Here it goes again... Not much to say about this chapter. When I wrote it a couple of weeks ago, I was on an Avant Garde kick :). Plus I had all sorts of trouble trying to think of something to go with "pineapple" and I kept coming back to Slughorn's favourite treat...
Shoutouts: ProfessorChris, ermireallydontcare, Sparky Dorian, werewolfatemyphoenix, PrincessofTwilight2010, ForbiddenLove7, fairyfliss, SilverLily1, You Know Who, xxxBekaforEvaxxx, good-couples, futurejkrowling-x, hoeoverbros, navybrat4, MayMarieK, LOVE IS INFINITE X3, xxilykinsmilezxx, Magical Singer Gal, Delia-of-the-Oysters - thanks a million!
26. Pineapple
Wednesday
The table is hard under his cheek and his glasses are pushed up to his hairline, but he doesn't notice. The bottle of scotch he's been using to avoid going to bed lies empty on the floor. His consciousness is somewhere different altogether; another place, another time, another life.
The Forest is thick and dark and he can feel that old desperation already clouding his mind. He has been here before, and it will end the same way—with failure.
He has lost the path and is struggling through thick vegetation that tears at his clothes and threatens to entangle him completely, making his helplessness absolute. He crashes into tree trunks and trips on roots over and over again. It is as though the forest itself wants to stop him giving himself up.
There she is, just like before, red hair streaming behind her for all she is motionless. This time she is silent, her eyes conveying all her hurt and anxiety, and his intoxicated mind fights to recall why she is upset. I don't know who it was, he tries to say, but she is already gone.
He sees a figure ahead, but it is not her. It is an impossibly beautiful, silvery-haired woman who holds out a box and says. "Harry, I got you some crystallised pineapple." Her voice is like silk.
He tries to tell her that he does not want it, but instead he wags a finger and says, "You're quite right, it is my favourite…"
So, in case it wasn't clear, that was Harry's recurring Final Battle nightmare, with a couple of new things thrown in.
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