"I Think I'm In Love With You ♡"

"Chapter «10»: 6th year! "

Dream wakes up to his mother screaming.

Startled, he sits up in his bed, the blankets pooling around his hips. At his feet, Patches lets out a disgruntled meow, clearly upset at being woken up. She leaps off the bed and stalks over to the closed door, her tail curving into a question mark shape.

With a yawn, Dream slips off the bed. He scoops Patches into his arms and opens the door. Then, he heads downstairs to see what the commotion is all about.

In the kitchen, he finds his mother huddled against the wall, looking terrified, and his father with his arms around her, a scowl on his face. On the island are 2 half-eaten plates of eggs and toast, presumably breakfast.

“What’s going on?” Dream asks, yawning again. As soon as the words leave his mouth, he spots a tawny brown owl outside the window, an envelope with the Hogwarts crest clutched in its beak. “Oh, an owl.”

Releasing Patches onto the floor, Dream walks over to the window. He reaches for the latch, intending to open it, but is interrupted by his mother shrieking, “Don’t let it in!”

“It’s just here to deliver mail, Mom,” Dream says, rolling his eyes. Ignoring his parents’ protests, he pushes the window open and holds out his arm. The owl hops on, its talons digging into his skin. It gives the room a beady-eyed glare, then drops the envelope onto the countertop and flies away.

Dream picks up the envelope and begins to open it. Inside is a neatly folded piece of parchment. He takes it out and unfolds it, his breath hitching as he reads the words written across the top: Ordinary Wizarding Levels- Grades for Dream Wastake.

He quickly scans the paper, and a relieved smile grows on his face at the sight of an E in almost every class. The only class with a grade lower than an E is Astronomy, and even that is an A. Besides, Astronomy isn’t that important to him. What matters is that he has an E in all 5 of the classes that he needs to continue with.

“Dream!” his mother suddenly snaps.

“What?”

“I told you not to let it in! You’re grounded for a week.”

“What do you mean?” Dream cries. “I told you, it was just delivering mail!”

“Listen to your mother,” his father growls. “You’re grounded. Go up to your room right now.”

Dream very much wants to yell a few choice words at his parents, but he reluctantly obeys. Not obeying would make it worse, after all. He picks Patches up and stalks away, shooting a glare in his parents’ direction as he walks up the stairs.

Once back in his bedroom, Dream sets Patches down and collapses on his bed. She immediately moves to curl up at his side. Sighing, he absentmindedly strokes her fur as he stares up at the ceiling. He’d hoped that summer would fly by, but no such luck so far. It’s not that he’s bored- he has plenty to do, such as reading, climbing trees, and exchanging letters with his friends. It’s just that his parents have seemed to ramp up their hatred for him, and it’s getting on his nerves more than usual.

His stomach grumbles, and he remembers that he hasn’t eaten breakfast yet. Oh, well, he’ll just wait until his parents leave the house, like they do almost every day, to do who knows what. Then he’ll sneak downstairs and grab something to eat. For now, he’s content to continue reading the book he’d been making his way through last night and snuggle with Patches.

---

Slowly, the days creep by. Dream spends most of his time avoiding his parents by staying in his room or going outside. Luckily, the next few owls that arrive from his friends come to his bedroom window instead of the one in the kitchen, meaning that there’s no more screaming from his mother. Every time one of the birds swoops in, he considers getting his own owl, but he always decides against it. He doesn’t have a huge need for one, and besides, it probably wouldn’t get along with Patches.

As August rolls around, so does Dream’s 16th birthday. His parents don’t give him anything other than a stiff ‘happy birthday’, but it’s been like that for a while, so he doesn’t really care, especially since he receives a ton of great presents from his friends. Sapnap sends him sweets. Karl’s owl, Honk, arrives with a neatly wrapped skirt. Quackity and George both gift books- a magic edition practical joke book from Quackity and a fantasy book from George. Both Punz and Purpled give Quidditch related items, sending a Snitch replica and a toy broomstick, respectively. Even Captain Puffy sends him a package, consisting of a bottle of mint green nail polish and a short but sweet note.

Dream receives gifts from Techno and Illumina as well. Techno’s is delivered via a jet-black owl that looks weirdly like a crow, and it turns out to be a book of useful dueling spells. Afterwards comes a tiny gray owl from Illumina, carrying a small package. When opened, it reveals a pretty cat collar that Dream immediately puts on Patches. All in all, a pretty good birthday, even if Dream has no one in his household to celebrate it with.

And then, finally, after a summer that had seemed like an eternity, September arrives. On the first day of the new month, Dream practically flies out of bed. He feeds Patches, eats a hasty breakfast, gets dressed, and, after bidding his parents an awkward goodbye, he leaves the house with his suitcase in hand and his cat tucked under his arm. He boards the bus, ignoring the strange looks he gets for carrying a cat, and takes it all the way to Kings Cross Station. There, he quickly enters Platform 9 ¾ and gets on the Hogwarts Express.

Just like last year, Dream sits with the rest of the Feral Boys. All of them look just as happy as he feels to be back. The 5 eat sweets, joke, and argue as the English countryside passes by outside. As the hours progress, Dream feels all his leftover frustration from the summer disappearing, replaced by joy. He’s back with his friends, heading to Hogwarts.

And as he steps off the train at the Hogsmeade station, he looks up at the castle, not too far away in the distance, and smiles.

It feels good to be home.

.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・

Notes:

i wanna punch dream's mom even though i'm the one who wrote her

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-2486 words

٩(ര̀ᴗര́)ᵇʸᵉ nuggets~