The room was filled with an awkward silence, disturbed only by the sound of her fingers tapping against a mahogany table. Clarisse didn't even know why was everyone forced to be here, but the tension filling the air made her feel as though she got stuck in a tiny can with a bunch of stinky fish. She knew that translating the book had been crucial, but she was more than prepared to deal with it on her own. In private.

There was no way of telling if Mr Corrick Leighton would be able to translate the damned book on the spot, which made her doubts even more serious. What if translating it would require a bunch of other ancient books, which the French Ministry obviously didn't possess? She could see literally no point in awaiting Leighton's arrival in that stuffy conference room, with Aedan's annoyed gaze fixed on her, with Mark's broad smile mocking her irritation and with Harry's chocolate frogs jumping around. Her boss didn't make things any better, as he kept muttering to himself from time to time, gracing all of them with annoyed glances, followed by even more muttering. Fabre was nowhere to be seen, yet again, but this time he had a very good reason. Apparently, France had more than one killer on the loose.

"Could you please stop doing that?!" Finley spat angrily, looking at her drumming fingers and Clarisse smirked.

"No," she replied and kept tapping her fingernails against the smooth surface of the table.

"Do you want me to stun you?"

"No, I want you to shut up." Her voice was sweet and innocent, but it didn't seem to fool anyone.

"One more word and both of you are going to be stunned," Deschamps growled and looked towards Potter, who seemed genuinely amused by everything that was happening in the room. "Auror Potter certainly agrees with me."

Harry looked around and cleared his throat, his smile gone in a blink of an eye.

"Oh, absolutely. It's very immature. You should stop with all the bickering, it's not helping our case at all."

Clarisse stopped drumming her finger, leaning on her elbow instead. Her gaze was fixed on Potter, while her mind tried to get a hold of his words. That man… He was nothing like she expected him to be and it made her even more curious about his actual skills. If she hadn't known any better, she'd say that Harry Potter was clumsy, awkward and well… quite adorable in his shyness. Was he even real? How did he manage to defeat Voldemort acting like that?

"Did you seriously kill Voldemort?" she blurted out before she could stop herself and her boss covered his eyes with his palm, clearly distraught by her stupid question.

"Um… yes?" Harry's reply came in a question and Clarisse frowned.

"How? Did you poison him with a chocolate frog?"

Okay, sleep deprivation really wasn't a good thing. She couldn't even tell why the hell would she ask something that ridiculous, but there was no going back, even after she realised how stupid she sounded.

"No, I kind of duelled him and won," Potter said, blushing a bit.

How old was he? Ten?

"That's very impressive," she said and her gaze flicked to one of the chocolate frogs lying on the table. "Can I have one of those?"

Harry nodded, looking at her with amusement, while Mark giggled lightly. Why were they laughing at her? Potter ate a bunch of those sweets and no one had a problem with that. She shrugged it off and captured one of the frogs.

"Blimey, that's good," she muttered with her mouth full and Aedan snorted, clearly disgusted. "And your problem is…?"

"Clarisse!" her boss growled and she glanced at him with raised brows. "Are you drunk?!"

She blinked a couple of times and looked at the package with another frog inside.

"Why? Are they spiked?"

As soon as she closed her mouth, her boss stood up and took out his wand, waving it in her direction a couple of times. She frowned, not knowing what to do. Was she supposed to defend herself?

"Clarisse…" Ludovic's moan sounded in to room, as he sat down with disbelief shining in his eyes. "When was the last time you slept?" he asked and she bit the inside of her cheek.

Oh, so he was diagnosing her. That was a relief.

"Today," she lied with a smile and he sent her an angry look. "Or was it yesterday?"

Deschamps kept glaring at her, making her realise that she won't lie her way out of this.

"Fine. I don't really know. I think I developed some kind of an insomnia."

"You think?" Aedan asked, surprising her with his unusually worried tone. "Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

Clarisse scowled and opened another frog, stuffing her mouth with it, before it was able to escape its package. She hoped that her temporary inability to speak would shift everyone's attention elsewhere, but it turned out that her fuzzy mind was wrong once again.

