third spell ✰ BACKDATED day 254 ✰ video

[charmandchant]

( Hermione was having another nightmare. Or at least, it felt like a nightmare. She was searching for something important to her, but every time she reached her hand out to touch it, it would vanish as though it had never been solid in the first place. Over and over, until she could feel her breath coming in gasps and tears rolling down her face - was she screaming? It felt like she was saying a name, but she couldn't quite understand what it was, as though there was something obscuring her hearing, keeping her from understanding.

There was a flash of red hair, which vanished---

And then she woke up, sitting straight up in bed and panting, one hand pressed against her mouth to keep herself from screaming. This was a new one, wasn't it? But surely, it didn't mean anything...

Rolling over and reaching for her bracelet, Hermione scrolled through the names. And scrolled again. And a third time, her eyes almost too blurred with tears to see. The one name she had been counting on, she had been hoping to find - had disappeared during the night, while she was sleeping. What could she do about it?

By the time the sun rose, she had calmed herself enough to actually say something, though her eyes were red and puffy and had dark circles under them. )

Ronald Weasley has left. If .. anyone knew him, he was .. someone I knew from home. Someone I cared about. ( Was she supposed to say all this? )

I just thought others might want to know.

Comments

[upholsteredvelvet]

That... it's depressing that we should consider such a thing "lucky."

[charmandchant]

You're right. But .. there isn't anything we can do.

[upholsteredvelvet]

[He's refusing to dwell on what would happen if he were to lose Rider.]

Were you close?

[charmandchant]

( Have the longest of pauses. )

Yes. Best friends. ( And more, once. )

[upholsteredvelvet]

Ah. I actually sort of know what that's like.

[And he really wishes he didn't. But Rider is back, and...]

I hope you're reunited.

[charmandchant]

( Have a sheepish smile. )

I'm sure we will be. Thank you. I"m sure a lot of people know what it's like, here.

[upholsteredvelvet]

Wonder what the point of it is? Disrupting our lives only to send us away again without any warning.

[charmandchant]

Is there any point? ( Hermione shakes her head, clasping her hands in her lap to keep them from shaking, too. )

War doesn't have a point, in the end.

[upholsteredvelvet]

No, it does. I mean, it's often a ridiculous point, but there's an undeniable intention.

[charmandchant]

I don't think so, in the end. After it's over and you're cleaning up the damage, you just forget what it was that seemed so important.

[upholsteredvelvet]

That's somewhat naive.

[charmandchant]

I think what I mean to say is that with all the damage caused, even if the reason was important, things don't ever work out the way you expect them to.