Disclaimer: I disclaim, blah blah.
A/N: Once again, just a reminder.
Overall Prompt: Headache
Second prompt: Soup
This is somewhat dark in the beginning. My portrayal of Nurmengard in the beginning is slightly inspired by TuesdayNovember's wonderful drabble series titled Senses- in particular the Regulus Black drabble. Go check her out, she is phenomenal writer and also a hilarious person, but I don't endorse stalking.
Many thanks to my wonderful beta, AzureDelta! :D
Bonus points to whoever can find the Pirates of the Caribbean line smushed in here!
Enjoy :)
Temptation Is a Delicious Thing
Chicken Soup for the Despondent Soul
It was a dull, perpetual cramp, pounding inside his head.
It gnawed his bones until he couldn't stand.
It consumed his thoughts like a ravenous vulture, hovering over him every moment.
It lapped up his blood and haunted his nightmares, jeering all the while.
It was only those very few, occasional moments when he could escape from the horror. He could block his frayed and fatigued mind from it and vanish from his raw physicality for a little time.
It was then that he truly cried.
He never shed actual tears anymore, except on the inside.
Otherwise it would hunt down the sorrowful drops and lick them from his cheeks gleefully, tugging forcefully at the faint wisps of hair and murmuring his sins into his eardrums with a shrill, tormenting voice.
He could only hope to persevere for one more second, one more minute. He was weak in body but his mind was determined steel; he would not be broken by it. He would not fracture completely. It was this that he clung to in the middle of the desperate night.
Albus threw his hands in the air, laughing. It was one of the first meals the boys shared together. Aberforth had long deserted the table, and Gellert and Albus were having a wonderful time joking and conversing without him. Albus had managed to whip up some chicken soup, and even Gellert had to admit it was good.
Oh, God, how he wanted some of that soup now. Hot and delicious, it would burn his throat painfully. He would gulp it up from the floor if need be, because at least heat was a sensation. It would take away the coldness cramping up his limbs and the fierce throbbing inside his head.
They talked long into the night, swapping stories of their schooldays.
Hogwarts seemed like a quaint, eccentric boarding school, but it had formed Albus, and for that Gellert was grateful. He had never met another boy with the same intellectual capacities as himself.
Albus' ideas were far-fetched and impossible, but he talked about them with a fervor that was undeniable. For a moment Gellert wondered if he should tell Albus about the real reason he was stuck in Godric's Hollow, and about the things he had done to get expelled from Durmstrang.
Would Albus be disgusted by his ideas, his schemes, which had been so meticulously thought out and organized? But no, Albus was the kind of boy who would muse about Gellert's ideas for hours, picking them apart like a puzzle until he figured out the answer. He wouldn't contemplate the morals until everything had been reviewed logically.
Gellert was about to open his mouth and spill the details on his plot, confident that now was the right time to enlighten Albus, when he suddenly caught a flash of something in the boy's blue eyes- something like regret.
Albus was talking about Ariana, his sister. He disclosed the circumstances of his mother's death, and while he spoke with an air of indifference, Gellert watched as Albus' eyes betrayed his fear. He was left in charge of a household that he had no idea how to control, with his future wrenched out from underneath him.
Gellert ground his teeth, irritated at his own rashness. He knew he shouldn't reveal his plans so quickly, so incautiously. He would have to suppress his impulses, and wait for thw opportune moment. It wouldn't do to divulge his motives so early in the game.
He lay pitifully on the ground, submerged in a sea of his own guilt. He kept silent, watching the shark as it circled around him.
He had found out quickly that if you stayed motionless, sometimes the shark wouldn't smell you, and it would swim away, leaving you unscathed.
It was a fine summer day, and Albus and Gellert marched down to the pebbly shore of the lake to skip rocks.
He exhaled in pleasure. Durmstrang didn't have such picturesque little settings like Godric's Hollow. He kind of enjoyed it, the feel of the wind. It rustled his hair and reminded him that there were still the simple things to appreciate.
His rock skimmed the ripples of the water a few times before plopping to the depths. He turned a sly eye towards Albus, who was lost in thought as he threw stone after stone into the mirrored water, skipping it gently for forty feet or more.
Slipping his wand out of his pocket, he carefully whispered a spell. His next rock sailed across the water as if it were ice, finally sinking below the surface sixty feet away.
With a triumphant smile, he jokingly proposed a contest. His nonverbal spells did their trick, and it wasn't until Gellert had trumped him six times that Albus speculated something was wrong.
Turning to the mischievous boy, he exclaimed: "You're using magic!"
Gellert feigned innocence. "You just need to work on your throwing."
"Don't lie to me!" Albus cried, an indignant look on his face.
Deviously smiling, Gellert raced back towards the village, Albus in hot pursuit.
"You trickster!" the boy gasped when he finally caught him.
"Eh," Gellert defended. "We're wizards. Why shouldn't we use magic?"
Grudgingly, Albus agreed. As they trudged back to Albus' house, Gellert murmured softly, "Why shouldn't we use magic?"
"Huh?" Albus questioned. "I didn't hear you, what did you say?"
"Nothing," Gellert responded, smiling at the other boy with such charm that Albus' unease was immediately dissolved. "Come on, how about a race? Last one back to the house is a Squib!"
Chortling, he sprinted down the lane, Albus once more running behind him.
He had been mistaken about so many things.
If only it was possible to retrace one's steps back and alter them. Maybe he wouldn't be trapped inside his own head, endlessly replaying scenes that he did not want to see.
They jeered at him from their lofty perch, and he was reminded that he was most likely damned to the deepest pit of hell.
It was one of the few nights Aberforth joined them for dinner. He usually ate with Ariana, but today he decided to stay. They were slurping the leftover chicken soup loudly.
Aberforth started slurping his soup even louder, and soon Gellert joined in. Albus merely frowned, pretending to be aloof. Soon however, all three were ridiculously eating their soup in large, noisy mouthfuls. The situation was so bizarre, Gellert had to laugh.
Albus scolded lightly, chuckling. "Come on, boys. You know better than that."
Gellert turned his dancing eyes towards his friend. "Oh, stop, Albus. Don't you know how to have fun? You need to loosen up a bit."
Albus grumbled, stirring his soup vigorously.
His brother let out a small laugh, and Gellert turned his gaze to the boy. Aberforth was closer to Gellert's age than Albus, but he didn't seem to have much spark.
Curious to get inside the boy's head, Gellert asked, "Aberforth, what do you want to be when you grow up? After graduating Hogwarts?"
The boy was surprised at being addressed with such familiarity and stammered, "I- I don't know. Something in the wizarding world, I guess."
Suppressing a snort, Gellert pressed him further. "Oh, come on. You've got to want to be something!"
Turning a bit red, the boy mumbled, "I suppose I'd like to own my own shop. Sell things."
"That's nice," Gellert commented politely. "Albus?"
His friend was gazing into the distance, seeing his future.
"I'd like to travel the world," he nodded, a slow grin building on his face. "Maybe write a book."
Gellert grinned inwardly, observing that this was completely like Albus.
"Well," Gellert announced. "That's all very well of you, but I'd like to be a bit more ambitious."
"What are you going to do?" Albus asked dryly.
He paused for dramatic effect. "I'm going to rule the world!"
Albus chuckled. "You do that," he gave his friend a small smile.
When the brothers had returned to their meal, Gellert muttered under his breath: "I will! Yes, I will."
A/N: There's the second installment. Please review, it really helps a lot. Once more, thanks to my awesome beta Aze!