Written for The Houses Competition
House: Slytherin
Position: Muggle Studies
Prompts: [Time (of day) ] Early Morning
Drabble/Standard: Drabble
Word Count: 812
Mornings In Rome
The ground was saturated with the normal silver dew, but on this particular morning didn't constitute any variation of the statement. Early mornings were, quite frankly, a nuisance. Having to be pulled from a lovely dream to wake up at this ungodly hour was akin to being burnt alive at the stake.
Eyes watery from the bright light of a new day, body aching from twisting and turning all night, it was astonishing how anyone could be deterred from closing the blinds and tossing the covers over themselves.
To put it simply, Adrian Pucey hated mornings.
He was awakened by a singular thought that pulled him from a dream where he stood in the middle of a room laced with white and black furnishings. Frowning, and in a desperate attempt to finish his dream, he closed his eyes tightly but the faint light coming from his window would not allow such a luxury. He never had been able to sleep when there was any light in his room - he needed pure darkness. When he finally succumbed to the call of morning, Adrian sat up and combed his fingers through his hair. His tired eyes burning just from the lack of sleep, he couldn't imagine what the sight of the restless night would do to his exhausted body.
Standing cautiously, he slipped on his slippers and proceeded to the damnable curtains. Behind them stood his oldest foe, the sun.
Being nocturnal, he wasn't opposed to getting rid of the only source of light the earth had.
However, there was one positive thing that came from waking up so early.
Adrian turned around, finding the curly mass of hair belonging to his adoring wife poking from beneath the lush bedsheets. As much as he despised waking up early, he found on those days he could witness something more precious than any sunset could provide — the resting face of his wife of seven years.
Some days, the light filtering through their thick curtains would cast a beam of light directly on her face and provide that ethereal glow that no amount of anticipation could extinguish. Adrian lived for these moments where her hair was plastered to her face, where drool trickled down her cheek and the bed sheets were so wrinkled she would have easily been mistaken for a slithering octopus set ablaze by the burning light reflecting off the surface of the sea.
Waking up had become a mistaken ritual.
His body was so attuned to hers that most days he found it easy.
However, that did not alleviate the internal turmoil posed by such a phenomenon.
"What time is it?" she would ask, her voice cracked and dry.
With a smile, he would always reply, "Go back to bed, love," in hope that in her tired state she would listen to him and give him one more moment to savor.
This morning was just the same as all the others.
His wife stretched her limbs until they were limber and buoyant. After all these years, Hermione still amazed him with her ambiance. As the wife of one of the twenty-seven, she carried herself in a way that most Pureblood women could only dream of.
"What time is it? " she asked, rubbing her eyes.
Adrian smiled and snickered, "Go back to bed, love."
They'd gotten so used to asking what time it was that they hardly bothered asking what year it was.
"You know very well we can't do that, Adrian," Hermione attempted to get out of bed but was unsuccessful.
"Why should we," he asked playfully. "You know, we could use it again… I wouldn't mind waking up seeing you resting so peacefully beneath our sheets. Maybe as King and Queen of some forgotten world so unlike our own. It's the only reason I get up in the mornings nowadays. Besides, last night wasn't so bad, either." He winked at her and laughed when she slapped him with one of their pillows.
"Do you realize the serious ramifications we'd face using the time turner, not to mention the paradox we'd create," she asked, her voice shaking. Adrian could hear the laughter in her voice. He knew she found him irresistible and charming. "You're not the brightest Slytherin, are you?"
"I am the most charming." He grinned. "Hermione, they never asked you for the time turner back… and I know just how much you like history. We could use it and actually see it all for ourselves. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Something lit up inside of her eyes and he knew he had her.
"As unbearable as mornings are," he began, tucking her to his side while he looked up at the ceiling, "waking up beside you, no matter where we are in time, is something I'll always cherish. Now, get dressed so we can bum around in ancient Rome for a while."
