Burnt Out

Having the dream and waking up suddenly afterwards became routine. No matter what Gideon dreamed about, it would eventually morph into the same short sequence; reaching out for the woman with his abnormally small hands before she was engulfed in flames.

Gideon had sent a letter to Jonathan Grimsby the morning after he had recalled the dream's contents for the first time. On the first Monday of October, the man's response was delivered with the morning owl post. However, it brought with it a new and unexpected problem.

'What's he doing over here?' asked Eoin, his words barely discernible between his accent and a mouthful of toast.

Gideon's group turned to see Alex Grimsby striding up the Great Hall towards the end of the Slytherin table. 'Hand it over, Maxwell!' Alex demanded out of the blue.

'What?' Gideon responded in surprise.

'Back off, Grimsby!' Eoin snapped as he stood up.

'Wait, what are you talking about?' Dorian added more calmly.

'The letter, the package, hand them over!' Alex insisted, much to the confusion of the Slytherins.

'They're mine!' Gideon asserted with what he thought was justifiable anger. Students at the other tables noticed the disruption, including Alex's Gryffindor friends, who began to make their way across the hall.

Alex's frown deepened. 'Here, Tempest!' he called. The long-eared owl that had delivered Gideon's letter hopped across the table and up onto Alex's outstretched arm. 'This is my family's owl! Now hand over my mail!'

Gideon's face flushed red in understanding as Eoin and the approaching Gryffindors began to square up. Jonathan Grimsby had used his family owl to contact Gideon, and his son must have spotted it arrive and land on the other side of the room. Given the growing rivalry between the boys, Alex's reaction was natural.

Gideon got up from his chair and held up the envelope for Alex to see. In as conciliatory a tone as he could, Gideon told him, 'It's addressed to me, Alex.'

Alex scanned the envelope attached to the parcel from under his furrowed brows. There was a note of acknowledgement on his face, but he didn't seem satisfied.

'You alright, Al?' said Greg from over Eoin's shoulder.

'What did the freak do, mate?' Jason added nastily.

Gideon suspected Alex now wanted to ask why Gideon was being contacted by a member of his family. However, with the surrounding Gryffindors, Slytherins and others watching—not to mention several teachers—he appeared to decide against it. After a final scowl at Gideon, he walked away and out of the room.

'What the heck was all that about, Gideon?' Eoin asked as he and the rest of the students returned to their breakfasts.

'Why was his owl delivering your post?' Gio enquired.

'I don't know,' Gideon fibbed as he opened his letter. 'I've been expecting something from the Ministry of Magic. I think I heard him mention his dad works there once. Ah, yeah, it's signed by a guy named Grimsby. It must be his dad.'

Neither Gio nor anyone else at the table looked convinced by Gideon's explanation, but fortunately, it was time to get to class.

***

With his increasing lack of sleep and Grimsby's package in his bag, just waiting to be opened, Gideon found it difficult to concentrate in class. That was rather inconvenient as Greg and Jason seemed to be in the mood for trouble and shot levitated objects across the room whenever Professor Keane's back was turned.

Balls of parchment weren't a problem but in an unfocused moment, Gideon wasn't able to block them upending his ink pot all over his work. Angry though he was, Gideon wasn't going to fall for their baiting, and their disruptions didn't stop him from earning ten points for Slytherin.

In Astronomy, though, Gideon needed to focus. He was falling behind as it was and today, they were starting work on the phases of the moon. Luckily, his classmates were continuing to support him, and whenever one of the Gryffindor boys attempted something, one of the Slytherins sitting behind them would hit them with a well-deserved but low-voltage Shocker.

When lunchtime finally arrived, Gideon headed to the Common Room and opened the package in the privacy of the dormitory. It wasn't very thick. There were a few bits of paper and some odds and ends.

Gideon wasn't sure what he was expecting to find, but the items Mr Grimsby had sent weren't looking promising. For the most part, they appeared to be general everyday documents that might have been taken from her handbag; bills and such, and her passport. However, they were mainly written in French, which Gideon couldn't read.

He had forgotten that Mr Grimsby had mentioned she was a French national. He wondered if that meant he was French too. Gideon opened the passport and flicked through to the identity page. There she was, the woman from his dream. He had been right. It was a small photo, and she looked a bit younger than he could recall, but it was undoubtedly her.

