The Nightmare Ends ((Kennedy))

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

((Continued from: The Dungeon of her Nightmare))

The dark green eyes fluttered open. Jumping slightly at the new location around her, Fiona took in the pattern of the ceiling above her. It definitely wasn't the dungeon. There was light and she could see. She could feel. She was alive! It must have been a dream. Just one horrible nightmare that had never happened. A wave of happiness fell over her, before she felt something else...pain. She cringed and closed her eyes tight as a wave of sharp pain fled through her left arm and down to her left foot. She opened her eyes again and realized that the ceiling before her was the one in the hospital wing. It hadn't been a dream. It was for real, but at least she had survived. The last thing she had remembered was trying to get Kennedy up on the steps above them. Kennedy! Had he made it? She looked to her left seeing nothing but her bandaged arm raised up on a pillow. She tried to look over her own obnoxious arm, but found moving almost impossible without pain. She looked to her right quickly, but no sight of Kennedy.

Fiona sighed quietly as she just returned her gaze to the ceiling. Her heart hurt slightly, but she knew that had nothing to do with the fall. That was something else. Something she refused to actually deal with. She lifted her right hand to her face. Probably the only part of her body that hadn't been seriously injured in the fall. She reached out subconsciously for her wand in her pocket before realizing that her wand had broken upon impact. Snapped in half if she was correct. Da's not going to be too happy about that, Fiona thought to herself. She had broken a wand once before when she was 4. She had been playing around with her mother's wand and she had accidentally snapped it in half. Ma had been so angry that day, though the first look at Fiona's innocent face had broken the anger. Fiona smiled at the memory. It had been the first time Fiona had really known that her ma loved her.

Fiona heard a sound to her left. She cursed inaudibly due to her inability to see what was going on. She really just needed to move her arm, but with the pain that was still going through it she would be daft to move it. She instead sighed in anger before balling her right hand into a fist. She hated being unable to do anything. Besides how long would it take for her left arm to heal? It was her dominate hand. If she couldn't move it without pain then it was just like the summer when she had dislocated her shoulder during the Diagon Alley attack. It had been so difficult waiting for her arm to heal so she could use it properly again. The same was like that now and this was essentially a worse injury. She just huffed and puffed to herself for a few minutes until she heard the noise again. "Hello?" Fiona asked this time wondering if it was a student. However there wasn't a reply and the noise soon stopped. She realized that it was probably just the wind that was blowing in from an open window. And with that she returned her gaze to the ceiling and just continued to stare at the pattern hoping for sleep to take her or someone to talk to.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

((So sorry it has been a while, but I am so ready to do this post... it's gonna be great!))

Kennedy rushed from his bed. What time was it? The sun looked like it had been up for a while, and all of his roommates had been gone. He cursed to himself. He was planning on waking early and make a trip to the hospital wing as he had been doing the last few days. Madam Pompfrey had informed him that Fiona was due to wake up any time now. It had been three days since their horrible night in the dungeon. Kennedy had been dying to talk to Fiona, but Madam Pompfrey only turned him away each time, assuring him that rest was the best thing to ensure a speedy recovery for Fiona. Three days was not speedy enough. If she was still not awake by today, Kennedy was bound to just sneak up to her bed and just shake her awake.

Pulling on his weekend clothes, Kennedy navigated himself rather quickly to the hospital wing, passing few people on his way. Most of the students were probably finishing up breakfast by this time, but Kennedy could not think of food at a time like this. Finally arriving at the hospital wing, he quickly found Madam Pompfrey. "Is she awake," he asked loudly and very out of breath. Barely giving her a chance to nod her head yes, Kennedy gave a quick smile and was off before she could say more.

Reaching in his pocket to pull out her wand that he had got fixed for her, Kennedy went straight to Fiona's bed as he had known exactly where she was. She didn't look awake, and she was still all bandaged up, but nothing was stopping him now. He was finally going to get to talk to her. Where would he start?

