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There was a clap of thunder, jagged fingers of lightning cutting through the inky black sky, streaking across the star bespeckled carpeting. Dan jolted awake, tendrils of hair flying about his face from the force of the motion. His chest was heaving with short, heavy breaths, heart pounding against his ribcage like a drum. He gripped the eiderdown tightly between his fists, trying to think of something calm. As his eyes scanned the room, he noticed he was the only one awake. Terry, Marcus, and Uric seemed to be hardly bothered by the storm raging outside, a long snore erupting from Terry’s ajar mouth.
Dan shrunk in on himself, trying to contain a whimper. Even if he tried lying back down and getting some rest, that wasn’t a logical possibility. His heart was still throbbing against his nightshirt, his fingers tightening in the fabric, hoping he wouldn’t be able to feel the pulsing outline of the muscle. He had been dreaming...it had started off like any other dream; ordinary. He had been swimming...or was he snorkeling? Either way, a dark shadow had fallen over him, a chilling cold blackness blocking the warmth of the sun. A dorsal fin...a flash of a tail...then rows upon rows of sharp, jagged teeth.
Something felt off to Dan. He felt meeker...smaller. That nightmare must have thrown him into headspace as an attempt to calm him. Now though, the altered headspace was causing other fears to pop up. Like how the room was so dark, how the lightning casted eerie shadows on the walls, how it sounded like something bigger than a puffskein was rustling around under the bed. And now Robert’s normally playful paintings of Crups looked particularly aggressive in the off-kilter lightning.
Dan knew he had to do something, anything to calm down. But he couldn't stay here. At any moment, the Grey Lady might float through one of the walls or bookcases and that would be it, Dan would lose it completely. He carefully lowered himself off the edge of the four-postered bed until his toes touched the ground. An eerie feeling was eating at him, and he snatched his wand off the bedside table, a weak Lumos burning against the harsh lighting of the storm. Dropping onto all fours, Dan noted that there was nothing under the bed. That was a relief. He wasn’t sure how he would be able to do anything more than curl up in the fetal position against a fully-grown mountain troll. He was shoving his feet into his slippers, throwing his bronze and blue robes on over his pyjamas when it occurred to him he was forgetting something. Dan began a frantic search for the lost object, looking in the drawers of the bedside table, behind the headboard, even underneath the bed once more. Panic was swelling up inside of him as he threw the pillows aside, stripping back the eiderdown in a frenzy until his hand wrapped around the object. He snuggled the plush stegosaurus up underneath his chin, humming happily before another crack of thunder had him jumping, nearly setting off a jinx.
With wand in hand, Reese securely held in the pit of his left arm, Dan crept out of the dormitory, careful not to let the door slam. He was running across the circular common room, tripping on one of the legs of a teal chaise, falling hard onto the floor, wand bumping and flipping over until it came to a stop, the Lumos extinguished. Dan curled his toes into the bottoms of his feet, feeling around the dark space for the slender length of redwood. He felt the familiar shape as his fingers curled around it and cast a quick Lumos once more. Continuing across the room with a little pain in his knees and elbows, he shot out the entry door to the common room, wand in his right hand, dinosaur clutched in the left. His chest was still pounding with the unsynchronized beating of his heart as he leaned back against the closed door. He looked down over the banister of the winding stairs that led up to the tower. It was going to be a long walk, and the castle was so dark. He had to get down through the quad, and past the Great Hall, all without being seen. Or being frightened to death . Dan took a tighter grip on his stegosaurus and stepped down onto the first step.
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Dan had made it down the length of the stairs, only tripping a few times, the skin on the palms of his hands a little scraped up, but he kept going. As he neared the quad, he heard a sound, thinking it was just one of the suits of armour getting comfortable for the night, but it startled him nonetheless. Another clap of thunder shook the sky overhead and Dan bolted across the quad, not even thinking about the hood on his robe or a conjured umbrella in his headspace. He was so scared and exhausted and he just wanted him . To be held, to be told everything was going to be ok, to receive head pats and forehead kisses. But that wouldn’t happen if he never made it to the Hufflepuff common room. He was drenched down to the very bone by the time he had raced across the cobbles. Dan shivered, gripping Reese tightly, at least he was mostly dry from being stuffed under his robes.
