"Oh hey, if it isn't my favorite Ravenclaw." Alfred beamed as he ran to catch to Shelby in the halls. They had potions together next hour, something Alfred had done purposely. He had been advised to take Transfiguration, something he was much better at, but Shelby was better at potions. He thought the rigor of the course was worth it.

"Hello." Shelby said simply, staring straight ahead. She seemed to hardly notice the blonde as she kept her books hugged close to her chest.

Alfred's smile twitched slightly. "That's all I get? A little hello? After all we've been through." He teased, striding ahead of her before walking backwards so he could face her.

That's when he noticed darkening purple bags around the brunette's eyes, the increased acne spotting her cheeks and forehead, something she had told him was a tell-tale sign she was stressed (and she almost always was), and the lack of makeup. Even her eyebrows were left unfilled, leaving her with thinner, shorter, and lighter brows.

"Wow, Shelbs. You look awful." He commented without thinking.

Once the words left his mouth, he knew he had worded that all wrong, and stiffened slightly for the consequence, that quick flash of anger that caused Shelby to lash out on the turn of a dime, but she stayed completely indifferent, "Tell me something I don't know, blondie." She muttered.

Alfred frowned, slowing down as the girl strode away, not evening noticing that she was no longer walking with her friend.

... What was wrong?

"Having girl issues?" An accented voice asked. Alfred turned to see Shelby's Slytherin best friends, Feliks and Vladimir, leaning against the wall of the hall. Vlad met him with cold red eyes, but Feliks's eyes were alive with concern, his lips pulled into a small frown.

"Yeah, us too." He answered his questioned before Alfred even could. "She hasn't been very talkative lately. Like, even with us. And at the Ravenclaw Quidditch practices, she is totally out of it."

"Yesterday, she let her broom start floating towards ground and almost got hit with Bludger. Dreamz saved her from having her skull cracked." Vladimir explained with his arms crossed.

Alfred pressed his lips together in a thin line. "What do you think it is?"

"Like telling you would help." Vlad muttered dully.

"Dreams." Feliks stated. "And not the person. Like, she gets these horrible stress dreams. They wake her up in the middle of the night and like, keep her from actually sleeping and stuff. Not only does it totally increase her anxiety and junk, but she never actually gets to rest. Then she gets really depressed and stuff. It takes a couple weeks to snap out of it."

Alfred looked off after her, his eyes narrowing slightly in thought.

"Shelby." A voice whispered.

"What?" She whispered hoarsely back.

"Oh, you weren't sleeping?"

"Hardly." Shelby grumbled, sitting up and coming face to face with Dreamz. "What's up?"

"I keep hearing someone at the door." She explained quietly.

"You guys suck at whispering. Go to bed." Thaovy snapped from her bed.

Shelby sighed. "Who cares if someone's at the door? If you're in the dormitory, then everyone who's supposed to be here is. What's the big deal?"

"Don't know. It's just giving me the creeps. Wanna go check it out?" Dreamz asked.

"You wanna leave the dorms at night? Do you wanna lose points for Ravenclaw AND get suspended?"

"If Dreamz leaves, she'll just get locked out." Thaovy muttered from her bed.

"Shut your damn mouth."

"Shush, children." Shelby groaned, dragging herself out of bed. "I'll go investigate. Not like I'm sleeping anyways."

Dreamz smiled. "Excellent. Let's go."

The two Ravenclaws left the dormitory quietly, careful not to wake up the boys in the other section of the house as they made their way to the door. Shelby pushed it open lazily, and peered down the staircase to see if anyone was there.

That's when the door shut behind her.

She turned quickly to yell at Dreamz for letting it close, before realizing that Dreamz was on the other side, safe from the darkness outside their common room. Shelby pressed her ear to the door. "Not cool, Dreamz." She hissed.

"Sorry, Shelbs. If I got locked out again, I might scream, and I didn't want to risk you not knowing the next riddle." Dreamz explained on the other side.

"Rude- I always answer it eventually! It just takes a while." Shelby urged in a hushed voice.

"Well, I don't feel like waiting. Lemme know what you find." Dreamz said, before Shelby could hear her waltzing back off to the dormitories.

"Oh, this is bullshit." Shelby grumbled, and went to the address the bronze eagle knocker, before a hand grasped her shoulder.

