In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 3: Supernova

Chapter 122: Cracks in the Floor

HARRY:

"You alright, Harry?" Ron asked.

I blinked hard and glanced at him across the table. "Yeah, why?"

He considered saying something for a second before shaking his head. "Just checking."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I muttered, returning my attention to the half-written essay in front of me. I must have spaced out again. As I pressed the quill tip to the parchment, my hand trembled ever so slightly. "Just hope she's alright."

"Don't worry, I'd know if she was in any danger," Hermione said, twirling the ring on her finger. "I've been keeping an eye on it. Nothing's frightened her."

Ron and I both glanced at the ring. At the moment, Lucy's half was a dull shade of blue. Hermione's was a bit of a war between purple and white — purple, I guessed, was fear, but I hadn't seen white too often.

"That... doesn't look promising," Ron managed after a moment.

Hermione sighed. "Well... it's... somewhat better than it has been the past couple weeks, in a sense, maybe."

"I haven't been glancing at it lately," I said. Truthfully, I'd somewhat forgotten about it. I hadn't needed to look at the ring much at all the past month, come to think of it. I had just... noticed more about her. Like the way she flinched at loud noises and sudden movements, or the way her shoulders tensed when anything reminded her of Cedric. "What has it been?"

She shifted uncomfortably, as if she had wished I hadn't asked. "It's... odd."

"How so?" I pressed.

"I'm not sure if something's gone wrong with the ring's magic since something's gone wrong with hers, but it's been blank more often than not."

"Is that better or worse than, well, this?" Ron asked.

Hermione sighed. "I don't know. If something's wrong with the ring, that's one thing, but if she's, I don't know, actively shoving everything down and somehow fooling herself into thinking she's fine..."

"That sounds more likely," I admitted quietly.

As all three of us stared at the ring, Lucy's half went to blank silver.

Hermione checked her watch. "That probably means she's fallen asleep, with how suddenly it disappeared. Reckon we should probably do the same."

"But there's so much homework still to do, Hermione!" Ron groaned dramatically, poking fun at her to try to lighten the mood around the table because of Lucy's empty chair. "Are you sure we could afford to take a break overnight?"

"Affordable or not, I'm taking the break," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "Tomorrow might be one of the last nice days of the year, we could work outside for a change of scenery."

"I'm in!" Hermione said.

"Great, me too." Ron gathered up his parchment, and Hermione and I did the same. After a round of "Good night"s, we retreated to our own respective dormitories. A surge of the worry I'd been trying to push down swept over me again as Hermione headed for the door alone. I tried to push it down again, but once I was asleep, it roared back to life with a ferocity it hadn't possessed since the worst of the summer.

I'd mentioned my nightmares in the diary a couple of times, but I'd never gone into detail. She had never asked, either. Not that I would have wanted to explain even if she had asked. It wasn't the same nightmare every time, but the end result was consistent, terrifyingly consistent: no nightmare ever ended well for Lucy.

In July, it was variations of the Triwizard tasks that haunted me most. Sometimes it was the first task. A freak accident with the dragon that left her fatally wounded. Sometimes it was the second task. No one getting there in time to save her before she drowned. Sometimes it was the third task. Somehow. Somehow she would be there too, somehow she would be there with Cedric and with me and she would die right in front of me in the same brilliant flash of green that killed my parents and her brother and her parents. The third task ones were the nightmares that were bad enough to warrant me mentioning it in the diary.

In August, it was different. Before she escaped, before she was safe again, for those horrible nights when I didn't know if she was dead or alive or somewhere in between, there were no dragons or drownings or Death Eaters in my nightmares. Just her, surrounded by this darkness, this black smoke. It would whisper in her ears, wrap around her neck, stop her from moving. But she hated most of all when it passed in front of her eyes, hiding me from view. Only then, when she couldn't see me, would she start to panic. Only then, when she started to panic, would I realize the same black smoke was wrapped around me, stopping me from helping her at all. Now those nightmares, when I didn't know what to fear... those were the worst.

In September, it was different again. Full moons and spooky caves and lost families clashed in chaotic confusion in my mind. Umbridge's quill, too. I had to watch Lucy carving into her skin over, and over, and over.

That night, the nightmare was different yet again.

Lucy and I were together in the living room of Grimmauld Place, just the two of us. We were on opposite ends of the sofa, but facing each other, Lucy reading a book about charms and me reading Flying with the Cannons. I could tell from the slight reddish tinge of Lucy's cheeks that the full moon was approaching, but she seemed to be at peace. She glanced up from her book, and her eyes didn't look the way they had looked for the past couple of weeks. There was light in the blue, life.

Lucy grinned. But as soon as she did, the earth opened up beneath her, and she disappeared from view.

I immediately launched myself after her into the abyss that had appeared so suddenly. I couldn't see her. It was impossibly dark. I couldn't hear her. It was impossibly loud. I reached my hand forward, straining as hard as I could to reach her. But I couldn't find her. I was grasping at air.

As we fell, as I reached, as I strained, I realized I should have known all along that this would happen. I remembered all at once the cracks in the floor, the instability of the sofa. I should have known that one day it would all give way and this would happen.

If I had noticed sooner, maybe I could have saved her.

I reached, I strained.

Something grazed my fingers. The charm bracelet. Her hand was right there.

"Lucy!" I shouted. "Come on, please, reach for me, I'm right here!"

But she didn't move. I reached, I strained, harder and harder and harder, but nothing changed.

We kept falling, and falling, and falling. I kept reaching, and reaching, and reaching.

The first sign of morning light filtering through a crack in my bed curtains jerked me awake. It took me a couple of seconds to process I was no longer falling, to realize the bed beneath me was stable. I pushed myself up and shook my head, trying to clear away the residual fear of the nightmare, but the anxious knot in my stomach was worse than it had been since summer.

I remembered that I had told Lucy I'd feed Tuck and Fang, though, so I didn't stay in bed dwelling on it. I dragged my hand down my face and reached for my glasses.

Ten minutes later, I was opening the door to Hagrid's hut. I was met by a cacophony of barking.

"Good morning," I retorted as both Fang and Tuck started skidding across the floor in my direction. I shut the door behind me and knelt just in time for Tuck to launch himself at me. "Hi, Tuck!" Fang, less excitable but equally enthusiastic, shoved at my hand with his nose. "Yeah, don't worry, I'll get your breakfast."

With some effort, I wrestled Tuck off of me and headed toward all of the food Lucy had gathered for the two of them. The gentleness of the sun on the windowsills and the excited snuffling of the dogs and the helped chase the last of the nightmare from my mind. It unnerved me, of course it unnerved me, but it was far more fantastical than the other nightmares. As worried as I was about Lucy, I was sure she wasn't flying down a bottomless pit at the moment. At least I hoped not.

I glanced out the window at the waking world.

Wherever you are, Lucy, whatever's going on, you better be alright. I don't know what I'll do if you're not.

🩵💛❤️

A/N: Lucy and Harry's timelines match up without overlapping. These two chapters make up the entirety of Sunday in the story!