What was she supposed to say? She was having unexplainable nightmares every time she closed her eyes and even the Sleeping Draught didn't help. The Mediwizards would simply call her crazy, and what was even worse, they would tell her mother.

"I'm fine, really," she shrugged and everyone sighed simultaneously.

"No, you're not," Potter said quietly and looked at her with worry in his emerald green eyes. Were they always so pretty? "I know what's it like… I had a fair share of insomniac nights in my life. You're anything but fine."

His voice sounded completely different from his usual cheerful tone. For the first time since she had met him, she started to understand that he really was that war hero. Maybe Clarisse wasn't able to pretend to be happy and positive all the time, but she worked with Jacques on daily basis. He was her source of good energy, keeping her sane. Maybe Potter simply decided to be that source for everyone else? Maybe he wanted people to associate him with someone bright and cheerful, even if a little weird, rather than with a scarred war hero?

"You should go home," Ashworth agreed and smiled gently. "Watching you is quite amusing, I admit, but you're not going to be very helpful in that state. I can go with you if you'd like," he offered and Clarisse looked down to her fingers, which were now covered in chocolate.

She didn't want to go home. It meant nothing else but lying in her bed, praying not to fall asleep, as those terrifying scenes kept playing over and over in her tired brain.

Suddenly, she felt someone's presence in her mind and she looked up to see Finley staring at her intensely. Clarisse didn't even know why, but she let him slip through her weak barriers. Maybe she didn't have the strength to fight? Maybe she simply didn't care enough to stop him.

After a moment, he broke the eye contact and shook his head.

"I'll go with her," he said, surprising everyone once again. "I know nothing about Ancient Greek, so I'm not going to be of any help as well. I'll put her to bed and I'll come back."

"Do it," Clarisse's boss ordered in a stern tone, not letting her speak.

"But…" she tried to protest, but no one wanted to listen to her.

"That's final, Clarisse. I won't let you work in that state. It's not only dangerous for our case, but mostly for you." Deschamps clearly had no intentions of changing his mind, so she scowled and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, anger boiling within her body.

"Come on," Finley muttered and grabbed her elbow, forcing her to stand.

"I'm not disabled," she hissed and pulled her limb out of his grasp.

She stormed out of the room, not bothering to say her goodbyes. People described her as mean, stubborn and sometimes a bit arrogant. Even still, they never called her stupid. Clarisse had a reason to show up at work. Why couldn't they respect that?!

"Stop acting like a child." Finley's voice reached her ears and she stopped abruptly, causing him to almost bump into her.

"I'm not. I just can't go back home!"

"Because of the nightmares?" he asked, his tone quiet and she looked away, shame visible on her face.

"Why do you even care?"

Aedan snorted and shook his head with amusement.

"I said I didn't think women are tough enough to work as Aurors. Forgive me for saying this, but the way you're behaving right now seems to prove my point," he said and sighed loudly. "I never said that I don't have a heart though. I don't get off from someone else's misfortune."

Okay, that was shocking. She honestly didn't think that the man standing in front of her even had a heart. He called her names, he kept mocking her every chance he got, he… He was simply infuriating. What was he playing at?

"Funny thing, it certainly seemed so," she scoffed and crossed her arms at her chest. "After all the nasty stuff you've said to me, I'm surprised that you even know what it's like to act decent."

"Clarisse, shall I remind you that you returned the favour completely?" he asked and quirked his eyebrow. "You're equally nasty and I still think you're a hag. It doesn't mean I enjoy your suffering."

She was sure that if it hadn't been for her lack of sleep, she would have found something clever to say in response. But, unfortunately, her mind refused to cooperate, so she stood there in silence, avoiding his gaze completely.

"Come on. We can talk once we're at your house," Aedan finally broke the silence and placed his hand on her shoulder, pushing her to go forward.

At that exact moment, Jacques appeared at the corridor with Mr Leighton walking right next to him. Clarisse didn't need to be well rested to see, that her friend looked completely baffled by her sudden proximity to Finley, after she had spent hours bitching about him.

