Hearts - Snakes and Ladders Challenge

by Immortalia Umbris

A series of one shots for the Snakes and ladders challenge. Various Character. Most will focus on the chracters inner self. There will be little dialog and names may or may not be included in the stories. It should be fairly easy to guess whos who though. Rated T to be safe. Please review

1-2 Alice Longbottom

A/N Hello. This is my first attempt at fan fiction please keep that in mind as you read. It's my intention to get better but like with all things writing only improves with time and practice. This is meant to be a series of one shots for the Snakes and Ladders challenge as an exercise to improve my writing skills. Please feel free to leave comments and constructive criticism.

~Talia

Disclaimer: I in no way own anything in the Harry Potter Universe. All rights are reserved by the awesome J.K.

Silent Heart

She liked it when the boy came to visit, though she was never quite sure he was real. He would always talk to her about what was going on in his life. The last few visits were all about his favorite kinds of plants and their uses. He sometimes spoke of another boy as well. That boy and his friends seemed to have far more adventures than could be considered healthy. This last adventure seemed to involve dragons, merpeople and a great deal of luck. It reminded her of a group of boys she saw it her dreams.

The boy was always accompanied by a strange older woman. She wore a green dress with a red hand bag and an odd hat with a strange bird atop it. That woman rarely spoke to her at all. Most of her time was spent with her silent roommate. This was just fine with her. She didn't know why but she was not very fond of that woman. The woman had come to visit more often that the boy the last few years. She suspected the reason was because of the school the boy often referenced in his stories.

The boy generally spent a fair bit of time talking to the man that shared her room as well. The boy would tell the man the same stories he told her. She did notice that occasionally some details would be different. With the story about the dance he went to he spoke at great length to her about the dancing and fun he had. When he told the man the same tale he left out many of those details but did mention more about his classes then he had with her. Sometimes they sat together and listened to his stories at the same time. The boy seemed to like that best, and would then give us both the same details. She liked the man that shared her room and thought she might have known him before she came to be here.

She had been in this place for a long time. She knew it had been several years since she came to be here. It was a strange place and was mostly white and smelled funny. She didn't really like it here at all and wanted to be somewhere different. She was sure she used to live in another place but she could never quite remember it.

When the boy was not here she dreamed. Some dreams were pleasant and fun, full of joy and light. Like the ones where she was in a castle and ran around with several other people going to classes and having fun. There was one where she was holding a baby in her arms and sat with a man's arms wrapped around her. She loved that dream it made her feel safe and happy. She had noticed that the man in her room was in many of her dreams.

There were dreams where she sat with many others around a table and spoke of important things. She recognized many of these people from dreams about the castle. Some had been children with her and others had been teachers. The dreams around the table were often serious and sometimes sad but they were also good dreams.

There were several dreams that were dark frightening and filled with pain, ones where she was fighting strange people with black robes and silver masks. Others showed her lying in wait for people who, she was sure, were up to something nefarious. Then there were those dreams, those horrible dreams, about that dark hared woman and her terrible laugher, and the pain the never ending pain. The man in her room was with her in those dreams as well screaming and crying alongside her.

She hated those dreams. Fortunately they came less and less frequently as time passed.

Most of the time she never knew when she was dreaming and when she wasn't. Some things would seem so real that she could reach out and touch them. Yet when she tried they vanished. Then there were things that seemed to be too strange to be allowed but they ended up being real. She would often sit and think about what was real and what was not. She had difficulties knowing when she was awake and when she slept.

It was so strange when the boy came to visit. Everything would become clear she could focus and understand so much better. It was like her dreams in which that she understood what was happening. Unlike the dreams she could reach out to the boy, she would always give him one of her sweet papers. He accepted it every time and left with it. In her dreams she could never take actions but she could when he visited.

It was so odd. She felt like it was a dream but she could move and hand him things like it was real. It was all very confusing. Still…

She liked it when the boy came to visit, though she was never quite sure he was real.