CHAPTER 4: Nightmares (Still Hermione)
I awoke to screaming. I looked around, got up, and headed out the door. In the hall I bumped into Luna, who was running at a fast pace. "Who's screaming?" I asked in a concerned tone "I don't know, but I think it's Charles!" she hastily explained. Sure enough, when we opened the room to his door he was shivering violently, screaming, tears coming from his eyes. Luna then began silently sobbing as she sat down on the bed, waked him, and tried to comfort him. She hugged him and whispered words into his ear, this however, did not calm him. "Here, I'll try" I said uncertainly, I sat on the bed and Luna stood up. I grabbed him, put his head on my shoulder, and rubbed his back in gentle soothing circles. At first, he seemed uncomfortable because he barely knew me, but eventually he accepted the comfort. Slowly, he shivered less and less violently until he completely fell asleep.
"I'll make some tea" I said as we closed his door, I walked down into the kitchen, found a kettle, poured in some water, added chamomile leaves and put it on the stove. I walked into the pantry, found a small tin of biscuits and put a few onto a small plate. Luna who was waiting at the table was still silently crying. I sat down, "Sorry about that, he's had occasional night terrors ever since mom died" she said sadly "It's quite alright" I explained "I just hope he's okay" "The only person who could ever calm him down was dad" Luna explained. "Hermione?" she said unsurely, "What?" I asked, trying to cheer her up "I need your help" she said, still sobbing, "Charles clearly has depression, and I think the only person that can make him feel better is you..." "What do you mean?" I asked "You remind him of mom, and your the only other person he knows who's been tortured by Bellatrix" she said in the most hopeful tone. "So what do you want me to do?" I asked "Please just spend time with him and try to help him get over the torture" she begged. Our conversation was interrupted by the squealing of the tea kettle. I got up and poured two small cups of tea and grabbed the biscuits I had arranged earlier. I set down the tea and biscuits and sat down. I sipped a bit of my tea and said "I will" "Really?" Luna chimed. I simply nodded. "Thank you!" Luna yelled. The rest of the extremely late tea time was spent silently sipping and crunching.