Disclaimer: If you haven’t read A Parting Dream, the prequel to this story, don’t worry. If you want more background information about the events leading up to this piece, then please, read it. In any case, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Hogwarts gang belongs to the illustrious JK Rowling, not me. Anything you don’t recognize as hers, however, belongs to me and if you want to use it (though I’m not sure why you would), just ask me!

One last thing, I’ve got to give a big round of applause to my editor, George Weasley’s Girlfriend a.k.a. JanaBelle for helping me out with this fic. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Ron Weasley stared at the ceiling of his four-poster bed, deathly tired, yet unable to fall asleep for some unknown reason. He sighed, rolling over in an attempt to get more comfortable. He must’ve been trying to go to sleep for hours now. His eyelids drooped wearily and he welcomed the peaceful darkness that came when they veiled his sight…yet somehow, no matter what he did, sleep would not come.

He tossed and turned a bit more before finally giving up on the idea of sleep and quietly slipping from his covers. He reached outside his curtains for a robe to throw on over his pajamas, and once his hand grasped the worn, but comfortable, material, he pulled it within, threw it on, and then drew back the curtains slowly, so as not to disturb anyone.

To his surprise, he found a pair of sleepy green eyes framed by slightly oversized black circular frames looking at him before a small smile lit the face those eyes belonged to.

"You couldn’t sleep either, I take it?" It was more of a statement than a question, and Ron nodded at his friend.

"I figured a change of scenery might do some good," he whispered back.

Harry Potter nodded and gestured for him to lead the way to the common room. They silently slipped from the boys’ dorm to the stairwell, and, as Harry closed the door behind them, Ron peered down into the common room…and realized they weren’t the only ones who weren’t asleep yet. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Ron quickly faced him, and put a finger to his mouth to signal to be silent. Harry got the hint. They crept down the stairwell as quiet as could be, anxiety rising in them with every step, almost reaching a panic level when they got to the floor of the common room. As Ron wiped his palms on his robe he could feel Harry tense behind him, preparing to face whatever was out there. Ron peered out into the common room, hoping to get a good look at the mystery person before they got a look at him.

The figure in question was in a very non-threatening position. It was curled up in an overstuffed chair, flipping lazily through an old, leather-bound book, paying no attention to what was going on around it. It sighed and then shifted slightly in the chair, turning to face the fire, but also exposing a profile view that showed Ron pale skin and bushy brown hair. He relaxed and let go of the breath he was holding; it was just Hermione.

* * *

For once, Hogwarts, A History could not seem to hold Hermione's interest. Her mind was tired, yet it refused to let her sleep, as if it was on the defense somehow. It annoyed her more than anything else because it made her anxious and very jumpy…which is why she nearly screamed bloody murder when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned so quickly that she almost hit Ron with her hand, but he ducked back in time. The tightness in her chest relieved tremendously once she saw who it was, and she leaned back against the arm of the chair, bringing her hand to her chest as if to help calm her beating heart.

"Ron! Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, you startled me!" She exclaimed, relief evident in her voice.

"Hey, it’s okay, I think we’re all a bit on edge tonight." Harry nodded to indicate that he agreed with his statement and the two boys took seats near Hermione.

Hermione played with her robes a little bit, glancing down. "I noticed that, I just wish I knew why."

Harry groaned. "Well, if Hermione doesn’t know, it must be a lost cause!"

Ron tisked at Harry playfully. "You should know better than that by now, when in doubt, go to the library!"

Hermione smiled at their antics and threw a small cushion at Ron in mock-anger to reprimand him. When it hit him, he clutched his chest dramatically and moaned, with great feeling, "You wound me, Hermione!" Hermione stuck her tongue out at him spitefully and it was Harry’s turn to chuckle at their antics. All of them felt ten times more relaxed now that they were in each other’s company and not looking over their shoulders every five seconds.

Just then, Ron produced a deck of cards from his robes. "Exploding Snap anyone?"

* * *

Lyria Azrael clutched her cloak tighter, shivering as the temperature seemed to drop exponentially with each step down she took. The stairway to the chamber was much longer than she remembered it being, but this unexpected time gave her the opportunity to run over the spell in her head again. It was a much more advanced spell than she should know, but it was the one spell that was well worth the effort. Some would say it bordered on using the Dark Arts, but Lyria knew in her heart that it wasn’t dark unless it was used for dark purposes. This was most certainly not a dark purpose…she would concede to a selfish one, but not definitely not dark.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, a black robed figure and a stone wall greeted her. The figure dropped the hood of its robe and looked at Lyria, a twinge of nervousness and apprehension apparent in her face.

"You’re sure you want to do this, Cho?" Lyria asked quietly.

The older girl nodded, the apprehension suddenly leaving her face and determination taking its place. "I’m sure."

"Were you able to fill the vial I gave you?"

