Yuletide Blessing in Disguise

Dangerous Creatures

Hermione was sitting on a sofa in the common room reading another one of the books her mum and dad had sent her for Christmas while Harry took Ron and Neville up to their dormitory to fill them in on the bits he could tell them about his conversation with Dumbledore. She felt the cushions on the sofa giving way and peered over the top of the page to see Parvati and Lavender both looking at her.

"How's Harry?" asked Lavender, peering at Hermione worriedly. "Is he alright then?"

"We were worried about him when Dora came up to get you last night," said Parvati, her voice full of concern. "Is he having nightmares again? What did Professor Dumbledore say?"

Hermione glanced around the common room anxiously, then took a deep breath.

"Not here," she said. "Let's go up to the dorm, and I'll tell you what I can. But you have to promise not to tell Fay or Sally-Anne, or anyone else really."

"We promise," said Parvati quickly.

Parvati and Lavender filed up the stairs behind Hermione to their dorm. Crookshanks gave a little meow when he saw them arrive, and jumped off Hermione's bed to give them all space. Hermione yanked the curtains around her bed after they were all sitting cross-legged atop her covers, and began to quietly tell Lavender and Parvati a few of the bits which Dumbledore had said Harry could tell Ron and Neville.

"It's not really just nightmares," Hermione began mysteriously. "Harry is actually having sort of visions of what Vol... I mean You-Know-Who - is up to..."

"It's alright," Parvati interjected bravely. "We don't care if you say Voldemort's name, do we Lavender?"

Lavnder looked slightly dubious, then nodded.

"Oh, alright then," said Hermione, a bit surprised. "Anyway, there's some sort of connection between Harry and Voldemort which has to do with Harry's scar - and Harry can sometimes see what he's up to, or sense what he's feeling. And Harry had a vision last night of Voldemort scheming to come after him, again.

"He's already tried to have another one of his supporters infiltrate the tournament... But we found him out."

Lavender gasped, shocked. "Is that who entered Harry's name in the tournament? ...to try and get Harry killed?"

"More or less," Hermione agreed, thinking it best to not go into too much detail. "Harry already told Ron and Neville about that bit, so it's probably alright to tell you too,even though Dumbledore doesn't want too many people to know about it at the moment."

"Of course! It wouldn't do to panic everyone," said Parvati wisely, "like in second year, unless there is a big threat to the whole school again."

"Right!" said Hermione. "Anyway, the upshot is that Voldemort is back, and the reason he keeps trying to go after Harry is because he's afraid that Harry would be able to finish him off for good, eventually. So it's likely Harry might have more scary visions..."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Lavender proffered. "Especially if it means that Harry will get a bit of warning in advance."

"Dumbledore seems to think so," said Hermione, feeling a pang of worry. "Unfortunately it also makes Harry's scar hurt horribly whenever he senses Voldemort."

"Oh! Poor Harry," Parvati commiserated...

~o0o~

"Blimey Harry!" Ron exclaimed when Harry finished telling him and Neville as much as he felt he could. "So Dumbledore reckons this connection has something t'do with your scar, and that's why you keep having these vision thingys of You-Know-Who then..."