Till The End | h.p

nightmares

Sam wakes in the middle of the night, startled. Her nightmares, only getting worse. At times, when Fred, George, and Ron aren't around, she stays awake and writes letters to her mom. She sits up and pulls a journal and quill from her side table drawer.

'Mum,

The nightmares have been getting worse again and I think I'm doing an okay job of hiding my emotions, but they're starting to get out of control. Dumbledore informed me this summer about why the Death Eaters were after me... I'm sorry. You died, because I'm different. It's all my fault and I'm so sorry.'

She lets a few stray tears fall and hit the paper before she continues.

'I'm so scared, Mum. What if everything only gets worse and worse. What if they try to take me again? The Sorting Hat told me that there was darkness in my past, but I'm worried that there is darkness in my heart as well. Is that why the Death Eaters are after me? Do they think I will turn dark like they did? I want to be good. I'm trying to be good. I don't want to let you down.'

She stops writing and lets her thoughts consume her as she closes the journal and puts it back. She doesn't notice when the sun rises or when Hermione wakes up.

"Don't you want to go grab breakfast?" Hermione asks, pulling Sam out of her thoughts.

"I'm not really hungry. I think I'll just stay here."

Hermione notices the dark circles forming under Sam's eyes, but doesn't mention it. As Hermione walks down to the common room, she sees Harry, Ron, Fred and George.

"I thought you should know, Sam hasn't been sleeping and she's not coming to breakfast. I'm worried about her."

Oliver comes over to Harry, "Come on, Harry, I've got to show you the ropes."

Harry looks to the rest of them, but Ron reassures him, "Don't worry, mate. We can take care of it."

Harry nods and walks away as Hermione goes down to the Great Hall. The Weasley's walk up to the girl's dormitories and look around so no one sees before they open the door and find Sam. A knock sounds against her door, "Come in!"

She sees the boys walk in and come to sit on her bed, "Why didn't you tell us they were getting worse?" George asks.

Sam looks up to meet his eyes, "I'm a Gryffindor, aren't I? Bravery and courage to fight my battles alone."

Fred shakes his head, "Bravery is knowing when you need help, and asking for it."

Ron rests his hand on hers, "What's the real reason?"

She turns to avoid their gaze, "I don't want to be a burden. I'm not your real family and if I'm annoying or a burden, you'll leave me. I don't want to lose another family."

The boys look to each other before Ron speaks, "I can't believe you just said that-"

George continues, "We love you, we would never just abandon you!"

Fred grabs her shoulders gently, "You may not be ginger, but you're still family. Love between family members doesn't die or fade away."

George wraps her in his arms, "You think we don't know what lies ahead? We've known since the day Mum and Dad told us."

Fred joined in the hug, "We understand that things will get more difficult and we can't promise we won't worry-"

"Bloody hell, we might not understand and we might even get frustrated," Ron says, "but that doesn't mean we will ever abandon you."

"Hate to break it to ya, love, but you're stuck with us," George smiles against her shoulder.

Ron jumps into the hug, tackling everyone onto the bed, "Your last name may be Jackson, but you're a Weasley and you always will be."

"We second-" Fred starts, "-that statement," George finishes.

"We're with you," Ron confirms.

Sam lifts her head with a small smile, "Til the end?"

They all lift their heads and in unison say, "Til the end."

They hoist each other up and walk down to the Great Hall together. They sit down together and when Hermione sees them, she slides down next to Sam. Ron, still not thrilled about her, sighs and begins a conversation with Fred.

"I don't mean to pry, but I've read up on peaceful sleep potions. I can try to make you one, if you like?" Hermione asks.

Sam can tell that Hermione isn't who Ron and Harry assume her to be. Hermione genuinely wants to help and to be friends, she just doesn't quite know how to go about it.

Sam gives her nod, "But we will need the ingredients."

George, ever the eavesdropper, slides into the conversation, "Fred and I are pros at rule-breaking. We can sneak into Snape's ingredient closet easily."

At the sound of his name, Fred perks up, "Easy as polishing a broom. We can do it around two today."

George continues, "That's when Snape leaves to go Godric knows where."

Hermione sighs while shaking her head, "I'd prefer not to steal from a Professor-"

Ron interjected quickly, "Bloody hell, give them the ingredients so Sam can sleep for once."

The frustration in his voice, shut her up quickly as she pulls out a small piece of parchment and writes down the list.

"Thank you, love," Fred says as he snatches the piece of paper.

"Let's do something good with our rebelliousness, eh Freddie?" George remarks.

They stand from the table and give a lazy salute before striding off, no doubt to figure out their plan.

"Thanks, Hermione. I really appreciate it."

Hermione gives a small nod, still not loving the idea of breaking into Snape's stash and stealing from him.