Disclaimer: I don't own anything concerning Harry Potter, and my friend Orion owns the plot of this little thing...;)

DADA Homework Lesson 7

Orion smiled and winked at Andie who was just behind her, and entered in the dark passages. She was not afraid of dark, and thought it would only be a piece of cake.. Sort of. She hadn't her wand, she had let it to Professor Toothill as he had required them to do.. No lite at all, it was first really blinding, but her eyes were getting used to it.

She walked, thinking about the strange reaction of Andie's parents, the fact they hadn't let her come back at Hogwarts before, the fact her sister had almost died, the fact Orion hadn't had any news at all from her own parents, who were on the place. She was worried about Andie too, she seemed to be so fragile, Orion had never seen her like that. The previous nite had been just... scaring. But Andie had released the pressure a little, fortunately.

She carried on walking, sometimes the path was getting up, sometimes down and she suddenly froze. Two things had startled her. The first one was a faint lite, meters away. And the second, a strange voice, she couldn't figure out the words it was telling. She first thought that the voice and lite belonged to a lost student of her class. She approached the lite slowly, without managing to reach it. The more she got nearer, the more it went away. Orion became to feel slightly panicked. 'Somebody is making a joke on me, I know it..."

She lost her confidence as rapidly as she was evolving. The voice became more and more louder, in the darkness that engulfed her. She could understand the words now, they were calling her and calling her names.

The voice was saying mean things now, such as :

"Your Andie won't trust you anymore, that weirdo girl is just as weirdo as you are. She's nasty and got you even nastier. Listen to me, just let sink my horrible words in your little mind. I could compare you to card castle, I could blow on you and make your entire world collapsing. It could be so fun."

Orion tried to shut her mind and her ears to the taunting, but the words were so close to her deepest fears. Hearing them, repeated and repeated made her feel more and more on the verge of tears. And the voice carried on...

"Poor little ickle, you don't even know the truth concerning your weirdo friend's parents. They've been attacked by Death Eaters !!! And the next aim are your parents.. Didn't you know that ?"

Orion moaned and started to sob, not wanting to believe that, she began to run to approach the lite faster, the voice's words 'They've been attacked by Death Eaters !!!' echoing in her mind.

She finally reached it, five minutes later, and thought she would die of shock when she saw two shadows standing there and holding a Japanese lantern. She almost yelled as she recognized them, the two sides, her good one and her bad one, in the same kimono and shape that during the trance induced by Professor Toothill's potion.

'I'm perfectly sure I didn't take this potion today ! What is that mess ?'

The voice had finally becoming silent.

Orion faced silently her two selves, wondering if they were here just to remind her their conversation or if they would talk. She looked down and blinked her tears. They reminded her the Japanese ghosts. Those weren't like any other ghosts, usually a woman in a white kimono, and long black hair on her eyes. They weren't mean or friendly. They were just here, not acting or anything, just frightening people by their simple presence.

Orion was so tired her legs couldn't support her anymore. She just slipped onto the floor, deprived of strengths. She began to cry earnestly, not knowing where and who she was anymore..

She felt a movement in front of her and looked up to see her selves sitting at each of her sides.

They both put an arm around her shoulder and began to rock her. Surprised, Orion almost got up, but was stopped by the voice, which raised again. Orion tried to ignore it, but the repeated horrors made it difficult. Her bad side said :

- Well, if you want it to stop, just order it to stop..

- It's not hard. You enslave yourself by listening to it, it wants you to believe what it's saying, so it's gonna repeat and repeat until you're convinced yourself.

- And you'll begin to fall in the extremes we talked about the other day...

- I can't understand anything anymore, why can I see you both ? Why am I hearing that voice ? Where is it coming from ? Why does it says Andie's parents were attacked ?

- Dear, it's only the voice of your fears, your deepest fears, who's talking...

- Nothing else.

- It says things I don't think, things I don't know..

- Yep, only because you're in a situation your mind releases itself. It's due to the fact you're in the dark.

- Barriers fall and the mind is free. You imagine a lot of things, which can be true or false... Don't listen to it. Just get a grip on yourself and get out those passages, head up..

- It's only that way you'll succeed.. Come one, on your feet now. We're not going to accompany you.

- You'll be able only if you believe it..

Orion stood up on her feet.

- Oh, and if you can see us, it's only because we will appear if you truly need us.

- That was one occasion, just to show you what you'll have to face..

- Thank you, I..

- We'll always be in your heart, so if you need us....

- ... just listen to it.. It's your best guide.

Orion nodded and after a last bow, the apparitions disappeared. Orion was in the dark again, the voice rose again. She muted it, despite of her growing fear of being alone again. She stepped hesitantly at first and then got her confidence back. When she found an exit, she was in the front of the Ravenclaw Tower's door. She didn't feel like going anywhere, and especially not in her dorm. She wanted to think about what she had just lived. She headed towards the Astronomy Tower, hoping it would be deserted..