In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter CVI: The Bag of Carrots

LUCY:

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

The world around me was pitch black. The only indication I was falling was the whoosh of air around me and the steady tug of gravity.

Suddenly, Cedric above me.

"I'm right here! Take my hand!" he shouted.

But the harder I strained trying to reach him, the faster I fell.

"Cedric!" I screamed.

The world around me pitched. Cedric disappeared into the blackness, and I pulled my hands back into my chest.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

The world around me was full of color. I recognized the walls of the cave from which I had escaped.

Fireworks sizzled around me.

"Get her! Don't let her escape!" Lucius Malfoy shouted.

A thick arm wrapped around my throat, pulling me back.

"No!" I shrieked.

The stolen wand fell from my hand, clattered to the rock below me, sent me flying backward with the force of an explosion.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

I jerked awake. No longer falling. Suffocating.

Danger. Something told me there was danger.

I pushed myself to a sitting position and snatched my wand off of my nightstand, holding it out in front of me with two trembling hands.

It was dawn. The weakest ray of sunlight peeked between the red curtains.

My other three roommates were sleeping still. The room was silent.

That explained why my heartbeat was so deafening.

I remained in that position until my neck and shoulders ached with the effort of holding my arms out so far. Sharp pain coursed from my injured hand all the way up my arm and made me gasp from the suddenness and severity of it.

There was no danger. I had just overreacted.

Madam Pomfrey's warning from the day before whispered in the back of my mind — "You will be more sensitive to pain than perhaps you have ever been, so you will need to be incredibly careful not to overexert yourself. No Quidditch, and certainly no adventures with Harry Potter. I know the transformations are unfortunately unavoidable, but you will need to rely on the Room of Requirement more than ever. You cannot risk another incident like the one you had in August, because I can see even now that one nearly killed you, Lucy." — but I forced it away.

I wasn't fragile. I wasn't weak.

I was a Gryffindor.

I was tough. I was brave.

And I was going to prove it.

Neville and I happened to walk into the common room at the same time, and we exchanged an amused look.

"You've got your gloves?" he asked, pulling his out of his pocket.

I nodded, showing him mine, which I had already donned in order to hide the wound from the previous night's detention. I noticed his eyes widen slightly. They had been Mum's professional gloves, meaning they were among the best gloves in the world. I thought about giving them to Neville, Herbology lover that he was, but his hands were too large. My hands fit perfectly.