Chapter Twenty-Two
Nightmares
Bear and Kerry physically picked Ferris up out of the chair he'd spent all afternoon in, and Kerry took a firm grip on him while Bear stole his seat. Ferris fought Kerry as he started to lead Ferris away with a strong arm around his shoulders.
"Let go! What are you doing?"
"I'm taking you to the Great Hall for dinner," Kerry said in a tone that did not invite argument.
Ferris was not in the mood to listen to the tone, and definitely in a mood to argue. "I'm not going anywhere! What if she wakes up?"
Matt pulled a chair over beside Bear. "We'll be here," he said calmly. "We can watch her long enough for you to get dinner."
"But . . ." Ferris looked back and forth between the three of them as he realized they'd planned this as some kind of rescue mission and sprung it on him. "I don't want to leave her."
Matt got up again. Kerry was not good at this sort of thing. "She won't wake up, Ferris," he said cautiously. "Not until the professors figure something out."
"But she might."
"So we'll be here if she does."
Ferris clenched his jaw, causing the chin that exactly resembled his siblings' to jut out at Matt. "This is my fault. I should be here."
"How is this your fault?" Kerry asked curiously, still holding Ferris tightly to prevent him from returning to Letty's bedside.
"You think I don't know what's going on? Everyone knows it has to do with my family." Ferris looked at Letty with tears in his eyes. "I should have left her alone. I shouldn't have—"
His voice broke. He sagged in Kerry's grip and Kerry was suddenly holding him up instead of restraining him.
"You didn't know," Matt said. "You didn't know this would happen. It's not your fault."
That just made Ferris look even more miserable, but he allowed Kerry to lead him out of the hospital wing and down to the Great Hall, where Davis and Trevor were waiting to force-feed him, if necessary. Matt returned to the chair he'd set up beside Bear, who was sitting very still in front of the only other girl in their year. She watched Letty's face as it twisted in distress while she slept.
Matt put his hand on Bear's forearm, which was tense and corded with her abnormal amount of muscle. "Bear, relax," he said softly, a little alarmed.
She shook his hand off. "Sorry."
"Why are you . . . you look like you're getting ready to punch her."
The muscles in her arms jumped. "Not her."
"Well, the one who did this to her isn't here," he said, his voice still soft and soothing—the way he used to talk all the time, when he'd been so shy. His kidnapping last year had made him realize he was strong in his own way, and he'd gotten better at making himself heard. But with Bear, he didn't have to act like one of the guys, like Kerry or Trevor. He was just Matt. He didn't have to be talk tough or loud, because Bear already knew him better than that.
"I know that."
"You can't fight this curse with your fists, either."
Bear growled at him. "I know, Matt."
"I wish you could," he said.
"That would be a little easier."
"No, I just wish you had something you could do. I know it scares you that you can't fight it. I wish you weren't afraid."
Now her eyes left Letty to look at him in surprise. "What?"
He gave her a sickly smile. "You're never afraid of anything. It just scares me to know that you are."
She sighed through her nose, a noise of frustration and worry. Her eyes flickered back to Letty. "We're all afraid, though. Even your dad, Matt."
He sighed, too. "Yeah. At least now we know—sort of—who might be in danger."
"All the Forsythes' friends are running away from them. Faith is even quitting the Quidditch team. Except Ferris. You guys are sticking with Ferris. Why are you doing that, Matt? Aren't you afraid?"
Matt was afraid, just like he'd said a moment ago. Kerry and Trevor and Davis, much as they liked to bluster about it, were scared, too. But Matt's words when they had talked this afternoon, while Ferris was alone with Letty in the hospital wing, had convinced them to channel it into defiance. He repeated them for Bear.
"Fear can't keep me away from him. I won't let anyone intimidate me into abandoning my friends."
"Why do I get the feeling that Basil tried to talk you out of this?"
Matt smiled a little. "Basil always uses his brain first. But he's in on it, too."
"He is?"
