The timeworn wardrobe in the corner of the room was rattling again. Lia stared at it, wondering what sort of creature could possibly be trapped within the wooden doors.

Some students had stepped back in alarm at the booms and bangs and clatters that the cabinet was making.

Lupin smiled at them. "It's intriguing, isn't it? Nothing to worry about, though. There's a Boggart in there."

Apparently, a Boggart was something to worry about, for Neville's face instantly paled and took on a look of terror, whilst others were now eyeing the closet with apprehension.

Professor Lupin continued on, either oblivious to or not caring about their worries. "Boggarts enjoy dark, enclosed spaces. This one moved in yesterday, and I asked the headmaster and staff if we could leave it in here as practise for the class." He rolled up his sleeves.

"Now, the first question is, what is a Boggart?"

"They're shape-shifters," Hermione said. "They take on the shape of whatever a particular person fears the most."

"Precisely," said Lupin. "No one knows what a Boggart looks like when it is alone, but when let out, it will become whatever each of us fears most."

Lia shuddered. She was not looking forward to this. What scared her the most? Voldemort? She groaned, already able to imagine the chaos that would take hold of the class if You-Know-Who popped out the closet.

"Assemble a line!" Lupin called, as Neville dressed Boggart Snape in his grandmother's clothes.

"Parvati, forward!"

Crack.

A bandaged mummy.

"Riddikulus!"

The mummy was now entangled in its own bandages, tripping over its feet.

"Ron, go!"

Crack.

A giant spider.

"Riddikulus!"

The spider's legs vanished, and it fell down, rolling in circles on the floor.

"Seamus, now!"

Crack.

A wailing banshee.

"Riddikulus!"

The banshee grabbed at its throat, having gone mute, trying to scream without her voice.

"Lia, you next!"

She was about to say that it would probably be a bad idea if Lord Voldemort showed up, when she was shoved forwards.

For a moment, she was confused.

The Boggart seemed to have turned into … could it be a mirror? Since, all she was able to see was a reflection of herself staring back at her. She couldn't possibly be scared of a mirror, right?

Fear was bubbling in her stomach, but Lia shoved it down. "It's nothing," she thought, "I'm being irrational." She told herself to finish off the Boggart before she humiliated herself, before she showed the whole class that she was so weak that she had been paralysed by the mere image of a mirror.

Lia realised too late that, although she and the reflection were identical in face and bone structure, the girl looking back at her had feverish red eyes.

She froze. Thoughts of drawing her wand and saying the incantation escaped her mind, and she forgot, forgot that it was only a boggart before her.

Its eyes were merciless, bitterer than ice, darker than obsidian, a chasm of emptiness, a falling pit of corruption, with the same black-hearted tone that she had once seen, and they stabbed at her soul, and she swallowed and she shivered and she held back a scream.

The nightmare standing before her bore the same malevolent stare as Voldemort.

It laughed. The sound was cold and high.

"Hello Lia," it said. "Are you pleased to see me?"

All around her, the room was silent, no one dared to speak, she didn't dare to breath. She didn't think she had ever been this terrified before, not even when she stood in front of the Dark Lord himself, or when she saw the basilisk lunge at Harry.

"Who are you?" Lia whispered.

"I'm you."

She smiled. Malice dripped from her features.

"Let's play, shall we?"

She raised a wand. It was indistinguishable from the yew Lia held in her grasp.

Her eyes never strayed from Lia's face, as she straightened her arm, and pointed her hand at Harry.

"Avada Kedrava."

Lia screamed, the class screamed. But no spell, no light, nothing came out of the wand.

She moved to Ron now. Each time saying the same curse. Then to Hermione, then to Malfoy, then to Tracey, to –

Lupin stepped in between the Boggart and the horrified Lia. The reflection instantly vanished and became a silvery-white orb - a moon. It was only then that the class was finally able to break free from their trance.

"Lia!" Malfoy was at her side. "Are you alright?"

She realised that she was sucking in deep, heaving breaths, and that she had bit down so hard on her lip that she could taste blood in her mouth.

She struggled to regain her control. "I-I'm fine." She forced a shaky smile. "That was a bit of a shock wasn't it?"

"That's an understatement."

"We're actually kind of lucky. I was sure that it was going to turn into You-Know-Who … He's definitely a lot scarier than me, isn't he?"

He noticed her choice of words, how she had said 'me' instead of 'it'. "You know that wasn't you, don't you, dumbass?"

"Of course," she snapped. "And you should at least first bloody look at yourself, before you start calling me a dumbass!"

Lia did not like one bit how the other students were all staring at her. As if she were some delicate flower, or a particularly fragile bit of glass. She wished that she could obliviate the incident from all their minds. They probably all thought that she was mentally unstable by now.

Lia scowled. She could not stand being weak. She could not stand being so afraid.

As Lupin dismissed the class, she left hurriedly before the professor could stop her to have a heart to heart discussion, and headed off to the library in search for a book.

She was going to do something about that fear of hers. Even if she had to spend the rest of her life searching for a cure.

A few days later, on Halloween, Lia strolled beside Tracey. It was their first visit to Hogsmeade. She would've liked it if Harry had been there as well, but McGonagall had refused to permit him to participate with an unsigned form.

"Tracey! My dearest friend," Lia said, in what she hoped was a persuasive voice. "Let's go to the shrieking shack!"

Tracey rolled her eyes.

"C'mon. It'll be fun!"

"Then go there yourself!" Davis scoffed. "I, for one, don't feel like getting haunted today."

