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Harry stirred in bed for the thousandth time. He had been like this for what seemed like hours, unable to sleep, knowing that if he did, nightmares would come over him. It had been like this ever since that night in the graveyard when Voldemort had risen and Cedric had died.
Dead. It still sounded strange, impossible, that young man so alive and kind, dead. Harry knew that was what war was like, but understanding something didn't mean he was okay with it. No, it was quite the opposite.
Moving once more, he pulled his hand from his bed to grab his wand and cast a Tempus. Hermione had taught him and Ron the spell and it was extremely useful when he didn't have a watch, like he did now. The time appeared in the air, it was 1:00 am. He had been like this for 5 hours and he knew he couldn't go on for another one.
Suddenly, as he was thinking about what he could do to kill time, he heard footsteps approaching, his curtains moved, and his best friend's red-haired head peeked out.
“Hey mate,” Ron whispers, not wanting to wake up his other roommates, “I can’t sleep, can you?”
Harry almost sighed in relief, at least now they could stay awake together and talk about something, not being able to stay alone with his thoughts for another minute.
“Me neither, I’ve been like this for hours,” Harry replies, making room on the bed. “Come on, get in.”
Ron does as he says and climbs into the small bed, the two of them sitting right next to each other. Harry casts a quick silencing charm so as not to disturb anyone and leaves his wand outside the bed. This way, they hang out together, talking nonsense to distract themselves.
After a while like this, Harry begins to doze off, lying on his side in bed. He feels Ron lay down next to him as well, both of them too tired at the moment to think about changing beds. Suddenly, he feels Ron's arms wrap around him from behind, pulling them closer together.
“What are you doing?” he whispers, puzzled but with no intention of moving away.
“Protect you from nightmares,” Ron murmurs, pulling Harry closer to him, his voice sounding more sleepy than awake.
Harry, too tired and at ease, doesn't respond, he closes his eyes and finally falls asleep. For the first time in months he doesn't have any nightmares.