"Well, Diane Kilburne is trying to stay as far away from Felicity as possible. He didn't like to see Felicity so alone anymore than we liked seeing Ferris like this. Basil said if the Gryffindors were planning to throw themselves in front of a speeding train, he might as well join the fun. He and Milt are going to take care of Felicity. If she lets them, anyway."
"What do you mean, if she lets them?"
"Well, Basil tried to talk to her after class today, and she ran off screaming to leave her alone. She knows it's dangerous to be friends with her. You notice she and Faith haven't been in here to visit their friends at all? I think they're afraid whoever's using the curse will come do something even worse."
Bear looked over the four students laid out and moaning. She shuddered. "I don't think there's anything worse than this."
Matt watched them for a minute. All four of them were afraid and in pain. The only thing that could end that was to regain consciousness, and they couldn't do that. It was like drowning, knowing that air was only inches away, but a hand holding your head under the water denied you that life.
"I think you're right," he muttered. "This is . . ." He shivered.
Bear slipped her hand into his. They kept vigil over the students until Professor Thumbley came in, escorting Hestia. The girl sat beside her brother's bed and watched somberly as Thumbley cast the spell that would reduce the nightmares for a little while. Hestia would stay until Professor Malfoy came later to cast the spell again and escort her back to her dormitory. Matt and Bear had Thumbley escort them back to Gryffindor Tower, unwilling to walk the corridors without an adult if they could help it.
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"Gah!" Matt yelped, throwing back his restraining bedcovers and gasping for breath. "Whew." He rubbed the burn scar on his neck, knowing it had faded a lot over the years, but was still there. It was always a reminder of the darkness in his past, and he looked in the mirror as rarely as possible. He ran his hand through his hair—much shorter than it had been at Christmas, his mother had trimmed it for him—and tried to calm down.
"Matt, are you all right?" one of his roommates whispered.
"Yeah," he whispered back. "Just a nightmare."
His nightmares had been rare, since his kidnapping. Something about seeing Max Cross fall before his wand had changed him, had driven away a lot of the fear. He wasn't just a little kid sitting helpless against any possible danger, not anymore. But once in a while, there was still that vision of flames, the body of his birth mother . . . he shook his head to get rid of the images.
"At least you can wake up," the voice whispered again sullenly.
"Ferris, what are you doing awake?"
"I can't sleep."
"What's wrong?"
Ferris let out a choked, hysterical giggle. "Nothing, Matt. Everything's just ducky."
"No, I just meant . . ." Matt sighed. "Can I help?"
"No."
"They'll figure it out, Ferris. They'll find something they can do, they'll wake everyone up. I know they will."
"It doesn't matter," Ferris said dully. "Waking them up won't stop it."
"I'm sure they'll discover who's after your family, too," Matt said. Actually, that would probably be the easier part. "It'll be over soon."
"Maybe you're right. Maybe someone will figure all this out and put a stop to it. This is a nightmare."
"The nightmare," came a growling voice from near Ferris, "is that I can't sleep in my own bed at night because of all the bloody noise."
"Oh, shut up, Kerry," came Trevor's voice. "None of us are sleeping so well, anyway."
"Speak for yourself," Davis groaned. "I'm with Kerry. Will you all shut up so those of us that want to sleep, can?"
There was a sort of collective groan around the room.
"Fine, come on, Ferris," Matt said, getting up out of bed.
"Where are we going?"
"To the common room, so these whiners can get their beauty rest."
"Won't we get in trouble?" Ferris object, nevertheless following him out of the room and leaving Kerry, Trevor, and Davis to their sleep.
"With Professor Malfoy? Please. He's the biggest softie I've ever met."
"Matt, I wonder if you have any idea how incredibly ironic it sounds to hear you calling Professor Malfoy a softie."
"Yeah, well . . ." Matt grinned. "Okay, maybe it is, a little."
Ferris shook his head in disbelief. "How do you deal with that? I mean, really?"
"With what?"
