ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Whispers from the Past, ch. 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"That was my fault," Snape said as they walked side-by-side toward an inn resting on a cliff looking over the ocean. "I was foolish enough not to replenish the shielding charm around us before we slept. It must have worn out through the night."

"It's my fault, too," Harmony assured him. "I should've remembered something as important as that, but I got too relaxed. Being in the middle of the forest seemed like a safe enough place." She added quietly, "I guess I was wrong."

"Any ideas as to how they discovered us?"

"The trader perhaps," Harmony suggested. "Maybe he was suspicious of me and warned Aurors to go check us out." She paused, "And I may have been a little obvious." She thought about how angered she was when the trader told her he believed Zeth would be successful in capturing her.

"Remind me not to send you out on your own anymore."

"It won't happen again," Harmony said defensively. "Like I said, I just got a little too relaxed, that's all."

"You could have cost us our lives," Snape said angrily. "If your mutterings in your sleep hadn't woken me we would be in the hands of the Ministry at this moment."

"What mutterings?" Harmony asked, looking over at him as they walked.

"You were talking in your sleep. More dream-like visions?"

He looked down at her and she turned her gaze straight ahead.

"Yes," she replied. "Voldemort came to me again."

"Anything in particular I should know about?"

Harmony thought about her conversation with the Dark Lord, trying to remember anything out of the ordinary. "He kept asking me about my location."

Snape stopped in his tracks and looked at her attentively. "Your location?"

She nodded. "Several times. Lightly at first, but the more I hesitated to tell him the more irritated he became."

"Anything else he mentioned?"

She thought a moment. "We chatted about some…personal stuff. He mentioned something about not being there with me in body but in mind." She crinkled her nose. "A bit of a strange thing to dream." She watched the expression on Snape's face for a minute. "You're concerned."

"Of course I am," he scoffed. "It is not every day one has visions of the Dark Lord."

"They're dreams," Harmony corrected him. "He only comes when I'm asleep or very tired."

"When you are most vulnerable," Snape said without looking at her.

Harmony frowned at him.

He began walking again and she followed. "Only once have I encountered one such as yourself that dreamt of the Dark Lord, and they were for dangerous reasons."

Harmony felt her body go cold and she whispered, "Harry Potter." She saw Snape nod out of the corner of her eye.

"Potter was being sent dreams by the Dark Lord himself to make him see what he wanted him to see—to lie to him."

Butterflies danced in her stomach, making her feel giddy. "You think Voldemort could be sending me dreams," she said breathlessly.

"No," Snape said, "That would be impossible; the Dark Lord does not remember anything."

"I know," she mumbled.

"But someone may be sending you dreams, someone working against you in order to get inside your head. You said so yourself: the Dark Lord has been asking you where your location is. Well, someone could be trying to find you that way, to stop you from running."