The Other Potter

Price of Protection

As the days merged into weeks, Elijah's exhaustion only grew. He hadn't had a restful night's sleep even when he slept beside Nik. His mind filled with snippets of Peter Pettigrew and the voice that had haunted his childhood. They came in small disturbing snippets, he couldn't focus on any one thing, as if something was blocking him from getting closer.

He'd been starting to zone out during the day, unable to stay focused on anything for a long period. He was walking around ready to snap at the slightest inconvenience, but he was trying his hardest to be polite and kind, it was just getting a lot harder as each day passed. And a lot of people were testing his fragile state of mind.

It was the Eve of the final task, and he was feeling mentally and physically drained. He was falling asleep at breakfast.

Alix and Lucas had noticed this over the past few weeks and if they were any kind of friends to Elijah they had to ensure he would be ready for tomorrow.

"Drink your orange juice," Alix murmured, pushing it closer to the boy, and gently nudging him.

"You're not my real mum..." The boy joked in a tired groan, lifting his head from his arm, which he was previously using as a pillow, downing the sweet liquid within seconds.

"No, your real mum wouldn't care enough to slip you 'dreamless sleep' at breakfast." Alix hummed, waiting for the penny to drop.

Elijah hadn't quite registered her words until he opened his mouth to respond, and quickly shut it, eyes narrowing at her. "Al, tell me you are kidding.."

"I'm not kidding, Lucas and I were talking and we decided to slip you some today. You need to be rested for tomorrow, and this stupid experiment Dumbledore has you doing is draining you."

He should have never told Alix and Lucas about the dreams, and reported them to Dumbledore but they had ambushed him when he fell asleep during their study session two weeks ago. Since then they'd been nothing but worried little shadows following him around.

"Alix..." he groaned.

"Don't say anything until you've been up to our dorm and got some sleep because if the next words you speak to me are not 'thank you, Alix' then I will you'll regret it." She said firmly.

Elijah frowned, rolling his eyes before silently getting up and heading to their dorm. He did want to thank her and Lucas, but she was right, it could wait until after he'd slept.

Climbing into his bed, he let himself drift off into a well-needed deep slumber.

He woke up well after dinner, feeling well-rested for the first time in months. He had needed that more than he thought. He was still tired, but for now, he was happy to not feel as on edge as he had been previously.

He checked the time on his alarm clock and let out a groan. He was late to meet Dumbledore, but at this point, he didn't care if the old bastard was left waiting for a little while. He climbed out of bed and straightened up his shirt before heading down to the common room.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Jay called as he spotted Elijah.

"Hey." He smiled softly, moving over to his friends.

Alix looked at him expectantly.

He smirked at her, "Thank you, Alix." He muttered, putting a hand on her shoulder.