Chapter One “ My Wish
All hell had broken loose. It was now that I wished everything was the way it had been for the past seventeen years of my life: simple and safe. Hogwarts had become my second home, and I wished for it to stay that way for the remainder of my final year here. I wished that the Slytherins and the Gryffindors would still get along, and that nothing could separate the school. I wished that there were not rumors spreading around the school as to who was going to become this and who was going to become that. There were so many things that I wished that it was scary to think about them. I just wished that Hogwarts was the way it had been before hell had erupted. It was a little too much to ask.
I wished that my family wasn’t so hectic right now, and my younger cousin and brother would not be scared. They seemed to be afraid of the other students, although it seemed immature for their ages of fifteen. They stayed close to each other and their large circle of friends, who all seemed to be from Gryffindor. It made me worry, and for once in my life, I really was scared of the future and how this would all turn out. The school was breaking, and teachers were always talking. It was my job, and the Head Boy’s job, to protect the students”to get them through this horrid time. It seemed to me that Albus and I were never going to be able to help the students, when we could barely help ourselves.
I had friends in other houses. Not all of my friends were from Gryffindor. It pained me to think that I would have to be separated from them. Most of all, though, I was scared to lose my best friend, who just happened to be in Slytherin. It was not fair to not allow friends to be friends. My parents were scaring me half to death, making me feel like I would have to ditch my best friend. You cannot separate friends; it just is not right. I wished we were not forced to choose sides, and I could stay with my best friend. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin could never be on the same side, however much I wanted to be on his, or he on mine.
I was perhaps the first to find out about all of this. My parents had sent me a letter, describing the events that had happened outside of school. I told my cousins, whose parents had later sent messages as well. We told no one else”the Aurors and Ministry would handle the events outside of school. It was not our problem, nor did we need to worry about it. It would only make us scared if we had to deal with it. Let the professionals handle it. Although, I worried for a while about my own letter. They had sent a separate one to Hugo, my brother. My parents had simply told him not to mess around with the wrong people, which he needed not to worry about. Mine frightened me, though.
Dear Rose,
You should not be afraid of what we are about to tell you, but please know that it is a completely serious matter. We know that you will handle the situation with entire sincerity and caution, which is what we expect of you. But please do not tell the whole entire school of this. We would rather have their own parents, or the teachers, perhaps, inform them than the Head Girl. I am sure their parents would rather have it that way. Your father and I know that you will do what is right, so we should have no problem telling you all of this.
Events have been occurring here at home that no one ever expected. You know that Uncle Harry defeated Lord Voldemort nearly twenty-six years ago, and his followers were either sent to Azkaban or killed, depending on their crimes. Most of the Death Eaters that were sent to Azkaban have died now, with the exception of a few. Those who have not died will probably in future years, as they are never getting out of Azkaban. There are no followers left, from what your father, Uncle Harry, and the other Aurors have found. All of the Death Eaters were shut up or dead, so the Aurors had their schedules busy with robberies, random acts of violence. The usual.
Unfortunately, there were a series of attacks on Muggles and Muggle-borns that led to the suspicion that not all of the Death Eaters were safely put away. The Aurors went to the scene of disaster, and they found it to be much more frightening than they imagined. There were people there, dressed as normal wizards and witches, with cloaks and the works, seemingly waiting for them. The Aurors were prepared, but a few came out of the scene hurt and injured. One person was killed. From what your father told me, they were young or middle-aged wizards and witches, scared more of losing that battle than taking lives. It scared everyone.
There are still people out there that support Voldemort. None have done anything, up until now. That group is still running free, and they are rallying more people to join them. Obviously none of them are as powerful as Voldemort, but they are still supporters, trying to avenge the death of their supposed leader”even though some of them barely looked old enough to have been born before Voldemort’s death. They suspect a few of them to be parents of students at Hogwarts. I don’t want you to take that the wrong way, though. Continue to live your normal life, just be careful.
Love,
Mum
I told no one about the last paragraph of my letter. I definitely took it the wrong way, even though I knew my mother didn’t care if I was friends with Slytherins. I couldn’t tell a soul. I would not even tell my best friend. I still had classes with him”including Divination, which was more of a social class at this point than anything else. Okay, so Divination was a dumb class if you do not have a knack for it. I knew that. However, it was the only class that I really had a good time in, surprisingly enough. Sure, it was not exactly easy for me, like Charms and Transfiguration, but it was exciting. I had grown fond of it as the years passed, much to my mother’s chagrin, and taken it every year since my third year. It was probably my hardest class, due to my lack of talent in the Seer direction (which my father said I had inherited from both of my parents, but more so my mother, who could not even complete the class). It never ceased to excite me, though, and I was getting better at the subject everyday. Sure, becoming a Seer was not my future (that much I could predict), but I could read tealeaves.
