WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT , open !

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

“No! No, Cedric! Noooo...!”

All was not quiet in Gryffindor tower, and that was even without the soft, steady snores that rumbled from behind the curtains of Ron’s four-poster bed. The hour hand on Ron’s watch, hanging out on his wrist from between the hangings, had just ticked past two o’ clock in the morning, when only insomniacs and ghosts remained awake, the pale faces of both illuminated in the milky glow of moonlight. Insomniacs, ghosts and Harry Potter. The Gryffindor had jerked awake - cold, clammy and sweaty - with the final flash of green light that had plagued his dreams so often over the past year or so. Though his screams had softened to tortured moans and the sweat that poured from his pores did not completely drench the covers, it was still there. Harry couldn’t remember the last time he had had a full night’s sleep.

The routine was always the same. He would lie there, shrouded in almost complete darkness depending on the hour, and toss and turn for a while, scrambling to desperately cling onto the last whispers of sleep. It always evaded his fingertips. A Snitch that was just a hair’s breadth away. With an infuriated flounce, the sheets would fly from his four-poster and descend to the ground like a blanket of snow on the floorboards below. Bare feet would hit it, toes nestled into Gryffindor red. Sliippers were eased onto his feet and his most prized possessions were grabbed from his bedside table - wand, map and cloak - and then off Harry Potter went, padding a soft rhythm of insomnia down the corridors.

It was an atypically muggy night tonight, the Gryffindor mused as he set off on one such expeditions. They were comfortably into September now, nestled on either side by autumn and all that it brought with it. The air, however, was still as heavy and humid as it had been in July. Harry was no longer sweating through fear, but pure heat. The Invisibility Cloak that was shrouded over his head acted like a greenhouse, trapping its wearer in a cave of fire. It slipped and Harry didn’t bother to make a lunge for it.

His shoulders slumped. Though he relished the sudden burst of cool, fresh air that enveloped him in its fingers, he was now left in plain view of any unwanted company, though considering the late hour it was unlikely. All the same, he stuffed the map into the waist band of his plaid pajama trousers momentarily, before he scrambled to pick up his cloak. Sod’s law clearly said that the worst ought to happen. The cloak was secured between his fingers, but his wand slipped against his sweaty palm and tumbled out of his grasp with a clatter, rolling away across the floorboards before Harry could even jump to grab it. Its tip was still illuminated and he could see where it had landed, but rather than hurrying towards it, the Gryffindor jumped suddenly and tried to wiggle into the Invisibility Cloak once more, a stream of curses leaving his lips.

Footsteps were coming closer. Tap, tap, tap. Harry's breath hitched in his throat.

[JANE ALISON MCNEIL]

Jane ran along a long dirt road. She couldn't see anything in front of her and could barely see behind her. He bare feet were scraped and cut from the rocks and she was breathing heavily. Suddenly she heard a low growl that thunderd in her ears. She stopped and fell to the ground. She knew that sound. When she raised her head to look in front of her, he was standing there. Baring his sharp teeth. Before the scream could leave her throat, he pounced......

Jane awoke with a start in the middle of the night. A thin sheen of sweat envoloped her body as she bolted upright in bed. She had a nightmare...Nothing more. Simply a nightmare caused by her past. It would be all right. She was safe here in Hogwarts....Right? She shook her head feircly and threw back the covers. She really needed a walk to clear her head. This just wasnt working. She couldn't handle being locked up in these muggy doungeon like dorm rooms.

Jane grabbed her yellow silk robe from the bed post and slipped it on to hide her baddly scarred arms before she drew back the bed drapes and stood up. She slipped them on and carefully padded out of the Hufflepuff dorm and down the hallway. She noticed a young sleeping puffle on a couch and was carefull not to wake her as she left out the sleeping picture frame.

Jane sofly padded along through the corridors, trying to keep her breathing even and calm when she heard some noise up ahead. She picked up the pace a little as she moved foward in the darkness and made out a figure in the hall. She noticed a fallen when which was glowing faintly a few feet in front of her. She carefully picked it up and moved a few steps closer towards the person. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw who it was.

