it all ends with us: ruins

019

Chapter Nineteen:

"No one matters more than you, love."

It had been two weeks since the first quidditch match and the glory and the admiration had slowly died down and life resumed as normal. It had become a regular occurrence that Theo and Atlas met in the astronomy tower every Sunday and today was no different. Theo was lying against the wall with a quidditch play book in his hands. While Atlas had her head in his lap lying perpendicular with a book of ancient runes in her hands. The two sat in a comfortable silence with muggle music playing softly in the background.

It started off with the two talking all night long until the sun came up the next morning but when they turned up to class the next day like zombies they both agreed to go back to bed at 3am. This meant that they had a couple of hours of sleep before school. This risked their sleep schedules but it felt nice for both of them to be within each of their companies. The stars shone bright and Atlas found herself distracted by their beauty more times than she could count.

It was a regular occurrence that Theo would walk the girl back to her dorms and almost get caught by Finch. However, he soon had come to love the thrill of sneaking around. The halls of Hogwarts were quiet, contrasting to their usual crowd. It was relaxing for the most part, except when they had to hide and stop laughing when Finch and his wretched cat were around. Atlas had fallen asleep that night with ease. Usually she would toss and turn for a couple of hours before she even felt a hint of tiredness but tonight was different. That has scared the girl. The sleep was peaceful to begin with. However, it soon turned into a full blown nightmare.

It started with seeing her family but it soon turned gory. Flashes of images burned the young girl's mind. Her family members covered in their own blood lying lifeless on the ground. Their eyes rolled to the back of their head and matted hair filled with dirt and blood. Atlas struggled trying to get herself out of the dream but it was like someone was forcing her to witness it. She saw her mother first and that may have been the hardest on the young girl. It was like a slideshow playing over and over again starting with the images of her mother ending with an image of Apollo.

Atlas let out a scream of terror but it was no use. The nightmare didn't die out, instead it got more vivid. It was as if she was living out the dream. She shook her whole bed struggling to try and pry the invisible grasp off of her. The tears streamed down her face and it was as if she couldn't break through. A lucid dream of sorts. It felt so real but she had knowledge of it being a dream.

Ren was a light sleeper so when she heard the piercing scream of her roommate she had jumped awake. She saw Atlas fighting against a force and had run and woke Kiera up to help. They tried to pry her hands away from her neck where she was scratching but there was no use and the girl overpowered the two easily. While Ren tried many different spells, Kiera had run and woken up Hannah and Aara in a hurry. She stuttered over her words in tears but they had gotten the hint.

Aara ran to go get Madam Pomfrey while Kiera had headed for Professor Sprout who was the head of their house. Hannah had heard the screams while she made her way to the dorm. She found Ren wrestling Atlas' arms away from her face to try and stop her from hurting herself. Hannah racked her brain for different spells and had thought of a spell they were taught in third year.

"Incarcerous." She shouts pointing her wand directly at the girl.

The ropes shoot off the wand binding around Atlas' wrists tying her to the bed frame. Her legs still shook under the invisible force but neither of the two girls could see what she was trying to get off of her. The screams got louder and blood started dripping from her nose and her eyes. It looked like she was getting possessed and the sight was gruesome. A sort of black liquid poured out of her mouth staining her clothes.