In Ruins (Dramione FF)

Yasmin Deneuve

29/03/2015

The loud gasp erupted from her lips before Hermione had even processed the fact that she had awoken. She clutched at the sheets beside her, her eyes darting around at a pace almost as rapid as the speed of her racing heart. Soft pants began to peel from her lips and she reached up, attempting to drag a hand through her messy curls before she decided just to push them to one side and free her face.

Strands of hair still stuck there, however. They clung to the clammy heat formed by sweat upon her forehead. If Hermione were in the Gryffindor common room, then perhaps she would have felt more comfortable than she did right now. Instead, when she looked around the unfamiliar room, she felt nothing but the impending fear weighing down on her shoulders.

The terrifying thing was that it reminded her of just how alone she was.

When she'd been at home dealing with this situation had been easy. More often than not she could pick up her mobile phone and call either Harry or Ron and one of them would reply (usually Harry because Ron still hadn't managed to master his). Hermione had discovered fairly early into their Summer break that she wasn't the only one who had developed nightmares about that night. That in itself had been comforting. Just knowing that she wasn't the only one being influenced by the darkness behind her eyelids was enough to give her the courage to fall asleep at night. If Harry and Ron could face their night terrors then she could as well; after all she was a part of the Golden Trio - she was just as brave as them.

Right?

The chill caught up with her then, her covers having fallen away from her when she's sat up. Despite her original thoughts, the common room that she and Draco had been given was no warmer than that of the Gryffindor common room. She had no doubt that Draco would be just peachy in this new location, after all anything would be warmer than the cold that she had no doubt would sweep through the Dungeons every night.

She pulled the duvet up to her chest again, holding it against as she cast another glance around the room.

A part of her, the part that was afraid no doubt, entertained the idea of rising from her bed and heading to the Gryffindor common room. She could, it suggested, see the boys and hopefully the three of them could comfort one and another as they had every night for the past months.

It wasn't a terrible idea. Or it wasn't classed as a terrible idea until she remembered that their dorm room would be filled with other students, other male students, who probably wouldn't take too kindly to Hermione scurrying in there in the middle of the night.

A part of her still wanted to. That weak, cowering part of her was still scared of the dark and wanted to be in the company of her best friend and her boyfriend.

That part was the part she pushed away.

She shoved it back to the same place that she did every night - to the place she hoped it would never resurface from again. It was the same place she locked away those memories of the Battle of Hogwarts and of the dead faces of her friends and of all the things that she didn't want to remember.

But just as all of the memories returned in her dreams, the petrified part of her came back as well.

The worst part was that she remembered the dreams. Hermione would wake up in the morning and she'd still recall the darkness and the terror.

It would have been better, she imagined, if she couldn't remember any of it at all. That fear she could get over.

Eventually she just threw back the covers, welcoming in the cold and the shock that came with the action. She'd rather be fully-awake than in the half-sleep, half-dream state she'd been in moments ago. In that state, the videos had still been burned against the back of her eyelids.