"Oh Harry!",he said a bit suprised. She was glad it was him and not someone else like a mean prefect or a slyterhin or something. Yet she was still a little suprised to see the other young Order member around at this time of night. Other then at the meetings or at Grimmuald place she rarely saw the Gryfindor.

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

What exactly was he scared of? Harry couldn’t quite work out why his heart was pounding in his chest and his palms were growing increasingly sweaty by the moment. The silky material of his cloak refused to cling to the damp surface of his skin, prompting another exasperated sigh and his heart to increase its drumming against his rib-cage into something that was reminiscent of a thousand percussion instruments. He immediately hated himself for it. Fearing the unknown was not the way to go; fear made one helpless. Harry took a deep breath and drew himself up to his full height - albeit not that much. He was being ridiculous. His mind was still plagued by excess nerves from his nightmare. It was hardly going to be a Death Eater on his tail, was it?

All the same, they now had his wand. Harry watched in mild annoyance as they picked it up, still with its illuminated tip, and edged ever closer. He regarded their progress with his usual defiant look blazing in his eyes and setting the air between them on fire. The shape of the figure and the shadows that drenched, clinging to the curves, informed him immediately that his company was female, but that didn’t hinder his trepidation. He supposed it was his stubborn nature rearing its ugly head again. Harry refused to be beaten. Harry Potter would not be caught out after hours and hell be damned if he were going to just sit by for it.

“Hi,” The Gryffindor said, as though as hadn’t just spent the past few moments panicking. He recognised the girl, vaguely, and immediately felt bad for not knowing her name when she apparently knew him. Well, that part when without saying. It seemed that Harry couldn’t go anywhere lately without being assaulted by someone having something to say to their so-called Chosen One. This girl was different, however. The way she greeted him suggested a more personal level. He’d wing it for a little bit. “Um- could I have my wand back, please?”

Harry cleared his throat awkwardly and, stuffing the cloak beneath his shoulder, held out his hand for his beloved possession. He looked the girl in the eye, her face shrouded in shadows, but ever so slightly illuminated by the glowing tip of his wand. Its light gave the atmosphere a rather ghostly feel. Harry wasn’t sure that he particularly liked it. “Don’t suppose you’re having nightmares, too.” He ventured rather blindly into conversation, his tone taking on a rather grim undertone as he tried to steer his attention from their environment. He didn’t really suppose that they were on the same level, but at least it was an ice-breaker. Then again, perhaps she’d surprise him. Everyone had their secrets in this place..

[JANE ALISON MCNEIL]

Jane gave a small gasp as she remeberd she had his wand.
"Oh of course.",she said hastily as she moved a few steps foward and handed him his wand. She knew that no one would want to be cuaght here in the dark halls without their wand. She had the feeling he didn't really recognise her that much, but that was understandable. She often kept to her self in school. Even with the order she rarely talked to anyone but Lupin or Molly who seemed to always be fretting over the students. It wasnt that she didn't like people, in fact she loved meeting new people, it's just that a lot of people thought she was to shy or akward to speak to her.

Jane shiverd a bit in the cold hall and drew her robe tighter around her body. She was suprised when he asked her if she had been having nightmares. That was the very reason she had gotten up in the first place. But what suprised her even more was the fact he added too to that sentence. She had always figured he wasn't the type to get nightmares. But then again with everything that happend to him it would only be natural. Jane shifted from one foot to the other as she gazed at the floor. She was silent for a moment.

"Yeah, I- i guess I did have a nightmare.",she said quietly.
She hoped he wouldn't ask what it was about. She never told anyone about her nightmares. Or why she had them. If he were to ask she would have to make up something. Maybe something about gohst or something.....Wait, that was a common thing in the wizarding world right? Well maybe she would say it was about..quiditch! That's it. She was a bit nervous for the quiditch season after all. And she knew Harry could probably relate to that.

