Keeping up with the Joneses (Zach/J.J)

J. J. woke with a start, a scream bubbling at the back of her throat but she managed to bit it down. There was no need to bring about the attention - it wasn't like there was anything that they could do about it anyways.

They thought it was over anyways - until a few weeks ago, so had she.

Her hair stuck to her face with sweat, but she was cold, suddenly so very, very cold. She pulled her tangled knot of blankets closer to her, trying to fight it off, go back to sleep.

Nightmares - nothing magical, no future or prophecy in sight, just nightmares. Bloody awful, night-ruining dreams. She had suffered from them as a child. The doctors her paretns took her tro see said it was common, something to do with stress, or some other thing she hadn't understood at such a young age. Either way, whatever was causing them, nothing seemed to help. The doctor's were useless. There ended up being nothing to do but let her wake up the whole house with screams, and just pray that it would eventually stop.

And then three or four years ago, it did. No more terrors, no more screaming. The whole house went back to long peaceful night sleeps.

Until a few weeks ago, they started again. On and off since the start of summer the night-terrors would plague her - of course, now no one else knew for she had learned not to scream. This past week alone, there had been more times when she would start awake in fear, than sleep the whole night.

The girl tossed and turned, but it was no use - she wasn't going to get back to sleep and she knew it. Shivering, she pulled back her blankets and ran for her closed to put on a housecoat she usually only wore in the dead of winter. She was about to close the door when a shaft of moon light glanced off of something and she stopped.

Sammy - her old stuffed rabbit. She use to take that thing everywhere, and he showed the evidence of it. His fur was worn away in some places, and he was missing an eye. Scruffy might have been too weak of a word to describe Sammy's present state but J. J. was filled with a empty feeling that suddenly seemed only fixable by that toy.

Without stopping to think about what put the stuffed animal in the closet in the first place - a desire to leave childhood behind and be an 'adult' - she grabbed the rabbit and clutched it to her chest like a life line.

The moonlight coming from the window attracted her, so without a thought she tightened her housecoat, and pulled Sammy closer to her chest, then J. J. curled up in her windowseat and let her mind get caught up in the evening sky.

"Star light, star bright," she murmured an old childhood rhyme, her voice soft and almost daze-like, "first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

Zach was sneaking in the house, passing by his siblings bedrooms when he heard his little sister sobbing and breathing heavily. At first he thought he was imagining things and wanted to ignore it but then the sobbing became louder and it was kind of hard to pretend it's not happening.

Convinced she desperately needs his help he barged into her room only to find her talking to her stuffed animals in a half awake state.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her stupidly.

The door opened with a slam, and the post-dream panic that J. J. had managed to keep down spiked suddenly.

She let out a scream, and a flurry of panic words that sounded a lot like, "I didn't mean to," before her brain actually clicked in and realized that it was only her brother.

"Zach," she let out a shakey sigh, and closed her eyes. God, she was going bonkers now - that was all she needed. She took a few deep breaths, and fell into the methods she used for casting a spell, it's only a dream; it's only a dream. J. J. kept repeating that until she halfway believed it.

Eventually she gave him a weak, but hopefully somewhat convincing smile, "Everything is just... fantastic; it's only a dream."

She gave a little laugh, and started to nervously fiddle with the fur on the top of Sammy the Rabbit's head.

After a moment a thought came to here.

"Hey," she gave him a slightly suspicious look, "What were you - were you just coming in?"

J. J. sighed and let her brother wrap his arms around her; she curled into the embrace. It was safe and normal there, like nothing ever changed and her life was still what it had been a little over a year before.

She gave him a sad little laugh, "Are you trying to convince me, or you?"

It was true that no one would forcefully harm her at school, at least as of yet she hadn't seen it but there was still the case of that boy she had found in the shrieking shack, and one should always remember the borderline psychodic Defense professor.

Then again, even with all that, Hogwarts was probably safer for her in the end. If anyone really found out about her magic...

She didn't need to think about that.

"A girl, eh?" she tried her best to push-back any of her problems and tease her brother as much as she would have in a normal situation.

"I'll have to see it to believe it," she joked to her brother about the girl, and then felt a little sadden to remember she was leaving, and it would be a long time before she would see him, or this girl.

"Things aren't always so bad here," she said slowly with a soft smile and giving her brother a playful nudge.

J. J. had let her mind wander, and was completely lost in her own thoughts when the knocking started.

Thus it startled her more than necessary. She jumped and gave a little squeak, only to turn towards the window to see a pair of familar owl eyes staring - slightly irritated she like to imagine - back at her.

"Hermes," she let out a shaky laugh and wiggled her way out of her brother's hold to go open the window and let her pet in, "Are all the men in my life determined to scare the bejezes out of me this evening?"

The bird let out a small, impatient hoot - that she interpreted as 'about time' - and flew to his roost in the corner of her room.

She watched the bird with a small smile as she made her way back to her spot by her brother.

"Do you remember when my Hogwarts letter came?"