Approaching the bed, Kennedy smiled. "Hey Fiona!" He saw her eyes were open. Holding out her fixed wand, he continued, "I got it fixed for you. I sent it to Ollivander's and he was able to mend it. I hope it still works properly. I paid an arm and a leg because the damage was so bad, but that's besides the point." He stopped for a quick breath. "How are you? You have been sleeping for three days, and I have wanted so badly to talk to you. After we got out of the dungeon, which I have to tell you about how that went, I brought you here and I was sent away immediately." Lowering his voice to a whisper, Kennedy added, "I lied when I told them what happened. I said we were running an errand for a teacher, and they didn't ask much more as they were worried about you. What did really happen?" he asked, getting a little louder. "That night was so weird. And you... you were acting weird too Fiona. Why were you there? And what were you saying about me saying something? And why did you look like I was a ghost or something?

Realizing that he was going on and on, Kennedy paused for a moment, giving Fiona a chance to answer. He knew she was probably tired and in a lot of pain, but he needed answers. Something was definitely odd about that dungeon, and Kennedy's curiosity had reached its max. Taking a seat by her bed, Kennedy watched Fiona closely, anticipating her every word.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona jumped at the sound of her name. However, she saw a face come into view and a familiar voice matched it. She smiled and fought back the tears that were overwhelming her. She was alive and so was Kennedy. Things hadn't been a dream and she hadn't done what she feared she had. She just let him talk as she smoothed over the thoughts in her head. She remembered the dungeon like it had happened 5 seconds earlier, not 3 days ago. It was a lot to take in. What had happened once Kennedy got her out? How had Kennedy got her out? Had she said anything in her sleep? Had someone gotten a hold of her father some how? She quieted the thought. To everyone around her, her father was dead. No one knew that he was still alive. No one, save for Fiona. There had been a couple people she wanted to tell, but she didn't dare. Not with things the way they were. She wasn't even sure if her father was safe right now and she wasn't about to tell anyone that he was alive.

Kennedy started asking her questions she didn't know how to respond to. When he finally became quiet, though Fiona wished he would keep on talking, because she had missed hearing his voice. He had been the one to rescue her. His voice was the only thing of comfort right now. And to know that he had paid a lot of money to get her wand fixed was just something Fiona could hardly accept. She smiled weakly as Kennedy finally sat down waiting for her to answer. She twirled the familiar wand between her fingers. She could feel the difference in the wood. Not so much of a physical difference, but of a magical one. She knew then that not only would her wand never be the same again, but she would never be the same again. She realized that what had happened had needed to happen so that she would forget the past and accept it. Accept the deepest and darkest possibilities in her past so that she could fully accept the path in front of her. She thought she had before, but once her father turned out to be alive she had slacked off. Now she was fully aware of her future and her true potential. But still, something had been strange that night. Kennedy, himself, had been a conduit for the magic that had happened that night. Fiona knew it had to do with her future, but why had Kennedy been involved. Then again, why had she been hurt? She sighed in frustration as she realized there were too many questions in her own head that couldn't be answered and still too many more than needed to be asked.

Instead of dwelling more on what happened she turned to Kennedy and addressed him for the first time. "It's good to know that I got the wand to you. I was afraid I wouldn't. As for what happened that night. I don't know. It was from a nightmare I'd been having all week. As for you...you quoted a line from my nightmare at one point in time. You didn't remember doing it afterward. I asked you and you didn't remember," Fiona said in a soft voice. She didn't dare speak any louder, just in case she was wrong. Just in case she was still dreaming. I saw my mother that night Kennedy. I watched her, like I had in the dream. She told me things, but I don't believe the words. I don't know Kennedy. I just don't know," Fiona said, but something inside of her clicked. She would normally cry now. She even felt like it, but her look was hard and cold. Her eyes turning bluer as opposed to the normal green. She was changed forever.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Kennedy watched as Fiona took her wand and twirled it in her hand. He could tell she was glad to have it back. Looking at her, Kennedy could only sit and stare. There was something so mysterious about Fiona that he couldn't quite put his finger on. At the same time, he wouldn't have rather been anywhere else. It was nice to see Fiona awake again, even if most of the time they had spent together so far did consist of an awkward night at the Halloween Ball and an odd dungeon encounter. Fiona was no ordinary girl, that was for sure. She was intriguing and most of all, difficult to figure out. Her personality seemed so multidimensional that Kennedy got lost just trying to see past the Fiona that she was allowing him to see. There was more there... he just knew it.

