Marooned - Fred Weasley

Chapter 10: Egypt's got to your head, hasn't it?

But aren't we cowards?

Maybe, but it's harder for him to reach her.

Sarah saw blurry shapes around the room, feeling suffocated, like her air had been cut out, dark shapes moving around the room, and she couldn't move.

"I need her dead", a voice whispered, a sickening voice that she had heard before, lingering with a hissing sound that made her stomach turn. It made its way towards her, slow steps, and she closed her eyes, wishing to disappear from there and just as the figure was reaching her-

She woke up in a scream, a cold sweat dripping from her temple. What the hell was that? She huffed, breathing in and out rapidly. She made her way down the stairs and put the kettle on, joining Remus at the table.

He looked up from his book and settled his cup of tea down to look at the time "You're up early. What happened to your hair?"

She looked in the mirror on the wall next to her. Her hair looked like it was inflated, like a balloon. It was a weird analogy, she'd rarely seen brown balloons with wavy contours. It was a bad analogy. "I washed it last night and I fell asleep before I dried it and with the humidity outside I guess it grew three sizes."

Remus chuckled, returning to his book.

"I had a weird dream," she said, staring at a spot on the floor, still thinking of that hissing voice, like it was searching for her.

"Fun weird or actually a nightmare weird?" he asked and she smiled, "Maybe nightmare weird. There was this dark cloaked figure looking for me, hissing, but all blurry-" the kettle started huffing which startled her, she got up and poured a cup of tea, then walked back to Remus.

"You know, the mind is a truly interesting place," he said as she sat down, sipping her cup.

"It can take you to place you didn't think were possible, only then to find out it was either real, but forgotten, or very much imagined, tricky thing."

She chuckled softly, "That's quite conspicuous," taking another sip from her cup.

"My point is, you've been through a lot, before I took you back here. I don't know what you saw that night. If you feel the need to discuss it further, I'd be happy to," he said, closing his book, and looking at her attentively.

She shook her head, "It was just a dream, right? There's nothing to discuss. I'd like to go back to see Harry today."

Harry wrote to her, telling her about leaving his house early, getting picked up by a Night Bus, whatever that was. She had quickly travelled to him, kept him company for a few days and accompanied him for his shopping through Diagon Alley for his third year. He told her about blowing up his aunt Marge, which was quite the story, made her double over in laughter. She would have loved to witness it. Also, it was understandable, given she had insulted his mother and father.

His aunt and uncle had refused to sign his permission sheet for his trip to Hogsmeade. "You want me to forge it?" she asked him, and he shook his head, "Thanks, but I don't actually know what it looks like and I think McGonagall won't be fooled."

She frowned, put an arm around his shoulders and thought about the secret passageways from the castle, Harry could use the map. She'll talk to Fred and George about it.

Remus nodded at her statement, and said excitedly, "That's marvelous, I'll stop by Flourish and Blotts, I need a new copy of Defensive Magical Theory, I'll drop you at the Leaky Cauldron."

"All right, I'll go get ready," she got up from the table and walked up, sipping her cup every now and then.

She picked up a vinyl and set it on the record player. It was Remus' present to her for her fourteenth birthday last December. Harder to conceal than her Walkman though, it rested on her night stand for most of the year, but the sound of it was a lot better.