Restoration

Chapter Nineteen

***

Since the beginning of the school year, Gregory Goyle had gotten used to being woken up violently during the night. Draco's nightmares had ups and downs, but he could always tell when they had gotten worse, as he screamed so much his throat bled. It was either him or their roommate Vincent whose heart stopped at the excruciating sounds, running over to shake Draco until he woke up. And no matter how many times they asked him what his night horrors were about, Draco remained silent, forbidding them to ever speak about it.

But this night was different than others, as he never shouted, letting out quieter cries and pleas for help. Looking at each other and shrugging it off, Vincent and Gregory believed his dreams had calmed down for the first time in months.

They had no idea what kind of inner struggle Draco was going through, trying to understand how Elara had suddenly appeared in his dreams. Furthermore, how on Earth did she think she shifted realities, and why had she wanted to do that in the first place? Surprised in awe, he followed her like a puppy. She didn't even realize she was influencing his dreams, which were one of the calmest he's had in months. Once he noticed her standing in front of him, his eyes remained glued to the mesmerising dress she was wearing, and it reminded him of the Yule Ball.

He thought for a moment what kind of a dress she would wear and whom she would've danced with. There was no denying in saying that the green dress she wore in his dreams complimented her eyes and hair, but he thought she would've chosen something more eye-catching.

Determined to speak to him and avoiding his orders to let him be, he realized he Elara couldn't have been just a figment of his imagination. A will of her own, she dictated his dreams, set on a task he wasn't aware of.

Although a momentary distraction worked, the darkness found its way into his dreams once more, slowly crawling in and taking over the Great Hall, placing both him and Elara into the hands of none other than his aunt, whom Elara had a connection to as well.

He knew that she must've taught Elara, as she executed certain spells with the same movement and passion as Bellatrix Lestrange. But the missing piece of the puzzle was the When and How did the two come to not only know each other but to become a teacher and an apprentice. And judging by Elara's distaste when she saw Bellatrix, their relationship couldn't have been good.

But that wasn't even his main question he's had for weeks now. Putting her connection to his family aside, Elara was always there when he got into trouble, and he had trouble remembering every time she had saved him.

He started noticing it when she saved him from being exposed to the top of the tower. When he thought she was there to fight him, she was there to warn him of Slughorn who was guarding the castle. Transforming into a crow, she never obliviated his memory afterward, trusting him to keep it to himself.

'Perhaps she was at the wrong place and wrong time, and she would've gotten in trouble for walking around past curfew,' he thought to himself. It wasn't until they rode the hippogriffs together that he began to feel as if he could trust her, flying above the clouds, shouting at the sky.

And then she did it again. She chose to hold his hand and fall off the hippogriff with him when she could've just let go of his hand.

And then again. After Anthony found his Death Eater's tattoo, Elara didn't flinch but chose to fight her best friend and cast a powerful spell making his tattoo invisible, which damaged her insides even more.

When Professor Snape scolded him for failing to spy on Elara, he knew he owed her too much to snitch on her, thus writing her an anonymous note about Potter reporting everything back to Dumbledore.