in order to rectify the situation.

“My Lord, I did not try to run away. Severus locked me in a room and I couldn’t escape until just recently….”

“Strange that you did not come directly to me once you had escaped,” the Dark Lord said. “Severus has not lied to me, little one, but you just have,” and the Dark Lord raised his wand and Draco had a split second to gasp out before Crucio hit his chest and he fell to the floor in agony.

“Lock him in the dungeons,” the Dark Lord said and he released the spell on Draco after several purely devastating minutes.

Draco was hurt so badly that he couldn’t move at all and Avery had to lift him up and carry him out of the room. The Dark Lord was not happy and Draco did not know what would happen to him now. Draco noticed vaguely after Avery dropped him on a cold cement floor that his pants were wet with some kind of liquid. Draco passed out before he could analyze what it was running down his leg.

*****~ Death Eater~

Draco felt something touching him. He didn’t know what it was at first but as he slowly came to his senses he realized that it was a hand running up his leg. He opened his eyes to see the one person he wanted to hurt immeasurably. Severus Snape.

“Awake, Mr. Malfoy?” Snape said quietly.

Draco didn’t think before he lunged at Snape, attempting to do him bodily harm before he was pushed back into the dungeon wall by a magical barrier surrounding Snape. Draco’s head smacked hard into the stone wall behind him and he fell to the ground in a huddle.

“You bastard,” Draco spit out with some blood spewing from his mouth. Snape looked down at him in disgust.

“You brought this on yourself, Draco. Running away was a very stupid thing to do.”

“I DIDN’T AND YOU KNOW IT! YOU BASTARD! I HATE YOU!” Draco screamed. Draco ended up coughing up blood which effectively stopped his tirade.

Snape just stood there quietly as if calculating something and then nodded, verifying something. He walked out of the cell, locking him inside the small cage and left. Draco noticed that whatever liquid he had felt on his leg last night wasn’t there anymore.

*******

“My Lord, I would like to keep the boy,” Snape said calmly as he kneeled in front of the Dark Lord.

“Keep him as what?” hissed the Dark Lord. Hissing or snarling or a slight growling were the only ways in which Severus had heard the Dark Lord speak since his return. The Dark Lord no longer held the same aristocratic voice and mannerism that he once had. He was only half of what he used to be.

“Keep him as a slave, my Lord,” Severus said, adding desire into his tone for good measure.

“I had been planning on keeping him here and punishing him, Severus,” the Dark Lord added with. Snape could tell that the Lord was looking forward to the torturing of the boy and Severus was hoping to prevent that at all costs.

“My Lord, the boy has shown great hatred for me and I believe he would suffer greatly at my own hands,” Severus said.

“Hatred? I was led to believe that the boy admired you?” the Dark Lord said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“My Lord, he believes I have “stolen his glory” by doing what he could not. You have seen from my memories that the boy was incapable of killing Albus Dumbledore because he is as weak as a Hufflepuff,” Severus paused here as the Dark Lord let out some noise resembling a chuckle.

“I know that you wanted him dead, my Lord, but I would prefer to keep him for myself if you will allow it.”

“Severus, I will allow it. My friends and I will enjoy watching your memories of what you do to the boy. You will bind his magic, understood?” the Dark Lord stated. Severus knew the use of the term “friends” implied the other Death Eaters and that Voldemort had no friends, just like himself.

“Yes, my Lord,” Severus said, standing up and swiftly leaving the thrown room, relieved that he had obtained Draco Malfoy from the Dark Lord.

*****~ Severus Snape~

Snape leaned back in his chair, thoroughly exhausted. Implanting memories was a tiresome task. He had had to remove or alter memories in the past of those including Dumbledore and Potter in order to prove his loyalty to the Dark Lord but creating memories was much more difficult. Snape had to continually remind himself that the memories he had created of abusing Draco were not real. He found it thoroughly disturbing when every so often a memory of him hitting or casting a Cruciatus on Draco came up, forgetting for a second or two that it hadn’t actually happened.

