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“What if I have nightmares again?” Halley asked.
Ginny could make out the pale slashes of lightning through her bedroom window. Thunder rolled out in the distance and she was reminded of the clashing of spells and curses at Hogwarts. When Ginny had been younger, before the War and the Diary, she had laughed at her brothers’ fear of spiders and the dark and storms. I’m fearless, she had said with her hair in twin plaits with red ribbons. Fearless, fearless, fearless…
Now here she was, older and half-curled up in her bed with Halley in her arms. The storm was loud enough to draw Halley back in those memories, and Ginny was there to help her get through the night.
“I’ll wake you up,” promised Ginny. She wrapped her arms tighter around Halley and buried her face in familiar messy black hair. From curve-to-curve, their bodies were pressed together as they had back at Hogwarts. Except this wasn’t them laughing as they rolled around in Halley’s four-poster bed. No coy looks shared in a small space, or knee-shaking pleasure of learning more about each other’s bodies.
This Halley was thinner, her shoulder-bones sharp through her camisole. Her green eyes had the look of someone being haunted, always wary and on edge.
“Dawn’s coming,” said Ginny and lightning flashed behind the window’s curtains. “The storm will be over soon.” She felt some of the tension leave Halley’s body, but it wasn’t enough. I’ll be fearless for the both of us.
Together, they waited for sunrise.