"...No, did this kid really mistake me for his mom?"
William kicked James Potter, who seemed to want to come over and show some concern, off the bed, got up from the bedside, and stood looking down at the light purple nightdress he was wearing. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly—
To peel off Harry's dream and then infiltrate it only sounded abstract, yet the entire process wasn't difficult. They didn't need to cut open Harry's head, nor perform any bizarre and sinister human experiments. After "borrowing" and modifying the Map Chamber's Meditation Basin, William successfully extracted the dream Voldemort created for Harry.
However, entering the dream had its conditions. It wasn't a place any random person could enter; it had to be someone of Harry's age group and someone he had strong emotional connections with. After verifying this condition, William did some tests.
This resulted in a list of choices—Ron Weasley; Hermione Granger; Rubeus Hagrid; Cho Chang; Draco Malfoy; and Severus Snape.
True, emotions don't discern good from bad. If Voldemort himself were present, William suspected he would qualify too.
But Harry's soul certainly couldn't accommodate so many people—the petrified Ron hadn't woken yet, although Hagrid had strong emotional ties, there seemed to be no place for him in the dream, Cho Chang didn't even know why she was chosen, and Draco Malfoy seemed to be entering just to cause trouble...
Given Harry's mental strength, his dream could accommodate roughly three people. But now, counting everything, they could only gather two—until William, while testing Dumbledore, tested himself on a whim, so the final list of candidates for this venture was decided to be William, Hermione, and Snape.
Hermione was naturally pleased upon hearing the news, while Snape seemed to have some complaints, but he didn't refuse.
Earlier, William was curious why Harry had such a deep impression of him. Could it be that his mighty power had unconsciously conquered so many people?
Now it seems...
Tsk.
William walked to the window in slippers, reached out to pull back the curtains, and looked at the gray-white mist outside, nodding slightly in confirmation—
It seems his prediction before entering the dream was correct. The scene of "Harry's home" is not very close to the two "main characters" in the dream. The computing power of the human brain is indeed limited. Without Harry, this world truly can't function.
Yet, in this case, the "mother" who hasn't appeared in the script should also be non-existent... William lowered his gaze to his toes and then closed his eyes.
"Lily?"
James, who had climbed up from the floor, rubbed his chest in bewilderment. He wanted to step forward to check on his somewhat unusual "wife," but the sudden illumination by the window made him instinctively pause.
Staring at the faint blue light emanating by the window, James suddenly felt a peculiar sense of calm.
But the calm emotion didn't last long. As the blue light vanished, James suddenly found his wife gone, replaced by a...
Good, worthy of ancient (golden) magic (finger), even in a dream he could cast some magic—seeing the blurry silhouette belonging to himself on the window, William breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't have any fondness for cross-dressing or just hanging out, some things are better off kept original.
So, now the problem is...
William turned his head and saw a man standing stupefied in place.
"You, you..."
James was so shocked he couldn't speak, watching his lifelong partner transform into a man, stunned as much as seeing Santa Claus on Halloween.
"Well, it is a bit tricky—"
William rubbed his chin, starting to think about how to explain to this "big Harry Potter" the physics behind what he just saw. Although he wished to leave without any explanation, he was ultimately an outsider in this dream, and now some accidents occurred...
William glanced out the window at the boundless gray-white mist. Under these circumstances, finding the stage where the protagonist resides might take some effort.
Hence, a character strongly associated with the protagonist becomes crucial.
So, under James's watchful eyes, William raised a finger, the previously vanished deep blue light reappeared, and the man's stuttering equally disappeared, as he finally asked the question that had been stuck in his throat for a while—
"Who are you? Where's Lily?"
......
"...Who are you?"
Harry struggled to sit up, feeling his head was about to split, the intense pain making it impossible for the boy to focus, yet he suddenly sensed an anomaly from the girl in front of him, "No, you're not Hermione—who exactly are you?"
"No, of course, I am—"
Hermione's expression was a bit flustered, but not because of Harry's suspicion, rather due to Harry's previous utterance, 'Who is William?'
?
Following William's narrative before they entered Harry's dream, they supposedly would play themselves in the dream, which is why Hagrid couldn't find his place in this dream—
In this dream Voldemort created for Harry, there simply wouldn't be an eleven-feet tall giant.
Thus, when Hermione awoke in the library, she wasn't too bewildered—she remembered William's guidance before entering the dream, "No matter where you find yourself when you wake up, first find Harry, then bring him to me."
Just two steps, it sounded simple, Hermione smoothly completed the first step. She initially intended to "raid" the boys' dorm, but before she reached there, she found the unconscious Harry in the link between the dormitory and the infirmary. This meant that now she only needed to get Harry to William.
However, the second step seemed to have encountered some issues.
Didn't William say he found his vessel in the dream too?
Where is he then... Taking a deep breath, Hermione knew panicking wouldn't help; the priority was to first calm the now frenzied Harry in front of her.
"I certainly am..."
"No, you're not!"
Harry's expression turned terrified, convinced the girl before him wasn't the bookworm he remembered. Filled with rejection, the boy instinctively waved his hand—
A green light shot from his palm, grazing Hermione's hair, and hitting a nearby concrete pillar.
"..."
Feeling the close brush with Death, Hermione swallowed hard, collapsing to the floor, utterly powerless.
What, dude?
Starting with Avada? How is anyone supposed to dodge that?
What about Azkaban, did it slip up and let you out?