Listening closely as Fiona recalled the little she did remember, Kennedy sat with a puzzled look on his face. Nightmares, her mother, him saying lines from her dream... it all made no sense to him, and it only caused more questions to surface in his mind. When she finished, she looked as if she wanted to cry, but her eyes were dry. Maybe she had no tears left to cry. She had cried much the night of the dungeon, and going back there, even if just in a memory, it had to have been hard. But there were no tears.

"You did well that night," he said calmly. "For being in the shape you were down in that dungeon, your levitation was top notch. I would have never guessed you were injured. And as for the throw, you only missed hitting me square in the head by a few inches." He stopped and gave a warm smile that quickly faded. "But as for the nightmare, I have no clue what you are talking about Fiona. What do you mean I quoted a line from your nightmare? How would I even know about your nightmares? What did your mother tell you?" He had so many more questions. Kennedy couldn't even explain how he felt inside. He was so confused. There were so many emotions swirling inside of him at once that he himself couldn't even explain how it felt. He quieted for a moment and waited for Fiona to respond. He hoped deep down that she would be able to answer his questions. She just had to be able to.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona attempted a smile at Kennedy's humor. To her it wasn't humorous. She could have missed him completely and then they both would have been in trouble. Or she could have actually hit him and hopefully not have hurt him, but the chances of him catching the wand after that would be impossible. She pushed the thought away. She didn't want to think about what she would be doing right then if she hadn't been rescued. She could be dead right then. Or maybe just hoarse from screaming her head off trying to get someone to help her. The thought was frightening to her. She had never been so hurt in her life before. She had never been worried about dying and now here she was realizing that she was not immortal. She was in fact mortal like all other human beings were. She sighed as she fought back the bitterness in her heart. She wanted to curse her luck and curse herself for what had happened, but she knew that would get her no where. It wasn't her fault. There was something greater at work here, even if she didn't know what it was.

When Fiona heard Kennedy's next words she bit her lip. She did it when she didn't want to say something harsh. She knew that Kennedy didn't believe her. How she wanted him to, but how could he? Fiona had fallen far and hard. He probably thought she had hit her head and when she started babbling on about her mother and those words, it was a wonder he didn't send her right then and there to St. Mungo's crazy ward. She wanted him to believe, but there was no way she could possibly get him to. She could tell him everything that happened, but that still wouldn't convince him. Nothing would. She was even beginning to doubt her own sanity. Maybe she really was crazy and everything that happened that night had been a figment of her imagination. Maybe she really did need to go to St. Mungo's. The thought chilled her heart. If she really was crazy than maybe her father wasn't alive. Maybe he truly was dead and gone, but her insanity had brought him back.

"Oh, Kennedy! I don't know what happened! I don't even know if what I saw was real or if what I heard was real. Maybe it's not and everything that's happened since my parent's death have been all in my head!" the words stated out loud seemed to bring an even colder chill upon her body and her heart. It was like saying those words were saying the truth. Fiona closed her eyes and pushed the thoughts away. She couldn't be crazy, she just couldn't be. Too many things had happened to make her crazy. When she opened her eyes they drifted to Kennedy's face and she couldn't help but just stare at it. It was strange. The longer she looked at his face the more it seemed to become foreign. Like she had never really met this guy before. Her eyes were playing tricks on her and if they were doing that here, than what stopped them from doing it three days ago, when she had been so distraught in that dungeon. She looked away quickly at the thought. "I just don't know," she whispered.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