It had taken quite some time to convince Draco that he was not loyal to the Dark Lord. After repeated yells and shouts from Draco, accusing him of taking all the glory from him and making him look like a coward by kidnapping him, he realized that Draco was not listening to a word he was saying and Severus simply locked him inside the guest bedroom so that he could get some sleep. The next morning, he tried yet again to convince Draco of where is loyalties truly lied and Draco still would not listen to him. Obviously still too upset to be able to carry on a normal conversation, Draco yelled and shouted like a child having a tantrum. Some of the disorientation Draco displayed was still from the binding of his magic, Snape was sure, but the other half was just pure Malfoy brat behavior. After allowing Draco to rant for an hour or two, Snape was able to talk because Malfoy was just too exhausted to. Malfoy listened.

Snape had told him that Dumbledore had ordered him to kill him in order to allow Snape to fulfill the Unbreakable Vow that he had made with Draco’s mother and to remain a spy for the Order as a loyal Death Eater. Draco found out that Dumbledore had already been dying from a poison in his hand that he had gotten trying to find something called a “horcux.” Draco hadn’t understood much about that but he had understood when Snape showed him a memory of Dumbledore ordering him to take his life if necessary and of a few memories of him passing information to people working against the Dark Lord that Snape had called the Order of the Phoenix.

Snape had explained to him that the Dark Lord had already planned to kill him before even giving Draco the task of finding a way inside Hogwarts and that the Dark Lord would have done so no matter if he had succeeded or not. Snape had taken him and locked him in that shanty house in order to keep him away from the Dark Lord who was planning on killing him as soon as he saw him. The Dark Lord wanted him dead to punish his father. Snape had told the Dark Lord that Draco had run away and could not be found and Snape angrily told Draco that he would have been safe inside that house and that, just as he had said before in the dungeons before, that “running away was a very stupid thing to do.”

Draco countered by telling Snape how easy it was (although it had not been easy for him at all) to get out of the house that Snape had planned to ‘protect’ him in and Snape merely replied with “The house was meant to keep others from getting in and not necessarily to keep you from getting out.” Snape had wanted to make sure that Draco could get out on his own, if need be, in case he did not return. Snape had not been sure he would have been able to remain in the Dark Lord’s favor after calling off the attack on Potter at Hogwarts since there had been other Death Eaters present to verify his actions. The Dark Lord had not been displeased, having been highly delighted in him for killing off Dumbledore and freeing himself from his role as spy so that he now could give his fulltime to serving him.

Draco had taken this all in and accepted it. Severus would not have shown him memories of him passing on information to the Order of the Pheonix if he was lying. Draco could have found a way to rat him out and surely Snape was not senseless.

Draco had been spending his days watching muggle television, which he found thoroughly fascinating. Snape had not yet told him that it was a muggle device or else Draco would have refused to watch it and would have continually annoyed him all day instead. No, Snape had told him that it was a device he himself created and Draco had believed him. Indeed, Snape had been thoroughly disappointed in his apt pupil’s lack of intelligence these days.

At that moment, Draco decided to stroll into the study in which Snape was resting.

“Severus? I want ice cream and your stupid elf won’t listen to me!” Draco said crossly.

Snape, opening his eyes, only glared at Draco.

Draco glared right back.

Snape sighed and decidedly made the mature choice to end the glaring contest between the two of them.

“Ventil!” he yelled and a house elf appeared with a sudden pop. “Would you get Draco some ice cream?”

“Sir, as Ventil has said to boy…” Ventil began.

“Stop calling me ‘boy’!” Draco shouted.

Ventil continued as if she had not been interrupted and Snape couldn’t help but smirk at the sheer daring that his house elf had, which is why Snape had kept only Ventil and none of his other family house elves that behaved too much like servants for his liking. Having been a servant to the Dark Lord for quite some time in his past, he had felt uncomfortable with having other things act as such around him.

