[Adi] In the Dark...

[Amelia Pace]

She hadn’t slept for more than twenty minutes a night in the last week. Every time she closed her eyes she saw him. The thought of it scared her – why shouldn’t it? It was the second time she’d been attacked and his time she nearly died. At some point she may well have been. She would be now had Adrian not transfused his blood. That was another thing that freaked her out slightly – the thought of having his blood inside her, it was weird.

Sighing Amelia fidgeted so she was led on her left side, scared that if she lay on her right, even after a week, she might do something to it. To the bite. Swallowing her own saliva she succumbed to her own tiredness and shut her eyes.

The events relayed in her head over and over again. The noise. Walking into the forest. Being brought to the floor. His teeth sinking into her ne-

Amelia awoke suddenly her breathing heavy, a sheen of cold sweat on her forehead. She bolted upright, unaware that she had already started to cry. The dark had never bothered her before, but she found herself thumbling in the darkness for her wand. Throw her tears she muttered the incantation and the room filled with a sharp white light.

Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, mopping her two cheeks with her thumb, she climbed out of bed and grabbed her dressing gown on her way out. She couldn’t stay there. Not alone.

She entered the empty common room, he fire was still crackling in the corner, it was friendlier down here, but she had spent her day staring at it’s walls. At homely and cosy as the room was, she didn’t want to be alone. There were only two people she could talk to about it, but only one of them was less than a minute away.

”Where are you going!” berated the Fat Lady as she climbed out of the portrait hole, all pyjamas and scarcely done up dressing gown.
”None of your damned business,”
”I’ll tell Professor Connery!”

[/b]
”Knock yourself out,” she replied, quickly making her way up the corridor. She knew this was a bad idea, but it was the only one she had. She didn’t want to be alone, and he was the only person who would understand.

She reached the unfamiliar room rather quickly. It was most certainly quicker than the journey she made once a month to his office, but she had never been inside the room before. Not surprising considering teacher’s quarters were meant to remain student-free.

After humming and haring about whether or not to knock of his door for a minute she decided she could always just run off if she changed her mind, and raised her hand to tap on the door lightly. She just hoped he was there, she didn’t fancy walking down the staircases at this time of night on her own.[/blockquote]

[Adrian Connery]

For the first time in a long time Adrian was sleeping restfully. He was fast asleep not worrying about anything much at all. This was an odd feeling for the man, normally he had something highly stressing on his mind like vampires and werewolves and debt of all things. The vampires hadn’t been too much of a problem lately, the werewolves had come and passed and the debt he owed to Silas was almost paid off, even if it had cost a lot of his and Rickie’s inheritance. As long as he didn’t see or hear from any of his stressors he’d be okay.

Adrian awoke as he received a sharp peck from Aussie, his Australian barn owl. He’d forgotten to leave the window opened it seemed. The man mumbled an apology to the disgruntled owl, pulled himself out of bed and shuffled to the window. On the way he tripped over a suitcase, landing on the wooden floor with a dull thud. He’d forgotten about that bloody thing and it reminded him that he hadn’t finished packing yet. It was nearly Christmas which meant he’d be heading to Ireland to visit his parents’ graves and what little family he had left for a few days to a week.

In nothing but a pair of sweatpants, Adrian picked himself up, dusted himself off and let Aussie out the window. He shivered at the cold winter air and went back to bed, pulling the covers up, grateful for their warmth. For awhile he tossed and turned before finally he got comfortable. It took him awhile but he eventually started to drift back off to sleep. It was then that there was a knock at the door. Half-asleep Adrian groaned and practically rolled out of bed, who the hell was at his room at this time of night? If it was Abe he would skin the man alive.

“What the Hell is- oh Ame, you’re up early or late,” just as he was about to swear at whoever it was he saw it was Amelia Pace through his blear eyes. Instantly he was embarrassed, for some reason he always ended up having no shirt on whenever she was around. ”What are you doing here at this time of night?” he yawned, beckoning for her to come in. He motioned for her to sit in an armchair facing a smouldering fire while he scrounged around for a shirt he hadn’t packed.

[Amelia Pace]

Amelia really didn’t know what she was there. He could hardly help her. Nightmares weren’t something that could just be cured. She half turned away to go back to the Gryffindor Common room when the door opened behind her. Looking back over her shoulder she faltered before she spoke. ”I uh-“ she looked him up and down, ”I, um, shouldn’t have come here.” she mumbled running her hand through the loose strands of her hair.

”I just uh, nightmares,” she realised quite how pathetic she must have sounded. Only children had problems with nightmares. She shook her head at herself, and turned back to walk away, ”Forget about it,” She pulled her night gown back around her and hugged it closed, she closed her eyes in a long blink, holding back what was doubtlessly more tears, she felt so pathetic. The image of the greasy haired vampire flitted into her mind, forcing her to open her eyes again.

She stopped, ”I just,” she turned back around, ”I haven’t slept in a week. Every time I try I end up dreaming about it. Each time it’s worse than the last. I just,” she swallowed, blinking away her tears, ”I don’t really want to be on my own.” Had it not been the Christmas holidays and her friends hadn’t been at home, she would have turned to Scott, hell even James if he was ever actually around.

Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, it was chilly in the corridors, especially in just pajamas and a thin nightgown. Letting out a shaky breath she followed him back into his room, sitting in the chair as indicated, looking straight into the fire, trying her best to ignore the half-nakedness of her teacher and friend. Why had she ever decided that this would be a good idea?