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Nightmares
Jonah isn’t as fearless as he makes himself out to be.
WC: 1,916
Who: Jonah, Orion, and Sonora
Written: 09/23/18
When: Third Year, Boggart Day in DADA
Tags: Character Death (Kind of?)
Notes: Apparently Jonah has somewhat-prophetic dreams??


“Jonah, Jonah, we need to stop!”

He could barely hear her over the sound of blood rushing in his ears, the sounds of feet dashing through mud, rain pouring down on them in sheets.

“Jonah, please, you’re hurting me.”

His hand held her wrist in a vice grip, he knew, but he couldn’t afford to let go. Not yet. Now wasn’t the time to stop and get themselves killed. He gritted his teeth as the two of them skid down a short incline and kept up the pace.

“Please, just bear it for now.”

“You’re bleeding! We have to take care of it!”

He didn’t dare look down at his other arm. He could barely feel it beyond the flames licking at his torn flesh, could barely hold on to the broken wand in his numb hand. From the sound of desperation in her voice, he assumed the blood trickling down was excessive.

“It’s just a scratch, it’s fine.”

“It’s not! We need to fix it, and, and we have to go back. Orion needs a hospital!”

His heart wrenched as the images flashed back to him. A hike through the woods, a playful banter. A wolf, leaping from the brush. Orion’s scream, a dreadful bite, a miscast curse. An angered beast, a crash, an abrupt view of the full moon through the clouds. Drops of rain and a shooting pain in his left arm. A glance to the left and he was met with the empty, dead gaze of his brother. His stomach lurched, and the fear boiled over. This wasn’t happening.

“He…He doesn’t need anything anymore.”

“Jonah, that’s your brother!”

The sound of whimpers and sobs to his right, tearing his eyes away from the fresh corpse. Sonora backed against a tree, the monster closing in, ready for the kill. No. No, he couldn’t let this happen. He wouldn’t! He forced himself up on an elbow, reaching out as he scrambled up and the beast jumped for the kill. “FLIPENDO!”

“He’s gone, Sonora! We’re not going back there to have the same thing happen to you! I can’t! I won’t!”

“But Jonah—ahh!!”

“s**t!”

They slid in the mud, and suddenly Sonora’s grip was just as strong on his wrist as they tumbled down a hill. Panicked screams, shouts of pain and branches snapping—or were they bones? Were they his? Were they hers? Could be both, judging by the fire from his arm shifting to his ribs and leg. The ride from hell came to an abrupt end as they reached the bottom of the trench, Jonah’s back and head slamming into a tree and Sonora into him, duo-death grips finally releasing as his world went black.

He came back just as quick as he went, lurching forward to cough into the dirt to stop himself from choking on the blood building up in his throat. His head throbbed, he was dizzy, and it was impossibly dark. He could barely make out the blood in the grass—it was a lot. That wasn’t all he just spat out, was it? Judging by the pain in the back of his skull, he guessed it could be from that, as well. A whimper just below him gave him a sharp reminder he wasn’t alone and he attempted to sit up, only to collapse back on his side in a gasp. It hurt to breathe. His lung wasn’t punctured, was it?

The terror of the night flooded back to him and he reached out to the body in front of him, slinging an arm over a wet shoulder and drawing her closer.
“Sonora…?” His voice sounded off, and he realized there was more blood in his mouth again. Really, now wasn’t the time for all this. “Sona, say something.”

“H-hurts….”

Jonah’s heart broke. Sonora’s voice didn’t sound like herself at all—it was weak, tired, and dripping in pain. He wanted to assess the damage, but the woods were thicker in this area and he could barely see straight in the dark.

“I’m sorry…. I’m so sorry…. This is my fault, all my fault….”

“tS’not…”

Tears sprung to his eyes as he nuzzled into the top of her head, hoping to comfort, only to draw back by the smell. It was her, she was bleeding. She hit her head. God, no.

“Oh no… No, no, we gotta… We gotta go, Sona, c’mon, we gotta go.”

“Where…?”

“To the hospital, Sweetie, c’mon, let’s…Hah….Go…We gotta…nngh…”

He tried to prop himself up again, barely succeeding to get up on his elbow. It was a struggle to breathe, and the realization set in that they weren’t going anywhere. They were going to die down here. Would anyone find them? He knew this area of the woods, they had to have fallen thirty feet… The trees would cover them up.
God, unless they find Rion’s body first, they wouldn’t be found until the leaves have fallen.

“Sonora, I’m so sorry….”

He focused on breathing, but soon enough he realized she hadn’t answered. He looked down to her and frowned. “Sona…?”

Nothing. No. No, it couldn’t be. Not yet. Not now.

His breath shook as he brought the back of his hand to Sonora’s lips, praying to feel an exhale of air from her nose. Nothing.

No, no, no. It couldn’t be.

