Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (Invite)

The blonde shrugged. "You just seem... close," she said. Standing up, she stretched, moving closer to the fire. The couch was simply too far from the beautiful warmth. She sat with her back to the fireplace, relishing the heat of the flames.

"Do you really not like him?" Aria teased. "He's quite handsome, you know. He has beautiful eyes."

Karma frowned. "We seem close?" She asked, searching back in her memory for things that pointed to that. She found none.

"I... suppose he may be a bit attractive..." She admitted grudgingly. "And his eyes are... weird."

"Well... closer?" Aria said. "I don't know. Some of the others thought maybe you were..." she mumbled.

Aria let out a gasp that was clearly protest. "He has the prettiest eyes!" she insisted. "I remember the first time I saw them -"


Aria blinked, unaware that she had abruptly stopped talking. That room... when had that..?

She let out a cry, hands tangling in her hair as a shooting pain shot through her head. "Gah!"

Karma shook her head and smirked. "There is absolutely nothing going on with us."

She looked at the ground. She did like his eyes...

Karma leapt to her feet, at Aria's side in seconds. "Are you alright?" She asked the girl, her eyes full of worry.

Aria let out a soft whimper as the pain subsided. "Yeah," she responded shakily. "I just... Sometimes, I think I'm remembering stuff and then this pain shoots right into my skull. And it bloody hurts!"

The blonde leaned against her friend. "It's better, now."

Karma wrapped her arms around the girl in a hug. "I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you sis."

She sat down next to her, arm in arm. "I had a nightmare." She said, deciding to distract Aria. "I've been having it for a while, and I haven't been feeding. That's what's going on."

Aria's brow creased in concern. "A nightmare? What about?" she frowned. "Why haven't you been feeding?"

Karma laughed, her laugh forced and fake. "Who would I feed on, Aria?"

She leaned back on her elbows, her eyes on the flames. "It was... odd..." She said, trying to make it sound like less than it was. "I was in a crowd of muggles and...." She was suddenly curled in a ball. Her eyes closed as she took deep breaths. "And... I was getting... attacked..." She was across the room ansty. "I was... being beaten by all of them and..." She was at the steps to the girls dorms, debating going up. "Then he... he..." She was back in front of the fire, her eyes on the flames. "Branding me... with symbols..." She was on the couch, curled in a ball. "And he... he let them. He let them get me... He gave me to him." She couldn't remember where she was supposed to be. She was sitting next to Aria. Then she was on the couch. Then she was at the door to the Common Room. Then the door to the Girl's Dorm. The Boys Dorm.

"No volunteers, huh?" Aria said, then grimaced at her bad joke. "Sorry."

The blonde's eyes widened in alarm. Karma's nightmare was bad, but from Aria's point of view, the girl's response was nearly as horrible. Getting quickly to her feet, Aria moved to intercept Karma - which amounted to the half-vampire bodily slamming into her. That was gonna bruise. Merlin, Aria missed when she didn't really bruise...

"Karma!" Aria put her hands on either side of Karma's face, trying to sooth her. "Karma, you're here! You're in the common room. You're safe. Hey, Karma?"

Karma slammed into something hard, pretty sure it wasn't a wall, and moved to go around it, her eyes unfocused.

"Safe..." She murmured. Her eyes searched the air before her before landing on Aria. She saw her. "Sis...?" Karma wavered on her feet, her sense of direction and balance gone. "I... What..."

"That's right," Aria cooed, as though she were talking to a frightened animal. "Look at me. I'm right here." She guided Karma to the edge of a chair, crouching in front of her.

"It was just a nightmare. You're safe, Karm - I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Karma sat down heavily on the chair, her eyes going from focused to unfocused. "Ari..." She said softly. "It's a memory. I... Why is it a memory...?"

"A memory?" Aria echoed, frowning. "It isn't yours. You don't have any brands. How would you get someone else's memory? Have you been poking about in someone else's pensieve?"

Karma shook her head. "I haven't... no.... I..." She shivered. "I think... someone told me... that..." She frowned. "I don't...." Her leg was shaking. She wanted to bolt. She wanted to run, and hide.... hide....

Under the step in the Slytherin Quidditch Stands.

The blonde's brow furrowed. "Who, though? Who would do such a terrible thing to someone?"

It was mostly a rhetorical question, of course. Aria knew of at least one being who would be cruel enough to do such a thing and had heard stories of others.

"They... it... happened... to them...." Karma curled up in a ball on the couch, shying away from Aria's touch. "I.... don't know...." She hid her face, shivering.

"It's alright! It's alright!" Aria said quickly when Karma seemed to be getting lost again. She reached a hand out towards the other girl, but halted when she cringed away. "You're in the common room, remember? With Aria."

Karma was in the common room. The Common Room.

She was not in front of Muggles. She was not getting branded. She was not.... Not...

Karma was standing in front of the fire, her eyes on it. "I'm... I'm..." She reached out a hand. "I'm in..." She put her hand in the middle of the fire, her eyes widening as the pain hit her. It pulled her out of her trance. It hurt.

It hurt like a crowd of dummies bent on causing her as much pain as possible.

She was back on the couch, her eyes wide as she watched her hand heal itself. She was in the common room.

Her senses came back with a force, making her look at Aria, a lopsided grin on her face. "Sorry about that." She said nonchalantly. "This happens from time to time." She lied.

It took Aria a moment to consciously realize the fire was actually burning Karma, but her friend had withdrawn her hand before she could act. She bit back an admonishment.

"If you say so," Aria said quietly. "You alright, now?"

Karma cocked her head to the side, looking at her hand. The final parts of the burn were slowly going away now, and a few minutes later, all traces of it being there were gone. "Yes. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's alright," Aria said softly. "I'm your sister, remember? If you can't freak out in front of me, who can you? You don't have to apologize. You saw me when I didn't know anything. I'm sure you'll see me at my worst, again." She gave a wry smile.

Karma sighed and hugged her sister. "You're right." She said. "Do me a favor, okay? Look out for people that seem like I can feed on them again. If something happens... I'll need my full strength." She stood and stretched. "I guess I'll give sleep another try... unless you wanted to talk about something else...?" She cocked her head to the side, a small smile on her lips.

"I will," Aria promised simply.

She shook her head. "No. I think I will just sit in front of the fire for a while. I'm not really tired." Rising, the blonde put actions to words, settling cross-legged on the hearth. "Sleep well."

The blonde turned her gaze to the fire, entranced by their dancing. She cast a glance over her shoulder. She didn't see Karma, so she assumed the other girl had gone to bed.

Turning back, Aria stuck her own hand in the flames.

It did not burn.

Karma nodded at Aria, and walked up the steps to the Girls Dorms. She returned to the Fourth Year Dorms, but instead of sleeping went to the tapestry next to her bed. She cut out the loose stone she'd been working on and placed it on her bed, after going to her wardrobe. She pulled out the small wreath, the crown her mother'd made her, and sat back on her bed, pulling out the potion's kit in her trunk.

She sat cross legged on her bed and pulled the curtains closed around her, her eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. She started twisting new sage and flowers into the crown, to make it better.

She did this until the daylight.