With all the surrounding darkness, it was hard to imagine being freed from it, or what it was like to be free, to feel safe. It was beginning to be hard to focus on what life was like outside of the darkened room. She hadn't eaten in who knows how long, or had anything to drink, hadn't really slept. She just wanted her bed, her brother, Harry, and Charlie. She wanted to be hugged by Molly and joke with Arthur. She wanted to laugh with the Twins and let Granger grill her about potions. She wanted to fly a broom with Ginny and make faces behind Bill's back with Ron. But most of all, she wanted her mother, to hold her, to tell it was going to be okay, that she was still proud of her. She wanted Alice to braid her hair, and talk about boys. She wanted Sirius to joke with her and tell her stories of Remus. She wanted to listen to Tonks talk about Remus with the same light in her voice as Sirius. She wanted to feel the wind on her skin, and listen to the trees on Hogwarts ground. She wanted to stare out at the black lake and catch snowflakes on her tongue with Harry. She wanted her brother to read to her as he used too. She wanted Charlie to kiss her.
The only reason she hadn't lost her mind yet was that she could remember doing those things with them so clearly, with perfect recollection. She could hear their voices and feel their presence. And she could lose herself in the memories, not acknowledging her agony, her starvation, her thirst, her desperation. She just wanted to go home, and not feel so weak. She could barely move her body with pain and weakness. She could barely speak with the dryness of her throat. She could feel that the seasons had changed through the stone under her. Once warm from the summer, now it was cool for fall and winter, so it would be freezing and she wondered if she could survive that without food, without warmth.
Probably not. She was going to die in this place.