Disclaimer: I don't own Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter.
'Thoughts'
Parseltongue
Nightmares
(With Harry)
Harry had gone to bed early that night. He was so exhausted that it was hard for him to force himself to stay awake. He had hoped that meant no nightmares but his luck was terrible. He woke up many times due to them. The others didn't know since he never made a sound.
Him being quiet didn't last however. His mind drifted back to the day his teacher's wig turned blue. His uncle had been furious about it. He dragged Harry to the basement and beat the hell out of the poor child.
It was one of the times Harry believed his uncle was going to beat him to death. He kept Harry home from school afterwards to protect himself. He used the lie that Harry had run away again. He returned when his injuries had healed.
He woke up screaming. Tarrant was the first to get to him. He quickly went over to him. He didn't touch him but he did get close to him.
"Harry! Wake up! You are having a nightmare. You are safe." He repeated until the boy woke up.
"W-where am I?" Harry asked, not recognizing or remembering where he was at.
"You're in your new room." He said.
"Tarrant?" He asked, finally calming down.
"That's me." He said.
"I'm safe?" He asked.
"You are safe." He assured.
"I'm safe." He repeated to himself.
"You are." He said.
"Good, that's good " He breathed out.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
"No."
"Do you want me to leave?" He asked.
"No." He said.
"Did you want to play a game?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Great. I'll teach you how to play pick up." He smiled.
"Pick up?" He asked, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.
"Yeah. I'll explain after I get the cards." He said.
"Okay." That made Harry even more apprehensive.
"I will be right back." He said.
"Okay."
Soon Tarrant returned with the cards. They were similar to those used back in Overland. These cards were even the same colors. The symbols were also the same. One difference was that there were ten cheshire cards. These ten were in different colors. Blue, green, red, orange, pink, purple, yellow, gray, black, and brown. Tarrant smiled at him.
"So the point of the game is to get the other player or players to pick up cards. The first player to 0 cards wins. Also if a player has over thirty five cards and the deck is gone they lose. We both start with 5 cards. We discard a card each time. The person who discarded the lowest value card has to pick one up. If they play a card of the same value they both don't pick a card. Ace's are the lowest value and kings are the highest. If you have a cheshire card play it and the other player has to pick up no matter what. They must pick up 5 cards. They are able to discard that round but then pick up the five cards." He informed him.
"Okay. I think I got it." He said.
"Wonderful." He smiled.
The two played the game for a couple of hours. Eventually Harry fell asleep. Tarrant put the cards away and tucked Harry in. He then went to his own room to sleep.
(Next Morning)
Tarrant woke before Harry. His parents were already in the kitchen. He went over to them and informed them of what happened.
"You did a good thing." His mom said.
"I'm proud of you." His dad said.
"Thank you." He blushed.
"We were planning on talking to him about seeing a therapist." She said.
"We'll do it today." His father said.
"I'll go check on him." Tarrant said.
"Okay." She said.
Tarrant went to Harry's room. He cracked the door open and looked inside. He smiled when he saw that Harry was curled up in a ball, still sleeping. He went back to his parents and told them.
"Still sleeping." He informed them.
"Good. He needs the rest." His father said.
"Yes he does." He agreed.
"If he's not up in an hour we will wake him so he can eat and take his vitamins." His mom said.
"Okay." The other two said.