Hermione shot up in her bed, her breath ragged and her skin covered in her sweat. She stared at the quiet bedroom of her Gryffindor Dorm Room, her lips formed into a thin line as she looked around in case a snake should come out of nowhere and attack her over and over again the way it did to Severus Snape in her dreams.

She closed her eyes, willing her breath to calm down as she tried to forget about the dream. She wasn't one for remembering her dreams often, which was what had confused her.

Snape.

Why did she have a dream about Snape getting furiously attacked by a large snake, bleeding out and dying from the venom of the snake? Why did she have a dream about him, her Potions Professor, at all?

She buried her face in her hands, repeating to herself aloud, "It was just a dream..."

It was just a dream...right?

She nearly jumped straight from her bed when she heard the door open, her friend Ginny Weasley poking her head through the door and giving Hermione a big smile saying, "Good. You're up. Hurry down with us to Breakfast. There's cinnamon rolls today." Ginny's eyes widened with excitement as she disappeared and closed the door behind her.

Hermione grumbled and forced herself out of bed with a loss of appetite just from that one single dream. She walked over to her trunk and pulled out her uniform for classes today with a feeling in her stomach that today would be different than all the rest.

The smell of breakfast up close did nothing to subside the sickly feeling of little appetite, despite the hungry growl erupting from her stomach every five or so minutes. She frowned as she walked behind Ginny towards the Great Hall, unable to turn her mind off of the dream. No, it was no mere dream. It was more so a nightmare. And it was a nightmare that had her mind turning its gears the best it could.

Snape was in a boathouse, laying on the old wooden floor as a snake attacked him until the snake's owner had dismissed its job, leaving the Professor there, bleeding out and dying from the venom in his veins from all the bites. In the nightmare, she had that frightened, helpless feeling. And it was no different than what she felt as she sat down beside Ginny, across from Harry and Ron, as the nightmare played out through her mind over and over again like a song stuck in her head.

"Didn't get much sleep last night?" Ron asked as Hermione stared down at her empty plate. She looked up and shrugged, seeing Harry eye her with a curious and concerned gaze.

Ron shrugged and stuffed his breakfast into his mouth as if he'd never be fed ever again. She sighed and found herself turning her head, her eyes running over the faces of the professors sitting at the tables that faced the Great Hall, up front as she waited for McGonagall to do her usual morning speech.

Her eyes landed on Snape and all she could think about was the snake. Her stomach dropped, twisting into such a tight of a knot that if she had any food in her system, she'd most surely be running to the girl's lavatory to puke it back up. The color drained from her face as she chewed on her cheek, pushing her plate away from her as it disappeared from site, unable to look away from Snape.

Confusion and worry settled in. Dreams really weren't supposed to mean anything. Or at least, that's what she had honestly believed in herself. But then again, there was still so many thing that surprised Hermione here at Hogwarts. She wondered if she should look into it or pretend that the nightmare had never happened to begin with. Finally, she looked away from Snape and looked to Ginny, who had just said something to her.