She seemed upset. Kennedy had said something to upset Fiona, and this was the last thing he had wanted to do. She had already went through enough, and there he was drilling her with questions that she may not have even wanted to answer... questions that she may not have even known how to answer. He felt horrible thinking all of these things. Fiona had been through so much, and all he could do was act like a nosy reporter, wanting to know everything that wasn't even his business. He shouldn't have even came, he thought. Sure he cared about her, and he cared what happened that night. But Fiona didn't need him standing there making her relive it all and explain everything.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, hanging his head in guilt. "I shouldn't have asked you all of those questions, as if i doubted you. It wasn't right of me." He stopped and took a deep breath. "It's just..." pausing, he wasn't quite sure how to continue. "... I don't even know either Fiona. I feel like I barely even know you, but at the same time we have went through so much that it is just all so odd." His mind was racing now. Racing like it always did when he couldn't stop thinking. He hated the feeling because it made his whole world spin as if it were out of control. Being in control was something he depended on, so when this happened he often got frustrated.

"I want to know what is going on Fiona because I do care. I care about what happened with your parents and what happened in the dungeon. I care about whatever nightmare you are having. I care about you." Again, he stopped. Trying to take in everything that had come so hazardously out of his mouth. He couldn't stop any of what he had just said. "I don't know why I care though. I know that you don't need me. You are the most independent girl I know. You would do fine without me as a friend, so why do I even stick around? I don't know the answer to that either."

Kennedy felt numb. He couldn't even begin to control the thoughts and feelings within. All he could do was sit and stare at Fiona with questions racing through his head. All the while, he was losing the one thing he thought he could always rely on... control.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona sighed when Kennedy apologized. It wasn't his fault. She knew it. She was treating him horribly. He had rescued her. Saved her from dying in that dark dungeon. And here she was getting angry at him for things that couldn't be explained. Things that he wasn't responsible for. The thoughts swam through her head and she felt guilty for being so rude to the guy who had saved her. However, her outward appearance showed nothing of her guilt. She was stone cold. She didn't want to be like that, especially with Kennedy. Through every hard time she had faced he had been there. He hadn't ran away from her at the Halloween Ball when she had had a nervous breakdown. He didn't leave her to die in the dungeon. He risked his own life by coming down to help her. Fiona's external coldness dropped and she herself looked away from Kennedy.

"No, I'm sorry. I can't answer your questions Kennedy, because I don't know the answers myself. I'm so wrapped up in all of this mystery and drama. I don't want to be anymore. I don't even know if what the truth is anymore," Fiona said, but her words faded out when Kennedy began to speak again. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise at his words. She took a deep breath as she absorbed his words into her conscious mind. Why does he care about me? I've done nothing to show him that I'm something special or someone that needs to be protected. I don't even know him, but he's right. There's something that makes me care for him. Why? These thoughts linger in her mind, but she refuses to give voice to them. At least not until she figured out why she cared. All she knew is that she didn't want him to leave her alone and because of that deep feeling she couldn't help what she was about to say.

"Kennedy, please don't leave me. I need you as a friend right now. So much has happened and you're the only one I can count on. The only one I trust. You are the greatest thing that has happened to me this year. I don't understand why you care so much about me, especially with all I've put you through in this last year, but I do know something," she pauses as she inhales deeply before plunging on. These words are hard for her. She felt so alone this last year, especially without her parents and having to fight a battle with her uncle and aunt. Her other friends who were so busy this year they could never really hang out. Save for Kennedy, who stuck by her, even during her weakest moments. She turned back and looked him in the eye. "I know that without you I would have died back there. I know that I care so much for you that I was willing to let you see me weak and broken. I know that in all that's happened this year I have begun to rely on you. I know that I would not survive without you." These last words fade out as she continues to stare into his eyes. Fiona didn't know if her point had come across or not. She didn't dare risk saying anything else. Not with her emotions so close to the surface. She prided herself on not letting her emotions show too often and also that she was extremely in control. Save for now, her emotions were so wired that she was losing control over everything. She broke the contact with Kennedy and looked away. "I don't know," the words whispered. They were soft and hardly audible. She wondered if Kennedy had even heard them.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

