The Sunrise of My Heart

Before anyone was ready, June rolled around. For we fifth years, this meant that our tests were just days away. Tensions ran high, mental breakdowns seemed to be happening every other class, and the need to study suddenly overcame almost every fifth year within the castle. I spent my time lounging under the tree near the Black Lake, books spread around me, switching between studying and gazing at the lake's reflective surface. Every free moment I had, I was almost definitely there.
"Riley?" Ginny said, sitting down next to me. "Are you all right? You seem really distracted."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered, smiling at her. "Just thinking."
"What about?" she asked.
"Well, tests, of course. Can't really avoid those. Have fun next year dealing with them."
She grimaced. "At least I've got more time than you do."
"Touche."
"What else are you thinking about?"
"Dreams."
"Dreams?" She turned to face me, her face scrunched slightly in confusion. "Of all the things to be thinking about right now, you're thinking of dreams?"
I opened my mouth, closed it again, took a deep breath, and voiced my fears. "I think someone's going to die," I said softly.
She stared at me, her eyes wide, before finally finding her voice. "Your dreams... You're having those meaningful ones again, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I said. "It's been so long since I've had them, I just can't help but think they mean something. The last time they just sprang up on me out of nowhere, Cedric died and Voldie came back."
She sighed softly, looking obviously frightened but trying to stay calm. "Do you know who?"
"No," I answered.
"That's a lot to process right before you have to take your O.W.L.s."
I gave a soft, quick laugh. "No kidding." We were silent for a long while before I smiled at Ginny again. "Don't think about it. I doubt it's anyone really important. If we're lucky, maybe it'll be old toad-face." We both laughed at the thought, which goes to show how awful Um-bitch really was.
Unfortunately, it was time to test within the next couple of days. On the one hand, this meant I was feeling nervous about that. But on the other hand, it meant I had less time to focus on my dreams, so I was less distracted. The tests were actually not all as bad as everyone had expected, but I still messed up on a fair number of questions. Since my last name starts with a 'C', I got to be within the first group of students to do the hands-on part, which I knew I had done very well on. When it came down to it, performance with magic had always been a specialty of mine.
The remainder of the tests that day proved not to be too difficult either. My Astronomy test went rather well, especially compared to how the test for the Gryffindor's had gone the next night. Um-bitch and a group of cloaked figure had attacked Hagrid in the middle of the night, trying to catch him off-guard. It only got worse from there. Professor McGonagall came out of the castle to tell them off, and the four figures attacked her with stunning spells all at once. She might have been a freaking awesome witch, but she was still older, and four stunning spells at the same time was no light matter. Hagrid fled the grounds, knowing he wasn't safe, and Professor McGonagall was taken to Madam Pomfrey. All our hope went into her ability to make McGonagall well again.
I had been going for a late night walk when this had happened, so I heard the commotion. Hardly thinking about where I was going, I rushed to the Gryffindor common room, where I found lots of people sitting up, apparently woken up by the sounds of the fight.
"Hey, Riley," a few people said, but we were all distracted by what had happened. A few minutes later, people had been taking the Astronomy test came in, looking horrified, because they had witnessed it all.
People began talking about how awful Umbridge was, and how everyone hoped she'd be fine soon enough. I, however, was not listening. I had a tendency to trail off on my own thought pattern when I was around other people. All I could think about was Umbridge, and how awful she was. I was starting to think she needed to be punished by means of torture, but I tried to push that thought down. As entertaining as it was, I didn't want to be like her, cold and vicious.
"You going back to bed, Riley?" Hermione asked me when she realized I was still sitting in an arm chair.
"I suppose," I said, getting up. "Pansy's starting to notice my late-night habits, and if she rats me out, I'm screwed. Good night." I waved lazily before sneaking quietly back to the Slytherin common room, feeling more tired than I had realized.
I saw Draco sitting in an arm chair in the darkness, completely alone, but I shook my head at him when he looked at me. "I can't stay up and talk to you tonight, Malfoy," I said in a tired voice. "Your precious leader attacked McGonagall, for no reason, and I'm just in no mood to deal with a Slytherin right now. Good night."
"She's not my leader," I heard him mutter under his breath.
I scoffed. "Could've fooled me." He opened his mouth to protest, but I held up my hand to silence him. "I'm tired, Draco. I need to sleep. And so do you. Go to bed. We can argue this point in the morning if you want."
We did not, in fact, discuss the matter in the morning. I didn't even see Draco all day for more than a few moments, which was fine with me. My dreams had been particularly awful that night, so I was feeling less than cheerful. As I made it through the final test that day, I couldn't help but be immensely relieved that this would all be over with soon. I could rest, relax, and just do nothing.
The test finally finished, I was slowly making my way back to the dorm for a possible nap when I heard someone yelling in a classroom. I saw Ginny and Luna, both looking quizzical about the yelling, and walked over to them.
"Is it just me," I began, "or is that--?"
"Harry's voice," Ginny confirmed.
SIlently, the three of us walked into the classroom the yelling was coming from. We saw Harry yelling at Ron and Hermione, looking desperate for some reason.
"Hi," Ginny began slightly nervously. "We recognized Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?"
"Never you mind," Harry snapped.
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "There's no need to take that tone with me," she said in a cool voice. "I was only wondering whether I could help."
"Well, you can't," Harry said shortly.
"Harry," I said in a mock-sweet tone. "Stop being such a bastard."
"You are being rather rude, you know," Luna said in that calm, far-off tone of hers.
Harry was having his own personal bitch-fit, but Hermione spoke up then. "Wait. Harry, they can help."
We all looked at her to see how, Ron and Harry looking more confused than we three because they knew what was going on, whereas we were just there to help.
"Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters--"
"I've told you, I saw--" Harry began furiously.
"Harry, I'm begging you, please! Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there then I swear i won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll do whatever it takes to try and save him--"
"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" Harry shouted at her "We haven't got time to waste--"
They continued to discuss it out, but I wasn't listening anymore. Hermione's words ran through my mind, making annoying sense and being painfully clear. "Sirius is in trouble?" I asked softly, my hands shaking just a bit. No one heard me, or else they chose to ignore me, but I was already certain I knew what was going on. Sirius, git that he was, had left headquarters. Voldemort had, apparently, captured him, and was torturing him for something. The weapon, maybe?
"Harry," I said, interrupting whatever he and Hermione had been saying. "Voldemort has Sirius?"
"Yes," he said harshly. "And he's torturing him, while we all stand around and do nothing!"
I took a deep, steadying breath, and then nodded determinedly. "All right. What can I do to help? You know Sirius is as important to me as he is to you. I want to help save him."
And so, Harry finally calming down just enough to listen to Hermione's plan, we all listened to her talk, mentally taking note of what we were supposed to do so she and Harry could check Grimmauld Place, just in case, before we would set off on our rescue mission. My heart was hammering within my chest, but I remained surprisingly calm. I was ready to do what it would take to help Harry and save Sirius, no matter what.