Chapter Three
That night a vial of dreamless sleep potion appeared on Minerva's bedside table, attached to it was a scroll which read, 'Take this Minerva, you need to sleep.' The scroll was signed in Poppy's normal messy scrawl. Minerva was just about to fling the potion across the room, when images of her mother's tormented sleepless nights in the weeks after her husband's death surged into her mind. Perhaps Poppy was right, maybe sleep might do her good, might save her from the same fate as her mother. Not even bothering to undress, Minerva climbed onto the same bed she had shared so often with Albus, the loneliness that lept in her breast was unbearable, she could not lie here without him. Just as she had every night since he died she settled herself in an armchair by the window and stared with blank unseeing eyes into the midnight skies.
A moment's hesitation then Minerva raised the bottle to her mouth and swallowed the contents. Slowly her eyelids grew heavy as the potion took effect and lulled her softly to sleep. Minerva hated the feeling of loosing control that the potion gave her, a brief moment of panic, then Minerva's eyes closed, dark lashes came to rest against ivory skin, breathing slowed, and rigid muscles relaxed relieved.
Nightmarish images of Albus in an ethereal realm invaded her mind, insubstantial vapourous beings ebbed and flowed in the writhing mists that surrounded him. At first Minerva thought them harmless but then she noticed how Albus tried to evade them, twisting away from them desperately as they descended on him from all sides, attaching themselves to him with gaping voracious maws like leeches, sucking his essence, his soul out of him in twisting silvery strands.
Spasms of pain crossed his face, twisting his features into a mask of agony as his eyes dulled, growing ever more dim and misty as he began to fade into nothingness. Growing ever weaker while the creatures grew stronger and stronger, swirling around him in vampire like ectasy till he was all but obscured by them. Minerva tried to reach out to him, but her arms were pinned to her side by some unseen force, unable to move, unable to intervene, she was powerless to save her love. Her lips moved screaming soundlessly for help, for someone to save him, crying out to him silently that she loved him for all eternity, as the swirling mists engulfed him.
Over and over again Minerva helplessly endured the same horrific ordeal, incapable of reaching Albus no matter how desperately she strove. Countless times she saw him dwindle into non existence, his soul leeched from him by insatiable devouring hunger that knew no mercy.
Minerva woke dripping with perspiration and trembling violently. Slowly she wiped a quivering hand across dew flecked forehead, and tried to quell the feeling of detachment from her body and limbs. Unable to move she sat dazed for long minutes caught in the web of nightmare. As conscious thought slowly returned she noticed her face reflected in the moonlit window, staring back at her like an ashen death mask. 'The sun, where was the sun ? Had she slept all day and into the next night ?'
"Time ?" Minerva snapped, as she glared at the magical clock on her desk.
The red and gold clock in the shape of a phoenix, a gift from Albus which Minerva thought terribly ugly, shook itself and answered sleepily, "1.00am." Friday the 25th July."
Minerva gasped, that could not be right, it just could not be right. "Ridiculous." She snapped glaring at the clock as though it had personally insulted her. "Correct Date ?" She demanded fiercely.
The phoenix seemed to sigh slightly, then lifted it's head from preening it's metalic feathers and answered firmly. "Friday the 25th of July." The bird then fluttered it's wings in a most insolent manner and turned it's back on her.
Minerva stifled a gasp of surprise as her senses reeled. 'How could this be ?' It made no sense. She had taken the potion at short before midnight on Thursday, and now it was just one hour later. Anyone who took dreamless sleep potion normally slept for at least eight hours. 'How could this have happened ?' Dread gnawed at her stomach once again, were these the first signs of a mental breakdown, could she trust herself, or was she already trapped in a world of delusion ?
Minerva lifted the empty vial from the table, gazed disbelievingly at it, she should not have dreamt, should not have woken after such a short time. Desperately she grasped for answers, something, anything to bring sanity and sense back to her world, but her normal ability for intelligent thought seemed to have deserted her, as though an ominous mist obscured her normal perceptions blinding her to the truth.
Despairingly Minerva closed her eyes, at once images from her nightmare flashed into her mind, as she once again endured the horror of seeing Albus sucked dry of his soul by writhing pulsating ethereal vampires. "Albus ..." Minerva gasped unaware that she spoke until she heard her words echo in the emptiness of her chambers, vivid green eyes flickered open, haunted emerald orbs staring tormented into the night. The whispers on the wind, the nightmare so intense that it seemed more real than her chambers, or the people around her. So real, so very real, could it have been more than a dream ?
The tap of tree branches on Minerva's window drew her attention to the moonlit world outside. Instinctively Minerva followed the call of her heart and without bothering to put on a cloak, slipped through the passages of the castle until she stood under the stars, feeling the silence of the night all around her, each one of her senses intensified, quivering like a hunting animal. Last night's dream vivid and so real in her mind, had she walked the grounds or not, heard his voice like a sigh in the dark, felt his touch like a faint breath of air, or had it been just a delusion ?
Minerva paced the night seeking, listening, but all she heard was the sound of wind in the fir trees, and this time there were no words, no familiar voices drifting on the cool breeze, no whispers that wafted into her mind, the lonely night was silent and dark. "Albus ... Albus ..." Minerva called, then paled as unwelcome images of her mother lept to her mind. A tremor shook Minerva from head to toe, and she swayed almost falling to her knees as despair and terror nearly made her their own. It was happening she was becoming her mother, teeth biting into lips, hands clenching striving for self control. 'No ! I will not. I will not. I am strong.' Minerva clutched at the straws of rational thought that normally came so easily to her. There had to be an explanation for what had happened, a reason, but it was as though she was blind and could not see, fear grew, her intellect, her will was leaving her, just as they had fled from her mother leaving her a mere shell of a human.
Panic lept in her breast, and Minerva sank trambling to the ground in defeat, her limbs suddenly to weak to support her as the weakness she had fought so hard against overwhelmed her. She came to rest among the ancient moss covered limbs of a tree, the bark rough and harsh against her pale, silky skin that Albus used to caress so tenderly. A quivering huddled form, face turned from a world of terror and illusion, breathing so ragged and harsh that she seemed almost to convulse with each breath.
The wind that murmured in the green leaves above sighed softly to see her so, the breeze caressed her ebony hair with a touch so light she scarcely felt it. Featherlight ethereal fingers ran through her hair, only one man had ever touched her with such worship, such adoration. The softest of whispers, so faint it was barely to be heard, "Minerva, my love ..." A breath of air kissed her cheek as though familiar gentle lips stroked her skin. "Minerva, please ..." His voice faded into the heavens and was gone, leaving her alone once more.
With energy born of desperate need Minerva dragged herself to her feet, clutching desperately at branches for support, "Albus ... Albus ..." She cried into the bleak dark night, "Albus ... come back ... I need you Albus ... " The silent skies taunted her, the world was an echoing void, as her heart broke within her once more, just as it had the night that he fell.
Author's Notes
Sorry to take so long to update, hopefully the next update will be faster, unless other things continue to prevent me writing. Please review and let me know what you think.