But it was mostly exciting because my best friend was in the class. I was sure that the only reason he had ever stuck with it was because I did (I knew that it was not because he particularly enjoyed it”he was even more awful at it than I was). We had become friends in Divination in our third year. Ever since then, we have been best friends. I could not just blow that friendship away like a dandelion seed. That was basically what my parents were asking me to do. It was not fair. None of my cousins (or my brother) knew how I felt. Albus pretended that he did”well, he pretended that he knew what I was upset about”but that didn’t help. None of their best friends were in Slytherin and were under suspicion by their parents. No one understood how I felt. Even though I was overreacting.
Life went on for the most part. It wasn’t until my cousin had began spying on me that I began to worry even more. Albus was incredibly close to me, perhaps more so than my brother. I supposed Uncle Harry had sent him a letter, and Albus was known to be a worrywart. But he had never cared that I was best friends with a Slytherin. In fact, no one did except for my father (but he just hated the father of my best friend, so I suppose that is why”it wasn’t a serious hatred). As soon as Albus told me that I should ditch my best friend, I knew something was wrong. He knew, and he was scared for me. And I was furious.
“You aren’t serious?” I asked him. I knew my face had become almost as red as my hair”which it typically did when I was angry”and I blushed, deepening the red. Albus just nodded at me, and I bit my lip to refrain myself from cursing at him. Finally, I sighed, exhaling all of the anger within me, just to have it bubble up again a second later. “I cannot believe Uncle Harry told you about the Death Eaters, or whatever! Oh, Albus, stop being such a worrywart! That isn’t fair. You have had no problem with him before this. I don’t see why it should be a problem now. It isn’t like he’s a Death Eater or anything. I should know.”
Albus looked frightened for a moment, but his face quickly filled up with anger, like mine. “Yes, my parents told me, but it wasn’t as though they told me to tell you. It’s just me. Don’t get mad at them. I just don’t think you should spend every waking moment with Scorpius, especially with our N.E.W.T.s coming up so quickly,” he snapped defensively. “Scorpius has you held up outside or in the library all the time, and I just think maybe you should tell him that you want to study a little bit more everyday. And the recent events also has a little bit to do with it, but I am really concerned with your grades more than anything else.”
“You are the most awful liar I have ever met in my life, Al,” I hissed, my eyes narrowing. “And for your information, all we do in the library is studying, and when we’re outside we discuss Divination, with the occasional conversational gossip. My grades are perfectly fine, and you know it. Divination is the only class I have not gotten an O on every year. But I have still received an E, which should be good enough for you. I’m not stupid. Please, leave me alone, Potter. Stop worrying.”
He looked more annoyed than anything now, and I knew that I had pushed him over the edge. “All right. But I’m just trying to protect you. You’re my cousin, and I love you. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you,” he snapped. I was about to retort, but he cut me off before I could say anything. “I will keep trying to keep you safe, but you should know that if you don’t listen to me and you get hurt, it isn’t my fault. You will bring it onto yourself. You may have the perfect friendship right now, but that doesn’t mean it will last forever.” He sighed, his expression softening. “I’m just trying to help. No one should live in a dreamland, Rose.”
I smiled at him, feeling regret for yelling at him in the first place. I knew he was trying to help. But if I wanted to stay friends with Scorpius, then they had to trust me. I gave Albus a quick hug, saying, “Thanks,” in the most gentle voice I could conjure. He nodded and walked silently away as I watched silently. He was right, I would give him credit. As I had said before, I wished that we were not forced to choose sides, because I knew which side I would end up taking. Wishing at this point was stupid and senseless. No one should live in a dreamland. Especially someone like me. Maybe it was right for me to overreact.
Dreamland by Breakaway615
Chapter Notes: This is my first Novella since Deathly Hallows came out! You should all be so proud of me! If you aren’t, oh well. I’ll get over it. I’m proud of me, so that makes up for any of you who couldn’t care less. Anyways, I think it’s a given that there were spoilers in this.
So, I really hope you enjoy this one. Although the majority of this fanfiction will be angst--and romance! Yay!--I am attempting to throw in a lot of humor here and there. There wasn’t really anything in this chapter. But it will be funnier later on. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one!
J.K. Rowling owns all of these characters, and all of their glory. I just own the plot. I wished I owned Scorpius though. Or a younger Draco Malfoy. But alas, I do not. J.K. Rowling does. Because she is awesome.