Marjorie's dreams have been getting worse, much to Professor Trelawney's delight.

Dusky dark figures seem to be lurking at the corners of her vision even when she's awake, but at night they reach out to claw at her, tugging at her hair and her clothes. She wandered through shapeless, colourless dreamscapes, her nightdress soaked with dark liquid that could be blood or could be something else entirely as incomprehensible whispers press in on the corners of her thoughts. She thinks that the dream people are trying to communicate, but if they were trying to speak then it wasn't in any way that she could understand.

Most mornings she wakes while the sky is still in a liminal state of purple and white, the sun peeking shyly over the treeline of the Forbidden Forest, with her nightdress damp with sweat and plastered to her skin. Sometimes, when her heartrate slows down and her breathing regulates, she falls back asleep with her sweat cooling on her skin and then wakes up exhausted hours later to the other girls getting ready for class. Other mornings, she wanders down to the common room and curls up on the couch in front of the low-burning fire, staring into the embers until she can hear the sounds of Gyffindor house coming alive in the dormitories above her.

Professor Trelawney leafs delightedly through her dream journal, her large eyes widening even further in excitement as she reads through the details. "Fascinating," She murmurs, thumbing at her lower lip in thought, "Oh yes, most interesting indeed."

Marjorie shuffles a little, and hopes that Trelawney can't hear her stomach grumbling. Class ended almost forty minutes ago, and she's impatiently waiting to be dismissed so that she can finally go to lunch.

"It is as I thought," Professor Trelawney says grandly, finally lowering the journal from her face. "These mysterious interlopers in your dreams are attempting to communicate with you."

"Right." Marjorie says dully. She's so tired from several consecutive nights of troubled and fitful sleep that she can't even inject her tone with the careful politeness she usually goes for. "And, er- what is it they're saying?"

"Oh, who can say?" Trelawney says mysteriously, waving the journal in a way that she probably thinks is mystical. "It is you that is the messenger here, my dear. The interpretation must come through you and you alone!"

"Oh, I see." Marjorie desperately tries to stifle a yawn. "Well, I suppose I'll just... keep trying. To, um, communicate."

"Excellent!" Trelawney says, tucking the journal back into her hands and beaming at her. "I can't wait to see what you find! I think it goes without saying, my dear girl, that your grades will see a marked improvement this term. Not," she added hastily, straightening one of her many beaded shawls, "That aptitude in the sacred art of Divination can be so easily measured by academic success, of course."

That does work to cheer Marjorie up a bit, and she ends up leaving the hot, stuffy Divination classroom in a markedly better mood than usual. That only lasts until she reaches the Great Hall and realises that Professor Trelawney had kept her so long that she doesn't actually have time to eat anything or else she'll be late to Charms.

Her stomach rumbles in protest, but she has no choice but to ignore it as she hurries to class - she's already terrible at Charms, she doesn't need to give Professor Flitwick any more reason to dislike her by being late as well.

By the time she gets to the Charms classroom, she feels terrible. She's a little sweaty from running through the halls, she's hungry, and she's exhausted, but at least she's not late. She takes her seat without looking up and making eye contact with anyone, and then lets herself slump over her desk. Merlin, she wishes she were asleep right now.

"Hey... you alright?" Cedric's voice comes from beside her, sounding concerned. She hadn't even noticed him sit down.

Marjorie sits up hastily, attempting to surreptitiously fix her robes. "Oh, hello! Er, yes, I'm fine! Sorry!" She wants to kick herself - what was she saying sorry for?

Cedric smiles gently at her. "Oh, not a problem. You look tired."

"Ah," She knows her smile is a little strained, but she can't help it. "Yes, I am a bit. Just been having a bit of trouble sleeping the last few nights. It's not a big deal."

"Sorry to hear that," Cedric's brow furrows as he regards her thoughtfully, "If there's anything I can do to help-"

"Oh, no!" Marjorie says hurriedly, sharply embarrassed at the thought of Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts Champion and one of the most popular boys in the school, pitying her. "Really, I'm fine-!"

