The bed shaking was the first thing to wake a very sleepy Harmony from her rest in the middle of the night. Rufus kept whining in the semi-darkness of the room, not really caring if the humans were asleep or not.
"Rufus, what is going on? In Merlin's name…" Asked the witch as she brushed her still-closed eyes in her arm to shake off the sleep. She had been dreaming of something pleasant for once. Why of all the times that something could have happened it had to be now?
The German Shepherd growled before jumping from the bed to the floor and running to a corner. That caught Harmony's attention. Finally opening her eyes seriously, she peered into the room she shared with Severus. Nothing could have prepared for what she saw.
Several utility items were floating in the air as if it were no one's business. That wasn't the most remarkable thing happening, however. A Patronus Doe grazed the room's floor and looked towards the bed. It was bright as a star in its cold blue light. The bed would shake from time to time and she soon realized that the man sleeping beside her would also jerk every now and then. Something was happening in his sleep that was making his magic manifest in such a wild way.
Turning to her side, she touched his arm. It was slick with sweat and the fabric was clinging to his skin.
"Severus? Wake up, please." She called him. The light grew brighter for a moment and the Patronus got closer to the bed with a sweet look on its features. She was indeed beautiful, Harmony noticed. What a particular Patronus for a man like Severus to cast. "Severus. Please. I need you to wake up dear." She insisted as she shook him on his side.
Eventually, the man showed signs of waking up and opened his mouth as if to scream. All that came out were some disgruntled sounds, not even coherent words. His whole body jerked and tensed beneath her hands.
"I'm here, Severus. It's just me. Hey, breathe slowly. That's it…" Her words were cut short as every single item that had been floating came tumbling down to the floor, crashing and breaking. The man jolted beside her with fright. The doe however was still there, only less bright. As if it wouldn't go out so easily but rather it would vanish slowly. Harmony noticed the second Severus saw the doe. His jaw trembled slightly and his eyes filled with tears. As if understanding, the doe came closer to bed still and reached to touch the man on his chest lightly with its muzzle. Then it got fainter until nothing was left of it and the whole room was left in darkness again. A strangled sob was heard then, heart-breaking.
Harmony felt Rufus on the boundaries of her mind, interested in what the heck was happening that he couldn't sleep in peace anymore.
"His magic seems a little wild at this point, my friend. But I think it is safe at this point if you can come close. I will clean things after I manage him, I promise." She reassured the familiar as she lay down close to Severus. The man was still crying in silence and shaking like a leaf.
Whatever he had experienced during his sleep, the impact on him had been profound. There was little she could do except be there for him. Harmony surrounded his thin body with one arm and caressed his hair softly with the other hand.
'Thank you.' He finally managed after a while.
'Nothing to thank me for. I wasn't exactly expecting this to happen but I would be lying if I told you that it had never happened to me before. Our magic can react rather strongly to our emotions and dreams.'
'Before… I blasted more furniture than I can count.' Severus confessed slowly. He was hurting inside, she could feel it through the bond. Something had deeply unsettled him. 'Two window panes. My own bed ended up in pieces once or twice. My books had so many repairs done that some could hardly hold together anymore.'
'Yes, that feels familiar enough to me. Rufus complained often about how hazardous I could be when I was more stressed.'
'I wish we weren't' t so broken.' The wizard blurted out before releasing another sob.
Harmony couldn't do anything besides comforting. If he needed to let it out, so be it. Talking about stuff helped sometimes. It wouldn't stop hurting but it would perhaps relieve him of some weight on his soul.
When he seemed to calm down again, she tried a different route. 'Is there anything that I can give you that may help you out?'
'I used to drown myself in liquor. Every morning a sober-up potion with breakfast.'
'Did it help?'
'Perhaps at the moment. I still had to deal with the whole crap at another point but it was a nice reprieve.' He admitted, swallowing slowly.
Rufus chose that moment to complain to his humans. He couldn't go through the whole mess that covered the floor and he was getting impatient. Harmony sighed before letting go of the man. Things had to be done, whether it was 3 in the morning or not.
"Okay, boys… This is the plan: I'm gonna clean this mess and you both wait for me on the bed. I will be as quick as possible."
Without really waiting for a reply, she left the bed carefully so as not to step on anything pointy and crossed the room. Rufus was beside the door and as she opened the door the dog went with her to grab a broom and a trash can. There were things that she could and would repair but others weren't really worth the effort. Those were sent flying to the trash can. The broom did most of the work by itself and soon enough Rufus could go through the room again in safety which pleased the dog very much.
Harmony smiled at the animal's antics. She was used to them by now. She observed feeling glad as the dog lay in the bed beside Severus and made it so that the hand of the man could touch his fur. A shy smile appeared on the man's face and it lifted her heart automatically.

Severus POV

It had been some time since he had such dark dreams. Nightmares he was kind of used to by then. But these were more than nightmares. These were memories that replayed again and again, sometimes truthful to the real events, sometimes with gory twists. He had dreamt of her. Of Lily. He had killed her himself in his dream. And not just with a simple Unforgivable. No, nothing that simple could ever happen on these sadistic dreams of his. He had tortured her first. Then he proceeded to torture James and when Harmony managed to wake him up he was going for the baby. In Merlin's name, how twisted of a mind could he have? Were these a consequence of the too many times Voldemort had rummaged through his mind for hours and hours to his entertainment? He had wanted to scream at the top of his lungs as he freed himself of that dream. He couldn't and that didn't help at all. Then he saw the doe. He saw her. And he felt Harmony by his side. His control all but vanished and he cried in despair. He hoped that she wouldn't see what had happened in his sleep. He would have been terribly embarrassed by it. Harmony never left his side while he emptied himself in tears. He seemed to do that a lot since the war. But only now, here in this cottage did he feel safe while doing it. Protected even. He knew he had created chaos in the room. It was what usually happened anyway. Before he lost his magic he would often wake to his room in havoc, things burning, exploding, bubbling… It was strangely comforting to see that his magic still behaved in much the same way after so long an absence. Harmony didn't seem to mind at all. She took it as she took most things: Calmly. Her priority seemed to be always him and for that, he was grateful to no end. She stayed with him for as long as she could. She even asked if there was anything she could do for him to help. Alcohol had helped to an extent in the past but then he didn't have a kind soul to share his mind with. His liquor-tempered memories spoke of tears and even more drama than he was managing right now. So no, alcohol wasn't probably a great idea now. Harmony's familiar whined in the background, discontent with the events. The floor was so covered in detritus that he couldn't reach them on the bed again. Severs watched as Harmony went to clean up the whole thing. Some of it by hand, some by magic. In 20 minutes everything seemed to be back on the correct place and Rufus came to lay on the bed with him. The familiar had this trick where he managed to make Severus hand caress his fur. At first, it was weird. Now after these weeks, it felt so comforting that even if he wanted to explain he couldn't do it with words. Being accepted not only by the owner but also by this animal to this extent felt like a balm on his bruised soul.
Eventually, Harmony went back to bed and changed his position. She usually made it as many times as she woke up into the night. She would wake up for whatever reason and position him again from a different angle. This time, she made him face her on his side.
"How are you feeling?"
"Drained really. I wish I could sleep."
"You look like it. Do you want some dreamless tonight? I made a batch the other day."
"Usually I wouldn't accept it but today I just might. I'm feeling just too bad to deal with anything right now, even my own fears and dreams."
Harmony smiled at him as she called to her a small vial from a shelf. She made him drink it carefully before she put it away.
" Now sleep, my friend. Rest. In the morning we can deal with whatever needs to be addressed by then."
Severus welcomed the drowsiness that followed and was asleep in less than five minutes.