“..that we have no ice cream and therefore Ventil cannot get him any,” Ventil finished.

“Then make some!” Draco sneered at the elf. The elf, with all her daring, sneered right back.

“Draco,” Severus began, leaning his head back against the cushioned chair, still quite exhausted, “if you would like some ice cream then you can attempt making it yourself.”

Draco scoffed at that, glared at Ventil, swirled around and left the room. Ventil popped away quickly after that with a nod from Snape.

Severus closed his eyes and reminded himself that this is why he had never wanted children.

*****~ Disturbing Dreams~

Harry was laying naked on his bed with a dildo up his arse and a hand on his cock when Draco Malfoy entered his bedroom with a wand pointed straight at him.

“Malfoy!” Harry screamed and scrambled to hide himself with the bed covers, trying desparately to stop the magic dildo from moving in and out of his arse.

“Potter!?” Malfoy’s mouth was agap as he stared at Harry Potter, the Harry Potter, naked with a dildo up his arse. Malfoy never would have suspected that Potter was this kinky. It was something a Slytherin would do, but not a Griffindork.

“What in the hell are you doing here, Malfoy?” Potter stutterd, a bit shaken. Malfoy had realized that his staring at Potter’s naked arse had distracted him enough not to notice Potter getting his wand, which pointed directly between his eyes. Malfoy, lowering his wand, began to undress.

“STOP!” Harry squeaked. “What…are…you…doing?” he asked as his heart skipped a beat at the prospect of a naked Malfoy.

“Taking my clothes off, what does it look like?” Malfoy sneered. Malfoy’s robe was already at his feet. Harry just stared, not knowing what to do, but knowing that he did really want to get off with him being so close before Malfoy had stormed in.

Malfoy’s shirt disappeared while Harry sat frozen on the bed, his wand hand trembling. Malfoy’s chest was smooth and touchable and his tiny nipples were pointed and just begging to be licked. Harry’s eyes followed Malfoy’s hand as it lowered his zipper on his trousers. Malfoy’s hands were long and smooth and Harry couldn’t explain why he wanted them on his body so badly right now and - Oh, Merlin!- Malfoy wasn’t wearing any underwear. Malfoy’s cock stood hard against his stomach.

“Malfoy…what….?” Harry stuttered.

“Sshhhh” Malfoy murmured as he glided over to Harry’s bed. Malfoy’s cock swayed slightly as he walked and Harry’s cock responded with a very noticeable twitch.

Malfoy chuckled and laid down on the bed alongside Harry.

“What….?” Harry was completely lost at this point, his eyes glazed over as he looked at Malfoy’s cock, his stomach, his lips…

“I want to try that,” Malfoy said.

Harry’s eyebrows drew in confusion. Try what? he wanted to say but was unable to even get his lips to respond in order to create words. He could feel a bit a drool running down the side of his mouth, though.

Malfoy, realizing that Potter wasn’t getting it, motioned to the dildo that was still moving in and out of Potter’s delectable ass. Potter mouthed and “O” and magically created a second identical dildo for Draco. Draco took it, smirking.

“How do I…?” Malfoy began and Potter seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in.

“Use your fingers first,” Harry said.

Malfoy leaned in and muttered an “Ok,” against Potter’s lips that made Harry quiver.

Malfoy stuck two fingers into his mouth and sucked. Potter’s breath caught as he watched Malfoy practically lavish his own fingers with his tongue. Malfoy slowly brought the fingers down, lifting his legs and spreading them, pushing both fingers into his ass at once. Malfoy grunted with pain, but proceeded to fuck himself with his fingers as Harry nearly hyperventilated right next to him. Malfoy struck something inside him and moaned.

“Aaahhh, that…that felt good,” he told Potter, locking eyes with him.

