The Black Queen | F. Weasley

18. A dreamless sleep

Froggy the snowman had melted and December had made way for March. The exams were nearing for all the students, and more importantly the O.W.L.s for Salem and her friends. It was horrible and the girl had never been as stressed as she was during those last couple of months before the exams.

She was mainly spending the time studying with Sirius in the Room of Requirement. He enjoyed her presence, despite them not talking all that much, he liked that he wasn't alone any longer. He had ventured a lot around Hogwarts as well, he was still searching for Peter, but he was also looking out for his niece.

Though, the looking out for his niece part didn't go all that smoothly. He knew that something was terribly wrong and that nightmares were plaguing her mind. He encountered such an occasion more than once. She would have them each time she fell asleep, and since she usually fell asleep during one of her study sessions while she was with him, he was there for most of them.

He hoped each time again when she was peacefully sleeping on the couch that it would stay that way, but he knew that it was a lost cause once more when she would start whimpering in her sleep. The first time she had had one of those nightmares was one of the most terrifying experiences in his life.

He had picked her up when he noticed that she was nodding off and had laid her down on his bed. He had tucked her in and had kissed her on her forehead, wishing her goodnight before he went to take the couch himself.

A bloodcurdling scream had woken him up and raised all the hairs on his body. He searched the room, alarmed, and when another scream disrupted the quiet night he had figured out that it was Salem. He had rushed toward the bed and took in her thrashing figure. She was crying and sweating profusely. Her hair had turned a stark white colour and her face was contorted in a frown. Sirius quickly grabbed ahold of her arms to stop her from accidentally hurting herself and called her name in order for her to wake up. When she finally opened her eyes they were filled with a fear which rattled him to his very core.

What in Merlin's name happened to this girl which terrified her this much?

He had let go of her the minute her eyes had opened. He didn't want to scare her anymore than she already was and having a pair of hands holding you down probably wouldn't help her feeling any safer.

Salem's eyes jumped around the room and took in her surroundings. When her eyes met her uncle's grey pair she calmed down significantly. The moment recognition had flashed through his niece's eyes he had wrapped his arms around her to comfort her which she gladly accepted.

He had been there for every other nightmare she had gotten after and each time he would wake her up gently and hold her until she settled down again. He had offered her a listening ear on multiple occasions, but she always denied that something was wrong and simply told him that it was nothing.

Sirius knew that she was lying, but he didn't want to pressure her into telling him the truth. He believed that it would only upset her more and that was the last thing he wanted. Since she didn't accept his help when it came to talking about the matter, he thought of anything and everything that could help her.

These past few days he had searched for through every potions book the Room of Requirement had to offer him and eventually found what he was looking for.

The Potion for Dreamless Sleep.

It was a N.E.W.T-level potion and luckily for Sirius he hadn't been all that bad at the subject. So, since he wanted his niece to have a goodnight sleep for once, he had transformed into his animagus form and plundered Snivellus' private storeroom.

When she returned to join him once more in order to study for her O.W.L.s she was pleasantly surprised by her uncle bending over a cauldron which held a purple concoction. She had looked at him questioningly, but a smile was framing her slightly sunken-in face.