sleep is for the weak

[zara celeste o'reilly]

Sleep. Sleep would be a thing. Sleep was one of the worst things that could happen to her. With sleep came dreams or visions. These days Zee could not differentiate between them both. Dreams were pleasant sometimes and sometimes so were visions but more often than not they were not something that she would look forward to. Things were getting out of hand and although she wanted to speak to someone about it who was there? Bert wasn't going to really understand and her Divination professor? Well Zee didn't really feel comfortable discussing her personal life with anyone.

The castle had quietened down and Zara waited before padding out of the dorm and down to the grounds. If she was found out she would risk a detention that was a given. Not to mention that Professor Flitwick was going to give her a big dressing down. And yet it didn't stop her.

Finally out on the lawns Zara already felt more awake thanks to the cold air of the night. She made a beeline towards the lake. If it looked scary during the day it was nothing compared to the night glare. During the dar it was a vast mass of water that reflected the sun. At night it was a glassy and eerie black mass. Not so much as a ripple on the surface. And it was at night that Zee often wondered about the merpeople and other creatures.

Rolling up the legs of her pyjamas to her knees Zara sat herself down and slowly sank her legs into the depths. The icy cold water made her gasp but now she was truly awake. Eventually she would head back to the castle. Eventually she would sleep.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

It had been an ok day for Tyson as far as days at Hogwarts went. He’d gotten a fair bit of work done and managed to drip in on the kitchen to see the House elves. He graciously liberated them of a few apple strudels and some other tasty treats but he was very thankful for all their hard work. Especially in keeping the common room warm, with the cold weather fast approaching hot water bottles were being used by Tyson every night. He wanted so skip autumn and get straight to winter for the snow, he hated being caught out in the rain.

Right now, Tyson was in a restless mood. He was bored more than anything, after finishing writing a letter to home which he intended to post tomorrow. Sparky would be tucked up nice and warm in his little nook of the Owlry, he hadn’t seen him recently so he would be nice to be reunited with his feathered friend. He looked outside to see although it was dark, there was no sign of rain or any other unpleasant weather. He figured a stroll around the grounds would do no harm and maybe help him pass the time before his brain switched off. He grabbed his jumper and was still full clothed so simply pulled it on and headed out the common room.

He had his wand stuffed down the back of his jeans with no need for it inside the castle. He knew the layout well enough to navigate in the dark. He counted himself lucky as there was no sign of any wandering prefects or teachers. He got to the front entrance and slowly creaked the door open to get to the lawns outside. Now was when he needed some light. ”Lumos.” He whispered as he drew his wand. A faint glow appeared at the tip which he used to check the ground before him was safe to tread on. The last thing he needed was a sprained ankle from a rouge tree root.

He made his way down towards the lake, it being the least likely place to run into anyone that would get him into trouble. The lawns and the forest were patrolled by the grounds keeper at night in case any foxes fancied a go at the green houses or something more sinister from the forest got a little too close for comfort. Along the shore line, Tyson tread lightly but kicked the occasional pebble into the water for entertainment. The surface of the lake was a blank, dark void in an otherwise feature filled scene. Tyson shuddered at the thought of what lay beneath.

He froze at the sight of a figure in the dark. A mermaid? Person? Thing? Tyson’s knowledge of magical creatures was rather limited. He only ever had fascinations with a rare few. ”Nox.” He breathed, trying to stay as quiet as possible. He took another step forward before announcing his presence. ”H-hello?” He stammered, scared given the eerie surroundings of the encounter.

[zara celeste o'reilly]

She kicked her legs gently causing the ripples on the surface to cast away from the shore toward the centre before they calmed again. In her chest her heart hammered away and she took in deep gulps of air trying to calm herself down. The night was so cold that she felt the air turn her lungs into blocks of ice. Winter at Hogwarts was even worse but she loved the season. Zara wished that she had brought a cloak or something with her. Then she reminded herself that she was not after comfort. She wanted to stay awake. Comfort would only want to put her to sleep.

She couldn't keep on living like this. Couldn't just avoid sleep for the rest of her life and let exhaustion take over whenever she wanted. If anything she would rid herself of the stupid 'gift' and just be normal for a while. The things she saw were sometimes disturbing. Sometimes good. The most recent was not horrific. It had actually been of herself and Tyson Crowshaw supposedly spending more time together which she had no intention of at all. It had then switched to the house colours in the hall being red and gold signifying that Gryffindor had one the house cup and lastly Jason. Jason with a weird tattoo on his arm.

