The coals in the common room languish long after midnight, but it's just her now. She can't sleep these days, hasn't for months now. Ever since her parents died.
She can't handle the nightmares.
She hears a sound behind her. Sees his bespectacled eyes peering at her.
"It's a little late don't you think, Evans."
"I got homework."
He nods, but she knows he's not impressed.
And then the tears come and she's not sure why.
Somehow, his arms wrap around her shoulders, his thumb grazing her neck.
And it feels so comfortable, so right, that she cries even harder.