Ghost Pains
Title: Ghost Pains
Genre: Tragic, Sad
Characters: Albus Severus Potter, The Grey Lady
Rating: GP
Word Count: 827 words
Summary: Albus Potter and The Grey Lady feel pains that should no longer exist.
Word Count: COMPLETELY AU (based on Founders-canon)
Author's Notes: Written for Prompt #42 (Ghost) on my prompt table from 100quills.
A ghost is an empty shell of the human it used to be. It does not eat, it does not drink and it does not breathe. It defies most of the laws of science, including those of gravity and of molecular structure. Is it solid, liquid or gas? Perhaps it does not even exist and is just a figment of one’s imagination.
Albus Potter did not understand why he had a strange feeling every time he crawled into his bed at night. It was almost like a ghost pain, like how a man with an amputated leg can still feel an ache in the knee that is no longer a part of him. It was odd; it was like a deep and painful sense of loss, like he had lost something important. He sometimes woke up in the middle of the night with his arm outstretched and his first clenching air. The same strange feeling would be in his chest.
He had visited Madam Pomfrey. He had written to his dad, to his mum and even to Aunt Hermione. They had prescribed many things, none of which worked. It had been the same for the past six years at Hogwarts and the feeling had not gone away. If anything, it had grown worse. He would find himself screaming a name in the middle of the night, a name he would not remember once he was fully conscious. He sometimes dreamt of a warm touch, a soft laugh and sense of sweet contentment. It was after these dreams that he would wake up against a pillow soaked in his tears.
Somehow, it never occurred to him to ask for a different room.
Albus had endured the troubling pain throughout his Hogwarts life. He had learned to deal with it, though he never quite grew accustomed to it. He sighed and rubbed his shoulder. He had been hit by a bludger during Quidditch practice and though it wasn’t serious, Madam Pomfrey wanted him to rest it. He pulled apart the hangings on his bed and paused. The dull ache seeped into his chest and he winced. Their house ghost, the Grey Lady, was curled up on his bed, eyes shut. If he didn’t know that ghosts did not need rest, he would have guessed she was sound asleep. He started to say Miss Ravenclaw, but the words that left his lips were: “Helena?”
Helena Ravenclaw was a ghost. She was an empty shell of the human she used to be. She did not eat, she did not drink and she did not breathe. She defied all laws of natural science. She did not have to breathe, yet she often wondered why she felt her chest constrict every time he passed by. She did not have a heart and yet it broke every time he smiled, even if it was not at her.
She watched him when she knew no one else was looking. She longed to speak him again, but she could not. She had loved him with every fibre of her being and she continued to love him to this day. It was a love only she knew of. It was a love only she felt. It was a love only she could understand.
When he was away at class or Quidditch practice, she sometimes crept into his room and lay down in his bed. The memories did not fade; she could remember the night he had marked her forever. Remembering Hogwarts as she had known it was sheer torture but she continued to do hold on because it was the only thing she had left. Her days were pointless and trivial; he was the only thing that made her days mean anything. But somewhere in her, Helena had to tell herself that she should not confuse this boy for the one that she had loved and had loved her.
If she didn’t know better, she’d say she had been dreaming. But that was silly; she did not sleep or dream. His voice sounded even more real than usual. “Helena?” Her ghostly eyes sprang open. There he was, standing before her. Her Albus.
Albus grabbed the front of his robes. There was an unusual sensation in his chest. It was different this time, like he had found what he had lost. He closed his eyes for a moment, unused to the intensity. When he opened them again, she was gone. Albus blinked. Had he just imagined it? He ran his fingers over the untouched sheets. He fell to his knees as the confusing feeling of loss washed over him stronger than ever before.
Helena Ravenclaw stopped her descent in an empty classroom. She scrunched her translucent eyes against the tears she knew she did not have. She gasped for the air she knew she did not need. She clasped at the pain in her heart. The ghost pain of the heart that she knew was no longer there.