She didn't even know why she felt so ashamed by this entire situation. It wasn't like Finley had done something intimate. He had just pushed her forward. Besides, even if he did something intimate, why should she be worried about it? Jacques was only her friend, nothing more. That one single moment of weakness they shared didn't prove a thing.

"Riss!" her friend greeted her with a weird smile. "What are you doing here?"

It didn't escape her attention that he forgot to acknowledge Finley's presence and the Irishman seemed equally disturbed by it.

"Um… I'm not feeling well. I think I'm coming down with something," she lied through her teeth and forced a smile, hoping that Finley would keep his mouth shut.

"You don't look so well, Auror Bouchard. You should take better care of yourself," Leighton spoke up and Finley looked at her completely surprised. Oh, that's right. He didn't know about their previous encounter.

"Mr Leighton, I suppose?" he said with a smile, extending his hand towards the new comer. "Auror Aedan Finley."

"Oh, you're a professor, aren't you? Students talk a lot when they come to Hogsmeade!"

"Yes. Although I'm not a very good one recently. Too many things of greater importance to be dealt with," he smiled and looked at Clarisse out of the corner of his eye. "Speaking of which, we have to go."

Riss felt the urge to blush, as she stared at the corridor behind them with stubbornness. She didn't need to look at Jacques to know that he was eyeing her with suspicion, just as she knew that both Aedan and her friend wanted to establish some kind of dominance over her.

Merlin, how she hated working with men sometimes…

"Yep, I'm going," she muttered and stormed off, not waiting for any of them to go after her.

"Get well, Auror Bouchard! I'm looking forward to working with you!" Leighton's words reached her ears, but she was too busy to answer.

She had to get away from them. As fast as possible.

Her house greeted her with nothing, but silence. She was surprised that she had decided to come here, even after she told Finley that it wasn't an option. Maybe finding herself in a quiet place was all she needed?

Still, something about that peaceful place seemed weird. Was it even possible, that those few nights filled with nothing but nightmares had forced her to completely change her view of her own house? She should feel safe here, shouldn't she?

Clarisse took a few steps forward towards her small coffee table, which was completely covered by various books and papers. She sat down on the couch, letting her eyes roam over the tittles absentmindedly, while her tired brain worked hard not to fall asleep.

How long could she keep doing it? Maybe facing her mother wouldn't be so bad, after all? Eugenia loved her, even if she had never appreciated her life choices. She wouldn't leave her without help, that one was sure. But what if she simply wouldn't be able to help her? What if Clarisse was destined to have these nightmares till the day she died?

Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door and she jumped to her feet, clutching her wand with desperation. A moment later, Finley walked into the room, not waiting for her to answer the door, making her baffled and irritated at the same time.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, still pointing her wand in his direction.

"I told everyone that I was going to walk you home. I don't want to get fired, because you ran off like a psycho."

She didn't. She just had had enough of that stupid conversation. There was nothing wrong with that.

"I had to run off. Jacques happens to be my best friend. He knows about my… problems. He wouldn't be happy that I'm still having them," she muttered and finally lowered her wand.

"I presume he told you to see someone about them?"

"He might have," she admitted reluctantly and plopped down on the couch once more. "It's just not that simple."

"Yeah, right. It's probably much more difficult than forcing yourself to stay awake for three days straight," Aedan mocked her and she offered him a glare in response. "What are you, stupid? Do you want to kill yourself?"

"Right now? Yeah. At least I wouldn't have to listen to you smothering me," she replied and closed her eyes with annoyance, only to snap them open a second later.

She was too tired to even blink without risking falling asleep.

"Clarisse…" His sigh sounded in the room and he walked up to her, crouching down to face her. "Go to sleep."

"What for? I'm going to have another nightmare and I'll wake up after an hour or two, even more tired than before. Been there, done that. There's no point in even trying," she answered and shook her head.

"There's always a point in trying."

