"You're safe with me, my love."
Occasionally they happen more fiercely than the last. Nightmares ripping at his soul, like the torment of a Dementor upon one already broken.
Sometimes you have to gently wake him up ā other times the nightmare will do it for him.
Sometimes he wept quietly within his clammy hands, shaking like a stray cat trapped outside in a snowstorm. Sometimes he sobbed so violently, that she feared the Silencing Charms upon his quarters may shatter from the pain wailing from him. Sometimes he would be so numb to what he had been cruelly taunted with, that he would become a hollow shell of the man he was, silent and mute in the coming days. His eyes gloss over, lost, and empty.
But every time that happened, you were always there. Although you were a heavy sleeper, you were sensitive to him. His movements, his murmurs, his cries. You grew so accustomed to his presence since you were together, that it was easy to react accordingly to his needs. You stirred and awoke whenever he did, and through whatever memory haunted him, you held him dearly as if the moment you let go, he would crumble like sand within your grasp.
There were some nights where you had to drag him into the bath to allow the cool water to drain away the pools of sweat and agony. He wept as you gently ran the damp cloth over his shaken, pale skin, littered with scars no man of his age should have to bear.
He was a man with few words, rendered speechless as his voice was ripped from him as he tried his best to process old pain, but you knew he was grateful by the way his dark eyes welled with tears, looking up at your bright, hopeful ones. He needed you, despite him not wanting you to see him in that state.
He needed you. A man who usually carried himself with such dignity and command, faltered when you were there. There was never any judgement or impatience with him. You remained gentle with him, soothing him through that visceral pain he only ever dared to expose when he was with you. His source of comfort.
He trusted you, and you always reassured him that youād never leave him while his pain resurfaced. Sweet, kind words whispered in his moments of terror, soothed him like a child scared of the dark. With you, he was able to confront those fears and breathe in a new life when his instructed breaths calmed his erratic mind.
It was devastating to think no one else knew how difficult his nights could be because he masked it so well in the public eye, but you were grateful to be there for him without a second thought.
With you, he felt safe - his light in the dark.