sleepless again

[esme]

<sup>Esme woke up in a cold sweat, she was crying, tears streamed down her cheeks in little rivers pearly colored in the silvery moonlight. The clock on the far wall was shaped like a serpent, the numbers along its scaly form, it informed the girl that it was 2:27 AM. Her breathing was haggard from the nightdream, her sheets and pillows were knocked off the bed from her silent struggles. Quietly she slid off her bed and put her linens back on, wiping her tears with a corner of a flat sheet. Esmeralda clambered back onto her bed and took a picture out form beneath her pillow, it was a picture of a teenage boy with long dark hair holding a five year old Esme and tickling her. The young witch sniffed a little but sat for ten minutes staring at the photograph of her older brother. Aiken had been killed by an auror when Esme had been nine, she carried his picture with her wherever she went. The eleven year old girl sighed and put the picture back under her pillow, snuggling into the blankets she imagined what he would do if he were still alive.

The little girl was curled up in her brother's arms sobbing quietly as he stroked her hair and murmered soothing words to her. She looked up at him and gave him a watery smile, he bent closer and kissed her gently on the forehead, his long hair tickled her cheek and she giggled softly. Aiken grinned and tickled her stomach, Esme's giggles erupted into peals of laughter that echoed around her small bedroom. There, the older boy said as he stopped tickling her, I told you I could make you forget about that silly old dream. the girl sighed contentedly and drifted to sleep, safe in her brother's arms.

Tears flowed again, Aiken wasn't here this time, he couldn't make her laugh, he couldn't protect her from the demons that lurked in the dark shadows of her mind. Esme didn't even try to fall asleep, she knew the dream would only come back, worse this time. Silently she cursed Teddy Lupin, the terror figure in her dreams, he had shouted at her, then turned into a wolf and chased her down the halls of Hogwarts, halls that turned to the aisles between the cells of a prison, then finally melted into darkness where the wolf found her. Shaking her head she reached over to the candle on her bedside table and lit it. The small flame lit a tiny circle and bravely pushed back the darkness, if only a little bit. Esme's little bat drifted from his perch and landed next to his mstress, the little girl gently stroked Malakhi's soft head, silently mourning, tears streaming.

I will not catch you, cause the hardest part of this is leaving you....</sup>

[Arturo Leonard]

It was late, rather early depending on how one looked at it;the blonde thought of it as super early. She was woken by a rustle of sheets, soemthing normal but these were very abnormal, she was almost afraid of the cause. Her violet optics grew used to the dark and she saw faint shadows everywhere; green light cascaded from the digital clocks that a few used. A bed down from her was where the rustling sounded from. She didn't sit up but stared at the bed until one figure became somewhat clear in the dark. She counted the beds and people to find it was Esmeralda Lestrange, a first year.

As the girl moved a little here and there, Arturo tried to decide if she was awake or not, then the figure sat up and looked at something in its hands. Her breath caught and she raised her head lightly. As the figure returned to lay down, Arturo raised to a sit on her bed; her hair was tassled and her eyes sleepy. "Esme?" She was timid in inquiring because the girl was a Lestrange and known to flare her anger if provoked. A sniffle alerted Arturo to crying and she got out of her bed, a tanktop and shorts decking her body and socks covering her feet. She came to the side of the eleven year old's bed. A petite hand touched the Lestrange girl's shoulder lightly, almost like a mother checkin her child. "Esme?" It was queit and slightly persistant.

[esme]

^{The small girl closed her eyes, still silently sobbing. The kind, handsome face of her brother seemed emblazoned on the inside of her eyelids, the only thing she could see was that old faded picture of the two of them playing with each other. It had been taken in front of the Lestrange's old house, a small house painted olive green with stone steps upon which the Lestrange children had spent many long summer afternoons. Her fingers ran through the bats soft silky black fur, it felt like water on her calloused palms. Then Esme felt a hand on her shoulder, starting she rolled over and found herself looking at Arturo, the one Slytherin that hung out with Gryffindors. Not counting Andromeda of course. Esmeralda's soft brown eyes, red and puffy from crying, widened in shock, she hadn't thought she had woken any one up. And if she had, she hadn't thought Arturo would be the one to worry about her.}

[Arturo Leonard]

Arturo knew the girl must be in shock for the one who worried about her, no matter what happened, Slytherins somewhat took care of one another, maybe Arturo was just too caring for the others to size her up. She bit her bottom lip in a nervous style; would Esme try to shake her off and say something rude? She took a deep breath and looked into the large brown eyes of the girl who was related to an infamous Death Eater. Arturo would just give it a try...

"Esmeralda...it's okay, you can trust me..." She let her voice sink into the girl before coming down to her level, her voice was soft and sleepy, a cloud almost that passed only Esme. Arturo still stood at the side of the bed, sometimes she had nightmares...probably different form Esmeralda but still, scary all in all. In the shadows lurked the monsters of fear and death, she felt exposed and vunerable. "Esme..." HEr voice was inaudible but she seemed to plead for a reply, be it harsh or not; preferably not, Arturo needed a reply to make sure she was okay.

[esme]

^{Strane or not, Esme instinctively took comfort where she could get it. That was what most people didn't know about her, she was still just a little girl. A scared little girl who the world is against, who won't reach out to the hand of friendship because too often it has been snatched away. Esmeralda took her hand off of her bat, who flew back to his perch, and wiped her eyes. Sitting up in the bed she made room for Arturo by pulling her legs up under her chin. Her head rested on her knees and her blonde hair was scraggly and in her face. Good morning Arturo. she murmured.}