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Tweak says, "What happened to the fiddler?"

Ernest (Ernie/Ern) Macmillan (ernsthename) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2011-10-17 23:11:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: october 30 2003, character: ernie macmillan, character: hannah abbott

Characters: Hannah and Ernie
Setting: Ernie's flat; October 30, 01:00
Content: Worksafe
Summary: It felt like more than a bad dream...

He had been getting ready to go to work when he heard a loud thump on the door of his flat. Turning around, Ern saw nothing, but then he heard the thump again. He hurried to the door, as it was still quite early in the morning to be banging on the door that loudly. He brought his wand with him, as he didn't know who was out there. It was when he opened the door that the answer to his question was made quite clear. An arm with putrid, rotting flesh reached out to grab him by the scruff of his neck, but he backed away quickly enough, wand at hand. Another arm had grabbed at his ankle as he quickly moved backwards, towards the sitting room. Fire, that's what these things respond to. He faced them, wand at the ready, his heart pounding in his ears and his breaths quick. He was about to yell out Incendio when one of them looked up at him. (He wouldn't think it possible, but it was possible here.) "Hann," Ern whispered, his eyes growing wide in disbelief. Another one had done the same and found that Justin had found a similar fate. He didn't know how they could've met this fate--it didn't make sense, but what he knew at that time was that they were gone but not rested. He looked over both of them and noticed that the same was true of his family. Their dead eyes looked at him as if accusing him of unspeakable deeds. He was he was only called back to attention when one of the corpses had already wrapped its hands around his neck and Ern tried to stop its cold, dead fingers from wrestling the life from him--

Ern startled in his bed, sweat dripping from his brow, mixed with tears. He noticed Hann next to him and first felt a wave of relief. But still feeling unsettled, he whispered gently at first, in case she may happen to be awake too. "Hann?"

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about_abbott
2011-10-18 04:54 am UTC (link)

Ernie's eyes searched for hers apologizing that he hadn't been able to protect her as promised. She was crying, struggling to get away but the Death Eater held her tightly. He laughed as he told her that it was her fault her beloved was about to die. How dare she believe that she was good enough for a pureblood and that killing him to protect wizarding kind was the kindest thing they could do for them both. She tried to close her eyes, but she couldn't they hit him with a cruciatus curse and she felt a mixture of pride and anguish as he held back the scream she saw in his eyes. When the curse lifted, he whispered her name. It was the last word he spoke before they hit him with the killing curse and cast the Dark Mark above his body.

"Ernie," she screamed sitting bolt upright in the bed. Immediately she reached for where he ought to be laying. Feeling his body there she forced herself to turn and look. His eyes were open, and he was breathing. "I thought you were dead," she began to cry uncontrollably.

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ernsthename
2011-10-18 05:09 am UTC (link)

"Hann," he repeated, as calmly as he could before he heard her scream. Ernie moved quickly to sit up upon noticing her actions. His heart pounding quickly at being startled like that once more.

"I'm alright though. We're safe here. I'm here and--you don't need to worry. It's just a bad dream," he drew her close to him and rubbed her shoulder as if to prove that he was still there. It wouldn't take that much skill to realize that he too was quite tense.

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about_abbott
2011-10-18 05:15 am UTC (link)

She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. She laid her head against his chest so she could hear his heart beat, proof that he really was there and was actually alive. She pulled back and searched his face. She could tell that he'd been crying, too.

"What's wrong?" she asked her voice panicked. Had something happened? Had her subconscious caught onto something going on around them? Something had to be wrong because Ernie never cried. He might fight back tears, but he never actually let them fall.

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ernsthename
2011-10-18 05:33 am UTC (link)

"Just a bad dream," Ernie had said, trying to damper her panic with a calm that was well practiced at work. They would be of little use if they panicked every time they saw or experienced something particularly frightening.

The same thing didn't hold true when he slept though. He did realize that he had been crying as he dreamt, and that was what Hann must've noticed. He wiped his eyes with the arm that wasn't wrapped around her.

"It sounded like you had one too," he added, looking at her with a concerned expression.

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about_abbott
2011-10-18 05:51 am UTC (link)

She hated when he did that. Ernie was a pro when it came to hiding his feelings behind his care and concern for her. She knew he thought it helped to protect her and she would never actually snap and tell him how much he made her feel like a little girl and not an equal when he treated her that way.

"It was just like when Mum died," that was all she was going to tell him. Two could play the lack of information game. Certainly he'd be able to pick up on the fact that instead of it being her mother's death, it was his that had occurred.

She looked into his eyes and knew that if he continued to look at her that way she'd break. Instead of holding his gaze she snuggled against him as close as she possibly could. "Just hold me." She tried to close her eyes again but immediately opened and her body gave an involuntary shiver.

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ernsthename
2011-10-18 06:19 am UTC (link)

Ernie still looked at her with a concerned look as Hannah moved in closer. So it was a dream about someone dying--as her mother did, which was something no less than terrible. He kissed the top of her head tenderly before he spoke once more. "It must've been terrible," he said, holding her as closely as he could, and noticing her shiver.

He didn't want to ask her for particular details as he knew that whatever it was just happened to be terrible, and that she probably did need time to deal with it. He figured that she'd tell him only if she needed to. Plus, he had already a vague idea of what her dreams may have consisted of, with the limited information available. "It's going to be alright though--it's just a dream," he reiterated, in case she didn't really internalize it the first time.