It wasn't real. It couldn't have been. Kennedy thought he had to have been imagining what Fiona was saying. He was literally so confused and emotionally drained that he must have been forcing himself to hear what he had heard. Blinking, he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. It was real. Everything that Fiona had just said was real. He wasn't imagining it. The swirling emotions only deepened as he forced eye-contact with Fiona again. Looking at her, he noticed that she seemed just as confused as he was.

What if all that had happened was just because both of them were so emotionally and physically drained from the last few days? What if this was real, but not genuine? Kennedy knew that sometimes people could say things they didn't mean. They could say things out of hate, anger, depression, or simply confusion. But the thought that Fiona's words were not genuine set a deep pain within Kennedy. He could not bare to think that the words were merely words. She had to have meant it, she just had to have.

"I will never leave you Fiona," he assured her immediately. "If you need me to be your... friend," he said, pausing and thinking to himself that the word friend didn't even begin to describe the connection he felt for her, "then I will be here. I will be here as long as you need me. I want to know everything, and if it takes time to figure it all out, then I can wait... I will wait... I must wait." He stopped again, looking around to see if anybody had overheard their conversation. Not that he cared much, but he realized he had been speaking awfully loudly earlier, and he must have sounded like a moron. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that Fiona was okay. All that mattered was that she really did want him there. That feeling was more than anything Kennedy could have asked for.

"You know Fiona," Kennedy began again, "it think there is another force here. A force greater than either of us. A force that neither of us can... control." The last word was hard to get out, as he hated to think that he couldn't always be in control. At the same time, he was willing to risk some control if it meant keeping Fiona in his life.

"So, why don't we start at the beginning and work our way through this," he finally said, enthusiastically. "That is of course, if you feel like it." He placed his hand gently on her wounded leg and could only imagine the pain that she must be going through. Surely Madam Pompfrey would be by shortly to check up on her.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona chocked back the shock that was rising in her. He was going to stay. He was willing to continue to stay be her side in this time of complete and utter mystery. She gulped down the saliva that had formed in her mouth and blinked away the tears that were trying to force their way out through her eyes. He didn't know it, but those words were the most comforting thing to her right then. If everything that had happened turned out to be a complete lie and that her father truly was dead, that he was only in her imagination, than she was going to find herself relying on Kennedy more than she had ever intended. He would be the only one in her life she could feel close to. She truly wanted to believe that her father was alive, but this nagging sense of dread had settled in around her heart and now she was trying to think back to everything she had heard from her father since his 'death'. She was analyzing every little thing trying to see if it could possibly be just her imagination playing tricks on her.

Fiona didn't think anything could bring her out of her state of deep reflection and thought, until Kennedy's words penetrated her. So calming to her, so reassuring. He was willing to wait for her. She had never met anyone like him and what he was saying was beginning to make perfect sense to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that it had dried and her voice could not be found. Why was he effecting her like this right now? She was a strong independent person and she never relied on anyone, save for her father. Now, here she was hanging on Kennedy's every word and relying on him to be there for her. She reached over and grabbed a small cup of water Madam Pomfrey had left for her. She drank the cool water in one gulp clearing the dryness and giving her back her voice. She swallowed hard and then looked back at Kennedy. His words offered in a sense of question to her. She had remained silent for all that he said, now she was just beginning to speak and tell him all that she wanted to tell him. What she needed to tell him. She felt his hand on her leg and though she knew her body was still in pain it seemed to have faded away from her at the mere presence of him. The thought disturbed her slightly, but she figured in her state it was probably only her imagination, which meant that pain was drawing closer to her heart if it turned out her imagination had been the cause of everything that had happened for the last few months.

