33: Panic

You were a light sleeper, so you could be easily woken up with the slightest bit of sound.

Tonight was one of those nights when you heard something and woken up to see what it was.

But this time, it wasn't just some random noise.

You would describe the sound as someone panting, you blink your eyes open, still blurry to your surroundings.

When your vision finally cleared, you quickly sit up and look around.

You turn in the direction of the sound, but you see nothing.

Then, you quickly realized that the sound you heard was not an illusion.

It was Draco.

He was huffing and puffing for air like he was suffocating. His hands were clenching on the blankets.

But he had his eyes closed, so you could only assume that it was a nightmare.

You rushed as close as you can to his side even though you were on the same bed. You quickly clutched on his hands and your other hand reached his cheeks.

"Draco." You called him softly, but he doesn't seem to be waking up.

A single tear made its way down to Draco's jaw, making you worried more.

"Draco!" You yelled a little louder this time.

Draco jolted awake.

His eyes glancing around in a rush, seeming to be in a panic, not remembering anything. His breathing can't seem to catch up to its own pace.

"Hey, hey. It's alright." You quickly try to calm him.

His eyes finally meet yours that was directly above his, he finally recognized you, his breaths echoed around the room.

"Shhh... You're safe, Draco. I'm right here." Your thumb stroked his cheek, your grip on his hand tight.

After a few seconds, you managed to soothe Draco who finally caught up to his breath.

He was staring at you like he was trying to figure out if you were actually real.

And after a long while, he finally looks into your eyes, seeming to finally understand what happened.

"Lia..." He called your name as if he thought that you weren't real.

You could feel a squeeze on your hand that was holding his, like he was trying to make sure you were actually here.

"I'm here. I'm here." You assured him.

Nothing was said between both of you, you just stared into each other's eyes, getting lost in them. You waited for him to tell you something since you figured it would be better for him.

That was until when he started to tear up and tears slipped from his eyes to his jaws.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" You asked him, your thumb wiping his tears.

He didn't answer you for a while, he closed his eyes and just focused on the feeling of your hands, pulling them to his chest.

When he opened them again to look at you, you could tell just experienced something that terrifies him.

"Lie down with me." He just said.

You did as you were told but you kept your grip firm on his hand.

You could tell that Draco doesn't want to relive whatever dream he just had. So you just kept quiet and held onto him in case he needs you.

Then, your grip on his hands loosened and Draco reached for your waist. Without warning, Draco pulled you to his chest in a swift second.

Your head was quickly underneath his and almost like a habit, you embraced him, rubbing his back to soothe him.

You felt his shaky breath against your neck, as he sniffed back tears, his hold around you toughen, pushing you more into him.

"I- I" He stuttered.

"Shh... It's alright, Draco. You don't have to tell me." You softly patted his back.

You manage to calm Draco as his eyes slowly drop and he drifts off into sleep.

-

You didn't move for the rest of the night until morning when Draco woke up for classes.

You opened your eyes to see him staring at you.

"Hey." Draco could hear the concern in you.

"Hey." He just answered.

You could tell by his face that he didn't exactly sleep well after what happened last night.

"You okay?" You asked.

"Yeah, it was just a bad dream." He answered you.

It was obvious that Draco was lying. How he reacted last night was definitely not from a simple nightmare.

You carefully observed him as he sat up and ran his hand over his hair.

He could feel your gaze burning holes into him, he knew you were waiting for him to tell you about the dream he had last night.

But...

"It's really no big deal, Lia. Don't worry. I'm alright." He just said.

You feel as if Draco was pushing you away, you wanted him to be honest with you. But you shouldn't push things further if he didn't want to say anything. So you just watched as he exited his room.

-

You were worried about Draco the whole day, you tried to distract yourself by just basically doing everything that you managed to think about, which includes cleaning everything and every part of the room, practising casting spells, reading the books Draco brought you.

You were actually starting to forget about worrying Draco when you heard knocking by the door.

You didn't answer since you didn't know who was it and Draco was not in his room. It would be unreasonable to open the door without its owner inside.

"It's me, Blaise." The person outside the door suddenly said.

His voice gave you a hint that he was in a panic.

Something was wrong.

You rush to the door and let Blaise in.

"Amorlia, you need to get out of here now!" He said in a rush, still panting from running here, grabbing you by the shoulders.

"Blaise, slow down. What's wrong?" Seeing how Blaise was reacting made you nervous as well. But you remained calm.

"The Carrows are on their way here!"

His words felt like a stab to you.

If they find you here, you would be in great trouble.

You scrambled your mind for a way out without them spotting you.

The cloak that you enchanted with the Disillusionment Charm is not completely invisible as it only copies the texture of its surrounding.

You would Apparate, but there was an Anti-Apparation Charm cast within the grounds of Hogwarts.

Wait...

Blaise just watched as you paced around the room, couldn't think of anything to help you himself.

"I'll apparate to Hogsmeade." You told him.

"What?!" Blaise almost shouted, which you ignored and quickly prepared mentally for the spell.

Before you could actually apparate, Blaise grabbed your wrist.

"Wait! Hogwarts has an Anti-Apparation Charm cast, you can't just apparate out of here!" He told you.

"Exactly, it's not an Anti Dissaparation Jinx." You just simply told him, as if the sentence explained itself.

Blaise was frozen in place, thinking about what you just said for a second.

"Oh." He just said and lets you go.

You were about to leave when you remembered Draco.

"Blaise, tell Draco about this, will you? I don't want him to freak out. Tell him also that I'll be fine and that I can take care of myself." You told him.

"I will." He promised as you apparated away.