Gwendoline Drake was indeed very pretty, as Mr Grimsby had said. He could see his dark hair and fair complexion in her picture, though, she had brown eyes. Her birthday was listed as the fifteenth of January. Gideon did the numbers in his head. She had been just twenty-four years old when Gideon was born. She would have been thirty-seven now—had she lived.

Gideon kept the passport page open as he continued to go through the other items. More documents, a couple of pens, some make-up and jewellery. Was this all that remained of her? He felt sad for Gwendoline and for himself. Apart from confirming that she had been the woman in his nightmare, there were no answers to be found amongst the small pile on his bed.

Once he had looked over everything twice, he put the items back in their envelope and placed them in the bottom of his trunk. All except a simple silver pendant necklace with a green gem, which he thought was cool and decided to wear under his robes.

***

Gideon had hoped that learning a little about Gwendoline Drake would make the dream stop. Instead, it became a nightly occurrence. With the continued disruption to his sleeping pattern taking its toll and his dedication to studying already tiring him out, Dorian suggested that Gideon unwind by joining one of the new weekend clubs listed on the Common Room noticeboard.

Eoin thought he should give Flying another chance, but Gideon wasn't sure he could face Mr Wood just yet. Instead, he thought it might be interesting to attend the Sunday Charms Club. It was described as "a place for students to have fun using spells in larger numbers and combining magic to perform unique feats".

'So, how are things, Gideon?' asked Brendan from his former dorm. Brendan, Emma, Sasha and Cheryl were all Charms Club members and accompanied him to the Charms classroom when they heard he was interested in joining.

'Not too bad. How about you?' Gideon responded.

'Good,' Brendan replied, 'we're learning to ignore Vinny when he plays up!'

The Charms room was surprisingly dark. The curtains had all been drawn and the lamps were not lit, but Gideon saw a couple of familiar faces, mainly girls. He saw Verity the Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor girl whose name he couldn't recall from Astronomy, and standing alone at the side of the room, Ruby Williams.

'Okay, everyone, it looks like we're all here,' announced Verity, clapping for everyone's attention.

'This week we're going to practice the Glow Charm again. However, Professor Trelawney let us borrow her crystal balls, so if we do it right, it should be really pretty!' said a tall girl to Verity's right with a long plait. 'We'll practice in pairs first and then we'll join together!'

Emma pulled a reluctant Brendan over to an open space. Gideon looked around and noticed that Ruby didn't have a partner either, so he made his way across the room.

'Hi Ruby,' he said. 'Can I work with you?'

She silently but happily agreed, and they each sat down on two of the many cushions that had been laid out. In between each pair was a crystal ball on a stand.

'Okay, the wand movement is simple, but you need to get the spell pronunciation right, people!' said the tall girl as she pointed to the blackboard and wrote the incantation in chalk, 'It's fulgeos, ful-ge-os, okay?'

'So, we just have to make the crystal ball glow?'

'Uhm,' Ruby replied simply before whispering, 'but we can try different colours and effects and see if we can synchronise our spells to make the effect stronger.'

Gideon was happy to see that she was more talkative than usual. Ruby went first and the crystal ball began to emit a small light from within. Others around the room began to light up as well. They reminded Gideon of his treasured Glowglobe, although, that didn't require a wand.

Gideon performed the spell to add his magic to the ball, 'Fulgeos!'

It began to shine much more brightly. It didn't seem like particularly advanced magic, but it was indeed pretty to look at. Around the room, others had begun to shine brightly, though, Gideon thought his and Ruby's was sparkling more.

'You did it on the first try,' Ruby whispered excitedly. 'It took us all a while to get the quills to glow last week.'

'Oh,' Gideon said with surprise, 'I guess a crystal ball is just better to do this with. Shall we try different colours?'

Gideon focused on changing the colour of the light, and it worked, but he instinctively reduced his magical output so as not to attract attention. Ruby watched their ball with awe. Charms seemed to be her subject. She even added effects before Gideon.

'You're good at this,' he complimented her.

She shook her head and smiled bashfully but replied, 'It's because you synchronised the spells.'