"Thank you," her voice sounded distant and as a child, like when they are afraid of something in the night and come to their parents in an attempt to rid themselves of the nightmare that was plaguing them or the creaks that whisper in the night. "I want to tell you everything, Kennedy. I want you to know my nightmare. I want you to know my pain." She paused at the words. She had never been so forthright with anyone in her entire life, but now here she was about to pour her deepest secrets and horrors to this guy she hardly knew, but felt a sense of connection with. It ran deep. Deep in her heart and soul. She wondered if Kennedy was right. If what had happened had been caused by something greater and she wondered if that same force was throwing their lives together in a way Fiona never dreamt was possible. She closed her eyes briefly and when she reopened them she directed her gaze at Kennedy and never left his face. Taking in every detail of his appearance so she could remember him if it turned out her imagination was creating him as well.

"During Christmas break I saw my father. Alive and whole. He was talking to me and I was sure he was real. He explained to me that it had not been him that had died, but another. It made perfect sense to me. So for the last few months I've been certain of my father's existence. Then I started having this dream...no nightmare," Fiona said in a soft voice her eyes never wavering from him. She went on to explain her nightmare. About her mother's death and the warning against her following her father. She told Kennedy about the words she had heard come out of his mouth in the dungeon and then she began to tell him about the pain. "Oh, Kennedy, what if everything that's happened has been a figment of my imagination? What if my father truly is dead and what I thought was my father was an image in my head?" She felt her heart break at the words and tears filled her eyes. She hated her weakness. She hated feeling like she was in no control over her emotions. She hated feeling like there was something greater than her threatening to destroy her. "What if you're in my head right now and I'm really just talking to thin air? I'm crazy Kennedy. My parents death have caused me to hallucinate everything around me! I can't be sure of anything Kennedy, but I know one thing. If you're in my mind and not real, please don't fade away from me. I don't know what I would do without you. I need you." The climax had finally come. She had voiced what she had feared. But she was not afraid of the words. She was afraid that Kennedy would disappear and she would be right. That she would be crazy and that Kennedy who she had begun to trust, and dare say, love would be nothing but her own imagination trying to recover from the shock and pain of the loss of the only people in the world that she had loved, her mentors, the last of her bloodline, the ones who had created her, the ones she called mother and father.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

She wanted him there, and just her letting him know that made Kennedy feel great. It was like being given a great gift, even though it wasn't a tangible gift. It was simply a gift that Kennedy could feel inside of him. It seemed so unlike Fiona to say what she had said, but it couldn't have made him any happier. She was feeling the same way he was.

Soon, she began explaining, and Kennedy listened closely. He took it all in, word by word. The whole situation did sound like a nightmare, and Kennedy couldn't even begin to imagine what Fiona must be going through. This made him feel even more relieved that he could be there to comfort her. Although Fiona wasn't someone Kennedy would say that he knew well, he couldn't help but want to help her. Had it been anyone else, Kennedy didn't see himself being so concerned. He listened farther, allowing the story to sink in.

"That's terrible Fiona," he said finally after she had finished. Not knowing whether her dad was alive or not. It must have been so frustrating for her. And then the nightmare. He wasn't sure how her relationship with her parents was, but to have a continuous nightmare in which you killed your mother must be devastating. "I don't know how I can help you Fiona. But I know that I can just be here for you. I can be here for whatever you may need. If you want, I can help you find your dad so that we can confirm if he really is alive or not." With his own emotions and feelings so jumbled and scattered, Kennedy even found it hard for himself to make sense of the situation.

"But maybe we should worry about all of that later," he offered, thinking that maybe rest was the best thing for Fiona at this point. "How are you feeling right now?" he asked, emphasizing the word you. "Can I get Madam Pompfrey to do anything for you? Is there anything I can get for you? You name it Fiona, and I will make sure you get it," he finished with a smile.

