HA 2a: Unimagined

HIM AGAIN: Chapter 2: Harry's Son - Unimagined

Darkness and warmth were all around him. He was compacted into a small space, unable to move or even to twitch. Albus had spent an indefinite time wondering whether this was some sort of hell or not - whilst not pleasant, it was not wholly terrible either. The squeezing and writhing of the darkness around him at least managed to keep some of the anguish at bay.
There was a sense of urgency in the way that the dark walls around him were closing in. Something was about to happen.

Then, suddenly, he was being propelled through the darkness… out into the light.
Albus’s eyes stung as he struggled to adjust to the difference, overwhelmed by sensation. A searing pain flared in his chest cavity as he gasped for breath - and realised that he had not been breathing before. The blinding white around him seemed infinitely more promising than the darkness he’d just left - but it didn’t feel like any sort of heaven. For one thing, everything seemed too painful - he was gasping as though he’d just surfaced from water - and there was noise all around him, horrible echoes that clashed inside his head and made his ear drums throb-

His eyes came into focus - and the vague blur of red and peach he could see sprang into clarity. It was then that Albus Dumbledore received what was quite possibly the greatest shock he’d ever had in his life - or death.

Albus had, occasionally, contemplated an afterlife, of sorts. He hadn’t been able to come up with any clear picture of what it might be like, although his conviction that nothing ended at death eliminated any possible fear of it. His mind had surged towards heaven and hell only because they were generic, widely known ideas. The afterlife had always been a rather fuzzy concept. He had imagined, perhaps, that his life would be reviewed before any final destination.

He had not imagined an older-looking Ginny Weasley exposing one of her breasts to him.

In complete disbelief, he gaped at the woman above him in shock. Ginny Weasley. It was undoubtedly Ginny Weasley - she didn’t look all that different - but certainly older and - and with one of her breasts-

Albus shut his eyes. He had always liked to think of himself as a moral man - how could any kind of life review feature Ginny Weasley..? But no… this was proof! He was dreaming. This whole thing had been some sort of extended nightmare. It was utterly ridiculous to think of Severus betraying him and him being killed just when Harry needed him most - what a delusional idea! He was in bed, asleep at this very moment - and now he realised that he was dreaming, he could wake up - and be awkward around Ginny Weasley for a few days - but that was easily explained by Freud, Freud’s writings about dreams could explain it all, everything was fine and it would all go back to normal…

His thoughts were accelerating in hope and desperation. It was just a nightmare - nothing real at all - he’d wake up and go downstairs to breakfast and joke with Minerva about how moody Severus was and then speak to Harry about something or other - about the Horcrux, yes about the Horcrux undoubtedly - and Hagrid would say something about chimaeras being completely harmless and ask whether he could breed them at school - which he would say no to, of course - and then he had to go and see Rufus Scrimgeour about the…

He opened his eyes, to see his hand flailing above him, as if it had nothing to do with him at all. It was small and pink, and clenched tightly into a fist.