He was nearing the Great Hall, he would be there soon. There was a flash of light as he rounded the corner to the staircase leading down into the basement. Dan froze, every muscle in his body seizing up. There was Filch, the creepy, crotchety old caretaker, lurking about with his lantern and that cat of his, Mrs. Norris. Dan held his breath, trying to adhere to the wall behind him, reaching back with his right foot, feeling for the step. Filch turned, his light shining on the grand staircase, the cat ascending behind him, her eyes shining like rubies. Dan let out the breath he had been holding, turning and scampering down the staircase into the empty corridor.
He shivered in the cold dankness of the corridor. It was dimly lit with a smattering of torches burning here and there, otherwise, it was very, very dark. Dan drew his robes tighter around his lithe frame, although the soaking-wet garment was already clinging to him. He stood, frozen for a few moments, fleeting clips of a voice running in his head. “If you ever need me, just come, ok? Day or night, I will always be here for you.”
He passed the still life that stood as the entrance to the kitchens and turned right into a seemingly dead-ended corridor stacked with barrels from floor to ceiling. It was dark, and the stones dripped with condensation. Dan turned at the sound of a clattering arising from down the corridor. He didn’t see more than a few small figures with large, pointed ears scampering through the still life and disappearing. He feared his heart was never going to recover.
Even in his headspace, Dan still possessed the sharp intellect of a Ravenclaw. He considered the barrels in front of him, selecting the correct one, two from the bottom, middle of the second row, and taped it to the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff , just like he had been taught. He could still feel those assuring fingers tapping against the flesh of his back as he knocked the tune into the barrel.
The section of the barrels snapped open, revealing a sloping, earthy passageway. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. It must have been a fire in the hearth judging by the way the shadows were flickering in a rhythmic pattern. It frightened Dan a bit, but if he didn’t go towards it, he would never get into those warm, comforting arms. He squeezed his stegosaurus for courage and took a step down the corridor. About seven steps into the earthy passageway, the secret door behind him snapped shut with a soft bang.
Stepping into the common room, he felt a bit more at ease. There was indeed a fire burning away in the hearth, casting warm shadows on the honey-coloured wood of the furniture in the room. There were well-loved sofas that looked perfect for curling up and reading a book and a table in the back of the room that looked like it had been a part of several heated gobstone matches. There was a ginger-haired girl asleep in one of the armchairs with a book of arithmancy spells spread open across her chest. As Dan stepped towards the splitting corridors leading off to the dormitories, he jumped with surprise when something brushed across his shoulder and then his cheek. When he turned, ready to cast a resounding incendio , he realized that the perpetrator was no more than some plant tendrils that were overflowing from a terra cotta planter affixed to the ceiling.
There was another rumbling clap of thunder that sent Dan racing down the hallway, twisting and winding down the tunnel-like corridors. Finding the door he had been told about so much, he carefully pushed it open. Lying in the bed beneath the window, illuminated by a fork of lightning visible out from one of the squat windows was Arin .
Dan felt himself relax a bit just at the sight of the other man. Arin was snoring lightly, brushing at the scruff under his nose in his sleep. Dan took a few steps forward, a loose floorboard squealing underfoot. He kept his foot and leg up off the floor, ready for a crane kick, for several good minutes. There was another jarring clap of thunder and Dan all but slid to Arin’s bed. “Arin…” he started quietly, his voice so far away. Another crashing bang. “Arin…” One more good roll of thunder and Dan was forcefully shaking Arin’s shoulders, whispering as loud as possible. “Arin!”