Genre: Tragic, Sad
Characters: Albus Severus Potter, The Grey Lady
Rating: GP
Word Count: 827 words
Summary: Albus Potter and The Grey Lady feel pains that should no longer exist.
Word Count: COMPLETELY AU (based on Founders-canon)
Author's Notes: Written for Prompt #42 (Ghost) on my prompt table from 100quills.
A ghost is an empty shell of the human it used to be. It does not eat, it does not drink and it does not breathe. It defies most of the laws of science, including those of gravity and of molecular structure. Is it solid, liquid or gas? Perhaps it does not even exist and is just a figment of one’s imagination.
Albus Potter did not understand why he had a strange feeling every time he crawled into his bed at night. It was almost like a ghost pain, like how a man with an amputated leg can still feel an ache in the knee that is no longer a part of him. It was odd; it was like a deep and painful sense of loss, like he had lost something important. He sometimes woke up in the middle of the night with his arm outstretched and his first clenching air. The same strange feeling would be in his chest.
He had visited Madam Pomfrey. He had written to his dad, to his mum and even to Aunt Hermione. They had prescribed many things, none of which worked. It had been the same for the past six years at Hogwarts and the feeling had not gone away. If anything, it had grown worse. He would find himself screaming a name in the middle of the night, a name he would not remember once he was fully conscious. He sometimes dreamt of a warm touch, a soft laugh and sense of sweet contentment. It was after these dreams that he would wake up against a pillow soaked in his tears.
Somehow, it never occurred to him to ask for a different room.
Albus had endured the troubling pain throughout his Hogwarts life. He had learned to deal with it, though he never quite grew accustomed to it. He sighed and rubbed his shoulder. He had been hit by a bludger during Quidditch practice and though it wasn’t serious, Madam Pomfrey wanted him to rest it. He pulled apart the hangings on his bed and paused. The dull ache seeped into his chest and he winced. Their house ghost, the Grey Lady, was curled up on his bed, eyes shut. If he didn’t know that ghosts did not need rest, he would have guessed she was sound asleep. He started to say Miss Ravenclaw, but the words that left his lips were: “Helena?”
Helena Ravenclaw was a ghost. She was an empty shell of the human she used to be. She did not eat, she did not drink and she did not breathe. She defied all laws of natural science. She did not have to breathe, yet she often wondered why she felt her chest constrict every time he passed by. She did not have a heart and yet it broke every time he smiled, even if it was not at her.
She watched him when she knew no one else was looking. She longed to speak him again, but she could not. She had loved him with every fibre of her being and she continued to love him to this day. It was a love only she knew of. It was a love only she felt. It was a love only she could understand.
When he was away at class or Quidditch practice, she sometimes crept into his room and lay down in his bed. The memories did not fade; she could remember the night he had marked her forever. Remembering Hogwarts as she had known it was sheer torture but she continued to do hold on because it was the only thing she had left. Her days were pointless and trivial; he was the only thing that made her days mean anything. But somewhere in her, Helena had to tell herself that she should not confuse this boy for the one that she had loved and had loved her.
If she didn’t know better, she’d say she had been dreaming. But that was silly; she did not sleep or dream. His voice sounded even more real than usual. “Helena?” Her ghostly eyes sprang open. There he was, standing before her. Her Albus.
Albus grabbed the front of his robes. There was an unusual sensation in his chest. It was different this time, like he had found what he had lost. He closed his eyes for a moment, unused to the intensity. When he opened them again, she was gone. Albus blinked. Had he just imagined it? He ran his fingers over the untouched sheets. He fell to his knees as the confusing feeling of loss washed over him stronger than ever before.
Helena Ravenclaw stopped her descent in an empty classroom. She scrunched her translucent eyes against the tears she knew she did not have. She gasped for the air she knew she did not need. She clasped at the pain in her heart. The ghost pain of the heart that she knew was no longer there.