Zara jumped when she heard someone join her. It was pitch black and someone was sneaking around. Being someone who was alway suspicious and quick to draw Zara had pulled her wand from her pyjama pocket and was up on her feet on the edge of the lake. Having aimed her wand into the darkness at the tall figure she called out, "Stupefy!" A jet of red left her wand and she only hoped that it would hit whatever was coming her way. There was no way she was about to let someone get the better of her. Especially when her back was turned.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

Tyson loved being at Hogwarts, not only for its magical teachings but for its location. Being a city boy, Tyson had seen very little of the British countryside and his parents are always too busy to take him. His dad probably wouldn’t even if he had the time. Tyson tried not to think about Richard too much, he was hardly ever called dad out loud, more often than not he was called Dick. Highly accurate in many ways beyond being the shortened version of Richard. He always addressed his letters to his mother but occasionally left a note for his dad in there if he needed to contact him.

Tyson could hear splashing by the lake side. It didn’t help towards identifying what the mysterious shape was, it could easily by a merman dipping their tail in the water or a tentacle of the giant squid playfully fishing for a catch on the shoreline. The latter was highly unlikely, wasn’t it? Squid wouldn’t risk being beached on the sand. This was his comforting thought as he continued to edge closer. His wand still in his hand having silenced his lumos mere seconds ago.

What happened next should have been expected but was still a total surprise to the oblivious Tyson. A brief splutter of a spell being cast caused him to instinctively yell ”No wai-“ But he never got to finish his sentence. A flash of red light hit him square in the chest and blinded him. He tried to react, shouting his own hex and willing his legs to dive sideways but nothing happened. He was stunned and collapsed in a pile, falling backwards from the force of impact. He lay on the ground motionless, unaware of who had just hexed him to the floor faster than he could blink an eye.

[zara celeste o'reilly]

The red hit something solid and Zara for a split second was proud of her aim. It reinforced in her mind the fact that she had been a good candidate for the president of the duelling club. The figure hit the floor and Zara began to move forward. Her feet, wet from the lake, turn the dirt into a thin squelchy layer of mud. She neared the figure and was a little surprised to see Tyson Crowshaw there.

For a short moment Zara looked at Tyson. This was the first time she'd seen him without the smile. Without the need to get people on side or smiling. It was a little weird. Like someone... well she, had just taken the animation from him and stripped him down to what he was. Just a person. But then it got to her. He was just a person. And why the hell was the person trying to creep up on her? What was her up to?

She pointed her wand at him, "Renervate." Zara revived him. But even after the spell had been cast she kept her wand pointed on him. "What the hell are you doing?" she hissed at him through the dark. They had only really had one conversation and she was half asleep at that point so it didn't really count. No one was ever out on the ground when she was. At this point her toes began to cramp from the cold and the hairs on her arms stood up, not that anyone could see anything due to the dark.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

Duelling wasn’t something Tyson was a fan of. Not to say he didn’t understand the necessity for it, what with dark wizards roaming in the shadows and malevolent beasts stalking the night. However, Tyson never fancied his chances on centre stage with an opponent, skilled at firing hexes or not. For him, he fancied the less aggressive activities such as chess or cards. Quidditch could get messy on occasion but most matches carried on without incident.

At this moment in time, he was regretting the more boring past times he had dedicated his spare time to. A quick handle on his wand might have prevented the situation where he was lying in the dirt next to the lake, falling prey to a skilled student or an alert teacher. Or worse, someone that did not belong. He urged his body to move, pushing instructions down his nerve endings until they felt like they were melting with overload but not even a grunt came from his vocal chords to express his efforts.

He heard soft squelching in the mud as his attacker approached. Tyson was useless in this position, totally at the mercy of an unknown stranger. He recognised the voice that freed him from his binds. Zara, the head of the duelling club. Weirdly, losing to her made him feel slightly better about the situation in some masculine bravado excuse. ”What am I doing!? What are you doing!? Fucking hexing me into the ground Zara!?” He yelled in aggressive retaliation, adding: ”What if I fell into the lake and drowned!?” He finished, attempting to establish himself as the victim. There were rules against students using certain spells outside of the classroom and he imagined this was one of the many reasons why.

[zara celeste o'reilly]

He began to move and Zara was surprised at the bite that came out of him. If seeing unanimated was strange, seeing him angry was even more so. It didn't phase her for long as she heard what he was saying and arched an eyebrow. "You're lucky I didn't throw something worse in your direction." Zara told him. "Keep your voice down unless you want us to get caught." If they were out here arguing someone was bound to pick up the noise. After all the castle and the grounds were a creepy kind of quiet in the evenings.

