Reilly had woken abruptly from his latest attempt at sleep. Once he'd slept off the exhaustion of the ordeal he'd had just before his arrival, very few of his nights had been restful.
Of late the dreams combined elements of an attack by wild dogs - caused, he was certain, by Damien Thorn at his Sorting - with elements of a tight, confined space, dark and cold, with stone walls and floor. Nowhere to escape from the dogs. How much of that was post-death trauma and how much supernatural harassment by Thorn, he was unsure.
But to combat the claustrophobia, fresh air seemed just the ticket, so he climbed stairs until he arrived on the roof, and wandered around enjoying a view literally as big as all outdoors. Then he heard the scratchy humming, and tensed into combat mode until he found its source. He resisted an urge, with Anna so much on his mind lately, to drag her off the parapet, a safe distance from the edge.
By now, Catelyn really shouldn't be surprised to find other people on the roof. Every so often there was a whole crowd up here--people who, for whatever reason, couldn't or didn't sleep. Even so she jumped slightly, startled, and nearly lost her balance when she turned.
"I would say you frightened the life out of me, but that would be a rather bad metaphor," she said, laughing quietly and swinging herself off the parapet. She didn't think he'd ever used her proper name before, but it pleased her more than not--so few people here used it. "Can you not sleep?" From all he had told her, it would not at all surprise her if he suffered from nightmares and insomnia.
His breath caught when she wavered, but once she was safely on the roof he relaxed again.
"Not well usually, thank you. Dreams. Tonight's feature involved the walls closing in on me, so..." He held out his hands to indicate the expanse of open air around them. "I'm so sorry to have disturbed you; I can move on if you'd rather have peace and quiet."
She winced. Before her death, during the war, she'd had all kinds of nightmares--one of the few advantages to perpetual insomnia was that she need not suffer them now.
"No, no, stay--it is good to have company." Fortunately it hadn't rained lately, and she made her way across the stonework easily. "Do you often have such dreams?" Catelyn herself had never been one for small enclosed spaces; she could well understand the horror of such a dream.
Reilly chuckled. "I'm not usually so steeped in Biblical lore. I've been reading religious texts a great deal since I arrived, looking for answers to - well, to many questions really."
He gave her description some thought. "Once I would've said creatures like that were bogies to frighten children, and the demons of the Bible too. But since arriving here, I've met so many beings...Catelyn, I came across someone here I think is a literal demon. If you meet a perfectly ordinary looking man with yellow eyes, I beg you do not engage with him. I think he wants to trap people into bargains for their souls, if he is what I believe him to be; I know that failing that he relishes human suffering, both watching and inflicting it. He did mine, certainly."
Catelyn stared at him. "Yellow eyes?" she asked. She had not seen anyone of that description, but then she did not usually haunt the castle when it was busy. "You believe he is a true demon?" Her only concept of a demon was of something like an Other, and the thought...well, she would have shivered, if she'd been capable of it. This castle...on the one hand, it gave people like them a chance for some kind of peace, but on the other, it let in both demons and people like Cersei Lannister.
"I had thought Hogwarts would be safe from such creatures," she said--having no idea just who or what Damien Thorn was, and so not knowing that worse than a demon was already here. "What did he say to you, that made you think so? If it is not private, that is."
"He's only just lately arrived. He calls himself Phil, a nice common mortal name. From the general hubbub at his Sorting I should guess I was not the only one to find him disturbing." He winced. "He said - without my having told him anything personal of myself - that he had seen Anna in Hell. That she blamed me for her to suicide."
Despite his chill, he chuckled at himself. "I owled a man claiming to be an angel, he'd put up posters about the Hogwarts Metaphysical Club. He wrote back that suicide is not an automatic ticket to Hell. I found it curiously reassuring, given that I don't even know this person."
Catelyn gave his hand a light squeeze. "He knew," she said quietly, and shook her head. "The things he could see in some of us, if he chose...I wonder that the school allows such creatures."
Now that was interesting...she knew well Camilla was no angel, but she had not suspected there were truly any at Hogwarts. "He claims he is an angel? I know next to nothing of this world's religions, but I would think such a thing as an angel might counter a demon." One would hope, anyway. "And...well, it is not outside the realm of possibility that your sister herself might come here." She was not without hope that Robb would be here someday--Robb who was dead, and Bran and Rickon, who hopefully yet lived. It was the blessing and the curse of this place, really, that it could call anyone it chose.
Comments 58
Of late the dreams combined elements of an attack by wild dogs - caused, he was certain, by Damien Thorn at his Sorting - with elements of a tight, confined space, dark and cold, with stone walls and floor. Nowhere to escape from the dogs. How much of that was post-death trauma and how much supernatural harassment by Thorn, he was unsure.
But to combat the claustrophobia, fresh air seemed just the ticket, so he climbed stairs until he arrived on the roof, and wandered around enjoying a view literally as big as all outdoors. Then he heard the scratchy humming, and tensed into combat mode until he found its source. He resisted an urge, with Anna so much on his mind lately, to drag her off the parapet, a safe distance from the edge.
"Catelyn?"
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"I would say you frightened the life out of me, but that would be a rather bad metaphor," she said, laughing quietly and swinging herself off the parapet. She didn't think he'd ever used her proper name before, but it pleased her more than not--so few people here used it. "Can you not sleep?" From all he had told her, it would not at all surprise her if he suffered from nightmares and insomnia.
Reply
"Not well usually, thank you. Dreams. Tonight's feature involved the walls closing in on me, so..." He held out his hands to indicate the expanse of open air around them. "I'm so sorry to have disturbed you; I can move on if you'd rather have peace and quiet."
Reply
"No, no, stay--it is good to have company." Fortunately it hadn't rained lately, and she made her way across the stonework easily. "Do you often have such dreams?" Catelyn herself had never been one for small enclosed spaces; she could well understand the horror of such a dream.
Reply
He gave her description some thought. "Once I would've said creatures like that were bogies to frighten children, and the demons of the Bible too. But since arriving here, I've met so many beings...Catelyn, I came across someone here I think is a literal demon. If you meet a perfectly ordinary looking man with yellow eyes, I beg you do not engage with him. I think he wants to trap people into bargains for their souls, if he is what I believe him to be; I know that failing that he relishes human suffering, both watching and inflicting it. He did mine, certainly."
Reply
"I had thought Hogwarts would be safe from such creatures," she said--having no idea just who or what Damien Thorn was, and so not knowing that worse than a demon was already here. "What did he say to you, that made you think so? If it is not private, that is."
Reply
Despite his chill, he chuckled at himself. "I owled a man claiming to be an angel, he'd put up posters about the Hogwarts Metaphysical Club. He wrote back that suicide is not an automatic ticket to Hell. I found it curiously reassuring, given that I don't even know this person."
Reply
Catelyn gave his hand a light squeeze. "He knew," she said quietly, and shook her head. "The things he could see in some of us, if he chose...I wonder that the school allows such creatures."
Now that was interesting...she knew well Camilla was no angel, but she had not suspected there were truly any at Hogwarts. "He claims he is an angel? I know next to nothing of this world's religions, but I would think such a thing as an angel might counter a demon." One would hope, anyway. "And...well, it is not outside the realm of possibility that your sister herself might come here." She was not without hope that Robb would be here someday--Robb who was dead, and Bran and Rickon, who hopefully yet lived. It was the blessing and the curse of this place, really, that it could call anyone it chose.
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