Harry jolted awake, clutching the scar on his forehead as pain throbbed through it. His face bore the exhaustion and drowsiness left by a nightmare.
He had dreamed of that long, dim corridor again! Harry had begun having similar nightmares during the summer vacation. It was always the same corridor; sometimes, if the dream lasted longer, he could see a tightly locked door at the end of it.
These damned dreams had left him deeply unsettled. Harry did not know what they meant, but he knew that repeatedly having similar dreams could not be a good sign.
Harry knew very well that dreaming of it once or twice might be an accident, but after so many times, it could not possibly be a coincidence.
He had told Sirius about it before, and after school started, he had also asked Albert.
Albert told him that the dream might be connected to Voldemort's power growing strong again. He gave Harry four pieces of advice: stay calm at all times; find someone to teach him Occlumency; take Dreamless Sleep Potion before bed; and ask Dumbledore for help if anything happened.
Harry felt that Albert might have guessed something, but he had said nothing, merely offering him a few suggestions.
Harry used the Two-Way Mirror to seek Sirius's help. However, Sirius was busy sometimes too, so more often than not, Harry confided in his good friends instead.
Ron always looked worried but had no idea what to do, while Hermione suggested that Harry ask Professor Dumbledore for help. Yet Harry had not seen Professor Dumbledore lately and could not even get into the Headmaster's Office.
So, most of the time, Harry could only take a small amount of sedatives to control his emotions and keep himself from being affected by them as much as