He awoke feeling...
Rested, which meant they'd been asleep for too long. Michael couldn't say how much time had passed, but it seemed to him like it had been night for a while. When he opened his eyes, he could see that the younger students had fallen asleep around them as well.
"Daph." He shook her shoulder a bit and she grumbled, but stirred. Eventually the grumble turned into a short whimper of pain. Michael glanced over and noticed she was examining her palms. In the dark, he couldn't see the extent of the damage.
A moment later, she sat up, and a moment after that, he heard her say "Lumos." Again, she examined her hands. They'd scabbed over by then, but had cracked a bit when she'd moved them. Still, they didn't look too bad. When she was satisfied, she turned around to Michael, who was just sitting up. "You were s'posed to wake me up in five minutes."
"I was asleep," he answered, looking around and noticing that the other two groups were now sprawled out on the ground around them as well. A couple people were sitting awake not too far away, watching them. Michael couldn't tell who they were in the light of the wand, but it didn't much matter. Eventually, Terry spoke up.
"Since you two are awake now, do you mind taking the next watch? Mackenzie and I have been sitting here for a while. We haven't slept yet."
Daphne rocked forward until she was kneeling, and doused the light. It was probably a bad idea to keep it glowing for too long, anyway, Michael thought. The problem was that his eyes now had to readjust to the dark. "That's fine," he said. "Who hasn't had a turn yet?"
Terry stood up, though Max just sorta flopped back where she was sitting. "We were the first watch," Terry said, looking upward. "Been about three hours since the sun went down, but I'm not entirely sure. Hermione's over there..." He pointed to people as he rattled off names. "Seamus... Colin... Wayne. I don't recommend putting Colin and Wayne together, since... Well, it would be safer if they were paired with someone who better knew what they were doing."
"Right," Daphne said, standing and stretching. "Well, if we each take three hours, then we can just move out after that. I'd rather have Finnigan and Granger on watch together."
Michael nodded. He didn't entirely trust Seamus, but he'd rather have i him /i on watch than Wayne. At least Finnigan was a member of the DA, and knew what he was doing.
"Whatever you want to do," Terry responded. Michael stood and offered him a smile, though the quieter of the two Ravenclaws didn't return it. It was easy to see how exhausted Terry was.
"Get some rest, mate," Michael said, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder before following Daphne a bit away from the group. She sat down on the crest of a small hill, and he did as well, squinting toward the glow he could see in the distance. It was just lighting up the sky enough so that he could tell that was where the town was located.
"We'll make it there tomorrow," he said, leaning against Daphne. Nodding, she leaned back, quite heavily. "You have to stay awake, you know."
She nodded, but Michael didn't think she was listening, so he shook her a little for good measure, and she sat up again. It might be easier for both if he could keep her talking until she was awake enough. His mind returned to the dream he'd had... What was it? Just a night prior, though it seemed longer now. Daphne had mentioned having a dream, too. Something that bothered her. He couldn't outright address it, and so he said casually, "I didn't dream at all just then. Must have been sleeping pretty deep."
"Me neither," she replied, leaning away from him for a moment to stretch. Of course, he had known for quite some time now that Daphne was the mistress of obliviousness, so it didn't really surprise him that she missed his subtle prodding. In some ways, he appreciated the fact that you did have to come straight out and tell her things—it felt honest somehow—but Michael's strengths lay more in subtlety than in straight-edged Gryffindor-esque turns at the bat. It was almost a matter of contingency between them.
He contemplated the moment he realised this might pose a problem. It was just after that attack on the Leaky Cauldron, and he was sitting in the hospital wing with her, and she was fine except for a slight concussion. The healers had said she'd be fit to go to school in time to catch the Hogwarts Express. He'd been worrying for days—because it was days before the mediwitches decided to let non-family members in to see anyone—to the point of being ill. He'd still be dating Cho at the time, and his friendship with Daphne had been a continued source of strife between them. However, she hadn't said a thing when he visited Daphne near daily in St. Mungo's. She'd even asked a few times how the other girl was doing.
And Michael had felt torn like never before, because he had come very close to losing Daphne in the rubble and smoke, and the understanding hit home with more force than ever before that he just couldn't let her go. So he'd sat with her, joking about the gifts various people sent and telling her in a hundred different ways, and she never heard even once.
