Clearly Dark

Chapter 2 - Year 3

Third year whizzed past in a blink of an eye.

Harry could see how all the teachers (except Snape) were always trying to keep an eye on Harry at all times. Trying to make sure that he wasn't alone at any point. That he had Hermione and Ron with him at every moment. And all this had greatly irritated Harry.

The year started off worse than ever with the Dementors but and the taunting from Draco and his followers, but it was manageable. The dreams from the summer continued into the school year and with each one, he became more and more afraid of how dark he was turning in those dreams, and he was afraid of that darkness leaking from his dreams into reality. Luckily, Ron or any of the other boys didn't know of the terrifying dreams he was having, and he was thankful. He didn't need more people watching his every move.

But of course, it all became worse when Sirius attacked the Fat Lady. That night was the worst. His dream was about Voldemort and Sirius attacking his parents in forest. They tortured them. And the worst part, was how Harry's perspective on the whole event kept changing from Voldemort's to his father's; James Potter. No matter how hard he tried to escape the dream, he couldn't. Not until the words for the most unforgivable curse rang through the dark trees from his lips with his wand pointing straight at his mother.

These dreams were like nothing he had ever experienced before, and they felt way to real to be fake. He had bolted up from the bed and taken a deep breath, gripping his bed sheets tightly in his hands; his eyes were wide and his heart rate high. After a few minutes of just staring at the curtains around his bed, he had stopped shaking and could finally move again.

He immediately slipped out of his bed and went into the bathroom to wash his face. There's no way he could sleep again after that he didn't want to sleep ever again if that was what was going to happen to him every night. So, from then on, that's what he did. He didn't sleep and he made sure of it. It started to affect him slowly but the concealment charms and the lies were working he told everyone he was fine and they believed. However, it all changed when he met a certain blond Slytherin on the school grounds late one night.

"What are you doing here Po-" Draco sneered but immediately stopped when he saw how terrible Harry looked. "Woah! What happened to you?"

"What?" Harry asked tiredly as he fell to the ground.

Draco had helped him that night, so when Harry woke up after a sound sleep, he was shocked beyond anything at the Slytherin's kindness. The Slytherin explained that he was taking Harry to the Hospital Wing when a new room appeared, and he had entered. That was how they discovered the Room of Requirements which became their regular meeting place and of course, they kept up the act that they hated each other but really, they were best friends and slowly became closer; closer than Harry was with anybody else.

With Draco, Harry could be himself and he was happy, really happy. He never thought that he could really be friends with the blond. But before he knew it, Sirius wasn't his Parent's murderer but a friend of his parents still and Peter Pettigrew as the real bad guy instead. When the school year came to a close, the new-found friends promised to write to each other frequently in the summer.

His dream hadn't stopped but they weren't as terrifying as before and he could cope with that. On the other hand, one interesting thing about the dreams, were the new spells Harry found himself learning. He tried at the start not to have anything to do with them, but after a while, he got curious and began trying them on small animals he could find on the school grounds.

No matter how much he tried not to, he found pleasure in the pain of those animals much like he had with Aunt Marge just before school started. It wasn't fair for only him to suffer so much. Of the many things he told Draco, this wasn't one of them. He told Draco a lot but not about his abnormal form of finding pleasure.

And of all the things happening, Harry was spending less and less time with the rest of the Golden Trio. He just always wanted to see Draco instead. He felt as though he couldn't share anything with them in case, they immediately reported it to Dumbledore. He had no idea what the old man would say about his distressing situation.

He felt like he could only trust Draco and the was irony was unbearable. They were the sworn enemies and now the closest of friends. He felt like he could almost be himself around the blond. The blond understood him, and Harry was grateful for a person like that in his complicated life.

By the end of the year, Harry was far more saddened by the thought of not seeing Draco for the summer than Ron and Hermione or any of his 'friends'. But they had promised to write to each other so that Harry wouldn't feel as isolated as he had the past few years and for the first time, Harry wasn't as miserable as he usually would have.