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

]

It wasn’t anything personal; it could have been Ron who had picked up his wand from the floor, and Harry would have tensed. Over the five years or so that had passed since he first set foot into Ollivander’s with Hagrid, when he was just a scrawny eleven-year old (he was still slightly scrawny in comparison to some of his peers, but that was beside the point), Harry had grown rather attached to what appeared to be just a wooden stick, even more so than others. To him, a wand was his escape from the rather insignificant life that he had led with the Muggle Dursleys to his family and friends in the wizarding world. Without it, it was as though a part of him had been torn out of his very soul. Dramatic? Eh. Harry liked to think that he was permitted to every now and again.

“Thanks,” He said, managing a smile in her direction as he held the wand up between them. Her face was finally illuminated fully, quite literally shedding light on the situation. The girl was a Hufflepuff, judging by her robe, and he had definitely seen her at Grimmauld Place, he suddenly realised. There were always people coming and going, placed under protection from the Death Eaters and so on. Once or twice, he had even seen a couple of his peers fro school, but for some reason, they never brought it up outside of the headquarters. Probably sworn into secrecy, he mused. To be honest, he didn’t blame them.

Harry got the feeling that he had touched a slight nerve with his mention of nightmares. He realised suddenly that it was ridiculous to think that he was the only person suffering. The current climate of things affected everyone in the wizarding world, not just himself, and part of him thought that Snape might have had a point when he said how self-obsessed and arrogant he was. And then promptly hated himself for thinking so. He shook his head sharply, tossing the thought away to the darkened corner.

“Yeah? Guess it’s contagious. This is kind of a long way from the basement, though. You alright?” Harry took a tentative step closer. He liked talking to other people about their problems. Not only did it take away the attention from his own problems, which he would much rather cast away to the side for as long as absolutely necessary, but on a more selfless level, it felt good to make a positive difference, even if it were only temporary.

[JANE ALISON MCNEIL]

Jane managed a weak smile despite herself. Of course, he would ask what was wrong. At least it showed that people still cared these days. She would rather someone ask and annoy her then to show no compassion at all. That's what was wrong with people. They never cared about each other. If more people cared maybe so many people wouldnt be dying at the hands of the death eaters. Maybe this pure bloof half blood war wouldnt be going on. The wizarding and non wizarding world would both be a better place to live that way. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. To lie or tell the truth? Well a compramise could work, She hated lying to people. Especially people who didn't deserve it.

"Well, I'm ok, it just brought up painfull memmories is all.",she told him. She waved her hands dissmivly. Trying to show that she didn't care about the nightmare she just had. In truth it wasnt worth talking about. She couldn't do anything about her past nor the nightmares they produced.

"What about you?",she asked concerned. She would rather try and help other people with there problems then hers. It came natrual to her.

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

Nightmares ought to have been such am insignificant thing. They were, really, if one thought about. For the most part, they couldn't maim, harm or kill -- if you were to be really dramatic -- no matter how much one feared as such. Harry was personally infuriated with himself for being so easily brought down by such them. The fact that he suffered from something that was so tiny yet, at the same time, so crippling to the Gryffindor was completely beyond his scope of logic. They were harmless, right? Of course, as with all of Harry's, let's face it, rather pathetic and unfounded little theories, this one had more than a few holes broken into it, from watching Mr Weasley fight for his life, to that which had let to the murder of his beloved Godfather. Harry felt a sharp tug at his heart-strings at the mere thought of it. 

Which conveniently brought him to the matter at hand. He wasn't entirely sure why Cedric of all people had cropped up that night. The memory still caused a dull ache of pain to throb at the back of his head, but with the recent developments in his fifth year, mere months ago, it seemed to pale in comparison, as horrible as such a revelation sounded. That did not, however, make the slight trauma any less significant, explaining conveniently how he found himself here, sweating in the middle of a pitch-black corridor with Jane McNeil -- yes, inspiration finally struck and he remembered her fully. Harry supposed it was thanks to the considerable lack of sleep clouding his mind, in the same manner that he realised she was probably not telling him the whole story. He didn't press the subject, if only because he himself knew how bloody annoying that could be, from personal experience. 

