CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - A Snake in His Head

Attuoria eyes flew open. She threw the covers off her body and bolted out of the dorm.

It was completely silent except for her thudding footsteps as she ran down the stairs. In the common room, the fireplace flickered with its dying flames, the light casting ominous shadows along the walls.

She knew she had to tell someone. Anyone. And for some reason, the first person that came to mind was Snape. He knew the most about her real identity, about her life in the mortal realm. He was the only person that she could safely talk to without causing an overreaction.

Banging on the door to his office in the dungeons, Attuoria resisted the urge to yell. She glanced around the stone corridors. The torches along the walls were teasing her, trying to make her think that someone was coming with their tricks of light.

After a good minute or so, the door finally opened. Snape, wearing a dark-colored night shirt, glared down at the girl.

"You do realise," he said through gritted teeth, "that it is the middle of the night."

"Yes, Professor, I know." said Attuoria, glancing around warily once again. "But I need to talk to you. Right now."

Snape reluctantly opened the door wider to let her in. She watched as the door clicked shut.

"What's Voldemort doing right now?" she asked.

"I don't know." he said, walking over to his desk and sitting down on his chair. He folded his arms across his chest, giving her an irritated look. "Do you really think I'm tracking the Dark Lord's every move? If you want to know, go ask him yourself."

"He's in someone's mind. Right now." Attuoria blurted out. "At Hogwarts. I don't know how he's doing it. It's impossible for a human. He's in someone's mind," she reiterated, pointing her two hands forward.

Professor Snape stared at her. "He is in someone's mind…" he muttered to himself. "Do you know who it is?"

Attuoria shook her head. "No. But it's someone in Gryffindor, because he or she was really close by. I have no idea why he would want to enter someone's mind in their sleep. Since he can't create dreams, whoever's mind he enters will have access to his mind, including all of his thoughts. Now why would he want someone to know what he's thinking or doing?"

"I think you and I both know who's mind he entered." Snape said quietly.

"What?" said Attuoria, taken by surprise. "But I just said I don't know. I'm not able to - Oh wait."

Snape nodded. "I think you should go see Professor Dumbledore."

"Good idea," Attuoria headed towards the door, pulling it open. "Let's go."

"I won't be going with you."

"Why not?"

"It's got nothing to do with me." Snape stood up from his desk. "Goodnight." He disappeared behind a shelf, and Attuoria heard a door slam shut behind him.

As Attuoria ran back up the stairs towards the Headmaster's tower, she realised why Snape didn't come with her. Just like her, he was hiding his identity as a Death Eater. And by reporting this to Dumbledore, she was exposing herself.

But Dumbledore already knew, anyways.

She stopped in front of the large stone gargoyle that guarded the tower to the Headmaster's office. Why was she so eager to report this to Dumbledore? Wasn't she supposed to help Voldemort? Would she be hindering his progress somehow if she revealed what he was currently doing?

All she knew was that Voldemort was inside of Harry's mind. Whether or not this was an attempt to gather information about Harry, Attuoria wasn't sure. But she knew one thing: neither Harry nor Voldemort were safe. Both of their minds were exposed to one another. Harry could access Voldemort's thoughts just as easily as Voldemort could access his.

Between the two of them, Harry was her friend, while Voldemort was a man she had made a deal with. Friendship and promise were both important. She needed to stop their dangerous mental connection before it got out of hand.

Just as she was about to yell out to the Headmaster, she heard footsteps grow near. It wasn't just one person. It was a group of people.

Attuoria glanced around quickly, trying to see if there was anywhere she could hide. But apart from the gargoyle statue, there was no other opening. She was going to have to face whoever was coming down the hall.

"Ms Knight?" Professor McGonagall's head appeared from the turn. Attuoria almost let out a sigh of relief. Harry and Ron were right behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to speak with Professor Dumbledore." she said.

McGonagall furrowed her eyebrows. "Well so do we. Come on in, now. Fizzing Whizbee!"

The stone gargoyle rotated and revealed a winding staircase. Professor McGonagall went up first, and Attuoria fell in line with her two friends, who were giving her weird looks.

Upon approaching a large oak door at the top of the staircase, the sounds of loud conversation echoed from within the room to their ears. Professor McGonagall grabbed onto the brass griffin-like handles and knocked three times.

The conversation immediately stopped. The double door opened on it's own, letting the four of them into the Headmaster's study.

Attuoria glanced around the room. It was still the same as she remembered from her first year at Hogwarts. All kinds of silver instruments and little trinkets were littered around the room, up on shelves and round tables.

Portraits lined the ceiling and walls of the office, and the people within these paintings all appeared to be sleeping. The lighting in the room was dim, almost like a soft moonlight.

"Oh, it's you, Professor McGonagall, and… ah." Dumbledore's gentle voice drifted over to them. He was sitting behind his desk.

