James used to tease him that the first night-terror he had shook the house walls and made Mum cry. Albus was sure that second part wasn't for teasing. James didn't know how to mention it without saying that. Albus understood, it frighten him too.
The first nightmare, Albus can remember, was when he was six.
He woke up in a cold sweat, six years old he didn't know what a cold sweat was, but his night shirt stuck to his body uncomfortably. A breeze from the open window blew over him, he shivered. The meat of the dream, the reason he'd sweat in his sleep, and woke with such a start that his stomach cramped from sitting so quickly. He could barely remember now. Running through the woods, a feeling of being chased. Now the remnants were almost forgotten; pounding of his heart, and the irrevocably knowledge that he had been - and still did feel - scared out of his mind.
It didn't shake the house, and his mum never woke so she was none the wiser.
~*~
They were all together during Christmas one year. James, Rose, Lily, Hugo and himself; lounging by the fire while their parents spoke softly in the kitchen. Lily was retelling a dream she had had of Mason Coole, a seeker on the Pride of Portree's team. "And we married and it was happily ever after," Lily sighed.
"Oh, Lil, they're only dreams." She launched into an explanation about correlations between dreams and subconscious.
Hugo butted in, interrupting his big sister, "Albus shook his bed with his dream last night." James glossed over it with a launch into a dream he had where he won the Quidditch World Cup. Lily and Hugo became enthralled, barely taking their eyes off James and the way he spun his tale.
Rose watched him through narrowed eyes, and he wasn't surprised when she cornered him before bed. "Shook the bed?" she put her hands on her hips.
"It's nothing, Hugo exaggerated." He went to walk by her, get to his room where he'd be safe from her interrogation.
"I don't think so Mister," she yanked on his wrist. "You always have dreams like that?"
"I don't dream," he bit out.
"But Hugo said..."
"Nightmares, they're nightmares, Rose. And they terrify me and I don't want to talk about them." Albus wrenched away and stalked to his room. He fell into a fitful sleep.
~*~
Most nights were like any normal dreamers night. When he woke in the morning he was left with nothing less than the vague impression that he had dream; even if he couldn't remember of what. He was nary aware of them by the time Hogwarts rolled around, and only spared a moment to fear when Da clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him in close.
"Don't worry about your dreams," he smiled warmly. "I have my share of nightmares, Albus."
"Have they gone away?" he knew the answer, Da rarely misspoke.
Da smiled again, but some of the warmth was missing from his eyes. "They're not as bad," he said that looking at Mum. Something akin to wonder growing in his eyes. "And you'll be so busy, you wont even notice them."
"Thanks, Da," Albus wrapped his arms tight around his middle. It was hard to let go.
Da wasn't wrong. Between classes, learning the enormity of the castle, and making new friends; Albus rarely had a chance to examine his bed head, let alone ponder if he'd been plagued by dreams in his sleep. Making friends, he was sure, kept them out of his mind the most. In his house he found friend after friend, and beyond there were budding friendships and acquaintances abound.
It was easy at times to forget that he had ever been burden with them.
~*~
The first one he had at Hogwarts, like the one James was so fond of telling. He'd forgotten, again, to set a silencing charm and woke up to Thomas Finnigan shaking his shoulders roughly.
"Come out it, Mate!" he shouted, two other boys stirred. "You've been hollering enough."
The icy fear melted away slowly and left a stinging deep in his lungs that spiked with each sharp intake of breath he had. "T-thanks," Albus mumbled, pulling away from Thomas' hands.
"Must've been quite the nightmare," Kenneth yawned, he looked right annoyed.
"Y-yeah," his breath almost caught, he smiled reassuringly to his dorm mates. "I'm fine, chaps. Sorry to wake you." Slowly they shrugged, pulling their drapes closed. Albus snapped his roughly and whispered a sharp charm. He threw himself back against his pillows and pounded the mattress with his fists.
Albus never forgot again to put up the charm.
~*~
By fourth year most of the other boys in his dorm had sneak at least one girl into the room after lights out. And it was starting to become a running joke that Albus couldn't get a girlfriend, let alone invite her to spend part of the night with him. He wasn't about to tell the other boys it wasn't a girlfriend he was interested in, and a quip about how it'd be easier if one of them shared his bed. Albus couldn't even bring himself to pretend for appearance sake; it really boiled down to the fact that he couldn't possible have anyone spend the night with him. The fear of him falling asleep at all turned his stomach enough at the idea.
He talked to Da about it while home for Christmas, and even though he hadn't been thrilled to hear that girls were being sneak into the dorms; he vowed to keep the secret.
"Da," Albus twisted his fingers together, "can I talk to you about something else?"
Da looked at him, that same smile on his face from the train station four and one-half years earlier. "You can talk to me about anything, Albus."
"They've gotten worse in the last year. More frequent, and I remember them more and more." Albus hated that most, to wake up with the notion he had been dreaming was better than to wake up and remember. "And one of them plays over and over again," he paused.
"Tell me about it," Da lean forward, elbows on his knees.
It's always a bit different, "sometimes, I start at Hagrid's hut. Others I'm thrust straight into the forest. I'm tumbling through the brush, tripping, catching my clothes on branches; leaving pieces of trail to follow." It always seemed like such an important detail, since his subconscious tended to highlight the event. "But that's not the worst part, nothing terribly frightening about that. It's this tightness in my chest, the thought that something migh - no - is following me. And it wishes to do me harm; as much harm as it can." Albus' fingers twist in his holiday sweater that Gran made him. "The worst part, Da, is that I can hear it coming. Slowly, surely. It's in no hurry. It knows it will catch me."
"This dream started when you began Hogwarts?"
Albus didn't hesitate on the answer, "yes." He would not tell his father that he dreamed of the Forbidden Forest years before he'd set foot outside it's boundaries; before, even, he'd heard of what the Forbidden Forest was. That he's pretty sure it was the same dream at six; maybe even the same one that shook the walls and made Mum cry.
Da droned on, telling Albus that it would all work itself out, that every thing would be fine. He wanted to stop the sinking feeling in his gut that said it was only the beginning.
Disclaimer: I do not own. Rowling does and she is awesome sauce that she allows fanfiction and left us with all this fodder. Thank you, Mrs. Rowling, thank you.
This was written for comment_fic. The prompt was "nightmares" and left by tresa_cho. I haven't actually posted it to comment_fic yet since it got away from me and don't feel I should start posting it there until it's finished. But I'm crazy impatient and can't wait any longer to find out what peeps think about it. I've been working on it for about 1 1/2 months and have a good deal written. Any comments and critique would be greatly appreciated.
This is very much a prologue. The next chapter will begin a more serialized telling of Albus' life and get more into what's going on with him.
