Edelweiss

Candles and Oil Lamps

     Gryffindor Tower was not the place to be right now. The once joyful atmosphere had been replaced by the sticky aura of a last minute study session. Slughorn's test was only a few hours away, for the boys had been studying all night. The candles they had lit were merely stubs now and Harry could see the first rays of morning shine through his window. Harry looked back to the book of ingredients where he saw an ink print of a flower similar in size to a pasque flower but looked as if snow itself had blossomed. Harry became instantly fixated on the flower. "Aye. Mate." Ron said, pulling him out of his trance. Harry looked up, all but one of the boys were sat on the edge of their beds, just as Harry was. "I think you need to go to bed."

     "You've started to eat your wand Harry." Seamus chimed in. Harry looked down and did indeed have the tip of his wand in his mouth.

     "Hey uh Neville?" Harry asked.

     "Yeah Harry?" Neville replied, looking up from his textbook.

     "What plant is this?" Harry turned his book around and handed it to Neville.

     "Oh that's Edelweiss. It's a muggle flower I think. Grows in the Alps. Does that help?"

     "Yeah it does thanks Neville"

     "No problem—" Neville was interrupted by Dean returning to the dorm. He waved his wand and all of the candles blew out simultaneously.

     "What was that for? I'm trying to study here!" Ron exclaimed.

     "Professor McGonagall's coming." Dean said frantically, trying to keep his voice down.

     "Bloody hell."

~ ~ ~

     "Go over it with me again Harry." Hermione said, pacing around their spot in the library. The oil lamp the three of them had placed was almost burnt out now.

     "Come on 'Mione, we were up all last night studying for Slughorn's test and now you're having us loose even more sleep researching some dream Harry had. It's not even about You-Know-Who." Said Ron exasperated, leaning back on his chair and away from the large book laid out in front of him.

     "Just because it didn't have him in the dream doesn't mean it couldn't be a clue to defeating him."

     Ron seemed to understand now. He leaned back towards the book of student records and started looking through them with a newfound passion.

     "I'm going to start speaking now so are you guys done?" Harry said, slightly annoyed with the two.

     "Go ahead Harry." Hermione replied.

     "Every night the same thing happens," Harry rested his forehead on the book in front of him. "She sings me to sleep, that song from The Sound of Music, and just before my eyes close she tucks an Edelweiss flower in my hair and kisses my forehead." Ron snickered and Harry glared at him.

     "Well what does she look like?" Hermione asked.

     "She has— she has long brown hair that's pulled behind her head in some fancy updo. And most of her hair is curled behind her in perfect ringlets." Harry said, motioning his finger in a spiral to represent the curls. "She has rosy cheeks and a red nose like she just got in from a snow storm."

     "What was she wearing?" Ron asked, leaning closer to Harry.

     "She's wearing like an old-timey gown made of light green silk. It had the hoop skirt and everything. She even looked like she was wearing a corset or something. There was this cloak that she was wearing, the hood was down, but it was clear she wasn't planning on staying at my parent's house for long because she hadn't bothered to take it off. It was a slightly darker shade of green than her dress, one that matched the gloves she was wearing. The trim on the cloak was a dark green with gold embroidery on the edges. I don't know who she was but she was super rich."

     "But Harry, your parents were rich." Hermione interjected.

     "Yeah, but she looked richer than them even." Harry shook his hands as he said this.

     "She did have hand embroidered trim on her cloak Hermione. That's not exactly common." Ron looked at Harry. "You said it was gold?"

     "Yeah."

     "Did you find something Ronald?" Hermione said urgently. She ran over and put her hands on the oversized book in front of Ron.

     "Yeah— and if you would take your hands off the book I could show you."

     They were bickering again. Harry cleared his throat in an attempt to get them to stop. The two looked annoyed at Harry for doing so, but didn't say anything. "It's a yearbook from 1979. There's a girl here who fits your description Harry, minus the clothes." Ron said as he handed the book to Harry.

     "This is definitely her." The woman in the photo was smiling up at Harry, she looked only a few years younger than she had in Harry's dream. She still had her pale skin and her rosy cheeks. Only this time her wavy brown hair was laying loose against her shoulders. It reached down to her waist. One half of her hair was brought to the front of her, while the other rested upon her back. She was facing the corner of the photo, the shoulder with the Prefect badge laid upon it turned closer to Harry. He wasn't surprised to see that the crest on her robes held a badger. It made perfect sense actually, with the warm aura she exuded in his dream. Looking down at the name listed under the picture Harry noticed it had been scribbled out and "Bitch" was written next to it. She didn't seem like a bitch to Harry, she seemed kind and tenderhearted from what Harry had seen of her in his dream. The words under it had been kept intact.

     "Hufflepuff Prefect. Class of 1979." Harry read aloud.

     "Well then," Hermione started. "We've found out who she is. Now we just need to find out why she was in your old nursery." Hermione was interrupted by Ron calling her name. She ignored him and continued talking. "And if this has any hidden clues to defeating You-Know-Who."

     "Hermione!" Ron said, "You aren't listening. We haven't found out who she is. Look at her name; It's been scribbled out. Someone really doesn't want us to find out who she is."

     "Or maybe someone just really didn't like her." Harry suggested.