'I met your brother and sister, you know—Jade and Jasper—they're in my house. They seem like a fun pair,' he commented as the light began to remind him of the old Johnston Primary disco ball that got brought out for torturous school events.

However, the girl did not reply. Her expression had turned blank, and her eyes were wide and unblinking, fixed upon the swirling light of the crystal ball.

'Ruby?' Gideon called to no avail. He forcibly ended his spell and tried again as the crystal ball became transparent, 'Ruby?'

'Oh, sorry! Err, yes, they're fun,' Ruby replied. She looked sad, perhaps even scared.

Ruby opened her mouth to say something else to Gideon, but she was interrupted by Verity calling out, 'Okay everyone, let's try it together!'

The group quickly cleared the floor of cushions, safely moved their crystal balls to the teacher's desk and formed a circle.

'I'll hold it up as you all add your spells one by one!' the group leader announced as she increased the size of one of the crystal balls, then floated it high into the middle of the room.

Gideon watched as one by one, the group of thirty or so students performed their Glow Charms.

'Maybe we should leave?' Ruby whispered out of the blue.

'Huh? Why?' Gideon asked.

Ruby didn't respond and it was almost his turn. The ball was now something to behold. The combined spells made it shine brightly with different colours and patterns. Brendan added his spell, which made the ball sparkle a little more. Emma's addition added glittering pink spots, Sasha's did the same but blue, and Cheryl's spell made the ball brighten and pulsate. Next was Gideon's turn.

'Fulgeos!' he commanded. Suddenly the ball began to shine like nothing before. It dazzled with colour and the light seemed to spread beyond the ball, pulsating to the very edges of the room. He could almost feel the waves of light washing over his skin.

It was the most beautiful thing Gideon had ever seen. He was enthralled with the way it seemed to respond to his very thoughts, shining and dancing like an aurora. Just as sparkles began to form around the ball like the rings of Saturn, the light disappeared completely.

'What do you think you're doing?' the tall group leader yelled.

Gideon looked around with confusion. He and the tall girl were the only ones with their wands raised. The other pupils all had varied expressions from wonder, awe and fascination, to jealousy, fear and even disgust.

'This is supposed to be a group activity!' the leader continued.

***

Brendan explained to Gideon later that shortly after he had begun, the rest of the club had stopped their spells. His magic alone had done things that they all couldn't accomplish as a group. Brendan was one of the few who was impressed but a good number of the club seemed annoyed, including the Club Leader, who had cancelled his spell.

After dinner, Gideon was beginning to regret attending the club, and not just because of his odd magical spectacle. Rather than being a relaxing bit of fun, it had left him feeling more tired than ever.

Gideon lazily climbed the stairs of the clock tower that evening and entered the Hospital Wing. Thankfully, Madam Longbottom's husband was nowhere in sight today. The matron looked up from her desk as he knocked politely on the office door.

'Oh, Gideon! How's the eye doing?' she asked.

'Well, I think,' he responded.

'Let's take a look,' she said before leading him to a bed and going through her normal routine. 'Everything looks fine. Although, you're looking a little tired. Are you getting enough sleep?'

Gideon was impressed by the matron's diagnosis.

'Actually, that's the reason I came,' he told her. 'I haven't been sleeping well. I'm having trouble going to sleep and when I do, I wake up in the middle of the night.'

'Bad dreams?' she asked.

Gideon nodded in reply.

'Are you dreaming about anything in particular that might be keeping you up?'

Gideon evasively shook his head.

'Well, dreams are the way our unconscious mind works through things. Even the bad ones have their uses. However, if they're stopping you from getting the rest you need, they become counterproductive.'

The matron went to her office and returned with two stoppered vials of purple liquid.

'Dreamless Sleep Potion,' she informed him. 'There are two doses here, so you can get some rest over the weekend. After that, it's best to let your brain do its thing.'

Gideon gladly took the vials and promised to let the matron know how he was feeling in a few days. He made his way back to the Common Room, longing for the good night's sleep she promised him. However, as he rounded a corner, he found himself face to face with Jason and his gang of Gryffindors again.

Gideon started to run back the way he came, looking for an escape, but the Gryffindors were close behind him and gaining fast.

'Locomotor Mortis!' yelled Greg.