"If you fell in the lake and drowned?" Zara entertained the thought. "I'd have said it was your own thought. Who the hell goes creeping up on someone without so much as a light? What do you want? What are you doing out here." At the mention of light Zara lit her wand tip so that she could actually see the idiot. Honestly, he couldn't say that it wasn't creeping around. He had no light with him and he had to have seen her there to have said hello in the first place. She didn't appreciate anyone catching her off guard.

she pinched the bridge of her nose. On the one hand she felt like she needed to thank him. He really had made sure she was awake. Her heart was still hammering away and she doubted that sleep would want to take over anytime soon. But time alone was what she wanted. Zara hoped and prayed that Tyson would take off in a bad mood and head back to the castle. Merlin she didn't even care if he decided to tell someone that she was out here as long as he left her alone.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

Tyson didn’t share any classes with Zara, being in different years made it impossible. He only knew her through Quidditch, so he had no idea what her skill level with magic was. To be head of the duelling club, she had to have some notable skill, Tyson figured he had only been shown a mere fraction of her pool of talent. As angry as Tyson was, she had a point. Yelling would merely attract unwanted attention. He dropped his tone to a low hiss, anger still seething between his teeth. ”So I shouldn’t be complaining that I was just hexed out of nowhere and left frozen on the floor?” He shot back at Zara, standing up and dusting off the mud and dirt from his clothes.

He was hardly creeping up on her, would she have wanted someone to wander up to her in full illumination? Given that she herself had chosen darkness, Tyson found it an unusual jab. ”Oh obviously, having nothing to do with the fact I couldn’t swim. Being stunned and all.” He said coldly, he knew why she was assigning him blame but surely stunning someone was a little too extreme a reaction? Expelliarmus would have sufficed. ”I had a light, I put it out because I didn’t know if you were a mer-person thing or worse!” He protested, gesturing towards the depths of the lake in an indication of what lived below. He scratched the back of his head in frustration as he tried to gather his senses back together.

The lake was still silent, their ruckus evidently hadn’t disturbed anything nearby. ”I came out for a stroll after a day being stuck indoors!” Tyson explained, his anger still coming through his whispers to Zara. Tyson admitted heading to the lake was dangerous, but not as dangerous as dipping your toes into pitch black water in the dead of night. ”What about you? Hardly safe dangling your feet in the lake at night.” A hint of concern emerged for his fellow teammate, possibly coming from his own fears of the lake. In the two years they’d flown together, Tai wouldn’t have imagined Zara to be one to peruse the grounds at night. But then what did he really know about her?

[zara celeste o'reilly]

Zara just looked at him as if he was stupid. Was he being serious? Really? "No you shouldn't be complaining, for two reasons." Zara started. She then went on to explain. "I could have done a lot worse than stun you. And I could have just left you there for someone else to find." He could have dobbed her in, sure. But if anything Jason had started to show her how you cleared up a mess. How you made sure that there was no trace of you left behind. Although she wasn't certain that she would use the teachings for the exact reasons he wanted, she found them useful to keep tucked away.

Tyson was up off the floor. Zee wasn't too fond of tall people. They towered her and made her feel like she had yet another reason to be on her guard all the time. "What type of backwards thinking is that? I'd rather have been warned someone was coming my way with a light than be greeted by movement and darkness." Who the hell wanted the latter option? Did he want people shrouded in darkness coming to find him? "Merperson?!" Zara repeated not sure if she should be offended or not. "Thanks a bunch." There were probably worse things that lived in the lake.

As he explained why he was out there Zee couldn't shoot him down for that. It was a free castle. He was able to do what he wanted. When he made a comment of her dangling her feet in the lake Zara was not about to explain that she was out here forcing herself to stay awake. "Why? Scared I might get eaten by merpeople?" Zara asked in a spiteful teasing tone. She turned away from Tyson and moved back towards the lake again so she could resume her quiet position with her legs dunked in.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

Tyson noted the condescending expression on Zara’s face but was confused as to its origins. Ok sure, she thought he was being an idiot, but by Tyson’s logic was sound in his eyes. He guessed he was projecting his own feelings onto his expectations of other people. ”Oh, why thank you for stunning me then!” Tyson snapped bit in a low whisper as he rubbed his shoulder where he had painfully fallen to the ground. Being frozen had meant his limbs hadn’t been as flexible to absorb the impact of the ground. He had already received much more than he had bargained for on this supposedly calm evening walk.

