Harry Potter and the Alucinor Dicio

Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with J.K. Rowling or Scholastic books. I don't own Harry Potter, although I did dream I did once, ... but I don't think it counts!

Chapter 10 - Only in your ..

The next few weeks passed quickly for Harry. Between classes and homework, not to mention that Ron had become just as obsessive about Quidditch practice as any previous Gryffindor captain, Harry had almost no free time to himself, although he did manage to visit Hagrid a time or two. Now that Harry had his schedule somewhat together, which is to say Hermione planned it all out for him, they started to concentrate on trying to find ways to use Harry's new Seer powers. Ron kept pestering Harry incessantly for predictions for everything from homework, to the weather for their next practice, laughing heartily each time. Harry didn't find this quite as amusing as Ron, but tried to ignore him for the most part.

One evening he, Ron and Hermione were in the library looking in several different books for any information about Seers, when Rowen strolled into the library heading towards them. She glanced at their reading material and laughed softly.

“ You know Harry, you could have just come and asked me about training for your powers! Did you think Lily would just leave you to deal with it yourself? She made sure I knew what must be done before giving me her diary. When do you have time to start? All of you of course, as I don't think you'll be doing this alone, correct?” Rowen glanced around at the three of them. Harry just stared at her shocked. None of them had thought to ask Rowen, or even Dumbledore for that matter. Maybe they were so used to doing these types of things without any help, but it had not occurred to Harry.

“ Well we can start right away!” Hermione answered for all of them. “ We have a 2 hour block free every Monday, Wednesday , and Sunday evening! Where should we meet?” she asked, wrinkling her brow.

“ Well as to that,” Rowen responded, her eyes twinkling “ I would think that either my classroom or the Room of Requirement would be good. Perhaps the Room of Requirement, as it is bound to be more comfortable.”

“ You know about the Room?” Harry asked, looking up at her.

“ Of course, it was one of my favorite places to avoid, well, just about everyone in my school days.” Rowen laughed. “ So since it is Monday now, shall we meet there this Wednesday evening, then?” They all agreed on a time, and the trio departed the library to head towards their common room. Ron talked the whole while about how grateful he was that they didn't have to look through all those books, and when they came to the hall that turned down to Ravenclaw's common room, he mumbled a barely audible excuse and took off, leaving Harry and Hermione laughing behind him.

Harry and Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room and ensconced themselves in a cozy corner not too far from the fire. Hermione, naturally pulled out her homework to put any ' finishing touches' on it. Harry just sat there with his Charms homework in front of him, but his mind far from it. Truth be told, Harry had not expected to delve into his powers so quickly, and he was a little apprehensive about it. He had no idea what to expect Wednesday, and he didn't know if Rowen would expect him to try them out then, or just explain them to him. He really hoped it was the latter and not the former.

Eventually Hermione noticed him staring off into space, and looked at him with concern. “ Harry, are you okay?” she questioned.

“ Uh, yeah, I'm just fine Mione.” Harry answered, startled out of his thoughts. He blushed when he realized what he had unconsciously called her. He had tried to avoid using his nickname for her since the conversation, better known as 'Harry makes an arse of himself in the common room'. Which I do a lot apparently! Harry was so preoccupied, he didn't notice the large smile that had come over Hermione's face when he had said it.

“ Come on, Harry, I know you better than that. Something is bothering you! Are you concerned about using your powers?” she asked, looking straight at him.

Harry was, as usual, amazed by her. She always seemed to look at him and see straight into him. Frankly Harry wondered who the Seer was here, her or him. “ Well.. I am a bit nervous, yeah. I mean, I'm supposed to have all these big powers, but I've never used them! I mean besides that one dream, and I have NO idea what triggered that! Am I supposed to just all of a sudden call upon these powers?” As Harry talked he grew more agitated, but rather than get louder he started gesturing with his hands wildly. Hermione caught one of them in her own hands, and started rubbing circles on it gently, trying to calm him down.

“ Harry, these are all very good points, but you are forgetting one thing. Rowen is the one teaching you. She would never knowingly harm you, Harry, she cares about you far too much.” Hermione said all this in a soothing tone. Harry felt his anxiety melt away at her touch. He took a deep breath, and then another one.

“ You're right Mione, I should trust Rowen.” Harry said this very quietly, afraid that if Hermione realized what she was doing, she would stop doing it. Harry desperately wanted to be able to confess his feelings to Hermione, but everytime he thought about it, an icy fear gripped his chest. If she rejected him, their friendship would never be the same. Half a loaf of bread is better than none at all, right? Harry asked himself. Even as he thought this, he knew that he would not be able to ignore his feelings for very long. So in the meantime he sat, feeling Hermione's small hands caressing his, praying that if he stayed still enough she wouldn't stop.

