Clarke Torry wasn't one to sleep in or well in general, his dreams always turned into nightmares. His first night at Hogwarts was plagued with nightmares, so it wasn't surprising to him when he woke up covered in sweat, his heart pounding in his chest. With a shaky breath, he pulled off his blankets and slipped out of bed. He scurried into the bathroom and washed his face with ice cold water to remind himself that it was only a nightmare. As he stared at his flushed cheeks and sweat soaked curls, he frowned. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't afraid, and that thought terrified him. A panicked look now replacing his frown, he went to work to search for something he knew would calm him down, the library.
Silently, he snuck out of his dorm and down to the common room, an orange flashlight in hand. He then opened the portrait and ran down the hall, keeping his steps light to try and keep them from causing the floor to creak. To the best of his ability, he moved quietly through the halls and shined his flashlight at the ground attempting not to make a sound that would alert someone of his wandering. Despite all his tiny careful steps and held breath, he ended up waking a portrait.
"Dear, what in the world are you doing up?" the portrait whispered, causing the little boy to jump in fear.
"Who said that..?!" he whispered, his voice shaking as the words left his mouth.
"Up here darling. Now back to you, what are you doing up at such a late hour? You're much too little to be losing sleep," the portrait scolded. Clarke hesitantly raised the dim light from the ground to the small portrait's face.
"You're a talking painting! Chris said that there was such a thing but I didn't think they were real.." Clarke spoke softly, amazement and wonder evident in his tone.
"Oh you must be a muggle born.. Poor thing.. Are you homesick?" the portrait cooed.
"Um.. not really.. I just want to find the library… I can't sleep" Clarke explained softly. The portrait sighed, hesitant to give him the answer since she really thought he should just go back to bed.
"It's down the hall.. To the left." she said at last. "Go to sleep soon darling," she called in a gentle whisper as Clarke dashed away.
Once Clarke got to the library he went to work to try and find the perfect book to read. He held the flashlight in his mouth in order to use both hands to look for the right book. Eventually he decided to settle with a history book. He curled up on one of the large chairs and shined his flashlight at the pages to read. An hour and a half later, he finished and got up to find more books. He retreated back to the chair to continue his reading, and at some point through the third book he fell asleep.
While Clarke finished reading his second book, Chris stirred awake; woken up by his need to use the bathroom. Half asleep, he stumbled to the tiny half bathroom and did his business. It wasn't until he was heading back to his bed did he notice that Clarke was missing. The realization woke him up quicker than a bucket of cold water could, he knew that the other boy was jumpy and anxious. The thought that maybe he left crossed his mind and he panicked knowing if Clarke had tried to leave he would be lost and could even end up in the Forbidden Forest. He grabbed his robe off the top of his trunk and slipped it on as he hurried out of the room and to the common room, praying to find him there. When he didn't, he started to mumble to himself trying to come up with ideas of what to do in this situation. As he talked to himself, another voice interrupted his thoughts.
"What are you doing?" the voice asked followed by a giggle. Chris whipped around to the voice and soon found that it belonged to a girl in a painting.
"Who are you?" he questioned muttering "Lumos," under his breath to make the tip of his wand light up. The girl in the portrait had light strawberry blonde hair tied into a singular braid that went over her left shoulder and light almost gray eyes. She wore a bright green dress and a locket in the shape of a rose.
"The name is Bailey McClaggen, who are you?" she countered wearing a large smile.
"Chris Lyle. You haven't happened to see my friend have you? He is shorter than me, he has curly black hair and blue eyes, he wear orange glasses," he described Clarke for her hoping she had some idea on where he could be at such a late hour. Bailey bit her bottom lip in thought before shaking her head.
"No.. but I could find him!" she suggested, a grin stretching across her face. "I'll be right back," and with that the girl disappeared out of her portrait. Chris gave a loud sigh and sat on one of the red couches, waiting for her return; which came half an hour later.
"He's in the library. I think he picked the lock to get in," she informed, giggling a bit at the fact someone had found it necessary to break into the library in the middle of the night.
"He's okay right?" Chris asked jumping up to get ready to leave.
"Oh yeah, he's completely fine. He's fast asleep on one of the little couch chairs," Bailey reassured him.
"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it," Chris told her with a smile before leaving to the library.
When he got there, he gently pushed the door open and walked inside. Once he found Clarke curled up where Bailey said he would be, he couldn't help but smile and roll his eyes. He then took the open book from his lap and moved it to the floor. Very gently, he shook Clarke awake and talked in a quiet voice trying not to startle him. "Clarke, wake up, we need to go back to the room," he whispered, coaxing Clarke from sleep.
"Hmm?" Clarke hummed in response, half opening his eyes. Chris pulled him up from the couch, waking him further.
"Time to go back to bed," he told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to guide his sleepy roommate back to their room. As soon as they reached the room, he lead him over to his bed and tucked him in before climbing back into his own and falling back asleep.