A fiery red bird stood on a stand not far next to him. A phoenix. Attuoria hadn't seen it before.

"Professor Dumbldore," said McGonagall, stepping forward. "Potter has had, well, a nightmare. He says…"

"It wasn't a nightmare." Harry quickly said.

Professor McGonagall frowned. "Very well then, Potter, you tell the Headmaster about it."

"I… well, I was asleep, but it wasn't an ordinary dream. It was real, I saw it happen… Ron's dad - Mr Weasley - has been attacked by a giant snake."

The room grew silent.

"A giant snake…" Attuoria whispered quietly to herself. She knew exactly which snake he was talking about.

"How did you see this?" Dumbledore asked, staring up at the ceiling, his fingers interlocked on the table.

"Well, I dunno, inside my head -"

"You misunderstood me. Can you remember what position you were as you watched the attack happen? Perhaps from the side, looking from above…"

"I was the snake. I saw it all from the snake's point of view."

"The snake's point of view!?" Attuoria exclaimed, unable to hide her surprise any longer. There was no way Nagini, Voldemort's snake, had the ability to penetrate Harry's mind as he was sleeping. Voldemort definitely entered the snake's mind, and through the snake's mind, entered Harry's mind. How he did that was beyond Attuoria's knowledge.

Professor McGonagall frowned at her, but Professor Dumbledore didn't look disturbed at all. He continued staring at the ceiling, as if in deep thought.

"Harry didn't have a nightmare," said Attuoria. "It wasn't a dream of any sort. His mind was open. Someone… someone was in his head. I could sense it. And I don't think it was just the snake..."

"Is Arthur seriously injured?" asked Dumbledore, completely ignoring Attuoria's comment.

"Yes," said Harry, looking irritated.

Professor Dumbledore stood up from his seat so suddenly that it made Harry jump. He immediately began shouting orders at the portraits around him, who woke up as if they had never been sleeping in the first place.

As the commotion in the room began, Attuoria glanced over at Ron. He looked absolutely terrified. If his father was seriously hurt…

She remembered that Fred once told her he always felt better by her physical presence. That day after he got banned from quidditch, he held onto her hand for an entire hour straight.

So she did what she thought was best. Edging closer to Ron, she slipped her hand in his, squeezing it as a sign of reassurance.

Ron glanced at her in shock, but then gripped her hand a little tighter.

News came back from the portraits within minutes. They had found Arthur Weasley and sent him to St Mungo's Hospital for Maladies and Injuries. He was not in a good state.

"Minerva," said Dumbledore, turning around amidst his conversation with one of the portraits. "I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children."

"Of course." Professor McGonagall quickly disappeared out the door.

Dumbledore pulled out an old black kettle from a drawer, "Portus!" he murmured, pointing his wand at it. The kettle glowed with a faint blue light for a brief second, before dropping lifeless again.

He returned to ordering the portraits around. Attuoria heard him say that Mrs Weasley, all the Weasley kids, and Harry will be going to Sirius Black's house shortly.

Dumbledore turned around and stared directly at Attuoria. He paused for a few seconds. "As well as the other girl," he said to the portrait.

"The other girl?" The man in the portrait said with a frown. "How would anyone know who the other girl is supposed to -"

"He'll know. Just go."

The man in the portrait grunted and disappeared.

Attuoria's stomach lurched. The other girl. That's what he called her.

In a certain way, he was protecting her. He could've ratted her out right there: both a Nightmare Demon and someone who worked with Voldemort. Death Eater girl, demon girl, those would've been absolutely terrible.

At least the other girl didn't reveal any unnecessary information.

Just then, the door opened again, and in came Fred, George and Ginny. They were all still in their nightclothes, looking very disheveled.

Attuoria glanced down at her hand in Ron's. His palms were getting extremely sweaty. He seemed to realise what Attuoria wanted to, and kindly loosened his grip.

Attuoria immediately ran towards Fred, who embraced her tightly in a hug.

"What are you doing here..," he murmured into her hair.

She didn't say anything, but led both him and George over to where Harry and Ron stood.

"Harry - What's going on?" said Ginny, looking very frightened. "Professor McGonagall says you saw dad get hurt -"

"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore explained. "He has been taken to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."

"How're we going?" asked Fred, clutching Attuoria's hand tightly. "Floo powder?"

"No, Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." Dumbledore beckoned towards the kettle on his desk. "Now we must go before anyone else joins us. Professor Umbridge knows you're out of your beds. Minerva, go and head her off - tell her any story -"

Professor McGonagall left in an instance, the wooden door clanging behind her as she disappeared.

