In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter XIII: The Real Cedric

LUCY:

"What on earth are you doing in the library on the last day of Christmas break?"

I slammed the book closed and tucked it beneath my arm, looking up at Archie sheepishly. "Just getting ahead. Welcome back, how was your Christmas?"

"It was good," he said, sitting down next to me and resting his head on his arm. "The best part of my break was going to see the new Star Trek movie with my mom in London. What did you do?"

"Not much," I replied with a shrug. It wasn't a lie. After Christmas, I spent most of my time in the library or in my dormitory, researching a number of different things. Harry and Ron weren't much in the mood to look for Nicolas Flamel, which I didn't mind. I only looked for him part of the time, truthfully; most of the time, I sat in a dark and quiet corner, translating the book of ancient runes letter for letter. It didn't make a lot of sense yet, I hadn't made a ton of progress, but it was something to occupy my mind and distract me from the terrors that had begun to plague me at night.

Harry had pulled me aside after breakfast about a week after we had gone to the mirror. "Dumbledore moved it and told me not to look for it," he had said, "so I haven't looked in it for a couple of days, but I've still been having nightmares. Ron basically told me 'I told you so' when I mentioned it, but... I thought you might understand."

I had nodded.

"How can something that felt so good turn around and hurt me so much?" he had wondered out loud, looking crestfallen.

I had wanted to reach out and take his hand and somehow promise him it would be okay and tell him I would find a way to protect him from his nightmares, but I didn't. I couldn't. "I don't know," I had said instead, "but you're not alone. I've been having nightmares too. I understand, and I'm here."

Mine weren't about my parents like his were, at least not always. More often than not, I would be dreaming about something rather ordinary, then suddenly the sky overhead would darken and a full moon would rise, and I would transform and instantly maul anyone who was around me. Sometimes it was Cedric. Sometimes it was Hermione. Sometimes it was Harry, or Ron, or the twins, or Archie, or Neville, or my parents. But at least half of the time, if not more, it was the girl from the mirror who was my victim. Every time I woke up, I would be soaked in sweat, and my pillow would be drenched with tears. It was always hard to fall back asleep after those nightmares, so it was often in the early hours of the morning I made the most progress with the ancient runes book.

"What's this?" Archie asked, snapping me from my daze by reaching over and examining the bracelet around my left wrist that poked out slightly from under my sleeve. "Did you forget your name or something? Need a bracelet to remind you?"

I chuckled. "No, it's just my Christmas gift from Parvati Patil. She made the four of us Gryffindor girls friendship bracelets, so naturally, mine says Lucy."

"Yeah, it wouldn't make much sense for you to have Hermione's," he said, a stupid grin lighting up his face. "That's cool. I should ask her to teach me how to make one sometime. I could make matching ones for me and Cam."

"That'd be cool," I replied, borrowing his favorite adjective.

"Yeah." That dreamy smile that accompanied the name Cam was back on his face. I was about to point it out when he blinked and returned to earth. "Well, I'm going to go see if I can find her and leave you to your studies, Little Miss Overachiever. What are you even studying for in the first place?"

"Oh, nothing," I replied, shaking my head and tucking the book further under my arm. "Just reading ahead for fun."

He arched an eyebrow, disbelieving but not questioning. "Have 'fun' then. See you later."