Harry just nodded and returned his eyes to what Malfoy’s fingers were playing with. Malfoy added a third finger and Harry’s cock felt huge and he whimpered. Malfoy heard this and smirked, telling Harry to hand him the dildo. Harry did so and Malfoy proceeded to push it roughly into his arse.

“Oh, Merlin!” Malfoy shrieked. “It hurts…but…I like it. Merlin, I like it!” Malfoy moaned and Harry nearly came.

“Potter, want to try something?” Malfoy said between moans from himself and delicious whimpers from Potter as Harry’s own dildo fucked him up the arse.

“Ok,” Harry said quickly, too lost in the feeling of the dildo fucking him and the sounds and sights of Malfoy right beside him.

“Ok,” and Malfoy muttered a spell that Harry hadn’t heard before and both of them found their wrists handcuffed to the headboard.

“What…what…but…” Harry stammered and Malfoy shushed him.

“Let’s try to come without touching ourselves. Lets try to come just from this,” Draco said.

“Aaaaah…ok….oh!” Harry moaned loudly as the dildos picked up speed. Draco’s legs were shaking from the intensity of it and Harry was thrusting his hips in the air trying to get pressure on his cock so that he could just come.

This is how Professor Snape found them. The door, having been left open by Draco, was easy enough to walk through and Snape found himself in front of the bed with two naked boys with hands handcuffed above their heads and dildos frantically fucking their arses. Draco and Harry had not noticed him until they heard the zipper of Snape’s pants and turned in time to see him grasp his hard cock and start pumping into his own hand. Both Harry and Draco moaned upon seeing him and Snape took that as a signal and kneeled on the bed in front of the two boys and began to jerk off.

Snape came from the unreasonably enjoyable sights and sounds of these two boys, who had been his students. As his come splattered the two smooth chests laid out in front of him, Potter screamed and came hard, adding his come to the mix. Draco proceeded to yell out and come all over his chest as well.

And then it was over.

Harry woke up.

As Harry sat up in bed, he cursed Voldemort for sending him yet another disturbing nightmare. Last time, it had been Goyle and Lucius Malfoy. Harry had known, sooner or later, Voldemort, the sick bastard that he was, would have been sent him images of the two people he hated most (after Voldemort himself, of course). Harry looked down at his lap and found sticky sheets.

“Fucking bastard,” Harry muttered again and reached for his wand on the nightstand to clean away the mess.

Voldemort had started sending him increasingly disturbing dreams in the few weeks since school had ended.

Harry had been excited when he moved out of the Dursley’s and into Sirus’ house when summer began. He had been even more enthused in finding and destroying one of the horcuxes, which happened to be a necklace that he had found in Sirus’ attic. Kreacher had not been able to find it before because when he had ordered Kreacher to look for it during the school year, it actually had not been in the house. Apparently, Sirus’ younger brother had put a spell on it that moved the necklace to at least ten different places throughout the year. A very clever spell, indeed, and even after Hermione explained it to him, he still hadn’t quite understood it. At least neither had Ron.

But when Voldemort began sending him these twisted dreams, Harry had nearly lost his mind. After one disturbing dream involving Voldemort’s pet snake, Harry and vowed never to sleep again and that certainly had not gone well because he had fallen asleep anyway and now was trying his hardest to forget the feeling of getting off with Malfoy and Snape.

Harry had no idea how Voldemort was sending him these dreams. He could not send any dreams to Voldemort, that was for sure. Obviously, Voldemort could and did so liberally with the intent to drive Harry bonkers.

Ron and Hermione were coming today and Harry guessed he had to finally tell them about the dreams and ask if they could help. For now, Harry was going downstairs to make lots of coffee to keep him up the rest of the night.

***** ~ Family~

“Blimey! You look hot!” Ron Weasley said to a bushy-haired girl who was no longer bushy-haired.

Hermione blushed furiously at the compliment.

“It looks nice, Hermione,” Harry added as he came into the sitting room carrying a bundle of books in his arms.

