Amelia Merlin

Part 110: The Second Task and The Return of the Dreams

After a particularly boring History of Magic class (which was only tolerable due to the part where Oliver enchanted Ernie Macmillan's quill to never fill up with ink which made Ernie so frustrated he ended up dumping his ink bottle all over himself in an attempt to see if there was anything in it) Amelia and the girls walked down to the grounds.

Lavender twirled her hair in her fingers. "It should be interesting. Tomorrow. I mean, who knows what's going to happen right? And how dangerous it could be? And what they'll try to do? So exciting isn't it!"

"It's a bit scary to think about." Parvati said calmly.

"Amelia," Lavender giggled. "Parvati is so in love with Harry after he took her to the Yule Ball even though he was the worst date ever."

Parvati rolled her eyes. "I am not in love with Harry. Don't be ridiculous."

Amelia sniggered. "You sure about that Parv? Sounded like a magical night!"

"You weren't even there!"

"I didn't have to be there to hear of the romance that befell upon my lovely friend!"

"Oh shut up Amelia!" Parvati laughed.

"Oooh Parv getting riled up! I love it." Lavender squealed.

The girls spent the rest of the day teasing Parvati about Harry. That night Amelia had a dream.

She walked barefoot along the black cobblestones of Stone Garden. The dull black houses stood eerily still and not a sound could be heard. No birds flew in the grey sky and no mice skittered across the stone. Amelia walked through the abandoned streets until she reached a courtyard. It was large and square with black stone walls. There was a boy with dark hair who stood in the middle of the open room and she didn't recognize him until he turned around.

"Amy." He smiled and his warm blue eyes crinkled.

"Oliver? What are you doing here?"

"I don't know really. We're in Stone Garden right?"

"I think so."

"Strange. I mean, I liked it there, but this feels - strange."

"I know what you mean."

"I can't move."

"What?"

"I can't seem to move my feet." He gave an awkward smile and a shrug. "Guess I'm stuck here."

"Let me help you-" she reached out and touched his shoulder. The moment she made contact he fell away to water and what was once his body became a little stream that flowed down the courtyard. Amelia followed it through the black streets until she reached something that didn't look at all like Stone Garden. It didn't look like it belonged in the north at all. It was a field. A golden field where the wind blew across the tall grass and everything was-

"Amelia! We're going to be late!" Lavender shook her awake. Groggily, she got out of bed and pulled on some robes. It was odd, that dream felt so similar to the ones Akkedis used to send her. But there wasn't anything sinister about it. Odd.

The girls bounced down to the Black Lake and met up with the boys along the way.

"I bet Krum's going to win this one." Seamus swore.

"You kidding? Fleur's got it in the bag!" Dean grinned.

"You're just saying that because she's hot." Seamus smirked.

"Well," he shrugged, "yeah."

Amelia rolled her eyes and saw Oliver up ahead so she ran past a group of tall Ravenclaw boys who whistled at her. She rolled her eyes and with a flick of her finger, caused roots to grow up and trip the lot of them.

"Hey Amy!" Oliver beamed. "What's going on?"

"Did you have a weird dream last night?" She said without hesitating.

He blinked twice. "Sort of. I was in Stone Garden and there was this courtyard, -it's sort of hard to remember - I think there was another person with me, but it was hard to see."

"What do you mean?"

"They were covered in light. I could barely look at them. And then they disappeared and I was standing alone, waist deep in a creek. And all around me were these - these wolves. They weren't growling or anything, they just sorta stared at me."

"Then what?" It was hard to keep desperation at bay.

"Then I woke up. Why are you asking about my dreams?"

"No reason really. Just had a weird dream last night and you were in it."

They reached the edge of the lake just as the champions were submerging into the water. Amelia leaned over to Terry Boot. "What do they have to do?"

"Each of them have a friend hidden somewhere in the lake and they have to rescue them."

"Shit. That's intense."

Terry gave her a knowing look. Feeling uncomfortable, Amelia scooted closer to Oliver. A merman occasionally came up to tell Dumbledore news of what was happening, but other than that it was quite boring. People were shoving each other and hardly anyone was paying attention, so when Cedric's head broke the surface of the water with Cho Chang in hand, it took a while for the cheering to start.

Amelia and her friends whooped, extraordinarily glad a Hogwarts champion had won. She ran over to see him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Congratulations Cedric!" She squealed and in his excitement, he picked her up and whirled her around.

"Thank Amelia! It was absolutely brilliant!"

"I'm so happy for you!"

Just as Cedric put her down, Cho walked over and slid her hand in Cedric's.

"I'm so grateful he saved me" She gushed. "Wasn't he incredible?"

Bitch.

"Yeah he always is."  Amelia smiled. "Okay," she huffed awkwardly. "I guess I'd better go..."

Cedric gave her an apologetic look. She waved and walked away from the happy couple. Viktor Krum had just resurfaced with Hermione Granger and Amelia couldn't help but laugh slightly. It was probably the best couple she had seen ever in her life as she was so happy for Hermione. The girls had spent some very late nights with her discussing the merits of the Durmstrang champion.

When Harry came up with Ron and Gabrielle, the Gryffindors just about lost their minds. Of course Harry Potter saved an extra person. Amelia was almost surprised he didn't try to rescue the fish too.

They cheered exceptionally loud for his second place victory. They all hugged him and jumped up and down. Amelia managed to shout a congratulations at him over the noise and he looked slightly panicked but grateful all the same.

The common room was more rowdy than usual that night. Everyone was excited at Harry's accomplishments and the twins had brought snacks for people to enjoy.

Amelia went to bed early that night. She was eager to see if there would be anymore dreams.