Zara was short, possibly by everyone’s standards but Tyson never factored it into his opinion of her. If anything, it only helped her situation. She was quite the power-house for someone so small. ”Next time I’ll set off some fireworks, plenty of warning there.” Tai said sarcastically as he checked himself over for any miscellaneous cuts or bruises from the audial. He wasn’t going to be suing or anything but he’d rather find out about bleeding now rather than some ruined jeans later. ”It was dark! Their's a hell of a lot of things a blurry outline figure can be!” Tyson muttered in protest but he knew it was a losing battle. He had just blown a hole in his own argument with his frustrated unchecked points of contest. He didn’t mean offence by the suggestion that her figure could have resembled that of a merperson, which was now totally false in the wand light.

Tyson watched as Zara went to dunk her feet back in the lake. ”Well yes, actually.” Tyson started in as much of a responsible tone he could managed before adding: ”Saves me the trouble of training up a new beater.” Maybe an attempted light joke would help the situation? But Tai was more concerned about what had dragged Zara out here in the first place, she was hardly dressed for it. ”So, why are you out here?” He asked softly, not exactly expecting a full answer. He was surprised he hadn’t been sent away with a shield charm given how violently she had reacted to his arrival.

[zara celeste o'reilly]

When he spoke to sarcastically thank her Zara shot back with, "Oh you are welcome darling." She wasn't dealing with his smart mouth tonight. Now Zee was thinking that maybe bed would have been a much better idea then hanging around with this pillock.

"Ooo wonderful idea. If possible I'd like a full band to announce your arrival along side those fireworks. I'll give you bonus marks if they spell out your name." As much lip as he was giving her Zee was finding it hard not to like it about him. Tai was so much the happy go lucky person that to see this much bite in him was odd but satisfying. At least he wasn't as spineless as she had originally believed him to bed. As soon as he started to justify the merperson comment though she just shook her head. "For your own benefit I would just stop talking."

Zara shot him a look in the dark. "Seriously just stop talking before I hex you and you are introduced to a merperson." When Tai asked her about what she was doing out here Zara grimaced. Letting out a sigh she shrugged at him. "Couldn't sleep." A slight lie but not a big one. Just had to replace couldn't with wouldn't. "I prefer to sit by the lake. Conquers your fear." She muttered the last bit. When she had first started here she had been terrified of the lake and now she was comfortable enough to sit with her legs in it.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

Tyson physically recoiled at Zara's sharp tone. He had experience her lippy nature from Quidditch practice where she often spoke her mind and it seemed tonight was no exception. Despite being in Ravenclaw, Tyson's wit escaped him on occasion and he admitted holding his own in a conversation was tough. But he felt strongly in the right here, it was a total overreaction on her part. "Whatever Zara, if you think its alright to stun people, next time just blow my head off." He said in an unmistakably pissed off tone of voice, still keeping ot to a murmur as not to attract attention.

Swapping sarcasm for more sarcasm, where was the level of maturity in this discussion? Who was he kidding? This was hardly a discussion at all. They'd dissolved into pure argument and punches were being thrown left right and center. He let his previous comment act a response to that too. Of course he wasn't going to announce to the whole oh Hogwarts he was about to tap Zara on the shoulder. He was still angry, but he could feel some understanding slipping back into his mind. He doubted Zara was extending him the same courtesy as she heavily insisted he just shut up. And for what? Why should Tyson shut up when explaining his own perfectly justifiable line of thought. What made her position so special that it detracted from his own enough for him to stop talking. "Why? What did i say?" He asked, pondering what extreme he had passed such that it was no long defensive spell use but full on thread of offense with intent to harm.

She couldn't sleep? This seemed to be an extremely wild thing to do for someone who couldn't sleep, although look he was talking. Tyson guessed he couldn't judge but at least he had dressed for such an excursion. "Couldn't sleep? Why not just read a book or sit by the fire?" He asked confused, it wasn't really rational behavior if you asked him. Tyson kept his distance from the waters edge and rested against a rock as he stuffed his wand down the back of his jeans. "And what if one of your fears gets you? Octopus or creature from the deep sorta thing." Tyson mused, giving away his reasons for keeping clear but musing on why the beater felt the need to prove to herself she could do it around the middle of the night.

[zara celeste o'reilly]

She couldn't believe that he still had a chip on his shoulder about being stunned. It honestly could have been worse. She knew worse things to throw at people and at least she had released him from the spell. "Ok we will run a little experiment. Next time you're alone I'll creep up on you in the dark and then you can tell me whether I over reacted tonight." Zara hissed at him. She then added, "Considering you gave me the permission to blow your head off don't start complaining next time, okay?"