Suddenly, Gideon found himself falling face-first into the stone floor, his legs bound together tightly. He turned his head in time to avoid hitting his nose, but the impact was sure to leave a bruise on his cheek. He quickly reached into his robes for his wand.

'Expelliarmus!' Jason shouted.

It was too late. Jason's Disarming Charm sent Gideon's wand shooting out of his hand before he could utter a spell of his own. They had him; alone and defenceless.

'You've been avoiding us, little guy,' said Greg with his twisted smile.

'Hex him good Greg!' encouraged one of the boys.

'But where to start?' Greg pondered aloud, pointing to Gideon's body parts individually as if trying to make his mind up.

'His eye,' said Jason, 'remember? We were going to fix it for him before he rudely ran away from us last time!'

'Oh, that's right!' Greg replied raising his wand above his head.

Gideon frowned angrily in frustration.

'Seriously guys?' said another voice a little further beyond the others. Greg turned around and the others parted a little, so they could see each other. It was Alex Grimsby. His arms were folded, and he looked thoroughly bored.

'What's the matter, Al? Don't you want a piece?' Greg asked.

'Not particularly,' he answered tonelessly.

'But the freak's been showing us up at every opportunity! You especially! And there was the thing with your owl!' Jason protested.

'You guys can do what you want,' Alex announced exasperatedly, 'but I've got better things to do.'

Greg seemed shaken for a moment, but he made eye contact with a shrugging Jason and turned back towards Gideon, 'I guess I'll have to be quick, then!'

As Alex turned to leave, Greg raised his wand and pointed it at Gideon's face. Gideon closed his eyes and braced himself. A series of bright red flashes shone through his tightly closed eyelids. However, there was no pain—no feeling whatsoever.

Gideon hesitantly opened his eyes to a confusing scene. For a moment, he thought the Gryffindor boys had disappeared. Greg, Jason, Alex and their two friends were all sprawled out across the floor.

Gideon began to panic. Had it happened again? Had Gideon hurt them without realising it, just as he had hurt his mother? But how could that be? He would know if he had used magic like that, wouldn't he?

'Finite incantatem,' an angry voice uttered from behind him, interrupting Gideon's escalating thoughts. The Leg Locker Curse had been removed. Gideon turned immediately to find his brother accompanied by a friend, standing in the next doorway, wand raised and looking livid.

'Ant?' Gideon called out timidly. Anthony made eye contact with Gideon briefly before disappearing beyond the doorway and dragging his shocked-looking friend along with him. Gideon got to his feet slowly. He didn't know what to do. Were the Gryffindors okay? Why had Anthony helped him? Should he get the matron?

When one of the boys stirred, Gideon knew they were at least alive, and decided to escape while he could. For a fleeting moment, he felt bad as he stepped over the blonde head of Alex Grimsby to retrieve his wand. The boy had been about to leave, hadn't he? However, Gideon quickly reminded himself that Alex hadn't done anything to stop Greg and Jason. Not really.

***

Before climbing into bed that night, Gideon swallowed his first potion in one go. It was surprisingly sweet and had the calming scent of lavender. He curled up under the covers, plagued by thoughts of the Gryffindors and his brother's unexpected intervention. Despite that, he soon succumbed to his tiredness and drifted off into peaceful nothingness. The potion was doing its job.

At some point in the night, though, his mind's eye found itself in a vast blackness. Out of the darkness, a small, solitary light appeared in the distance. As Gideon fixated on it, the light came closer until it was within reach. The moment Gideon's outstretched fingers connected with it, the blackness around him was drawn into it like a whirlpool and it disappeared. His new surroundings were blurry yet familiar.

He turned to find Gwendoline Drake reaching out for him. Once again, in place of his own limb, he found an abnormally short arm with an abnormally tiny hand. As always, she was just beyond his reach. Then, as suddenly as ever, a wall of flames came between them and the last thing he saw was her anguished expression as she was consumed by the fire.

'Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!'

'Wha-what's wrong?' said Gideon in a panic.

'GET UP NOW! FIRE!' Dorian yelled, his face aglow with flickering orange light. Beyond him, the curtains surrounding their four poster beds were blazing fiercely and a layer of smoke was pooling on the ceiling.