”Step aside, foolish girl...”
“No! Please, don’t take Harry! Don’t hurt him!”
“I said, step aside...do not force me to kill you...”
“Kill me! Just don’t hurt Harry!”
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Harry awoke in a sweat from the nightmare, breathing heavily. It was the same nightmare that had been haunting him for almost sixteen years, since his parents’ death. He looked around wildly, taking in his surroundings. He sighed in relief, remembering...he was at the Burrow, sleeping in Fred and George’s room. He vaguely remembered Apparating there with a few Order members late last night, but he had been too tired to think straight.
Harry sat up, reaching for his glasses on his bedside table. Once on, he got up and rummaged through his trunk, looking for the tattered old scrapbook he kept with him everywhere he went. He found it and took it out, opening it to the first page. He took comfort in seeing his mother and father’s smiling faces, free of the pain and sadness he knew would overcome them later. As he stared sadly at them, the door slammed open and Hermione barged in, wand drawn. Harry watched, half-surprised, half-amused.
“Harry! Are you okay? I heard screaming...” Hermione said, slowly realizing there was no danger and sheepishly putting her wand away.
“Hello to you too,” Harry said, grinning and hugging his best friend. Hermione drew away, still concerned.
“I heard you screaming,” she said quietly. “What happened?”
“Just a bad dream,” Harry said, shrugging it off. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Oh, Harry,” she said, “every time you have a nightmare, it seems to foreshadow something later on. What did you see?”
Harry sighed. “It was a memory of my parents’ dying,” he said wearily. “So unless they come back to life and reenact that night, I doubt it foreshadowed anything. I’ve been having the same dream for years. They seem to be more frequent now.”
Just then, Ron walked in sleepily.
“Whuzgoinon?” he said, stretching and yawning. I heard a scream, then someone talking...” His eyes widened when he saw Harry standing there. “HARRY!” he yelled, running up and hugging him, also. “When did you get here?”
“Last night,” Harry said. “I was so tired last night, I couldn’t have woken you guys up even if I’d wanted to...what time is it, anyway?”
“Well, the sun’s just coming out,” Hermione commented as she looked out the window. “We might as well go downstairs for breakfast. Ron, your mom’s bound to be up by now.”
Sure enough, Molly was downstairs, cooking eggs magically in a pan. “Harry, dear!” she exclaimed. “We weren’t expecting you ‘till morning...when did you arrive?”
“Last night,” Harry said. “A couple people picked me up right at midnight, when the charm wore off.”
“Oh, I forgot!” Ron exclaimed. “It’s your birthday, Harry! You’re of age today!”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “I don’t feel any different. And if my birthday goes any differently than your 17th, Ron, I’ll feel just fine.”
Ron grimaced when he remembered his own coming-of-age, which involved a bezoar and an extended visit to the Hospital Wing.
“No matter,” Molly said. “We’ll be sure to celebrate your birthday today, Harry. But not too late. You all need to rest up for the wedding tomorrow.”
“Oh!” Hermione exclaimed quietly. Harry, too, had forgotten about Bill and Fleur’s wedding.
“So, who’s hungry?” Molly said, serving the eggs onto 3 plates.
After a wonderful breakfast of the eggs, bacon and buttered toast, the trio ran upstairs to talk in Fred and George’s room. After Ron had been filled in as to what Harry’s nightmare had been about earlier, they began talking about Harry’s parents.
“I’m sure they must have been wonderful people,” Hermione said sympathetically. “I’ll bet they’d have been a pleasure to meet.”
“At least after they left school,” Harry muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, Ron heard him.
“What do you mean?” Ron said quizzically. “Slughorn said your mum was best in her class, and...”
“My dad was a jerk,” Harry said bitterly.
“How can you say that, Harry?” Hermione said, appalled. “Lupin told us a while ago that your dad saved Snape from being killed on full moon, even though they were enemies. That takes bravery!”
“Yeah, one good deed among tons of bad ones,” Harry said. He then proceeded to tell Ron and Hermione about his father’s childhood antics, and how he had treated Snape and showed off constantly for Lily.
“Sometimes I feel ashamed to be related to him,” Harry concluded. “When people tell me I look like James, it makes me feel all queasy to think I’m similar to him.”
“Come off it, Harry,” Ron said. “So he was a bit of a showoff as a kid. Who hasn’t been a little mean, or showed off a little in their life? He grew out of it eventually.”
“And you’re not exactly the perfect angel either, Harry,” Hermione said, smirking. I remember a certain Ms. Chang that could relate to that.”
“And you’re not exactly bosom buddies with Malfoy, either,” Ron added.
“The point is, Harry,” Hermione said, “your father was a good person overall. No one’s perfect.”
“I know,” Harry said. “It’s just that...sometimes I wish I could go back in time. I would tell my dad to just shut up and let Lily start liking him on her own. And then...I would try to stop Sirius and my parents from dying later on. If only I could change that. Everything would be perfect.”
As if on cue, the walls of the Burrow began to shake. “What’s happening?” Ron said loudly. Hermione whimpered and held onto Ron, which quieted him for the time being. Harry instinctively grabbed for his wand, also keeping his hands on the scrapbook of his parents. Ron and Hermione also grabbed for their wands. Suddenly, a bright flash of light blinded them all, and Harry, finding himself falling, aimed for the general direction of the bed to cushion his fall. To his surprise, he kept falling past where the bed would be and landed on concrete.
Then everything went still.
Harry sat up slowly, adjusting to the light again. It was evening, and the Burrow was nowhere in sight. “What happened?” Harry said, rubbing his sore head. They were in the middle of a paved road, with no one in sight. Harry turned and saw Ron and Hermione also sit up, looking around confusedly.
“Where are we?” Ron said.
“Beats me,” Harry said.
Suddenly, Hermione gasped. The boys looked at her. She was pointing a trembling finger towards something in the distance. Harry and Ron followed her finger and saw the great Hogwarts castle before them.
"Bloody h..." Ron breathed, unable to finish.
"D'you think we Apparated by accident?" Harry thought aloud.
"No. Look," Hermione said suddenly. She was pointing at a poster in a nearby window. They realized they were in Hogsmeade. But that wasn't what she was pointing at. It was an ad that read: "Merchandise available until November 5, 1976".