He shrugged. "Same, I 'spose. Last year.. I reckon the bad memories definitely outnumber the good. Seems like the DA and all was just for nothing. I wish it could have made more of a difference, but in the end, it probably would have been better to just not get involved."

And let Umbridge get away with it? Even Harry knew that it was a ridiculous idea even as the words left his mouth. Shaking his head, he averted his eyes in favour of combing the Marauder's Map, which was clutched firmly in his one free hand. The floor, as well as the one directly below them, was deserted. He hadn't honestly been expecting anyone here at this time of night, not even the Hufflepuff friend in front of him. 

"So, I know you can't sleep and all, but how come you're all the way up here? The Hufflepuff dorms must be an age away." Harry wasn't much of a one for starting up a conversation, but at the very least, he was desperate to steer it away from the awkward depths their current one had tumbled into. 

[NYMPHADORA VULPECULA TONKS]

The wall was cold and unforgiving, even against the thick, leather-like fabric of her jacket. A young woman was examining her nails, frowning at the dark red polish that was slowly receding from both ends of her nails due to wear and tear. Forgive her, there weren't enormous times of day for her to skip off and fix her nails. Not when she had a job to do. Granted, the job wasn't the most exciting, but at least she was in a familiar place. Pushing off the wall, she continued walking around the vast corridors.

Tonks had graduated from Hogwarts herself only six year ago, though it felt like an eternity. The world was in shambles and the Order of the Phoenix was protecting it. Protecting was great and all -- Tonks would never change a thing -- but she simply felt as though so much had happened in six years. Surely the Hufflepuff Common Room wouldn't have moved, and so Tonks thought of all the times she had lazed around in there, looking like someone else and skipping the occasional class.

Tonks continued quietly walking around the castle, hanging around on various floors and going up to others. She had been wandering around since the start of her shift, midnight, and various sugar rushes were spiking. On the third floor, she had tripped over a spare quill, her boots making a loud squeaking noise. She ran into Filch and Mrs. Norris once on the fifth floor, who twitched violently and hurried off with his cat mumbling something about "damn kids are driving me mad". Tonks continued up the floors, thinking about what she was going to do once after she had finished patrolling the seventh floor when she stopped, halfway through the seventh floor.

A sound. Something tiny, small. Nearly minuscule. However, the witch froze, amber eyes wide and listening. It had been just a little quip of conversation, perhaps. Although it was probably just some stupid Slytherins screwing around, Tonks couldn't be so sure. These were dark times, and her job was first and foremost to protect Harry Potter.

Tonks set off towards the source of the noise. Her leather-soled boots provided a little more stealth than something with a harder made heel, but she didn't go to extreme lengths to hide her footsteps. She could quietly hear her own footsteps as she neared, putting her right hand near her wand as a safety precaution. Protocol and all that jazz. The voice was louder now, although she couldn't make anything out. She quickly rounded another corner, coming along the side of two familiar faces. "Oh," said Tonks, giving a small sigh of relief. "Wotcher, Harry." Tonks paused for a moment, taking in the other face. "McNeil, right?"

[JANE ALISON MCNEIL]

Jane shook her head in agreement. It was true, a lot of the students here at Hogwarts had probably had a lot of nifhtmares at the hands of the war and other stressfull situations. Harry was actaully quite right about the DA not really helping. It was pointless. Only a few students had actually gone to the department of mysteries. Sadly it come at the cost of Harry's own godfather. It had been very depressing for everyone in the Order. And Jane really wasnt really suprised that he was curious about why she was all the way up here. Quite frankly she really didnt know about how she got up up here. She had just started wandering around. Her mind had been so deep in thought that she had not been paying attention to where she went. Not to mention how dark it was here.

"I don't really know how.",she admitted with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Actually I wasnt paying much attention to where I was going.",she added with a luagh. She turned slightly as she heard footsteps down the hall. The only good thing about her being a werewolf was that she had an amazing sense of hearing. She tensesd slightly as regretted not having her wand on her. So instead she flattend herself agaisnt the wall and motioned for Harry to be quiet just in case.

