Tell me the truth
Tell me do you still remember feeling young
Strong enough to get it wrong
In front of all these people?
Just for tonight, look inside
And spark that memory of you
Strong enough to get it wrong
In front of all these people

Fearless by Louis Tomlinson

Dark. Dark. Dark. Everything was dark. Not even a single flicker of light was visible, it was a dark abyss which he could not escape, there was nothing here except darkness, no fear, no courage, nothing. Just a feeling of absolute darkness, numbness, emptiness. He was looking around himself, hoping desperately to find something, anything. But to no avail, there was just darkness. He was walking in a straight line counting his steps as he went on and on and on. He had no idea where he was, how he got here, who sent him here, he had absolutely no idea about anything. Except he knew, he somehow fucking knew that he had failed it, he had failed them, he had failed himself, he had failed her. He was supposed to come back for her but now he couldn't because he had failed. How could he ever show his face to her again knowing that whatever he had thought was wrong? How could he ever tell them that he had it all wrong from the start? How could he? He was supposed to protect them all, he was supposed to be there for everyone urging them forward when everything else was falling apart but instead here he was in this abyss where he couldn't get out from.

His thoughts were running rampant - thinking about everything he could now never have because he had been an idiot and failed them all - when suddenly he heard it, that strange little voice whispering his name, beckoning him to it, telling him to stop thinking, just succumb to it and let go. It was hypnotising him that voice, calling to him so softly that he had no choice but to go to it and listen to what they had to say. He had no other option, he was falling and falling and falling, trying to reach that voice, begging it to guide him, to let him reach it. Minutes passed - where the voice kept murmuring his name and not letting him find it - and he thought he was going to go insane. But then it happened, one minute he was walking aimlessly trying to find that voice and the next, he was there standing in front of a girl, - no not a girl, he thought shaking his head, a lady - who looked no more than 20 but seemed to have lived a thousand years of her life already. She looked a proper witch with her dark green robes and her cat like eyes, she reminded him of someone but they looked entirely different save for their dressing style. She was intimidating to say the least, and the way she was looking at him made him feel like cowering in front of her and aplogising even though he knew for a fact that he had done nothing wrong. She raised her hand as to caress his cheek but then let it fall limply on her side and then closed her eyes as she muttered something, and then seconds later, the darkness vanished as if it has never been there and a healthy-looking garden with its colourful flowers, lush green grass and ocean blue skies replaced it. He was surprised to say the least, none of his spells had worked when he had used his wand to get rid of the darkness and he was considered to be one of the strongest wizards in the world. He took a deep breath and steeled himself to not look like he was shitting his trousers.

"Who are you?" He gathered enough courage to question, if his voice wavered the witch was kind enough not to mention it.

"It doesn't matter. What I am here for is what does." Her voice was high pitched for someone as intimidating as her but the confidence it oozed hid the fact that she was still young well enough.

"What are you here for then?"

"To get you out of this abyss you are stuck in." He was even more shocked, how the fuck did she know that he was stuck in this strange place? Does she know more about him than she is letting on?

As if she could read is mind, she replied, "I know a lot of things you don't, love. I have been helping lost souls like you since ages."

He was intrigued to be honest. "Lost souls?"

"Yes, lost souls, people like you who are too scared to admit the truth, not themselves mind you, but to others. People who forgot what it feels like to admit the truth about their fears, their weakness. People who forget those memories of admitting their fear and weakness to others. People who think that they can protect someone by not admitting their fears and not talking to them, simply put, by keeping a lid on their emotions. You are more like them than you know, darling. You just need to remember what it was like when you were young and not afraid to admit your fears to others, to the ones you love, you just need to spark that memory where you did admit your fears. As soon as you seem capable of doing that, I would let you go."

"How will I manage that? There is no one here but me. I cannot do that," he said shaking his head, "you don't understand, you never will, you don't know what it is like failing someone, someone you so dearly love. You don't know what it is like thinking that everything you have done so far was for nothing. You don't know what it's like having people depend on you to just let them crumble. You don't know anything!" He was breathing hard by the time he was finished. He knew he had said more than he was supposed to, he knew that the witch in front of him would be angry but to his surprise when he looked up, she wasn't, instead she was giving him a small smile as if she knew that he had a hard time keeping his thoughts to himself.

"Linda Merton."

"What?" He had just told her something stupidly serious and she was just saying a name?

"That's my name, Linda Merton. I usually don't tell lost souls like you who I am but for some reason I thought you should know, and before you ask me 'why?' I don't even know myself. There is something special about you, something truly fascinating. You are destined for something greater than you can imagine, I can tell. But for you to become worthy of that you need to admit, admit to your loved ones that you are a human, you can be as vulnerable as anyone else in this world. You don't always have to protect everyone, sometimes all you need to do is show them the side no one has ever seen, trust them enough. I know you can do it; you just have to."

"Why are you telling me all this? How do you even know me? What exactly are you?" He was intrigued, this witch seemed to know everything about him when he did not know a thing about her. He had never met her in his life, who was she or more like what was she.

"That's a lot of questions. Why I am telling you this, love, is because I told you; you are a lost soul and it is my duty to help you. How I know you, again, I know everyone but just some of them not a whole of them, I know if they are truly lost or not, if they are here because they accidentally found this place, if they are worthy enough to go back where they came from or not. But one thing that I do not do is differentiate between good or evil, that's not how I work, if they are lost, I help them; irrespective of how their inner thoughts are, their background, if they are muggleblood or pureblood or half-blood; I simply show every lost soul the correct path. What exactly I am, you will find that out when you decide to go back as I'll be waiting for you there." She paused as if contemplating something, closed her eyes and muttered something to herself as if she was having a one-sided conversation with her brain; then she opened her eyes again and to his utter surprise said something he was not expecting to come out of her mouth so soon, "Now come on, it is time for you to go back, love. Go back to the people you love."

"But I want more answers." He was adamant, he cannot just trust anybody.

"And you will, but when the time is right."

"The time is never right."

She chuckled, she knew the working of these wizards, all of them always listened to her but this one was different, he was stubborn enough to question her, and frankly she loved it. "You will, I promise you. Now go."

"How?" He cannot just bloody apparate now, could he?

"Just remember who you seem to think about all the time, remember the person who is roaming around in your mind since you've been her, remember her. And you'll reach where you're intended to."

That was easy, he could think about her forever; when he woke up, when he went to sleep, when he was dying, when he was alive, well you get the drift. He closed his eyes and thought about her; the way her eyes shone when she was particularly happy, the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled really big, the way her red hair shone when sunlight hit, the way her red hair curtained them when they were lying and kissing. This time there was no darkness, just, her, her and her. And then it happened, he felt that familiar tug in his abdomen as he swished and landed on his ass, breathing loudly. He was here, he was back home. He could not believe it, he thought he would never be back and now here he was. He was ecstatic to say the least, oh how bloody grateful he was! He couldn't even put it into words.

"James!" And that beautiful voice was the last thing he heard as he blacked out.