"You have all used a Portkey before?" asked Dumbledore. Everyone nodded except Attuoria, who shook her head. "I see Attuoria hasn't. I'm sure you'll manage. Just hold on tight. Mr Weasley…"

All three boys looked up at the same time, but Dumbledore was looking at Fred.

"Oh. Yeah, I'll hold on to her." said Fred. He beckoned for Attuoria to come closer and hooked his arm around her waist tightly. "Just don't let go of the kettle and you'll be fine."

"Okay."

"On the count of three," said Dumbledore. Everyone placed their hands onto the kettle, grabbing on to what they could.

"One, two, three."

Attuoria felt her feet being lifted from the ground, the kettle guiding her into the air. Fred pulled her in as close to his body as he could as they began spinning. She felt as if she was being squeezed into a tight box, but at the same time, being sucked into a vortex.

It was a familiar feeling. It felt like the last stage of her entrance into the mortal realm - being spun into a vortex of blinding white light, spinning and spinning and spinning…

Then all of a sudden, Attuoria hit solid ground with such force that her knees buckled and her entire weight collapsed onto Fred. He didn't seem to find balance, either, and the two were on the floor, with his arms still wrapped tightly around her.

"Oh look, the blood traitors are back," a squeaky, groaning voice said. "Heard their father's dying."

"OUT!" Sirius's voice hollered from down the hallway.

Attuoria froze. She suddenly remembered that Sirius didn't like her very much. Or at least, he didn't trust her or want her to be around.

"Hey," Fred said gently, standing up. "You alright?"

"Yeah," said Attuoria quickly, scrambling to her feet as well. "Don't worry about me, we need to know if your dad is alright."

"What's going on here?" Sirius demanded, entering the basement kitchen they were in. He was in his nightclothes, and there was a stale smell of alcohol coming from him. The dull candlelight lit up only half of his unshaven face.

"Ask Harry," Fred pointed at Harry.

"Yeah, I wanna hear it from him." said George.

Everyone stared at Harry as he recounted his vision once again.

"Is mum here?" Fred asked.

"Let's go to St Mungo's," said Ginny.

"We need to see dad," said George.

"No," Sirius said, stopping all of them in their tracks. "We can't let the Ministry know that we were alerted of Arthur's injuries before St Mungo's even alerted his wife. We have to stay put until Molly comes back with the news."

They all settled down around the table in the dim kitchen. Sirius gave everyone a bottle of butterbeer.

He paused slightly when his eyes met with Attuoria's.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Attuoria." he said in a quiet voice.

"Er, likewise." Attuoria gave him a small smile. Just pretend you don't know he doesn't like you, she thought.

Sirius glanced over at Fred, who was pretending not to notice their interaction.

"Mundungus saw you at Hogsmeade together."

"Oh." Fred looked up from the table. "So mum knows?"

"Yeah," said Sirius, a grim look on his face. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he disapproved. "If you're happy, she's happy."

Fred reached over and grabbed onto Attuoria's hand. She edged her seat over to him, and he placed his head on her shoulder.

"I'm so glad she's here…" she heard him think as he squeezed her hand a little tighter. Attuoria smiled, feeling his soft red hair tickle the side of her face.

He appreciated her existence. To Fred, she was more than just a Nightmare Demon in a human body, temporarily alive to fulfill a deal. With Fred, she felt... human.

It wasn't long until Fred dozed off, his breath rising up and down evenly. Attuoria glanced around the room. Apart from Fred and George, everyone else was still awake. Ginny was curled up in her chair, hugging her knees; Ron had his face in his hands, staring into the fire; Harry was looking around the room aimlessly, occasionally taking a sip of his butterbeer; Sirius gazed at Harry, spinning an empty glass bottle in his hands.

Early in the morning, at around five o'clock, Mrs Weasley arrived.

Attuoria quickly shook Fred awake as they all rose from their seats.

"He's going to be alright," said Mrs Weasley, her voice weak. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him in the morning. Bill's with him right now."

Ginny ran into her mother's arms and Ron let out a big sigh of relief. Fred fell back into his seat, his hands over his face.

"Breakfast!" Sirius yelled. "Kreacher? KREACHER? Oh forget it, we'll make breakfast. Now how many people are here…"

"Attuoria," said Mrs Weasley, strolling over to the girl and giving her a hug. "It's great to see you again, you've grown so much! I hope you still remember me? From your first day of Hogwarts at Platform Nine and Three Quarters?"

"Of course!" said Attuoria, beaming. Mrs Weasley was perhaps the sweetest person she'd met so far in the mortal realm. "Thank you so much for inviting me over for Christmas."

"My pleasure, dear." She patted her on the back and picked up an apron. "Oh, speaking of Christmas - Sirius?" She yelled.

"Yes?" Sirius called from the pantry.

"Arthur might be there for a while… and, well, we'd love to be a little bit nearer to the hospital, so we might be here for Christmas..."