Now, she didn't even consider that the hand might belong to a teacher, or worse, Mr. Filch, but still, she turn and swung, punching Alfred right in the chest.

He gritted his teeth in an effort not to shout out in pain. "Damnit, Shelby, why would you do that?" He strained to keep his voice down.

"Why would you grab me? What are you even doing here?" Shelby demanded, attempting to shake away the numbness in her hand.

Alfred rubbed his chest. "I came to see you. I heard you haven't been sleeping very well."

"And how did you know I was going to come and see who was at the door in the middle of the night, when no students are supposed to be up." She hissed.

Alfred blinked. "I... Didn't think that far ahead." He admitted with an abash smile.

"You got lucky, getting all the way to the Ravenclaw tower without getting caught. You think you can pull that off a second time?" Shelby continued lecturing, her voice harsh as she whispered.

"I... Didn't think about that part either."

Shelby sighed, rubbing her temples, before turning back to the door.

The beak of the bronze knocker began to move. "Imagine yourself in a dark room. How do you get out?" It questioned.

Shelby paused for a few moments. "Stop imagining." She decided after about 5 seconds.

"Well done." The eagle complimented, and the door creaked open slightly.

"Whoa, that was quick." Alfred stated as Shelby opened the door further.

"Trust me, they can get a lot harder. We got lucky." Shelby muttered, grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside.

"Whoa, dude, I can't sleep here. I'm supposed to sleep in the Gryffindor dorms." Alfred urged, resisting slightly, but the door still shut behind him, sealing him into the airy common room.

"Yeah? Well, you're also not supposed to walk around the school in the middle of the night, but you showed up at my door." Shelby grumbled.

She guided him to one of the lounge chairs and motions to it. "Here ya go."

He blinked anxiously. "But dude, what if someone finds me in the morning and tells Professor McGonagell. You know how much trouble I'll get it?"

"I don't know what to do about that Alfred, it really seems like you can't avoid trouble, to be honest." Shelby snapped, now becoming irritated. 

"Can I sleep with you?"

"Wha- ABSOLUTELY N-"

Alfred cupped his hand over her mouth and winked. "I'd knew you couldn't resist." He chuckled.

Shelby yanked his hand away, her face flushing madly. Luckily, it was too dark to see it. "You- I- GAH! You're too much, Alfred. Too much." She seethed, grabbing his hand and leading up him to the girl's dormitory. "You better hope Dreamz and Thaovy are asleep, and don't wake them up."

She opened the door the room quietly, and peered inside. It seemed that both other Ravenclaws were fast asleep, but Shelby knew first hand how easy it was to pretend. She put her fingers to her lips, signaling him to keep quiet. She climbed into bed, leaving half of it open to Alfred, who climbed in as well.

"Goodnight." He whispered, a giddy smile stretching his lips.

"Whatever." She grumbled, turning her back to him.

"What an interesting turn of events here in the Ravenclaw tower. Virgin Mary herself, Shelby, seems to have fallen victim to primitive urges of lust. Her partner? None other than the seductive Alfred F. Jones." Dreamz's voice recited in a mock-announcer fashion, waking Shelby from a deep sleep.

It took a minute for her to collect what ever the hell Dreamz was saying, before she realized she was spooning with a certain Gryffindor.

She gasped, lurching up, which in turn, caused her to fall face first onto the ground. Alfred sat up in alarm at the disappearance of warmth in the bed, revealing a shirtless torso. "Shelby?"

"WHY ARE YOU SHIRTLESS?"

"I got hot, dude! I never sleep with my shirt on!"

"I bet that's his excuse for his pants too." Thaovy muttered to Dreamz.

"WHAT? YOU TOOK YOUR PANTS OFF?"

"Shelby, keep your voice down! I did not take my pants off!"

"Shelby, your shaking really bad." Dreamz pointed out, the joke forgotten as she suddenly became concerned at how violently the brunette was shaking. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She whispered. "I just have to collect myself. It's too early for this."

Thaovy shrugged. "At least you got some sleep last night."

Shelby blinked in realization as she tried to calm herself down. She actually had slept last night. For the first time in weeks.

She glanced over at Alfred, who met her gaze and matched it with a smile.

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I know in the books, the different years sleep in different dormitories, but there's only 3 girls in the Ravenclaw house, so, yeah.