#glossy lil man-eater

[gallusgalluss]

carry-out order

[midnighttmarauder]

Nox Terrorem

Pairing: none

Request: The reader is constantly plagued by nightmares and normally handles them on her own, even if she's absolutely terrified. One night, she has a nightmare about the marauders, possibly abandoning her, and she just knows she can't handle it alone this time. So, she goes to the marauders for comfort, and in the end, they end up sleeping together in a literal pile.

Warnings: nightmares, mentions of death

A/N: Nightmare is in italics. Hope you all enjoy! xo

***

You woke up in a cold sweat. Green light flashed behind your eyelids as you sat up, the blankets falling to pool around your waist. You lifted trembling fingers to push your damp hair back from your face. Breathe in. Breathe out. A heavy sigh left your lips as you finally opened your eyes, taking in the rising sun that illuminated the quiet dormitory. Another night, another nightmare filled with swishing black cloaks and masked faces. You blamed it on the front page of the Prophet. There had been yet another death eater attack in a town a few hours away from Hogwarts. It was all hitting too close to home.

Deciding that you might as well just start getting ready for the day, you threw your covers off and padded to the bathroom. You washed your face with cold water and leaned against the sink, glancing in the mirror. Dark circles bloomed under your glossy eyes, and your skin had never been so pale. Nothing a little makeup couldn’t fix. When you walked into the Great Hall an hour later, nobody was any the wiser.

“Morning, Y/N. Sleep well?” Remus asked as you sank into the seat beside him.

“Like a baby,” you lied.

“You were up early this morning,” Lily commented.

“I just felt so well rested that I decided to wake up and watch the sunrise,” you replied, piling your breakfast onto your plate.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Y/N?” Sirius asked.

“You’re always the last one up,” Lily added.

“I never get to see the sunrise, so I thought I would watch it today. What’s so wrong with that?” you retorted.

“The fact that the sun rises at an ungodly hour,” James said.

“It’s not that bad. Let me enjoy nature, Potter. Sunsets are one thing, sunrises are another,” you replied.

“But–”

“Anything good in the paper for once?” you interrupted, desperate to change the topic.

“There’s never anything good anymore. Even the Chudley Cannons are doing bad. Here,” Remus said, handing you the Prophet. You hesitated before you took it, and glanced down at the front page.

“Of course, they’re the worst team in the league,” James said. Their bickering faded into the background as you read the article.

“More disappearances,” you muttered.

“It’s getting worse out there,” Sirius hissed.

“You don’t think they’ll come here, do you?” you asked.

“They’d be nuts to try anything with Dumbledore here. This is the safest place for us right now,” Lily replied. You nodded at her, but you weren’t entirely convinced.

It was chaos. Students were running around the courtyard, screams echoing off the castle. Death eaters had arrived at Hogwarts.

“Y/N!” a voice called behind you, and you whirled, your wand clenched tightly in your hand. Lily ran up to you, panic evident in her emerald eyes.

“What happened, what’s wrong?” you asked.

“I can’t find James or the boys anywhere! We were helping a group of first years and they just disappeared!” she cried.

“It’s okay, Lil, we’ll find them,” you said. You grabbed her hand and began running across the grounds, searching frantically for any sign of your friends.

“Y/N, watch out!” Lily yelled. A death eater appeared in front of you, his wand aimed at your throat. Before you could even think, a jet of green light shot out of your wand and into the man’s chest. He landed on his back and his eyes stared unseeing at the sky above.

“Did I just – is he dead?” you stuttered.

“We don’t have time, let’s go!” Lily said, pulling you away from the man and deeper into the battle. There was an uproar to your right, and you glanced over to see death eaters fighting a group of professors. You looked away, but your gaze snapped back when you saw a familiar face in the crowd.

“I found them!” you yelled, leading Lily over to the duel. Upon first glance, it appeared that your friends were helping the teachers. Then, Lily screamed.

“They’re helping the death eaters! What are we going to do?” she cried.

“We run. We get as far away from here as we can, as fast as we can,” you replied.

“But–”

“Lily, they’ve chosen their side! We need to alert the Order now!” you interrupted. Lily seemed to snap out of her daze and nodded, allowing you to begin pulling her away. You had only made it a few paces before you slammed into someone.

“Abandoning the fight so quickly?” Sirius drawled.

“No, stay back!” you yelled, and pointed your wand at him. It trembled in your hand.