"What did you say? You confused my silhouette with that of a merperson." That was a little hurtful not that she was about to show that she was hurt. Truth be told if she had not had a strong grip on her emotions she probably would have been crying by now. It had just been a very long week and she wasn't really sure what to do with herself anymore. Add to the fact that he run ins with Tyson were becoming more frequent and she was finding it harder to deny the fact that he was a very attractive guy... Quickly moving off that train of though she looked out of the dark lake that stretched on ahead of her.

Zee quietly cursed herself and let out a big sigh. "No books I'm interested in and the house elves kill the fire." Zara replied. There was a shrug of the shoulders before she looked up at him sharply. Her icy blue eyes focused up on him and she asked, "Why do you even care? Maybe I swim to get myself off to sleep. Or maybe I just like being alone." Big lie. Zee liked company. That was why Bert was with her so often but the difference in houses and the fact that Bert liked sleep meant that he could not keep her company now. When he asked his next question Zara smiled, "I'm not scared of the dark or the creatures." This was true. Merpeople, squids and all that stuff did not worry her. "Come sit here and I will promise to.... well I promise not to laugh if something drags you off into the depths." That was the best she could do.

[tyson owen crowshaw]

Tyson did something he hadn't done for the night. He took a deep breath. Nobody had died, he still felt wound up and pissed off about everything but the fact remained, nobody died. He was usually such a preacher of forgive and forget or there are always bigger fish to fry but he seemed to be struggling to take his own advice tonight. "Yeah Zara, okay." He said, holding his hands up with no other response. his feelings hadn't gone anywhere but he didn't fancy going in circles all night when he could have managed that himself by lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. One of his roommates snored so he was accustomed to being left alone with your thoughts on occasion.

"...Sorry?" Tyson said in an increasingly higher pitch towards the last few letters. "You are obviously not a merperson, i just let the dark get the better of me." He finished. He had still indeed mistaken her for a merperson or something else eerie and threatening but he wished he hadn't. Zara's figure hardly resembled that of a skulking grey fish person with webbed extremities. She was actually rather attractive, a thought that had crossed his mind many a time before at quidditch practice. It was hardly the time to think about such things after such a pretty girl had kicked his ass in under a second. Not for feeling emasculated but pure fear of her capabilities silencing the more male primitive part of his mind that saw her as attractive in the first place.

Tyson simply listened for a while, nodding at the explanations provided of why she wasn't reading a book or enjoying the embers of the common room fire. But he was visibly disturbed when her cold eyes shot him a piercing look. "I care because i don't want to see you get hurt Zara. Yes, you may like all those things but its the middle of the night with nobody else around." He said in protest, looking out across the blackness of the water, who knew what lay beneath. At her comment of not being scared, Tyson shuddered a bit. "Well, that makes one of us." He admitted, looking down at her on the waters edge. Zara's invitation was tempting and he took a few tentative steps forward before sitting a good meter away from the waters edge but next to Zara. "That's the best guarantee i'm gona get for my safety, isn't it?" He asked, already knowing the answer. It was strange that he had lost his fear of flying so quickly but his fear of the black lake was harder to shift.

[zara celeste o'reilly]

She would take the victory even though it wasn't a sweet one. She knew that Tyson probably still believed that she had been in the wrong for stunning him. Zee wasn't exactly sure how he planned on protecting himself if he did not even know simple things about defence. And to add to that this really was the time to know about these things. So much was going on in the wizarding world now that just disarming someone would be of no use. People were beginning to use non verbal magic and for a brief moment Zara was actually worried about Tyson and if anything would end up happening to him. At time like this he really did seem naive to things going on around him.

"Apology accepted." Zara answered slowly. She could perhaps understand why he may have thought she were a merperson. In the dark every fear seemed to be amplified even if your fear had nothing to do with the dark. Maybe it was the thought of being on your own in a space where you could be faced with anything that just made you more alert. She kicked her legs in the water and hoped that no merpeople had heard her. Although she wasn't afraid of them she knew what they were capable of from the textbooks and she didn't fancy a fight with one of them right now.

Zara could only stare at him blankly when he said that he cared. Why would he care? You cared about people you spent time with and that you knew. She and Tyson only spent time together on the pitch. They had never been paired for class. "I don't see how it makes a difference what time of day it is." Zara said to him. She wasn't picking a fight but just didn't understand his point. Why care and why worry about her doing this? She had done this for so long and nothing had ever happened. Zara watched as he sat himself down away from the water and couldn't help but roll her eyes. "If I say that after I stop laughing I'll come save you will you actually stick your feet in the water?"