I woke up the next morning as a stray ray of light sneaked up on me. My hand instinctively flew to my neck as I found myself once again touching those damn scars like I do every single morning.

Sighing I close my eyes again. Last night had taken a toll on me. That Davie's prat kept acting all weird on me, spitting out random words, reversed sentences and other nonsense until I decided half-way to the Gryffindor common room to take him directly to McGonagall instead of wasting any more of my time reporting him the next day.

"What do you mean by he's acting strange, Miss White?"

"Please, let me exemplify"

I waited for her to nod before questioning my prisoner. And as soon as I got my approval

"Are you a Gryffindor?"

"Nope"

"Is two plus two five?"

"Always"

"Are you stupid?"

"Of course"

"Are you hanging upside down?"

"Uhm, no?"

Raising an eyebrow I waited for the Head of House reaction. She seemed amused just as much as I was since the boy had Gryffindor robes and he was most definitely still under the Levicorpus spell. And from the little math I knew two plus two doesn't make five even if you are indeed stupid.

Apparently she was familiar with the symptoms. A few other students had been presented to teachers due to similar reasons. The rumour was that the Weasley brothers were experimenting with some crazy potions book they had bought from a friend of a friend and we're going about making a potion that makes you act and speak in reverse or do random things you wouldn't usually do. Some sort of reversed veritaserum. That would certainly explain why he tried to just step over me like I was a piece of furniture and why he answered questions like he's some kind of monkey.

More so, they can't really prove it's them since it's just a rumour. So the twins remain unpunished until caught red-handed. She took him to the Hospital Wing to let him wear it off without disturbing anyone else for the night.

"I did not sign up for this," I thought, shaking my head disapprovingly.

The sun kept getting more and more annoying, blinding me till I gathered the strength to get up. Rise and shine, as they say. Stretching, I noticed the girls were still asleep. Jane and her hair were sprawled all over the bed. I don't think I could do that position even under the Imperius Curse.

Anne's blonde hair glowed under the morning sun, her bed being the closest to the window. As I watched her, she woke up and aimlessly searched for her glasses on the nightstand. Seeing they had fallen on the floor during the night, I picked them up, kneeling down to her level, and handed them to her.

"Oh, thanks Kathy. How long have you been awake for?"

"Just a few minutes. I get the first shower now"

She smiled.

"Fair enough"

As I started to get up she spoke again.

"Hey, listen… You know Lucretia Ho.."

"..rman. Yes, Annes, you're well aware I know her"

"It was a rhetorical question, Kathy my dearest"

Rolling my eyes I wait expectantly for her to continue.

"As I was saying… she came the other day after you left and you know that party we want to throw in a few weeks"

"I do"

"And you know what me and Jane did to that boy last year? With the Love potion?"

"I told you that was a bad idea"

"Yeah, you did, I know you did. But, as always, we didn't listen. Soo… she's threatening that if we leave her out of the party like we did every single year, she's going to report us. And that might just get us expelled…"

"Alright, she can come"

"You sure?"

"Does she even have any proof?"

"That boy is now her boyfriend"

"That girl is out of her mind… all of this just because she hates us?"

"Well, more you than us, but I guess so"

"Whatever, Anne. Just tell her she's invited and get it over with. And tell her if she ever uses that against you girls or me again she's going to be the one who's out of this school, for good"

Anne seemed satisfied with the decision and went back to sleep. I went to pick up some clothes for the day and a towel to take my beloved shower when

"One more thing, Kathy"

Realising what she's planning I spun around quickly just in time to see her smiling and shutting the door to the bathroom.

From behind the thick door she shouted

"I always get the first shower"

"On Merlin's pants," I knew that smile of hers seemed mischievous from the start.

"Every single time"

Jane said laughing from her bed. Thanks to all the ruckus we'd made she was very much awake herself.

Knowing how long it'll take the girls to shower, I decided to use the Prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor. A much better choice under any circumstances, but one also has to walk till there.

Taking a new set of clothes I reluctantly head towards the bathroom.

"Crystal apples"

The door opens as soon as it recognises my password. I like my bath without any bubbles so I undress and get right in. The hot water is so soothing. It feels like it can wash everything away, all the pain and sadness and fills the remaining void with relaxing calmness and happiness.

There's nothing a bath here can't fix. I should come more often, not only when I have to.

Suddenly, the door bursts open. How stupid am I? I forgot to lock it up after me. Only Prefects, Head boys and girls and Quidditch Captains know the password to this place. Who could possibly be here at this early time?

Before I manage to blurp anything out, none other than Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team captain, comes sprinting from the door, undressing while running, jumps straight in and starts swimming to the other side of the bath.

I'm speechless.

How do I always get myself in these situations? I really need to calm down before anything.. I can't get angry... come on Kathy, stay calm.

But that didn't help a bit. Mere seconds later I was having one of my famous seizures as I barely crawled out of the water onto the tiles. My nose started bleeding heavily and the memories came back. My mom, my dad, the orphanage, the dementors and him. But things didn't go the same way I remembered them. I was seeing more things, memories that did not belong to me. A woman protecting her baby, a green mist engulfing the two and crimes, people being tortured and then killed, every time by the same man, by me. And the last one didn't even feel like a memory, but more like it was happening right now.

I couldn't stand it, I wanted to end it. If I had my wand I might've killed myself just there and then and not just to end my own suffering.

Cedric got the chance to catch only a glimpse at me before his own head started hurting unlike anything he had felt before in his entire life. He could see all these images, these memories that he knew did not belong to him. And that girl, what was she doing here, he had to help her, but who was going to help him?

He started screaming and barely managed not to drawn. Unable to swim his way back to the margin, having to hold his head with both hands just to not faint from the pain and the visions, he soon began to sink down like a rock, leaving behind only a faint trace of blood from his nose.

I could see little waves of water forming intermittently as he kept trying to resurface. The water was twice as deep where he was. I tried to get to him, I tried to crawl back into the water, but I fainted with my hand stretched towards him and the rest of my body sprawled across bathroom floor in a mix of blood and water, not before hearing the door forced wide open again and a voice I couldn't recognise then.

by Cardinal

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