The Dream
"Hello? " he called as he knocks on the door of Number 4, Privet Drive, "Anybody here?... Aunt Petunia, it's me, Harry… Uncle Vernon... Are you in there? "
He turned the knob when no one responded and wondered. The door is unusually left opened. He entered the house and saw that it's the same as the last time he lived there before the war in the wizarding world took place…. as tidy as always. Aunt Petunia had surely maintained the house. She’s allergic even to a smudge of dirt.
He continued to call for his Aunt and Uncle but no one answered. He went to the living room, kitchen and even upstairs but can't find them. He looked for them all over the house and to the backyard. Strange.
BANG!
The door in the living room bursts open out of rage.
He saw a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, and a very large mustache. His face is red and undoubtedly very mad at the moment. He swallowed in his throat and called for him.
“Good day, Uncle Vernon. It’s me. Harry… I’m sorry, I entered without permission… I knocked but no one answered.. By the way, I just want to check on you and Aunt Petunia.”
Vernon didn’t dare welcome him as if he isn’t there. Harry didn’t expect either, for his Uncle never showed any liking to him. But…. not even to look at him?….. He’s about to speak when he saw the people next to the old man.. There was Aunt Petunia, followed by young Dudley cold and wrapped in a thick blanket and… young Harry Potter.
Uncle Vernon grabbed young Harry by his collar.. “I swear I don’t know. It’s like magic!” shouted the boy while the big beefy man forced him to the wall and trying hard to contain his anger..
“Go…. cupboard… stay… no meal!” he ordered him in his room, “There’s no such magic!” then he shut the door.
Harry was bewildered.. What the hell is happening? He saw his Aunt Petunia pass through him on her way to the kitchen to get brandy for her husband.
“Harry?….”
He turned around and saw Mrs. Figg, the old woman next door with unusually liking to cats and turned out to be from a wizarding family but possesses no magic.
“Haven’t you heard, Harry?”
He shook his head out of confusion, “Heard what?”
“Since they lost contact from their only son, they were never like before. They lived in misery, and lost their will to live until the old man died in a car crash… Poor Petunia, she’s all alone now.. Husband’s dead, son’s missing, and nephew’s didn’t bother to care….”
“In my defense…”
“Petunia… she lost her mind.. Then one day, no one ever saw her again….”
Harry doesn’t know what to say.
Then Aunt Marge, Vernon’s sister, popped out of no where, “You! Such an Insolent and ungrateful child! You left them Harry! After all they did for you? They gave you shelter, they gave you food, they gave you clothes….”
“Aunt Marge… I didn’t mean for this to happen…”
“Yet you failed them, you failed them, you failed them….” then followed by a terrifying scream. There were dead people, everywhere… but… slowly.. they started to rise… again… with rotten bodies… they grabbed Aunt Marge and Mrs. Figg… sank their teeth on them… and.. ripped their bodies open…. the dead are eating the living!
“Stop! Please stop!” he screamed! Covered his ears, shut his eyes… “This isn’t real! This isn’t real! These aren’t real!”
Then.. there was ear splitting silence…
He opened his eyes, looked around and found no one. But… there was a voice…. as cold as ice.. it gave him shivers to his spine…. like always.
Haaaaarrrrryyyy Poooottteeeeerrrrr!
“Volemort?” he searched where the voice is coming from, “Where are you?… I’m not afraid of you! I already defeated you! Show yourself!”
"Not Voldemort!"
The voice laughed, more frightening than a scream, humorless and insane, it echoed all around him.
"Someone! Not only the wizards of yours will cower in fear! But everyone in your world! Everyone! Hahahaha! Even the darkest Lord of all fear me….”
“Who are you?”
The voice didn’t respond….
“Haaarrrryyyy!” cried the one he loved most. The one he’s always longing for since he left. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to go back! But he needed to go.. to make sure that the family they dream for will live in a world of peace, no worries, no running away… And.. he might want her to go with him.. it will be too risky… she’s better to be with her mom and Dad and brothers in the burrow. She will be safe there.
“Ginny?” Harry looked at the beauty he’ll never forget.
“It’s not your fault, Harry,” he feels the love in her voice, “Whatever happens.. do not blame yourself…”
He tried to reach for her but no matter how hard he tried, he can’t….. “Ginny!”
“Goodbye, Harry… I love you.. I always will…”
She’s gone.
“Ginny! Ginny! Giiiinnnnnyyyyy!”
Harry woke up with cold sweat in his face. He’s panting as hard as he could.
It’s the dream again. It’s becoming worse than ever. Before, it’s just the voice… then after reading the last letter Dudley sent him several months ago, his visit in the Privet drive started to haunt him as well.. Now.. the worst thing imaginable.. it’s Ginny.. saying goodbye!.. What does it mean? Isn’t she alright with Molly and Arthur Weasley with her, there’s also Ron and Hermione there and her older brothers?
It’s not your fault….Whatever happens.. do not blame yourself…
Fault? Why would he blame himself?
It’s seven months now after he left the wizarding world, where his rightful place was, where his love ones lived, the Weasley family, Ron and Hermione, Teddy Lupin and of course, Ginny. He visited his Aunt and Uncle in Privet drive. There he knew the tragedy that happened to his least likely family. After Dudley had gone, no one knows what happened to him, the Dursley’s lost their happiness and willingness to live until the old man died in the car crash like he’s running away from someone, then Aunt Petunia completely lost her mind until she was never seen again. Some said, they were acting strange as if they’re frightened of something unusual, always locking themselves in the house. They’d never talk to somebody since then. Some also said, they were bewitched. People pitied the Dursley’s.
Harry wants to know the mystery behind all of this. If his dream is giving him warning, then what he did is the right thing to do. He needed to find out what happened to Dudley. His dream, it might have an odd connection to Dudley’s fate.
But…
Only a few days had passed when the outbreak begun. It had started only with high fever, sore throat and rashes. According to the doctors, it’s only a kind of flu, nothing to worry about… But… for just an hour or less… infected people are dying…. then the worst part of it, they’re rising from the dead and ate human flesh. The attending health care providers were their first victim, then like the first they also rose and chased others. People started to panic. There were riots everywhere. Fire, looting, killings and other crimes unimaginable took place. The government shut down not long after.
Harry was on his way to New York when it all happened. He immediately thought about Ginny and his friends so he decided to go back in the burrow through the portkey he made but found no one. The wizarding world had gone as well. The wizards’ fate had no difference with the muggles’. He spend days, even months of searching but didn’t find them. He lost his hopes and blamed himself for leaving.. but… he contemplated that there will be no difference if he didn’t.
It’s hard to say, but he needs to decide. He needs to move on even if there’s nothing to live for. On his trip he tried to help others in need. There were some who were hostile enough that chose to attack him instead. He’s the Master of Death, oh yes, but he’s not immortal. He can still die like Dumbledore, the first Master of Death.
He went back to New York to continue his search. He traveled far but found nothing. He went to other places nearby then moved on to another.
Until….
One cold night, he’s setting up his tent to take rest, put up a ward to give him protection….
“Help! Help! Help! Mom…? Mom….? Where are you? I’m scared..” cried a little girl.
Harry saw a blonde little girl, probably aged 10, roaming around the woods, alone and scared. Poor kid, she might’ve been separated with her mom. He decided to go to her before she’ll be spotted by a hungry inferis. The wizarding world called the undead inferis.
“Are you lost?” He asked.
The girl is too scared to respond at a man she barely knew.
“Do not be afraid,” he said as he noticed her fear, “I won’t hurt you.. I’m Harry.. Harry Potter..”
The girl hesitated… “S-sophia…” then she blacked out.