The Black Queen | F. Weasley

18. A dreamless sleep

Merlin, he hadn't realised that her nightmares had not only affected her mental health, but her physical health as well.

Her skin had turned such a pale colour that it contrasted with her raven black hair immensely; her cheeks were sunken in from lack of appetite she had had ever since the nightmares had plagued her mind; the dark purple bags from sleep deprivation were visible and the once so lively sparkle that lit up her eyes had been dulled.

His heart constricted. How did he not notice this any sooner? She was with him almost every day.

Sirius forced a smile on his face and motioned for her to come closer to him. His eyes roamed over her appearance once more. He felt like he had failed not only Salem, but his brother as well.

He swallowed the lump down his throat and grabbed his wand out of the coat he was wearing. He waved it over the cauldron once and finally his hard work had paid off.

"What are you brewing?" Salem asked softly and looked at the cauldron in curiosity.

"I brewed this for you, it's called the Potion for Dreamless Sleep." Sirius said quietly and regarded her reaction. He was afraid that she would hide behind the walls she had built around herself again, but he was surprised when she didn't and simply sat down crosslegged in front of him. She looked at him, waiting patiently for him to continue his explanation. "I wanted you to be able to sleep without getting waked up by whatever it is that haunts your dreams. This potion should do the trick. You need to drink it just before you want to go to sleep and then you'll have a dreamless sleep, like the name implies."

Salem was silent for a while, simply staring at the purple concoction in wonder and finally back up at her uncle again. Her lips parted, but no sound left her lips. Sirius watched as she tried again to say something and he smiled warmly at her when he noticed that she couldn't find the words to express herself.

"It's alright, Sallie. Come here." He opened his arms, inviting her for a hug and he noticed that her nose had turned slightly red and her eyes had watered. He kissed the side of her head while rubbing her arm in comfort.

"Thank you, Sirius."

That night Salem had a dreamless sleep, just like Sirius promised. It was one of the best nights of sleep she had had in a long time.

♠️♠️♠️

"...so if you would all turn to page 287 in your book. What is it that you on this page, mr Towler?"

Kenneth frowned down at the diagrams which were pictured in their Intermediate Transfiguration book. It was silent for a long time in the classroom and people began to whisper the answers to themselves. Salem didn't really understand what was taking Kenneth so long, but she felt pity for the boy.

He had always had bad luck. Most of the students were picking on him, including Fred and George who had pulled a prank on the poor boy earlier that year. They had covered his pyjamas in Bulbadox powder which caused his skin to break out in the nastiest boils Salem had ever seen.

Professor McGonagall had put the girl next to him at the end in January in hopes of the boy picking up anything at all. Kenneth cheeks were starting to heat up in embarrassment and his eyes scanned the diagrams in desperation.

Salem covered her mouth with one hand quickly and whispered quietly to him what the answer was to McGonagall's question. "The diagrams show how to turn an owl into opera glasses."

The boy shot her a grateful smile and repeated the answer. The whole class let out a relieved sigh which only made his cheeks turn even more red in shame and a hot anger boiled in the pits of Salem's stomach at the audacity of her peers. She knew that he appeared a bit slow and not very intelligent because of it, but she had observed him these last few months and noticed how he seemed to have difficulty with reading and writing. She had an inkling about what it could be that bothered poor Kenneth Towler, but wasn't entirely sure.