Nightmares
She was sitting in the rocking chair by the window in the nursery. After their success with the trial earlier in the day, Remus had been nearly floating. The thought that Draco would be taken from them because of his lycanthropy weighed heavily on Remus, and it made her smile to see how light being free of that worry made him.
Both he and Draco were sleeping now, as it was rather late. She looked at her watch for a moment. Three o'clock in the morning; could be late or early. Sleep had been abandoned hours ago. Nightmares had haunted her since her escape from Malfoy Manor, and they had gotten progressively worse as time wore on.
They were always mostly the same, slight deviations on her nightmare when she was a captive in the Manor. It always started out the same, unable to speak, occasionally unable to see as well. She'd be frozen magically, and she'd watch, or listen if she was blind, as her family was killed. Remus, Draco, Severus, Harry, Sirius, her daughter…the order varied, and each new dream was worse than the last. Tonight's was definitely the worst so far. Watching, frozen, as Voldemort possessed Harry. Lucius drew blood from Remus, and his Master drank it from a goblet. It sickened her, yet she was unable to move. Then, they came for her, promising her end unless she could escape. She saw Severus felled by the Killing Curse, Sirius by a poisoned knife. Draco was handed back to his parents, to do what they would with him. She woke up as Lucius approached her with the dagger, aiming for her heart.
No, there is no way I'm thinking about that now, Alyssa thought, shaking her head. I've been obsessing over these stupid dreams for months. Thankfully the others haven't seen the circles under my eyes, but they'll notice the glamor eventually. I may need to resort to muggle cosmetics. Her guilty mind reproached her again about not talking to Remus about this, but she didn't want to worry him. Dreams were difficult, because they could be visions, but they weren't always. It was a delicate balance, trying to decide, and she didn't want Remus to deal with that anxiety.
Nothing will happen anyway. Voldemort is gone. Lucius and Narcissa are locked up, with a majority of the Inner Circle. There's no way for them to escape from Azkaban, and dementors can't be bought. That last thought wasn't true though. Dementors could be bought, if you offered them what they wanted most. Fresh hosts to drain, the ability to cause widespread fear and despair. Lucius can't offer them that. He has no way to keep the Ministry from going after the dementors when they desert their post. Uneasily, she realized that this would be the best time for an escape attempt. The current Minister is being held prisoner by the goblins, and a new Minister couldn't be chosen until after Fudge was found guilty and sentenced. Since any attempts to rein in the dementors would pass through the Minister's office before action would take place, they would have two or three days to get away and plan.
Enough, Alyssa thought, rising from her seat. You're tired and paranoid, jumping at shadows. Go back to bed and try to sleep before you have to get up in a few hours. They're nightmares, nothing more. If Lucius and Narcissa weren't insane before, they are now, and they're probably in no shape to plot any nefarious schemes to escape. Nobody has ever escaped from Azkaban, and no one will.
She slowly walked to Draco's room, checking that he was sleeping peacefully before going back to her room and slipping into bed beside Remus. He didn't move, and Alyssa sighed in relief. Remus slept like the dead; much too deeply to be awakened by a muffled cry. He never noticed when she slipped out of the bed to pace around the house, checking the wards, sitting and looking out the window in one of the rooms, checking on Draco and then returning, to fall into an uneasy sleep until dawn.
Remus heard his wife's breathing even out and he rolled over to look at her. Just like every other night, she looked uneasy, worried, and more than a little afraid. He sighed exasperatedly. Alyssa didn't know that he always woke up when she had that nightmare, and he was still doubting that he should tell her. Her routine was usually the same. She'd wake up, crying "No" hoarsely. She'd get up, don her dressing gown and slippers, and slip from the room. Sometimes he would hear her settle in the nursery, rocking and thinking about who knows what. Other times, she would go too far away for him to hear her. She'd come back several hours later, stopping to check on Draco first and then she'd come back to bed, sighing in relief when she noticed he was still asleep.
She was running on four hours a sleep, if he did the math right, and it was not good for her. He'd seen through her glamor a week ago, and hadn't been able to believe that she was that pale, or that the circles under her eyes were so pronounced. And what frustrated him the most was that he couldn't say anything without starting a fight. You should have said something the first night, not waited this long, but, what would I have said?
After celebrating her return from Malfoy Manor, Remus fell into a contented sleep, happy to have his wife in his arms once more. He woke up at one, hearing the strangled cry his wife emitted as she bolted upright. He could hear her heart beating faster than normal, could hear her gasping for breath, and, peeking carefully, could see the glazed expression in her eyes. That look frightened him, and before he could get his bearings, Alyssa had vanished, pacing through the house. He expected her to bring it up the next morning, but she didn't. He decided to wait for her to come to him, which led to this. Months later, still no closer to knowing what was scaring his wife, what she dreamed. Still, he did nothing, not knowing what to say, and praying that it had nothing to do with her visions. Sometimes, being married to a Seer scared him, regardless if she was a full Seer or not.
Oh, and marrying a werewolf didn't scare her, his conscience mocked. I nearly decapitated her, and she still didn't fear me. Am I that afraid of what she might see that I'd let her suffer? He sighed again, gathering Alyssa in his arms and feeling some of her tenseness fade. Tomorrow, he decided, I'll bring it up tomorrow. When she comes back from taking Draco and Harry to school, before she goes to the apothecary, we'll talk. I need to know what's worrying her and she needs to talk, whether she wants to or not. We've avoided this for far too long.