In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter LXVIII: Shadows on the Water

I woke up in a cold sweat but I found you
And I wade through my worries, they're crippling
For crying out loud we'll wait
Cause you've been talking in your sleep again
Around all the dreams you have
We're seeing shadows on the water
Oh the air's so honest
We're seeing shadows on the water
But we made a promise
To let the rest of our lives decide

"Shadows"
CHPTRS

LUCY:

The nightmare returned a fourth time.

I jolted awake, immediately throwing my blankets off and drawing a deep breath of the sweet air of the dormitory. Hints of smoke, cinnamon, lavender, rose all rushed to fill the lungs that mere seconds ago were filling with the waters of my nightmare.

I glanced at the clock. 6:24.

I realized with a second jolt that it was May 24, meaning Cedric and Harry would be finding out what the third task would be sometime before we all went back to bed.

That unsettling thought propelled me out of bed. There was no way I was falling back asleep after that.

I heard Hermione turn the water of her shower off with a squeak, so I rushed to change into my robes so I could make it to the common room before she entered the dormitory again. Thankfully, it was empty, so I hurried to my favorite spot at the window seat and rested my head against the window. I closed my eyes and shivered, residual fear reminding me of the nightmare once again.

"Lu? What're you doing up?"

I opened my eyes just as Harry slid into the window seat across from me. "I could ask you the same question."

He shrugged. "Nervous about today, I guess. You?"

"I..." I looked away, out the window. Did I dare to be honest? Yes. "I've been having a recurring nightmare since the second task. I guess worrying about the third task on top of that just made it seem worse than usual."

"Yeah, I know how nightmares can be," he said. "Trust me."

I nodded, turning back to face him. "If anyone would, it'd be you."

He reached forward and poked my forehead with a small smile. "No headache, right? No searing pain, no flashes of green?"

"No, none of that," I said, chuckling quietly. "Just your typical, ordinary, meaningless nightmare."

"Doesn't mean it's not still frightening."

"It is that," I remarked. I looked back out of the window, and my hands subconsciously started to fiddle with the bear charm on my bracelet. "I... in the nightmare, I'm at the bottom of the Black Lake. Alone, without Ron or Hermione or Gabrielle or merpeople. And somehow, I know that Cedric's not coming to save me. Which is ridiculous, of course," I added quickly, glancing at Harry before looking down at my hands. "I know he'd never abandon me or anything like that. But something about this nightmare just... unnerves me. No matter how many times it repeats."

"You know, Lu," Harry said after a moment, "if something had gone wrong and Cedric hadn't shown up, I would have still taken you up."

"But I wasn't your captive. Or 'treasure,' as they called it," I said with air quotes for sarcastic emphasis, looking up at him.

"Lu, I was about to start cutting you loose when Cedric got there. Trust me, I would never have left you down there even if you weren't deathly afraid of water."