He still, of course, hadn't mustered up the courage to talk about how he really felt, despite the fact they had been dating for a few months. He'd figured on them having more time… Thinking about that brought him back to the dream, and he rubbed his eyes briskly, though he thought perhaps he'd prefer it if it were his ears that he kneaded free of debris, because that was the worst part of the dream: her lost, frightened voice calling for him and not knowing that he was already there. He took a shaky breath and realised she was staring at him.
"You all right?" she asked, leaning forward to peer in his face, as though he were an injured hippogriff.
He shrugged, pushing himself to his feet and starting to pace. It was May, but it was still cool at night, and right now he felt more than ever the lack of robes and jackets and other accoutrements that would have warded off the dew-laden chill.
"Fine," he replied with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets and pausing to stare into the trees. He heard her sigh behind him. "It's really nothing."
"I didn't dream either just then," she replied, sounding somehow much more wavering than usual. He turned just slightly to glance at her face in the moonlight. Did she catch his meaning after all?
"Oh?" he asked, returning to sit beside her once more.
"Yeah. I... probably still would have been asleep last night if it hadn't awakened me."
Michael waited for her to go on, but she didn't at first. He'd been in the castle, too - asleep in the Ravenclaw common room. It had only been for a while, really, and he'd only gone there to look around a bit. After all, he was allowed to be nostalgic once in a while, too. He'd fallen asleep on the floor next to the fireplace, and awakened hours later.
"It wasn't a pleasant dream," Daphne continued, remaining seated and staring toward the moonlight reflecting off the pond. Her voice was almost drowned out in the distant sound of the waterfall, and Michael had to lean in closer to hear her. "Woke me up after a while, and that's when I..." She smiled up at him, though Michael didn't find it a very pleasant expression. "...Ran into you."
He sat down again, still cold... His clothes were still a bit damp from earlier. "I had a dream, too." She looked interested at this, and again, Michael had to marvel a bit at her obliviousness. Why would he have brought it up at all if he hadn't had a reason to? Then again, she'd mentioned it earlier. He could have been curious or something. He knew very well that Daphne wasn't dumb... Perhaps it was all a show. Maybe she really did know all this stuff she was pretending not to. "Yeah, it wasn't very pleasant, either."
Daphne shrugged a bit. "Well, you brought it up, so... Why don't you tell me about yours, and I'll tell you about mine."
Damn Slytherins, Michael thought to himself, but he had to smile. Quite manipulative, when they wanted to be. He was trapped now.
"Well, if you're sure," he started, leaning back on his palms. It was uncomfortable nearly immediately with his bare palms in the cool, wet grass, but he decided to use the discomfort for his focus as he began to tell his dream. He wished she'd lean on him or something, because he found it hard to get the dream started with her just staring up at him expectantly... Not feeling her, well, it was like this might be the dream--even with the stinging dew under his hands--and the dream his reality, and that thought made him close his eyes and take a deep breath, as though in pain.
Because it did hurt to even consider. Finally he dropped his head back and stared at the starry sky. "I dreamt we were in this car--yes, the Muggle sort--and there was an accident." His voice was shaking slightly, but he was still nonetheless surprised by how even with that, he sounded calm. "We ended up in a Muggle hospital, and... I was there with you," a little less calm now, "but you didn't know it... You thought you were alone, I think, and..." He voice cracked slightly, but he took another deep, reconciling breath and continued. "Well, I cast the Silencing Charm on you, and you knew I was there, at least..." he trailed off, hoping she wasn't this oblivious, because he couldn't make his mouth say the words 'you died' aloud, because saying morbid things in wicked times was bad luck.
It wasn't until after he was finished that she leaned on him, her hands folded in front of her. It was a little uncomfortable for Michael, but he let her remain, mostly because the idea of her closeness was reassuring him that she was still there.
"Strange," she said, "how dreams like that stay so clear. Usually I forget them after a while."
He was a bit suspicious about how well she was taking it. Maybe she didn't get it after all... And because of the way she was sitting, he couldn't see her face. Couldn't read her expression. He was about to prompt her for some sort of reaction when she started talking.
"The dream itself... Well, it was after. But I remembered what it was like. I think that makes sense. Like, I was in the dream, but I had all these memories. I remembered being in the Great Hall, and you were there because you were waiting for me... That's what I imagined, anyway. And later, I was so mad because people could cry and I couldn't. Then I saw the thestrals." She chuckled a bit at that point. "That's why I woke up, because I knew I could already see them, and in the dream, I was seeing them for the first time. I didn't know if it was a dream of a vision. That's why I had to find you."
