That night, when Lilleth went to sleep, she was plagued by nightmares.

James.

Lily.

The green light.

The scream.

James. Dead.

She woke up with a gasp, sitting up straight and panting. The bedcovers were half off, presumably from her kicking and flailing with her arms so much. Sweat dripped off her forehead, her hair stuck to her scalp, and her breath came in heavy pants that she struggled to control.

None of the other girls had woken up, so she carefully got out of bed and padded across the floor to the door. The old wood and metal hinges creaked slightly as they opened, and she winced, but the only movement from the dorm was Missy, rolling over on her bed and burying her face in a pillow. Then something else moved, and Lilleth jumped, but it was just Mourka, hopping down to join her. She smiled slightly and bent down to lift him up, allowing him to curl up around her shoulders like a warm scarf.

With Mourka in tow, she crept down the stairs to the common room, where the fire in the grate was still lit, to her delight. She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do, she just didn't want to be asleep.

She took a seat on one of the squashy armchairs in front of the fire, stroking one of Mourka's paws absentmindedly. He didn't seem to like being squashed up against the back of the chair, so he crawled down to sit in her lap, and she smiled and gave him a scratch behind the ears, which he definitely enjoyed.

"So what do you think about it all?" she murmured. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

He gazed up at her with his emerald green eyes, and then rolled over and stretched his paws out so that she could rub his belly, and she laughed and did just that.

"Glad you agree with me." she chuckled.

Despite her desperation to stay awake and avoid the nightmares, Lilleth soon felt herself succumbing to sleep, and before long, the hypnotising dances of the flames in the dimming fireplace slowly lulled her into a deep sleep, curled up on the sofa with Mourka cuddled up against her chest, dead to the world. In fact, her sleep was so deep that no more nightmares plagued her for the rest of the night.

She was woken by Mourka batting her in the forehead with his paw – luckily with his claws retracted – to find that people were already starting to come down to the common room to get their breakfast. Jumping to her feet, she ran back up to the dorm with Mourka bounding along behind her and burst through the door, startling the other girls who were all awake and dressed.

"Where have you been?" Piper demanded, putting her hands sternly on her hips.

Lilleth went red.

"I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs to the common room and then... well, went to sleep." she said. "It's actually quite nice in the common room at night."

"Well we've only got half an hour to get breakfast and get to Charms, so hurry up." said Ella, rolling her eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." said Lilleth absentmindedly, as she scurried off to get dressed.

When they reached the Great Hall for breakfast, Lilleth did her best to keep her head down and not get seen by Harry. She didn't know why, but she just didn't want to be near him. She didn't want to be tempted to talk to him, she didn't want him to ask was wrong, and above all, she didn't want to have to tell him what she saw.

After all, how could she tell someone who had been like a brother to her for twelve years that she had watched his father die right in front of her eyes?

"You're avoiding Harry, aren't you?" Piper muttered to Lilleth as they all took a seat at the Hufflepuff table.

"I don't want to have to explain anything to him." Lilleth sighed. "Especially when I'm struggling to explain it to myself."

"You might not have much luck with that." said Mira, nodding her head at something behind them.

Lilleth swung her head around to see Harry walking into the hall with Hermione and Ron, and he very quickly clapped eyes on her.

"Darn." she muttered, turning back around and trying to hide behind her hair. Since she had woken up so late, she hadn't had a chance to tie it up and the most she had managed was tucking it behind a headband at the back of her ears.

"You should go talk to him." said Piper encouragingly. "You said it last night, you're like siblings, and you have to look out for one another."

Lilleth sighed. "I guess. I just don't really know what to say."

"Well, I'd guess you have about one and a half seconds to figure it out." said Missy.

Before Lilleth could say anything else, or even turn around, she heard Harry's quiet voice behind her.

"Lilly, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Sighing once again, she got to her feet and turned around to face him.

"Come on." she muttered. "Let's go out in the hall." She glanced down at her friends on the table. Missy and Mira had both blushed as red as tomatoes in the presence of Harry. Lilleth rolled her eyes and grabbed Harry's arm, pulling him along the stone floor between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables and out into the Entrance Hall.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked almost immediately. "Because I know you said you were fine last night, but being 'fine' doesn't land you in the hospital wing unconscious for six hours. Just tell me what happened."

"I don't – I don't even understand it myself." Lilleth blurted out. "I don't know what happened, all I know is that something really weird happened when I faced my boggart in defence and I fainted because of it or something."

"What did you see?" asked Harry. "What's your boggart?"

"It's – complicated." said Lilleth, looking at the floor and avoiding his eyes. "I don't exactly know what my boggart is. It's just... weird. I can't explain it."

"Can you at least promise me that you're okay now?" he said, sighing exasperatedly.

"How many times have you broken that promise to me?" she retorted slyly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Touché."