The sky was beginning to darken again, daylight slowly ebbing away and taking with it the comforting warmth that had managed to keep him awake through the day.
Fulbert was exhausted. He hadn't slept a wink that night, or the night before, or maybe even the night prior to that. He usually managed a few hours in the silence of the early morning when he knew no one bothered to venture from their cozy beds. The sounds of banging and screaming that seemed to fill his house ensured that there was no possibility of sleep for him until those sounds disappeared into silence.
Silence was just as terrifying as the haunting sounds though, because it usually meant that there was something dangerous nearby, that was what his mother had always told him anyway. Fulbert had seen it as true during the few times his mother had managed to convince him to help her in the forest nearby. Silence was ominous. It was the fragile warning of nature that quickly gave away to the cold stillness of death. Fulbert had seen several young animals lose their lives because they had not been able to understand the silence.
He never ventured into that forest anymore. His mother had disappeared into it and never returned several years ago, and his mother had been one of the most cautious people he knew. She always cast more protection charms and spells than were absolutely necessary, but she had always been ready for anything as a result. She had been pessimistic to the very bone, but even that hadn't been enough to outmaneuver whatever had taken her away.
Fulbert had learned from her, except he used more protective enchantments than even she had, improving and refining all the tips she had ever told him. The house he lived in was layered in as many enchantments as he had managed to get his hands on. The enchantments were so thick in the air it always felt like everything was just that much heavier. His mother's magic still lay beneath all the layers of his own since he couldn't bear to part with that last piece of her.
A large yawn took Fulbert by surprise, his eyes drooping slightly before he yanked them open again. He couldn't allow himself to fall asleep now. He needed to know what he needed to protect himself from, so he could send an owl out to order a book on that.
Still yawning hugely, he shuddered and stumbled backwards as a howling sound similar to that of a werewolf filled the air, followed almost immediately by a terrified wailing sound.
Heavy footsteps approached the door and Fulbert froze. He had heard that sound in his nightmares, on the odd occasion he managed to sleep, extremely often. It would explain the werewolf sound too. The entire thing was straight out one of his nightmares, except it couldn't be a nightmare because he was still yawning so hard tears often left his eyes.
Fulbert grabbed his wand, body not only moving much slower than he was accustomed to but also feeling much heavier than was pleasant.
There were wards to keep all sorts of dangers out. The hunter and werewolf should have been kept out: they were one of the first things he had warded his house from. They were already inside though, and there was nothing else he could do about that except pray to Merlin that he survived this and was able to add higher power enchantments.
Fulbert stumbled his way into a corner, sliding down to hopefully make himself less of a target. Although, considering they were in his house, they were probably looking for him specifically.
He whimpered at the thought.
The corner felt strangely comfortable and Fulbert could feel his body relaxing nearly to sleep. He was fighting that feeling with everything he had spare from the nightmare that was coming to life. His body was becoming leaden with exhaustion but he couldn't allow himself to sleep yet.
The door creaked open slowly, making the action seem more menacing than it should have been. Fulbert felt his horror grow as he noticed that it wasn't a hunter standing by the door, rather an unhappy clown with two long knives with a shiny red substance glinting off the blade.
A whimper left his mouth, and he quickly covered it, dropping his want which clattered on the floor ominously. The clown looked Fulbert's way.
Still struggling with eyelids that were fluttering shut every few minutes with longer and longer intervals between each time his eyes opened, it seemed like the clown was moving at an extremely rapid pace. The growling of the werewolf seemed to be strangely distorted to his ears.
It didn't matter.
He was sure he was going to die. He had done everything he could to try and prevent it, but his eyes were no longer even opening completely and his body simply refused to put any effort into moving.
The last thing Fulbert saw before sleep captured him was the large looming form of a murderous clown standing over him with his pet werewolf growling.
Fulbert woke to the late afternoon sunlight hitting his face. He was still curled up in the corner he had his badly timed nap in, but he was unharmed like the previous night had never happened.
He would still be adding those wards though, better safe than sorry.
AN: If you're curious as to what actually happened, the werewolf and clown were two boggarts that were haunting his house :)
Note: Fulbert the Fearful was too afraid to actually leave his house. He died from a defensive charm backfiring. That's canon. I wrote this as a hypothetical reason for him adding another defensive charm.
Written for Bot-Battles Challenge: Falling asleep at the wrong moment
Triwizard Tournament Round 3: Fulbert the Fearful