Horrors of the Night

Anything that sounds familiar and amazing belongs to the genius of JK Rowling. All the other stuff is mine but would be nothing without her world.


“All of you settle down, I am warning you this is the last chance or else it will be 200 points from my own house”, Hermione wearily closed the door to Gryffindor tower. Being Head of house had its perks, but getting a dorm of kids to sleep after the Halloween feast was not on the top of her list of things to do on a Sunday night.

Slowly walking down the stairs, her hand brushing over the banister, Hermione did not notice the tall, darkly shrouded figure coming up in the opposite direction. “Miss Granger, if you don’t mind returning to the living, you are in my way. For goodness sake woman get some sleep, you look like the walking dead”, “oh sorry, Professor Snape, my mind was in a whole other world”, “goodnight” she whispered as an afterthought.

Moments later Hermione reached her door, anxious of what she knew lay ahead for her. Secretly hoping that Hermione’s two way mirror connecting her to the Gryffindor common room would call her back, anything so she would not have to enter the land of dreams.

Unfortunately for Hermione the moment her head hit the pillow her eyes closed and she drifted off to her most frightening place, the deep recesses of her own mind.

Hermione had become adept at jumping straight to the action; this journey was not anything new. Before Hermione knew it, the smell and sounds hit her full force making her want to retch in anticipation. Death, blood, sweat and tears were so real it was almost as if Hermione could reach out and touch the destruction.

There was no time to linger, Hermione knew what was about to happen, right on cue Ron was yelling “Hermione come on let’s get the basilisk fang”, the two ran off in the opposite direction to the crowd.

Hermione timidly asked Ron “Are you scared, do you think we are going to get out of this alive?”, Ron took Hermione in his arms and with a wisdom and strength that she had not seen before he lovingly replied, “I love you more than life itself, and will do all I can to protect you and your future”.

They quickly arrived at moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, not having to worry about what to do next, acting as if they were on auto pilot. After several tries Ron opened the portal and they slid down into the depths of Hogwarts.

“Do you get the sense that we are missing out on all the action, babe”, Ron screamed as he picked up the fang and hopped on his cleansweep “trust a male to think of that, when all I want to do is run as far as I can from those Death Eaters and take you with me, Ron”.


Exiting the third floor bathroom, the entire staircase to their right had been blown away. “Help... Help me”, a small Hufflepuff sobbed, Hermione looked down only to regret it the minute she noticed the girl had lost both her legs. “Tourniquet limbless”, screamed Hermione, as she ran past.

Her wand was quivering as if it could feel the adrenaline in the air, pulsating like an extension of her own heart.

“Run, run Hermione.” Ron yelled at the top of his voice.

It was impossible to see, a thick smoke was hanging in the air. The final battle had been ongoing for 6 hours and Hermione was starting to feel the pains of exhaustion. Ron and she had so far been unscathed as they fired off hex and spell.

Ron screamed at the top of his lungs “duck the staircase”, then grabbed her arm and pulled her into a corner hidden from a fallen banister. “Ron, I don’t know how much further I can keep this up, I can’t go on.” Tenderly taking Hermione in his arms he gently stroked her cheek and looking straight into her soul he quietly whispered, “It’s for our future.”

In this very moment there was no battle, no screams of pain, no smell of death. There were two people deeply connected, inseparable, of one heart and one mind. “Ron, thank you”, Hermione whispered into Ron’s chest.

“Now Hermione on the count of three follow my lead.” “One, two, three run.” The two ran out to the left, Ron tripped over a body taking Hermione with him, without looking to see if it was one of their own, they struggled up only to be hit by an unknown death eater “ stupefy” Hermione fired back, hitting the death eater square in the chest.

They knew they were heading back into the thick of it; lights from wands were flying overhead. Hermione felt a quiet thankfulness to her parents for being short. Being vertically challenged had its benefits, yet she was amazed at what a mind could think off at a time of such intensity.

“Drop and roll.” Ron fired back. Hermione knew what to do; they had practised this hundreds of times. “Ron remember your shield.” Each dropped; Hermione cast a stunner of to the right paralysing Dolohov. Ron finished it off with a body bind. The death eaters were getting desperate, some now had thrown off their masks. Hermione spun on her knees to see Bella pointing her wand at Ron. A look was plastered on her face similar to that on a child’s face on Christmas morning. Bella started to chant, “potty’s best friend, potty’s best friend.”

Hermione willed herself to wake up. She knew what was about to happen, she had witnessed this nightmare hundreds of times. Yet her mind would not cooperate.

“Potty’s best friend, potty’s best friend.” The taut was getting louder and louder as the sound of the battle diminished into the background.

“Ahha ha ha, I win.” Cackled Bella as she shot out a stream of green light “Avada Kadarva.” Hermione started to scream unconsciously realising that not only was it her dream self, but also her physical self. She spun on the spot and without a second thought directed her wand on a rejoicing Bella and whispered with the deepest venom that she could muster “Avada Kadarva.”

Hermione’s eyes flung open, it was always at this point that she woke. She was drenched in sweet and felt like she had played beater for England in the Qudditch World Cup Final. Whispering to Crookshanks she passed by “well I’m not getting anymore sleep now, I might as well get ready for the day.”

“Hermione did you sleep well?” asked Professor Vector, as Hermione slipped into her seat at the staff breakfast table. Professor Vector was wearing a ghastly bright yellow teaching robe, and was as bubbly and bright as the robes. “What a glorious morning, the sun is shining and the birds are chirping.”

“Sickly” Hermione coughed into her napkin. “Excuse me did you say something,” replied Professor Vector. “Ahem sugar, can you please pass the sugar.” At this moment Professor Hooch interrupted “Hermione you are looking just terrible, you need some sun why don’t you come flying with me.”

“Don’t you know Hermione at all, she is terrified of flying.” Minerva McGonagall intercepted. “Now my dear, how is your research going?” “Well it is going; I’m just not sure which direction. I read the article you recommended by Professor Walker…” Consciously aware that Vector and Hooch were still discussing her worn appearance in the background. “Thanks Minerva for your insight, well I better get on, no rest for the wicked.”

Minerva watched as her ex-student and dear friend walked slowly away and wiped a tear from her eye. Speaking to no one, unaware that someone was listening, murmured, “I wish the nightmares would stop.”

As Hermione went throughout her day she was exhausted from being harassed from the faculty at every turn, being asked, “How are you” in a myriad of different scenarios.

It was with relief and yet in trepidation that she opened the door to her rooms. Relief to be finally on her own, and fear of another night of horror.

Her eye was drawn towards a bottle lying on the hearth. Her heart skipped a beat as she picked it up, slowly raising it to her nose. The light fragrance of sunflowers gently hitting her nose. Hermione turned the bottle to reveal ‘dreamless sleep potion’.