"The more the merrier!" Sirius said with a whoop, coming out of the pantry with an armful of eggs, bacon and bread.

"You should go talk to Fred," Mrs Weasley said with a nudge, nodding over at her son, who was staring at Attuoria from across the table. "He looks like he's waiting for you."

"Oh," Attuoria gave Mrs Weasley a small smile before running over to Fred. "Are you tired?" she asked, noticing that his eyelids were drooping.

"Hm? No, no… actually yeah," said Fred, laughing slightly. "You don't mind coming with me, do you?"

"Of course not, come on, let's go." The two headed upstairs to the drawing room of Sirius's place.

Ron and George were already sitting on one of the couches, looking dazed. They nodded meekly when Attuoria and Fred walked in, but didn't say anything.

They sat down on the unoccupied couch, and Fred lay down with his feet hanging off the end. He rested his head on her lap. Within a minute, he was asleep.

Attuoria gazed out the large windows around the room, deep in thought. Whatever Voldemort had done to Harry last night was not very smart. Did he even know what he put at risk? Exposing his entire mind to a young boy, a young boy that was surrounded by people that wanted to kill the Dark Lord?

Nor did it do anything to help Harry. Attuoria felt fear radiating off him the entire night. He was scared that he was the snake, that he was the one that almost killed Mr Weasley. She wanted to comfort him, but what could she say? "Don't worry Harry, you're not the snake, Voldemort was occupying your mind last night, that's all!"

That wasn't particularly reassuring. Plus, anything she says about this situation would only reveal more about her connections with Voldemort. With Sirius doubting her heavily, Attuoria couldn't risk exposing any more than Dumbledore already knew.

Just then, Ginny appeared from the hallway.

"Hey guys? Breakfast's ready. Come on downstairs." She gave Attuoria a small smile before disappearing back down the hall.

After a quiet meal of bacon, eggs and toast, everyone went upstairs to catch up on sleep. Attuoria was supposed to share a room with Ginny on the first floor, but under Fred's protest, the twins dragged her up to their room on the third floor instead.

"Mum's going to kill you if she sees this," said George, grinning whilst shaking his head at the two. Fred had pulled Attuoria under the covers with him, and was hugging her like she was a teddy bear.

Attuoria glanced at the head that was nestled on the crook of her neck before looking up at George. "He says this is comforting. Do you want to join, too?" she asked.

Fred sat up immediately. "Attuoria NO -"

Too late. George had jumped onto the bed and was practically straddling his twin. "MY FREDDIE BEAR!" He squealed, crushing his brother in a tight embrace.

"GER'OFF ME!" Fred yelled, flailing his hands wildly at George's face. Attuoria quickly climbed off the bed before she could get pushed off. Standing to the side, she watched the two redheads tackle one another, until finally, George reigned victorious and shoved Fred off the bed.

"I thought you guys said you were tired?" said Attuoria.

"Not after all that bacon," George stood on top of the bed, a pillow raised above his head. "Come on Freddie, come get what's yours!" He taunted, wiggling his body side to side.

"Oh yeah? Let me tell you what's mine." Fred crawled up from the ground, but instead of going towards George, he turned around and climbed onto George's empty bed. "This is mine now, goodnight."

"You mean good morning," said George, throwing the pillow at Fred's face. "Attuoria's not tired, right? Wanna have a pillow fight?"

Attuoria looked at him blankly. "A pillow fight?"

"You know, where we fight each other with pillows," George mimicked the motion of whacking something. "It's fun. Here," he hopped off the bed and grabbed the one he had just thrown. Then, he forcefully yanked the other pillow out from underneath Fred's head and tossed it at her.

"Then?"

"We fight." George threw out his long arms and smacked Attuoria across the head with his pillow.

"Hey!" Attuoria swung the soft bundle at him, but only managed to hit his shoulder. Before she could even pull back, George's pillow was back in her face again, pushing her back until she stumbled on top of Fred, who was trying to sleep.

With her face now smushed against the bed spread, she knew she wouldn't be able to beat George in terms of strength. So, "when in doubt, spell it out".

"Depulso!" said Attuoria, feeling a burst of energy shoot through her hands towards George. Immediately, the pressure was lifted from her back and George flew to the other side of the room, landing safely on top of the bed.

"That's cheating!" George complained, feebly throwing a blanket, which fell onto the ground limply. Before he could say anything else, he yawned.

"You're clearly tired, go to sleep," said Attuoria, handing him both the pillow and the fallen blanket.

George groaned. "Since when did you set my bedtime, you crazy woman."

"Okay Forge, goodnight."

"Good morning, you mean."

Attuoria rolled her eyes and climbed into bed with Fred. He was still awake. After pulling her into his arms, they drifted off to sleep, their light breathing accompanying one another.