“Thank you,” Hermione said, her blushing subsiding, “I used…” and Hermione began to talk enthusiastically about using some new hair product and whatnot. Harry had already opened a book and had begun reading. Ron, it seemed, was not paying much attention to Hermione’s words either, but was staring raptly at Hermione, none the less. Ron and Hermione had been dating for the past three weeks and it took comments like that from Ron to remind Harry that his two best friends were not married yet. Ron, being the poor sap that he was, was still acting like a “school boy,” as Hermione had put it. Hermione tended to ignore Harry when he reminded her that they had another year left at Hogwarts and were technically still in school.

“Hermione, how well do dreamless sleep potions work?” Harry interrupted.

“Dreamless sleep is dangerous to some people. You have to be checked by a mediwizard or witch to make sure your magic will not be affected by the potion,” Hermione said, raising an eyebrow at Ron who was still staring at her with glazed eyes. “Ron!”

Ron jumped, startled. “What?” he said innocently.

“Honestly, Ronald, you -”

“What do you mean the potion can affect my magic?” Harry said.

Hermione didn’t miss the “my” added in the sentence and quickly turned away from Ron to confront Harry.

“What do you mean your magic? Harry, you haven’t taken any, have you?” Hermione said, her eyes wide.

“What? No, I haven’t taken any.”

“Are you planning on taking any?” Hermione narrowed her eyes.

“Well…if it doesn’t ‘affect’ my magic or whatever you said,” Harry muttered, looking down. He had no idea why he should feel ashamed, but Hermione could act a lot like Mrs. Weasley sometimes.

“Harry! It’s very dangerous to take dreamless sleep potion! It’s meant for those who are ill and it cannot be used for more than three days in a row, not to mention the possible magical incompatibility some display after using the potion!”

“Magical incompatibility?”

“Honestly, Harry!” Hermione clucked. “We learned this in potions just this past term!” she said.

Harry honestly had paid less attention to the actual potions lessons this term and more on observing changes in Draco Malfoy’s appearance. Harry had been obsessed with discovering what Malfoy was up to and his obsession was clearly proven a worthy cause when it turned out that Malfoy had let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts that caused Dumbledore’s death. Harry’s grasp tightened around the book in is lap.

“…so it’s similar to an allergic reaction,” Hermione ended.

Harry shook his head, realized that his hand tingled and released the tight grip he had on the book.

“Ok. So dreamless sleep potions are a bad option?” Harry was glad to have learned more about ‘magical incompatibility’ but Harry had gave up the idea of dreamless sleep once he had heard Hermione say that it could only be used for three days. Harry knew he would need it for longer than that.

“Why exactly do you want it? Are you having nightmares again?” Hermione asked with a worried expression that matched Ron’s.

“Well…yeah,” Harry said and before Hermione could tell him that he should go to Mr. Weasley or Remus to share his dreams, Harry added, “Voldemort’s been sending me dreams. There not real, they aren’t visions, but they are bloody annoying.”

Ron was nodding his head in vigorous agreement. “I’ll say, mate. Having Voldemort in my head would drive me barmy! I was wondering why you looked so awful. You’ve been trying to stay up all night, haven’t you?!”

“I look awful?” Harry asked, a bit crestfallen, completely ignoring Ron’s question.

“Oh, Harry! How long has this been going on?” Hermione asked as Harry got up to look at himself in the small mirror hanging on the wall next to the kitchen.

“Not long. Only the past couple of weeks or so,” Harry replied. Bloody hell, he did look awful! Great. It’s as if Voldemort hadn’t ruined every other aspect of his life; he now had to ruin what looks he had. Well..what looks he thought he had..or didn’t… or…Harry wasn’t good at judging if he was good looking or not. Hermione had told him that he had gotten good looking this past year, though, and so Harry left it at that and left the mirror and his musings.