"There you are, Longbottom!"

Marjorie and Cedric turn simultaneously in time to see the Weasley twins slide into the seats behind them. Marjorie's cheeks heat up so fast that she's sure she must be glowing red at the sight of them. "Oh!" Her voice is high, missing the casual mark by a mile. "Hi!"

Both boys grin at her, though Fred's gaze transfers to Cedric after a moment and his smile fades. George starts digging around in his robes, before he somehow manages to produce something from an inner pocket and sets it in front of her. "We didn't see you at lunch, so we thought we'd bring you something."

It's a scone. A soft, appreciative smile breaks out on Marjorie's face as she reaches out to take it. It's a little misshapen from being stuffed in George's pocket, but it looks so good and she's so hungry. The idea that they had noticed her absence and wanted to make sure that she got someting to eat has her heart fluttering in her chest like a little wild animal.

"Thank you, boys." She says quietly, still smiling. It feels like her bad mood has evaporated into thin air.

They don't get a chance to say anything else as Flitwick floats in and begins assigning practical work. Marjorie sneaks little bites of the scone as everyone begins pairing off, and Cedric steps strategically in front of her to prevent Flitwick seeing her as she eats.

They're practicing Cheering Charms today, so as soon as Marjorie finishes her scone she turns back to Cedric and takes out her wand. She still feels rather bad that he's been forced to partner with her this whole year - Cedric is one of the best students in their year, and she feels as though she's holding him back all the time because it takes her so long to get things. Cedric never complains though, and never even shows any sign that he's anything but happy to pair up with Marjorie. Even now, he's casually twirling his wand and smiling as she peers at their textbook and continues to struggle with the spell.

By the time class finishes, Marjorie's mood is buoyed enormously from Cedric's practice of the Cheering Charm. Cedric says goodbye to her with a smile too, although it's difficult to tell whether it's from Marjorie's spellwork or just his usual friendly cheer. Marjorie only just manages to wave him goodbye before she feels a large hand land on top of her head and start to ruffle her hair.

"George!" She squawks unattractively, scrambling to lean away before he manages to pull her hair out of the careful ponytail she had tied.

Both boys just laugh, and Fred reaches out and tugs lightly at the end of her hair. "See you at dinner, Marjie."

"No skipping it!" George adds, following his brother out of the classroom with a grin.

"Right." Marjorie murmurs to herself, flustered and attempting to right her hair before heading to Transfiguration.

By the time dinner rolls around, Marjorie feels like she could eat a hippogriff. She still has a headache from Arithmancy and she's covered in dirt from Care of Magical Creatures, so when she finally gets the chance to thump down onto a bench at the dinner table, she's so relieved that she feels like she could cry.

She's only been at the table for a few moments before the twins sits down next to her, crowding close to her before beginning to load up their plates. "You look terrible, Marjie." Fred says conversationally, dumping an enormous spoonful of mashed potatoes on his dinner plate. He eyes up her own empty plate, before dumping another big spoonful of potatoes on her plate too.

"Oh, cheers." Marjorie says with a humourless chuckle, taking a bite of potato.

George reaches over her to give his brother a firm shove, and Marjorie pretends not to notice the silent argument they have over her head. "Fred means," George said, scowling at Fred before ducking his head again so that he's closer to Marjorie's face. "That you look a little tired. Everything alright?"

Marjorie chews a bit of broccoli carefully, before sighing out her nose and slumping a little in her seat. "I haven't been sleeping very well lately." She confessed quietly. It's a little embarrassing to admit this, especially to the twins. She doesn't think they'll judge her for it (she hopes not), but the idea of admitting that she's having these crazy nightmares just feels humiliating.

Fred frowns, taking a sip of pumpkin juice before reaching out to push some of Marjorie's hair out of her face. "Not sleeping?"

