In My Dreams [Draco Malfoy]

chapter four: professor moody

INDIGO

The Hogwarts Hospital Wing was full of people. Many of the occupants had red hair, but there was a blonde, a girl with puffy brown hair and a black dog lying on the floor beside a cot. They were all speaking in quiet whispers, careful not to wake whoever was sleeping. But then doors flung open, and in walked the Minister of Magic, Dementor by his side, not giving a care for whoever was sleeping, and the scene shifted so I was looking at a manic-looking man, tied to a bed.

He looked awful, bloodied, bruised and sweating, but he was grinning from ear to ear. The chances of him being mentally present at this time were slim but I felt as if he was staring right into me. It took a moment but I soon spotted the black Dark Mark on his arm. A Death Eater, I thought to myself. A chill rattled like a rickety train up the track of my spine as I watched the Dementor descend upon him the instant it stepped in the room. He watched it come with something like a satisfied welcome, but the others in the room immediately had their wands at the ready, set to fend the creature off. It was too late. The Dementor was already hovering above him, sucking the life from him.

I woke with a start, sitting up in a rush and looking around the room. I was frantic, my heart beating like a drum against my ribs. It took a moment for me to process what was going on, but then, I realized I was at Hogwarts.

Before I could forget, I pulled my notebook out from under the bed and began to jot down the details.

Man is insane, Death Eater, has Dark Mark on his left forearm, Minister of Magic arrives with Dementor, who kisses the man.

I sat there for a moment, wondering if that was really everything. I was constantly haunted by the idea of forgetting an important detail, especially after what had happened at the World Cup... Nearly thirty seconds of me scrounging my brain passed, then I admitted that I couldn't remember anything else, and plopped my notebook onto my unmade bed.

I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep, so I stood from my seat on the blanket and strode over the window. The view from Ravenclaw Tower was like no other place in Hogwarts. The Forbidden Forest was to the West, the Black Lake was to the South, the Quidditch Pitch was to the Northwest, and the Herbology gardens were to the North. It was beautiful, but I was having a hard time enjoying the view with my heart racing like it was.

I couldn't relax. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't clear my mind. I was being continually revisited by the way the man had screamed, the sight of those three green flashes of light at the World Cup. I couldn't shake it off, so I did the only thing I knew how to do in a time like this: I made myself a cup of tea.

I had acquired an understanding of herbs at a young age. Mum had raised me drinking tea, and my grandmother had raised her and my aunt to know all the different uses of plants in holistic medicine. Growing up, my mother had always been hesitant to give me medications unless I was literally dying, but natural remedies were always on the table, even when I didn't particularly need it. Now, I definitely needed it.

As quietly as possible, I walked back to my four-poster, bent down on my hands and knees, and pulled my trunk out from under the bed. I had left the latches undone, so all I had to do was lift the side. In perfect arm's reach sat a wide thermos and a tin of green tea leaves. I took both the items out and sat them on the floor, then closed the trunk again and pushed it—once again, as quietly as possible—back under the bed. I decided I was too tired to stand back up, so I reached up, pulled my wand off of my nightstand, and folded my legs criss-cross-applesauce. I opened the thermos and whispered a small "aguamenti." Water began to fill the thermos, rising just a little more than halfway. I did a water-heating spell I had learned some time ago and opened the tea leaf tin while the water came to a boil. I measured out some leaves by eye and shook them into the thermos, then closed the top and sat there, waiting for the leaves to steep.