A/N: Hey - New story! This one is somewhat different from the 2 before it because I wanted to try new styles and well the idea popped in my head last night. Anyway I will leave you to it. I hope you like and let me know what you think! Cheers.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc. etc. However I do own Phoebe and the rest of the original characters.

When memories come unbidden

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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear."- H.P. Lovecraft

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Chapter 1

It was dark. Darker than the world at night. There were no stars, no moon, not even lights. A darkness that was evil; a darkness that surrounded everything, keeping her in place. It was also cold; not just winter cold but more… a cold that chilled the bone. She could hardly breathe, her breaths coming out in quick rasps. She turned her head to the right and then she saw them coming towards; a blacker shape than her surroundings. Their black tattered cloaks rippled behind them as they glided towards her. She couldn't move, frozen, terrified … and yet they came closer… she could her their harsh rattling breaths now, feeding on her despair… and still she remained there paralysed with her own fear… one of them withdrew a scabbed rotting hand from beneath the folds of the cloak and raised it to lower the hood… she began shaking all over… "No…" she said in nothing more but a whisper… It was upon her now and she could see its monstrous face with its gaping wide mouth…It's going to get her… No… She closed her eyes and screamed…

Phoebe woke up but kept her eyes closed, scared that she was still trapped in her nightmare. However, the small everyday morning noises going on in the house as well as the sunshine falling on her face told her that she was back to normal, safe in her own bed. She stayed in bed, listening to her heartbeat slowing down until it reached its normal pace. Then she opened her eyes and sat up in bed facing her reflection in the mirror. She looked horrible to say the least: there were dark circles under her eyes, her hair looked like a cross between a lion's mane and an 80's rockstar hair-do, and her skin was pale and clammy. Scowling she got out of bed, determined to push the nightmare to the back of her head, just like she had been doing every day for the last week now.

Her eyes fell on her open school trunk lying by her bed and suddenly she remembered that it was her first day of school. She hurriedly rummaged for a pair of jeans and a shirt and dashed in the bathroom to have a shower. As the cool shower spray hit her skin, she felt her muscles and joints relax, cleansing away the memories, restoring her sanity.

After finding herself an empty compartment on the train, Phoebe pushed her trunk out of the way and slumped in the seat nearest the window waiting for her mates and watching the commotion on the platform outside. Through the mixture of adults, students as well as pets she spied out a family of four: the mother and father and their two kids, a boy and a girl, already in their uniforms.

The girl seemed to be a first-year since her robes were clearly brand new and she was giving out anxious glances at the scarlet train and the people around her. For some reason, she could not take her eyes off her; she looked strangely familiar. Then, as her mother put an arm around her daughter's shoulders she suddenly remembered. That girl reminded her of herself exactly 6 years ago on her first day of school. Everything was new to her at that time and because she was muggle-born she had no friends who went to Hogwarts, except her older brother five years her senior. With a pang, she also remembered that that day was the last day she ever saw her parents… before…

A distant memory suddenly flashed in front of her eyes, immediately followed by last night's nightmare…

She closed her eyes and mind firmly against the memories, wanting no more than to bury them in her mental graveyard forever. She opened her eyes and breathed out realizing that she had been holding her breath as well. She shifted her position and took out a photograph out of her bag. She smiled at the persons who were waving back at her. She felt herself relax as she surveyed her friends. She might be strong now, about to start her last year at Hogwarts but back then it was another thing altogether. Upon the news of their parents' tragic end she was torn apart but her brother took the brunt. He lost his mind and in the end he had to leave school to settle down and spend life in the muggle world, away from the world he now loathed so much, the world which took his parents away from him.

What with the loss of her parents and her brother's seemingly resolution to ignore his only sister, (despite the fact that she went to live with him later on), she would have killed herself. Fortunately, Fate decided to reward her with a group of friends, two other girls in particular, which took the place her family had vacated. In turn and through the years they spent at school they became steadfast friends and had it not been for them she would not be the person she was today.

After giving one last glance at the photograph, she put it back in her bag just as its living counterparts entered the compartment.

"There you are!" said Lily Evans, smiling at her and moving towards her to hug her. Lily and Phoebe had been friends right from the very first day of school. The red-head with shining green eyes was hard to miss but while they were waiting to be sorted, Phoebe was surprised to hear that Lily was pretty much in the same situation as she was. She was muggle-born, very anxious and practically friendless, unless you counted the sallow-faced dark-haired boy which seemed to shadow her wherever she went. From then on they struck up a conversation and even though afterwards they were sorted in different houses, Lily in Gryffindor and Phoebe in Ravenclaw, their friendship surpassed every test till this very moment.

After hugging Lily, Phoebe stood up to hug the rest of the crew, as she liked to call them. There was tall, athletic Stephanie who was the remaining part of the trio and who was also beater for the Gryffindor quidditch team. Lily had introduced her to Phoebe in their first week and although a little domineering at first glance, Steph turned out to be a great friend.

The rest of the crowd consisted of The Maurauders, a relatively latest addition to the group since Lily and James were not really on speaking terms previously. However, last summer, unbelievably, the two had started to go out together and so the girls had spent a lot of their holidays with the boys. Phoebe learned that under their mischievous, troublemaker façade, they had a heart of gold and were always there to help… well, in their own way.

After all the hugging and embracing, they settled down in the compartment just as the train gave a lurch and started moving along the railways. Slowly it started building up speed until the world outside was nothing more than a blur. However, immersed as they were in each other's company, Phoebe and the others hardly noticed.

Well there it is... first chapter…Reviews…?