A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. This hasn't been Betaed, so feedback is welcome.
The pain… The pain…
It reverberated through her skull, slowly building, never stopping. It was only a matter of time before she broke. Yet still, she hung on to her sanity by a thread.
The pain, it was like a knife upon raw nerves! Like a tidal wave of pain, it overwhelmed her. The woman was swept away, blind and deaf to anything but the pain.
The pain...
In the background, the defeated woman heard the gleeful cries of men and women. Another person's voice was added to the terrible, heartrending cries. The last one was raised in paion, not joy.
Frank, must get to Frank… No! Not Frank… Thoughts cycled through her broken mind. Neville, no, protect Neville… Dimly, she wondered who these people were, why they were so important to her.
Her inability to see through the haze of pain broke her, drove the will to fight from her eyes, changed her cries to be composed of pain, not defiance.
She succumed to the darkness waiting to engulf her. She welcomed it, in the darkness, there was no pain.
Later, much later, she was pulled out of the soothing darkness, into the harsh light of day. Something in her shied away from it, and she retreated further into herself.
She tried to move, to run away, but she couldn't move. Why was she a prisoner in her own body?
There were people running tests on her and she couldn't tell them that they were hurting her. The world hurt. She sunk further into the darkness.
Many years past, and she could move now, a few of her memories had returned. Enough to remember that her son needed to go to see Albus. She wondered what his last name was, all she knew was that he'd take care of her precious Neville, and that he loved candy.
She had no sense of the years passing, but when her son came to visit, he was so much bigger than she remembered! The change was too much for her to handle, and she fled back into the darkest recesses of her mind.
At his next visit, she tried to communicate the fact that he needed to go to the Man with the Candy. She gave him a candy wrapper. SHe could already tell that he did not understand.
Over the years she tried again, and again. He didn't vist for many years. If she had been able to understand the passage of time, she would have known that he was at Hogwarts, but to her, it was simply a betrayal.
Eventually, Neville returned, no longer a schoolboy, but a married man. He had brought his wife and a child to see her.
She couldn't care, for she didn't recognize them from within the haze of pain obscuring her mind. Her beloved Frank had died yesterday.
She died the next day. Her funeral was a simple affair, for she had been forgotten by many, only her child remembered her.
Tien Lien Competition, Card Seven: Alice Longbottom.
Oh The Thinks You Can Think, Bartholomew Cubbins: a young boy who saved his village from the terrible Oobleck. Write about an unlikely hero.
War of the Elements Song Quotes, EARTH: She held the world upon a string but she didn't ever hold me. -Panic! at the Disco, "She Had the World"
Hedley Song Competition, I Won't Let You Go: Write about someone who will protect another person. Alternatively, write about Peter Pettigrew.
Random Quotes Challenge, "And you never know who God's gonna choose to be the next Virgin Mary." - Andrea Gibson, Every Month.
The Star Challenge, Acrux: It is also known as Alpha Crucis. Write about a Horcrux (because the name kind of sounds like Horcrux, doesn't it? :P). Alternatively, write about the Cruciatus Curse.
Delirium Challenge: "Find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go."
Before I Fall Competition/Challenge: "It's not supposed to go this way. I'm supposed to save you."
Het-Pairings Boot Camp: Time
Character Diversity Boot Camp: Forgotten