"Oh, look at you, so wise and mature," she scoffed, making him irritated as hell, judging by the sudden tension in his jaw. "You don't know what's it like."

"Are you seriously this stupid? I've had nightmares before, you know? But I sure as hell didn't torture myself because of it."

"Staying awake is not a torture. Reliving that same dream over and over is."

"Then take a Sleeping Draught!"

"It's not working!" she exclaimed and rubbed her forehead frantically. "Don't you think I would have tried that as soon as the nightmares started?!"

Aedan fell silent for a moment and then placed his hand on her knee, forcing her to look at him with suspicion.

"I used to have a lot of nightmares. I dreamt of my father's death, I dreamt about all those monsters he had to face on daily basis. My father always told me to toughen up, to clench my teeth and simply survive, but it wasn't simple for a ten year old kid to do that," he said quietly, while Clarisse kept looking at him, completely baffled. "My mother, though… She was always there for me. She used to hold me through the entire night, making sure I was okay. It was stupid, but I actually believed that as long as I was lying in her arms, nothing could have hurt me."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked after a moment of silence and Aedan averted his gaze, slightly ashamed.

"Because you don't have to be alone today. I can stay with you. Maybe it will help you, just as it helped me."

She almost laughed at his statement, but he was completely serious. Clarisse actually found herself at loss for words, not knowing what to do about his offer. Was he even that same person that walked into her house? Because the man she had known didn't act so tenderly and… caring.

"Aedan… Are you alright?" she managed to choke out after few minutes of silence and he sighed, getting up from his crouched position.

"You know what? Forget it. Just go to sleep. Nightmares or no nightmares, you're in no shape to work," he said and started to walk towards the door.

"Wait!" she muttered, before she could have thought it through.

He stopped in the middle of her living room and turned around, his face tense from the anticipation. Clarisse felt her cheeks heat up and she averted her gaze towards the coffee table.

"Stay. I'm probably barking mad, but stay."

"Yeah. You're not the only one who's mad…"

An awkward silence filled the room and Clarisse felt the need to escape it as fast as possible. She stood up, making sure to move slowly as though she didn't feel so freaked out and looked at him with a crooked smile.

"Um… I'm going to take a shower. Make yourself comfortable, I guess," she said and turned around, walking away towards the bathroom.

The shower did nothing to soothe her raging heart. Why on Merlin's pants did she agree to something so ridiculous?! She wasn't a child, she didn't need someone in her bed to scare away the monsters living in her closet. Sharing her bed with anyone felt intimate and she was sure as hell that she didn't want to get intimate with Finley.

"What the fuck, Riss?" she muttered to herself, while the water kept streaming down her naked body.

It must have been sleep deprivation. That was the only logical explanation, considering the fact that earlier that day, she had asked Harry Potter if he had really killed Voldemort. She was out of her mind and she needed to get it back. Fast.

Clarisse walked out of her bathroom and found Finley lying on her bed, his Auror robes draped over a chair right next to the wall. His shoes, socks and jacket were gone, making him dressed in nothing, but a plain, white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. He was reading a book –one he must have found on her coffee table- and didn't even notice her arrival at first. Or at least so she thought.

"Never took you for a romance lover," he said with amusement and looked up, his gaze sliding over her figure.

"I'm not. Those books are rather funny, you know." She shrugged and shifted uncomfortably.

Was she supposed to simply walk up to her bed and lie down next to him? Oh, Merlin, this felt so, so awkward. Finally, she decided that no matter how long was she going to stand there, nothing would change. Things would still be equally awkward and she would still want to at least try to have some sleep.

A second later, she crawled into her bed, covering herself with her soft sheets. Finley tensed for a moment and then wrapped his arm around her silhouette, bringing her closer to his body. She tried to ignore his warmth and his scent, which turned out to be much more pleasant than she assumed.

"This is so, so awkward," she muttered into his shirt and felt his chest shake with a quiet laughter.

"Shut up and sleep. We're going to get back to our normal selves later."

"We better."

Or else being a Seer won't be the craziest thing in my life, she thought to herself and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.