freckles || {Sirius Black} #Wattys2018

Ten | Nightmares at Midnight

Sirius woke with a start, his heart thundering and his breath rapid. Sweat was collecting on his brow and chest, which were both surprisingly pale from the moonlight shining through the window. His raven-black hair was tangled and splayed every which way, as if he were pulling at it during the night.

In a panic, the terrified grey eyes glanced around the room. To his left was James, snoring away in his four-poster bed. To his right was Peter, curled into a ball underneath his covers. Past Pete was Remus, who lay peaceful and still on his mattress. Sirius and James's Quidditch robes lay out on the floor, close to the heater, from the practice earlier in the day.

Finally, Sirius felt his heartbeat return to a regular pace, and his tensed muscles relax.

He had endured an awful nightmare of his parents. They had broken into Hogwarts and dragged Sirius slowly and painfully to 12 Grimmauld Place by putting him under the Imperius curse. He had run away from home the previous summer, and had lived with the Potters or at Hogwarts ever since. His worst fear was his parents forcing him to leave Hogwarts.

The dream ended with his mother putting him under the Cruciatus curse.

For a few moments, Sirius attempted to sleep, closing his eyes and listening to the breathing and snoring of his best friends.

Then, out of the blue, a piercing scream ripped through the tranquil midnight air.

Sirius sat up in a flash, eyes opening wide and expression growing unnerved. Another scream tore itself through the dim, which pushed Sirius to stand and investigate.

Surprisingly, none of the other boys had awaken. Not even Remus had stirred from his routinely light slumber.

With haste, the disturbed boy threw on a shirt and exited his dormitory. Sirius flew down the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room, before waiting for another sound to confirm his suspicions.

It was clearer than the purest water in the world that Rosemary was the entity emitting the screams. Either that, or Peeves was especially wicked this night.

Rosemary had told Sirius herself that she hadn't been able to eat since the tragedy she went through, nor sleep through the night. If what she had said was true - which, Sirius believed, was - then the noises of fear and pain were more than likely Rosemary's.

Suddenly, a muffled wail traveled down the Girl's Dormitories' steps, all the way down to where Sirius was waiting in the Common Room. This sound was painfully Rosemary's; it had the tone of her voice.

Already knowing that the steps to the female dormitories would turn into a slide if a boy were to step on them (from previous experience), Sirius called up, "Evans!"

Within a minute, a girl with deep red hair and emerald eyes had opened the door to her dormitory, peeking out. Lily Evans seemed partially concerned out of her mind and partially distasteful towards Sirius.

"Black." Lily whisper-shouted back, her voice cold and worried all at once.

Sirius blinked once, before replying, "What's wrong with Rosemary?"

Lily frowned and subconsciously pushed a lock of hair out of her face. "She's - Rosemary's having some kind of night terror. We can't wake her-"