Battles of Darkness and Strife

Dreaming

Merrily POV

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These days the halls of Hogwarts were eerier and less cheerful. This, along with the rising tensions between my friends could be described as stressful. The only thing we learned using the ridiculously limited selection of books in the library, was that the goddess of Strife was named Eris and that was why we were all so irritated with each other.

Coupled with that was the impending Triwizard Tournament. The other two schools were due to be arriving tonight. 

I was snapped from my thoughts by intense bickering. 

"Would you stop huffing? I don't care if you're tired, it's annoying!" Chey crosses her arms and glares at her boyfriend. Somehow they haven't broken up yet, and I'm glad for it. I think the reason why is that there are still brief intermittents of respite, but those are getting rarer. 

"What the heck Merrily?" Leo snaps at me.

"What did I do?" I snark back, immediately aggressive. 

Leo scowls at me. "You stepped on my foot, again!" 

"Oh, my apologies." I whip around and hurry ahead. Chey and Abigail tail behind me and we leave the boys to sort themselves out. 

Abigail sighs. "I know this is only because of those goddesses, but it feels so real... This morning I wanted to strangle Ryan for eating too much bacon."

"I know," I agree. "I think I'm going insane."

"You think you're going insane?" Chey frowns. "But I don't know; it feels like Nico's reactions aren't just a side effect. It feels real." Chey suddenly looks very small and scared. I wrap my arms around her. 

"Don't worry," I soothe her. "It'll all blow over soon." By now we've arrived in the Great Hall. Everything has been cleaned and polished to perfection. I automatically smooth out a wrinkle in my robes. We split to our respective tables. David slides in next to me and we carry on a civil conversation until the Hall is mostly full. 

Ten minutes later, the entire school is standing outside in the near-freezing weather, waiting for Durmstrang and Beauxbatons to arrive.

"Would they hurry up?" David complains grumpily. "I'm freaking starving."

Hermione nudges him. "It'll be worth it. Last time their entrances were amazing."

"I don't think I care what their entrances look like," David grumbles. I elbow him in the side and turn my attention back to... I don't know what. Right then, I hear the sound of ripples and from the Great Lake, a huge ship rises from the water. Not long after, a giant carriage flies in with huge pegasi steering.

I'm not as impressed as some people here, but it's still cool. I shrug my shoulders at Hermione, Ron, and Harry who simply gape at me. Ron whispers something to his friends and we all head back inside. 

Eventually, the other two schools file in. Durmstrang sits with the Slytherins. I see Chey holding a civil conversation with a cute Durmstrang boy. The Beauxbatons students split themselves between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. David looks visibly disappointed. 

Mrs. McGonagall makes some speech about whatever. Rules and whatnot. I'm sure Abigail listened in. I'm just really hungry and want to go to bed. 

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Finally, I lie down in my fourposter and snuggle deep into the mattress and pillows. There's the familiar sensation of falling and then I'm thrust immediately into a dream.

I'm deep in the forest and in front of me, I can see a bright fire. A mysterious force pulls me closer and closer until I can clearly see who is around the fire. It's a large group of monsters, the largest I'd ever seen. Empousa, telekhines, a manticore, the Minotaur and plenty more. 

Then an empousa comes from the forest and the entire congregation of monsters snaps to attention.

"When do we lay waste to the castle?" a telekhine leers. 

The empousa shushes him sharply. "Don't speak so loudly! You never know who might be listening..."

"Whatever," another telekhine frowns, rolling his eyes. "Just tell us when."

"The last... day... largest... bring strife..." The dream begins to break up, like a TV that's lost connection. I struggle to keep the image going, but words and images keep getting lost. 

"And they're here. They know something's going on." Suddenly, I am pushed from the scene so fast I get whiplash. The next thing I know, I'm sitting up in bed in a cold sweat with the entire room crowded around me concernedly. 

"What's wrong?" Parvati asks. 

I rub the back of my aching neck. "Um... nothing. Just-just a nightmare..."

Parvati yawns. "That was some nightmare. If you're sure you're okay..."

"I'm fine." I flop down on my pillows and breathe deeply. If what I saw in the dream is true, then the monsters definitely know we're here. Well, I think, but who else could "they" be? What's truly worrying is the broken-up words I heard. They could mean anything!

As I'm mulling this over, I catch Hermione's eyes. "What is it really?" she mouths to me. I shake my head and mouth back, "In the morning." Hermione looks worried, but nods and turns over in her bed. 

I stare at the top of my bed. There's no way I'm going to bed now. Once I'm sure everyone is asleep, I slip out of bed and down the stairs. Pulling up my PJ pants, I tiptoe up to the boys' dorms and find David's bed.

I shake him. "David!"

David groans quietly and turns over to glare at me. "What?" he whispers.

"I had a dream." Immediately, David is wide awake. We hurry down to the common room and sit in the huge armchairs.

"Well?"

"Okay..." I tell David all about my dream and everything I'd heard. 

David rubs his chin and bites his lower lip. "We need to figure out what those words mean."

"No kidding, Sherlock," I snort. "But we'd better hurry. That was a lot of monsters and I have a feeling there's more on the way."

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Wow. Coronavirus, am I right? I hope everyone is staying healthy! I've been working on my mental health and physical health during these few weeks so there's that! I hope you guys enjoyed!

*breaks fourth wall*

Nico: Who was the Durmstrang boy???

Chey: None of your business!

Nico: It is my business! 

Chey: Why, 'cause he's better looking than you?

David: Woah...

Me: And I oop-

Nico: HOW DARE YOU???

Chey: Don't you raise your voice at me!

Nico: Humph.

Me: Okay, no weapons so far, David, hurry up with the disclaimer!

David: On it! CheyPaigeFanfic does not own PJO or HoO. Nor does she own the Harry Potter franchise.

Chey: *draws sword* You wanna go??

Me: *sighs* One fourth wall break. Just one is all I ask...

Nico: *draws sword* Oh I'll go!

Me: One peaceful fourth wall break.

Chey: *attacks* AHHHHH

Nico: *attacks back* AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Merrily: Please vote and comment!