Once again, she nodded, but this time she produced a small vial filed with a clear bluish liquid from her robes and handed it to Lyria for inspection. "It wasn’t hard."

Lyria looked at her sympathetically. "Trust me, I know. This should be enough, let’s get started."

Cho stepped back and Lyria stepped forward, raising her wand. "Lithos abiertos!"

The wall moved aside and the two girls entered the dark chamber before them. The wall slid silently back into place after a moment, giving the ominous impression of being swallowed to anything watching the scene unfold.

* * *

Hermione, who had never been much interested in Exploding Snap, found that a quieting spell make the game quite a bit less interesting, although Ron and Harry were both totally absorbed in it. Her focus on the game waned, and she found herself looking into the fire. While it appeared perfectly normal, there was something odd about it. Normally at this time of night it was waning somewhat, yet tonight it was as large and bright as she had ever seen it before…and now that she thought about it, it seemed to be getting more and more powerful.

Harry was saying something to her, but she was too entranced by the fire to hear exactly what. She stood up from the table and slowly walked towards it, unable to stop herself. Suddenly, her danger sense flared and she took a shocked step back as the fire blew up to almost inhuman proportions for a moment, before shrinking into a relatively small blue flame. A wisp of greyish-white smoke rose from the midst of the blue flame and took shape…Hermione shrieked and stumbled backwards into something, then someone in her effort to get as far away from the fireplace as possible. There was no way…it couldn’t have been…could it…?

"Hermione…Hermione!" Someone was shaking her…no, wait, she was trembling…it couldn’t have been…

"Hermione!" Suddenly Hermione snapped back to reality. She looked at the fire and saw that it had gone out completely, and then she found that somehow in the mess she had run into Ron and he had his arms around her, trying to get her to calm down. She flushed faintly and gently stepped out of his grasp, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, as if for warmth.

"Hermione, what happened?" Harry asked, looking very concerned. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. After a few tries, she managed to say, "The fire…it shrunk and went blue and then this small line of smoke grew in the middle…"

"What else?" Ron prodded gently. Hermione still couldn’t believe what she found herself saying…

"…and the grey smoke changed, it took a new shape inside the blue…"

"What shape?" Harry asked.

Hermione looked at him, an infinite sadness in her eyes as she whispered:

"It was the face of Cedric Diggory."

* * *

Harry suddenly felt as if he had been struck with a two-ton weight. He staggered backwards a few steps before collapsing into the couch. His head fell into his hands and he had to work at controlling his breathing. It was the past…he was over this…he would not let his memories take control…he shut his eyes tightly, willing the sudden burst of emotion to go away and let him take control of himself again. Once again, he concentrated on his breathing…in…out…in…out…just breathe…just breathe…

Why was this having such an effect on him? It had happened months ago, he shouldn’t be reacting like this…he had dealt with it before and put it behind him…

Or so he had thought.

The memories threatened to overcome him…he felt a burning sensation in the back of his throat, and he fought it with all his might…why now? Why did this have to come back and haunt him? Why– ?

He felt Ron touch his shoulder lightly, bringing him out of his reverie. His head shot up and the first thing he saw was Hermione, looking extremely distressed and fighting back tears.

"I’m sorry…I shouldn’t’ve said anything…I didn’t think…" she said.

Harry swallowed and took a deep breath, suddenly feeling the waves of emotion ebbing away inside him. He shook her head, clearing it, and then looked at Hermione. "It wasn’t your fault, I asked what you had seen and you told me. I just…wasn’t expecting that."

"Well, that’s an understatement," Ron snorted, but his sarcasm was forced, and one look at his face could tell he was worried about both his friends.

Suddenly, a noise flooded through the eerily quiet room. It sounded very much like a muffled scream, from below them. Everyone looked at each other, startled and at their wit’s end.

No! Stop! Let me explain! The scared voice filtered through the floor faintly, causing Harry, Hermione, and Ron to step closer together in fear.

–don’t hurt her! Please, I’m begging you! It wasn’t her fault! A second frightened voice joined the first.

She should have told me! The third sounded angry, and it was much deeper than the first two.

Then the sounds grew to soft for them to hear, but Harry could have sworn he heard somebody sobbing. Hermione had a panic-stricken look on her face and Ron had paled considerably with fright. Harry felt his heart beating faster as the three stood there, frozen, waiting to hear what happened next.

There was a long silence, before they heard:

Stop it! What are you doing to her? It was the second voice again, and it sounded nearly hysterical. This isn’t like you, why won’t you leave her alone? I thought she was like a sister to you!

"That’s it! I can’t stand here and listen anymore, where are they?" Ron exclaimed, breaking the tense atmosphere of the room.

"I…I don’t know, but they’re below us somewhere…" Hermione managed.

"But there isn’t a lower level besides the dungeons, is there?" Harry queried.

"Wait a sec – Harry, the Marauder’s Map! That’ll tell us where they are!" Ron exclaimed as the thought hit him.