Ferris rolled his eyes. "With your incredible intelligence and good looks, Matt. The girls must be all over you." He smacked Matt on the back of the head. "With having Draco Malfoy for your Head of House. After what he did to you."
Matt shrugged. "That was a long time ago. He's not the same person."
"But it still happened."
"Yeah, and I still have dreams about it," he reminded his roommate in annoyance. Would people ever let this go? They were as bad as that awful Carthy woman! "But why should I think about it all the time? Professor Malfoy is really good to me, to all of us. He has a hard enough time letting go of what he did, why would I make it worse on him?"
Ferris sank down into a chair in front of the dead fireplace. Matt used his wand to rekindle a few embers and put on a log that sat in the basket beside the hearth. "Yeah, you're right. He's definitely not like that anymore." He stretched out his bare feet toward the fire. "But the person who's cursing people right now . . ." His face, constantly flickering from light to dark by the dancing firelight, was angry. "Do you think they deserve a second chance?"
"I don't know," Matt said calmly. "It depends on why they're doing this and if they can change. I hope they can."
Ferris snorted. "And you think the professor's a softie?"
"Matt, while I am not altogether surprised to find you in the common room in the middle of the night, I'm a bit surprised that you've started bringing your friends in here," a voice said behind them.
Ferris and Matt both jumped up and turned around with wands in their hands.
"Professor, we were just talking about you," Ferris joked nervously.
"While I'm sure I'm very flattered, is there any particular reason you couldn't talk about me in the morning, or in your beds at the very least?"
"We were keeping the other guys awake," Matt said.
"And now you're keeping me awake. Lovely."
"Almost as lovely as the detention we're going to get," Ferris guessed at Professor Malfoy's exhausted and annoyed expression.
"Well, since I am such a softie, perhaps not. Assuming you have a really great reason to be up in the middle of the night."
"I had a nightmare," Matt said in a low voice. "And Ferris was already awake." He almost hated having to tell him. He didn't like reminded the professor of his nightmares.
"I was just . . ." Ferris was remembering his reason for being awake. "Just worried. About Letty." The tears in his eyes glittered in the firelight.
Professor Malfoy came further into the common room, and Matt smiled under the guise of a yawn, covering his mouth with his hand. The man was fully dressed and his hair smoothed back, obviously trying to look like he hadn't leapt out of bed in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten to put on his eyepatch. The gruesome gaping hole in the side of his face detracted from the overall impression of composure he was probably going for.
"Is something funny, Matt?"
"Kind of gross, actually, sir."
The professor frowned, realized Matt was looking directly at his face, and his one eye opened very wide. His hand crept up and touched the other side of his face, realizing what he'd forgotten.
"Shit," he muttered. "Sorry, boys."
Ferris had his head cocked to one side. "Ow," he winced, studying the old injury. "Your face looks sort of smashed right there."
Professor Malfoy rolled his good eye. "How very odd. I wonder why."
Matt giggled nervously.
Ferris gasped, remembering. "Sorry, sir." Then his expression became very solemn. "You must have nightmares at least as bad as Matt's are." His face darkened even further. "I wonder what Letty's dreaming about."
Professor Malfoy sat down in front of the fire, indicating that Ferris and Matt could sit with him. He looked really, really sad. Like he did when he was thinking about his past.
"I'm sorry I can't do any more for her," he said quietly. "I wish I could."
"Everybody wishes there was something they could do," Matt said. "Nobody blames you, sir. We all know there isn't much to be done."
Ferris was silent.
The three of them sat in front of the fire without speaking until the log was a pile of ash, then they wordlessly returned to their beds. Praying that the nightmares would leave them in peace for the few hours of night they had left.
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Well, things are going to pick up speed rapidly from here, the story is getting very close to the climax. I'm debating whether or not to post several chapters at once, or continue the one chapter per day routine. I know with the fall term of school in session, some of you might not have time for multiple chapters. If you have a preference, let me know! I shall try to be accommodating.
Also, I'm going to continue to pimp my short story, A Supplication For a Forgotten Soul, because I'm proud of it. Check it out!