He brought his trembling fingers to her throat and felt for a pulse. She was still, and he felt nothing. His voice broke into a sob. “No…. No, no, I’m sorry, please, no… Not you…Not… Not you…!”

He pulled her body as close as he could, planting a kiss on her forehead as he nuzzled into her, tears streaming down his face and mingling with her blood smeared on his cheek. “Anyone but you…”

A howl was heard in the distance, and Jonah closed his eyes. Please, make it quick. He didn’t want to be without her any longer than he had to be.

--

With a jolt, Jonah was sitting up and gasping for air, eyes wide in fear. Instinctively, his hand shot out beside him for Sonora, and… There was no Sonora. He turned his attention downward, noticing the blue sheets clasped in his fist. Back up, and his surroundings finally began to click. He was in his dorm, in his bed. He was at Hogwarts. It was just a dream. A terrible, terrible dream. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he finally calmed himself down. He leaned over to check the clock, and—

“8:50?! Bloody hell, so much for alarm clocks.”

--

Honestly, making it from Ravenclaw Tower to Defense Against the Dark Arts in ten minutes had to be a new school record. Jonah would be proud if he wasn’t so totally and utterly exhausted. He tossed his bag onto his desk as he dropped into his seat beside Alex with a sigh.
“You know what’s dreadful, Alex? Sleep. Sleep is the worst thing to ever exist on this bloody planet. I solemnly swear that I will not sleep again so long as I may live.”

Professor Cohen went into her lecture, and Jonah’s brows furrowed in annoyance at the topic of today’s class. ‘Boggarts, of course that would be today…. Great. Brilliant timing.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose to calm himself as he willed himself to wake up. After his nightmare the night before, he felt like he’d been up for three nights straight, his eyes looked like a raccoon’s, and he didn’t even get any coffee… He was not in the mood for this. But still, DADA was one of his favorite classes, and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint Professor Cohen or sour the day for anyone with his groggy attitude. No, he could do this. It would be fine. Honestly, when he thought about it, he wasn’t even sure what the boggart would bring up for him… It wasn’t like he was scared of much. It wouldn’t be that terrible, right?

When it was his turn, Jonah stepped up to the wardrobe and readied his wand. “Alright, let’s get this over with….” He pointed his wand directly at the wardrobe as Professor Cohen released the boggart, only to lower it in surprise at the sight he saw. “Wha…?”

His uncle, Joseph, had dropped from the wardrobe and was writhing in pain, screaming. Jonah wasn’t sure what to make of this… His worst fear was his uncle in pain….? Certainly not, he hardly cared for the man. He was a bit of a tosser to the young wizard, really. Yet, he was still family, and the sight made him horribly uncomfortable… But not frightened. He took a glance to the professor and arched an eyebrow, clearly confused before he cast the spell with ease.

“Riddikulus.”

The spell was cast correctly and the boggart clearly affected, but nothing funny seemed to be happening… Instead, it looked like the creature was changing shape, and Jonah was shocked to be faced again with a family member in agony. This time, his father, and he began to feel nauseous. “I…What…?” No, he was only supposed to have the one fear. What is this? Did he cast incorrectly after all? He cast again. “Riddicklus!”

The boggart shifted forms into that of his mother, and Jonah actually felt like he was going to be ill. He didn’t like this. Why did it keep going? “Riddikulus!”

His brother, Orion. “Riddikulus!” Rhea. “Riddikulus!”

This isn’t happening, it can’t be. Is this his fear? His whole family in agony? How does it know to keep doing this? He wanted to go back to bed. He wanted his mum.

Alexander. “Riddikulus!” Vespera, Eiji. “Riddikulus. Riddikulus!!”

Finally, he was faced with Sonora on the front in front of him, screaming and crying in agony. Jonah froze, eyes wide as the images from his nightmare flooded back with force. The werewolf, his brother dead, running to escape… Falling, and Sonora dying in front of him. He couldn’t move, could hardly breathe at the image in front of him. He should know it was only a boggart, but with his current state of distress, he could hardly remember that Sonora was, in fact, right behind him.

The boggart seemed to sense the pain wasn’t quite cutting it, and instead stilled into a corpse of his best friend. Jonah shook, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes tight as he was overcome with emotions. Fear, desperation, anger, and—

“AGGHH!”

He tossed his wand off to the side, the wand smacking against the wall and onto the ground. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and whipped around, brushing past his classmates and out the door as quick as he could without breaking into a full on sprint. Once the door was closed behind him, he moved over to the wall and slunk down to the ground. He hugged his knees and hid his face as he shook and cried. He knew he just lost his house some points, and probably earned detention for leaving class the way he did, but he just… he couldn’t. He couldn’t let his classmates see him cry.

The door opened with a creak beside him, and from the small steps that followed, he didn’t have to look to know it was her. She sat beside him, and Jonah leaned into the embrace when warm arms draped around him. “I’m sorry, I just….” He sniffed, “I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t… I don’t want to lose you.”