The Ghost King Goes to Hogwarts

My History

(For the title read: The extremely cringy, kinda romantic chapter that I honestly have no idea how to write because I'm not good at that stuff)

I was shaking. Curled up in a tight ball in the darkness of my cabin. In my boyfriend's warm embrace as he tried to calm me down, whispering things to me. But I couldn't hear a word he said. My cheeks were wet with tears, but I couldn't be bothered to wipe them off. The nightmares had been getting worse and worse.

It was the first time I had slept in weeks, I knew what awaited me as I reluctantly let my eyelids close but I couldn't stay awake any longer. As soon as I closed my eyes I was swallowed by my dreams.

I was running around with my older brother, Benjamin, we were playing tag, laughing our heads off. We were in a hotel lobby with our parents, it was empty so me and Ben decided to make use of the space. After a couple minutes of me being it and not being able to tag Ben I finally jumped up and latched myself onto his back and he toppled to the floor.

"I got you, I got you, ha ha ha ha ha ha!" I chanted in a singsong voice. I spoke in Italian, since I hadn't yet mastered English. I looked up for a moment as I got off him and I caught sight of myself in a mirror. I was around 6, my cheeks still full of baby fat, my olive skin glowing with health, my long black hair falling gracefully down my back. My eyes bright with innocence and joy. It was weird. I had never seen myself so happy, as I stared at the young girl smiling from ear to ear in the mirror , I couldn't even remember the last time I smiled.

Ben then stood up and scooped me into his arms tickling me. I laughed and flung my arms around his neck, my face nuzzling against his neck as I hugged my brother.

"Yes yes you did mio piccolo angelo." Ben smiled. He always spoke in English trying to get me to become more fluent. But by my scrunched up nose and furrowed eyebrows he could see the only part I understood was "my little angel". He sighed reluctantly, and opened his mouth to translate, but then he stopped himself and stared off somewhere behind me. I twisted my neck to see and I saw my parents shouting at each other.

"NO!" My mother shouted with finality.

"Maria... listen to me, please, I'm trying to keep you safe. My brother will stop at nothing-" My father began but stopped suddenly. Maria opened her mouth to shout some more but father put a finger to her lips. The hotel was silent, no one daring to breath. The only thing you could hear was the thunder from outside. Then, an unfamiliar buzzing filled everyone's ears, and my father's eyes widened.

"NO!!" Father screamed before a blinding light came, making my skin crawl with electricity for a millisecond before my father raised his arms then ... darkness.

My ears were ringing. I was laying in the rubble of the now destroyed hotel. Ben was above me saying something to me but I couldn't hear since the white noise in my ears was still there. I felt a warm substance spreading across my right arm and my forehead. Everything ached, but I forced myself to sit up.

The hotel was gone. I was now surrounded by burnt pieces of wood and giant mounts of cement and metal. My father was in the middle of it sitting on the ground, his fists clenched. I couldn't see his face because he was looking at the ground, but he was shaking. I wanted to go to him. To ask him what was wrong. But as I started to scoot closer to him Ben grabbed my arm. I looked up at him. There was weird red stuff on his cheek and a lot of his face was covered in soot. He was crying heavily. What was wrong with everyone? Why were they so sad? A thought then popped into my mind. Where was Mami?

"Mami?" I asked looking around, but she wasn't there. "Momma?!" I screeched, but again no reply. Ben grabbed hold of me and wrapped me in his arms, shaking. I continued screaming for my mother between sobs, until my voice became soar. I cried and cried in my brother's arms, until the scene changed.