The other slowly woke, blinking his dark eyes several times, rubbing the sleep out of them with the backs of his hands as he propped himself up. “Dan? W-what the hell, man? It’s the middle of the freaking night-” Arin stopped in the middle of his tirade as he took his first good look at Dan. He was soaked from head to toe, never fully drying out. His palms looked reddened in the low light of the Ravenclaw’s Lumos , and clutched to his chest was that stegosaurus that would have been in tatters by now if it hadn’t been for several good reparios cast by Arin.
“Arin...I’m sorry-” Arin felt his chest tighten at the words. The “Arin” sounded more like “Awin” and the “sorry” more like “swry.” He knew he had been too hard on Dan. He should have known the elder was feeling little. He ran a hand through his striped hair.
“I’m the one who should be sorry, bud. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry.” He pushed back the patchwork quilt on his bed, Dan cowering in on himself at another peal of thunder. “It’s ok, it’s ok, I’m here now.” Arin soothed, reaching out to rub up and down Dan’s arms. He pulled a face. “You’re soaked.”
“It’s raining.” At least Dan was still at his peak of sarcastic wit even in this headspace.
That earned a little rolling chuckle from Arin who was reaching for his own wand, casting a quick drying spell. “Here,” he was shifting Dan’s now dry robes off, throwing them over the seat of a nearby chair. “Let me see your hands.” The other man held out his hands, palms up. Arin assessed the light abrasions, assuming the elder had taken a tumble. He directed Dan to sit on the bed, going to root through his trunk for something. When he came back, he had a small copper tin in his hand and knelt down in front of Dan, beginning to rub the contents on the other’s palms. Dan recoiled, squirming.
“It’s cold.”
“It’ll help, trust me.” Arin flashed one of his smiles up to Dan, who felt his heart begin to settle for the first time that night. “It’s made from Tentacula leaves from the greenhouses. Professor Sprout let me experiment with making some healing salves.” Arin patted Dan’s knee, screwing the top back on the tin. “There, that should take the bite out of it.” He snickered. “Get it? Bite , ‘cause Tentacula bite--never mind.”
There was a voice from the far side of the room. “It was a good joke, Arin.” Arin rolled his eyes, tucking the salve back into his trunk.
“Gee, thanks Zacharias, now butt out ya duffer.”
Dan gasped. “Arin, that’s so mean!” He was still stressing “w’s.”
“He knows I’m kidding, Danny.” The younger assured, taking a seat beside the elder on the bed.
“I know he’s kidding.” Zacharias chimed in, feigning sleep.
“You’ve gotta be tired.” Arin started, brushing a few curls out of Dan’s eyes. The elder nodded, yawning. “Scoot in,” Arin instructed, gesturing to the inside of the bed, the side closest to the wall. “And don’t forget this,” he added, holding out Dan’s stegosaurus, who reached out for it, making grabby-hands. He snuggled the stuffie to his chest as Arin climbed in the other side of the bed, draping the quilt over both of their bodies. Dan seemed alright for the moment until another heavy clap of thunder sounded and he cowered into the warm bulk of Arin’s side.
“So scary,” he whispered.
Arin shushed him, petting down through his hair and down the back of his neck. “It’s alright, it’s alright Danny. I’ve got you. Nothing can hurt you.” There was another clap of thunder and Dan clung tighter, Arin leaning down to press a kiss to the elder’s obscured forehead. “I’d never let anything hurt you.” At those words, Dan allowed himself to relax a bit, retreating into the safeness and comfort of his headspace. Arin was here, holding him tight in a bear hug, protecting him from anything that might try to spook him. There was the reassuring drum of the younger’s fingers on his back, the gentle tippity tap of the Hufflepuff tune.
Dan snuggled against Arin’s broad chest, content. He sounded almost asleep when he spoke. “Love you, Arin.”
The younger smiled, running his fingers through the Ravenclaw’s hair. “Love you too, Danny.”
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