“You’ve picked the losing side,” James said, appearing beside him. Remus and Peter appeared just a few seconds later.

“You’re wrong,” you muttered, tears brimming in your eyes.

“You betrayed us! How could you?” Lily yelled.

“The Order can’t offer us what they can,” Remus replied. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark on his forearm. They all had it.

“No, this can’t be happening,” you croaked.

“Join us, and we’ll spare you,” James said, and reached for Lily. You pulled her behind you and shook your head, tears finally spilling onto your cheeks.

“We’ll join you when hell freezes over,” you spat. Sirius cocked his head with a smirk and stepped in front of you.

“Very well,” he drawled. “Avada Kedavra!”

“No!” You shot up in bed, sucking in a gasp. A sob ripped out of your throat as you tried in vain to take deep breaths and calm your racing heart. You were trembling so hard that your whole bed seemed to shake.

“Y/N?” Lily asked quietly. She pulled your bed curtains open and poked her head through. You jumped and scrambled backwards, nearly falling off the edge of your bed. “It’s only me. Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” you stammered.

“It’s alright. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I heard you screaming,” she replied.

“I’m okay, just a nightmare. Go back to bed, Lils,” you muttered.

“Okay, if you say so. Goodnight,” she said. You heard her get back into bed, and within seconds, she was snoring. With trembling fingers, you reached for your robe and slipped it over your shoulders. You scrambled out of bed and hurried to the door of your dormitory, quietly pulling it open and shutting it behind you. You walked downstairs and turned to the stairs for the boys’ rooms. You tentatively put a foot on the bottom step. Nothing happened. You breathed out a sigh of relief as you hurried to the door of the boys’ dorm and knocked. It was quiet, and you could faintly hear someone snoring on the other side. You knocked again, a little bit harder this time, and you saw a light turn on underneath the door. It opened slowly, and you could barely make out Sirius’ face.

“Y/N?” he whispered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked up at you, and his face fell. “What’s wrong?”

“I – I had a nightmare, and I just…I needed to make sure you guys were okay,” you muttered. Your cheeks burned in shame.

“C’mere,” Sirius said, putting a hand on your back and leading you into their dorm. “Oi, wake up, you lot!” Remus stirred in his bed and looked up with furrowed brows.

“What’s going on?” he mumbled.

“Prongs, wake up,” Sirius hissed. When he didn’t move, Sirius whipped a pillow at him. James groaned and sat up, throwing the pillow right back at Sirius.

“What the hell was – Y/N?” James said.

“I’m sorry to wake you,” you muttered.

“What happened?” Remus asked.

“I had a horrible nightmare. I get them a lot and normally I can handle them, but this one was terrifying,” you replied.

“How often do you get them?” Sirius asked. He had a knowing look in his eyes that made your heart clench.

“Almost every night,” you replied.

“Come sit,” Sirius said, moving over to make room for you.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Remus asked. You sighed and nodded slowly. You explained what had happened, and Sirius blew out a breath when you were done.

“You know we’d never do that to you, right? We’d never join them,” Sirius said. He grabbed your hands and squeezed them.

“I know,” you sniffed and wiped at your face with your sleeve. “It just seemed so real.”

“Look, no dark marks,” James said, holding out his left arm to reveal bare, freckled skin. Sirius and Remus did the same, and you felt a weight lifted off your shoulders.

“I’m sorry that I bugged you guys with this. It was silly to think that you could ever betray us,” you muttered.

“Stop apologizing. There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Sirius insisted.

“Nightmares make anything seem possible,” James added.

“You shouldn’t be alone tonight. You can sleep here,” Remus said. “Peter fell asleep downstairs and Merlin knows he won’t come up, so you can take his bed.”

“No, I couldn’t possibly intrude. I’ll take the floor,” you replied.

“If you insist,” James said, handing you a spare pillow and blanket. You nodded your thanks and went to the middle of the room, making yourself cozy by the heater. You heard shuffling behind you and assumed that the boys were getting into bed, when a pillow landed beside your head.

“What are you doing?” you asked as Sirius lied down beside you. James followed on your other side, and Remus lied down behind you.

“If you sleep on the floor, we sleep on the floor,” Sirius replied simply.

“And they say chivalry is dead,” you muttered. The boys laughed, and it made your heart soar. “Thank you.” They cuddled around you as a reply. Within minutes, the four of you were snoring. For the first time in months, you didn’t have a single nightmare.