It's OK To Not Be Ok...Right?

41. She Keeps Me Up

When Draco made it back to the castle with the others, it was coming on dinner time. He looked into the Great Hall, but she was nowhere to be seen. He checked her office as well with no luck before knocking on her bedroom door. There was no answer. He knocked again. "Sloane?" He called. Nothing. He assumed she wasn't there. Either she wasn't there, or she didn't want to speak to him.  Either way, he felt like an ass and wanted nothing more than to kill Astoria or at least shave off her hair.

Boyfriend. He scoffed at the idea. They had never even had a conversation properly. It was no secret that his father once spoke with the Greengrass' about a courtship between Draco and one of the daughters. It was discussed, but his father became so high in the Dark Lord ranks that suddenly it didn't matter. Nothing was ever set in stone. Thank Merlin as he was completely against the idea.

His mother and he both.

He quickly wrote to his mother explaining what Astoria had said, outraged that she was under the illusion she still had a chance. Draco had told his father that if he was forced to take one of the girls, he would rather have Daphne. He also talked, as always about Sloane. He was not afraid to talk to his mother about his feelings. She always seemed to understand. It was a comfort, really. He took a quick trip to the Owlery to post his letter and back up, knocking on Sloane's bedroom once again before retiring to his room. There was a muggle book burning a hole in his pocket, and he wanted to return it.

On the other side of the bedroom door, Sloane was lying across her bed with her headphones on. She never heard him knocking, not once. She was lost in the world of sisters, witchcraft, and possessive exes. Goose was lying on her stomach reading her book at the same time. She was so engrossed that she heard nothing until she fell asleep. That was when the nightmare started. The scraping sound rang in her ears and the clanking that the...thing made as it moved towards her. She was standing in the entrance hall in her pyjamas with no shoes on her feet. She was freezing to the point where her feet were sticking to the floor, and her teeth would not stop chattering. She watched once again as the creature slashed at her skin, peeling it back on itself. She screamed out in pain. There was blood, more than she thought possible from one person. But as she moved around the entryway, she saw why. Not only was it her blood, but there on the floor were the bodies of her friends: Luna, Blaise, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and finally Draco.

It was hard to make them out with their wounds. Luna was missing half her face. Harry was missing his whole jaw. Ginny looked to be burnt, but Blaise was covered in blood. Ron had his eyes ripped out, and Hermione looked like her skin was cut off her face. But Draco, Draco had it the worst. He was missing fingers, an ear, one eye was hanging out of its socket, and he too was burnt. The smell was horrific. And there was nothing Sloane could do. She couldn't help them, everything she stepped towards them, she was shoved back by some force. She watched as they reached out there, but she could not get to them.

And then she felt the peeling flesh and slashing of the skin.....

When she woke up, she was covered in sweat. There was a ringing in her ears, and her wounds were pulsing in pain. She was panting and shaking uncontrollably. Goose was awake, too, panting, clearly terrified for Sloane. He felt her forehead. Sloane tried to focus on her breathing, but she could not calm herself down. And as disgusting as it sounded, her sheets were soaking wet from sweat. "Sorry if I scared you, Goose," she whispered. Goose shrugged and jumped back down into his bed, lying on his back, blankets pulled around him, and went back to sleep.

She climbed out of bed, lighting the orbs on the ceiling to bathe her room in light. She used her wand to strip the beds, taking out new bedding and making the bed, changing itself as she popped into her shower and quickly washed herself and changed into fresh pyjamas. Then she headed out of her room in search of a glass of water. She tiptoed, the soles of her feet cold against the wooden flooring of the hallway. She was terrified of waking up the others, so she crept quietly into the kitchenette and decided to make herself a cup of hot chocolate instead.  She had bought milk and cocoa powder in Hogsmeade earlier with cream and marshmallows specifically for this purpose but did not get to make one when she got home this evening. She dipped her wand down, touching the edge of her cup and cast a warming spell to heat it up and a spell to stir quickly to froth the milk before adding the powder and finishing with the cream and marshmallows.