Harry looked at Ron, feeling incredibly stupid because he hadn’t thought of the idea himself. He dashed off to the boys’ dorm without a word, opening his trunk and scattering things every which way in an attempt the find the illustrious map. Finally, his hand grasped the thin parchment, then going for his wand, and he hurried downstairs, pausing only to close the door on his way out.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" He exclaimed breathlessly as he reached the common room floor. The map came to life before him, and below the Gryffindor common room was a small room with a secret passage leading to it from near the Ravenclaw common room entrance. Three dots appeared, but one suddenly vanished, leaving two. Harry felt his heart sink as he watched the third disappear, the only way one could disappear was if the person had…he didn’t want to think of that, so instead he looked at the remaining two. One dot was unfamiliar to him, being labeled Lyria Azrael, but the other one nearly gave him a heart attack when he saw it.

Cho Chang.

* * *

The trio literally sprinted from the common room down the hallways of the school, not caring if they were caught or not. Harry led the way, trying to follow the map and run at breakneck speed at the same time. He was so absorbed in getting to the room that he nearly ran in to several portraits and suits of armor lining the hallways. Finally he stopped before a solid stone wall, breathing heavily. He could hear Ron and Hermione’s hurried footsteps rounding the corner to catch up with him. He knew that there was a chamber behind the wall, and he tried the first thing that came to mind to open it, which was pushing on it with all his might. Naturally, it didn’t open, but he could hear Cho’s voice frantically saying…no, pleading was more like it, with someone to wake up. He kicked the wall in frustration at his helplessness, receiving only a swollen toe for his trouble. This only made him angrier, churning up all the emotions within him. The only conscious thought his mind seemed to be able to contain was ‘get to Cho’. He was about to kick the wall again, but Ron stopped him. Harry fought to rid himself of Ron’s grip, but stopped struggling and started to calm down slightly when Hermione went up to the wall, raised her wand, and whispered, "Lithos abiertos!"

The door opened and Harry practically burst into the room, but stopped dead when he saw what was inside. The place was a mess. The torches that had once lit the room were scattered on the floor, and only a few were burning dimly. Smoke rose from a pile of ashes in the middle of the room, and a large cauldron had been tipped over, its contents spilling all over the floor, steam rising from what little of the strange liquid was still on the floor. A small table had also been knocked over, and the few glass vials on it had been shattered. What shocked Harry, and the others, most was the sight of Cho Change cradling the body of a small girl with long blonde hair, pleading tearfully with her to wake up.

It took Cho a moment to realize that the trio was standing there, watching the scene. When she looked up, fear flashed across her face, but then turned to relief. "Get Madam Pomfrey here, and hurry! I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she won’t wake up," she exclaimed, sounding like she was near her breaking point. Hermione was the first to react, quickly running from the room to get the resident nurse. Ron surveyed the scene quickly and then, realizing there was nothing he could do there, ran after Hermione, leaving Harry along with the two girls. Harry soon came to his senses and walked quickly over to Cho and the girl, crouching down beside them. Cho bit her lip in thought, and then made a decision.

"Harry, help me carry Lyria outside. She wouldn’t want anyone to find this room because of what happened." Harry nodded and each of them put one of Lyria’s limp arms around their shoulders and carried her out of the ruined stone room, Cho using her wand to put out the few torches that were still alive as she went. When they had exited, Cho allowed Harry to gently lay her on the ground, while she went back and muttered something that close the wall, making it seem as if it had never existed in the first place. She then wearily collapsed against the wall and slid into the sitting position, her eyes closed. It was then that Harry realized that Cho hadn’t come out of whatever had happened unscathed. She looked like she had some burns on her hands, a few small cuts visible on her face, and her robes were slightly singed.

"Cho, are you alright?" Harry asked, extremely concerned. Cho just nodded her head weakly and said, "I’ll be fine, just a bit tired…Lyria is who you should be worrying about, not me."

Harry looked down at the girl he was cradling in his arms, really absorbing her appearance for the first time. She was indeed small for her age, if she was actually around Cho’s age, and her slight appearance made her seem all the more fragile at the moment. Her face was expressionless, her skin paler than he imagined it would normally have been, and her long blonde hair was tangled and unkempt. She would have been relatively good looking had she been awake and smiling, but in Harry’s arms she just seemed…rather pitiful.

Just then, Ron and Hermione came bounding around the corner again and Harry stepped back as Lyria was swept from his arms and onto a levitating stretcher by Madam Pomfrey. Cho was helped onto another stretcher and they were carried off to the infirmary. Harry was still on the ground, slightly in shock as to what had happened, staring off after the stretchers with a dull ache in his chest. Hermione and Ron looked at the empty space the stretchers had once held for a while, before a sudden sleepiness overcame all three. They trooped back to their dorms and fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillows, leaving all questions as to just what they had experienced until the morning.