His head began to feel less painful, as his emotions and thoughts began to calm. A sudden feeling overtook him. It was something he hadn't felt in a long time. Something that had eluded him in the recent months. Kennedy was finally experiencing something he had not known for a while. That something was happiness.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona didn't need to hear the words Kennedy was saying. Just the way he was saying them eased her soul and her heart. Her pulse slowed back to normal and she could feel that her old self was returning. She knew then and there that Kennedy was real. He wasn't just something out of her imagination, trying to comfort over things she couldn't accept. No Kennedy was real. Now all she had to find out was whether or not her father was real. She couldn't bare going through the pain of losing him again, but she had to know if her mind was playing tricks on her. It was a surprise to her that she hadn't ended up in the crazy ward at St. Mungo's. She had done enough things in the past few months to get her there, that was for sure. It was something that plagued her. It was so difficult to accept that she might be crazy, but on the other hand, she couldn't really be crazy. Kennedy was there for her and that meant that he didn't think of her as crazy, at least he didn't admit that he did. She shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind. She didn't need to be thinking about those kind of things, not when she had finally calmed herself down.

Kennedy seemed to be thinking the same thing, since he asked her if she needed Madam Pomfrey. She smiled at him for his concern. It had been so long since she had felt looked after and protected by someone. So long since she actually felt that someone cared about her well being and whether or not she was in pain. She fought against the tears of hope and happiness that were sitting in her eyes. Kennedy cared for her. "Thank you, Kennedy. For everything that you've done for me. For saving me and staying by my side. It's been so long since I've felt that kind of..." she let her voice drift off. She preferred to steer clear of the only word she could think off. Instead she just bolted right on and answered his questions. "But no, I don't need Madam Pomfrey. I'm feeling better thanks to you. It's been hard to adjust to every thing that's happened. I think I need to rest for a bit. Absorb every thing that's been said. I do have one thing I'd like to ask you though. Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" The words were soft and said in innocence. The truth was that Fiona was afraid of falling asleep. She didn't want to see the images of her mother again and she hoped that if Kennedy stayed he would make her feel safe in not only her dreams, but in reality as well. She looked at him with hope and understanding, waiting for an answer.

((I kind of got to the end of the main point of the plot I wanted to get to and I can't really think of anything else that we can discuss in the hospital wing. If you want, you can be apart of Fiona's plot in outside Hogwarts. I mean after all, you did say you would help her find the truth about her father. But that's up to you.))

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Kennedy could tell that the overall atmosphere had calmed quite steadily. Not only had his emotions and feelings quieted for the moment, but he could tell Fiona was returning to a more normal state of emotion as they had seemed to both convey the thoughts that had been swarming inside of them. It was almost as if the air around them had lightened a bit. Kennedy let out a sigh of relief, knowing that things had went well, where they could have turned terribly wrong had he or Fiona said something wrong or interpreted the other's words wrong. There truly was so much that he thought could be awkward, but he was glad with how his visit had went.

Fiona assured him that she would be fine without the help of Madam Pompfrey, but then asked him if he would stay with her until she fell asleep. He didn't have to think twice before giving his answer. "Of course I'll..." he began, but stopped after looking at Fiona's face. Her eyes were shut, and she appeared to have dozed off already. He watched as her chest fell and rose slowly with her breathing. Taking the blanket that lay at the bottom of the bed, Kennedy pulled it up and tucked it under her arms. He took the wand which Fiona was still gripping in her hand, and set it on her stand beside her bed. Then, realizing that maybe she preferred sleeping with it, he tucked it back into her hand and covered it with the blanket. Looking back at her face, Kennedy didn't want to leave, but he knew she would probably be asleep for a while.

He stood, and prepared to leave, but took one more look back at Fiona. She seemed so peaceful laying there. Free from all of her worries. He could only hope that she was not having her dreaded nightmare, and that something happier had taken its place. "Don't you worry Fiona," he said in a whisper, "I'll help you figure this all out." He put his hand on her arm for a moment and smiled. He wasn't sure, but he was almost certain he could see her smiling back. With that, he turned and left the hospital wing, all the while never letting the thought of her leave his mind.