When You're Young

I Love It and Hate It

Aurora's P.O.V.

"You will fall, Amelia... Same as him."

"No. No. Cedric... Cedric!"

Thrashing awake, I spring up in bed and dart my gaze around me as I pant for air. When I see nothing out of the ordinary, I gulp on nothing and rub my eyes from the pain of my warped memories. Sucking in a deep breath and attempting to get the images of my nightmare out of my mind, I feel a hand run over my stomach.

Peeking down, I see George sleeping beside me with his arm draped over my waist. I stare at him for a long moment until I remember it is still the same night of our date. Fred and he arranged an entire date for me with fireworks, but that still didn't stop the dreams from coming tonight.

Daring my gaze over to Fred, I find him sleeping soundly in his bed and on his stomach like he's dreaming about me or new pranks to create. Closing my eyes and letting out a huff, I try to bring myself back into a sleepy state, but Harry, Cedric, and Voldemort's faces flash through my mind uncontrollably. Groaning from the suffering of my thoughts, I drag myself out of George's grasp and shuffle to their bedroom door.

Grabbing Fred's sweater on the way to the front door, I rub my temple with exhaustion before throwing the fluffy sweater over my head and onto my body. Opening the door as quietly as I can, I leave the twin's room to clear my mind before struggling to go back to sleep like I do most nights. Though the twins would like me to wake them up for something like this, I cannot bring myself to do so since I don't know what they could do to help me.

For once, Fred and George can't help me... Not with this.

Walking down the staircase and stepping into Gryffindor's common room, I notice a small fire coming from the fireplace. Frowning at the sight of the lights, I glance out of a window and note how it is too late for flames to be flickering within the fireplace. Wandering towards the fireplace, I suddenly realize why it is not just hot ambers dying out.

Harry Potter is sitting on the floor and leaning his back against the couch while staring at the fire. He's watching the flames stirring with the same exhausted look on his face that I'm wearing. With his mind in a faraway place, Harry has yet to notice how he's not along anymore.

You and I drink the poison from the same vine.

Standing behind the couch and watching Harry with sympathy, I know he is awake for the same reason I am. We have matching twisted nightmares because our souls intertwined by the impossible spell and for once; I wish we never cast the spell. Maybe if I we did not bound our souls, our nightmares would be simple and only from memories we actually lived through.

Clenching my jaw in shame at what our nights have become, I shuffle around the couch and quietly sit down on the ground next to my little sister's best friend. Noticing me in the corner of his eye, Harry glances at me as I relax against the bottom of the couch. I face the small fire, but I can feel Potter studying me from where he sits on the carpet.

"Nightmares?" He murmurs softly, as if it's not a question but a simple statement for my reason of being here with him. Nodding my head slowly, I sigh in defeat and say under my breath. "Memories."

"Same thing."

He grunts tiredly, as if it is a cruel joke that only we can understand and I can't help but smirk at how we know one another with just a few phrases. All last summer, I had dreams of Voldemort killing Cedric, coming after me, and hurting Harry. The two of us have yet to speak about the nightmares, but we don't have to since we share them on the same nights.

Oh, I love it and hate it at the same time.

"We could have saved him, couldn't we?" Harry whispers like it's haunting him whenever the sun goes down. Letting out a shaky breath, I nod again with bitterness and whisper in shame. "Yeah. We could have... If only we knew."