FICLET: Aftereffect; Or, Subliminal, Part Two (Cedric/Petunia)
Title: Aftereffect; Or, Subliminal, Part Two
Pairing: Cedric/Petunia, if you squint
Prompt: Number Game Ficathon
Rating: PG
Word Count: 670
Summary: The bed is still beneath you. The digital alarm clock still gives the time: nine o'clock. Everything is as you remember it.
Author's Notes: I got inspired by the fic I wrote for rarepair_shorts's Number Game Ficathon; somehow I just keep getting plot!bunnies for Cedric/Petunia! Crazy, eh? :P It's snowballed into an entire series.
Previously: Subliminal
There is a change in season: a certain heaviness in your eyelids, a sudden awareness of the weight of your own body. It comes in waves, until you feel obligated to open your eyes.
The bed is still beneath you. The digital alarm clock still gives the time: nine o'clock. Everything is as you remember it.
But you feel as if you've traveled very far in a short period of time. It doesn't make sense - where could you possibly have gone? Where? And then - without warning - the memory of last night's dream overwhelms you. You remember seeing Lily. You remember Cedric Diggory.
And you remember you'd forgotten Dudley's birthday presents.
Wait...
In a flash, you jump out of bed and rush downstairs. You just need to make sure, that's all - but your heart is racing, expecting the worst; you can't help but fear some of it was true. The dream is even more frightening when your feet are on the ground.
A surge of relief washes over you when you find all the presents piled high on the kitchen table. You laugh at yourself for being so silly - of course you'd bought the presents. There was no way you could have forgotten; it was just your mind playing tricks on you.
Dudley and Harry are already sitting at the table - you just don't notice them until now, and only because they're calling attention to themselves. They are gaping at you, their eyes are bulging; they're looking at you as if you are mad.
Well, when you glance at the mirror over the kitchen sink, you can see why: your hair is standing on end, and you are wearing those awful gingerbread-men pajamas. Plus, as far as Harry and Dudley can tell, you were laughing for no apparent reason.
So, yes, maybe you are a little mad.
It crosses your mind that you must be, considering the dream you had last night. That was no ordinary dream.
Admittedly, most dreams are bizarre and nonsensical - but this one was just outright unnatural. There were things - people - that should not have been there, because never in your waking life had you seen or heard of them. It was as if someone else had taken an image and planted it in your brain without your knowing.
Who is Frank Bryce? Or Bertha? Or Cedric Diggory? How was it that you came to see Lily, who died fifteen years ago? You haven't consciously thought of her for a very, very long time, because you don't like to think about her if you can help it. And what of James, her husband? You've never met him - and yet you instantly knew it was he and not Harry.
And the things they said to you! Going on about giving a broom to Harry, because it's only fair - or some rubbish like that - and something about dragon dung - what kind of nonsense was that? Dragons don't even exist! - and then that Cedric boy - he asked you to take his body to Harry!
You stop short suddenly. Hang on, you think, trying desperately to string two and two together. What does Harry have to do with Cedric in the first place?
Well, of course you wouldn’t know the answer to that... but Harry must.
Except you can't just walk up to Harry and demand to know who Cedric is - that would look more than a little suspicious.
You're forgetting the real issue, though. How did you manage to have this dream? It obviously was not a fabrication of your own mind - it just can't be possible. Someone must have bewitched you. And whoever it was, they must be trying to tell you something; they had to have a purpose, didn't they?
And then it clicks. It seems so obvious... After all, for half the dream, everyone was admonishing you for not giving Harry suitable gifts.
Someone wants you to pay more attention to Harry. As far as whom... you have absolutely no idea. But they obviously must be mental.
Read Part Three!
Pairing: Cedric/Petunia, if you squint
Prompt: Number Game Ficathon
Rating: PG
Word Count: 670
Summary: The bed is still beneath you. The digital alarm clock still gives the time: nine o'clock. Everything is as you remember it.
Author's Notes: I got inspired by the fic I wrote for rarepair_shorts's Number Game Ficathon; somehow I just keep getting plot!bunnies for Cedric/Petunia! Crazy, eh? :P It's snowballed into an entire series.
Previously: Subliminal
There is a change in season: a certain heaviness in your eyelids, a sudden awareness of the weight of your own body. It comes in waves, until you feel obligated to open your eyes.
The bed is still beneath you. The digital alarm clock still gives the time: nine o'clock. Everything is as you remember it.
But you feel as if you've traveled very far in a short period of time. It doesn't make sense - where could you possibly have gone? Where? And then - without warning - the memory of last night's dream overwhelms you. You remember seeing Lily. You remember Cedric Diggory.
And you remember you'd forgotten Dudley's birthday presents.
Wait...
In a flash, you jump out of bed and rush downstairs. You just need to make sure, that's all - but your heart is racing, expecting the worst; you can't help but fear some of it was true. The dream is even more frightening when your feet are on the ground.
A surge of relief washes over you when you find all the presents piled high on the kitchen table. You laugh at yourself for being so silly - of course you'd bought the presents. There was no way you could have forgotten; it was just your mind playing tricks on you.
Dudley and Harry are already sitting at the table - you just don't notice them until now, and only because they're calling attention to themselves. They are gaping at you, their eyes are bulging; they're looking at you as if you are mad.
Well, when you glance at the mirror over the kitchen sink, you can see why: your hair is standing on end, and you are wearing those awful gingerbread-men pajamas. Plus, as far as Harry and Dudley can tell, you were laughing for no apparent reason.
So, yes, maybe you are a little mad.
It crosses your mind that you must be, considering the dream you had last night. That was no ordinary dream.
Admittedly, most dreams are bizarre and nonsensical - but this one was just outright unnatural. There were things - people - that should not have been there, because never in your waking life had you seen or heard of them. It was as if someone else had taken an image and planted it in your brain without your knowing.
Who is Frank Bryce? Or Bertha? Or Cedric Diggory? How was it that you came to see Lily, who died fifteen years ago? You haven't consciously thought of her for a very, very long time, because you don't like to think about her if you can help it. And what of James, her husband? You've never met him - and yet you instantly knew it was he and not Harry.
And the things they said to you! Going on about giving a broom to Harry, because it's only fair - or some rubbish like that - and something about dragon dung - what kind of nonsense was that? Dragons don't even exist! - and then that Cedric boy - he asked you to take his body to Harry!
You stop short suddenly. Hang on, you think, trying desperately to string two and two together. What does Harry have to do with Cedric in the first place?
Well, of course you wouldn’t know the answer to that... but Harry must.
Except you can't just walk up to Harry and demand to know who Cedric is - that would look more than a little suspicious.
You're forgetting the real issue, though. How did you manage to have this dream? It obviously was not a fabrication of your own mind - it just can't be possible. Someone must have bewitched you. And whoever it was, they must be trying to tell you something; they had to have a purpose, didn't they?
And then it clicks. It seems so obvious... After all, for half the dream, everyone was admonishing you for not giving Harry suitable gifts.
Someone wants you to pay more attention to Harry. As far as whom... you have absolutely no idea. But they obviously must be mental.
Read Part Three!