Marjorie turns pink, both delighted and flustered by the public display of affection. "No, I, um- nightmares. Er, I've been having some- well, maybe not nightmares, but definitely not pleasant dreams-"

"Damn," George says. The grin that slowly spreads over his face is a major hint that he's about to make a joke, "Having Fred eat you out was that horrifying, huh?"

Mouth dropping open, Marjorie only barely manages to stifle a squawk.  If she thought she was pink before, she was surely scarlet now. "G-George!"

"Arsehole!" Fred laughs, shoving indignantly at his twin. "She loved it, for your information-!"

"Oh Merlin, shush!" Marjorie hissed, gazing around in a panic. She would absolutely never be able to live this down if anyone else heard! She turned to smack at George's arm. "George, I can't believe you-!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Just kidding!" George threw his arms up in surrender, chuckling as though Marjorie's smacks were nothing more than light brushes against him. "Only kidding, Marjie!"

"You- I can't- That was so inappropriate-!" Marjorie spluttered before bursting into giggles, surprising even herself. "You're awful!"

The boys' smiles fade for a second as she starts to laugh, their jaws going slightly slack, before their faces split into identical delighted grins. "Longbottom," Fred croons delightedly, "Are you laughing at an inappropriate joke?"

"No!" Marjorie says, still smiling helplessly. "It's just that- you two are ridiculous!"

Still grinning, George moves closer so that he's murmuring lowly into Marjorie's ear. "I'm just looking forward to taking my turn to make you feel good, darling."

Having just taken a bite of her dinner, Marjorie immediately chokes.

It is, naturally, right at that moment that Cedric Diggory appears behind them and says. "Er, Marjorie?"

Merlin, is it possible to actually die of embarrassment? After a solid minute of hacking and struggling to swallow her mouthful of food Marjorie finally turns around to face him, trying hard to ignore the twins' snickering. "Oh, hello Cedric." She said, trying to smile around her streaming eyes.

Cedric looks as though her wants to laugh, but is too polite to do so. Instead, he just smiles. "Could I talk to you for a second?"

"Oh, sure." Marjorie hurriedly wipes her mouth with a napkin and pushes her empty plate away. She glances at the twins and smiles softly at them. "I'll meet you back at the common room?"

"Uh. Sure, Marjie." George smiles distractedly at her, but both his and Fred's gazes keep flickering between her and Cedric. "See you in a bit."

Marjorie gives them one last smile before picking up her schoolbag and following Cedric out of the Great Hall -- she's in such a great mood after dinner with the twins that she's both forgotten about her terrible day and hasn't thought to wonder what exactly Cedric wants with her. It only occurs to her to ask when they're in the Entrance Hall. "So, um, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, of course," Cedric says quickly digging around in his pockets. "I actually just wanted to give you this."

Marjorie blinks as he produces a small paper bag tied with a delicate string. "Oh! It's lovely. Thank you. Um... what...?"

"It's tea." Cedric grins at her confusion. "I was thinking about what you said earlier, about not being able to sleep. I, well," For the first time since she's known him, Cedric actually looks a little self-conscious. "I actually had the same sort of problem at the beginning of the year, after my name was drawn from the Goblet. It was, well, anxiety, I guess. Anyway," He hurries to continue, apparently a little embarrassed to be admitting such a thing to her, "My mum sent me this tea. It's liquorice root and lavender, and it's supposed to help you sleep. It worked great for me, and I just thought it might be helpful."

"Oh." Marjorie murmurs, staring wide-eyed at the little bag of dried tea leaves. "That's- this is- thank you. This is... this is very sweet of you."

Cedric shrugs her thanks off with an affable little smile. "Nah, don't mention it. That's what friends are for, right?"

Marjorie's head snaps up at that, her eyes wide with surprise. "Friends?" She repeats dumbly, her thoughts slow and surprised. "Are- are we?"

Cedric is still smiling, although his forehead wrinkles in a confused little frown. "Yeah, course we are." He says easily, as though he can't figure out why she's asking such a silly question. "Anyway, I just wanted to give you that. Hopefully it'll help and you finally get a good night's rest! I'm gonna run and grab some supper now before dinner is over. See you later!"

