HP, Chapter 14, continued

That night went by slowly for Albus. All through the night the werewolves howled, and at one point, Albus could have sworn he heard something yelp out in pain. Whether it was human or not, he couldn't tell. His brain had gotten so tired that all it heard was howls...over and over again... The moon was getting lower on the horizon, and a chill went up Albus's spine. He turned around and saw Derek, Holly, and Peter all squashed onto one of the large chairs with Holly in the middle and the boys on either side of her. They were sleeping softly, the boys using Holly's shoulders as pillows, and Holly, in turn, was using Peter's head as a pillow. Albus looked over at the other chair and noticed that James was sprawled across it with his legs dangling over one of the armrests, sleeping. Albus looked around for Samantha and saw her sitting by the table. She appeared to be reading three things at once...two books and a scroll. Albus was interested, but not enough to pull himself away from the window.

Suddenly, Albus heard the soft sound of a flute. He looked around and saw no one except his friends, and none of them were playing any sort of instrument. The tune was beautiful...soft...sweet. For the first time, Albus felt himself getting tired. He leaned against the wall near the window and rubbed his eyes. He wanted to stay awake, but he just felt that he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer... He felt his back sliding down against the wall then he bumped the floor... Albus opened his eyes for a moment and saw the light from the table where Samantha was reading, then it all went dark as the drifting melody from no where lulled him to sleep...



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"Albus..." Albus looked around, trying to peer through the darkness. A weak voice called out to him in a moan.

"Who's there? Where are you?" Albus asked, wondering where the light had gone.

"Albus...it hurts..." the voice came again. Albus swallowed hard and tried to feel where he was. The only thing he could feel was the ground beneath his feet.

"What hurts?" Albus called out to the voice.

"EVERYTHING!" It yelled, and Albus jumped awake. He looked around at the Common room and sighed. It had all been a dream... No one was in the Common room, but the chairs were still where they had been last night - right by the window. Albus stood up and stretched then looked out the window. It was late morning, by the looks of it. Suddenly, the door to the Common room burst open and Derek ran in.

"Albus! You're awake!" He said with a small smile. He ran up and grabbed Albus's arm. "Come on! We're going to be late for class! You slept past breakfast, but I got you a muffin." Derek said, pulling a blueberry muffin out of his book bag. The muffin was rather squashed.

"Thanks..." Albus said slowly, looking at the muffin hesitantly.

"No time now! We've got to GO!" Derek said, dragging Albus back to the door.

"But I don't have my books!" Albus said, pulling his arm free from Derek's grasp.

"Then go get them!" Derek yelled, running back to the door and opening it. "I'll meet you in transfiguration!" Albus ran up to his room as Derek ran out the door. In a minute, Albus had all of the books he needed in his book bag and was dashing out the Common room door. He sped down the hall past a few other late students (most of them first years) and a few ghosts. Peeves flew right in front of him, and Albus didn't turn fast enough to avoid running through Peeves. If Albus wasn't awake before that, he was certainly awake afterwards. He felt as if he'd just ran through an icy waterfall. Albus turned a corner and dashed through the door into the transfiguration classroom. He ran over to sit next to Peter, just as Professor McGonagal walked in from the back. Peter looked Albus over and made a face.

"Didn't you wake up soon enough to change your clothes?" Peter hissed. Albus shook his head. "I suppose it's safe to assume you didn't brush your hair, either, then?" Peter raised an eyebrow and gave Albus a look. Albus licked one of his hands and tried to pat his hair down. It was only then that he realized how messed up the back of his hair must have been. He heard a giggle and turned around to see a Ravenclaw girl giggling at him. Albus moaned softly and turned back to the front. He decided then and there that today was probably going to be a bad day.