Written In the Stars | s.b |

FIFTY-EIGHT

A loud rumbling woke Ariah out of her restless sleep, quite harshly. She bolted upright, her yellow silk sheets clinging to her sweaty body. Her heart pounded erratically against her chest as she hiccuped back a sob. Kicking the sheets off of her, she looked over at the clock. It was hardly one A.M. and Ariah was far from ready to go back to sleep.

Ever since the attack at the World Cup, Ariah had been experiencing nightmares, night terrors and intense anxiety. She couldn't seem to shake it.

She couldn't make it to quidditch games she wasn't playing in — the crowds triggered panic attacks. She tended to skip defense against the dark arts — the anxiety that followed someone holding a wand to her had her choking back tears.

Ariah knew she needed to get over this. Death Eaters were raging and You-Know-Who was rising in power. She needed to defend herself. But every crack of the wand and every stray spell or random shout sent her back to the World Cup. She didn't know how to get over this.

And she couldn't tell Sirius — he blamed himself for the attack and that was before they started dating.

Ariah curled her knees to her chest, flinching and whimpering at the next crack of thunder, the image of the first explosion in the stands flooding her mind..

"Riah...?" she heard Meeka whisper from the next bed over. "You alright."

She couldn't seem to answer as the next crack of thunder erupted, a picture of a death eater — Bellatrix — laughing as she shot her wand in Ariah's direction intruding her mind.

There was a dip in her bed prompting her to peer up. Meeka sat across from her with a sad and sympathetic expression on her face. "You have to talk to someone Ariah...."

"W-Who?" she asked. "I-it's not li-like we ha-have a c-counselor..."

"I bet Madame Pomfrey could help," Meeka suggested. "Give you a potion to stop the nightmares — that's all it is, right? Nightmares?"

Ariah chewed her bottom lip, nodding slightly. It was a lie, but she didn't want to come off as weak. Not this time.

There was another crack of thunder, Ariah curling in on herself and whimpering again. With the flick of her wand, Meeka closed the curtains around Ariah's bed. She muttered 'silencio," the noise of the rain and thunder fading away beyond the curtains. Ariah slowly uncurled herself.

"Lying isn't going to make you any better," Meeka said.

"I'm fine," Ariah said. "Just.... shaken right now...."

Meeka sighed. "If you say so...."

"I do," she said, nodding.

Meeka shook her head, standing and removing herself from Ariah's bed, making sure to close the curtains behind her.

"Welcome, one and all!" boomed Remus' voice. "Today, we introduce the new.... drumroll please."

The room of requirement erupted in cacophonous claps and pats, filling the room with the sound of something like heavy rain hitting hard ground.

"Annual Marauders Day of Prrannkksss," Remus finished, followed by the sound of a trumpet blaring.

"After last years month long prank-expedition, we have all worked tirelessly to create this Day of Pranks, signing in our Marauders: Up To No Good handbook, agreeing to the conditions of this day.

"We also have initiated a new member into the Marauders; Gwendylan Rose is now an official member and hereby knows all of our secrets and has solemnly sworn to bring these secrets to her grave."