When she was afraid, when shadows were stalking her dreams, menacing, Katie woke with a start; asleep one moment, awake and terrified the next. This wasn't one of those nightmares.

This was the kind where you knew that you were sleeping, but still unable to stop the barrage of images, unable to run away. Katie found herself re-living that day, all those horrible days - when George had died, the day she had gone to his funeral, all the days in-between and afterwards. The terror was like a cold, living thing winding it's way through everything, but the sadness, the hurt, the feeling of complete loss blanketed it all.

When Katie's eyes finally blinked open into the moonlit darkness of her room, the world was blurry with tears. She sat up, blankets pooling at her waist as she brushed the hair stuck to her wet skin away with trembling hands. A fleeting thought of Fred, of him holding her, was quickly dismissed. She didn't want to run to him every time sleep evaded her with painful memories as she had growing up.

Grabbing her wand from the nightstand, she whispered a spell and a large pink quartz crystal lit with a soft internal glow. It looked like one of the pretty things that most of her friends knew she collected, but this particular one had gotten much use in chasing away the darkness for as long as she could remember. Her Papa had given it to her when she was plagued by nightmares as a child and she'd been using it ever since.

Many times, it wasn't enough. She needed warmth, something alive and here to assure her that dreams were better left to the ether.

Taking a shuddering breath, Katie laid down, burying her face into Kaiya's soft fur, the tears still leaking out of the corner of her eyes lost in the husky's thick fur. She could feel Pea snuggling into her side underneath the blankets, little puppy licks of comfort against her skin pulling a small smile across her lips, even through the tears.

Her mind wandered to the owls Alicia had sent her. Death, more death. Dark marks in the sky, death. Despite the seeming 'victory' of the peacock on Halloween, Katie was skeptical. It'd been years since the Dark Mark had taunted her from the front page of the Prophet and followed closely behind it was often death.

The pattern frightened her and made old memories fresh. Many had been lost, but losing George had made it all real. She'd been close to him growing up, close as she was to Fred. They'd always watched out for her, been there to make her laugh when she'd wandered to the common room in the middle of the night full of nightmares, made her feel safe. She knew that Fred had lost so much more than her, but when George had died, a little piece of her had died with him too.

She hadn't left Fred alone in his grief because she couldn't. She'd needed him not to fade away, to disappear. If he left her too - emotionally absent or physically taking himself away - Katie shuddered. She'd have been lost. They'd always been the big brothers to her she'd never had.

Thoughts swirled in her head and a slow steady leak of tears disappeared into Kaiya's fur. She lay awake for what seemed like forever, but eventually Kaiya's even breathing underneath her cheek, Pea warm against her side settled her enough and sleep claimed her again. Thankfully, it all melted into oblivion.

Summary: Alicia's loss brings back painful memories and more nightmares for Katie.