James Potter couldn't sleep. It was everywhere – burned into his mind for ever more, tainting his soul with its ugliness – and for the life of him, he could not remove the image of his abused and beaten cousin from his person long enough for slumber to claim him.
A soft sigh and the body curled up next to his clutched his shirt tighter, a frown crossing her features. James absently ran a hand through her hair. If Rose was the most of his concerns, Esmerelda certainly wasn't the least with the way she'd been acting all week. Distant, quiet and distracted; she hadn't been herself since the 'trip' home and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what to do about his two favourite girls.
Sighing, he slumped lower on the sofa, tightening his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. It had been his idea to do this anyway. He'd noticed the steadily darkening shadows underlining her eyes and asked her to come study with him in the warmth of the Gryffindor common room, knowing he might be able to let her sleep as she was now; homework still incomplete but finally asleep.
Suddenly, she began to fidget, the frown deepening. "Not James.." she whispered. "Not my James...not them...no.."
James frowned and pulled himself up, shaking her gently. "Wake up, Elly. It's just a dream."
Esmerelda continued to toss and squirm restlessly, still muttering the same words with a frantic desperation in her sleep until, finally, much to James's slight relief, she sat up wide awake with a scream.
"Oh! You're okay," she managed to choke out before pulling him into a crushing embrace.
James awkwardly patted her back, feeling unsettled by her reaction to seeing him. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly, brushing her hair away from her face when she'd finally loosened her grip on him.
Esmerelda looked down, not meeting his eyes. "It..It's nothing, really. Just a nightmare."
A snort was the initial response to her statement before he put a hand under her chin and tipped her head back to meet her eyes. "What did I tell you about lying the other day?"
"They want you," she blurted out, not able to stop herself when she finally had someone to confide in about the horrors. "You didn't see Rose, James. You don't know how horrible it was. And they...he, my father, he threatened you. And Hugo and your siblings."
She looked into his eyes, hands finding solace in clenching in his shirt again. "I'm not losing you to that bastard, James Potter. I won't let him take any of you."
James let out a strangled chuckled and pulled her back into the crushing embrace. "Esmerelda Nott, you fool, I'm not going anywhere without a fight, okay? And I'm here if you ever want to talk about it. Or if you want anything else.."
Esmerelda laughed when he wiggled his brows at the last statement and kissed him, once but pouring everything she felt into that one union of their mouths. "I love your stupid self," she whispered.