Found AIAOY 4

Chapter 16

Rebecca was back on the platform, Fred taking over the pumping of her chest from Fleur forcefully.  Rebecca tried to walk forwards, back to her body to return to the living, and was unable to.

"Mum?  Dad?"  She cried, looking around and finding herself entirely alone.  "I want to go back!"  Falling to her knees and holding herself as close as she could to her body, there was not pull or connection.  Her body was empty.

Fred had tears streaming down his face as his hands slowed and eventually stilled.  He lowered himself over her body and cried with abandon.

"I'm not choosing this!"  Rebecca shouted, trying to make him hear her.  Trying to alleviate his pain.  "I want to come back, Fred!"

Rebecca was crying herself now, pounding her fists against the floor as she fought to get back into her body harder and hard.  Something reached up from the water behind her, grabbing hold of her ankle.  It yanked sharply on her leg, tearing her away from her body and Fred and closer to the water.

Rebecca jammed her fingers into a crack between the boards, kicking her legs and trying to free herself.  The creature that had hold of her tightened its hold and pulled harder, Rebecca's fingers lost their grip.  She tried to take a breath before she it the frigid water, but the force pulling her was too fast.

Rebecca's head was under the water before she could brace herself, her arms clawing up at the light as if it could help her back to the world above.  She tried to fight as long as she could, to hold onto her breath as long as she could, but both only lasted so long.

Rebecca's arms fell limp and her body forced her to breathe the water in.

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Rebecca had had nightmares every night since the event days before, the draught to put her farther asleep only making it harder to wake herself up from the terrors her mind created in her sleep. 

 Hermione woke at the sound of Rebecca shooting upright in her bed and got up instantly.  "Rebecca?"  Rebecca shook her head, waving Hermione away as if she weren't dissolving into tears before Hermione's eyes.  "Dream or..."

Hermione let her question drift away as Rebecca nodded.  Hermione moved Rebecca's blankets so that she could join her in her bed, Rebecca putting her head into Hermione's arms instinctively.  Hermione rubbed Rebecca's back until her cries had quieted and Rebecca's shame began to grow too hard to silence.

"I'm alright."  Rebecca said, her voice giving away that she wasn't.  "I'm okay now."

Hermione didn't move away, holding Rebecca tighter if anything.  "You don't have to be, you know?  That's okay too."  Hermione always had an inkling of something underneath whenever one of them comforted Rebecca with touch, the feeling that this was cherished as something bigger than it was to anyone else lurking around the edge of Hermione's thoughts and saddening her deeply.

"Then..."  Rebecca wondered if Hermione knew how much she loved her.  "Would you stay?"

Hermione scooted further onto the mattress and let Rebecca closer her eyes with her head resting on Hermione's shoulder.  

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Rebecca slept fitfully, Hermione woken in the early hours of the morning by Rebecca crying out for help.  Hermione spoke softly and brushed her fingers through her hair gently, trying to keep Rebecca asleep through this second bout of terror.