It was eerie. That was all that he could seem to come up with for several long moments. She shifted against him, leaning her cheek to his chest, as though she was very inconspicuously checking to make sure his heard was still beating. He moved a little, too, putting his weight on his right arm so that he could cradle her head with his left.
"So... You dreamt I was while I was dreaming you were..." he said after a moment, surprised that he was a little hoarse. He hoped he wasn't getting sick.
"Seems so," she replied softly, and she sounded maybe a little rough, too. He wanted her to say, 'I'm scared,' because he couldn't. He straightened then, bringing his other hand up to wrap around her back and lay flat down, drawing her down with him. She made a sound of protest, but after a moment, her shoulders relaxed, and she let her head drop back down to his chest. Her hair spilled out, tickling the dip of his throat, looking like a black blanket in the darkness.
Neither said anything for awhile, both just staring off into space and listening to the quiet sounds of squirrels and rabbits and the like moving around the forest, and the turtle paddling around the pond. He wasn't sure how long they'd remained like that before her heard footsteps behind him, and he craned his neck to see Mackenzie approaching.
"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" he asked his former Housemate. She smiled wearily and sat down beside them cross-legged.
"I tried, but I couldn't."
He wasn't sure if Daphne had drifted off, or if she was just pretending, but she didn't move or greet Mackenzie, and it seemed unlikely that she would remain in such an intimate position if she was acting (or was) conscious.
"I was in the hall after they took Ron," Mackenzie said out of the blue. "Anthony grabbed my arm, and he shoved me out the door." He looked up at her, and saw she was tracing patterns in the grass and looking a little choked up. "I was so scared, I just did what he told me. He said to go hide, and then he ran off after Harry... Luna and Neville and Ginny were already chasing after him. There were still Death Eaters in the hall. I started to chase after them, but I guess the Apparating barrier was down, because they all just disappeared... And I could hear people screaming, and I couldn't think I was so scared. I just hid. I'm sorry."
So Anthony was alive then. Or, at least he was... who knew about now? It was comforting to hear someone talk about him, though, because it made his other best friend still alive in Michael's mind. He knew better than to appear comforted now, however, since Mackenzie seemed so distressed.
He played with Daphne's hair a bit as she rested, still trying to figure out if she was sleeping or awake. They were supposed to be keeping watch, after all... Not that he'd really fault her for sleeping now. After a while, he looked back up at Max, searching his mind for something to say. He wasn't the best at comforting people, and neither was Daphne, really. In fact, he was almost glad she was sleeping, because Michael knew that she frowned on cowardice. In Max's case, though, she might hold a double standard. The two were friends, after all. "I don't really much believe in fate," he said eventually.
Mackenzie stopped playing with the grass and looked at him. "I don't... I don't follow."
"Well..." Michael very much wanted to sit up but he didn't want to disturb Daphne. "I don't believe in fate. Like... I don't think what we do is pre-determined by something. But I think that things happen for a reason." He paused, looking away at the stars. "I think Anthony said something like that once. He was gonna play by his own rules because he'd only live once. It was so corny, but he was right."
Max smiled a bit. "Yeah, I've heard that before."
Michael reached out and patted her hand. "Hey, cliches are cliches for a reason, right? It just means that they're true." He was quiet for a while, then sighed. "It was pretty bad then, huh?"
She nodded. "It happened pretty fast. I just remember everyone panicking and Harry was just kinda there and I think even some of the Slytherins were..." She looked down at Daphne. "...Well, it was like there weren't any Houses anymore. It would have been nice if it wasn't for the situation."
"Daphne and I were walking around the castle. We were attacked. Stunned." What he didn't say was that they might have been able to send up a warning had they been paying better attention. That may or may not have been true. Michael himself was undecided in his career and Daphne was a veterinarian. Neither of them were exactly Auror material, even if Michael did envy them. "When we got back to the castle, that's what we found."
Max thought for a moment on this. "I wonder why you weren't just--" Her eyes widened as she stopped herself from saying 'killed.' "I didn't mean... I was just..."
Daphne didn't move at all, but she did speak. Clearly. So she hadn't been asleep after all. "He was trying to tell us something. Messages. Death Eaters love messages."
Michael frowned down at her. He didn't want to admit that he didn't understand the message this time. She didn't sit up, though, continuing to lay with her eyes shut. His hand paused on the crown of her head again, and he hoped that she was going to add something to that, but she didn't, just sighing in a way that wasn't particularly content.
