In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 5: Dark Matter

Chapter 200: And Now, I Hear a Symphony

LUCY:

I stirred slowly, as if I had been deeply asleep, but I was soon wide awake. The air was charged with something, an unseen gravity that worked in reverse, lifting me up out of my dreams and into reality. It wasn't unpleasant, though. Not at all.

Pushing myself up to a sitting position with my good arm, I glanced around Ginny's bedroom. Both girls were sound asleep, but I knew someone was watching me.

"Harry?" I guessed in a whisper. "Are you in here?"

Surely enough, his head appeared in the darkness. "Yeah, but I hadn't even tried to wake you up yet — how did you...?"

"Not sure," I replied, shrugging and casting a quick silencing spell with my hand. "What do you need? How can I help?"

"Can we talk? Somewhere else?"

I would have nodded anyway of course, but something in his voice, an odd (but not bad) urgency, propelled me to my feet. "Of course. Let me just leave a note in case they wake up, so they don't think I've just disappeared."

"I, er..." There was a rustling sound, and one of his hands appeared with a slip of parchment between two fingers. "Already wrote one for you."

I squinted in the darkness. Borrowing Lucy for a moment. Everything's okay, don't worry. — Harry

"Planned something, did you?" I asked, an odd (but not bad) anticipation surging in my chest even as I tried to make my tone teasing and light.

Harry only nodded in response as he crossed the room and placed the note on my pillowcase. He turned around and lifted the invisibility cloak and gestured for me to join him beneath it. I complied, and the two of us slipped out of Ginny's room and headed down the stairs.

Rather than heading toward the living room like I thought we would, though, Harry guided us out the front door and into the night.

"I hope you can see, because I sure can't," he said quietly.

"I can see perfectly fine," I replied. "Werewolf eyes. Where do you want to go?"

"Broom shed."

"Alright. You're sure you're okay?"

"Positive. I'm just in the mood for flying."

"In the middle of the night?"

"Humor me? I know you and Ginny do it all the time at school."

"Right you are. I always humor you."

"I know."

Once we had successfully made it to the broom shed, I reached forward and grabbed my broom, then handed Harry his.

"Thanks. I can see better now," he whispered as he shoved the cloak into his pocket. "Just needed a moment for my eyes to adjust."

I nodded. "I understand."

"D'you mind following me?"

"I always follow you."

"I know."

We mounted our brooms, and I followed Harry up, up, up, up, up until we had reached the roof of the Burrow. To my surprise, he dismounted. His hand trembled almost imperceptibly as he gestured for me to join him, but there was a certain surety in his movements too. I, of course, landed right next to him, and the two of us were soon standing on a flat part of the roof, so close together that Harry and the stars were all I could see.

I cast another quick silencing spell with a flick of my hand. The odd (but not bad) anticipation in my chest continued to grow until I feared I would burst.