[Chapter Ten: Night Terrors. Edited.]

We were sitting in the common room on the lounge by the fireplace. By 'we', I mean Hermione, Harry, and Ron. My friends – I have those. It was approaching midnight and we were almost the last ones in the room, except for a few fifth-years who were huddled in the far corner, undoubtedly trying to finish their ridiculous amounts of homework.

"So your first match is against Slytherin?" I asked through a massive yawn making the end totally unintelligible. I was sure it sounded like "So your first match is against dmjfiomsgnmtgijrin?"

Harry understood what I said, much to Hermione's astonishment.

"Yeah..." He said and trailed off into thought.

"You're going to be fine, Harry." With that, I fell off of the lounge.

"Go to bed." Hermione pulled me up, walked me the entire way upstairs and directed me towards my bed. "Oh! Quidditch through the ages! I'll give that to Harry!"

I was asleep before she walked out the door.

I blink, hardly able to see in the darkness. I'm in my bedroom – the basement. I can hear distant laughter. It's mocking, scathing.

My parents are before me, staring down at me, wands raised.

"Crucio!" is snarled in unison.

The pain is unbearable. I feel my tears rolling down my face. I hear a scream, which is coming from me. It doesn't cease. I can't breathe.

"Willow!" I awoke in a cold sweat, feeling sick. My vision was blurred, but I recognised the voice as Hermione's.

"Should we get Professor McGonagall?"

"Is she okay?"

"She looks kind of scary."

I didn't know where I was. I tried to speak but felt a lump rising in my throat.

The door opened and closed, "Girls, what's happening in here?"

"It's Willow, Annabeth!"

"Go get Professor McGonagall, Lavender. Now."

"Why was she screaming?"

"I don't know."

I was drifting between the sleep and wake. I could still hear my parents laughing.

Crucio!

I gasped for air.

"Girls, what's going on?" I recognised professor McGonagall's voice.

"It's Willow. Professor...I don't know what happened..."

"She was screaming...I thought she might have been having a seizure."

"Malfoy? Can you walk?"

I tried to answer but failed.

Crucio!

This time I heard myself screaming. I felt myself lashing around.

"Anna, could you get these girls some cocoa and back into bed?"

"Of course, Professor."

I could feel myself floating – and then nothing.

"Miss Malfoy?"

I opened my eyes. I lay in the hospital wing, in the bed overlooking the grounds. My whole body was aching.

"Miss Malfoy?" Professor Dumbledore, from the seat to my left, gazed at me over his half-moon spectacles. I looked at him. "Are you feeling any better?" I didn't answer. I didn't know. "Willow, what happened?"

"I-I saw my parents...they...they..." I stopped. I didn't want to incriminate them. I loved them. I couldn't tell him the truth. Ever.

"What did they do?" I couldn't tell if he was curious or genuinely cared.

"I can't remember."

"Willow?" His voice seemed concerned. I was shaking.

"I'm okay," I lied. He knew. I knew he knew. And he knew I knew he knew. I knew that he knew that I knew he knew.

We sat in silence for a very awkward few moments. He stared at me, trying to find the truth while I looked away. Madam Pomfrey walked over and gave me something purple and bubbly which she called 'dreamless sleep', and it worked wonders.

I woke up the next morning feeling like I barely shut my eyes. At the same time I felt like I had a perfect sleep. Weird.

"Ah, you're awake." said Madam Pomfrey, spotting me from across the room. "Feeling better?" I nodded. "You should be out by tonight...unless something else happens..."

I was bored out of my mind and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. I needed to move. I would have cleaned bedpans – I didn't care. But I was supposedly bed ridden. I observed a third year, whom had received extensive burns to his hands from a portable fire he tried to conjure.

"But I saw some first years doing it!" he argued.

"Were they trying to carry it in their hands?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"No...They had it in a jar."

"Hmm," She gave him the sternest look I'd ever seen.

Lunch finally arrived, as did my friends.

"Willow! How are you feeling?" asked Hermione. I could still see remnants of last night's fear in her glossy brown eyes.

"Better!" I smiled.

"Are you going to be out for Quidditch tomorrow?" asked Harry excitedly.

"I'm supposed to be out tonight." There was a moments silence before Ron asked the question that I really didn't want him to.

"So ...what happened?" Asked Ron curiously.

"I –" I was cut off by Madam Pomfrey. She chased my friends out. I'd never been more thankful in my whole life.

I was released at the end of last period and had a choice: A) go to the last twenty minutes of potions or B) go bludge in the common room.

Common room it is.

The common room wasn't empty so I went the whole way upstairs for a shower and to change. I didn't look at my reflection, I couldn't. I headed down to dinner early and reserved some seats by the far end of the table, away from the teachers. Eventually, I was joined by Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"God, I'm starved, I hope they have some decent food tonight," complained Ron as he slid into the seat next to me. Hermione and Harry sat on the opposite side.

"You didn't miss much today. I wrote it all down and got two copies of homework, one for you, one for me," said Hermione excitedly.

I truly was blessed.

"Thank you, Hermione."

Whether they'd discussed it or not, I wasn't sure, but my three friends were going to wild lengths to make me laugh. Fred, George, and their friend (whose name, I discovered, was Lee), joined us too, and they were all very loud, and I had never laughed so hard in my life. I wasn't meant to laugh – if my father knew, my fate would have been much worse than my nightmare – but I couldn't help myself. They were too funny. It had turned out Lee had won forty galleons by betting that Professor Quirrell would announce something dramatic at Halloween – Quirrell had told the school about the troll. The boys were planning to spend the money on different pranking supplies.

We wandered back to the common room after the others ate dessert, still laughing. I tripped up the stairs, but Harry caught me.

I looked at him – really looked at him – and was a little bit struck by their bright shade of green. They really were beautiful.

"Thank you, Harry."

"Your eyes..." he frowned at me.

"What about them?"

"They look the same... Does anyone else in your family have green eyes?"

I shook my head and we started walking up the stairs again.

"None of them have red hair, either. I'm an anomaly."

"There is nothing wrong with that," Harry smiled at me and I returned it.

He then helped pull me up through the portrait hole, sensing that I was less coordinated than my usual self (which was not very coordinated to begin with).

"I'm going to bed," said Harry "Quidditch tomorrow!"

We all ended up going to bed early, and I was wishing with everything that I wouldn't dream that night. I guess the wish worked, because I didn't dream. Admittedly, I didn't sleep, but I didn't dream, either.

I decided to make a start on my potions homework when three o'clock loomed. I flicked through my textbook, before finding a page with the corner bent on it.

Bloodroot Potion

Allows the user to have a peaceful sleep. Prevents the physical aspect of violent nightmares.

How odd...

It seemed like the perfect solution – I just had to learn how to make it.