WHO; Harry Potter
WHEN; Late Friday, early Saturday
WHERE; Hogwarts Castle, ending in the Astronomy Tower
SUMMARY; Harry can't sleep and needs to make sure that everyone else can.
RATING; PG
STATUS; Complete.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted back, and the wand went flying and the other one fell, dead.
The confidence in his body began to break down into shock and he looked away to find his friends in the crowd around him when he heard the hiss, like a snake, coming from what should have been a body.
It was rising back up, and the not-dead Dark Lord aimed a wand at Harry, the red eyes reminding the boy of blood. Its mouth opened and Harry couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't get out of the way of the spell: "Ava-"With a gasp, Harry lurched upright and awake.
He ran his hands down over his torso and then touched his scar, waiting for the pain. It never came. Harry panted for breath, wiping the sweat off of his brow and cheeks. Closing his eyes, he rubbed them hard and tried to get his breath back. It took him a moment to rationalise,
And that wasn't the worst kind of nightmare. At least that wasn't the worst ones. At least. As if that made it okay. He felt childish and weak and helpless; he rubbed harder at his eyes until they burned.
Harry sighed and got out of bed, slipping on his glasses, quickly dressing himself in jeans and a sweatshirt; he tossed the invisibility cloak over himself, and clutched his wand in his hand. He crept around the dorm room, checking on Ron and Neville and his other dormmates to make sure they were safe and well and sleeping. He nodded a bit to himself and then quietly left the room. A large part of him wanted to wake Hermione and have her tell him that regular, human nightmares were normal and didn't mean anything. A larger part of him wanted to go into Ginny's room and hide in her arms and never
ever let her spend a night away from him.
Instead he walked down to the Common Room, checking the Maurader's Map for any sign of unusual movement in the dorm or in the castle as a whole. Seeing nothing stirring except for Filch and Mrs. Norris, Harry tucked the map back in his pocket and then headed out the portrait hole.
Harry made his way down near the kitchens and to the Hufflepuff entrance, standing in front of its still life painting for a moment and watching the corridors around for any sign of movement or disturbance. Satisfied, he turned and checked the map again for any new signs of trouble as he made his way back through the castle. His wand held tight in his hand, his eyes shifted back and forth around the corridors.
Expelliarmus...stupify...expecto patronum...levicorpus...reducto... Over and over, his mind raced through defensive and combat spells. He had to be ready. He had to be ready, just in case.
On these patrols, Harry never bothered to check the Slytherin house, which was petty and small of him, but he never claimed to be a person who could get over things like that. They abandoned him; he wasn't yet ready to lose sleep over them. Not yet. He thought about Amy Runcorn and what she had asked.
Can the dead hear us? Sirius, Mum, Dad, Cedric, Dumbledore - can you? He had to admit he was curious to ask her why she cared. He had to admit that maybe there were a few Slytherin worth it: the image of Regulus Black burned in his memory and Harry swallowed. Yes, there were.
He approached the Ravenclaw door and pulled the cloak off of his head. "Is all well in Ravenclaw tonight?" Harry asked the bronze eagle knocker.
There was silence for a moment before the eagle said in its honey-smooth voice, "Sleep, Harry Potter."
He felt stupid, but he automatically said back to it, "Good night," before turning and heading off to the Astronomy Tower. During the ascent up to its peak, Harry checked the map once more. Mrs. Norris was near the Gryffindor entrance, Filch was approaching the library. Harry thought about what Ron said about Filch and Pince and shuddered violently, nearly tripping on the stairs. His heart began to pound as he entered the classroom, the wide windows giving him a view of the entire grounds.
Pointing his wand out a window, Harry called out, "
Expecto patronum," watching the silvery stag erupt from his wand and begin its path around the grounds. Harry studied its route, carefully watching for any signs of trouble. Yes, this was ridiculous. Yes, the professors were more adept, more skilled, more talented, and they swore the grounds were secure. New enchantments, new protective spells.
Still, he couldn't stop until his patronus galloped the perimeter of the campus and then evaporated into the peaceful night. Harry let his breath slow and as he stared into the darkness.
I should practise the spells Lupin sent me. What else do I have to do.
I won't be sleeping tonight, he thought, his knuckles turning white on his wand. But no one would know. Harry swore that to himself: Hogwarts had to stay normal, everything had to stay safe. And maybe one day, he would be like that, too.
He took in a deep breath and lifted his wand, preparing to fight only himself in the dark.
