Vulnerability || George Weasley

Aftermath of Dreams

George Weasley was fast asleep. It was rather impressive that he could sleep through Lee Jordan's monstrous snores that were almost deafening. But the thing about sharing a dormitory with Lee for six years is that you eventually get used to his snoring (though magical ear plugs do tend to come in handy). Aside from Lee's snores, the dormitory was quiet; nothing out of the ordinary appeared to be happening. That was until...

The sound of screaming cut through the night like a knife. Horrible screams of pain. Screams of absolutely agonising, overwhelming pain.

George woke up immediately, rubbing his hand over his face as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

"Who the bloody hell is screaming?" Fred's tired and groggy voice came from the bed to George's left, "sounds like Ron when we put a spider under his pillow."

"I don't think that's Ron," came Lee's voice, George had barely noticed the absence of his snores due to the screaming that was coming from somewhere in Gryffindor tower. George pulled back the drapes around his bed to see both Fred and Lee had ignited their gas lamps, "It sounds like somebody is being bloody tortured."

George's stomach twitched uncomfortably, remembering what Phoenix had told him only hours before. He did not want to think about somebody being tortured at that moment. He was already so worried about her as it was, since she had run away from him, leaving George in the library rather confused and having to answer Ron's questions.

"Should we go down to them common room?" Lee asked suddenly, "maybe somebody's been hurt?"

But just as Lee had went to grab his dressing grown, the screaming had stopped, leaving them all in an eerie, foreboding silence that made the hairs on the back of George's neck stand up.

"They've stopped," said Kenneth Towler, sounding relieved, "thank Merlin for that."

But George did not feel relieved in the slightest. Instead he felt uneasy. What had happened? Was somebody hurt? He recalled the last time that somebody had woken the entirety of Gryffindor tower, Sirius Black had broken into Ron's dormitory with a knife. His only reassuring thought was that he would find out in the morning... but still there was something that was telling him not to sleep, to go and help.

There was silence in the dormitory for a few minutes before Lee's snores had begun again, but George had still not fallen asleep. He lay awake staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars that Phoenix had given him for Christmas. He had stuck each one of them to the ceiling of his four-poster bed. He had been deeply impressed when the lights had gone his in the dormitory and he had seen the brightly glowing stars up ahead. But then again, he always loved the presents that Phoenix gave him.

The dormitory door suddenly banged open. George's hand grabbed his wand from his bedside table instinctively, pointing it towards the door.

"Angelina?"

Angelina stared widely around, she looked horrified, as though she was going to be sick or faint. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was shaking, horribly.

"It's..." she gasped for breath, clutching onto the door handle. Fred had shot out of his bed and pulled her into his arms. George stared at her as she began sob into Fred's chest, clutching at his shoulders. George and Lee shared worried, almost fearful looks. Had something happened to Angelina? Had it been her who was screaming? Or had it been Alicia? Or maybe even... Phoenix.

George was hoping against hope that it was not Phoenix who had screamed so horribly like that, or any of his friends for that matter. Pushing these thoughts aside, he tentatively climbed out of bed and made his way towards Angelina and patted her back, sharing a nervous glance with Fred.