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about_abbott
2011-10-18 06:32 am UTC (link)

As she held him, she noticed that his skin was slightly clammy. Not only had Ernie been crying, but he'd been sweating as well. "Your's must have been equally as bad," she stated wondering what had happened that they were both having nightmares at the same time.

Hannah was grateful he didn't press her for details. She didn't want him to think she held any more of a burden for him then he had already taken on himself. "I hope it was just a dream," she plead more with herself. Having taken Divination she knew that dreams could be heralds of things to come. She also knew that it was just as likely to be nothing.

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ernsthename
2011-10-18 06:49 am UTC (link)

"It was bad," Ernie admitted, inhaling and exhaling slowly and deeply. He was tired but alert, shaken but back to a tense baseline that he often carried himself with on particularly risky situations.

"Unreal--but realistic. That's what it was like." He tried to put what he saw into rather general terms, since he found it particularly difficult to just describe the terror that he encountered. Partially since he felt nauseous even just thinking of it.

"It's odd that the both of us had terrible dreams. Perhaps it was something we ate?" Ern said, as a bit of food for thought. And not to mention a bit of a change in subject.

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about_abbott
2011-10-18 02:01 pm UTC (link)

Ernie was often tense, it was a byproduct of his chosen occupation, but his muscles were tighter than usual. As she held him she slowly rubbed her hands along his back kneading his muscles as she went.

Were she still not terrified that at any moment Death Eaters actually would come into his flat and carry out the contents of her dream Hannah would have protested that her cooking was not that bad. She'd never had a complaint at the restaurant, except that one time, but that had been traced back to the condiments not her actual meal preparation.

"It is," she started catching herself before she continued to make the dream a reality rather than a passing thought. Her body was still shaking slightly at the horror of it all. "It was too real. I felt every bit off it down to my core," in all honesty it was still there. Hugging him tightly against her she wondered if he had seen the same thing she had seen or had his dream been something entirely different.

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ernsthename
2011-10-19 03:17 am UTC (link)

Ernie sighed when she rubbed his shoulders, trying his best to reduce the tension within himself.

"Same. I'm just glad you're here though--I was afraid that you were gone. For a moment I believed the dream; it was that real." He spoke quietly and rubbed his tired eyes--he was exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. He tried taking a deep breath again, but still felt the tension.

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about_abbott
2011-10-19 03:41 am UTC (link)

Hannah caught the motion and knew he needed to sleep more than she did. He had work in a few hours. She at least could hurry through her shopping trip with Bianca and try to take a nap. That is if the vision of what she saw was't still plaguing her by mid morning.

He needed to relax and form where she was Hannah knew she was hindering his ability to do so. She untangled herself from him and crawled around so she could better rub his shoulders.

She listened to him as he spoke. "I'm here," she hung her arms over his shoulders and pulled him back against her. "I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to," she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. She thought of how sometimes you couldn't help leaving, like her mother. "And I don't want to be in a world without you," she reached up now and wiped her own eyes as tears threatened once again.

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ernsthename
2011-10-19 09:45 pm UTC (link)

"And I'm glad that you are here--and prefer if you would stay." Especially since he actually believed that she wasn't amongst the living.

"What time is it?" Ernie asked as he looked down at his watch. The watch read 1:23 AM. He sighed in a sort of frustration. And he needed to be up at 6:00 AM for work--6:30 AM at the latest. On a day like today he expected for there to be absolute havoc since he already needed to plan for the weekends. "I think I need to at least try to get back to sleep. You'll be alright, Hann?" He doubted that it would be possible to get back to sleep after a dream like that--or even if he was capable of coping with that, he knew that Hann was terrified and he wanted to be up to reassure her. Maybe he'd just call in sick tomorrow?

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about_abbott
2011-10-19 10:03 pm UTC (link)

Hannah wasn't going any where. Were she at her own flat she likely would have gotten up and fixed herself some tea. She could do the same here as she knew Ernie wouldn't mind. Besides, the kitchen had practically become her's anyway (she knew he rarely if ever used it). Yet, she needed the closeness of him. She needed to know he was still warm and breathing. As much as she knew tea would help settle her nerves, she was more afraid of leaving the room and coming back to find that it had been more than a dream.

"I'll be fine," she lied as she pulled her arms back from their hold on him so he could lay down. She knew there was no way she was going to be able to sleep. The best use of her time would be trying to help him sleep.

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ernsthename
2011-10-19 10:24 pm UTC (link)

Ernie kissed Hannah on the top of her head and laid down once more with a sigh. "Love you, Hann. Don't worry too much - I think that things will be alright. It was just a dream, after all." He wrapped an arm around her and tried closing his eyes.

He still felt rather unsettled himself, but for both of their sakes he needed to stay calm. And for his own sanity he needed to sleep. The last thing he wanted to do was to make mistakes and have to stay at work longer than he had to or for something even worse to happen.

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about_abbott
2011-10-20 12:13 am UTC (link)

Hannah didn't want to close her eyes. In fact, she was afraid to close her eyes. "I love you, too," she scooted a little closer but didn't lay herself down. Instead she simply placed her arm on his shoulder and lightly rubbed his arm from there down to his elbow. He needed to sleep and she knew that. Hopefully, she could put her restlessness to good use and help him relax while keeping watch that he was indeed still there.

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