In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter LIV: Till the Sirens Sound, I'm Safe

Fault lines tremble underneath my glass house
But I put it out of my mind
Long enough to call it courage
To live without a lifeline
I bend the definition of faith
To exonerate my blind eye
Till the sirens sound, I'm safe

"Earth"
Sleeping At Last

LUCY:

"Son of a banshee!" I shouted, throwing my lunar calendar as hard as I could across the dormitory. I fumed in silence for a couple seconds more before sheepishly getting up to retrieve it.

The door burst open, Hermione rushing in. "Lucy! Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I burn you?" I asked, slapping my hand to my forehead.

"A bit. But it's okay," she added quickly, twisting her ring a couple of times, "it was really brief. What happened?"

"I just realized the full moon is on your birthday," I mumbled. "And then the next one is the night before Cedric's. I'm going to ruin both of your birthdays."

"Oh, no, you won't ruin anything at all! It's a Monday, anyway, so it's not like we would have stayed up all night partying. Besides, even if we were planning on that, it's not your fault."

"Thank you for being so understanding," I said in a small voice, flopping down onto my bed. "I'm just so sick of everything in my life revolving around something so..."

Hermione settled down next to me. "Horrible?"

I nodded. "Yeah. That's a fair way to put it."

"Well, do you want to come do homework with me? Harry and Ron are there, too."

I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned, realizing the boys had been right there when Hermione rushed up here in a panic. "I just need to be alone with my thoughts for a while. I'm going to take a walk."

"What? Lucy, it's dark outside!" Hermione said as I rose to my feet.

"I'm going to go visit the skrewts." I grabbed the Magpies beanie Harry had given me for Christmas once and made my way down the stairs.

"But you're not bringing your notes! How will you record your findings?"

"I'll write them down when I get back," I said, securing the beanie over the tips of my ears. I plastered a smile on my face as I passed Harry and Ron, who were looking between me and Hermione with obvious confusion and a bit of concern. "I'm heading down to visit the skrewts. See you later."

Without waiting for another word of protest from Hermione, I leapt through the portrait hole.

The events of my first week of school weighed heavily on my shoulders as I made my way down the stairs.

Harry had sent a letter to Sirius practically begging him not to come back, but I figured it was no use. If I had been in Sirius's shoes, I would have done the exact same thing. I could tell that worry for Sirius had created a dark cloud of worry above Harry's head, and by extension, Ron's and Hermione's (and mine) as well. I wasn't worried about Sirius, necessarily, but I did worry for Harry. His scar hurting 24 hours before the events of the World Cup didn't sit right with me, but I didn't dare voice this concern to anyone else. I didn't want to worry my friends any more. They had enough burdens of their own,

Speaking of friends having burdens of their own, Neville had forgotten about his Snape detention after the disastrous DADA class, meaning Snape was even more cruel than usual. I reckoned that having to disembowel a hundred or so horned toads was nearly as traumatic for him as watching the spider be hit with the same Cruciatus Curse that stole his parents from him. Ginny and I had stayed up past midnight trying to calm Neville down after the detention; we were the only ones who seemed to make any difference.