Though when she saw who it actually was she breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Tonks. Thank god, she knew that she sometimes came up to castle to check on Harry. She liked Tonks a lot, she was pretty cool and definitly fun to hang around. She stepped away from the wall and gave Tonks a small wave and a smile, which she wonderd if she would even be able to see it in the dark.
"Yep, or Jane.",she said in responce her question.

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

To be perfectly honest, Harry didn’t care how she had gotten up here. Whether she had been doing something else and preferred not to say, he was apathetic to it. He was merely glad that it had been Jane he had stumbled upon in the pitch black rather than someone unpleasant. The Gryffindor had gone through enough in the past several years of his life to hold evidence that he could more than hold his own, even against all of the odds, but that was not to say either that he particularly relished the thought of an encounter at this time of night -- and without a wand, too. Of course, that was irrelevant now, as she had handed it over without hesitation, but there was still the small problem of the pair standing right in the middle of the corridor. They were bound to be caught sooner or later, right? Apparently, it was the former rather than the latter. Bugger.

She had tensed. Why was she tensing? Harry’s mind launched into hyperdrive, as it always did at even the slightest hint of danger. He hadn’t heard or saw a thing in the distance, but with glasses like the pair he wore, it was no small wonder. He followed suit as she flattened against the wall, dutifully keeping his gob shut as even he finally heard the steady thump, thump, thump of footsteps drawing closer once more. It was with a strange sense of deja vu that he gripped his wind even more tightly and began to unfold his Invisibility Cloak (though how on earth he honestly expected it to cover the both of them was beyond him). Until, that was, he finally identified the face that drew ever closer.

“Tonks,” He said, letting out a breath he hadn’t realised that he’d been holding. He gave her a smile, relaxing his grip on his wand. Harry liked Tonks; she wasn’t all that much older than himself and, of course, she had the added perks of being an Auror - something he himself aspired to be. “Dumbledore send you to make sure I didn’t go looking for trouble, did he? Or is this a pyjama party or something? Gonna be honest, Tonks, you’re letting the side down a bit.”

[NYMPHADORA VULPECULA TONKS]

Tonks looked at the pair of students before giving a small smile. Well. At least they weren't Slytherins. Although, she didn't feel too easy with the guy she was supposed to be protecting wander around the castle with only a witch -- although they both were obviously competent enough to be in the Order.

Tonks grinned, pulling out her wand and flicking it slightly. The tip illuminated with white light, casting another glow on the trio. "Dumbledore just wants to make sure his students are safe," she said truthfully, shrugging. "And it seems I've stumbled upon your pyjama party. You lot doing all right?" A look of concern lingered in her eyes for a moment, grazing over Harry. She didn't know an incredible lot about him, only what she found out and what the Order told her. He seemed so young to be doing so much. Both of them did. "Can't say I exactly find your late-night wanderings safe, though I s'pose I did my fair share . . ." Tonks said, thinking about how she got into way too much trouble for her House.

Luckily there weren't any angry paintings in this hall, so they weren't disturbing anyone's oil-painted slumber. She lifted her wand a little higher, spreading the light along the corridor. The hall was a little less dark, regardless of the fact that it was nearly three in the bloody morning. She didn't get off shift until seven.

[HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER]

Hermione shot upright in bed.
'Not again,' she thought, sighing to herself. She never normally had nightmares, but this one had disturbed her.
Sighing, she grabbed her lilac dressing gown and headed downstairs.
Maybe some air would do her good...yes, that's just what she needed.
She rummaged around for her wand.
"Lumos," she muttered, as she waited for the staircase to move.
She glanced to her left as she heard a few faint voices.
Curious, she followed them until she spotted Harry.
"Harry, what are you doing, is everything alrig- TONKS!" She said delighted, suddenly spotting her next to Harry.
"H-has something happened?" she asked, aware that it was odd for Tonks to turn up unexpectedly.