Eventually, Hermione did pull her hand away, blushing as she realized just how long they had sat there , silently watching each other. She muttered an excuse about getting up early, and Harry's eyes followed her all the way up the dormitory stairs, missing the feel of his hand in hers.

On Wednesday , Harry could barely eat his dinner, he was all at once dreading and looking forward to their meeting with Rowen in a few hours. As he watched Ron shovel his food in at his usual speed, Harry sat, wondering what he would be subjected to this evening. Harry glanced over at Hermione, his thoughts shifting to her and his lack of ability to confess to her how he felt. Harry's mind seemed to overfill with thoughts of Hermione. All of a sudden he realized she was saying something.

“.. after that we should meet Rowen at 7. What do you think Harry?” Hermione looked at him excitedly. Harry had no idea what she was referring to.

“ uh, sure sounds great Hermione.” Harry said with a smile, not noticing Ron violently shaking his head behind her.

“Great, let's go then!” Hermione bounced out of her seat and started towards the doors. Harry looked over at Ron, who was watching him.

“ uhhh... Ron? What did we just agree to?” Harry asked, baffled.

“ Not we mate, you! You just volunteered to do extra revision on your Transfiguration essay! Now I, on the other hand, will be doing up Quidditch strategies down on the pitch!” Ron laughed. Harry cursed his stupidity for not listening to Hermione.

“ Harry! Are you coming?” Hermione yelled from ahead of him.

“ Have fun Harry!” chortled Ron. Harry shook his head and followed Hermione towards the library. Truth be told, he would much rather spend time alone with her, even if it was doing homework. After what seemed like hours in the library looking up obscure references with Hermione until he was almost cross eyed, she looked at her watch, declaring that it was time to meet Ron at the Room of Requirement.

Ron was already waiting when they got there, a smug smile on his face. Harry walked back and forth three times in front of the door, and it suddenly materialized out of the wall. They walked in to see a dimly lit room, with lots of thick, squishy cushions laying about, candles burning, and in a far corner there was a large bed with red silk coverings. Scattered about on small tables were books about Seeing and Divination.

Ron whistled low. “ Harry, you think I might um, borrow this setup sometime?” he asked with a wicked grin. Hermione glared at him and smacked him on the shoulder, just about as high as she could reach these days.

“ No you may not Ron! And furthermore you shouldn't be even thinking of using this room for that, I'd be interested to hear what Luna has to say abou-” Hermione was cut off by Rowen opening the door. Ron looked like he could have hugged the Professor for her impeccable timing.

“ Well, this looks like it will do , even if it does look a bit 'R' rated.” Rowen laughed. “ Are you ready to begin Harry?” Harry looked at her and nodded a bit timidly. Rowen just laughed. “ What, do you think I'm going to go on about the 'Great Beyond' or shove you into Voldemort's mind tonight Harry?” she looked at him wryly.

Harry laughed and was finally able to break the tension that had been building in him. “ So what are we going to do tonight precisely?” He questioned.

“ Tonight, I will go over a bit of what Seers can and can't do, and we might try some exercises for relaxation, and then maybe a foray into a lucid dream. Sounds safe enough? Let's sit.”

At that Rowen flung herself down on one of the cushions, and indicated that they should join her on the floor.

“ Well then, what's the bed for?” Ron asked her.

“ Well, it'd be awfully uncomfortable lucid dreaming while on the floor, now wouldn't it?” she replied. They all took their seats around her. “ Now Harry, what most basic Seers can do is pretty well known, they have visions or prophecies of the future. There are two types of Seers, active and inactive. Inactive Seers do still get true visions, but they mostly can't remember them after and can't call upon their power as they see fit. Active Seers are much more rare and pretty much the exact opposite. You are an Active Seer Harry. Or you will be, with some training. One of the rarer categories of Seers are the lucid dreamers. Both Dumbledore and I agree , after hearing about your dream this summer, that you very well may be one of these. A lucid dreamer has the ability to not only transport themselves to places miles away, sort of like Astral Projection without the actual projecting, but to also enter the dreams of others, fully aware of what they are doing. That is to say a lucid dreamer could enter your dreams, cast magic on you and have it still be effective.”

Harry and Hermione both sat up at this interesting bit of news. Staring at Rowen Hermione asked “ Are you saying that if Harry entered a wizard's dreams he could hex them there and they would not be able to hex back?”

