DISCLAIMER: Not my characters.
Alice sat smiling. There was a bird on her windowsill, a twitchy little linnet bird. The sky outside was bright with the colors of sunset, though the mood of all of those enough inside of their minds to be aware was distinctly darker. With the curiosity of a small child, Alice reached her arm out to tap the glass to catch his attention. "Pretty bird," she remarked to herself, to whomever happened to be listening. Sometimes, she had the opportunity to interact with the St. Mungo's staff; recently, it had fallen into a slight state of disorder. There was a degree of short staffing, leaving many patients with less attention than they required.
Staring at the sleeve of her jumper, she looked in closely. Interesting the way those little gray strings were wound around, really. "Certainly, dear Madam, you'd like for me to vanquish this, this MONSTER!" the blonde man, Gilderoy, exclaimed, brandishing a mop like a sword in the direction of the bird.
Alice shook her head fiercely, spreading her arms behind her in an attempt to block the window.
"ALAS! HE HAS FLED BEFORE MY MIGHT! I NEED NOT DESTROY THE BEAST TODAY!" Gilderoy lowered his mop, smiling pompously at the bird that had flown away. Alice stood, teetering toward the closet where Gilderoy found his mop. There was a large assortment of cleaning supplies, Mrs. Scower's, and varied cabinets. Alice's smile shrunk as she tried to decide which closet might contain the birds. Outstretched, her fingers laced through the handle of one, tugging it back with eyes glittering in the hopes of finding her bird.
Not a feather poke out, but a spindly finger attached to a snowy hand that was hidden behind thickly spun lace and a large ring. Alice stepped back in awe, wondering what sort of world existed behind the wood of the other cabinets. Not certain what to make of the shadowed woman before her, she waited for her to step into the light.
"Dearest Alice Longbottom," the words rolled off poison lips, disguised by honey and the red of candied apples. Her black eyes bore flickering lights, dancing as if they had been Imperiused by a daring prankster. She wore a dress, black as her eyes, that was torn slightly near the bottom, indicating it had caught on something sharp but she'd not bothered to turn back. Her hair fell to her hips, long and black, like a banshee's. She had a small boy tucked in her arms, maybe a year old, chubby, and eyes that were bright in color but missing life. "Your son, a pretty boy," the woman giggled. She started murmuring even more words to Alice that bore no meaning. "Crucio," she hissed quietly. "Crucio, crucio, crucio…" her voice was wavering between howls and pronunciations so low that they could've been breaths of someone who'd below the surface of deep water.
Something stirred behind Alice's eyes. Without understanding why, her legs curled beneath her and she fell to the floor trying to pull herself into a place of hiding with her quaking hands. The woman's eyes grew as wide as her demented smile. "Why are you hiding from me, Alice?"
Alice didn't know. The woman frightened her to the greatest extent that Alice found to be fathomable, though she didn't know who the woman who haunted her dreams was. She was none of the people that Alice recognized. The old woman who visited her sometimes brought only a little boy. The caretakers here all had tinkling laughter that sounded like various tones of bells, none like this sound to shattering glass. Cowering, Alice furrowed her brow and tried to remember. Though it was futile, she felt it to be quite necessary, feeling like she'd made great progress when she worked at the memory that was just below the glistening surface of her rushing river eyes.
It was a bit ridiculous, most definitely, to be working at that which she couldn't do when a nurse with glittering eyes and a silver grimace dove in front of the woman who was advancing on Alice. She had recognized her face, being a former Auror. Bellatrix Lestrange's body shrunk into a blank-eyed stare of the Nurse's late brother, sprawled on the ground.
"Riddikulus!"