Chapter 14 ~ The Dream Diary.

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''You finished that essay on Liquid Luck?'' Karil asked Ly as he came down from the dormitory with a new quill. Ly looked up from his scribbling and grinned.

''Don't you mean ''Felix Felicis''?'' Ly imitated Professor Batyaeva with a polished performance, earning a laugh from his friend. ''And yeah, just about.'' Ly lent back in the armchair and began to read through his writing, Karil sitting down next to him.

''You know, I'm actually done with my Homework. D'you want me to check through that for you?'' He offered. Ly looked surprised then grateful.

''Would you? Ta.'' Ly gave his friend the parchment before turning back to his bag with a sigh. ''God, I've still gotta do that rotten dream diary. I never seem to remember what happens in them.'' 

''Well, if that's the case, say you had a ''black dream'' one night. She'll love that.'' Karil replied. Why Professor Mcgongall had let Professor Trelawney return to teach after the wizarding war, nobody knew. The fake of a seer was still setting them ridiculous tasks.

Ly lifted his head and nodded it. ''Hmm,  not a bad idea. Ok, I dreamed of neverending darkness.'' He lent back and surveyed his work. ''You're right, she'll enjoy making up some tragic result to that.'' He turned the page. ''Ok, time to try and remember some of my actual dreams.'' He rubbed his forehead. ''Well, let's see. Oh yeah, last night I dreamed I was jumping from cloud to cloud down into a town made of fudge. And there were these little blocks of fudge with googly eyes called fudgelings, but when I tried to eat one they all started attacking me.'' He began to write before looking up at his friend. ''D'you think she'll like that?''

Karil replied to his friend with a chuckle that turned into a laugh and Ly frowned at him in an expression of mock indignance.

''Hey! It was serious you know!'' He was now grinning and chucked a cushion at Karil before turning back to his work. After Karil himself had stopped choking with laughter, silence set in as Ly tried to write down all the dreams he could remember and Karil looked through Ly's essay. All that could be heard was the scratching of Ly's quill and the crackling of the fire.

Twenty minutes later, however, Ly broke the peaceful atmostphere with a wandering thought.

''I wonder what Maurelle puts in her dream diary.'' He pondered. 

Karil raised his eyebrows. ''Probably lies. Or maybe sometimes the truth. After all, we are really the only ones who know that her dreams are the future.'' He watched Ly closely. Usually the subject of Maurelle brought silence and a tense feeling.

Ly nodded vaguely. ''Yeah, suppose so.'' He yawned and heaved himself up with effort. ''Right, I'm going to bed.'' He gathered up his books and slung them into the leather bag around his shoulder. 

''Night.'' Karil handed him the essay. 

Tucking the parchment neatly into a notebook, Ly said his goodnight and trudged upstairs to the dormitory. 

Silence returned after Ly's exit, for Karil sank deep into thought. He didn't want to nose about in Maurelle's stuff, but if him and Ly were going to stop Maurelle from killing Merlin or worse, a subject they had neglected over the past few weeks, her dream diary could really help them out. He pushed his hair back. Where would she keep it? He bag? On one of the shelves? Or-

No. He began to gather up his own stuff. He just couldn't trawl through someone's personal stuff like a thief in the night. He grabbed his transfiguration textbook, one of the few items covering the table, and gasped. One would not normally do this when retrieving their transfiguration, but he was reacting to what had lain underneath it. 

A black, leather-bound book titled ''Dream Diary. Property of Maurelle Pendragon'' had been nestled underneath his textbook. He glanced around him. Well, seeing as it was there, he might as well take a look. He sat back in the chair with the volume and opened it. 

The first records sounded to be made up ''Last night I dreamed I bought new shoes'' or ''I dreamed I was playing quidditch'', But then came intricately detailed entries, including one about King Arthur that seemed to be more a memory. And then one which finally shed some light.

''I was in a forest, the forbidden forest, in a small clearing. It was dark and cold and I was alone, only dressed in my nightdress. And then this light came, and with the light a woman. Tall, blonde, she looked like me, only fair and older. She came forward, told me her name was Mirror, and that she needed my help. Then I awoke.''

Karil read it again. It definately sounded true. He put the diary down and lent forward. If it was a prophecy, when was it going to happen? Why-

A clunk up the stairs made him jump and he caught a glimpse of white. Maurelle! Silently he crept behind a cabinet and watched her make her way past the fire and slip out of the common room. Karil let her go before coming out of his hiding place. 

There was no mistake. She was on her way there tonight. He grabbed his coat and slipped on his trainers. He had to see what happened.