Mackenzie drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and propping her chin. "You know what's funny? Clare Rivers went with them, too. I don't know why."
"Rivers?" Michael asked, and Daphne sat up at that. He, too, sat up after a moment, feeling a little stiff. "She went with Potter?" Or the Death Eaters? He wisely left the last part out.
Max nodded, chewing her bottom lip. "A lot of people went," and it was obvious that she was saying, 'I should have, too.'
In truth, the reason Michael wasn't Auror material was because he was similar to Mackenzie on that point. He was afraid of losing anyone. He was afraid of dying. And so it stood to reason that he would rather stand back while people like Potter ran around suicidally. Of course, if it was a matter of protecting his friends, it wasn't impossible to force his hand, but still...
Daphne was silent, obviously deep in thought, and he wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, because there were a lot of mysteries between them lately, and he didn't like it at all.
"Mackenzie, if you'd gone with them, we wouldn't have had you here. Probably a lot of the people with us would have been a lot worse off if you hadn't been here to heal them."
Max lifted her chin from her knees and smiled at him gratefully.
"It's nearly dawn," Daphne said, breaking into the moment. "Mikey, why don't you sleep? Max and I can watch until everyone wakes up."
He shrugged, lying back again with his arms crossed behind his head and noting the pale fuchsia streaks crossing the sky. He knew he couldn't sleep, but he thought that perhaps he could try... And maybe he might actually get to hear what was on Daphne's mind if she thought he was asleep. Perhaps there was a little Slytherin in him, too.
A long time passed where Michael saw and heard nothing. Daphne was waiting for him to fall asleep, he decided, and wondered if she was watching him. Eventually, he allowed his breathing to fall into a rhythmic pattern. He wasn't sure if Daphne bought it or not, but she did start talking.
"Do you feel up to talking a bit?" she asked. Michael noted that she was speaking in that tone she used when she was fighting to keep a conversational tone. She knew something. Max must have nodded or something, because Daphne continued. "I'm going to ask you about a few people. If you don't know, just say so. If you do, tell me what you know. What happened to them."
"Alright," Max said."
Daphne went through a whole bunch of students. Some of them, Michael didn't recognize. Others he did, and he had to fight to remain 'asleep' with a couple that Mackenzie reported as dead. They'd all seen the bodies in the Great Hall, but it had been dark...
Among the dead were Stella Fawcett of Ravenclaw, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley of Hufflepuff, Blaise Zabini of Slytherin, and Parvati Patil of Gryffindor. Michael was vaguely surprised that Daphne knew some of the names... Then again, they were all seventh-years. It made sense. People that have gone with Harry included a surprising number. It gave Michael a bit of hope, especially to hear that Pansy Parkinson had gone along as well. Then, Daphne asked about one person that he'd been pondering over for a while.
"Do you know what happened to Draco Malfoy?"
Michael opened one eye a bit, noting that both girls were turned away from him. Max was playing with her hair a bit, which meant she was nervous. She never had liked being on the spot. Finally, she spoke. "He was there. I saw him in the Great Hall."
"You can be honest, Max. I need you to tell me what he did." This seemed to be the whole point of the conversation. Asking about Malfoy.
Max nodded. "He was taken, after Ron."
Daphne, too calm, asked, "Did he struggle?"
"Yes. He did."
Daphne nodded again, then without turning around asked, "Did you get all that, Mikey?"
Michael opened one eye. He didn't feel like answering. Stella was dead? It made him feel empty. She was always so alive. How could it even be remotely possible that she would not be? He closed his eyes again, taking a shuddering breath. He'd seen a lot of people die recently--people in his House, in his year, friends... But somehow it felt like an important inner wall had been smashed to hear that Stella was dead.
At last he spoke, his voice sounded strange even to him. "And what about Cho?"
Daphne stiffened visibly, but right then, he couldn't really worry about it, because he was still numb with shock over Stella, and if Cho was dead... It didn't bear thought.
"She went with Harry," Mackenzie replied. "She left just after Draco Malfoy was taken."
He stood up then, dusting himself off. "I'm just going to take a walk. See if I can't find us something to eat." Normally he would have been curious about what it was Daphne knew, but right now he just wanted to be alone. If Stella could die, then anyone could, and that meant Cho and Anthony... and Daphne. "You two should probably start waking everyone up. I suppose after we've all eaten Granger will have us on the move again." He turned and walked towards the forest, feeling more exhausted than he'd felt since the advent of the Second War.