Harry returned to the sofa and was about the sit down when he was hugged by Hermione who was crying.

“It must be awful, Harry, for you to attempt not sleeping at all!” Hermione sobbed.

Harry, shocked, looked over Hermione’s shoulder at Ron who was equally as puzzled.

“Hermione, it’s ok. I’m alright. It’d be great if you could help me find something that is safe to use so that I don’t have to worry about falling asleep anymore, though,” and thankfully, Hermione let go of the death-like grip she had on Harry and began looking through the books on the table. She was still crying, though.

“Hermione?” Ron asked tentatively, reaching his hand out to touch her shoulder but pulled back as Hermione stood up and straightened herself out.

“I’m alright, I just…you know…I mean….Dumbledore’s gone, Voldemort’s getting stronger…and I just despise the whole damn thing!” Hermione cried, wiping away freshly shed tears.

Ron and Harry looked at each other. Did Hermione just say ‘damn’?

“I just…I’m fine…I just need…” Hermione voice wavered.

“A glass of water?” Harry suggested.

“A hug?” Ron volunteered.

“A bit of rest?” Harry added.

“A bit of chocolate?” Ron pipped in.

“Some fresh air?” Harry asked.

“Some mental pills?” Ron inquired.

“No, no…I’m fine, really…Ron!” Hermione’s tears stopping and a slight glare forming that effectively whipped the slight smirk Ron held off his face.

*******

Harry, Ron, and Hermione researched all day until Hermione found a spell that was one of the few dreamless sleep spells that was not dark magic.

“I’m not sure this will work, Harry. According to ‘Dreaming Magical Corrections,’ this spell was recorded as sometimes only removing some images in their dreams, but not all,” Hermione said, biting her lip, looking at Harry in concern, disappointed in herself for not finding something better, but there just did not seem to be any safe, legal ways to prevent dreams. Dreams, themselves, were considered forms of magic. It was like fighting fire with fire.

“I understand and I’d like to try. If I can prevent any of the images,” Harry shuttered, “then I’ve accomplished something. Besides, I’m going to fall asleep eventually and I have to try something to keep whatever Voldemort sends me away,” Harry said.

“You know, mate, we should find out why Occlumancy isn’t working for you with these dreams,” Ron recommended.

“Yeah, I have no idea why I can’t stop the dreams. I can still block Voldemort from reading my mind but I can’t prevent the dreams. And my ability to block him isn’t getting any weaker so I already figured out that these dreams haven’t been sent to loosen up my mind or anything,” Harry sighed, rubbing his eyes. He was getting tired. Looking at the clock, Harry discovered he had been up for almost twenty-three hours.

“Alright, Harry, you should cast the spell now and then go right to bed,” Hermione said. Harry was about to say “Yes, sir!” and give a salute, but Ron annoyed her first by saying “Yes, mum” and Hermione had began tearing his ear out. Literally - she grabbed his ear and was pulling.

“Hermione…” Harry whinned. He was really tired and just wanted to go to bed.

Hermione quickly let go of Ron’s ear, which he began soothing immediately with a grimace.

“Here’s the spell, Harry,” Hermione said, sliding the book over to him and pointing.

Harry cast it on himself with Hermione’s watchful eye and told Ron and Hermione that they could spend the night if they wanted to.

“Of course…”

“We were going to anyway, mate,” Ron said and Hermione glared at him. “To make sure you were alright and everything,” Ron said, which seemed to soothe whatever beast had taken over Hermione today.

“Oh, ok..” and Harry let out a yawn, stretching his hands above his head. “I’m knackered.”

“That..means..you..go..to..bed, mate,” Ron said slowly as if talking to a small child and Harry flicked him off as he got up from his seat.

Harry muttered a “Goodnight” as he headed upstairs to his bedroom and Ron and Hermione responded in kind.

All Harry could think of when he passed out on his bed with his clothes and shoes still on was that Merlin, did he sure hoped this worked.