Chapter 23 – More nightmares and a crow in the tree

The darkness was surrounding her. It was closing in on her. No light was to be seen. She was inside a whole lot of nothingness. There was no clue as to which way she should turn forward to escape. Suddenly she heard someone whimper. It was heart wrecking.

"Aquila?" her voice echoed. The sobbing stopped and she tried to remember which direction it came from. Then the screaming started. Low at first, gaining more and more volume. It sounded just like her daughter. She had to rescue her, but she couldn't find the source. There was nothing but darkness and echoes around her. She was unable to move, afraid to go into the wrong direction.

Hermione woke up screaming from the top of her lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears flowed anyway.

She had been sure she could get a grip on her life if she followed her plan. As long as she had a plan everything should work. Hermione had been able to learn, eat and live as long as she followed it. It had been her anchor, because she had always known her brain was her best resource. Now she wasn't sure anymore. She kept seeing shadows in the hallways, night by night her subconscious mind plagued her with nightmares and worst of all, she had betrayed nearly every friend she ever had. Ginny was right, she needed someone to talk to, but she was afraid to show them just how damaged she really was. She wanted to be strong, confident and reliable, but she had to admit defeat.

Meeting Draco and trying to get back what she had lost had failed her. Most likely it had even made things worse. And while she acknowledged her own failure, the voice in her head finally shut up, because yes, she knew better than continue on her desolate path.

Tonight there would be no more sleep for her until she cleared her head. Like so many nights before she got up and dressed to walk the ground until the worst of her nightmares were gone.

XxX

"It looks like we always meet up in the middle of the night Hermione." a deep voice greeted Hermione from behind. It scared the hell out of her, and she swirled around with her wand drawn and a nonverbal spell in her head. When she spotted Luna behind her she drew a deep breath and let it out again to compose herself before she answered. "Good evening Luna. I'm sorry, I didn't hear your approach."

The taller woman laughed and smiled good natured. "No offence taken. You are a war hero, so I understand your reaction. At least you didn't curse me and next time I know I'll have to be more careful."

Hermione was sure that she had used a spell, but it looked like she had missed, something she was grateful for. She didn't want to hurt a Professor, especially if they were to work together soon. Professor Sprouse was a bit odd, but always polite towards her. However she would need to work harder again, and practice more. Something like missing her target could be deadly.

"The Headmistress told us you are taking an exam to be a Professor soon." Luna asked as if she had read Hermione's thoughts.

While Hermione told her about her upcoming exam they walked through Hogwarts. It made Hermione feel calm and normal to talk about academics with someone who understood her and even commented from time to time. The younger woman had an excellent schooling with a totally different approach than they had here in Hogwarts.

"A shield charm is mostly covering the front, so attacks from beneath or behind can still hit the opponent." Professor Sprouse introduced when they talked about defensive spells.

"Most spells are going straight towards the target, so that's hard to do, isn't it?" Hermione asked her while she thought about the new insight.

"But if I summon something that is right behind him, it would knock him down if it's big enough. Or I could levitate something over his head and use the opening once he turns. That's brilliant Luna!" Hermione's eyes were sparkling. She wasn't bad at conventional duelling, but Harry had always been better than her. His magic had simply been stronger than hers. With small things like that she would be even better at duelling, even if it was a rather Slytherin thing to do. Attacking an opponent from behind wasn't really fair play, but Hermione had long far gone fairness for staying alive.

Stepping into the Courtyard Luna smiled back at Hermione and then looked around.

"Just give me a second to give a new friend of mine some food." she asked her companions and went towards the trees. Intently Hermione watch her approach a crow that sat alone in the trees. As if knowing someone neared, it opened its eyes and watched Luna alert with intelligent eyes. Luna placed something on the bottom of the tree and then went to join Hermione again.

"He isn't a pet of any of the students and he is here since winter started, so I feed him." Luna offered some information. "I always had some odd connection with those birds."

They watched in silence when the crow flew down from his tree to pick at the apple and the meat Luna had left for him while keeping looking their way.

Continuing their walk without talking Luna kept looking for students out after curfew while she hummed a low smoothing tune and Hermione let her thoughts wander. After they bid their goodbye later that night Hermione fell into a deep dreamless sleep until the next morning.

Thanks goes to Eva who encourages me every week with her sweet words that come along with a betaed chapter. Also thanks to you dear reader for the favorites I get every week.