Title: Insomia
Author: poshantagonist
Rating: G
Disclaimer: The almighty and powerful J.K.R owns the Harry Potter series, granting her the supreme possession of characters, places, events, plots, etc. found in the series. I, a frustrated writer wanna-be, own nothing. However, in this little story I cooked up characters such as Alexa and the teddy bear named Einstein are mine. The plot itself is mine. Nevertheless, these still aren't enough to pay the lawyers and such if and when you decided to sue me, so, I, again, claim nothing as my own, for Jo owns them and soon she will be rich enough to buy the whole galaxy, including our highly adequate planet Earth.
Warnings: Nothing major.
Word Count: 1, 400
Author's Note: This is my first completed attempt at writing a fan fiction. Please do excuse my lack of experience. This story was written between 12:30 and 1:20 AM as a result of a little problem called insomnia. A big thanks to my wonderful and awesome beta, savepureness.
Summary: Hermione can't sleep.
Hermione threw the blanket over her head, infuriatingly burying herself deep under the covers. Everything was still for a minute or two; then she began to fumble once more. She lifted her head from under her pillow and looked pointedly at the digital clock on the bedside table. 11:52 PM, it read. With this, she gave an exasperated sigh and switched her position to a fetal one.
Almost three hours had passed since she had first lied down on her bed, trying to get some sleep, but her efforts proved to be fruitless.
Again, like a worm bathed in salt, she tried to find the right position, shutting her eyes. However, she was still awake, no matter how hard she tried.
This had been going on for a few nights now: getting little to no sleep at all and waking up with dark circles around her eyes. While her friends were concerned, her colleagues would tirelessly tease her on the imaginary late night romp she was supposedly having.
She gave up. She switched on her lamp and flinched a little. Automatically, she half closed her eyelids to protect her eyes from the sudden burst of light. Once she got used to the brightness of the light, she got up from her queen-sized bed, and made her way to the desk on the far side of the room, where a big brown leather bag was neatly perched. She rummaged in her bag until she found what she was looking for. In her hands was a shabby old book whose front cover showed a man and a woman sitting in the middle of a field, looking at something on their left; on the bottom part of the cover it read 'Wuthering Heights' in pink cursive font. Satisfied, Hermione walked once more towards her bed, sat down, opened the book to where she had last marked it and started reading.
Having quite enough of the foolishness of Heathcliff and his deep desire to avenge himself on all those who had wronged him, she, once again, looked at the clock on the table beside her which, in its own annoying and peculiar way, seemed to be coaxing her to get some rest, but was also mocking her for her incapability to do so. It now read 12:37 AM in bright red bold numbers.
"This is ridiculous", she muttered to herself. She placed the book down on the table, switched off the light and, for the umpteenth time that night, she closed her eyes and rested her head on the pillow, hoping to finally get some rest.
When she was just about to doze off, Hermione awoke at the sound of a faint knock on her door. In her half-asleep mode, she looked at the thing irritably. What now? This better be fucking important or else someone's going to get it. The offensive thing opened slightly to reveal the head of a young girl, no older than five. She had soft curly blond hair and warm gray eyes with the tiniest flecks of blue.
"Mommy, I can't sleep", the little girl said in a pout, stepping fully inside the room.
Hermione's expression softened. She got up and moved towards the tiny girl in her flannel pajamas and a tattered brown bear in tow.
"Come here, baby", Hermione said sweetly. "Mum can't sleep either."
The little girl simply nodded, her curly hair bouncing by every movement.
The mother and her daughter made their way towards the big warm bed in the middle of the room and settled themselves under the covers. They were lying there for quite a while, each still in a state of insomnia. Then the little girl broke the silence.
"I miss Daddy, Mum. When will he come back?"
Hermione, who was gently and lovingly combing the girl's hair with her fingers, stopped and looked down at her daughter, amber eyes meeting the innocent gray ones.
"I miss Daddy too, princess. But Mum doesn't know when he's coming back", she replied with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Why does he have to leave, Mum?"
"Because Daddy promised that he will make the world a better place for Mum and his little princess. "
"How will he do that?"
"Honestly, I don't know either; but I do know that when he is finally done with making sure that the world is safe, he will come back and we will finally be whole again", Hermione answered with the tiniest tinge of bitterness in her voice that even she was not aware of.
"Mum—?"
"Honey, Mum is tired now. Maybe we can continue this tomorrow morning?"
But she knew that this was a lie, for she was not a least bit tired.
"Fine then. But one last question, please? Please, please, please, PLEASE?" the little girl asked pleadingly, looking up at her mother with a puppy dog pout. Hermione sighed and laughed a bit at the silliness of the girl by her side.
"Alright", she said, feigning annoyance. "Last and then we go to sleep."
The girl beamed and Hermione looked amused.
"Mum, do you and Daddy love each other?"
This question took Hermione by surprise. How can such inquiry be coming from a little girl who was barely six years old? She really was her father's daughter. These were the spunk and the inquisitiveness that she had obviously inherited from her father, while her thirst for knowledge and determination she had got from both her parents. This child was a wonder, and she would surely achieve great things. Her father, Hermione's fiancé. She looked down at her left hand; on her ring finger sat a beautifully made silver band with a simple princess-cut diamond situated in the middle. She sighed. They were going to be wed, but when the war broke out and the situation they were in became more severe, he had left. He had to. He didn't even get to see their beautiful daughter born, who was such a spitting image of her father. He promised he'd be back, though. He swore that he would personally see to it that, when he would come back, they could live peacefully together, as a family. The wedding they were both dreaming of would happen. He had promised her that, and, until that moment, after almost six years, she was still holding on to that promise. Hermione was pulled out of her reverie by a slight tug at her long brown curly hair.
"Mum?" said the girl, looking up at her mother expectantly.
"Oh. I'm sorry, baby", she replied, pausing for a moment. "Yes, love. Your father and I loved and still love each other very much." She smiled sadly at the little girl who has been her companion for nearly five and almost a half years. "Alright, go to sleep now."
"Good night, Mum. Good night, Einstein. Good night, Daddy, wherever you are", said the little girl, each time giving a kiss to her mother, the ragged teddy bear and finally flying a kiss to the presumed whereabouts of her father.
The two were holding each other lovingly when sleep finally consumed them, unaware of the blond haired man with steel gray eyes hiding silently in the comfort of the dark. That man had been waiting in the shadows offered by the plants and trees, obscuring the sight of him from the owner. He had watched the whole scene unfold before him and finally, in barely a whisper, uttered:
"Good night, Alexa. Good night, Hermione."
His palm pressed lightly against the cold glass of the door that separated him from his ultimate happiness. He looked longingly at the two forms asleep on the bed, his daughter and his wife-to-be.
However, this was not the only thing Hermione and Alexa were unaware of. They were also oblivious of the fact that, the next day, when they would wake up, they will be met by the news that the darkest wizard of all times has been defeated by Harry Potter and the grueling war was finally over.
They were also ignorant to the fact that, the morning after the next night, both the mother and the daughter's desire to finally have their family completed would, at long last, come true.
But, that night, the two slept peacefully and soundly, both still innocent and unaware that their lives would change forever in the coming few hours.