Through a Long and Sleepless Night - Chapter 2
She walked ahead of him, toward the swirl of black.
It glistened in the fading sun as screams could be heard from inside the castle. Near the forest's edge, cloaked figures popped up, seeming to hover amongst the dirt and tree roots. They held their ground, waiting for some form of signal.
The pair of teens turned as the castle's doors were blasted open, more and more of the cloaked figures pouring out onto the school's grounds as though they were a plague, blackening the grass with showers of soil and torn fabric from their spells' blasts. Already the earth was becoming caked with blood as the fighters lost limbs or suffered serious wounds.
She looked up to the sky, noticing a patch of clouds looming near the North Tower, blocking her view of Orion.
He glanced at her, wondering as to how she was able to live through this dream night after night, getting to the point where she's adapted to it and is no longer troubled by it, but simply sees it as a minor inconvenience to her slumber.
"How do you do it?"
She did not stop staring at the constellation, merely motioned him to stand beside her.
"I never realized how lovely the sky looked on this particular night. It's so deceitful to the events that happened underneath it, don't you think?" She paused, finally dropping her gaze to regard him. "And I don't know how I can stand it. I suppose it's one of those situations where you realize that there's nothing that you can do about it, so you relegate yourself to having to live with it. Maybe I was meant to have this dream. Maybe I was just waiting for you to show up."
"Why would you be waiting for me? You hate me."
"Excuse me for the cliché, but hate is such a strong word. I strongly dislike you, but we don't know enough about each other to truly hate one another. We only know what our parents have taught us through generations of familial loathing. Hell, I doubt our parents know the true reason why our families can't stand the sight of each other. I mean, sure; you can be an absolute prick, but so can Ron and many of the boys that I've dated. But I don't hate them. Besides, we're wizarding folk. Strange, unexplainable shit is our M.O. I decided to accept that fact a long time ago. You might want to as well."
He tried to bite back a chuckle, but failed as his amusement cracked through in the form of a wry smile. She smirked, giving him a sidelong glance before speaking again.
"So how, exactly, did you get here?"
He sighed, looking at her through narrowed eyes, attempting to discern whether she would be loyal or not.
"I can trust you Gryffindor types, right?"
"I dunno," she replied with a shrug. "Depends on what you intend on trusting me with. If it's your current location, well, I won't tell anyone. It's not like they'd listen to me anyway," she finished, bitterly, he noticed.
"Alright. Here goes. I'm trusting you with this, Weasley. Try not to fuck up." She glared at him, but he continued on before she opened her mouth to say something. "I'm in Dublin right now. I'm staying at some piece of shit, hole in the wall Muggle inn with Severus. I got bored today and snuck out when he was asleep. There's this ladder connected to the side of the building next to our window and as I was climbing down it, I slipped, lost my footing and fell down. I expected my arse to become friendly with the cobbled pavement below me, but, instead, I fell through this portal, and lo and behold, I found you of all people."
"Do you know anything else about this portal of yours?"
He shook his head, glancing back to the topic of their discussion. His eyes widened and he paled, fidgeting next to her.
"Oh, fuck," he swore, scowling.
"What's wrong?"
"I - I have to go. The portal - it's closing. Shit. I don't want to be stuck here. Swear you're not going to tell anyone my whereabouts?" he asked, heading toward the portal.
"Yes, yes. I swear. Now get going!" She giggled a bit, amused at how flustered he had become.
He gave her a brief nod. "Thanks, Weasley," he muttered before flashing her a smile. Another nod and he dove into the portal, the swirling black oval fading, waving and fluttering in front of her, reminding her of the veil.
* * * * * * * *
"Malfoy!"
Ginny awoke with a start, pale, her cheeks flushed as she broke out in a cold sweat. Her breathing was shallow and heavy, and she placed a hand on her chest, hoping to even out the shuddering rhythm of her respiration. She scrambled, flinging her sheet and comforter off of her body, kicking the bundle of blankets down to the foot of her bed. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top, staring ahead at her dresser.