"Well, I can't do that, can I?" Lia grumbled. "It won't be fun if you're not there. The whole point of going at all, is so I can scare you into shitting your pants … Boo!" she said suddenly, leaping at Tracey with clawed hands.

She glared at Lia, clearly not impressed. "How kind of you," she said sarcastically. "Really makes me feel like reconsidering."

Tracey's eyes lit up, temporarily distracted, as she caught sight of a shop. "Oh! Look, there's The Three Broomsticks! They have divine Butterbeer!" Her mouth almost dribbled out saliva at the thought.

She tugged Lia all the way up to the front door. The pub inside was warm and crowded, a few clouds of smoke lingering above. They scanned around for a seat.

"Lia! Tracey!" a bright voice called out. Caroline Summers sat with her best friend Selene Blackwater on a table near the window. "Fancy meeting you here? Come then, you have to join us!"

She pulled out two seats and motioned for them to sit.

"Hello," said Selene, giving them a small smile.

"Gosh. Isn't it wonderful to finally be at Hogsmeade?" Caroline gave them a huge beam.

"I've been dying to come since First Year. I've got an older sister, who's two years older, and she told me all about it. She bought this gorgeous dress from here, quite expensive, but so beautiful, silk you know? I saw her wear it once, gave her boyfriend a massive shock, he ogled her the whole night! I've wanted to come get one too, but I just didn't bring enough gallons with me. And I asked my mum to send some up but she said I already bought too much stuff to wear, and that my wardrobe was already going to burst, which is quite unfair you know? She could totally just use an enlargement charm, it's not even difficult!"

Lia listened half-heartedly as Summers babbled on rapidly, and tried to nod her head at the correct moments. She'd always thought that her roommate was too friendly and chatty to be in Slytherin.

"Carol." Selene put her hand on her friend's arm. "You're rambling again."

Caroline's cheeks reddened. "Sorry. I tend to do that a lot. Mum says that I just have too many words bottled up inside me and I just can't bear not to let them out. Anyway, let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you, Lia!"

"Me? What about me? … I don't think you'll really find much to talk about. I'm not very interesting."

"What about you and Draco?" Summers winked at her.

"No." Lia made a move to stand up, but Tracey grabbed her and shoved her back down.

"No," she repeated, "I'm not having this conversation," she scowled, "There is no me and Malfoy."

"Oh, but he's always talking to you! And he's so handsome too, and dark and mysterious …" Summers trailed off, lost in her daydreams.

"Yes," said Lia, her voice sharp. "He is dark and handsome." Tracey raised an eyebrow at her.

"When it's dark, he's handsome."

"How can you say that? Malfoy's like the epitome of hot! He's like an eleven out of ten."

"Are you blind? His face is all pointed and pale."

"It's chiselled! And radiant!"

"No," Lia rolled her eyes. "It's fugly and disgusting. You only like him because he's filthy rich."

Caroline smiled a little at that. "Well, money is always a bit appealing … But, even Selene thinks he's handsome!"

Selene blushed.

"Of course," Summers continued. "Not as handsome as Theodore Nott though!"

"Shush," Selene said in a murmur, looking anxious. "What if he's nearby?"

"Then you can finally stop all that sexual tension between you two! You can be like the two hot little nerds together … Speaking of sexual tension, you can't deny that intense attraction between you and Malfoy, Lia!"

"Do you mean all those times I try to wring out his neck?"

"No. I mean when you are both so tragically in love that you just can't stop helping each other!" she sighed dreamily. "I mean when you rescued him from that Hippogriff? It was beautiful. And then he went straight to you after Defense Against the Dark Arts and asked you if you were alright. So romantic. And he always stares at you too!"

"He stares because he's plotting something."

"Who's plotting something?" said someone, in a drawl.

"Malfoy."

"Hello, Lia. How are you this fine day?"

"Just jolly. I was about to plot how I was going to shave off your hair tonight. Do you have any tips? And by the way, your bloody village called. They want their idiot back."

"Hm. How wonderful. I thought of you too today, Lia -"

"Oh, did you now?"

"It reminded me to take the trash out of my room."

"Well then, I do hope that it's a lot cleaner, but I guess that it'll always be littered with your filth. You do have a stain. A permanent stain, after all."

Malfoy sighed. "You'll never let me forget that will you?"

"It's sort of difficult to forget something so traumatic! I think I lost half my brain cells when you kidnapped me."

Caroline's eyes widened. Lia groaned.

"It wasn't like tha –"

"Let's go ladies," she said loudly. "We should look at Honeydukes." She then said in a not so quiet whisper, "And give them some privacy."

Lia groaned again.

"What was that all about?" Malfoy said, his forehead scrunched up.

"Don't ask."

"… Want me to buy you a butterbeer?"

"No."

He faked shock. "I didn't know that you could turn down free food!"

"I don't want anything bought with your father's money."

Malfoy snorted. "You hate him?"

"Yes," she blurted. Then stopped to ponder, "… at least, I think I do."

"Good," Malfoy said after a pause. He slugged down his drink in one go. "That makes you wiser than I thought."

"What do you me-"

"Let's go to Honeydukes. I want Pepper Imps." He abruptly stood up, pushed back his chair, flung some money onto the table and walked off. As he turned his head back to Lia, he saw that she was still dawdling at the table.

"Come on."

Seeing that she was still sitting on her chair, Malfoy shook his head and left, leaving her there, lost in thought, by herself.