"Yes, of course, goodbye." Marjorie says faintly, still gazing at the tea. "Thank you!" She calls belatedly to his retreating back one more time before he disappears into the Great Hall.

Very slowly, she begins to make her meandering way back to Gryffindor Tower, the little bag of tea clutched tight in her hands. She can't quite wrap her head around Cedric's words. Course we are, he had said, as if it were so easy to admit that they were friends. Popular, handsome, clever Cedric acted as if it went without saying that he was friends with Marjorie, and he didn't even seem particularly embarrassed to admit it!

What on earth is going on with everybody this year?, Marjorie wondered to herself, thinking of Fred and George's sudden interest in her. Was she missing something?

She gives the password to the Fat Lady's portrait absentmindedly, still fiddling with the bag of tea as she ducks into the common room. She's not used to people paying any attention to her, much less being nice to her and declaring friendship, so it's difficult to shake the feeling that everybody is trying to play a joke on her. Still, she can't see any harm in trying out Cedric's tea - the nightmares have gotten so bad that she feels like she'd do anything for just one night of restful sleep.

She sets about getting a mug and water from the little refreshments table that always magically restocks itself at the back of the room, and boils the water with a tap of her wand. At least, she tries to - the water turns out just barely lukewarm. She's still grumbling over the stubborn water when the portrait hole swings open and Fred and George climb through. As soon as they see her, they make a beeline over to where she's sitting in front of the fire.

Marjorie blinks at them, surprised. "You're back from dinner rather early, aren't you? Did you even finish eating?"

"Wasn't all that hungry anyway." Fred shrugs dismissively, throwing himself down on the couch next to Marjorie and snickering as he makes her bounce. "What did Diggory want?"

George sits down on her other side, watching her face carefully. They clearly weren't about to waste any time beating around the bush.

Marjorie just holds out her mug. "Could you heat my tea, please?"

Fred blinks at her outstretched hand as though he's struggling to wrap his head around the simple request, but he pulls his wand out of his pocket and taps it against the side of her mug all the same. Marjorie tries not to feel a pang of envy at how easy it seemed for him.

"Are you trying to avoid the question, love?" George asks playfully, nudging at her arm. "Should we be worried?"

Fred snorted. "I could take Diggory in a fight. And we could destroy him if we both took him on."

"A fight?" Marjorie repeated uncomprehendingly. She sipped at the tea and sighed in satisfaction - it was the perfect temperature. "Why would you fight?"

George snickered as he began playing with her hair. "Maybe we're just a little jealous, Marjie."

"Jealous?" She laughed a little incredulously. "Jealous of what? He only wanted to give me tea." She proffered the mug to show them the contents.

"Tea?" Fred frowns, peering into the mug.

"Smells nice." George offers, ignoring the scowl Fred aims at him over her head. "So, what, he's giving you gifts now?"

"It's supposed to help me sleep without having bad dreams." Marjorie sips again at her tea. It's lovely, sweet and a little floral on her tongue. Maybe it's just a placebo, but she does feel a little sleepy already.

There's a brief silence, and Marjorie cautiously leans her head against George's shoulder. When he doesn't push her off, she relaxes further against his arm.

"I didn't realise the dreams were that bad, Marjie." Fred murmurs, leaning down and scooping her legs up so that they're lying across his lap.

Marjorie hums, stretching out leisurely as she stifles a yawn. "Yes," She murmurs, draining the last of her tea. "They've been getting worse lately."

If the twins say anything else, she doesn't hear it. The fire is crackling in front of her, George is playing with her hair, and Fred is stroking her calves soothingly. She falls asleep leaning on the two of them, and for the first time in weeks she doesn't dream.

A/N

okay, so i just wanted to say thank you all SO much for all the lovely and kind comments that you've left on this story! it's meant so much to me, and i'm so glad that everyone is enjoying the story so much ❤❤❤