"Ginny!"
A sharp knock rapped against her door. She didn't acknowledge it and kept staring at the wall.
"Ginny! Are you okay?"
Another knock.
That seemed to bring her out of her trance. She fidgeted slightly, shaking her head before answering. "Come in."
Hermione threw open the door, wand at the ready, the tip lit as she waved it around the room, searching for any intruders. Seeming to be satisfied, she ran over to Ginny, gripped her shoulder and peered into her eyes, sticking her face in front of the other girl's.
"Are you okay? I heard you scream 'Malfoy' and thought that you saw someone in here." Hermione took a step back, raking her eyes up and down Ginny's frame. "You don't look so good. Are you sick? Do you want me to fetch your mum?"
"No, no; I'm fine. I just had a dream, is all." Ginny shook her head as she responded, waving Hermione off with her hand.
"Are you sure? Was it a bad dream?"
Ginny sighed. For once, she felt like the boy she stumbled upon in her dream (reality, for him), and understood how he thought Hermione's inquisitive nature to be annoying. She opened and closed her mouth several times, gaping as she attempted to figure out a way to explain the situation to her friend.
"I'm positive. And it wasn't a bad dream, per se. I don't know how to explain it, really."
Hermione sat on a corner of Ginny's bed, reaching a hand out and laying it on Ginny's shoulder once more. "Was it about the Chamber?" she whispered. Ginny looked to her, noting how her friend's eyes were cast to the ground, unable to make eye contact. Hermione glanced up, feeling the other girl's amber eyes upon her and quickly backpedalled. "I only ask because I know that Lucius Malfoy was the one who gave you the diary. I understand if you don't want to talk about it."
With that, she stood, racing toward the door, clutching onto her still-lit wand.
"Hermione, wait."
The brunette paused at the door, holding onto it, but kept her back to Ginny, turning her head so the redhead saw only her profile. "Yes?"
"I don't mind talking about my dream. But not right now. I still need to process exactly what happened. But once I've thought about it, I'll come and find you. I didn't mean to turn you away like that when you were just trying to help."
"I understand. And thanks," Hermione replied with a smile. "Go back to sleep, Ginny. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay. Night, 'Mione."
Ginny watched as Hermione closed the door, waiting for the soft click of the lock before getting out of bed, walking over to the single window in her room. She leaned against one side of the frame, looking up towards the moon.
The night sky resembled the darkness in her dream - white pinpricks ticked across a blanket of obsidian fringed with cobalt and violet. The moon hung high, a silvery white beacon. She supposed that could be how she would find him from then on: the colour of the moon is the colour of his hair, fading into his fair complexion.
She searched harder and found what she was looking for: Orion. She hadn't been able to spot him in her dreams and seeing the famous constellation allowed for a sort of peaceful lull to settle over her. She smiled, albeit weakly, as she felt her eyelids droop.
With one last, longing look at both the moon and Orion, she shuffled back to her bed, crawling onto her mattress. She sat up momentarily, grasping the blankets from where she kicked them to and shook them out, allowing them to rest over her entire body. She turned onto her side, placing herself in the direct view of the window.
She struggled to stay awake, realizing that she wanted to remember where he said he currently was. She attempted to lift herself up in bed, but was too tired to do so, and had to settle for simply lifting her head. In a matter of seconds, her head plopped back down onto her pillow, the force of sleep too strong for her to forestall.
Her eyelids kept drooping, closing several times before she cracked them open, knowing that if she did not remember in that moment, that she would never be able to recall it in the morning.
"D. It starts with a 'D'. And it's someplace relatively close by." She yawned, turning her head away from the window, staring up at the ceiling. She narrowed her eyes, sifting through her sleep-addled brain for the name of the place. She turned her head back, giving up for the night.
She was mumbling as she fell asleep, finally uttering 'Dublin' before smiling and allowing sleep to fully claim her.
A/N- Thanks for reading! Please review. :D