“ Well yes and no,” Rowen responded. “ it's very dangerous when a lucid dreamer enters another person's dream. The person doing the dreaming controls the dream world, not the lucid dreamer. So it could be dangerous if the person dreaming realizes this.”

“ So how do we know if I am this, lucid dreamer? Is there a way to test it?” Harry asked.

“ The only way to know for sure is to try to enter someone's dreams. That's why I was glad you brought Ron and Hermione with you tonight, I was hoping one of them might volunteer?” Rowen smiled at the two of them. Ron suddenly seemed to find his cushion highly interesting, Hermione looked at him and sighed.

“ Well I suppose it will have to be me , won't it?” Hermione huffed while glaring at Ron. Ron just shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

“ Sorry, mate, but I don't think you'd want to be a part of my latest dreams, if you know what I mean.” Ron grinned at Harry, who just shook his head.

“ Well we may not get to that point tonight anyway, first we have to work on relaxation techniques. You can't attempt a lucid dream Harry until you can reach a trance-like state.” Rowen commented.

“ And how exactly am I supposed to do this?” Harry asked sarcastically. Rowen just took this in stride.

“ Well, we'll all do the techniques, because they also help for greater concentration skills. I myself have been doing them for years, and they've greatly improved my mental abilities.” Hermione's eyes positively lit up at this. “ Okay, so what I want you to do is close your eyes, and try to imagine something that makes your whole body relax. It can be a memory that is particularly relaxing, or you can just try to visualize your self as an empty vessel, as if your whole body is hollow.” Harry heard Rowen's gentle words wash over him. My body is hollow, I am empty... empty... hollow.. this crap is not working! Okay, breath Harry. A memory, a relaxing memory... Harry all of a sudden had a vision of Hermione's hand on his, rubbing in soft little circles. Yeah, I was relaxed then.. Hermione's hands.. soft hands... circling...

“ Harry.”

“ HARRY!”

Harry jerked up, looking around himself confused. The last thing he remembered was Hermione's hands. “ What?” he asked , as he had rather been enjoying reliving the memory. Rowen laughed at him.

“ Very good, Harry! You got it in one. Must have been a very relaxing memory!” Harry blushed at Rowen's teasing tone. He looked at Ron and Hermione quizzically.

“That was cool, man! It was like you just went limp, and your eyes snapped open but you weren't seeing us, you know?” Ron marveled. “ All I did was fall asleep.” He laughed.

“ Well, Harry, Hermione, I didn't think you would get this far, but did you want to try the lucid dreaming tonight?” Rowen questioned them. “ If you feel alright, that is, Harry.”

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances and turned as one to nod in Rowen's direction. “Excellent, then if you'll lay down on the bed, Hermione, I'll just put you to sleep..” Hermione walked timidly over to the bed and lay down, closing her eyes. Rowen pointed her wand at Hermione's head and muttered “ Consopio”. Hermione's breathing deepened as she fell asleep. Rowen looked to Harry. “ Now Harry, I want you to lay down next to her, think of your relaxing memory and cast this charm on yourself followed by Hermione's name, Alucinor.” She demonstrated the wand movement. “ Remember that Hermione will not be aware that you are truly there, if at anytime you wish to wake during the dream, say the incantation Desterto. Alright?” Harry nervously nodded, a bit afraid of doing it.

He lay down next to Hermione, thought of his memory, and flicked his wand saying “ Alucinor Hermione!” At once Harry found himself in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was sitting by the fire, staring into the flames, despondent. The whole situation seemed so real, Harry almost couldn't convince himself that this was a dream. The sounds of Hermione's great wracking sobs, however, made him hope that it was just a dream. Harry stepped closer to her, and saw that her face was masked with anguish, and she sat there crying as if she had no more tears left to cry. He walked up to her. “ Hermione?”

Upon seeing Harry's face, Hermione leapt up, a look of disbelief and delight coming over her face. “ Oh Harry!” she cried ecstatically. “ I knew that it couldn't be true. I told them they were mad, that you would win, but nobody believed but me. I just knew you were still alive! I'm so happy to see you!” During this Hermione had wrapped her arms around Harry, hugging him as if she were afraid to let go. She leaned back looking into his eyes deeply. “ I don't know what I would have done if you were really gone Harry. My world, my whole life died with you.... Harry” Hermione whispered these words. Harry all of a sudden realized that this was Hermione's nightmare, not her dream, and it was of him failing, dying at the hands of Voldemort. Feeling suddenly as if he were intruding on something very private, Harry smiled at her and quickly muttered Desterto.